6 Key Skills That Will Improve Your Goal Setting and Success in Business and in Life

Setting and achieving powerful goals requires more than one skill. Here are the six skills that great goal achievers have mastered.

As an executive and team coach, I help individuals and teams set goals every day.

And while all teams are very different and have very different goals, the ones who are most successful share six key skills--skills which you can use to accelerate your success, too.

1. Polish your crystal ball.

The first thing to develop is your ability to see the future. Having a powerful imagination that gives you a clear vision of yourself in your future success will drive motivation and inspiration. Great goal setters spend time carefully envisioning themselves in the future having already achieved this success.

Visualizing future success sets up a cognitive dissonance in your mind. And since the mind doesn't like it when thinking doesn't match reality, it begins to take action to change reality, driving our unconscious thinking towards reaching your goals sooner.

2. Get good at planning.

Great goal setters know how to think through the steps needed to reach their objectives. They see the tasks that need to be performed and the order they need to be performed in. Good plans create a path to success by connecting the dots between where you are now and where you want to be.

But don't get attached the plan itself. As Eisenhower once said, "plans are worthless, but planning is everything." Great planners know that the value comes from the process of thinking through your options, developing a good strategy, and assessing risks. Highly successful people take action, get feedback, develop insights, and then re-plan quickly.

3. Just do it.

If you want to achieve your goals, you can't spend all day looking at your navel. Yes, you need to think and plan, but even more importantly, you need to take action. Action not only moves you forward, but it also gives you feedback.

I often use the analogy of when you first turn on your phone's GPS and it's confused about which direction you're facing. While you could wait there and let it think, the quickest solution is to just take a few steps forward and it will quickly adjust your position on the map.

The same goes for working on your goals. Sometimes, you just need to do a few things and then see if you're making progress, or if you need to turn around and go in the opposite direction.

4. Master the juke.

Great running backs learn how to juke to avoid tackles by dogging, weaving, and spinning to avoid defenders. They know that trying to square up and bash through them will not usually be successful and will almost always hurt.

The same is true for those who are highly productive. When faced with an obstacle, these high achievers don't put their head down and drive into it with brute force. They find a way to avoid it and move around it. Even if the obstacle adds a little time or wasn't the path they originally planned, they know that maintaining forward progress is more important than sticking to a plan that isn't working.

5. Discover your inner zen.

In the late 1970s while researching why artists get so absorbed in their work to the point of not eating for days, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discovered that these people entered a physical-mental state of hyper performance which he named flow.

He discovered that anyone can get into this highly productive state. And when they do, they can achieve up to ten-times their normal level of performance. Not only that, but people report having a euphoric experience of blissful satisfaction where time passes without notice.

Finding your flow state is critical to being productive. Choose the right day of the week, time of day, environment, and frame of mind to make yourself hyper productive. For some it's a nature retreat, and for others it's a noisy coffee shop. Experiment to discover what works for you.

6. You can do anything you want, just not everything you want.

The fact is, we all have real limits on time and energy. We can't work on everything at once. Great achievers know that it is better to focus on one priority at a time and drive it to completion before changing course.

It's good to have a few different projects going so you can switch gears when you're stuck or frustrated, but keep this variation to a limited few. And don't try to multitask between them. Bigger blocks of dedicated time will allow you to get deeper and tackle bigger, more complex challenges.

While there are other skills that will improve your ability to set and achieve great things, these six are your core building blocks for success. And like most skills, there is always room for improvement. Getting better at goal setting is a lifelong pursuit.

Most Companies Struggle to Develop a Good Business Strategy. Here Are 6 Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.

Many companies struggle with creating an effective business strategy. Here are six ways to get yours right.

While I enjoy all parts of growing and scaling a business, creating an effective scaling strategy is one of my favorites. I love running sessions and helping a leadership team collect information, develop insights about their market, and decide on their unique course of action.

However, many teams get strategy wrong. Here are the most common mistakes I see and suggestions on how to avoid them. Get these right and you'll not only improve your success, you might just have more fun.

1. Don't compete to win, compete to be unique.

Many people frame business strategy as one company pitted against another in a battle of force and will to decide who will dominate a market. And while that might make for a good movie, it's not a good approach to business.

The reality is that most markets are multifaceted; there are plenty of customers for you all to have a reasonable slice of the pie. The trick is to create an approach and niche that will be reasonably profitable and that will allow you to efficiently sell to your target customers.

Instead of seeing strategy as a race to win, see it as a race to be different. An effective strategy is one which clearly defines your niche in the market based on your unique strengths and weaknesses as a company.

2. It's not about motivation, it's about making choices.

Another common mistake people make is to see strategy as rallying the team to put in extra effort and long hours. They string together inspirational quotes to excite people about the future and the wonderful things that will come with success.

Instead, I find that a good, effective strategy should make things easier. A good strategy clarifies who will be targeted with what product/service. This clarity helps you make decisions and allows a company to simplify their processes to do just those few things really well.

3. Know what you're not doing.

Strategy is fundamentally about choice. It's about reducing the areas of focus to a carefully chosen few. Unfortunately, I see many companies that define their strategy in such a way that still leaves them trying to sell everything to everyone, everywhere.

One technique I use is to have a company list all of the prospects they are not targeting, products they are not offering, and locations they are not servicing. If this is a long and clear list, I know that company has a clear strategy which focuses on doing a few things well. If it's short and vague, I send them back to the drawing board.

4. Don't chase the puck, get out ahead of it.

Another thing I often see is a company developing a strategy in reaction to a specific market event, competitor move, or industry situation. While companies need to respond to events and changing markets, that is not the core of business strategy. Your strategy should guide you on how to respond, but it's not the response itself.

A strategy defines a set of choices and a series of policies on how you are going to make decisions and what you are going to prioritize. By design, strategies are long-term plays based on a logical analysis of the trends in the market and where future opportunities are likely to exist.

5. Strategy is worthless, if it's not communicated.

Often times, companies spend weeks developing a sophisticated and smart strategy, but then they put it in a binder and leave it on the shelf. At best, a few people on the leadership team can recall the content months later, but the vast majority of the company has forgotten or is oblivious of the work.

Strategy needs to be simple to understand and easy to communicate. The fact is that everyone in the company needs to know the strategy as they are the ones implementing it. Your front line workers make more decisions on strategy each and everyday than any executive. It needs to be simple and it needs to be communicated frequently.

6. Strategy is a regular process, not a document.

Too often I see teams create a great strategy and then frame the final document on the wall. They check the box and get back to day-to-day business. The power in strategy is the discussion and application not the document. Great teams talk about strategy weekly and grapple with strategic decisions on a daily basis.

Strategy is not easy, but it doesn't need to be hard. The trick is to make it a regular process and routine inside your leadership discussions. And while strategies should be simple to be effectively communicated, they need not be simplistic in approach. Much like writing a good letter, the more concise a strategy is, the longer and harder a team most likely worked on it.

Confused About the Difference Between a Priority and a Goal? Here’s a Framework to Keep You on Track

If you're involved in any goal-setting effort, you're bound to run into a host of terms that all seem to mean the same thing. Here's how to keep them straight.

When working with leadership teams and executives on strategy planning, we often throw around a lot of terms. Some of these terms can seem to mean the same thing, and they often end up meaning different things to different people. Here are some definitions I've coalesced and use in my work to keep things clear.

Purpose

I use this to describe what an individual or organization is meant to do in their heart of hearts. It's something they can spend their entire lives pursuing and has infinite room for success. Some examples are: to rid the world of hunger or improve our lives through technological innovation.

Mission

I like to think of the purpose as the why, and the mission as the what. A mission defines what we want to achieve at the highest level. Some examples are: give every child three square meals a day or make tomorrow's technology available today.

Vision

A vision describes a future state in rich detail. We use a vision to create a compelling view for what our success will look like once we've achieved our goals. Generally, this is written in prose over several paragraphs and provides key details and taps into core emotions.

BHAG

Coined by Jim Collins in his book Built To Last, BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal. I look 10 years in the future, but some people go as far as 30. There are different types of BHAGs, but they are always compelling and time-bound. Good BHAGs will move you into a new league of play and should invoke the slightest bit of fear.

Priority

Priority defines the one thing you are dedicating the majority of your time to. Your priority is the thing you do prior to working on other tasks. It is often helpful to have a list of things that you are deprioritizing in return. Priorities are generally set for a year or quarter and can involve multiple tasks or projects.

