Transform Your Team's Performance with the 1% Rule

 

How Small And Simple Actions Everyday Lead to Big Results

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Inches Make the Champion.”   

                           —Vince Lombardi, Hall of Fame Football Coach

When water is at 211 degrees, it is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. And with water boiling comes steam…and with steam you can power a train.

Applying one percent, or in this case one extra degree, of temperature to water means the difference between something that is simply very hot and something that generates enough force to power a machine—a beautifully uncomplicated metaphor that ideally should feed our every endeavor—consistently pushing us to give the 1% extra effort in every task, and action we undertake.

Small differences in performance can lead to very unequal distributions when repeated over time. The people and organizations that can do the right things, more consistently are more likely to maintain a slight edge and accumulate disproportionate rewards over time.

You only need to be slightly better than your competition, but if you are able to maintain a slight edge today and tomorrow and the day after that, then you can repeat the process of winning by just a little bit over and over again.

This is called the 1% Better Rule. The 1% Better Rule states that over time the majority of the rewards in a given field will accumulate to the people, teams, and organizations that maintain a 1 percent advantage over the alternatives. You don't need to be twice as good to get twice the results. You just need to be slightly better.

Kaizen is a Japanese word that embodies the 1% Better Rule. Kaizen translated into English means good change. In the 1960’s, products made in Japan were considered junk. The Kaizen philosophy helped Japanese companies learn to  manufacture some of the best products in the world. This resulted in the Japanese gaining significant market share of vehicles and electronics.

The 1% Better Rule is not merely a reference to the fact that small differences accumulate into significant advantages, but also to the idea that those who are 1% better rule their respective fields and reap the rewards.

Here are some amazing examples from the field of sports:

Golf

·         2.28—the average margin of victory in strokes at the Masters (.57 strokes per day)

·         76%—additional prize dollars on average for winning first place at the Masters.

Horse Racing

·         4.55—average margin of victory in lengths at the Kentucky Derby.

·         260%—additional prize dollars on average for winning first place at the Kentucky Derby.

Auto Racing

·         0.082—average margin of victory in seconds at the Daytona 500.

·         53%—additional prize dollars on average for winning first place at Daytona.

M  Many years ago when asked what the most powerful force in the universe was, Albert Einstein said, “compound interest.” There’s a force at work in all of us that’s  just as powerful. Just as compound interest allows your money to grow on itself,  Incremental improvement allows your skills and productivity to grow on themselves.

In short, if you want to improve your skills, it’s not about some one-time transformative event or conference. No, your best approach is to get a little bit better everyday. You can’t make quantum leap improvements each day (there are certainly situations where a new idea, technique or approach may in a short time drastically improve your skills or abilities, but you can’t rely on these occurring regularly.) If you want to get 10% better at a particular leadership skill in the next 30 days, that might seem daunting.  But can you get 1% better every day for a month? That seems easier and more realistic. We can all get 1% better each day.

So let’s do the math. We’ll just use the working days and assume 20 working days in the next thirty (even though there are plenty of ways to work on leadership development every day).  At the end of our 30 days, we will have improved by: 20.81%. This is certainly a powerful concept for us personally and should cause you to be excited and ready to start learning, but this is just the start.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The power of incremental improvement is perhaps the most when considered as an organizational leadership development idea. Ask yourself this question: What would happen to productivity, operational excellence and results overall if everyone on my team improved by 1% each day? Now you don’t have one person improving 20.81% in a month, but EVERYONE improving by that amount!

And this is just month one.

Want a strategic leadership initiative? Recent research has revealed that leadership is a set of 22 core skills. Build a process, tools and expectations to help everyone in your organization work on a single skill each month, with the goal of getting 1% better each day. Then, move to another skill next month. 

Here's a 1% better action leaders can take right now: Thank someone or "catch someone doing something right" once more each business day and that will equal 200 more times each year. In the book, "How Full is Your Bucket," the authors reveal how 1% better actions like a 30-second praise can positively affect your relationships, productivity, and health. Click here to download the 6-page book summary.

The 1% better rule is not only a message of action--it's a message of persistence and additional action--the continual application of effort to whatever task or activity you undertake in order to achieve not only the primary objective you seek, but reap the exponential rewards that are possible with the 1% extra effort.

