Running an Effective Board Meeting Is Not Hard If You Have the Right Strategy. Here Are 8 Tips

Board meetings don't have to be adversarial or contentious.

Running a board meeting is not like running other meetings. Company boards have specific and important responsibilities to uphold to shareholders, investors, and other stakeholders. Failing to do so can have consequences.

That said, these meetings need not be hard. In fact, a well-run board meeting can help management make better decisions more quickly and with greater impact. While boards are there to provide governance and oversight, they are also partners in the overall success of the company.

I see many CEOs struggle with running board meetings effectively. Sometimes it's because it's their first time in a leadership role and in other cases it's because they haven't developed a good strategy or clear plan for working with their board members.

While a board is there to oversee the management team and ensure the people leading the company are competent and acting in the best interests of the shareholders, it need not be adversarial or contentious. A good board wants to support their executive team and will do so when they are collaborating openly. Here are the suggestions I give CEOs for running their meetings. 

1. Establish your board purpose.

The first thing to establish is the purpose of the board. Some boards don't have an oversight role. Advisory boards are there to provide input, advice, and access to resources; they don't have voting or governance roles.

However, a board of directors most often does have fiduciary responsibilities. It is important to make sure the board's role is clear not only to you and your leadership team, but your board as well. 

2. Clarify decision making rights.

I've seen many CEOs end up at odds with their board because when things get tense, the decision making process becomes a source of friction or conflict.

It's best to immediately clarify how input will be collected, decisions made, and votes cast. Once this is clear, use it for every decision so that the process is set and everyone is familiar with the steps. Then, when big issues come up you can focus on making good decisions, not arguing over the process.

3. Distribute information prior.

While I recommend this for all meetings, for board meetings it is critical that you distribute information beforehand. Send out the agenda items, all background information needed, details on the options being considered, and what input and decisions are needed. This will save time and increase the effectiveness of your meeting.

4. Prioritize agenda items.

Like any meeting, it is important to prioritize agenda items. Too often I see CEOs putting off difficult discussions thinking they can address them later in the meeting. Instead, everyone gets tired and important items aren't given critical thought or they get deferred. Tackle important issues first, even if it's hard.

5. Use round robin.

It's important to get everyone's input during a board meeting. Formally giving everyone an equal chance to speak will make sure voices are heard. It prevents members from lobbying in new issues or ideas late in the process, or even making claims they didn't have input.

I like to use a round robin strategy. I present the agenda items and clarify if I'm looking for input, new options, or a vote. Then, I give everyone 2-3 minutes to write down their ideas. After, I allow each member 2-3 minutes to present without interruption. Some members may choose to pass, but by giving them the floor, they are accountable for not sharing their input.

6. Keep meeting notes.

Obviously, you need good notes for board meetings. While I don't recommend you record board meetings, good notes on what was discussed, options considered, input given, and decisions made can be both useful and important for the future. I typically take notes as the meeting progresses and distribute them after the meeting for comments and edits.

7. Summarize decisions.

When summarizing key decisions, I find it best to include the options considered but not chosen and other key points offered during the process. These notes can provide valuable insight when you're reviewing outcomes and learning how you can improve going forward.

8. Keep good records.

I like board books and running meeting minutes. These allow you to quickly reference previous agenda and meeting notes so that you don't rehash the same issues. If you have to search through old folders to find notes from previous discussions, it will kill a meeting's momentum.

A well-run board meeting will ensure that you get through your items effectively and efficiently. It will also help you leverage the advice and expertise of your board members.

Most importantly, a well-run board meeting will inspire the board's confidence in your performance as CEO. When things get tense, it can mean the difference between a board trusting your ability to execute and questioning your ability to lead.

Use these 5 Techniques to Accelerate the Pace of Change in Your Business

Change often involves resistance and complexity. Here are five ways to increase your chances of success.

As a business coach, I get hired to help companies grow and scale more quickly and more profitably. The founders, owners, and CEOs I work with are hungry to achieve more success and create more impact.

The challenge is that in order to accomplish the goals they have set for themselves and their businesses, they must be willing to make significant changes, both as an individual and as a company.

People and organizations do not change easily. There is a significant amount of resistance to new ways of working and thinking. With change, comes risk and uncertainty, so it is natural for people and teams to be hesitant.

However, if you want to grow and scale your business, you must change. Your business will need to develop new strategies, establish new processes, and hire new people. More importantly, a company's leadership team needs to adopt new habits, embrace new roles, and evolve their thinking.

While change is hard, you can make it easier and more likely. Here are five techniques that I focus on to help companies embrace change and grow more quickly and successfully.

1. Create a future vision.

One of the main reasons change is hard is that people don't like uncertainty. Asking people to make changes without a clear picture of how the new way will work will only increase anxiety. In fact, the future doesn't even need to be rosy. People would rather move toward a clearly difficult future than one that is foggy.

Paint a vivid picture of the future, using all of the senses and addressing all of the likely questions and concerns that people will have about the new way of working. The more detail you can provide, the stronger it will be. 

2. Expect it to be difficult.

One thing I always tell the executives I work with is that they should expect the process to be difficult. Change is hard and requires discipline and patience. If their expectations are not set correctly, when the going gets tough, they will give up rather than push through. Make it clear it will not be a cakewalk.

3. Give people time.

It is great to have a goal and be excited to complete it quickly. However, change always takes time and energy and if you expect it to happen quickly and easily, you'll be disappointed. Time is a key factor in helping people navigate through the changing processes. Don't force it. If you feel people redlining, it's better to back off than push them past their limits.

4. Make it OK to fail.

People need to experiment with new ways of working in order to improve and develop mastery. Without a safe space to try out new strategies and techniques, your pace of change will be severely limited. Find ways to let people test things out in low-risk situations.

5. Talk about the emotions.

Change will also trigger emotions and feelings, and too often I see leaders gloss over these important factors. Create a time and place for people to discuss how they are feeling and explore what's driving these reactions. Being open and upfront with emotions will help people process them faster and find a way of addressing them before they fester and become a deeper issue.

Realistically, a high-growth business is full of change and much of it is hard. Everyone must step up and learn new skills and work in new ways. While not everyone will successfully make the transition, those who do will succeed because they've mastered the change process and learned how to transform not only the company as an organization but themselves as leaders.

Your Company's Purpose Is More Than Making Money. Here's How to Discover It

Discovering and embracing your company's core purpose will help drive your strategy and decision making at all levels.

I spend a lot of time with leadership teams working on strategy and planning. I start the process by asking why the company exists beyond just making money.

Why do I start here? Because before we can set goals and figure out how to position the business in the market, we need to understand its purpose. Having a clear understanding of your company's purpose will make it easier to come to decisions on what direction to take. Without it, it's more likely teams will deadlock over key strategic moves and which paths to pursue.

While there is no one right purpose, there are some purposes that will serve the company better and some that will serve them worse. A clear and committed purpose is a powerful decision-making tool.

The idea of a purpose is to define a clear pursuit you can dedicate yourself to for one hundred years or more. It should transcend current technologies, markets, politics, and cultural trends.

Having done this with dozens of companies, I have developed the following shorthand formula for defining a purpose: We serve X by Y so they can Z. Where X is who you serve, Y is the value you give them, and Z is the ultimate benefit they gain.

While this looks a bit like a value proposition, it's much bigger in scope and longer-term in nature. It needs to be valid for over a century.

For example, Apple's purpose when using this formula would be something like this: We serve consumers by building beautiful and easy-to-use technology solutions so they can bring their ideas to life and enjoy the process.

Why does this work? It's specific and makes it clear what the company does and does not do. It's long-term in scope and something they can pursue for many, many years to come. And it shows the impact they want to make.