Focus

Your focus is similar to a priority, but slightly more general. I think of a focus as a topic of interest or concern for a group or individual. A focus might be customer service, whereas a priority would be reducing the wait time for priority customers.

Initiative

I generally use initiative to describe a group of projects, often across departments, that achieves one or more key results in an organization. Some examples might include: improve safety to reduce shop floor accidents. This one initiative includes human resources, operations, facilities, and logistics.

Objective

Objective is defined as an area of focus that is clearly aligned with the long term strategy, reasonably narrow in scope, and compelling to the team. For example, a quarterly objective might be improve project management skills for all delivery staff.

Goal

A goal is similar to an objective but smaller and more specific; it also has a clear deadline and timeline. If the objective is improve project management skills for all of our delivery staff, then a goal might be have all delivery staff score over 90 percent on the PMI project management skills assessment.

Target

Used in conjunction with a key performance metric (KPI), a target is a specific number or measurement you're looking to achieve. If your KPI is number of orders per day, your target might be over 200 orders a day for five consecutive days.

Key Result

If you're using OKRs, then these are the specific, measurable, actionable things you are doing to move forward on your objective. Each key result is an independent task that adds value, not a series of steps in a project plan.

If your objective is improve project management skills for all delivery staff then your a key results might be 1) run three project planning workshops in March, 2) have two people go to the PMI certification class, and 3) hold a project retrospective on our last three projects.

Action Item

An action item is a commitment to do something. It has a 'who', a 'what', and a 'by when'. With any action item, I want to know what I will have in my hands or see with my eyes that will tell me it's complete. When running my weekly team meetings, I'm focusing on what actions people are committing to for the next meeting so that I can hold people accountable to what they've signed up to deliver.

I'm sure there are other terms that get thrown around in these types of sessions, but the ones above are the core terms that are good to know. While I like mine, they are not gospel. What's most important is that everyone on your team agree to each word's meaning so everyone has the right expectations.

Does Your Team Have More Drama Than You’d Like? Look for This Plot and These 3 Characters.

Team drama takes on many forms, but it's rarely effective. Look for these patterns and use these techniques to flip the script.

As a team coach, I often get brought into situations with a lot of drama and dysfunction. Sometimes drama is too ingrained and systemized to resolve and the team needs to be disbanded and rebuilt.

In many cases, however, we can turn the ship around by recognizing patterns and the roles people are stuck in. The most common pattern I see is the Victim-Villain-Hero triangle.

In the late 1970s, psychologist Stephen Karpman identified this common Victim-Villain-Hero pattern in many dysfunctional families and relationships. These roles caused the members involved to get stuck in a downward spiral. As it turns out, we can apply this same analysis to professional team situations.

Team members might switch roles at various times, but these three roles are key to the pattern. The resulting drama triangle between these roles causes the individuals to stay stuck.

The Victim

Feels powerless and feels that everything is happening to them. They act stuck and unable to make decisions or have control over the situation. Generally they are unhappy and ashamed of the situation they are in.

The Villain

Feels they are logically correct and morally justified in their actions. They are generally blaming, critical, and demanding in their behavior. They are generally focused on doing what they feel is right and fair to the larger group or community.

The Hero

Feels the need to rescue the victim from the villain. They will often act in a caring, supportive, and self-sacrificing manner to support the victim. However, the hero is often not addressing their own obstacles or bigger issues and instead diving in to save the victim so they, the hero, can avoid harder conversations and/or avoid addressing the villain.

When I start working with dysfunctional teams, I often see this drama triangle playing out. In complex situations, and workplaces there are often multiple triangles between multiple people and situations where a person can be a victim in one triangle and a villain in another.

The first step in changing the situation is making the team aware of the pattern they are in. I give them feedback on their behavior based on specific interactions, and I help them see how they are playing out a certain role. Sometimes, just this awareness is enough to change the dynamic.

Once we expose the pattern, I can start coaching them on how to react to these situations differently. For each role there is a different, and more empowering approach they can take to improve the situation.

The Victim can help solve the problem. 

When someone feels themselves slip into victim mode, I suggest they shift to problem solving mode. Rather than wallow in their situation, they should brainstorm options. This might include resources they have and people who can help. I also suggest they shift from seeing the other person as the villain to instead seeing them as someone trying hard to live up to a high standard.

The Villain can focus on clear results.

When someone sees themselves becoming the villain, I encourage them to focus on the results they want to achieve and shift the blame and criticism. They should become a champion of higher expectations and desire and assert what they want rather than attacking the other person. I want them to ask for the other person's help and commitment to reach their shared goal. A good champion will make the other person part of the solution.

The Hero can clarify their goals and expectations.

Being a hero can feel great. You get to put on your cape and pull the victim to safety. However, this is a not a sustainable approach. Instead, I encourage the hero to think more like a coach and to help the victim generate options he or she can implement themselves. I also encourage the hero to work with the villain to help them clarify their goals and expectations.

While not all drama is the result of the victim-villain-hero triangle, and not all triangles can be successfully turned around, knowing the patterns and trying these approaches can change the dynamic when you see a team in trouble. More importantly, being aware of the tendency can help you realize when you're stuck in one yourself.

Does Your Team Set Great Goals but Then Fail to Successfully Deliver? Here Is the One Meeting You Need and How to Get It Right

Teams can set a solid strategy and create great goals but then miserably fail on the delivery. Here is the one meeting that will make a difference.

Nothing is more frustrating than having a great planning session and coming up with a breakthrough plan for the quarter, only to have the team fall short on their targets. This shortcoming not only means lost time and increased risks, it's hard on team morale, too.

Left unaddressed, this accountability problem slows down the team considerably until people leave or management steps in and shakes things up. To break out of this cycle, there is one aspect I focus on that helps rebuild the team's planning and execution capability and morale.

That one thing is the weekly planning meeting.

The weekly planning meeting is when the team looks at its goals and their individual commitments to the team and figure out what they are going to focus on and accomplish over the next seven days. Seven days is the core work cycle of the team and all it takes to rebuild a team's momentum.

The agenda for the weekly meeting is simply five questions:

1. What did you commit to for this week?

2. What did you accomplish?

3. What did you learn?

4. What do you commit to for next week?

5. What is your action plan?

For the first two or three weeks, I just ask the questions. I don't probe too deeply, I just make sure I'm clear on what they are committing to, what they are learning, and what actions they are planning. My goal is to understand the situation and the dynamic. There are a several common patterns I find within these meetings; all of which have simple fixes.

1. Focusing on too many priorities in a week.

This happens when people feel pressure and are desperate for results. They hope that committing to lots of work will offset the lack of delivery. Instead, I try to take the pressure off and just have them focus on a few simple, but highly important, tasks. Once they have success and confidence, we can rebuild to a reasonable volume.

2. Focusing on something other than a key priority.

This can happen because there is an obvious obstacle they don't know how to address or a fear of tackling something highly important and then failing. By refocusing on the main thing, breaking it down to simple set of tasks, and focusing on learning something, rather than finishing something by the end of the week, we can begin to make progress in the right direction.

3. Not having a clear sense of the goal.

Too often people make commitments that are vague and fluffy. Which means that they don't really know what they are going to do or work on which in return means they can't deliver at the end of the week. One of my favorite terms is definition of done. What am I going to see with my eyes or hold in my hands at the end of the week? Only after answering this question can we ask if that work product really helps us advance towards our goal.

4. Not planning time to do the work

This happens when someone hopes to find the time during the week to do the work they committed to, but then gets overwhelmed with day-to-day tasks. In simple cases, I help them set aside time to dedicate to the work. In severe cases, we focus on rebuilding their daily schedule and delegation plan to free them up to make time to work on weekly priority commitments.

5. Starting too late in the week.

This is a common case of procrastination. They push off the work until day five or six and then get caught waiting for someone else to reply or get back to them before they can finish. Here, I suggest the "eat the frog" approach to task management, whereby you start each day tackling the hardest, least fun task each morning so that you can get it off your plate and move on to something easier and more fun.

6. Spinning wheels on an obstacle.

Sometimes people report that they hit an obstacle quickly and then struggled with it for the remainder of the week or just shut down and stopped working. My best advice in these cases is that when you get stuck, raise your hand. One of the main reasons most businesses work in teams is so that you have multiple brains on a problem. By suffering in silence, you're undermining your team. Instead, talk to someone and get some help.

While other situations do come up, these are by far the most common, and the most addressable. Usually after a few weeks of course correction and rebuilding, the team gets back into a productive grove. And, over time, by focusing on good, realistic habits and continuously improving on process, a team can overcome and makeup for lost ground.