Small positive change can add up to big bucks as the examples from golf, horse racing and auto racing so clearly illustrate.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

 

Thanksliving: Practicing an Attitude of Perpetual Gratitude

   

It's been said that life is a good news, bad news proposition. The good news is that life's challenges help us grow. The bad news is that there is more good news coming!

In his book Discovering the Laws of Life, the famed money manager and philanthropist John Templeton coined the word “Thanksliving.” He recommended practicing an attitude of perpetual gratitude.

That's not hard when times are good. But in these times, fraught with uncertainty, an attitude of continual thankfulness can be a tall order. Yet Templeton offers a radical solution. Don't just give thanks for your blessings. Be grateful for your problems, too.

This seems wildly counterintuitive at first blush. But facing our challenges makes us stronger, smarter, tougher, and more valuable as leaders, employees, parents, mates, ...and human beings.

"Solving problems is what were made for" it's what makes life worth living," remarked Templeton.

He goes on, "Adversity, when overcome strengthens us. So we are giving thanks not for the problem itself but for the strength and knowledge that comes from it. Giving thanks for the growth ahead of time will help you grow through--not just go through--your challenges."

What ever problems we're grappling with--personal, social, health, or financial--the best course is to face them with all the courage, patience, and equanimity you can muster.

And if possible be grateful.

On occasion, of course, our problems are simply bigger than we are. In an address in 1859, Abraham Lincoln recounted the following tale:

It is said that an Eastern Monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and in all situations. They presented him with the words: "And this, too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!

That's something worth keeping in mind.

Whatever your problems, few of them can withstand the onslaught of optimism, persistence, and a genuine spirit of gratitude.

As the poet Robert Frost reminds us, "The best way out is always through."

Check out a related post: Why It's Healthy and Productive to Cultivate A Culture of Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving!

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

 

Why it's Healthy and Productive to Cultivate a Culture of Gratitude

  

I’d like to say that there’s some magical formula for fostering a grateful culture within your organization, but there isn’t. A culture of gratitude, or a culture of thank you doesn’t materialize on its own. A thank you culture is the result of consistency with your values and decision-making.

Most leaders want their organizations to be a place where people genuinely enjoy coming to work, like working with each other, and where people feel that they are contributing towards something important.

Gratitude and appreciation are key to creating a positive work environment. I’ll discuss how to do this shortly, but first let’s look at why. Why does gratitude matter? Why is it something we should all strive for? Let’s see what science has to say.

The Science of Gratitude

To start, what exactly is gratitude anyway? Gratitude, to me, means taking a moment and recognizing the good things that we have and the good things that other people are doing. It sounds easy right?

But if we look closer, there are actually a few different ways in which we interact with gratitude. We can feel grateful, we can express our gratitude, and we can receive expressions of gratitude.

Various studies over the past century or so exploring our different reactions with gratitude have revealed multitudes of benefits of gratitude in the context of both health & wellness and social . For example, feeling grateful not only increases life satisfaction but also one’s willingness to help others. And, the act of taking time to express gratitude is a proven mood-booster.

The Importance of Gratitude at Work

I have worked with enough teams and at enough companies to recognize what it feels like to operate in organizational cultures that lack a sense of appreciation.

It’s not surprising that research shows our perceptions of gratitude in the workplace can be fairly complex. A recent study on US Americans’ relationship with gratitude found the majority of people wish they were thanked more often at work. Meanwhile, that same study found that the office is the place where people are least likely to express gratitude.

So let’s break that down: employees feel that they should be appreciated more, yet don’t feel that they should verbalize their appreciation for others at work. Yikes.

Leaders need to foster an environment in which everyone not only feels appreciated, but also freely expresses their gratitude to others. Initially, this could be the belief in practicing the golden rule “treat others as you’d like to be treated.” But, beyond simply being the right thing to do, there are many other positive benefits of a culture of gratitude.

Gratitude Keeps Teams Motivated

On high gratitude teams you see and overhear people doing small things for each other every day; helping them on something, picking up the phone to help someone who is away, volunteering to take on extra work to help out a colleague who already has a full schedule. It’s wonderful to witness this.