Here's how to think through each step to develop your company's core purpose. I generally do this with the founder and/or the leadership team over a series of meetings. Don't be afraid to create a rough draft and refine it over several months.

1. Who do you serve?

While this can be thought of like a target customer, it is bigger and more general. You want to define who you will serve for a very long time. However, you also want to be as specific as possible.

General consumers? Children? Business executives? Sports fans? Wine lovers? Small businesses? Trucking companies? These are all specific yet you can dedicate yourself to them for many decades.

2. What do you provide them?

Again, think about what you can focus on for an extended period of time. Your company will grow and innovate its products and services, yet you want to maintain this path.

Recently, I worked with an environmental consulting firm and their purpose was "to enable the successful development of real estate while protecting our environment." While specific, this allows for a broad range of possible services and products they can develop for many years to come.

3. What is the end benefit you enable?

Now you want to define the ultimate value you create for the people you serve. Describe what they should do with your product or service and why it is valuable to them.

As a business coach, my purpose is "to create more thriving small and medium-sized businesses to strengthen our economy and raise everyone's standard of living." And while I do that through specific services and products, it ties me to my bigger picture.

While talking about purpose and what a company will pursue for one hundred years may sound airy-fairy, getting this right and well defined will make the work of developing a strategy and building a culture much easier.

Statistically, the vast majority of companies don't last a century. But I think more would come closer if they imagined themselves thriving that long.

Working with a Coach Can Be a Game Changer. Here's How to Pick the Right One

Coaching is a great way to accelerate progress on your goals and make the process easier.

I've been on both sides of the challenge of finding a business coach. As a founder and CEO of an Inc 500 technology consulting firm, I've hired several coaches to help me with leadership and strategy.

On the other hand, as an athlete, I've hired coaches to help me with conditioning and skill development. I even hired a coach to help with my divorce. After I sold my company in 2013, I became a full-time strategic coach myself. I've worked with dozens of teams and well over 100 business leaders over the years.

While coaching can speed up how quickly you make progress on your goals and can reduce the likelihood of missteps, it is not an easy decision to make. There are many types of coaches, each with different backgrounds and skill sets. Add to that the significant investment that coaching can require, and this can become a difficult task.

When people ask me how they should go about finding and hiring a good coach, I advise them to focus on five key questions to guide them in their process.

1. What type of coach should you hire?

First, look at your goals and situation and decide what kind of coach you need. There are many types of coaches that focus on different problems and objectives. Start by asking what goals you want to achieve and what challenges you're having. This will make it easier to choose the type of coach that best fits your needs.

2. What level of experience do you need?

If you are looking for someone to work with a new manager on leadership skills, you likely don't need a top-shelf coach. Whereas, if you are developing your company's overall business strategy and coaching your leadership team, investing in a seasoned expert with significant experience is a good investment. 

3. What background will be most helpful?

This is a tricky one. While a solid understanding of your industry is good, I generally suggest that you don't hire a coach for their specific business insights. (For a consultant, yes, but that's a different type of hire). Instead, look for a coach who has worked with other clients in your situation and knows the common challenges and pitfalls. You are the industry expert. Your coach mainly needs to help you with the process and how to overcome your obstacles.

4. How much structure do you need?

Some coaches have a rigid system with predefined steps. This is great for people with a common set of challenges and for those who need structure.

I have a toolbox of standard exercises and techniques, and I diagnose each team to figure out which to apply and when. Other coaches work with a few basic principles and customize everything to each client.

5. What kind of personality would work best?

Finally, you need to choose a coach with whom you'll connect. You need to trust them enough to be vulnerable and explore deeper issues. Real change and improvement requires tackling tough questions and core beliefs. If you're not willing to open up to your coach, it is a waste of time and money. If you don't feel like you can establish a close connection and rapport quickly, it's probably not a good fit.

With the range and diversity of coaches in the market these days, choosing one is a hard job. These questions will help give you some criteria and path towards finding a coach that is right for you. Ultimately, there is rarely a perfect fit, but you can still find a good fit.

Finding the best candidate and starting the process sooner will generally get you closer to your goals faster than if you wait hoping to find perfection. As I like to say, done is always better than perfect.

Uncertainty Is Everywhere in Leadership Decisions. Here's How to Handle It.

Making decisions is a core part of any team's job, but for the top leadership team, it is their most important activity. They set the direction of the company by choosing key priorities and establish how work will get done by defining policies and operational processes.

The hard part is that they need to make these decisions with imperfect information and estimates about what the future might hold. Variability and external factors can make choosing the right path extremely difficult.

Unfortunately, many teams struggle with these uncertainties. They either ignore them and press forward with wanton disregard for the risk they are exposing themselves to or they decide not to make any decision at all, which causes them to miss key strategic opportunities.

Effective teams openly discuss uncertainty and work to quantify and reduce it where possible. They know they need to take action and can make calculated trade-offs between risk and reward.

When discussing options, they use the following strategies to get information and increase their level of confidence so they can effectively process that information and make good choices.

1. Don't poison the well.

When discussing estimates or likelihoods, the first rule is to not blurt out your guess. This creates a psychological effect where everyone else now has to answer in relation to the first guess. As a result, other people will unconsciously adjust their guesses and prevent the team from getting a true range of estimates.

2. Clarify the question and goal.

It is important to make sure everyone understands the specifics of what is being discussed. Does the budget include labor costs or just materials? Are we assuming stock items or custom designs? Does the deadline mean when we ship or when the customer receives the product? Starting with these types of clarifying questions will ensure you are all on the same page.

3. Give individuals time to think.

Many teams rush right into making guesses. Instead, set a timer and give people a few minutes to collect their thoughts and consider options. You can't effectively listen and think at the same time, so create some quiet time without conversation.

4. Have people write down estimates.

Before starting the discussion, have everyone write down their estimates, key assumptions, and rationale. By writing everything down they will be less likely to be influenced by the conversation and more open to sharing their ideas, important information, and perspective.

5. Focus on the boundaries and limits.

Instead of trying to get the exact right number, talk in terms of ranges and confidence levels. For example, what is the likelihood that the project will take less than 16 weeks or more than 24 weeks? Talking in terms of specific dates will lull the team into a false sense of precision. 

6. Explain logic and assumptions.

Often, it is the underlying assumption and logic in an estimate that is more important than the number itself. If one person has a high number, ask why and what lead them to that result. They may have identified a risk or task that others missed.

7. Strive for 80 percent agreement.

You will rarely be 100 percent in agreement on tough problems. And typically, the cost of trying to get consensus is extremely high in terms of time and team morale. Instead, shoot for around 80 percent agreement on the numbers and make your decision accordingly. While you might be off once and awhile, your ability to make many decisions more efficiently will more than make up for it.

Decisions come in many shapes and forms, but a good team uses the same, well-honed processes and heuristics to get through them effectively. For leadership teams, this is a critical skill to develop and can mean the difference between being a leader in the market and struggling to stay afloat.

Managing People Is Tough. This One Weekly Meeting Makes It Easier

One of the most common bottlenecks to early-stage company growth is the lack of management skills. This weekly meeting will up your game.

As a strategy and leadership coach, I spend a lot of time with CEOs and leadership teams developing their strategy and planning for the company's future. Long term success doesn't happen without a clear market positioning and roadmap for implementing key activities to drive success.

However, all of that work can be undermined by a lack of core management skills on the senior team. And, unfortunately, it's not uncommon for a rapidly growing company to outstrip these skills in early-stage businesses.

Any strategy growth plan must also include a plan for improving the skills of senior management, including the CEO and their leadership team.

I start by helping senior executives build a team and delegate work. The key to that process is to establish a weekly meeting with each direct report so they can keep priorities aligned and assignments on track.

