How to Slay the Vampires of No Accountability

 

They lurk in the dark shadows near the break room or scapegoating their direct reports for the department's performance issues. Their mere presence, and longevity remind all that what surrounds them is a less-than-optimal work culture. They are every organization's nightmare.  As “owners” of the culture, they take pride in their power of destruction.  

Complaining daily of perceived failed promises, corporate ideocracy, lack of fair compensation and appreciation, direct reports who don't do their jobs, they whittle away at the team’s morale one hour at a time.  Every new hire who comes onto the team is ceremoniously on-boarded with their version of “the truth.”  High hopes and enthusiastic energy is sucked from the new employee until their well is dry.

“Don’t work too hard or they will give you more to do.”

“They never hold anyone accountable here.”

“We have seen it all before, nothing ever changes.”

 “Management doesn’t care about us.”

“Everyone here quits after a year.”

“You can't find good help these days.”

“Employees have it too easy here.”

Except these takers don’t. They linger and linger and continue to drain the life-blood out of the manager who has inherited them.  They are the Vampires of No Accountability (VONA) and keepers of the flame of the negative workplace culture.

How does a well-meaning organization rid themselves of these culture parasites be they employees, supervisors, directors or executives ?

First and foremost, they must be identified. Listen to the language of your employees and management team. Who among them persists with a “my work life sucks” daily attitude, performs at the bare minimum and occupies 80% of your time with their complaints? Which managers never look in the mirror (If they're VONA's they wouldn't see themselves anyway :) and blame their team's poor performance on their employees' lack of motivation or work ethic?

Have a list now?

Most leaders can easily identify the VONA managers and employees on their teams within minutes.  The sad fact is that they don’t know what to do next. The VONA are well-schooled in riding the line of acceptable behavior. In fact, they have perfected the art of making the air around them so toxic that most managers avoid them at all costs. However, no matter how uncomfortable it is to deal with them, your workplace culture will never change until they are gone.

That’s right, gone.

The truth is that VONA are incapable of rehabilitation. They have such little self-reflection or care for others that motivation and empathy are simply words on an engagement poster that the “company” puts up in the breakroom. The other challenging factor is that they don’t want to go. Why would someone so unhappy with their work environment want to stay, you may ask? It’s simple. Well situated in their VONA role they don’t have to be accountable. They can do the bare minimum and blame everyone else for failures. There are a million reasons why they can’t do their job, complete the report on time, make a difference, or engage in problem solving. They are simply…” too busy and overworked”.  Their answer is always…what you are asking of them is impossible. And stupid. And not fair.

The answer to riding your team of the VONA, barring wearing necklaces of garlic, is to ignore them. That’s right. Ignore them.

Just like the age-old advice that Mom and Dad dispelled regarding your 8th-grade bullies. By ignoring the VONA you take away their life-sucking power. If no one is willing to drop what they are doing to listen to the 5, 467th complaint they have this week, and “fix” the things not working in the department, what would they do?

Complaining is the life-blood of the VONA. It feeds their ego and their entitlement fantasy. It validates why they are not performing at a high level. The true path to ridding your team of these blood-suckers is to literally focus all of your coaching, mentoring attention to those on the team that are putting forth effort- and reward them. 

Look for those teammates and managers who have a sense of the greater good, a few ideas about improvement, and ask meaningful questions as it relates to working smarter, not harder.  Find your employees that are confident and feel good about themselves and engage them in working together for a more noble cause. Find a common concern that is bigger than any one person and invite them to problem solve together to remove barriers for all. Let the VONA know they are invited but that’s it. No begging, no pleading, no kowtowing to “needing them” on the team.

The number one mind-blowing fact to engagement is that it starts with the individual employee and is elevated or degraded by the manager.

Motivation is self-owned. Leaders can stoke, support, coach, and encourage self-development and growth but ultimately that leap from renter to owner is the employee’s decision.

Great leaders will spot the burgeoning seeds of excitement and stoke the fire daily to inspire.

Great leaders will also understand that allowing VONAs employees and managers to reside and breathe toxicity within the team is the biggest mistake they can make.

Teams would rather work short than deal with the draining energy of a toxic employee. According to the Harvard Business Review,  “people close to a toxic employee are more likely to become toxic themselves, but the good news is that the risk also subsides quickly. As soon as you put some physical distance between the offender and the rest of the team – for example, by rearranging desks, reassigning projects, scheduling fewer all-hands meetings, or encouraging more work-from-home days — you’ll see the situation start to improve.”

Grab your list of VONA. Commit to the following for 30-60 days and see what happens to your team’s culture.

• Distance yourself and the team from the daily complaints. Do not allow VONAs to take up more than 30 minutes of your time weekly. When complaints are voiced offer to meet with them to discuss but set a date at least 7 days away. Do not reward bad behavior by stopping what you are doing to entertain their latest complaint.

• Set expectations for the VONA. Empathize(initially) with their dissatisfaction. Acknowledge their feelings and suggest ways they can be part of the solution or self-sooth if it is a working constraint. Role model professional behavior always.