The Best Companies Do These Things to Attract the Best Talent, Even in a Tight Job Market

Talent can be tough to find in a tight labor market, but it shouldn't lower your standards.

While a strong economy is great for sales and market expansion, it makes for a particularly tight labor market. If you're like most companies, finding good candidates for your open positions is getting harder and harder.

You might be tempted to lower the bar and take on people you might not otherwise, but be careful. While you can lower the bar on skills and supplement with training and development, lowering the bar on cultural fit will only hurt you in the long run.

Here are the techniques I've seen the best companies use to find the best people even when there are fewer candidates looking for jobs.

1. Define the role behaviors, not experience requirements

Most companies start a job post with a long list of professional experiences, skill requirements, educational degrees, and technical certifications. These are all proxies for the actual work to be done and not always the best indicators. Plus, research shows that women, specifically, tend to not apply to a job if they don't meet all of the stated requirements, which cuts out up to half of potential candidates.

Instead, focus on listing the key job responsibilities and requirements and how these will be measured. Let people make their own call regarding whether they can successfully perform these tasks.

If you need people with licenses, required certifications, advanced degrees, or accredited education, then list those and make it clear that regardless of performance, you cannot consider candidates without these items. Only list requirements that are true deal breakers.

2. Don't try to solve process problems with role definitions

I often see job descriptions that are odd combinations of responsibilities and skills. Typically this happens because the company hasn't designed a clear operational process. They end up with a pile of operational "leftovers" and throw all of these responsibilities into a catch-all role to solve the problem.

Instead, take the time to refine your process to use skills and capabilities that you know your labor market can provide. Make investments in technology to help standardize the work.

3. Look outside your immediate industry

If you're struggling to find talent in your immediate industry, consider related industries you can pull from. You may need to do more training, but if you can find the right core skills, you can often find access to new talent quickly.

Shake off your preconceptions; focus on the core skills and attitudes of the people you need. One company I know who needed people to make marketing cold calls used out-of-work actors who not only loved having the work but also enjoyed the normal business hours.

4. Boost your internal training programs

Most companies now know that hiring for cultural fit is more important than hiring for the technical skills. Making sure everyone you bring on shares a similar set of core values and is passionate about the vision for the company creates long-term value and alignment.

However, many companies are stuck hiring for skills because they have no internal training strategy. If a company doesn't have training processes in place for new hires to utilize, it forces hiring managers to prioritize skills instead of culture fit.

Invest in a good program for teaching role-specific skills as part of the on-boarding process so that hiring managers can recruit people who will be good long-term investments. Then invest in ongoing development so you can retain those people over time.

5. Leverage the power of coaches

A thirst for learning is one of the best attributes you can have in any hire. Feeding that desire will not only allow you to boost their productivity and impact, it will also allow you to attract them in the first place. Ambitious people want to work in an environment that will fuel their growth.

Internal or external coaching can be great at getting the right talent in the door and keeping them there. Coaches not only train important leadership and management skills, but they also build a personal relationships with employees that increase their loyalty to the organization.

6. Focus on culture development

The best way to attract and retain people is to build a powerful organizational culture: figure out how you're different from every other company and what your unique attributes can offer the market.

Being different allows you to compete for talent because you offer something an employee can't get anywhere else. This focus lowers your recruiting costs and avoids increasing compensation in an effort to retain your people.

The best companies are always looking for the best talent regardless of the economic situation. They keep their standards high and trust their processes, even when the competition for talent is fierce. While they could compromise to ease the short-term pain, they know that the long-term costs aren't worth it.

If You Don’t Have a Clear Cannabis Use Policy in Your Company, Create One Now. Here’s Why

With many states legalizing cannabis, every business needs to be prepared with a clear use policy.

Today, all but four states in the US, allow for cannabis use at some level. Nine states have legalized recreational use, while others have authorized limited use of cannabis products at varying THC levels for specific medical conditions and situations. And the maps are changing quickly as state legislators introduce new bills on a monthly basis.

As the use of legal cannabis spreads, employers need to carefully consider how this will impact their workplace and the working expectations of their employees. Court cases are already starting to appear around the issue, and, it's clear, that the vast majority of businesses will be caught flat-footed if they don't get ahead of the issue.

Complicating matters is the fact that cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, which means that employers need to know what's happening federally and state-by-state if they want the full picture. Employers also need to consider the states their employees reside in not only where their business is located to fully consider the possible situations.

Topping it off is the effects of cannabis are not well understood, and drug tests are not well developed. This leaves a lot of room for uncertainty that can create sticky situations for employers. While there is a lot to be ironed out by regulators and the court system regarding legal guidelines and processes, smart companies are taking action now rather than avoiding the issue.

As a business coach, I strive to create healthy and highly productive work cultures. Here are five things I suggest to my clients, and what I see progressive companies doing to be proactive about cannabis use.

1. Get out ahead of the conversation

First, companies need to make the issue a priority in their discussions with employees. Hiding from cannabis will only lead to problems in the future. Talk about how cannabis use can impact your people and your business and openly engage in the conversation early. Work to clarify your expectations before issues arise.

2. Have a clear, written policy

Every company needs a clear, written policy on cannabis use. With the legalization of medical and recreational cannabis, the use of cannabis will only increase in the coming years. Your people will be using cannabis if they are not already, and you need to deal with it.

Clearly state what you expect around the usage and effects of cannabis. If someone has a medical use permit, can they use cannabis while in the office? Can they use the night before or the morning before they come to work? Do you have a zero-tolerance policy or are actions taken based on the circumstances? Define your guidelines and processes now.

3. Discuss the policy with all employees

Creating a policy is not enough. You need to make sure people know about the policy and understand what's in it. Burying your policy in the back of your employee binder won't pass muster. You can't enforce a policy or process that wasn't properly communicated.

Hold regular sessions to review all new employee policies and changes; include cannabis in these meetings. As the laws change and more people start to use cannabis, you'll need to update, revise, and reconsider these regularly. Start the conversation now.

4. Apply the policy fairly and evenly

Like all expectations and policies, you need to apply them in a fair and balanced manner. Make sure your policies and enforcement processes don't create bias by role or employee. Unfortunately, the enforcement of marijuana law has been significantly racially biased by the law enforcement and the justice system. You need to make sure your approach doesn't perpetuate this problem.

5. Stay up-to-date on changes in local laws

There is new cannabis legislation on a weekly basis as laws are developed and passed. Courts are continuing to sort through cases to establish precedent and applications of these laws. Subscribe to a good news service such as the Marijuana Policy Project to stay abreast of new and upcoming legislation and update your policy as needed.

Many employers are taking a 'wait and see,' or even a 'hide and hope,' approach to cannabis. And while they are avoiding the work of having to deal with the issue now, they are only creating bigger issues in the future. Employers who get out ahead of the topic will not only avoid difficult situations, but they will also attract employees who appreciate working for a company who is proactive and allows them to use cannabis safely.

When Pricing Your Product or Service, Forget About Your Costs and Focus on Delivered Value. Here’s How.

Don't leave money on the table. Here's how to get your pricing right and put more money in your pocket.

While it's not hard to price a product or service to sell, it's much harder to find the one that maximizes profits. Many companies play it safe, leaving too much money on the table as they try to maximize their close rate rather than the amount of cash that goes to the bottom line.

Here are some of the key pricing factors to consider. While there is no magic formula, experimenting with these strategies will increase your success and the amount of money that falls into your pocket at the end of the day.

1. Think about its value, not its cost.

Many people start the process of figuring out how to price their products or services by the costs that go into producing and delivering them. While you need to know your costs, that's not how you should determine your price.

Instead, start by calculating the value you create for your clients. How much more revenue do they make? How much more profit? Do you increase sales or lower costs or remove risks? Answer all of these questions and then use this data to calculate your optimal pricing.

2. Calculate the cost of inaction.

One thing many people fail to do is calculate the prospect's cost of inaction. It's easy to see the cost of your product or service, but often times the client's real cost comes from doing nothing. Be sure to consider the factor of time on these costs as well. When a buyer has less time, they have fewer choices and face increased risk and pressure. You should increase your prices accordingly.

3. Remove the buying risk.

Sometimes clients are hesitant to buy because they are not sure you can deliver on it even though they can see the benefit. While testimonials work well to convince people, sometimes you need to use a stronger strategy. If buyers remain skeptical but interested, offer them a satisfaction guarantee (we keep working until you're happy) or a money-back guarantee (you get all or part of your fee back if you're not happy).