Done right, this meeting should last from 30 to 60 minutes and the executive should do less than 20 percent of the talking. Instead, I advise them to ask the following key questions to make sure work is progressing correctly. 

1. What were your goals last week?

Start by reviewing what the previous weekly plan and commitments were. Check your notes to confirm and clarify any discrepancies. One of your key duties as a manager is to hold your reports accountable.

2. What did you accomplish last week?

Once you confirm what the goals were, start with what was actually accomplished. Focus on details and demonstrable proof that work was completely finished.

Don't accept almost done or 90 percent complete. If it's not fully and observably finished, don't count it. This will establish the habit of well-defined work and goals with clear completion criteria.

3. What did you miss?

Once you've reviewed and agreed to the completed work, review and clarify what wasn't finished. Keep it neutral and objective. Don't shame or admonish. Doing so would make them less likely to be forthcoming in the future.

4. What did you learn?

Once you have accounted for all of the work that was planned, you can begin to review and develop insights from the last week. Have them do the analysis and ask probing questions to tease out insights.

It is much more powerful for them to see problem areas for themselves. I will wait for many minutes, sometimes even a meeting or two, before suggesting an insight. Be patient with this process.

5. What are your priorities for the coming week?

Once you've reviewed the previous week, you can clarify the key priorities for the coming week. This is your chance to make sure they are aligned with your priorities and your other direct reports. Make adjustments as needed to set the right course.

6. What is your plan for the coming week?

Now you can develop your action plan. What work, activities, deliverables, and tasks are they focusing on? Get specific commitments with clear success and completion criteria. Ask questions to clarify how you will know that the work is done at the end of the week.

7. What could prevent you from being successful?

Find out what risks and obstacles they have considered. Are they being overly optimistic? Do they have a reasonable workload? Are they thinking through all of the dependencies?

Train them to anticipate issues and remove any likely excuses that might come up during the next meeting. This is a good time to check if they are applying their learnings from previous weeks.

8. Where do you need support?

Once they have a solid plan and clear objectives, ask them what support they need from other members of the team and other parts of the company. Make sure they have a plan for getting that support and that it is reasonable and realistic.

9. How can I best help you?

Lastly, ask them what you, personally, can do to help them. Maybe they would benefit from a check-in meeting or an introduction to key resources in the company or advice on how to approach a task.

There are two important rules on this last one.

First, don't carry their water. They need to be responsible and do the work. You can assist, but don't get stuck in a reverse delegation.

Second, if you agree to do something, do it. Nothing is worse than a boss who promises to help and doesn't. It would be better to say you're too busy or suggest someone else than to promise and not deliver. It would undermine your ability to hold them accountable in the future.

While there are many other aspects to being a good manager, getting the weekly meeting right is a key component to an effective manager's system. Leadership teams who get this right will leverage their team's capacity and scale their business faster and easier.

Want to Improve Your Meetings? Become a Master of Facilitation

Running longer meetings that focus on bigger picture topics require more than just a simple agenda.

As a business coach, I spend most of my days running full-day or even multi-day strategic planning sessions for CEOs and their leadership teams. Over the years, I've learned that how I run these meetings is just as important-- if not more important-- as what's on the agenda.

When you are running long meetings that require participants to think deeply and collaborate closely with one another, these facilitation techniques can create a larger impact and get better outcomes.

1. Use a collaborative learning mindset.

First and foremost, take a collaborative learning approach to the meeting. You might have a solid plan and a strong idea of what you want to accomplish, how you want to structure things, and the desired outcomes, but you also need to give the participants a role and a say in these decisions.

This is not to say that you don't need an agenda. I strongly suggest an agenda but don't be overly attached to it. If issues arise that need to take priority or the team comes up with an alternative way of addressing an issue, be open to suggestions and willing to make adjustments.

2. Agree to the meeting goals.

I always start meetings with presenting a clear set of desired outcomes. I keep it simple and focus on three to five key points. These could be decisions, plans, directions, clarifications, or action items.

The point here is to set your targets. It also helps to make sure everyone has the same expectations. I sometimes start this discussion by asking what they want to get out of the meeting before I present my agenda just to make sure we are all on the same page.

3. Create the right context.

Context is everything for these types of meetings. If you want people to think long-term and big picture, you need to get them out of the day-to-day mindset. I typically hold strategic meetings off-site so that people are less likely to be interrupted. Even being on a different floor of the same building is helpful in eliminating possible disruptions.

You also need to shift their mindset. I start meetings with a mind sweep to clear their thinking so they are open to new ideas. I also start with fun team exercises to make them aware of how they are communicating and interacting as a team.

4. Engage people in the work.

When I first started facilitating these types of meetings, I ran myself ragged writing on whiteboards, capturing notes, and moving flip chart sheets around. I was working up a sweat and everyone else was just sitting in their chairs. I thought that I needed to be doing all of the work in order to be a valuable facilitator.

I now know that it's the opposite. I assign roles for the meeting and make them do the work. They write on the flip charts themselves, I designate a scribe to take notes, and I even assign someone to be a DJ to play music during breakout sessions. This keeps them engaged and moving around and it allows me to focus on observing the team dynamics and tracking the overall agenda.

5. Manage the team's energy.

One of the main issues with full-day or multi-day meetings is managing the level of energy in the room. Mental focus and blood sugar level will wax and wane dramatically throughout the day. It is important to keep the energy high and avoid running into ruts.

I like to start mornings and afternoons with a physical exercise. Anything that gets people out of their chairs and moving around is helpful. For example, I will ask people to stand around a flipchart to discuss rather than sit in their seats. You can also create exercises that get people moving around the room or even do breakout sessions outside so people can walk around. The idea is to keep them moving.

6. Land the meeting.

Closing these meetings well is key. Leave yourself plenty of time to wrap up and discuss what you've accomplished and explain what the next steps are. I typically close meetings by asking each person to summarize their key takeaways and their action items coming out of the meeting.

I also like to get people to reflect on the meeting and explain what they liked best and what they might change. This helps them remember everything we accomplished and gives me valuable feedback for future meetings.

Over time, you will develop your own techniques and tricks for meetings. You do need a solid agenda and well-designed exercises, but valuable meetings have a well-managed arc with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Mastering this art of meeting facilitation will enable everyone to address topics more deeply, think more strategically, and provide a more valuable outcome for the participants.

Here Are Five Ways to Make Your Organizational Chart More Useful

Most organizational charts end up taped to break room walls and forgotten. Here's how to make yours a valuable tool for everyone in your company.

Every employee manual I've seen contains an organizational chart that shows who is in charge and who reports to whom. Usually, the names of executive employees and managers are in boxes with connectors cascading down to the front lines of the organization.

Many of those charts are out of date.There may be names that have changed or reporting lines that are no longer relevant. There could even be entire departments that have been removed or added.

The problem with these charts is that they are trying to capture the wrong information and are not being used correctly. Here are six things that I focus on when coaching leadership teams on creating organizational charts in order to make them a useful and productive tool for everyone in the company.

1. Focus on functions.

The main purpose of an organizational chart is to show the functional divisions of a company and how they work together. Your organizational chart is a map for how to navigate your business. A good chart will tell employees who needs to be aware of specific issues and information.

At a basic level, a good chart shows the vertical divisions between departmental functions and horizontal levels of reporting and management structure. An organizational chart will clarify questions like "is shipping part of operations or customer service?" and "do the software developers report to head of product or head of technology?"

Done well, a chart should clearly indicate who is on the executive team, who the middle managers are, and who is handling the front line execution.

2. Ditch the names.

I always suggest to erase all of the names on the chart. It is more important to see the functional roles and how they report and relate to one another. Names change quickly, but roles do not.

If you prefer to use names, make a separate table listing names and contact information by role or put the name in small print under the functional role. I suggest you include a phone number or email and the date they took on the role. Pro tip: it is great to see a history of the roles a person has filled and when they began each.