• Identify specific language and behaviors that are unacceptable in your working environment. Don’t’ shy away from having the “If you are really so unhappy maybe this might not be the right fit for you right now” conversation. No one can argue that they have a choice to look elsewhere to find happiness.

• Spend 80% of your coaching time on those employees and managers that are engaged and working together harmoniously. Assure them that you are working on establishing limits within the workplace culture. Invite them to peer interview all new hires with the agreed upon team values. Dilute the pool on your team to water down the effects of the VONA.

• Document everything. Unfortunately, many VONAs will not go down without a good fight. It is your job to show them the light if they are unable or unwilling to perform as expected. This includes behaviorally. Specific, clear expectations and consequences for non-compliance are necessary.

• Recognize the tipping point. When the VONA begin to leave (either from self-direction or your direction) notice the mood and engagement of the other teammates. Are they helping you to recruit? Are they more engaged? These signs point to the positive shift of the culture. Hold on and stay consistent. Do not hire “a body” just to fill a position. This is a crucial time in culture development and patience will pay off in the long term.

• Celebrate small wins. The loss of one VONA employee or manager can have HUGE impacts on the team’s morale. The weight is lifted. Enjoy the shadowless corridors.

• Don’t forget your own mental health. Fighting the VONA daily is exhausting. Be sure to find ways to decompress and fill your bucket with meaningful work. Do not let them infect you, or worse, escort you to the dark side.

You must protect your team from the Vampires of No Accountability much like you would protect them from a disease. Immunize your newly energized culture with rewards, recognition, and attention. Remind them how much they have accomplished together and how far they have come. Do not allow new VONA employees or managers to join your team, no matter how short. You have the power to upend the culture of significant drama and infighting.

Lead your team into the sunlight.

Check out these related posts: 

Six Words for Stopping Blame and Increasing Accountability

Personal Responsibility in the Pursuit of Happiness

Happy Halloween!

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.

 

How to REALLY Motivate People

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pink's Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose Framework
Encouraging Self-Motivation

Why do you work? What's your motivation? Is it the prospect of that end-of-year bonus? The promotion that you've been promised? Or do you just, quite simply, love what you do?

Many people work in environments that are dominated by "stick and carrot" motivation: do well and you'll get a reward, but do badly and you'll be punished. However, with this approach, the satisfaction of doing a job well can often get lost in the drive for praise and promotion.

Research on employee engagement suggests that people perform better when they are motivated. But there's still widespread debate about whether traditional motivational strategies, like "stick and carrot," really work.

So, in this post, I explore a model that casts away the idea of reward and punishment as motivational tools and, instead, focuses on what it takes to make people really care about what they do.

What is Motivation 3.0?

In his  book, "Drive," Daniel Pink sets out a new vision for workplace motivation, which he labels "Motivation 3.0." So called, he explains, because it's an upgrade from primitive survival ("Motivation 1.0") and from the culture of reward and punishment that we find in most businesses ("Motivation 2.0").

Pink's theory is drawn from research undertaken by psychologists Harry Harlow and Edward Deci in 1971. They discovered that rewards can fail to improve people's engagement with tasks, and may even damage it. Another study was carried out by professors at MIT in 2017, and recorded similar findings.

Pink argues that traditional "carrot and stick" approaches to motivation are becoming outdated, and do not adequately address the needs of the creative and innovative workplaces of the 21st century. Despite this, extrinsic motivation, or "Type X" behavior (motivating people using rewards external to work), is often deep-rooted, particularly among older employees who are accustomed to it.

In contrast, intrinsic motivation, or "Type I" behavior (when people are self-motivated because they are given the freedom to do the work they enjoy), is increasingly common in modern workplaces, where routine work is often outsourced. In these kinds of environments, innovation and creativity are key. So, it's essential that people are allowed to thrive by doing work that they are truly passionate about.

The Three Key Components of Intrinsic Motivation

According to Pink, intrinsic motivation is based on three key factors: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Let's look at each factor in more detail:

Autonomy

Autonomy is the need to direct your own life and work. To be fully motivated, you must be able to control what you do, when you do it, and who you do it with.

According to Pink, autonomy motivates us to think creatively without needing to conform to strict workplace rules. By rethinking traditional ideas of control – regular office hours, dress codes, numerical targets, and so on – organizations can increase staff autonomy, build trust, and improve innovation and creativity.

Motivation by autonomy is often used by software companies, many of which give their engineers time to work on their own development projects. This gives them the freedom to try out and test new ideas, which can deliver benefits to the organization, such as improved processes or innovative solutions.

Mastery

Mastery is the desire to improve. If you are motivated by mastery, you'll likely see your potential as being unlimited, and you'll constantly seek to improve your skills through learning and practice. Someone who seeks mastery needs to attain it for its own sake.

For example, an athlete who is motivated by mastery might want to run as fast as she possibly can. Any medals that she receives are less important than the process of continuous improvement.