You'll never hear someone say “that’s not my job!” but quite frequently hear “how can I help you out?”

When you’re on the receiving end of an expression of gratitude, you feel appreciated and that your work is being recognized. But beyond those emotions, researchers found that people who are thanked for their efforts are driven to work harder and volunteer to help more in the future.

So if you want to motivate your team, don’t forget to take time every now and then to thank them for their efforts. It doesn’t take much, but your sentiments can go a long way.

Gratitude Improves Relationships and Encourages Collaboration

In addition to keeping our team motivated, gratitude plays a role in promoting better teamwork. Sharing our appreciation with the team has encouraged them to do the same amongst each other. I hear it all the time in the office. And while knowing gratitude is present is reward enough for me, there’s an even bigger upside for the team as a whole.

Gratitude exchanges among colleagues are proven to positively impact prosocial behaviors. Those who feel and express gratitude to colleagues are more motivated to spend time with others and work on improving the relationship. Meanwhile, those who are thanked for their work are often more willing to broaden the scope of the help and support they offer others at work.

Something as simple as hearing a colleague say, “hey, thank you for helping me out with this project,” can promote closer collaboration and teamwork.

Receiving Gratitude Reduces Likelihood of Burnout

Most companies offer wellness programs. And that’s another reason gratitude is important for our culture. In addition to motivating and driving collaboration, when people feel appreciated, they are less likely to experience burnout.

Fast-paced organizations are notorious for having high rates of burnout amongst employees. It turns out gratitude helps. A 2021 study found nurses (one of the professions with the highest burnout rate) who received expressions of thank you from patients were significantly less likely to experience burnout than their peers who did not. This is not surprising. If our work benefits others, we want to know about it and feel valued by them. But what is surprising is how little effort it takes to show people they are valued.

Taking just a few moments out of every day to express your appreciation can make a huge impact on your team’s happiness and employee retention.

Don’t pass up gratitude at work. There’s no doubt that there are countless benefits of gratitude at work. But in fast-paced environments, it can easily slip off the radar. So let’s look at how to avoid that by diving into how exactly we can make gratitude part of the employee experience.

Make Gratitude a Habit

Everybody is busy and everybody has their own experiences. Sometimes we can feel completely overwhelmed at work, and to top it off we all also have personal lives too. When we have all these things going on, it can be hard to come up for air and recognize how good we truly have it.

So,  it’s important to make gratitude a habit. Meaning, making time to step out of yourself to be aware of what’s happening right now. If you’re stressed at work, it can be as simple as remembering that you have a job to stress you out in the first place. And beyond that, there are most likely other people around you going through the exact same thing that you are. Why not be grateful and appreciative of them?

Get in the habit of taking moments of time to yourself for gratitude. Step away from the chaos for a moment, and you’ll give yourself a better opportunity to recognize the good things happening. You don’t necessarily have to start a gratitude journal or meditate to do this, the separation alone is often enough to get you thinking. I like to go for walks around the block; getting a little exercise and breathing fresh air helps me remember and appreciate the good things.

Sometimes it’s hard to get the blocks of time for this habit. What works for me is making it part of my daily routine. There’s this tendency for many people to sit there and work while eating lunch at their desks. And that’s ok, but it’s important to take breaks to get you outside and into a different headspace.

Pay it Forward

“Actions speak louder than words” they say. And that applies to gratitude in some ways as well. Leadership plays a significant role in an organization’s relationship to gratitude.

My first job was a very typical corporate job where you walked in and there were rows upon rows of desks. I was just out of college and eager to learn. Productivity was of the utmost importance at this organization, so I worked hard. Certainly people said “thank you,” here and there, but I see now that something critical was missing: the culture didn’t value people or support helping them grow.

I, like many others, was simply a cog in the wheel of this 40,000 person insurance company. My career and happiness did not matter to them. I think everyone with enough years in the workforce has been somewhere like this. Even in larger organizations, a lot of this culture has to do with management and how they approach things. It is possible to foster this culture at a large organization if management consciously commits to it.

For me, it’s common sense: your team’s success is directly correlated with your own. If we truly value each individual on our team. After all, we couldn’t possibly be successful without them! So, if management is on board to support every member of the team in not only getting the experience they want, but also in general being happy in their career. This is just one way to put gratitude into action .