3. Support the business.

A well-designed organization and well-written organizational chart should show how the employees support the business operations. The departments and role names should relate to the nature of the business and operational model. 

For example, a manufacturer will have departments and roles in supply management, manufacturing, facilities, and shipping. A technology SAS company will have marketing, product design, software development, and dev-ops. Don't just copy a generic organizational chart from a textbook. It is important to design one that truly supports your business model and operations.

4. Indicate performance metrics.

I like to add performance metrics to each of the key roles in an organizational chart. I look at one to three of the core measures of success and suggest one leading indicator and one lagging indicator. The leading indicator measures the activities and tasks and the lagging indicator measures the outputs and outcomes.

For example, for a Director of Sales, I will list metrics such as pitch meetings or proposals for leading indicators, and metrics such as conversion rates and closed sales dollars per week as indicators of output.

5. Align your core processes.

In addition to functional divisions between departments, you can also map out your core processes across the horizontal access and indicate who is accountable and involved in each process. The goal here is to recognize that some processes cut across the functional division of the company and someone needs to be responsible for aligning and coordinating activities to ensure the process is successful.

Safety is a great example of a cross-cutting process. HR must ensure people are trained properly, facilities need to make sure that the physical environment is safe, and operations must ensure that safety measures are backed into the standard operating procedures.

6. Define your terms.

Your organizational chart is a map of your business. It is a tool that any employee can use to learn who to go to with questions, key information, and concerns. In order to do this well, people need to use the same language to refer to roles and departments.

For example, if some people call it lead generation and others call it marketing it will get confusing. Also, you want to make sure that your titles are consistent between departments. Don't label someone as director of product development and call them sales director in another department.

These suggestions will help make your organizational chart a living, breathing tool for helping people understand and manage the company structure. Most importantly, keep your organizational chart updated frequently and make sure everyone has access to the most current version.

Strategy Is More Than Just Setting Goals

While goal setting is important, it doesn't define your strategy.

One of my favorite aspects of being a business coach is working with leadership teams on strategy development. Strategy defines how you will approach the market and differentiate yourself. Without a clear strategy, you will be dependent on trends and the forces of your market.

Unfortunately, many people confuse setting a goal with having a strategy. A goal is a target you want to hit. For example, become a $100 million dollar company or make the Inc. 5000 list. A strategy is how you're doing to do that. It defines the set of choices and moves that you're going to make over a period of time to achieve that goal.

Here are the three basic steps for developing your strategic direction and plan.

1. Make predictions about the future.

The first thing you need to do in any strategic planning effort is to predict future trends. The key here is to be able to read the current market, industry, and macro trends that are at play and extrapolate them into the future.

I typically start with the immediate market trends that our company sees based on the work we are doing with current customers. By identifying what is impacting our customers' businesses, we can determine what is going to impact our business by servicing them.

Next, look at broader industry trends that are changing the nature of how your type of business is conducted. This could be changes in technology, regulations, market saturation, and increasing or decreasing demands. For example, I work with many companies in the cannabis industry and the pending change in federal legalization will have a major impact on how they conduct business as well as the industry as a whole.

Finally, we map out general macro trends. This includes changes to the economy, interest rates, and social and cultural fads and events. These types of trends will affect all businesses over time. For example, the trend toward using mobile devices rather than desktop computers has impacted just about every aspect of our culture. 

2. Decide on a key set of moves.

Once you have your market assessment, you can start developing your key moves. Essentially, these are the ways you are going to respond to the pending changes in the market that will put you in the best position for your business and your customers.

When Wayne Gretzky was asked what made him such a good hockey player, he famously replied that he didn't chase the puck. Instead, he figured out where the puck was going to be and he skated there before anyone else. He read the situation and positioned himself to make the right play.

Too many companies just chase the puck. Like Wayne Gretzky did when playing hockey, your company will anticipate what is next in order to make the moves needed to succeed.

3. Define your critical capabilities and policies.

Once you have planned your moves, you need to define the capabilities and policies that will allow you to implement those moves. These are the core capabilities you need to develop and the actions you are going to take, and, more importantly, the actions you are not going to take.

For example, if you are going to move upmarket and serve a higher-end client, you may need to develop leads through a different channel, improve your customer service, adjust your pricing models, or change your qualification processes.

I like to work with companies to develop a twelve quarter roadmap that prioritizes what needs to happen each three-month period over the course of three years. We set targets for each period for the key metrics of the business. This includes revenue and cash on hand, but it also includes factors like leads, pipeline, production units, clients, and people. The goal is to set a clear picture of what the company will look like at each step.

Once that is mapped out, we then look at the projects and tasks that need to be completed each quarter to make the new strategy relative. This includes all of the milestones for the capabilities and policies defined in step three. This sets clear goals for implementing strategy on a quarter-by-quarter basis.

This last step is what most companies miss. They come up with a brilliant strategy, but fail to create a realistic plan for how to implement it. By setting quarterly targets and milestones, you have a perfect tool for driving your quarterly planning process.

Of course, like all well-laid plans, things will change. But with a clear set of predictions, moves, and key capabilities defined, you can quickly update your strategic model and decide how you are going to respond and what needs to change.

5 Ego Traps You Need to Avoid as a Leader

One of the most common challenges for growing leaders is their ego. Here are five traps to avoid if you want to achieve ongoing success.

One of the most common problems I see with companies that have had a strong run of growth and success is the mindset of the leadership team. Young teams who have done well will often become headstrong and overconfident. And while it's critical to have a strong, healthy ego, an overdeveloped ego can quickly limit the growth of the leadership team and the company overall. 

Healthy egos are confident and act decisively because they know what is needed to be an effective leader. They also know that their power doesn't come from the fact that they are always right or have expansive power over outcomes. Rather they have a good awareness about their natural limitations of their knowledge and influence and know how to act accordingly.

When assessing a leader's ego, I look for some common thinking traps that tell me they may have an overdeveloped sense of self and their power that will limit their future growth. Here are some of the most common, so you can look at your own thinking and see if you might need to readjust your perspective to reach the next level.

"I'm important because I'm needed."

Everyone wants to feel needed. It gives you a sense of belonging and attachment to other people. In leadership, however, it typically means that you have some type of control or power.

Strong leaders work to make themselves obsolete so their people are self-sufficient. This allows them to go on to tackle bigger and better problems. Weak leaders hold on to control and decision-making so they remain critical to the current processes. And while it may give them job security, it will limit their professional growth.

"People look up to me because I'm smart."

I work with a lot of CEOs who are off-the-charts smart. Some are exceptional technologists, creative marketers, master negotiators, even brilliant surgeons. They have excelled in their fields to become the best.

The problem is that if their ego and self-worth is built on being really smart, then they will be less likely to hire people much smarter than them in the key domains of the business. Strong leaders know they need to surround themselves with people smarter than them in key domains. Weak leaders surround themselves with people they can outwit and control.

"It's bad if I make a mistake."

Many leaders have advanced quickly in their roles by being really good at what they do and being right the vast majority of the time. This builds a sense of self-worth based on being correct. The challenge with this is that when you move up into higher levels of leadership there is a vast amount of uncertainty.

Strong leaders know how to gather data, quantify risk, and make critical decisions at the right time knowing they will be wrong at times. Weak leaders belabor decisions or spend too much energy trying to squeeze out all uncertainty thus missing opportunities and wasting resources.

"I can never show doubt."

Unfortunately, in many corporate environments, doubt is seen as weakness. While there is a time and place where decisions need to be made quickly and clearly, most business matters don't need to be solved immediately.