Purpose

People may become disengaged and demotivated at work if they don't understand, or can't invest in, the "bigger picture." 

But those who believe that they are working toward something larger and more important than themselves are often the most hard-working, productive and engaged. So, encouraging them to find purpose in their work – for instance, by connecting their personal goals to organizational targets using OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) or OGSMs (Objectives, Goals, Strategies and Measures)  – can win not only their minds, but also their hearts.

Offering staff the chance to use their skills to benefit local non-profits, for example, can foster a strong sense of purpose. As can developing a value- or ethics-led company vision that encourages people to "buy in" to its key organizational goals.

How to Build an Intrinsically Motivated Team

Making the change to a culture that focuses on intrinsic motivation can be daunting, particularly for organizations that are built on traditional reward and punishment models. But, Pink argues that – over time, and with practice – Type I behavior can be learned.

The following four strategies can help you to encourage your team to become more intrinsically motivated:

1. Try Out "10 Percent Time"

Give team members the chance to spend 10 percent of their working time on a project of their own choice.

These projects should fall outside of their day-to-day work, but offer benefits to your business. Fixing a software bug or finding ways to improve a process, for instance.

Warning!

A team that's already very busy and overworked, or that is facing a crisis, may not welcome 10 Percent Time, and may even see it as an additional burden. This view could be shared by senior management  – if you are currently behind on your core targets, for example. So, think carefully about whether this strategy is feasible for your team and when best to introduce it.

2. Take Steps to Give Up Control

Relinquish (some) managerial control in favor of giving your team members more autonomy. You can do this by:

+ Involving people in setting their own goals – individuals will likely be more engaged in their work when they pursue goals that they have helped to create.

+ Reducing controlling language – instead of saying "you must" or "you should," use terms like "consider doing" or "think about doing."

+ Having open-door hours – set aside time when people can come and talk to you  about business or personal issues, without fear of judgment or censure.

3. Develop "Goldilocks Tasks"

"Goldilocks tasks" are, as the name suggests, tasks that are neither too hard nor too easy, but "just right." They are team projects that encourage focus and flow , and which can aid the development of mastery.

These types of tasks resemble stretch goals – ambitious targets that challenge what people deem possible. They should stretch your team members and enable them to develop their skills.

Goldilocks tasks often involve collaborative work and have clear end goals. This helps to promote a sense of purpose. For example, you could ask your team to resolve bottlenecks in a product distribution system, or to improve your organization's customer service interface.

4. Promote Collaboration and Cross-Skilling

If your team has lots of skills to offer, you can put them to good use by allowing your team members to move between functions. And you can promote cross-skilling or up-skilling by encouraging them to share their skills and collaborate with others as part of your wider learning culture.

"Hot desking" (where people have no fixed desk and can sit in a different place each day) is a good way to facilitate this. It enables people to choose who they work with, and promotes knowledge sharing between members of different teams.

However, think carefully before introducing hot desking. There may be competition for space, and noise levels can sometimes build up and cause distractions. So, consider setting some ground rules before introducing hot desking.

For instance, you could ask people to clear their desks at the end of each day to avoid a build-up of clutter. And, if a team is working on an important project where communication is essential, make sure that they are able to sit together.

Note:

Make sure that these strategies don't go against your organization's objectives or policies, and that you get sign-off from senior management before introducing any of them. Otherwise they could end up being disruptive rather than helpful.

Avoiding Potential Pitfalls

In many organizations, developing autonomy, mastery and purpose will likely involve a cultural shift. So, think carefully about how the framework fits with your organization's activities and structure before introducing it.

Organizations that work to strict deadlines and protocols, and which consequently have a very strong Type X culture, may find this kind of motivational framework difficult, or even harmful. These could include, for example, law firms where professional standards are very important, or large production or manufacturing plants where process is key. Similarly, companies or teams that already have bonus schemes in place will likely find it hard to make the switch.

Even in the creative industries, which are Pink's primary focus, your people still need to know that their basic needs, such as security and safety, will be met. Avoid interpreting Pink's focus on intrinsic motivators as a green light to forget extrinsic ones.

Bear in mind that causes of satisfaction and dissatisfaction can be complex, and that Pink's framework isn't a "fix-all" remedy. Even if your team members love their jobs, they may still be demotivated by other factors, such as poor working relationships, for example.

Key Points

In his  book, "Drive," Daniel Pink proposes a new motivational model that he believes is a better fit for today's creative and innovative workplaces.

Pink's model focuses on enabling people to become intrinsically motivated – that is, using internal drives as a source of motivation. He calls this behavior "Type I." It contrasts with the traditional model of extrinsic motivation, or "Type X" behavior, which focuses on motivating people through reward and punishment.

To build an intrinsically motivated team, you need to focus on three key factors:
1. Autonomy – people are trusted and encouraged to take ownership of their own work and skill development.
2. Mastery – people see no limits to their potential and are given the tools they need to continue to improve their skills.
3. Purpose – people are encouraged to use their skills to achieve a "greater" purpose – for instance, getting involved in a "good cause" that they are passionate about.