Hire the Right People

A big part of building our culture is hiring genuinely thoughtful people who share your values.  Gratitude is not a tactic, it’s a philosophy. It’s the golden rule: treat others as you want to be treated.

“Thank you” should not come with ulterior motives. You don’t express gratitude because you want somebody to do something. People can see right through this sort of manipulative pseudo-gratitude. Say thank you because you genuinely care and want the people around you to be successful. And hire people who bring that same philosophy with them to work.

But how do you make hiring decisions that help us continue driving this culture? It can be tricky to suss this out completely during the interview process. Sometimes the version of someone you meet in an interview is not the same as the one who comes into the office on the first day. That's why hiring the right people is the first essential job function of managers--and many managers struggle with this vital skill.

Practice Patience

Finally, there are some days when it’s easier to feel gratitude than others. For example, sometimes people can frustrate you. Perhaps it’s because they’ve disappointed you, or they’re not reaching their full potential or meeting their goals. Taking a deep breath and finding the gratitude and the good things that you see in other people helps a lot with patience. And patience is an important part of gratitude.

It’s never too late to start being grateful.  You can drive a shift in your organization toward a culture of thank you. 

Here’s a few things you can do starting today.

• Think of one thing you’re grateful for. Write it down in a journal or vocalize it to a cherished friend. Try the Alphabet gratitude technique. Start by thinking of something you're grateful for that begins with an A (E.g., Apple pie) then a B and so on...
  
• Incorporate gratitude into your staff meetings. Have people share “I’m grateful for _____” in addition to their normal talking points.
• Make time every week to personally express your gratitude to someone on your team either verbally or in a written note.

 Check out a related post about the power of praise. One of the Greatest Missed Opportunities in Business Today

With gratitude,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile: 323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Influence Vs. Motivation

 

 

 

 

 

It happened the other day and it happens nearly every time I am training a group of leaders. Many will say they want to learn how to motivate their team members. I certainly understand the goal and purpose for the desire, but I think it is shortsighted and perhaps sub-optimal. I suggest a different approach – one focused on influence vs. motivation.

 “How Can I Get More Motivation?”

Motivation, when framed in the leadership or organizational perspective, often focuses on external motivations. The question is: What can we do that will motivate others? And that is usually where the goal of those leaders in a workshop comes from. While this “carrot and stick” approach to motivation can work, it is limiting. It puts the focus on what we can or must do to “get” others to do something.

Another less obvious but more powerful source of motivation is the internal or intrinsic motivation. We can’t “see” those motivations in others directly, since they are internally sourced. But when people follow that internal compass, their motivation is stronger longer. If you want to understand those big internal motivators, consider the work motivation expert, Susan Fowler. She summarizes our internal motivations as: choice, connection, and competence.

We are motivated when we see we have agency or the ability to choose our path. Generally speaking, the more choices, the better. We are motivated when we are connected to others and something valuable. Choices and connections motivate us to build our competence and skills at things – regardless of what they might be.

If we focus on those more powerful and lasting internal motivations, we can be more successful. But it isn’t as easy as providing carrots, or warning of sticks.
Enter Influence

Leaders become more influential when they find ways to help people get the things they need – choice, connection, and competence. As we help people find, source, and use those things, they will be self-motivated. Influence is something we do with people, not for them or to them. Focus on helping people make more productive, safe, and useful choices rather than providing external motivators. This simple shift changes our success rate and lasting impact as a leader.

The short answer to the influence vs. motivation question? Focus on building your ability to influence more than forcing, pushing, or guiding people with (external) motivators.

Click on the links below to read two related posts.

What Motivates People: The Real Story (5 min read)

Developing Accountable People By Building A Culture of Ownership (7 min)

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile: 323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, facilities services, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Making Conflict Productive: A Critical Leadership Skill

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the heart of nearly every personal or organizational problem is a conversation that either went poorly or never happened.

The health of any relationship, team, or company can be measured by the lag time between identifying and discussing problems. One survey estimated that when three days pass between identification of a problem and a frank, honest and respectful conversation about it, roughly $5,000 was wasted. But when the lag time extends it becomes even more costly—like 25,000 bucks!