Strong leaders know that expressing their own doubts or conflicted thinking will make it okay for the people around them to present different ideas and opinions that can lead to better discussion and solutions. Weak leaders try to put on a convincing face, even when inside they are not so sure.

"I need to win all the time."

One of the clearest tell-tale signs of a struggling leader is when they strive to win every debate with their teams. The better ones treat every discussion as a high school debate, attacking everyone's points and presenting a litany of reasons on why their approach is better.

The worse ones dive into ad hominem attacks on people's characters and dredge up things from the past to undermine their positions. Strong leaders strive for the best decision the entire team will support, even if it's not theirs or the one they really want. Weak leaders keep a running score and look to win arguments.

No leader is perfect and every leader will fall into one or more of these traps time and again. Being open to feedback from your team and using a coach who can observe and give you pointers are great ways to accelerate the process. Strong leaders know that the trick is realizing that you've fallen into one and quickly getting out of it. 

The Key to Making Better Decisions: Be a Strategic Procrastinator

Sometimes the best decision is not to decide. Here's how to use procrastination as a strategic tool.

Decision-making is a core executive skill. It's also one that I see many CEOs and leadership teams struggle with on a regular basis, whether it's because discussions run in circles, individuals become attached to options, and discussions evolve into ad hominem attacks. Getting better at making decisions is one of the first things I focus on as a leadership coach.

Process is the first thing I address. Putting in place the rights steps for good decision-making--defining the issues, clarifying success criteria, exploring all options, making a choice, approving a course of action, and informing the right people quickly--will help tremendously for most teams.

Once we get the process right, we then need to turn to timing. The fact is that making decisions as quickly as possible is not always the best strategy. Waiting to make a decision has several benefits. The key is to understand the last responsible moment for making your decision. This is the point in time at which the cost of delaying a decision becomes greater than the benefit of waiting.

You can find your ideal decision time by asking two questions. First is "do we need to make this decision now?" and if the answer is yes, then ask "do we need to make all of these decisions now?" If no, then you just need to set a deadline by which you need to ask these questions again. This will dial in your decision-making timeframe.

By giving yourself more time, you'll create value in a few ways. Here are some of the key ones to keep in mind as you weigh the costs and benefits of waiting to make a decision.

Let issues resolve themselves.

Many decisions will resolve themselves given some time. Often times, leadership teams jump into situations, create policies, and swoop with edicts too quickly. While you don't want a situation to fester or exacerbate, creating some space and time for things to naturally work themselves out can be a good strategy. Leadership teams should use this as the last option on most issues, not the first line of defense.

Define "issue" more accurately.

Teams who rush into making a decision quickly will often be using limited information and perspective. Taking extra time to collect more details, gather more points of view, and dig into the details will add key insights needed to take a more strategic approach. 

Create better options.

One of the most common decision-making mistakes I see is that teams don't create enough options to consider. They race into choosing between a limited set of obvious options that are all non-optimal.

Instead, I suggest teams take the time to develop many options, even options that seem nonsensical at first. Most of the time, the best and most creative options come out after long periods of silence. Waiting a few days or even just a few hours can lead to breakthrough solutions.

Keep options open longer.

Making premature decisions will shutdown other options that might prove more valuable later. While a decision may seem obvious at the time, in another day or week, new information may come up towards it that dramatically shifts the benefit to another approach. But making decisions often means shutting other options down that you may regret.

Focus on bigger, more important issues.

Saying no to making one decision may give you time and resources to address a bigger, more important issue. Leadership teams learn quickly that there are far more decisions to make than they have the time and energy for. Learning to quickly identify and prioritize issues based on impact and risk is a key skill. It's far better for a team to focus on a few key issues and make really good decisions, than to quickly process dozens but make mediocre choices.

Save resources and money.

Waiting and making the right decision once, will be much cheaper than rushing into a problem that only needs to be fixed again and again. I've seen many teams be quick to implement a solution only to realize later they were addressing the symptom and not the root cause. Taking the time to dig into the issue and address the underlying challenge will always be the more cost effective approach in the long run.

Teams that focus on the right decisions and get good at finding the optimal decision-making timeframe will perform better and create more value for their organizations. Teams that react to each and every item that comes up may feel productive, but won't deliver the same results.

If Everyone on Your Team Is Really Nice, You May Be Underperforming. Here’s Why.

Great decisions come from rigorous analysis and debate. Here's how to tell if your team is reaching its full potential.

As a leadership coach, one of the main things I do is help CEOs build out their leadership roles and train them on how to work as a high-performance decision-making team. It's one of the most important jobs of the top leader and one that has a huge impact on the company's results.

Ironically, one of the main challenges I run into with existing leadership teams is not that they are fighting all of the time. It's the opposite. They are not fighting enough. Often what I find is that everyone is going along the general direction and there is no critical debate or disagreement. My job at that point is to increase the constructive conflict on the team.

Here are some key concepts and ideas that I use to train teams to engage in richer, more productive conversations so they can make better decisions and deliver better results.

Good debate is key to better decisions.

High-performance teams engage in heated debate. The key is they debate issues, not attack other people. They know that by rigorously challenging each other they will push their ideas into new and better solutions. The goal is to advance the conversation, not tear the other person down. 

Getting your ideas heard.

Members of great teams know they need to create space and time for everyone to be heard. Sometimes this means slowing down and giving time for someone to organize their thoughts. It might also mean coaxing comments out of people who might otherwise be silent. And if they themselves haven't spoken up, they rise to the occasion and speak up and be heard, even if what they have to say is contradictory or unpopular to the rest of the group.

Knowing when to push.

Strong teams know when an issue is important and significant and when they need to push themselves to further discussion. They also know when the issue just doesn't matter and they can expedite their work. Too often teams waste time and belabor an issue for too long, while other times they speed over a critical item and fail to address the issue properly only to have it come back in a worse state.

Giving in without giving up.

There are times when an individual on a team disagrees with the direction others are taking. Once you feel like you've been heard, but out voted, consider moving forward with the group's decision. The key here is that you need to embrace the decision as your own. It's important for everyone on the team to give full support, even if you had misgivings.

Noting reservations.

There are times when you are willing to go along with the group, but your concerns are strong enough that you want your reservations to be noted for the record. You are agreeing to the group's direction and to supporting its decision, but you want to be sure that people understand that it's not what you would have voted for. Use this sparingly, but it can be helpful to move forward with a plan.

When to abstain.

In rare cases, your connection to the issue puts you in a difficult or biased position. If you feel your involvement in a discussion would unfairly influence the direction or outcome, you may need to abstain from the discussion of an issue. In some cases you may need to excuse yourself from being involved if you feel that even your presence would have an undesirable impact. I suggest this to CEOs at times when people might not say things to them in the room.

Throwing in the towel.

If you find yourself always at odds and never embracing the team's direction, then you might just be on the wrong team. Teams make decisions based on purpose and core values and if you don't fully embrace and share those ideals, you'll never be in sync with your teammates. While not an easy decision, it's an important one to make for long-term happiness and success for both you and them.

While being on a great team can create a strong and a highly engaging bond, it's important to keep in mind that the goal of a team is not complete coherence. A team who's always agreeing and never seems to have difficulty reaching a decision is mostly likely underperforming. A strong team knows they need to fully engage in constructive conflict to get to the best decisions and outcomes.

How to play the "Con Game"

This is an exercise I do with leadership teams before we get into strategy and planning sessions. It helps to get them thinking about confidence levels and how they are working as a team to collect and process information. It takes about 20-30 minutes and the focus should be on the discussing the observations and learnings from the process, not getting the answers right.

Here are the two games from Amazon that I mention in the video:

Over Under - https://amzn.to/2IalU0j

I’m Not Saying You’re Stupid - https://amzn.to/2Ibh437

If you have questions or suggestions for other games/exercises, email them to me: bruce@eckfeldt.com.