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.

 

 

How to Be A Leader Who Personifies 'Grace Under Pressure'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s no question about it: today’s workplace during economic disruption can be stressful. The long work hours, the endless flow of information, the competing demands on our attention, the rapid changes and uncertainty they bring—all of these factors and too many others to list can make us feel perpetually overwhelmed and out of control if not managed well.

Yet the conditions that lead to stress are not “bad.” They’re just reality. Every time in history has had its own set of stressors. And if you are a productive person your plate is always going to be full. When the conditions are managed well, they create incredibly fulfilling work. We can be grateful for that while also acknowledging that it’s not easy. But I always like to come back to what Scott Peck said in the Road Less Traveled : “Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult.” 

It’s the leader’s job to deal with the conditions and problems that lead to stress in a way that keeps everyone on track. (Think about it this way: if things always went well we wouldn’t even need leaders!) And middle managers face even more of a challenge because they have to balance the needs (and stress) of their team with the expectations (and stress) of their leaders.

All that said, how we manage ourselves in the middle of the storm is everything. Relationships are defined by how we behave under stress. Difficult, busy times can put strain on relationships, but they can also forge stronger bonds if handled the right way. It all comes down to your ability to show grace under fire. When your team sees you pull things together and navigate them out of a tricky situation, it can be a huge credibility builder. Conversely, when they see you fall apart, it can create a trust deficit that is hard to recover from, even when things settle down. 

How you behave when times are bad truly defines you as a leader and sets the tone for how others manage the situation. If you create a culture where people fall to pieces when things get tough, it will be too stressful for employees (and they will likely leave), productivity will suffer, and all this ultimately will make your job harder.

A few suggestions for managing yourself with grace under pressure :

First, eliminate as much stress as you can by being a well-run organization. Work to create a best odds environment for eliminating problems. Things will go wrong from time to time. You can’t control everything. However, there are lots of things you can control. Make sure you have good processes and procedures in place for eliminating avoidable headaches. For example:

+ Plan for disaster by learning from mistakes and fixing the culprits.

+ Identify stress points and think critically about who they impact. What is causing increased workloads? Use this evaluation to decide where to delegate work, and identify team members who might need additional support. (Don’t lower expectations. This will only breed excuses and erode performance over time.)

+ Say no (Or not yet) to some requests. This way you don’t have to scurry around trying to do them and then later explain why you didn’t get them done. 

+ Learn to prioritize (and teach others to as well.) Everyone is busy and they should be. Just use a prioritized list to work in a sensible order (evaluating daily what is most important). Often we try to close out small tasks to make room for bigger ones, when what we should be doing is prioritizing our to-do list and staying focused on the things that really matter. Just “getting things done” may feel good in the moment but what really matters is getting the big things done. 

+ Simplify when things get stressful. Bring order and clear thinking o chaotic situations. Keep an eye on what really matters, and what can be cut away. A good leader can make a potentially crushing workload feel manageable. By taking a cool and methodical approach, you can make a huge difference in helping others stay focused and productive and keep their stress reactions in check.

Create a culture of focus and calm. Be sensitive to the messages you’re sending out. Model focus and calmness when things are chaotic. You teach your employees how to behave based on how you behave. The things leaders do, both positive and negative, get mirrored. And research shows that the ripple effect of negative emotions is considerably more intense than that of positive emotions. If employees see you panicking, they are likely to panic. If they see you staying calm and focused on solutions, they will mimic this behavior as well.

Also, try not to show physical signs of stress. Wringing your hands and pacing around anxiously will not make things better. In fact, it will likely make your employees  worried and stressed out, negatively impacting their performance.

Don’t blow things out of proportion. 

Do everything you can to keep a level head Sometimes our tempers flare when things are stressful. Try to avoid letting little things turn into big problems. When leaders lose their cool, problems only escalate. People get upset and their productivity plummets. Plus, explosions can cause long-term damage and tank a leader’s credibility. In the end, all of this means more time fixing avoidable problems.

Be careful about the words you use and the stories you tell. Avoid using words like “slammed” or “overwhelmed.” There is nothing wrong with stating that you are busy, but how you talk about being busy and carry yourself impacts others. It has a ripple effect. Just because you are stressed doesn’t mean everyone else has to be. Don’t bring your stress to the people.

Keep the past in its place Leaders can generate lot of stress for themselves and others by rehashing mistakes and misses. Yes, frame these mistakes as learning experiences but don’t keep talking about them over and over and telling the story. It just becomes gossip at that point. Instead of focusing on past challenges, look for what’s right and constantly celebrate bright spots. This shifts the focus inside the organization.

Don’t pretend to be fearless. A common mistake leaders make is to pretend that everything is fine when it clearly isn’t. Sometimes acknowledging that a situation or negative circumstances real, and possibly even scary, is the best way to build trust with your team and get them to invest 110 percent on solving the problem. This is not the same thing as getting bent out of shape. You can be honest and calm at the same time.