If you've done a good job prospecting, these will be rare. Work into your fees a small percentage of clients that don't work out or result in extra work. It's often easier to do this than what you would spend on sales and marketing

4. Deliver a 10x return.

A good rule of thumb is that you want your clients to get getting a ten times return on your fees. So if you charge $50K for your services, then they should be seeing $500K or more in value. This could be top line growth, reduction of expenses, or a removal of high-impact risk. Ten times leaves the buyer with a solid business case for the sale.

5. Sell on emotions, but justify with logic.

The research shows that people make decisions using emotions and then justify them using logic. People want to do business with people they know, like, and trust. Yet we often forget that and try to push a sale through based on business rationale.

By demonstrating that buying your product or service is easy, that working with you is a pleasure, and that you can be counted on to deliver the results you promise, you will be able to demand a premium price in the market. While other reasons might make business sense, people would rather pay more for knowing they will enjoy the process.

6. Have a rock solid positioning stratey.

Your best pricing strategy is to have a great positioning strategy. Seth Godin's book Purple Cow explains how the challenge in business is standing out. One of the best ways to do that is to focus on a specific type of customer and to offer a unique and interesting set of qualities and attributes based on their needs.

Doing so will make you stand out and make it hard for prospects to choose your competitors. When you're the only option that truly meets the needs of your target customer, they will happily pay more because you solve their problem well without the fluff and complexity of other options.

7. Don't set your pricing in stone.

Since customer situations and the value of your product or service are continuously changing, consider changing your price as well. We pay a lot more for next-day delivery (far more than it costs the company) and we pay many times more for a soda in a movie theater than we do at the supermarket. Why not charge different prices for different situations?

While pricing is both an art and a science, getting it right is critical to business success. There are many factors to consider and variables to estimate. Just keep in mind that just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the price that works best is the one that your customer are willing to pay.

The Most Important Part of Taking a New Job Is How You Handle Leaving Your Current One

Getting ready to jump ship? Even if you can't wait to leave, don't burn your bridges on the way out.

While company loyalty is important and many companies will reward people for long tenures, switching jobs is part of the normal course of business. However, the fact that there is an expectation that you will leave, doesn't mean you should take leaving lightly.

How you make your exit will have a large impact on your professional reputation, and you want to get it right. Have a plan and make sure you're taking the high road regardless of what other people do or say along the way. Here's what to keep in mind.

1. Don't play games.

For example, going out and getting job offers in order to pressure your current employer for a promotion or more money is a dicey game to play. While it might be warranted when you have clearly been passed over or are well below market rates, you can only play this card once, and you need to play it carefully.

Be completely committed to the process and only stay at your current employer if they give you a big bump. Using this technique to nickel and dime your way to higher compensation will wear your employer thin. Plus, you'll most likely not receive an offer from the new company again, so you'll be burning that bridge, too. f you work in a small industry and people talk, you might be burning others too.

2. Keep doing your job.

It's to your benefit to stay focused on your current job while you're still employed. It's also the right thing to do. They are paying your salary and have every right to expect you to perform well. Until the end of your last day, keep your head in the game.

Another reason to finish strong is you want your current employer to know that you cared enough to give it your all. Sometimes, after you make the move, things go sideways or you realized it was the wrong decision. Leaving on a good note increases the chance they would welcome you back if you were to change your mind.

3. Communicate once you've decided.

Once you've made the final decision to take a new position, be sure to communicate clearly to the right people in a timely manner. You don't want people to find out in the wrong way or from the wrong person. This misstep can lead to hurt feelings and people questioning your intentions.

Generally, I suggest that once you have a final offer letter from the new employer and you've made the decision to accept the offer, let your immediate manager or supervisor know that you are leaving. You're departure will impact them the most and they will appreciate being the first to know.

Depending on the situation, assume a two-weeks' notice, but I might offer an additional two weeks if your current employer asks for it and your new employer doesn't mind. From there, let your current employer's HR department know and then your colleagues and friends.

4. Be appreciative.

Throughout the leaving process and with everyone you speak to, be sure to thank them for the opportunities they've given you and for what you've learned. Venting your frustrations as you head out the door might feel good in the moment, but it won't help your future prospects and you'll likely regret it.

If you want to kick it up a notch, write personal thank you notes or even leave small tokens of appreciations behind for the people who you really connected with and the people who impacted your career. You never know if they will be in a position to hire you in the future or show up in your new company as your new boss.

5. Don't gossip.

It's tempting to show up at a new company and start sharing all of the internal drama and dysfunction from your old company with your new colleagues. It feels powerful and gives you a lot of attention while you're trying to fit in. Resist that urge.

Not only does it lack integrity, it might be in violation of your previous employment agreement. It will also paint you as a gossip and people might reasonable think that you'll spill their beans in your next job.

Interviewing and taking a new position is never easy: it's a mix of emotions and opportunities. Nobody expects you to get everything right, but handling yourself with poise and having a plan to make the transition smooth for everyone will serve you well now and in the future.

5 Ways to Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills as a Business Leader

Highly successful leaders are exceptional critical thinkers. Here are five ways to improve your approach to strategic problem-solving and decision-making.

As a strategic business coach, one of my core responsibilities is leveling up leadership skills on the senior team. I like to say, if you want to grow and scale a business, you have to grow and scale its leadership. And one of the key skills I focus on is critical thinking.

As a business grows in size, so does the complexity and scope of its problems and challenges. Without good critical-thinking skills, leaders will make poor decisions and fail to take advantage of strategic opportunities. Very often, what holds the business back from reaching its true potential is a lack in the leadership of foresight and effective problem-solving skills.

Here are five key things I focus on when working with leaders to improve their ability to identify, analyze, solve, and implement effective problem-solving strategies.

1. Gather more and better data

The first thing I emphasize is that most teams try to make decisions with limited and poor-quality data. Good critical thinkers start by collecting as much high-quality data as possible. They don't take things at face value. They question summaries and dig to make sure that they really understand what's happening on the ground and maximize the raw information they have to work with.

This includes both structured and unstructured data as well as quantitative and qualitative information. It's also important to look at history and trends and to compare the data you're looking at with other benchmarks and norms. Good thinkers don't rely upon summaries and averages; they go back to the source and get the raw information.

2. Learn how to separate fact from inference

Once you've collected information, it's key to understand the difference between facts and inferences. Too often leaders will make an assumption about what's really true and treat it as a fact when what they are really dealing with is an inference. This creates a shaky foundation for any future thinking and decision-making.

A fact is objectively observable by other people. An inference is something that includes an assumption or an opinion that may or may not be true. If you literally drive from New York to L.A. and it takes 58 hours, that's a fact. If you use a map to calculate the distance and estimate an average speed to get to 58 hours, that is an inference. Don't confuse the two.

3. Break things down to first principles

I encourage leaders and teams to think in first principles. These are the fundamental building blocks in thinking and decision-making. They are the core elements that are true regardless of situation and context.

They generally are found by asking clarifying questions, considering alternatives, and testing assumptions. Once you have a good set of first principles, you then have the elements you need to start creating new options and new solutions that you can be confident in.

For example, the first principle in tennis is that a ball hit with topspin will fall faster than one hit with backspin. A good tennis player knows how to use this in different scenarios to create strategic effects. By combining this with other principles, an expert player can make plays that leverage their strengths and exploit their opponent's weaknesses.

4. Develop effective models

Another tool that can be very effective for teams and leaders is thinking in terms of models or analogies. While these are an abstraction and reduction of reality, and therefore wrong at some level, they can be useful for simplifying a situation and quickly finding alternatives and strategies. 

For example, economies of scale is a model for how price changes with volume. While a specific situation may not follow the model perfectly, it can help a business figure out how to gain efficiencies by increasing the volume while holding costs the same.

The trick with models is to know where and why they work and how they can fall short. Models can help you quickly generate insights and strategies, but you need to be aware of their limits and not get lulled into a false sense of security about reality.

5. Continuously challenge your assumptions

Maybe the most important thing I focus on with leaders and teams is to create ways of testing and validating their assumptions quickly. If left unchecked, an assumption can lead to poor thinking and bad decision-making. This can be avoided by quickly going out into the real world and seeing if what you're assuming holds up in the field.

By developing your critical-thinking skills, you'll improve your decision-making and ultimately get better outcomes and long-term results. And while some of these steps may take some time and energy, they are good investments and will yield strong returns. 