If You're a CEO Who Struggles to Manage People, Read These 6 Books

If you're a CEO who struggles with managing people, here are six must-read books that will help you up your game.

Being a CEO doesn't come with an instructional manual. And for most founders who end up in the top job of their business, they usually have little to no management and executive experience. Most early-stage, high-growth business leaders find that they have created a successful, thriving business but have no idea on how to manage people.

As a business coach, I work with many first-time CEOs who have big ambitions but also know they need help to grow themselves and their companies. One of the things I do is help them be better leaders and better managers by leveling up their skills and perspectives. Learning to better manage their teams is usually on top of the list.

While there are many ways to learn, here are six of the best books I've found on how to better manage people that I recommend to all my CEO clients. If you're a new CEO struggling to manage your team, this is a great starting point to develop your people skills.

Drive by Daniel Pink

Pink does a great job in breaking down the complex issues of what motivates people into three basic areas. With my CEOs, we speak about AMP: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Any time we discuss how to motivate a team or an individual, we check in on these three elements and how they can use them to drive engagement and performance. It's a simple concept that can lead to big results, when applied well.

Crucial Conversations, by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

Business is full of tough conversations. Unfortunately, many people deal with this by either avoiding conflict or picking a fight. These authors explain how to get clear with your own needs and wants first, create an environment that will foster deep connection and sharing, and honestly listen and consider other people's needs and wants. Only then can you find true solutions and put in place a plan of action that will create real change. This is a book on life, but it's great for the office, too.

Radical Candor, by Kim Scott

While many people avoid giving feedback to direct reports and colleagues, Scott does a great job of explaining why the truly professional and caring thing to do is to provide radical candor. Only through open, honest, direct, and timely feedback can someone grow and learn. Saying nothing is not being nice--it's being apathetic.

Now, Discover Your Strengths, by Marcus Buckingham

I'm a big fan of personal and professional development and I recommend to all of my executive clients that they create a culture of continuous improvement. And while everyone has weaknesses that need to be managed, you're far better off focusing on your strengths. Buckingham does a great job of helping people find the things they are good at and passionate about, to fuel their growth.

Mindset, by Carol Dweck

This book is a game changer for most managers. Dweck shows us why regardless of our skills, experience, genetics, or aptitude, the most influential factor on our ability to learn is whether we think we can do something or not. Those people with a growth mindset will be far more likely to change, and those with a fixed mindset will be far less likely. So before you put together the training plan, coach the mindset first.

Power of a Positive No, by William Ury

I still remember the first time I read this book and how it changed both my professional and personal life. One of my core values is to be of service to people and help them. But I found myself saying yes to everything and trying to help everyone and as a result spreading myself too thin and not being very effective. Ury taught me to develop a clearer picture of my bigger goals and purpose and to use that to say "no" to many requests so that I could say "yes" powerfully to the ones that truly mattered to me.

The six above are just a start. There are countless other books on managing people and how to create a great culture in your company. And you should strive to read all of them if you want to be an exceptional leader. People management is not just a good skill to have, it's what will drive your professional success and the success of your company.

Here Is How to Win the Talent War Using Virtual Team Best Practices

Virtual teams are becoming more frequent. Here's how to make sure yours is highly productive

The expansion of talent networks and the vast improvements in technology and connectivity mean that the search for talent has become a global market. Companies are now competing for the best people everywhere in the world. But to do that, they need to master virtual teams and projects.

Having run many virtual teams over the years myself and now coaching several virtual teams and companies, there are certain best practices that I follow. While working together in the same space every day has significant advantages, getting virtual teams to work well can often be the best and only option.

1. Clarify roles and responsibilities.

While it's true for all teams, clarifying roles and responsibilities for virtual teams is critical. Knowing who is doing what, and what they are not doing, will ensure balls aren't dropped and allow people to work confidently knowing their scope.

I like having a one-page summary of each role on the team describing their key eight to 10 responsibilities. I include key success metrics that show what is expected on a weekly basis. I also include links, examples, and templates to help clarify and set expectations.

2. Define core processes and handoffs.

Every business and every team has a set of critical processes that cut across functional roles. These need to be defined so people understand their roles in the overall system. I also like to assign an owner to the process who is looking across functions and departments to coordinate and optimize the flow. Without a defined way of working and someone to ensure success, balls will get dropped and problems will quickly appear.

3. Establish solid meeting rhythms.

Virtual teams don't have the natural rhythm of people arriving in the office, having lunch, and ending the day together. These natural cycles are important to create a team rhythm. And if your team cuts across multiple time zones, this is an even bigger challenge.

Setting up a weekly team planning meeting and a daily huddle creates a natural team heartbeat that will set a solid pace. Keeping these meetings to the same time every week and day and using a standard agenda and timeframe will help establish them as habits for the team.

4. Formalize informal meeting time.

Virtual teams don't have the benefit of ad hoc time together. There is no water cooler and they don't share the elevator together in the morning. It's easy to forget how important this time is to connect to learn about people outside the office. This informal sharing is what builds team trust and respect, which is the foundation to any high-performance team.

For virtual teams, this informal time needs to be formalized. Start each business meeting with five to 10 minutes of personal sharing and conversational openers. I also encourage teams to have "video lunches" once a week where everyone jumps on a group video call for 30 minutes to have a meal together. Also, consider things like lightning talks and team learning events.

5. Invest in meeting tools.

Virtual teams are highly dependent on technology. Documents, chats, repositories, video conferencing, etc. are critical and without them, the team would grind to a halt. Take the time to consider and select the best tools for the team and then invest in high-quality technology and training. Make sure everyone knows how to use each tool and has the resources to take advantage of it.

Pay close attention to team members with constraints and challenges. The team will be as strong as your weakest links and if you elevate them, you'll elevate the team. I've had some teams ship new computers with everything installed and configured so they are up and running from day one.

6. Meet in-person quarterly.

While it can be a large investment for many teams, meeting in person for a day or two each quarter can go a long way in building better connections and relationships. The nature and depth of a connection that develops after spending a full day together in person is not something you can do online. And that connection will go a long way over the coming months to create trust and respect while people are working together remotely.

The fact is that virtual teams are quickly becoming the norm rather than an exception. As the competition for talent moves to the global stage, the companies who master these techniques will create a significant competitive advantage.

Thinking of Hiring a Coach? Make Sure You Choose the Right Kind

Having a coach can help you develop and improve. The difficulty is selecting the right one.

Most executives and business leaders understand the value of having a coach and how coaches can help accelerate change and boost performance. Over the years, I've used many different coaches in various areas of my life including sports, physical training, professional development, leadership, business, even my personal relationships.

I've learned that there are many types of coaches each with their own style and approach. And choosing the right one can be a difficult and confusing process. If you're looking for a coach, one of the first things to understand is the types of coaches that are out there and the types of things they focus on with their clients.

Before you start meeting and interviewing specific coaches, it's a good idea to figure out what type of coach you need and make sure the people you speak to focus on that type of work.

1. Personal coach

If you're struggling with work/life balance or how things in your personal life are affecting your professional performance, consider a personal coach. These coaches are more general and can help with an array of personal and professional challenges and situations. If your really unsure where you need help, I have found these are a good place to start.

2. Accountability coach

Do you create great plans, but put off starting or meeting your deadlines? An accountability coach can be a great option. These coaches focus on setting clear goals and commitments, and they help troubleshoot both the logical and emotional challenges that get in people's way.

3. Career coach

If you're looking to map out their career path or are struggling with a decision around a career change, these coaches can help you get clear on long-term goals and possible professional paths. They will help with creating options and evaluating potential positions. For those who need structure, they can provide plans and accountability as well.