Put some ground rules in place to help others manage stress. Busy, stressful times are when you need cooperation and engagement the most. Yet it’s during these times that tension builds, emotions run hot, and people explode or otherwise behave badly. Recognize this and put a plan into place to help people deal with frustrations and conflict in a way that won’t harm the team’s ability to perform. For example, you might ask everyone to be mindful of their tone when communicating while under pressure. You might also ask others to jump in and help when they see a coworker getting overwhelmed. As a leader, you not only need to manage your own stress but also help others manage theirs as well. 

Master a few tactics for calming yourself down and teach others to do the same If you feel yourself starting to get overwhelmed by stress, here are a few ways you can calm yourself down quickly:

+ Control your body. Don’t let it control you.

+ Walk away. Take a 20-minute break. Sometimes you have to do this.

+ Go for a walk. Physical activity is a great stress reliever. It can help you calm your mind and get some much-needed clarity around what needs to happen next. Little breaks like this are a great opportunity to plug in your headphones and listen to a quick song or audio file that might help relax you. Even better if you can get outside, even for just a moment. Most of the time, a little natural sunlight can make a big difference in our mood.

+ Open up your body and take a few deep breaths. Put your shoulders back, head up, and stand tall. Try to intentionally quiet your mind. This is a technique professional athletes have known and used for years to manage stress before a big game. Opening up the body allows for better blood flow, and deep breathing puts more oxygen in the blood and can help minimize the impact of cortisol (the stress hormone).

+ Count backward from 10. Do it twice if you have to. Shifting your focus from the problem at hand to a relatively simple task can help you come back to your work with a fresh set of eyes. It also helps your brain reset and refocus. Moving the focus away from your problem and onto an abstract thought, even one as simple as counting from 10, will also help you calm down, and control your emotional response. It forces you to use a different part of the brain. 

Create a best odds plan for staying healthy. This gives you the stamina you need—both physical and mental—to cope with stress and keep going. Sleep well, eat well, stay hydrated, and generally take good care of your body so you’ll be in tip-top shape mentally. This requires discipline and planning, but health and well-being are too important to leave to chance. 

Good habits fall to the wayside during busy times. You may be tempted to skip lunch because you’re too busy to eat or you stayed up till 1 a.m. working. Remind yourself that this is counterproductive. You can’t perform if you are sleep-deprived and sugar-crashing because you didn’t take time to pack a nutritious lunch and ate from the vending machine instead. If you aren’t healthy you won’t be able to cope when tress levels kick into overdrive.

Be resilient/learn to reset Setbacks will happen. Leaders must be able to bounce back quickly and continue to move forward even when things appear to be falling apart. Resiliency is essential as leaders need to have the mental wherewithal to offer support and continue to direct their teams. Being resilient comes from having good coping skills, supportive environments with a lot of psychological safety, a strong sense of optimism, grit, and having the mental and physical stamina to sustain and move through stressful situations. Work on all of these factors but also know that resiliency also comes with growth.

As with everything else, experience counts for a lot. The more seasoned leaders will be better at handling stress just because they have had so many years to learn to cope. They’ve seen what can hap- pen when they don’t handle stress well and they are more motivated to change. If you are a new leader, know that this is a skill you build just like everything else. Use the tools and tactics discussed earlier and know that it gets easier every day.

As Paul Harvey once said, “In times like these it is helpful to remember that there have always been times like these.”

To your greater success and harmony,

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.

 

 

 

How To Prioritize When Everything Feels Important

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prioritization is the art of sacrifice. How to prioritize is not easy, especially when you must choose between two good alternatives.

Leadership is the art of making decisions. Saying “yes” is easy and comfortable, but what we say “no” to defines our success. Great leaders know when to make sacrifices in order to stay focused.

Imagine taking over a tech company that’s hemorrhaging money because sales are down. Will you choose to launch more products or cut the innovation pipeline by 70%?

That’s the dilemma Steve Jobs was faced with when he returned to Apple in 1997. The company’s sales plummeted by 30% during the final quarter of 1996––Apple was on the brink of failure.

Steve Jobs would eventually turn the company he founded around, but only after he had made some tough choices first. Jobs reduced the number of Apple products by 70%. Among the casualties was the Newton — a favorite of former CEO John Sculley.

“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do,” Jobs famously said. “It’s true for companies, and it’s true for products.”

Jobs understood that prioritization is all about making tough calls, especially when it requires favoring one good thing over another good thing.

The Dangers of Not Prioritizing

"I'm too busy" has become a socially acceptable excuse for any request – from declining meeting invitations to refusing to take on more work. Being busy is a badge of honor that makes us look and feel important. However, chronic busyness maybe a sign that we're bad at prioritizing.

Prioritization is not just essential for productivity. It also ensures that the right things get done at the right time. The prioritization process lets you and your team make informed decisions about what to focus on and when.

When we prioritize our work, we don't just focus on what matters the most – we also regain control of our lives.