Want to Scale Your Business Faster and Easier? Get Clear on These Two Things

Growing your business quickly requires you to focus your strategy. Here are five steps that'll get you there.

As a strategic coach, I work with companies to figure out how to go from a couple million to a couple hundred million in revenue, which is a very challenging phase of growth. The key to getting to that next level is zeroing in on a strategy that is both effective and highly scalable.

The irony is, the faster you want to scale a business, the more you need to focus your strategy. This includes choosing a specific product or service that you are uniquely good at as well as identifying a specific customer whom you serve particularly well.

That said, here are five key steps you can follow to identify a strategy that will allow you to scale more quickly and with less drama.

1. Identify your core customer

The first thing to do is figure out exactly who your best customer is. Clearly identifying the segment where you are most successful will allow you to focus your sales and marketing efforts and optimize your spending.

The fact is, most companies try to sell to too many types of customers and water down their efforts. Find the one that works best and double down.

The best way to identify your core customer is to look at your current customer base and ask three key questions: Who are your most profitable customers? Which customers are easy to serve? Which customers will promote you in the industry or have a reputation that allows you to sell more effectively?

By asking these three questions and seeing which customers rise to the top, you'll begin to identify what types of customers you should go out and find more of.

2. Shed any and all bad fits

The next step is difficult for most companies but critical for scaling a business. Once you identify your customer you need to stop doing business with everyone else. This doesn't mean you need to fire all your non-ideal clients tomorrow, but you do need to potentially raise rates, stop offering discounts, not provide extra services, and limit the time and energy you spend on them.

It also means you need to set up filters and qualifications in your sales and marketing funnel to remove prospects who do not fit your core customer profile. While it can be hard to say no, it will free up space for you to search for, find, and close better leads.

3. Hone your products and services

Once you've identified your core customer, you begin to see which of your current products and services create the most value for their business. By slimming down your portfolio and focusing on just those offerings that are the highest value, you can simplify your operations.

While there are many products and services you could provide, the fact is that you have limited time, energy, and resources. You should only focus on those that create the most benefit and that allow you to charge the highest prices to make the highest profit. Doing otherwise is just leaving money on the table.

4. Standardize your processes and procedures

The other benefit of limiting the products and services that you offer is that you can simplify your business. With a limited set of offerings, you reduce the complexity of your processes and procedures as well as the breadth of skills and experiences that you need on your teams. Focusing allows you to simplify and streamline many aspects of your operations.

5. Create a brand promise and guarantee

Now that you've identified whom specifically you sell to, what product or service you offer them, and what value you create, you can hone your marketing message. By creating a brand promise that clearly communicates to your target customer what it is you do and what benefit they will gain, you will make it much easier to generate leads and close deals.

A brand promise guarantee shows your prospect that you're willing to put skin in the game and back your product or service with a meaningful and significant commitment. For example, Domino's knew that delivering on time was so important that they would give you your pizza for free if it wasn't there in 30 minutes. The rest is history.

Like many aspects of a business, identifying your core customer and core offering is not complicated, but it's not easy. It takes focus and willingness to make tough decisions and not get distracted by shiny objects.

Here Are 6 Important Questions That Will Decide If Hiring a Coach Will Boost Your Performance or Drain Your Pocketbook

Whether you're a top executive or a recent grad, coaching could be a huge boost to your career. But it could also be a waste of money.

The professional coaching industry has exploded over the last decade. Today, I hear high-powered executives bragging at cocktail parties that they have not one but two or three coaches who help them with everything from leadership to public speaking to mindset.

As a leadership coach, I'm thrilled that so many people are hiring professional like me. However, like any trend, some people rush into hiring a coach who maybe shouldn't. Here are a few questions I ask people who approach me about coaching and questions I suggest you ask yourself before you hire a coach.

1. How self-aware are you?

While this is a difficult question to ask yourself, it's key to the coaching process. If you're not willing, or able, to objectively look at your own thinking, behavior, and actions, then coaching may have limited impact. Those who get a lot out of coaching are highly aware of how their behaviors impact others and situations.

Check the language in your thinking. When something bad happens, do you immediately start blaming other people and finding excuses of why the external world conspired against you and put you in a bad situation? If so, you might want to first work on seeing how you contributed to the outcomes, too.

2. Are you ambitious?

Coaches can help develop great strategies and paths to success, but they can't do the work for you. If you're not driven to make changes and not willing to put in the hard work to implement the action plans, you might not get much out of coaching. You need to want the outcomes enough to do the hard work. If not, you might be wasting your money.

3. Do you hold yourself accountable?

Many people come to me looking to be held accountable and for me to drive the process. I have to explain to them that I can't make them do anything. I can only help them get clarity on what they want, why they want it, and how they are going to get it. But they need to be in charge of doing the work.

If you're not willing or able to take personal accountability for your commitments, then even the best coach in the world will not be able to help you succeed. That doesn't mean you need to be perfect; failure is part of the process. But you need to "own it" and be willing to be self-critical. Don't blame your coach for not making you do your work.

4. Do you have a growth or fixed mindset?

A lot of research has been done in the last decade regarding how your thinking can impact your ability to create change. Carol Dweck's book Mindset presents this as the concept of fixed vs growth mindset. Which one you have will impact the effectiveness of your coaching considerably.

Put simply, a fixed mindset is one that believes your skills and abilities are innate and determined at birth. A growth mindset believes that while you have many natural gifts, you also have the ability to learn and grow through persistence and focused effort.

If you have a fixed mindset, you will not get much out of coaching. If you have a growth mindset, you will see change and improvement by working with a guide who can help you accelerate your learning process.

5. Are you curious to learn?

As a parent of four kids, I can say that one of the most difficult stages of parenting is going through the why phase. They want to know and understand everything. Ever answer is follow by the same question: ..."but why daddy?"

While exhausting to me as a parent, this attitude in the people and teams I coach is an augur of success. People who are willing to ask why, and then why again, and then why a few more times, are much more likely to find root causes and make fundamental changes to they way they behave and think.

6. Can you keep things in perspective?

A big part of the coaching and development process is getting feedback, often a lot of it. Some of it will certainly be critical, and at times it will be difficult to hear. Your ability to take things in stride will determine if you are able to gain insight or if you close up and get defensive.

While you don't need to answer all of the questions perfectly, know that you'll be challenged in many ways by a good coach and being prepared to do the hard work will help you get the most out of it.

Don’t Drop The Ball After You Make A New Hire. Here Are 10 Ways To Onboard Your Next Employee.

Most companies treat the signed offer letter as the end of the hiring process, but it's just the beginning for your new employee.

Companies spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours finding and recruiting the right talent. Yet, many of these same companies then throw new employees into the deep end of their business hoping they'll swim and not sink.

Here are ten ways to create an onboarding process that will make your employees more productive and more welcome.

1. Let your team know.

Too many times I've seen a new person show up for the first day of work and nobody knows who they are let alone that they are a new hire. Make sure you have a system in place to announce the new hire and the role they are filling. Include a photo and a short bio as well.

2. Send them the org chart.

Generally, I'm not a fan of publishing org charts, but for new employees, an org chart can be a great help. It gives them a map to understand who is in what role and which department. Include photos with the names so they can connect faces to names and recognize people then they meet them.

3. Have their space ready.

People need a sense of place and personal space to feel at home. Even if you know you'll be making changes to offices and seats, make sure they have a place to sit on day one. Make sure they have a computer, internet access, and logins to do basic tasks. Including personal items like a coffee mug, reusable water bottle, office key, and a box of tissues is a nice touch and shows you are thinking about their needs.

4. Don't swamp them with paperwork.

Spending your first day sitting at a desk, filling out paperwork is a rough way to start. Instead, I suggest making day one about meeting people and getting familiar with the layout and facilities. People need to feel oriented, welcomed, and connected to other people in order to feel settled. Give them a tour, take them to lunch, show them around. If they have paperwork, send them home early to fill it out there.

5. Give them a checklist.

Showing up for your first day and being dragged around and handed off from person to person with no clue what's going on, who you're meeting, and how long it's going to take is disorienting. Create an agenda and a checklist for what activities and tasks they will be completing over the first few days and weeks. You can even let them track their progress and manage their own onboarding.

6. Have them come in late.

If people trickle into your office at different times, have new people come in mid-morning. That way everyone has answered their urgent emails, has had a cup of coffee, and is ready to start the day. Having a new employee come in and then wait for people to get ready to greet them does not make a good first impression.