4. Executive coach

As you move up the ladder, your focus needs to shift from "doing the work" to organizing projects and teams and making harder and harder decisions. Executive coaches work with senior folks on everything from communication to critical thinking to personal productivity.

Executive coaches are a great choice If you're stepping into a new, more demanding role or taking a position at a new company. They can give you a higher perspective, help you prioritize, and develop new strategies.

5. Leadership coach

Once you reach the highest level of management, the focus shifts from directing people and projects to developing the strategy and setting organizational priorities. It's not an easy transition to make. And it's one which few people can easily make successful.

A leadership coach helps executives make the move to "leading teams of leaders" and focusing on long-term planning and strategy. Many of the most successful CEOs have leadership coaches who are close and trusted partners. For some great insights into leadership coaching, read the story of Bill Campbell in Trillion Dollar Coach.

6. Strategic coach

For a leader or team who is charged with developing a company or a department business strategy, there are many challenges. Strategy is hard and having a coach who specializes in facilitating the process of defining customer focus, analyzing market needs, and developing strategic plans can help structure and accelerate the work. These coaches are experts at helping leadership teams not only create an effective plan but also communicate and implement that plan throughout the organization.

7. Team coach

The vast majority of business work today requires solid teamwork. Unfortunately, developing a high-performance team is not always a natural or easy thing to do. Team coaches focus on helping define a team's purpose, set goals, clarify roles and responsibilities, and work through interpersonal dynamics that inevitably come up when groups of people are working together in high-pressure situations.

8. Specialty coaches

There are many coaches who specialize in specific areas. Everything from business partnerships, to multigenerational business, to conflict resolution situations. If you have a specific challenge or are in a unique situation, finding a coach with experience in that situations can be highly effective.

Once you've figured out the type of coach you need, you can then focus on style and personal fit. While you're not looking for a friend, it's important to find someone who shares your core values and has a common perspective if you want to build trust and rapport.

In the end, you need a coach that is familiar with your situation and challenges, but also one you are willing to open up to and dig into your issues and challenges with. You need have the difficult conversations if you want to address to root issues that are holding back you and your team.

This One Weekly Habit Will Keep You Stay Connected to Your Team as You Grow

As your business grows it can be hard to stay connected to your team. This one weekly communication habit can help.

Being in a high-growth company is both fun and exciting. As the founder of a five-time Inc. 500/5000 company, I've experienced it firsthand. And as a business coach, I've also worked with dozens of CEOs who have been on that rocket ship as well.

And while it's thrilling, it can also be isolating for the CEO. As the company grows, you spend more time focusing on selling customers, pitching investors, attending conferences, and meeting with suppliers and partners. All of this means less time with your people and hanging around the office.

The result is that you become less connected to your team. And while some of this is just a natural consequence of growth, effective CEOs put in place good habits to minimize the impact.

The best CEOs I work with make a habit of sending out a weekly communication to everyone in their company to keep everyone informed and up to date on what's happening at the highest level. For some it's an email; for others it's quick video, blog post, or Slack message. Regardless of the format and medium, there are several things they all focus on and include whenever possible. If you're a CEO on the go and want to improve your connection to your people, here's what you should include in your weekly message.

1. Start with wins.

The best thing you can do is highlight wins. People love good news, and it sets the tone for the entire company. Keeping things positive while being realistic and acknowledging challenges will keep people motivated and optimistic about the future. The trick here is to be specific and detailed and use recent examples and avoid being vague or using platitudes.

2. Recognize individual performance.

While not everyone wants to be called up on stage to accept an award, it's a great practice to call out individuals for exceptionally good performance. Where you can be specific and explain the organizational impact and benefit. Recognition is one of the most powerful motivators at your disposal. Further, you not only reward the individual for their work, you inspire everyone else to rise to the challenge. And the best part is it doesn't cost you a dime.

3. Reiterate strategy and priorities.

One of your key responsibilities as CEO is to clarify strategy and define priorities. It's not enough to send out a presentation once a year. You need to beat the drum and reiterate the message frequently. Research shows that people need to hear things multiple times before they remember it. Don't assume that just because you mentioned something once in a company meeting that it's on top of people's minds; you need to keep it there.

4. Highlight examples of core values.

Too many companies develop a set of core values, paint them on the wall, and then forget all about them. Core values only work if they are alive and actively talked about. Your weekly communication is a great place to mention people's actions which exemplify your values. Focus on the details and explain why their actions are a good example of each value.

5. Address concerns and questions.

If you know there are lingering questions or concerns in the office, be proactive and address them publicly. Rumors spread quickly and are difficult to correct once they infect the company. Address hearsay with facts and figures. If the concerns are legitimate, acknowledge them and explain what is being done to address the issue and when people can expect follow-up and resolution. Employees do not expect perfection, but they do expect transparency.

6. Ask for feedback and insights.

Communication doesn't just trickle down. Take the opportunity to ask for insights, feedback, information, and input on key company issues and initiatives. Often the people on the ground know more about what's going on than management does. Leverage people's detailed knowledge and perspective. One note of caution: If you ask for and receive feedback, make sure you reply and recognize the contribution and explain how you have applied or will apply it. There is no better way to squelch future feedback than for people to feel like it's going into a black hole.

Every CEO I've worked with who's implemented this habit of weekly communication has complained that it's one of the hard things they've done. When you're trying to close deals, set strategy, and raise the next round of capital, finding the time and energy to send out your weekly note is a significant chore. But these same CEOs also say it's one of the best things they do to keep in touch with everyone in the company and ensure that everyone is aligned around a clear message and direction.

Increasing Your Business Agility Isn’t Hard, If You Focus on These Principles

Traditional project planning won't work if you want to innovate. Use these six strategies to become a more agile business instead.

The world of business is moving faster with each day. Technology is continuously changing, cultural norms are constantly shifting, and the competitive landscapes are evolving at a rapid pace. Being a successful business in today's world requires you to move fast and adapt quickly.

As a business coach, I get approached by many CEOs who are looking to grow their businesses faster and easily. One thing I get them to focus on is increasing their business agility so we can evolve their business model and create new value for key target segments.

If you're looking to increase your ability to pivot your business and find new opportunities in your market, focus on developing these Lean/Agile business principles within your organization.

1. Define your customer well.

One of the tenets of Lean/Agile is that everything is focused on delivering value to the customer. Everything else is considered waste and needs to be removed from the process. The key here is that value needs to be defined by the customer, not by you.

The problem comes when you don't know your customer very well or you have a very broad definition. This leads to a situation where you are guessing about what is really valuable or you're trying to please too many types of people. As a result, it's very hard to create focus and make good tradeoffs.

2. Increase your understanding of what drives value.

Many companies have defined a core customer, but they fail to truly understand what drives value for them. Many times, I see companies making wild guesses in the hope of creating value. Worse is when they think they know what the customer wants but haven't validated their assumption, so they get it wrong.

Talking to customers is good for insights and data gathering but it's not as good for validation. Customers will often tell you they want something they end up not liking or that they would never use something they end up loving. Instead, give customers prototypes and samples and watch what they do. This is why A/B testing is so powerful and used so often. Far better to have customers choose between two options and then talk abstractly about a product or service they haven't experienced.

3. Take an iterative approach to delivery.

If you're building bridges and skyscrapers, you need an extensive plan that lays out all of the workflows and dependencies. These types of tasks can be managed on a budget and schedule since we can detail the work and quantify the risks quite well.

However, in most businesses, innovation is a bleeding-edge endeavor. This means that the final product is fundamentally not well-defined and the work to be done will almost certainly shift as customer needs and desires are uncovered. This requires a more flexible approach to planning. Lean/Agile embraces changing requirements by focusing on short iterations in which the primary focus is learning and evolving the value you are creating for your customers.