The benefits of effective prioritization are easy to observe. However, failing to do so can be detrimental. Not establishing clears priorities can be dangerous for you and your team.

Here's why:

Everything feels important

If you and your team don't prioritize effectively, someone else – a manager or customer – will do it for you. When you don't have clear priorities, you end up saying "yes" to everybody. Pleasing others does more damage than good. That something is a priority for a third party doesn't mean it should also become a priority for your team.

When you let others define your priorities, everything feels important.
Your team is stretching too thin

Teams face a constant burden. They have too many problems to solve and not enough time or resources to deal with everything on their plate. It's important to know what amount of work you can take on or everyone in your team will end up stressed out.

You sacrifice long-term benefits for short-term wins

The temptation of a quick win doesn't come free. You have to redirect time from a long-term initiative to pursue a short-term benefit. Prioritization is an investment, so consider which projects will generate a superior long-term return.

Stop pursuing problems that don't have the most significant value for your team.  

The wrong task will suck your energy

A toxic customer, a project going nowhere, or irrelevant tasks steal more than you and your team's time – they suck your energy. Research shows that a gap in priorities between an ideal and real life increases the risk of burnout. Eliminate problematic projects to protect your team's energy and drive.

Saying "no" to toxic tasks will pay huge dividends to you and your team.

You'll never solve the right problem

Prioritization means choosing not only what problems to solve but also which not to solve. If your team says "yes" to every problem, they're saying "no" to the right ones. You can't focus on what really matters when you're too busy.

Remove distractions so your team can focus on the right problem – encourage colleagues to say "no" more often.

“If there are nine rabbits on the ground, if you want to catch one, just focus on one.” – Jack Ma, Co-Founder, Alibaba Group

Most organizations aren't great at prioritizing – they try to catch all rabbits. Most leaders aren't good at prioritizing, either. They make choices in the dark, failing to understand how conflicting priorities affect their teams' capacities. That's why most organizations suffer from "everything is important" syndrome – they fail to separate what's essential from what's not.

Building a culture of effective prioritizing doesn't happen overnight. It takes time and effort. Most importantly, it requires structural changes and a huge mindset shift.

5 Ways to Become Better at Prioritizing

# 1 Work smarter, not harder

The always-on culture is harming you and your team. There are many reasons why it has to go. Hard work often disguises team inefficiencies. People have to work more and more hours to compensate for ineffective prioritization.

Often team members overwork themselves for the wrong reasons. Either they want to achieve too many things or are trying to meet others' expectations. Take virtual presenteeism as an example: the average worker spends an additional 67 minutes online daily to be perceived as a hard worker.

Shifting our relationship with the idea of incompleteness is liberating. Realizing that we're never done working releases a lot of pressure and unnecessary anxiety.  

Working smarter, not harder, is about prioritizing quality over quantity – or outcome over effort. With my consulting clients, I see a lot of people that just care about velocity but never pause to reflect on their priorities. Moving fast in the wrong direction will get you nowhere.

Why not work smarter instead of harder?

Working smarter is about being more intentional about how you work. It seems obvious, yet it requires reframing our relationship with productivity – to shift our focus from input to outcome. From focusing on high-impact tasks and cutting down your to-do list to concentrating on deep work and tackling tasks in chunks (rather than one by one).

Start by rejecting the notion that everything is urgent, critical, and important.

# 2 Separate essential work from non-essential

When everything is a priority, it's harder to separate what matters from what doesn't.

Marcus Aurelius said, "If you seek tranquility, do less." The Roman emperor and philosopher didn't promote laziness. On the contrary, he advocated for focusing on what's essential. Aurelius called it the double satisfaction: "to do less, better."

In his book Essentialism, Greg McKeown advocated a similar approach: get only the right things done. Rather than the typical productivity approach (get more done in less time), McKeown challenges the assumption that "we can have it all" or that "we have to do everything." He invites us to focus on "the right thing, in the right way, in the right time."

Effective prioritizing is the realization that not all hours and not all work is created equal. Effective prioritizing is the realization that not all hours and not all work is created equal. It liberates your and your team from a busyness mindset (reactive) so they can regain control (proactive) of how they work.

Essentialism is the relentless pursuit of less but better. It's not about getting more things done, but getting the right things done. It is about making the wisest possible investment of everyone's time and energy so teams can operate at their highest point of contribution.

Effective prioritization is a zero-sum game. If a new task becomes a priority for your team, something else must become less important. You can't prioritize without deprioritizing.

One company helps their employee deprioritize by asking second-order questions – to inquire about the importance of the task, not just what's needed:

• How important is this?

• When is it due?

• What would you like me to deprioritize?

# 3 Prioritize how you prioritize using 'even over' statements

Effective prioritization requires establishing what's the criteria before conflicts arise. Often companies wait until it's too late. They discuss what's most important once they're dealing with conflicting priorities.

Crafting 'even over' statements will help you define those criteria ahead of the game. It will make it easier for your team to determine what to say "yes" to.