7. Send them home early.

Starting a new job and meeting lots of new people can be a little overwhelming and tiring. Sending a new employee home mid-afternoon gives them a chance to process and recover from the day. If they have lots of paperwork to complete or policies to review, they can take it home and bring it back completed for the next day.

8. Give them a map.

One of the key parts of onboarding is orientation and getting people familiar with their surroundings. Include a map of the office so that new employees can see who sits where, which department is on what floor, where the bathrooms are, and where they get food and water. But don't stop there, give them a map of the surrounding area highlighting the best places to get lunch, the local pharmacy, coffee shops, and where to park.

9. Assign them a buddy.

Assign them someone they can ask questions and check in with regularly. Ideally this is someone who joined the organization in the last 12 months and remembers what it's like to be new. Have them check in every day the first week and then weekly for a month or two.

10. Create an FAQ.

A new employee FAQ can be a simple and effective way to cover standard questions that come up. These are easy to start: just make a blank document and on your next new hire, record all of their questions and write down your answers. Have each new employee read this and then add new questions and answers as they come up.

People are the most valuable asset in most companies, yet we tend to assume they will take care of themselves. Taking the time and energy to plan an onboarding process will set people up for success and will create long-term loyalty, an investment well-worth making.

Not All Attrition Is Bad. Here’s How You Tell Who You Should Keep...And Who You Should Let Leave

Not every employee is an A-player, and the best companies have a clear criteria for knowing who they should keep and who they should let go.

Every company needs to find the right people and put them in the right seats if they want to be successful. And while it might sound easy, figuring out who your good people are and who your best people are is critical to success. A great employee can often be two to three times more productive than just a good employee, yet the difference can be subtle.

Here are eight factors that I use with my clients when doing talent reviews to see who we should be going to all lengths to keep and who we might be okay accepting a resignation letter from. A company who has the vast majority of their key roles filled with people who score very well on these parameters will be a force to reckon with in their industry.

1. They understand the role and expectations.

Your top people know what's expected of them in their role and what's outside their scope. Someone who is given a clear description but still has to ask questions or be reminded of work they need to accomplish is not in the right position. Similarly, someone who repeatedly extends themself beyond their role can create problems and is unlikely getting more important work done.

2. They demonstrate the ability to perform.

The best people can perform their role functions with a high level of skill. While they may have room for improvement in a few areas, they are highly capable and have mastered the majority of their tasks. If someone is struggling for an extended period of time on a core part of the job function, they are probably not a good fit for that role.

3. They are hungry to learn and continuously improve.

Top performers are always looking to improve and get better. They have a growth mindset and are continuously setting new targets and striving for higher levels of achievement. Once they have mastered their current job functions, they will naturally start working on the next higher role and training themselves.

4. They cooperate well with others.

While different roles require different levels of collaboration, all top performers can cooperate with others in a win-win outcome whenever needed. They don't keep score and don't hold out for a quid pro quo deal. They know that in the great game of business karma is more powerful than an IOU.

5. They focus on system--not local--optimization.

Great performers know when they need to rise above their local situation and do something for the good of the team rather than what's just easiest for them. They seek to understand the bigger picture and they work to find improvements to the larger system, even if is means their job gets a little harder.

6. They are easy to manage and coach.

The best people know that feedback is critical to getting better. They welcome observations on their performance and suggestions for how they can improve. And they don't just 'yes' you, they ask clarifying questions and want details.

7. They have passion and desire for the role.

Beyond the ability to execute well, your best employees will bring a high level of energy, excitement, and drive to the role. They celebrate wins and dig deep when there's a problem. And not everyone needs to be an extrovert. Passion can be subtle and private, but you'll find it if you look for it.

8. They live the company's core values.

Last, but not least, you best people will be aligned with your company and your team's core values. They will naturally embody the way your organization works and chooses to make decisions. Someone who likes to be a lone wolf in a company that values teamwork will never be a top performer, regardless of how we'll they execute on their role.

Finding and keeping the best talent is not easy. While attracting and recruiting are key to creating a good pipeline, if you aren't continuously reviewing and topgrading your current team, you are either watering down your talent concentration or you won't have any where to put great people when you find them.

8 easy to learn ground rules that will make your next meeting more productive, and fun

Good meetings require structure and process. Here are 8 ground rules that will improve your productivity and focus.

Everyone loves to hate meetings. The fact is they are a core part of working within any organization. Gathering to discuss issues, develop options, and make decisions is often the most efficient way to get work done. Done well, meetings can help quickly clarify challenges, advance ideas, and lead to clear implementation plans.

Bad meetings are typically the result of a lack of a focus, agenda, or structure. And one of the best tools you can use to make sure you stay productive is agreeing on a set of meeting ground rules. Here are eight that I use on a regular basis.

1. Use Vegas rules

Like in Las Vegas, what happens in meetings should stay in the meeting. We don't keep this rule because we want to discuss people's dark secrets or talk ill of people who are not in the meeting, but because we want people to speak openly about what they think about the issues on the table. If people worry that something they say will come back to haunt them, they will be less likely to share. Keep things respectful, but agree that what is said will not leave the room without everyone's agreement.

2. Tackle issues, not people

Too often, when things get heated, people fall into the trap of ad hominem attacks. This only leads to people becoming defensive, taking intractable positions, and dragging in unrelated issues to counter attack. Instead, agree that the team should focus on finding solutions to the problem, not assigning blame and doling out punishment. I often use the phrase "don't make things personal, and don't take things personally" when setting the tone for the meeting.

3. Assume positive intent

I like everyone to agree to approach problems with the assumption that everyone involved is doing everything they can to help the organization. Even if their actions or decisions may look bone-headed in retrospect, assume everyone acted in good faith. It will help focus on finding future solutions rather than who's to blame.

4. Speak now, or forever hold your peace

Sometimes people are hesitant to speak up in meetings. As a facilitator, I do everything I can to remove barriers for people to be able to speak their minds, and I use techniques like silent brainstorming to accommodate different thinking styles. In return, I ask that people have the courage to say what they have to say during the meeting. I want to avoid situations where the group reaches a decision and the next day someone brings up a reservation they held onto, unwinding the hard work we put into reaching an agreement.

5. Own your own experience

You can lead a horse to water, but only they can drink. Same with meetings. Just bringing people together will not cause a meeting to happen. Each person needs to actively participate. This ground rule reminds people that if they want a great meeting, they need to engage and speak up.

6. Be present, or be elsewhere

When I come into companies with bad meeting habits, I'll often suggest they adopt a meeting optional policy to shake things up. It does two things. First, it forces the meeting organizer to run a good meeting with important topics so people actually come. Second, it means that anyone who shows up will be fully engaged, otherwise why bother attending.

7. Have one conversation

While I love heated debate and passionate discussion, chaos will ensue if people are having multiple conversations on top of each other. Insisting on one conversation at a time will allow everyone to fully participate and follow along. If you're dealing with a particularly unruly crowd, you can pull out the talking stick and pass it around to focus the conversation. 

8. Follow the 40 second rule

Mark Goulston, author of Just Listen, explains why some people tend to talk too much in meeting in this Harvard Business Review article How to Know If You Talk Too Much. He says that when someone talks more than 40 seconds, people begin to feel like they are hogging the floor. I encourage my teams to be aware of how long they've been speaking and find a way to hand it off to someone else after a half a minute or so.

While there are many other things that you need to run good meetings, these ground rules are an important place to start. To be most effective, don't foist them on your group. Discuss them and get full agreement on them before enforcing them. Agreement on the ground rules shifts the dynamic from you trying to control the meeting to you reminding others of the agreement they made.

Getting Ready for Annual Performance Reviews? Here’s How to Make Yours Work

For most companies the review process is confusing and unhelpful to both the manager and the direct. Here's how to change that.

The annual review season will soon be upon us. With that, comes much angst regarding how to evaluate your people. If bonuses are involved, it gets even more complex as you decide who should get how much of the pie.

As an advisor who works with dozens of companies on performance management strategies, I've seen a few things that work well, and I suggest these when leadership teams are looking to overhaul their review process. Here are a few big ones.

1. Review quarterly not annually.

One of the best changes you can make is to review more often. First, this offers employees more frequent feedback and multiple chances to set better milestones for their development.

Second, by reviewing more frequently, the organization gets better at doing it. Also, meeting more often means there is less to review which simplifies the meeting.