Just because you’re given a leadership title doesn’t mean it’s any easier to tell someone they need to improve their performance or change their behavior. 

When confronted with conflict, the common human response is to find the easiest way out. We're looking for an exit and we'll take it anywhere we can find it.

Yet kicking the can down the road doesn’t get rid of the can. Soon enough you’ll find yourself facing the same conflict.

Making conflict productive is a critical skill for leaders. Leaders who are able to address issues early and effectively can create a more positive and productive work environment, build stronger relationships with their team members, promote collaboration and innovation, and are likely to achieve more of the results they want.

Many of us feel fear, anger, discomfort, or anxiety about clearly confronting issues with others. We often find justifications for avoiding the conversation altogether. We wind up with resentment, which is very stress producing and it leaves the other person in charge. We give over our power. It also takes a physical and mental toll, building stress over time. The irony is that the very outcomes we fear in confronting an issue are practically guaranteed to show up if we don’t address the issue.

Instead of looking at confrontation as something to be armed and armored for, ready for a battle, look at conflict resolution as a search for the truth, for understanding the root cause of what is happening.

How can leaders develop their ability to effectively confront issues?

Here are some specific strategies that leaders can use to resolve issues effectively:

• Meet with the parties involved individually.
• Go into the conversation with curiosity to find out the root cause of the issue. This will give you a chance to hear each person’s side of the story and to get a better understanding of the situation.
• Name the specific issue. If you have many issues with the person, choose the most important one, or see if there is one over-arching issue. Remember, just one issue, and be specific.
• Give specific examples of the issue you are confronting.
• Describe your emotions around the issue. Talking about emotions is intimate and disarming. Emotions make it personal.
• Clarify what is at stake to gain when the issue is resolved; what’s at stake for them, for the team, and for the company
•  Indicate your wish to resolve the issue. This indicates good intentions.
   Invite them to share their perspective, and their side of the story, and go into active listening mode.
• Be more curious, ask clarifying questions, and allow the person to express themselves clearly. 
• Ask more questions and repeat what you’ve heard to make sure you’re understanding them correctly, and to let them know you are truly listening.
• Clearly state your intention and restate the issue to come full circle. Restating the issue refocuses the other person’s attention on the issue.
• Brainstorm solutions together. This can help to foster collaboration and to generate creative solutions.
• Help them to evaluate the different solutions and to choose the one that is best for everyone involved.
• Make the agreement.

Here are some additional tips for making conflict productive:

 

 

• Listen actively – When the other person is speaking, listen actively and try to understand their perspective.
• Stay calm and collected –  when resolving conflict. Avoid getting emotional or defensive. Be respectful –  Even if you disagree with the other person, it is important to treat them with respect. 
  
• Show empathy – being able to see conflict from another’s point of view to avoid bringing one’s own preconceptions to the table
• Be willing to apologize – If you have made a mistake, be willing to apologize.
• Be forgiving – If the other person has made a mistake, be willing to forgive them.

If you are a leader, it is important to invest time and effort in developing your conflict resolution skills. 

Check out a related post: Productive Conflict Is Essential to Your Team's Success  ( 3 min read)

Remember, difficult conversations are not to be feared or avoided. Ensuring that these conversations take place is up to you. In other words, if you know something must change, then know that it is you who must initiate the change.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile: 323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, facilities services, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

 

Leadership Coaching Works: Here's Why

 

How Does Coaching Help? 

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to lead effectively in today’s complex and rapidly changing business environment. Employees at all levels are asked to do more and more with less and less and are feeling overworked, overwhelmed, and stressed out. They need help navigating the complicated business landscape and how to handle the pressures from increased demands, high workloads, and the challenges of running cross-functional projects while working on diverse teams.  

Coaching can help by providing much needed support and strategies for not only surviving, but thriving under these difficult circumstances. It is a personalized process that provides clarity on what success would look like, understanding the obstacles and barriers that get in the way of achieving it, and specific action steps to take that will lead to a positive outcome. Through active listening and powerful questioning, a coach will help the coachee maximize their potential and move toward a preferred future.  