For example, Amazon prioritizes:

•     Long-term value creation even over short-term results
•     Speed even over perfection
•     High performance even over harmony
  

Even over statements help you define the trade-off your team is willing to make when choosing between two good things. You can't be both "customer-centric" and "people-first." Both are important and good things. However, when push comes to shove, which will really come first?

Even over statements anticipate potential conflicts, clarifying which way to go. They force the team to choose one good thing even over a not When Netflix prioritizes "performance even over effort," it doesn't mean that the streaming giant doesn't care about the employees giving all they've got. It means that Netflix cares more about the end result than the effort itself.

When it comes to choosing between two good things, what's your real priority?

# 4 Evaluate priorities considering both the impact and effort required. 

Use the powerful Eisenhower Matrix to determine the effort and impact of each task or project. Get rid of Not urgent/Not important activities. Urgent/Important things need immediate action. However, the Important/Not urgent are usually the ones that will help you achieve your long-term goals – this quadrant is the "sweet spot, according to author Steven Covey. To put the matrix into practice start time blocking your important/not urgent activities.

Time blocking is a time management method that asks you to divide your day into blocks of time. Each block is dedicated to accomplishing a specific activity and only those specific activities. Instead of keeping an open-ended to-do list of things you’ll get to as you’re able, you’ll start each day with a concrete schedule that lays out what you’ll work on and when.

The key to this method is prioritizing your task list in advance — a dedicated weekly review is a must. Take stock of what’s coming up for the week ahead and make a rough sketch of your time blocks for each day. At the end of every workday, review any tasks you didn’t finish — as well as any new tasks that have come in — and adjust your time blocks for the rest of the week accordingly.

 "A 40 hour time-blocked work week, I estimate, produces the same amount of output as a 60+ hour work week pursued without structure."   — Cal Newport, Author of Deep Work

# 5 Make it a daily practice of asking yourself and your team the 'strategic question.'

The strategic question: If You’re Saying Yes to this, What Must You Say No To? is more complex that it sounds, which accounts for its potential. To begin with, you’re asking people to be clear and committed to their Yes. Too often, we kinda sorta half-heartedly agree to something, or more likely, there’s a complete misunderstanding in the room as to what’s been agreed to. So, to ask, “Let’s be clear: What exactly are you saying Yes to?” brings the commitment out of the shadows. If you ask, “What could being fully committed to this idea look like?” it bring things into sharper, bolder focus.

But a Yes is nothing without the No that gives it boundaries and form.  If you say yes to this meeting, you’re saying No to something else that’s happening at the same time at the meeting. Understanding this kind of No helps you understand the implication of the decision. 

So, when someone asks you to do something, try to pause and yourself: If I say “yes” to this, what will I be saying ‘no’ to doing? Once you answer that question, you're in a better position to evaluate whether you should say “yes” or “no” or “yes, but with these conditions. 

Your team and company culture is defined, but what you say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to. Prioritization requires making sacrifices, especially when you have to choose between two good things.

Prioritizing work is worth the effort. You can increase productivity and impact while you lower unnecessary stress. Make time for effective prioritization.

Check out a related post: The Problem With An Always Urgent Work Culture

To your greater success and happiness,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step... 

Interested in learning how leadership coaching and training can help you create a high performance culture and drive results? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business imperatives. 

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, title companies, wealth management firms, design and build companies, third-party maintenance companies, 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.

What Are Your Core Sales Values?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How are your core sales values reflected in how you sell?

As head coach of the Golden State Warriors, Steve Kerr has built a team that has achieved great success, including winning four NBA championships.

Kerr has built his teams on four core values: mindfulness, compassion, competition and joy.

The Warriors are known for playing a brand of basketball that is remarkable for its teamwork, selflessness, ruthless efficiency and flat out exuberance.

Kerr and his players believe that their team's success, and compulsively watchable style of play, is largely a factor of the degree to which they all have embraced and bought into the culture defined by Kerr's four core values.

Have you thought about how you could incorporate these values into your sales culture to improve your results?

It would be quite a change from the traditional sales rep focused, "what have you done for me lately" sales cultures favored by many sales managers.

Let’s take a quick look at how Kerr’s four values apply to sales.

Mindfulness. It’s about being present for the customer.
It’s about eliminating distractions and being completely focused on the customer. 

It’s about being mindful of your obligations to continuously learn in order to increase the value you can deliver to your buyers.

Competition. Sales is all about competition.
You have to love battling tooth and nail with competitors (and inertia) for the right to serve your customers. 

Sales is also a competition against yourself. Every day you have to compete against your fears that cause you to shrink from doing the hard, but necessary, things like picking up the phone and calling a prospect.

Compassion. Compassion starts with empathy for your customers.
This is the ability to put yourself in their shoes and examine their questions, problems and goals from their point of view. 

It also requires that you have empathy for your colleagues. What are they struggling with and how could they use your help? How can you help them meet their goals?

Joy. Joy is fun.
Actually it’s one step above fun. Joy is what you experience when you are in total command of yourself, your knowledge, your products and your customers. 