2. Use a role scorecard.

A role scorecard is used to define the scope and responsibilities of a position and how success is measured. Too often people are in roles without a clear sense of what they should be doing or how they will be measured.

Scorecards are as simple as index cards with the top priorities of a given role or as complicated as multiple-page spreadsheets. Personally, I use a one-page worksheet including title, name of reporting manager, key responsibilities, KPIs, targets for below/meets/exceeds expectations, and available resources.

3. Separate the performance and compensation reviews.

I suggest separating the performance and compensation reviews. While money can be motivating, it's typically restrictive and can skew behavior. It's better to keep the compensation review separate, or at least make a clean break in the agenda.

4. Collect multiple points of feedback

Rather than one manager putting their wet finger in the air, collect feedback from three to five people on specific behavior. Don't ask people if someone deserves a promotion or a bonus; that's the managers call.

Collecting input from different people gives managers perspective on their directs' behaviors. It also gives more credibility to results which will help managers during their conversations with their directs.

5. Provide specific examples

One of the best things to do when giving feedback is to provide specific examples of behavior and results. Bring copies of work products or descriptions of actions. Abstract ideas and generalizations can be easily misinterpreted.

6. Talk about what's going right

It's important to reinforce positive behavior. Often we assume people know what they are doing well, but that's not always the case. Call it out, be specific, and explain why it's good.

Avoid the feedback sandwich. People ignore the bread and usually only focus on the meat. Corrective feedback is something to be embraced and valued, not something to be ashamed of.

7. Set clear expectations for new behavior

When giving corrective feedback, it's important to be clear on what the new/different behavior or results look like. Simply telling someone that they are doing something wrong isn't enough. They are left with the 99 thousand other ways to try it. Giving clear examples of the right and/or desired way gives them a clear target.

8. Have them create a plan for change

Once feedback is given and the direct is clear on what needs to change, I suggest having them come up with their own plan of attack. There are two reasons this is helpful. First, the direct is going to own the plan and will be more committed to the process. Second, it means less work for the manager.

9. Ask what support they need

My management philosophy is hire good people who are self-motivated, point them in the right direction, and give them support. If you've given feedback and they created a good plan, let them run with it and simply ask them how you can help. You might be able to offer advice on a decision, an introduction to someone who can help, or a recommendation for materials or training, but let them ask for it first. Keep them in the driver's seat.

10. Establish a check in time frame

Any professional development plan requires milestones. Once you have a plan, establish what the next milestone is and when you'll meet to review their progress. Let them suggest the first plan. If you feel that's too far in the future, ask them to schedule a halfway meeting. If the pace seems slow, give them feedback that the plan doesn't seem to get them where they want to be in time. But let them replan; resist the urge to step in and take it over.

While assessing performance can be a little uncomfortable, it's the best way to drive organizational improvement. Keeping it objective, focused on the future, positive, and supportive will help minimize stress, while maximizing impact and driving real results.

Core Values Are Not an Airy-Fairy Feel-Good Exercise. They Are a Powerful Decision Making Tool If You Do Them This Way

Many companies create aspirational core values, make posters, and check the box. Here is how to up your core value game and make better decisions.

Business is full of decisions. What products or services to offer, which people to hire, which clients to serve, and what geographies to focus on are all important questions. A successful business needs to make these decisions efficiently and effectively.

Leadership teams navigate these choices in many ways. Previous outcomes give them experience. Processes help them ensure they investigate options, tradeoffs, and risks. However, the most important decision-making tool is developing a strong set of core values.

Unfortunately, many companies fail to get these right. Some create a set of core values which are a list of generic platitudes. Words like honesty, integrity, and ethics are table stakes for being in business, not ways to define who you are.

Other companies create lists of idealized desires for what they wish to be rather than who they currently are. This leaves companies with aspirational goals rather than a tool for embracing their raison d'etre.

As a business coach, I've found several ways to ensure that your values are effective decision-making tools rather than lip service on poster board.

1. Discover, don't decide.

Many teams approach core values as a decision. They look at a list of words and decide which words describe who they are. They debate the pros and cons of different terms trying to determine which one is correct. Values, however, are not something you can rationalize.

Instead, think of your core values as something buried deep within you that require unearthing. Looking at past decisions and behaviors will reveal that which already exists.

2. Values are reality not the ideal.

Often times when I start working with a new team, we review their existing core values, and they describe wonderful ideas. However, when we start looking at recent decisions, policies, and incentive systems, we soon realize that none of these are alive in the company.

The mistake they've made is creating an idealized set of aspirational values that feel nice rather than a list of descriptors that illustrate reality. I like to joke that your values should be fifteen pounds overweight, have a receding hairline, and drink a little too much. If your values look perfect, then they are probably not right.

3. Your values should have a dark side.

One of my personal core values is self-reliance. Usually, this serves me well and by embracing it I'm aligned and in my flow state more often than not. However, sometimes it works against me. For example, I don't like someone taking my bags to my room at a hotel. I'll balance two suitcases on top of a roller just so that I don't have to rely on a bellhop. My method doesn't make sense, but it's the reality of who I am.

I know that a leadership team has nailed a core value when they can point to situations where the value has required them to do something that was difficult or seemingly unnecessary compared to other teams. You should feel compelled to live you values, even when it doesn't make complete sense.

4. Each value needs an anti-value.

Core values are tools for making difficult decisions. And in order to serve that purpose well, you need to know what you are choosing as well as what you're not choosing. A core value reflects a trade off between two equally valid choices. The harder the choice, the more powerful the core value becomes.

I like to call the things you don't choose "anti-values." They are things you're willing to give up in order to live your value. For example, if one of your core values is collaboration, then you might be willing to give up competition. In that case, you won't create individual incentive plans or promote head-to-head challenges and still be true to your values.

My test for anti-values is if you can switch the order and give them to another company and it still works, then you have a good pair. It means that you've given up something of value in your choice.

5. Identify moments in time that illustrate them

One of the most powerful parts of your core values is the stories you tell about them. For each core value, I have the team identify two to three cases when they had to use that core value to make a tough decision. It could have been to fire someone or to continue or discontinue a project. Sometimes the stories are how they didn't follow their core values and how it hurt them.

It's okay if your team prints up a poster of your core values or paints them on the walls of your office, but if that's all you do, then you've missed the point. Core values aren't window dressings; they should be used daily to guide actions and decisions.

Want to Motivate Your Team to Reach a Goal? Create a Winning Theme That Gives Purpose

Setting goals is key to business success, but teams often just focus on the numbers. Instead, create a theme that gives meaning to your achievement.

Many teams hire me because they want to grow faster. They are highly motivated, but they typically lack the experience, structure, and discipline to determine how to implement their strategy. As an outside set of experienced eyes, I can often see obstacles more easily than they can.

One common situation is that leadership teams have set many financial and performance goals, but the rest of the teams continually fail to meet these targets. The targets--revenues, gross margins, units shipped, conversation rates, and billable hours--are good, but they haven't wrapped these targets into a story that offers inspiration and meaning behind the success to the team.

What they've failed to do is provide a theme to the goals. A theme demonstrates how the targets tie into the organizational purpose and it helps them see how the success of their team can make a clear impact. A good theme has a few parts. Here is a process I use to elevate my objectives to be more than just a set of numbers.

1. Know your purpose.

Before you can create a theme, you need to know your purpose. Why are you in business? What differences do you want to make in your customers' lives? A good theme will connect to some aspect of your why and show that when you achieve your targets you will be closer to realizing that purpose.

2. Select your priorities.

It's important to build your theme around your priorities. The key here is focus. Select just a few things to prioritize and make it clear that everything else is a back burner item during this time. You can't be highly successful if you're doing too many things at once.

3. Choose your metric.

Once you have your priorities, choose one metric to focus on. This is a number that, if changed, will indicate that you're achieving your goals. I like to avoid revenue metrics and focus more on subtle aspects. For example, if a priority is sales, aim for a specific number of new ideal accounts, of new qualified leads, or a conversation target. Find a number which measures a process rather than a result.

4. Set your targets.

Now you're going to set your targets for success. Are you trying to get to 50 or 500? Maybe you want to reduce a specific defect from 6% to under 1%. I like stretching goals, so I typically have my teams set one number at the 70-80% confidence level and then a stretch number which defines hitting it out of the park. Make sure you do this as a team; have everyone participate and vote. This increases people's involvement and commitment to the final targets.