What’s Driving the Growth? 

There are many factors driving the growth in coaching. Quite simply, there is evidence that it works. Organizations and individuals are investing in coaching because it is a powerful form of development that leads to change and results. According to the International Coaching Federation, 86 percent of organizations saw a return on their coaching investment, and 96 percent of those who have been coached said they would repeat the process again. 

There are many tangible and intangible benefits of coaching that lead to these impressive results. Key tangible benefits include increased productivity and performance, reduced costs, growth in revenue and sales, and higher retention and engagement of employees. 

Intangible benefits also enhance the effectiveness of coaching. They include increased confidence of those being coached, improved communication, better relationships with key stakeholders, career advancement, and greater balance between life and work. It truly is a win-win for individuals and organizations.  

Why Is It So Powerful? 

A good coach who builds trust and rapport with their client can help the coachee get unstuck, shift their thinking, see new possibilities, try different behaviors, and achieve breakthrough results. Specifically, coaching is most powerful when the following five factors are present during the coaching process: 

Awareness: This is about helping the coachee become aware of the key behaviors that either help or hinder their progress and growth. We can’t change what we’re not aware of, so cultivating awareness in the coachee for how they show up and what they can do differently is crucial. 

Alignment: Coaching works best when there is alignment with what the coachee wants to work on and what is significant to the organization. It is also important to have buy-in and involvement from a sponsor such as a direct boss or human resources representative, so there is a common understanding of the focus of the coaching as well as internal support for the process. 

Action: Creating clear goals and a written action plan will help provide a road map for achieving the vision for the future. The plan also provides a baseline for the current state, pre-coaching, and indicates progress toward the desired state post-coaching. 

Accountability: Coaching by design creates the conditions for the coachee to take responsibility for their growth, and provides built-in accountability because the coach will check in on the progress the coachee made toward agreed-upon action items from the last coaching session. 

Acceleration: Due to the clarity of goals, support in overcoming obstacles, alignment on the focus of the coaching, a written action plan, and a committed coach that holds the coachee accountable, the pace in which a coachee achieves results is often significantly accelerated. Oftentimes, challenges that a leader has faced for many months or even years that they have been unable to address on their own become resolved much quicker and with better results when a coach is involved. This is the power of coaching in action. 

 

Check out a related post and Ted Talk:

Post: Coaching is A Super Accelerant to Achieve Business Results (3 min)

Ted Talk: Want to Get Great At Something? Get a Coach (16 min)

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement ? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, facilities maintenance services, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

 

5 Ways to lead a Team that’s Understaffed and Overworked

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ve got a job and have been productively working away at it: doing what needs to be done to move forward the projects in your department. As a result, your department has done so well that it’s been “rewarded” — with more work, but no additional staff. You’re grateful for the demand for your team’s services, but also feeling overwhelmed. How can your department manage more when everyone was already at capacity?

This is a question that many team leaders face when the Great Resignation reduced companies’ staff while also decreasing the number of people in the job market. And with recurring warnings of recession looming organizations are looking to tighten up their financial statements. Whether or not the warnings are accurate, companies still aren’t eager to hire additional people when the business climate feels uncertain, but they still need to get new innovative work done. They feel the need to do more, with less.

As a leadership coach, I help individuals to navigate these tricky waters where you’re under-resourced but overly in demand. There are ways to get the most important items done and stay sane and healthy in the process. Here’s how to manage an overly heavy workload until you can increase your headcount:

Be honest.

One of the phrases I like is “reality always wins.” Even if you think that your staff can just squeeze in more and more into an already full schedule, at some point, something has to give. Even with the best time-management strategies, an overloaded department won’t get everything done. When you are honest about that, you can make proactive decisions to adapt and adjust instead of reactive ones once things start to fall apart.

Prioritize consciously.

The best way I’ve found to visualize the interrelated nature of your priorities is something that is called the “dynamic priorities model”: Imagine that there is an infinity pool whose walls represents the outer limits of the time available. (In the case of department overload, that would equal the total hours your staff can work.) Then visualize a series of concentric circles within that pool representing the different ways in which your staff uses their time. When one of those circles expands — for example serving more customers — one of the other circles will need to contract or fall over the edge.