Joy is the pleasure that comes from the confidence, competence and purpose you display in how you help your buyers.

It’s up to sales managers to cultivate these values in their team. 

It starts with modeling these behaviors with your salespeople.  Are you completely mindful and distraction free when you meet with a sales rep? 

Have you invested the time to really learn about the individuals on your team and their goals, motivations and aspirations? 

Do you give your people the freedom to express themselves, to let them decide how to utilize their skills to best serve your customers?

As Steve Kerr said, "A lot of teams have talent, and obviously we have great talent. But when that talent is committed to the greater good and to each other and they actually genuinely care about each other and enjoy each other, that takes you over the top."

Good selling,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step... 

Interested in learning how leadership coaching and training can help you create a high performance culture and drive results? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business imperatives. 

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, title companies, wealth management firms, design and build companies, third-party maintenance companies, 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.

What Geese Can Tell Us About Leadership and Teamwork

 

I feel fortunate to live in the Pacific Northwest. It's an outdoor person's paradise. One of the many delights of the Fall season is hearing the beautiful call of the Canadian geese which alerts you to look up in the sky. The first image of the skein (or flock) of geese reminds me of a floating black ribbon or the tail of a kite. 

The Autumnal airspace is alive with ribbons of geese gracefully swooping and looping sometimes bearing left and sometimes right. These maneuvers seem to give the stray birds time to catch up to the throng. 

When you watch the flock closely you realize that the geese are all leaders and followers each taking a turn. Alternately leading and following creates a perfect rhythm which enables them to get to their faraway winter destination. 

I believe there are several lessons in shared leadership and teamwork that we can learn from the goose. Geese are intriguing creatures and while considered pests in certain situations, they also have an incredibly strong sense of family and group loyalty. Probably one of the most phenomenal geese facts is that their desire to return to their birth place every year is so strong that they will often fly up to 3,000 miles to get there. 

Lesson #1: Empowering Others to Lead

When the lead goose in the front gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and allows another goose to take the leadership position. 
  
The lesson here is to empower others to also lead. It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. 

As with geese, people are interdependent on each other’s skills, capabilities, and unique arrangement of gifts, talents, or resources.

Lesson #2: Staying Committed to Core Values and Purpose

The geese migration routes never vary. They use the same route year after year. Even when the flock members change, the young learn the route from their parents. In the spring they will go back to the spot where they were born. 
  
The lesson to learn here is to stay true to our core values and purpose. 
  
Strategies, tactics may change in order remain agile, but great organizations always stick to their core purpose and values, and preserve them with vigor

Lesson #3: Offering Support in Challenging Times

When a goose gets sick or wounded, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. 

They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock. 

The lesson here is to stand by each other in difficult times. It’s easy to always be part of winning teams, but when things get difficult and people are facing challenges, that’s when your teammates need you the most. 

Lesson #4 Encouraging and Recognizing Other’s Contribution

The geese honk to recognize each other and encourage those up front to keep up their speed. The lesson here is to make sure we praise people and give them the recognition they deserve. 
  
Lack of recognition is one of the main reasons employees are unsatisfied at work and quit. 
  
We need to make sure our honking is encouraging. 

In groups where there is encouragement, the production is greater. The power of encouragement (to stand by one's heart or core values and encourage the heart and core of others) is the quality of honking we seek. 

Lesson #5 Sharing a Common Goal

As each goose flaps its wings it creates “uplift”, an aerodynamics orientation that reduces air friction, for the birds that follow. By flying in a V-formation, the whole flock achieves a 70% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. 



The lesson we can learn here is that people who share a common direction and goal can get where they are going quicker and with less effort because they benefit from the momentum of the group moving around them. 
  
Make sure your team is aligned towards a common goal. 

Lesson #6 Having Humility to Seek Help

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the friction of flying alone. 
  
It then quickly adjusts its mistake and moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it. 

The lesson we can learn here is to be humble to admit the challenges we face and to seek help as soon as we get stuck. 
  
This humility will enable you, your team, to move faster and achieve more. 

 

A Story About Geese 

A flock of wild geese had settled to rest on a pond. 
  
One of the flock had been captured by a gardener, who had clipped its wings before releasing it. 

When the geese started to resume their flight, this one tried frantically, but vainly, to lift itself into the air. The others, observing his struggles, flew about in obvious efforts to encourage him; but it was no use. 

Thereupon, the entire flock settled back on the pond and waited, even though the urge to go on was strong within them. For several days they waited until the damaged feathers had grown sufficiently to permit the goose to fly. 

Meanwhile, the unethical gardener, having been converted by the ethical geese, gladly watched them as they finally rose together and all resumed their long flight. 

--Albert Schweitzer 

 

To your greater success and happiness,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step... 

Interested in learning how leadership coaching and training can help you create a high performance culture and drive results? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business imperatives. 

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, title companies, wealth management firms, design and build companies, third-party maintenance companies, 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.