5. Craft a theme.

After creating the priority, metric, and target, you're ready to develop a theme. This is your chance to get a little creative. Come up with a concept, phrase, or story that ties your metric to your purpose. Now's the time to leverage the people in your organization who are good with copy and marketing. The snappier the theme, the more memorable it will be.

One company I worked with wanted to focus on their core value: "sharpen the axe." They tracked the number of process improvements made over the quarter. The goal was finding ways of working smarter, not harder.

6. Create a scoreboard.

A scoreboard helps you visualize your goal. Use your metric and your theme to drive the design. You get points for creativity. For the example above, the team made a big poster of a tree and then made little wedges they would write improvements on to paste on the tree like it was being chopped at. It became a conversation piece for visitors and everyone in the company could readily see the progress being made.

7. Create a reward and plan a celebration.

Many teams create bronze, silver, and gold-level rewards for the company based on hitting different levels of achievement. Afterwards, they have a party or social event around the theme to tie it all together.

For the "sharpen the axe" theme above, the team set a goal of 100 improvements over the quarter and the reward was a company outing. Where did they go? You guessed it, axe throwing!

8. Establish a rhythm.

Make sure you're reviewing progress at least once a week. Add it to your meeting agenda and take five minutes to discuss progress. Many teams I coach work it into their daily standup. The axe throwing team added the wedges each morning and then announced the new count during the morning stand up.

Every company needs to work hard if they want to achieve their goals, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun as well. Creating themes brings a powerful human element to the workplace and makes it easier to stay focused and be successful.

Nicer Managers Get Better Long-Term Results. Here’s How You Can Up Your Game and Your Reputation

Good managers deliver the results a company needs at the end of the day. A great leader knows how to deliver results year after year.

I frequently get calls from investors in early-stage companies asking me to meet their portfolio CEOs when things get rocky. Sometimes, the strategy isn't working and they need help with a pivot. Other times, they are having difficulty executing and their processes need refinement. More often than not, these challenges arise because the company has grown, the teams are getting bigger, and the founder is struggling to adapt.

As a company grows, leaders must shift from the directing style of an entrepreneur to a supportive and inspirational role as CEO. It's not an easy transformation, and it's normal to struggle.

In these situations, I've found that it's best to focus on developing long-term relationships with the team members. A big part of this is being nicer to your people. Here are six things I focus on.

1. Take the time to listen.

They say you have two ears and one mouth for a reason; you should use them proportionately. As a leader, try to listen more than you speak. Before you launch into your agenda, check in with your people. Find out where they are and what they are thinking; then adjust your message accordingly.

While it's important to take the time to understand someone, you also need to take the time to make sure the other person feels heard. Sometimes waiting until they're finished speaking takes a while, but trust that it's time well spent. If someone doesn't feel heard, they are usually not willing to listen.

2. Commitment not compliance.

It's easy to get someone to do something by yelling at them. Your threats don't need to be explicit. Issuing commands, raising your voice, rolling your eyes, and crossing your arms all imply that you're done discussing and you expect people to do exactly what you say.

This method gets you compliance, not true commitment. The moment your direct reports no longer feel the immediate threat, they will return to their previous behavior. If you continue the threats, they will promptly look for a new job. Unfortunately, the people who stay will be the ones who can't find a better job, and you'll be stuck with the bottom of the talent barrel.

Nice leaders include their people in the decision-making process. The more your people contribute, the more they will be committed to decisions. Even if it's not the way you would do it, let them do it their way. It will be much easier to have tough conversations about performance if the approach was theirs.

3. Set clear expectations.

Before you can hold someone accountable for results, you need to know what the measure of success is. Get clear about what you expect before you meet with anyone. Frequently, I see executives upset about results, but when asked, they can't even articulate what they want.

Nice leaders provide clarity. For projects, I suggest creating a success checklist. This should be an objective set of criteria which a third party could use to determine whether the project is done. The devil is in the details here: be specific and always test assumptions.

4. Give feedback.

Many managers see things that don't meet their expectations, but they don't say anything. They hold onto it until the annual review when they unload all of the criticisms at once.

Nice leaders provide regular feedback using neutral language. They nudge people politely if they want something different. They encourage people to make changes and to experiment with different approaches. They create a safety net by rewarding people who try to make positive changes, even if they come up short.

5. Coach don't manage.

Many managers swoop in and take things over when they see problems. These same managers often complain that people keep coming to them with their problems, expecting things to be fixed for them.

Nice leaders let people do the work. When a problem comes up, they start asking questions. What have you tried? What haven't you tried? What other approaches could we try? Who else could help? Where else could we find information to help us?

6. Be empathetic.

Generally, I suggest keeping personal stuff out of the office, but I see many managers expect that their employees keep the office strictly business. They have no tolerance for people's personal lives showing up at work.

The fact is we are humans with complicated lives; sometimes it's impossible to show up to work with a perfectly clean slate. Nice leaders know stuff happens. They give people the time and space to take care of personal needs, still insisting the job gets done and customers are happy.

Being a nice leader doesn't mean you're a pushover. It means that you treat people as people and work with compassion and respect and with the intent of creating trust over the long term.

Don’t Just Sweep This Year Under The Rug When You Go To Do Your Annual Strategy Planning. Take a Hard Look At What Happened, What You Need to Change

Annual strategic planning is not just setting forecasts. To really up your game, take a deeper and more honest dive into what's working and what's not.

It's that time of year. As 2018 winds down, businesses everywhere are doing their 2019 planning. The type A personalities probably already have it done, while the rest of us are either squeezing it in before the holidays or blocking off days in January. I don't think there is a best time to do annual planning, so long as you do it.

While I don't care when you do it, I do care how you do it. I see many companies setting aside time for annual strategic planning and all they do is map out quarterly sales targets or forecast their key metrics. I hate to break it to you, but that's not strategic planning. That's forecasting.

Strategic planning involves carefully considering where you are as a company, the current state and future of the market, and making hard choices about how and where you'll apply your limited time, energy, and resources. It's more about making decisions, and less about setting targets.

My annual planning agenda is a two-day process. Day one is reflective and focused on generating options and possibilities for the future based on insights and trends. Day two does the hard work of prioritizing and focusing the organization to select a limited number of moves to execute over the coming year.

Here are the key highlights from that agenda you can use to up your annual strategic planning game. Even if you don't have two days, running through these in just one is better than skipping them.

1. Take the time to reflect deeply

Start with a review of the previous year. I like to structure this as a retrospective with a twelve-month timeline and a generous data gathering process. Gather input from the entire organization about what they recall from the last year. Make sure to include the good, the bad, and the ugly. Try not to edit at this stage, just let things come up.

Once you have the data, begin to look for insight, patterns, correlations, alignment, and disagreements about what happened, and if it was good or bad. Look for areas that need focused improvement. Select areas that are critical to your business and will impact your success.

2. Dig into issues to find root problems

Once you've identified areas that need to be worked on, dig below the surface of the issue to find the root problems. This is a two-part process:

First, you need to repeatedly ask why. This helps identify the underlying cause to the surface-level issues. If you're struggling with your accounts receivable, you might need to look at your delivery process or how you structure your engagements, not just how many times you email your client hounding them for payment.

Second, you can't blame people, you need to look at the system. People are only as good as the system they operate in and you can only address errors by creating a system that prevents them from happening. Take blaming people off the table; focus on what underlying processes need to be fixed.

3. Review your strategy and positioning

Once you have identified the changes you need to make, review your strategy. This will help you decide which one you really need to focus on. You might find ten areas that need improvement and come up with ten more changes that need to be made to them. You won't have the time to energy to do all them.

Assuming you have a good strategy framework in place that clarifies where you see the market going, how you will respond, and the key moves you need to make, update the strategy with current information around the market and the competitors. Make the necessary adjustments to your plans and update your moves.

4. Choose a handful of priorities for the year

Using your updated strategy, focus on making changes to the the areas that are critical to your strategic positioning and core capabilities. While you might have found several areas that need improvement, prioritize those that impact your strategy most directly. Choose three to five to put in your annual plan.

5. Communicate your plan to your stakeholders

Most importantly, after you've analyzed and identified the key changes you're prioritizing for the year, communicate everything to each of your stakeholders. You internal employees are the most obvious, but don't forget contractors/freelancers, vendors, partners, current customers, suppliers, and investors. These groups need to know you plans (at varying levels of detail and specificity) for the year.

If you haven't put together your 2019 annual strategic plan, it's not too late. Just remember that it's more than setting numerical targets, it's about making tough but important choices that you'll stick with over the coming twelve months.