4. Focus on integrated, self-managed teams.

In traditional project planning, you can lay out the work to be done and divide it among specialists who work independently. However, because innovation work shifts and evolves as you learn, it's impossible to fully anticipate the resources you will need and how they will be deployed.

For Lean/Agile projects, create small self-managed teams who have all of the capabilities and expertise the project will likely need. Cross-train so members can flex according to the needs of any one iteration, and let them figure out the best way to organize themselves to do the work efficiently.

5. Develop a culture of continuous improvement.

One of the hardest, but also the most impactful, shifts companies need to make is in their thinking around failure. Most companies strive to avoid failure and often create cultures in which failure is severely punished. They focus on blame and consequences to drive behavior and performance. In a Lean/Agile culture, failure is a tool for learning and not something to be avoided.

That's not to say that all failure is good. You want your failure to come with a healthy dose of learning and validation. But if your culture sees failure as something to be avoided at all costs, rather than as a process for learning and experimenting, then you will have a difficult time adopting a Lean/Agile mindset.

The good news is that it's not hard to start any of these practices and see early gains quickly. The bad news is that mastery is an elusive target. The companies that do the best job with these realize that they can always do better and constantly strive to achieve higher levels of proficiency. For them, agility is a way of being, not a goal.

Why You Should Throw Out Core Values That Say ‘Honesty’, ‘Integrity,’ Or ‘Ethical’―Here’s What To Replace Them With

Core values are important for a company's culture. However, most companies miss the mark by using words that represent table stakes rather than a strategic choice.

As a business coach, I spend a lot of time with company leaders planning growth and developing strategy. A key part of this process is establishing the fundamentals for why an organization exists and how it chooses to do business. This step includes creating its mission, its vision, and, most important, its core values.

Unfortunately, many companies miss the mark when it comes to creating an effective set of core values. They either create a set of aspirational statements that describe what they wish they were--rather than what they truly are now--or they create values that define basic business best practices, rather than differentiating values that define the company's unique identity.

Core values, like missions and visions, are there to help leaders in a company make tough decisions about how they execute their strategy. They provide guardrails and heuristics about what is the right--and what is the wrong--path to take. A good set of company core values should make it easier for everyone to make tough decisions.

When working on your core values, here are a few things to keep in mind that will improve their effectiveness as a decision-making tool.

1. Focus on who you are, not who you wish to be.

Too often I see core values that are aspirational rather than descriptive. A team declares that "punctuality" is a value, but starts every meeting 10 minutes late, or claims "transparency" is important but then cloaks leadership team meetings in secrecy.

Instead, focus on how your company is unique. If you like to have fun and be silly, own it. If you're brutally competitive, then celebrate it. Values are not good or bad; they are simply who you are and how you see the world. 

2. Avoid platitudes and best business practices.

I'm very wary about core values that use words like "honesty" and "integrity." These are things every business needs to have to operate ethically. They are the foundation and should not be choices you've made. Even values like hard work or teamwork are difficult unless you can make a specific case.

The test for these is to ask if another company could say it is not going to be one of those things. A company would have a difficult time saying honesty wasn't a value, which means is not a value that helps define who you really are. However, a company could say that teamwork isn't a value because it focuses on being competitive instead. I'd give props to a business that was self-aware and bold enough to own that value.

3. Identify what you're willing to give up.

A good way to give your core values some teeth is to figure out what value you're willing to give up. I call these "antivalues." These antivalues reflect what you're willing to sacrifice to truly live your value.

Here's the trick: You need to be able to give your antivalue to another company and have it still make sense. If you're willing to give up privacy to be transparent, that works because another company could choose to give up transparency for privacy.

4. Find stories that demonstrate your values in action.

Values need to guide actions. Collect a handful of stories that breathe life into your values by showing how you've used them to make difficult decisions. You can also find examples of when you didn't use them and how that led to bad outcomes. If you can't find examples of how you have lived out your values, you might be missing something.

5. Incorporate them into your rituals and routines.

It doesn't do any good to spend the time and energy discovering your values to just make a poster for your conference room wall. You need to use them as tools for making decisions and guiding your actions.

Work them into your regular course of business. I have clients who develop quarterly themes around values and create awards for people and teams who best demonstrate them. And while I don't suggest using them in external marketing materials, your internal communications should refer to them often.

6. Hold people accountable for living the values.

The most impactful, but also the hardest, application of core values is to hold people accountable for living them. Working them into the professional development and review processes is critical. And, if need be, you should be willing to let someone go if they repeatedly act in conflict with the values you've agreed to.

Why Getting Out of The Office As CEO Could Be The Best Change For Company Growth

As CEO, it's easy to let your workload keep you behind your desk all day. Here are eight reasons to see your work in a whole new way.

One of the major shifts a CEO needs to make as their company grows and expands is the shift from being internally focused on process and operations to being externally focused on markets and competition. As a business coach who works with leadership teams of companies who are scaling rapidly, I often see this as a significant challenge for many CEOs.

This is especially true for CEOs who are also the founder of the company. Founders know the business inside and out and can fix just about any problem more quickly than anyone else in the company. The problem is that it's not the best use of their time when the company is bigger.

The core challenges of growth are defining a specific core customer and how the company is going to position itself in the market relative to its competition. The only way to do that is to get out of the office and into the market. Here are eight ways that CEOs can break the habit of spending too much time in the office.

1. Spend time with customers.

One of the easiest ways to get out and learn about the market is to spend time with your customers. Meeting with CEOs and senior leaders will be helpful, but also go visit the company's middle management and walk the shop floor.

Discover what challenges they have both strategically and operationally. Work to understand why they buy from you and what the real value of your product or service is to them.

2. Go see your suppliers and partners.

Many CEOs fail to realize the wealth of information their suppliers and partners can have around the industry. The fact is, they probably also work with many of your competitors or even your customers directly. And if you're a good account for them, they will be more than willing to discuss insights, changes and trends. 

3. Meet with your competitors.

This might seem counterintuitive, but meeting with competitors can be very insightful. And while some competitors might shy away from inviting you in, many CEOs are surprised how open many competitors are to inviting you to visit and see their operations. Taking the view that every company is different and has their own niche allows you to see and share information that can help both parties become more successful.

4. Get involved in industry organizations.

Industry organizations can provide events, conferences, and programs that will give you insight into what's happening in your market. Active groups will put on public and private gatherings of leaders to discuss issues and to share experiences.

If you really want to leverage these groups, get involved by serving in a leadership role and get on the board or volunteer for a committee.

5. Go on sales calls.

Another great way to get market insights is to go on sales calls. Seeing how prospects react to your offerings, hearing what they're concerned about, and learning how they make decisions can tell you a lot about what's happening in your industry.

The trick here is to avoid coaching your sales people and staying in the background. If you start jumping in and selling, you'll miss the opportunity to see the bigger picture.

6. Be on an industry panel.

If you're shy about speaking, panels are a great way to get exposure without the stress and prep work. Many industries have events with panel opportunities. If you want to kick this up a notch, put together your own panel around a topic you're interested in and be the moderator.

7. Visit a university program.

Universities are always looking for professionals to participate in their programs. This can be as simple as being a guest speaker or as committed as running a full course. The goal here is to interact with the professors and the students to see what topics and ideas are being discussed by the next generation.

8. Sit on a non-profit board.

Another great way to interact with other executives in your space is to sit on the board of a related non-profit. They are always looking for people to sit on boards and it's usually a reasonable amount of work if the board is well run. Not only is it good insight, but it's also a great way to give back to the community which supports your business.

CEOs need to develop good insights about what's happening in their market if they are going to create effective strategies for growth. And you can't do this by sitting in your office or in meeting rooms all day. It's important to find the right strategies that work best for your style and schedule. But most importantly, just get out and try things.