To maintain optimal effectiveness, you’ll want to choose where your team can reduce their time spent — or eliminate it completely — instead of that happening by default. Review the projects and services within your department and think about the annual goals. Based on where your team can add the highest value and what’s most important to the organization, make cuts from the lower priorities so you can focus on the top ones. You should not only communicate this out to your team, but also ask for their input on what they believe is realistic.

If part of the reason that the department’s workload is too high is that you’ve lost staff members, then team members will need to plan out their daily work differently than before. Instead of falling into their regular routine of how they organize their time, they’ll need to consider how to balance out the most important priorities from their current job as well as the most important add-on activities from the departing colleague. As a team leader, you can help by reassuring them it’s OK to put aside some nonessential activities from their current role so that the most critical items get done.

Click here to read a related post: How to Prioritize When Everything Feels Important

Communicate priorities upward.

You won’t just need to get alignment within your team; you’ll also need to communicate up to your boss. Proactively introduce the topic with your manager by starting the conversation from a clear, decisive point of view and listing your priorities. Without this information, your boss my have different expectations of your objectives. Being upfront at the start prevents misunderstandings — and reduces the risk of a negative response after you’ve already started down your team’s planned path.

You can come at these discussions from a number of vantage points. One is to present the plan you made for your department where you identified the highest-value activities and those that were most aligned with your annual goals. You can frame this discussion as wanting to make sure your boss achieves her objectives so you’re making strategic decisions to ensure that still happens. You can also explain that means deprioritizing certain items so that your team can focus on the highest impact activities.

Some supervisors will be less than enthusiastic to hear about projects you’ll have to stop doing or put on the back burner. In this case, use data to back up your argument. Ask your team to track which projects they’re working on, how long those activities are taking, and how much time it would take to get done the additional activities that they’re not getting to right now. Present these findings to support your push for prioritization.

Finally, once you’ve agreed on priorities, hold your manager to them. If your staff doesn’t increase, then you either can’t take on new responsibilities as a department or your boss will need to make tough strategic choices. For instance, if she brings up a new initiative, you can say something to the effect of: “That sounds like a great idea. If we take that on, which project would you like us to take off our plate for now?”

Click here to read a related post:  How to Say 'No' When You Don't Feel You Can Say 'No.'

Delegate externally.

When you’re maxed out internally, another pressure release valve is to delegate to individuals outside your team. Think about whether your organization has any shared services that could take on some of the load for event coordination, travel, design, communications, deck prep, or any other items that currently take up the department’s time. Where you can hand off work, do so.

Another option is to see if there’s budget to bring on outside contractors. Could you have a contractor take on responsibility for a special project that no one else has the bandwidth to move forward? If one of your department’s capacity issues is a higher volume of customers, could you hire a contractor whose only role is to promptly respond to client inquiries and questions? Get help where you can, even if you can’t onboard a full-time staff member yet.

Reset expectations with stakeholders.

When your department has to make changes to their priorities or level of customer service, it’s important to communicate those expectations to all stakeholders, whether they are internal or external. Update the people impacted by the changes to let them know if projects will be delayed or stopped. For instance, if there will be changes in turnaround time, such as items now taking two weeks instead of one, let people know in advance so they can plan accordingly.

Not everyone will be happy with deferred projects or longer turnaround times. But it’s better to reset expectations upfront than to have to deal with angry and disappointed people when you haven’t met their expectations.

Request more staff.

Finally, if your department’s workload is up and will continue to have an elevated level, advocate for more headcount. It’s unfair to your team for them to constantly feel behind and like they can’t keep up — not because they’re not trying hard but because there is too much work. Even if a new hire isn’t in the cards right now, making a case early and often might put you at the top of the list when budget does allow it.

Evaluate what your department needs, whether it’s more team members to work on projects or more administrative support, and then do what you can to get the help in place. It’s one thing for the department to be understaffed during a short season. But perpetually having work overload is a recipe for burnout.

Finding yourself in a season where the work has increased but your staff hasn’t is uncomfortable, but it can be managed. Use the strategies above, and remember to take time to rest and recharge each week so that you and your team members can create a sustainable work schedule in a challenging work environment.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

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