Why This Is The Season For Being Grateful

Your inbox does not have to be at zero by December 24, nor do you have to have returned the serve for every project, activity, or initiative so the balls are in someone else’s court.

As you countdown to your company’s version of shutdown or scaling back for the holidays, consider just what you are grateful for right now.

Who has supported you the most at work? Whose friendship do you value the most? Who on your team has surprised you with their curiosity and creativity? Who have you failed to frequently keep in touch with and you miss?

Call, text, DM, or hand write a note to these people this week. Make that your focus for your pre-holiday wind down.

I received two notes from executives last week doing precisely this. One thanked me for the advice I gave him during his transition to be sensibly-selfish and prioritize looking after himself before looking after others. The second was a divisional president who thanked me for working with his executive team and giving back his team the gift of time that was the equivalent of 82 extra people in his business!

Everyone loves receiving thank you’s….take some time this week to give some out.

Thanks for reading. I’m currently creating my editorial calendar for next year, let me know if there is a topic or question you would like me to address.

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val

P.S. I hope you enjoyed this week's VAL-uable Insights, sign up here to get them in your inbox each Monday morning: http://valwrightconsulting.com/newsletter-sign-up/

How To Pay Attention To Your Leaders

Earlier in my career I had a strong belief that leaders were delusional about their teams’ performance. I thought they couldn’t see what I could see. I soon realized I was the one who was wrong. I discovered that certain situations cause leaders to act in a way that makes them appear a bit delusional. Here are five of the most common distractors that prevent leaders from realizing they need to galvanize their team in order to increase profit.

1.   Frantic—A leader can become frantic when they are too busy solving the burning issue of the day to stop and pay attention to what is happening within their team. They may have a misguided belief that powering through execution is more valuable than paying attention.

2.   Hopeful—Eventually that poor performer will leave, won’t they? It is easy to become hopeful just like the rookie golf player hoping he can play at St. Andrews without being spotted as a newcomer to the game. Optimism is essential, but blind hope is catastrophic.

3.   Impatient—You told them once, they have your goals, and they are senior enough to figure it out for themselves. A leader who becomes impatient can be the equivalent of an automatic tennis ball machine firing serves in every direction without giving anyone time to return the first serve. Finding the right pace for your team is critical.

4.   Skeptical—I have worked with leaders who saw no value in bringing their team together beyond fast, functional, tactical monthly meetings. Their belief was they have products to ship, customers to support, and goals to execute, and any time spent together as a team is a superfluous distraction.

5.   Lost—This is the one situation that can be the hardest to detect, especially if you live in a world of high bravado and low vulnerability. If you know a leader that is in the biggest job of their lives, then you know it can be easy to become overwhelmed and freeze.

These are situational reactions and you can experience more than one at the same time. Unfortunately, each one undermines teamwork, problem solving, innovation, and profit.

Recognize yourself or someone who reports to you? These are not versions of the seven dwarfs. How you react when you are frantic, hopeful, impatient, skeptical, or lost will determine just how fast your business and career will grow. Call me if you want to talk specifics in your company.

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val

What Inspiration Do You Have Planned For January?

Team off-sites  meetings, and all hands can cause your team to quit, return headhunter calls, or even worse, just stay at work and mentally switch off. If done right, they can also unlock capacity, clarify what you want your team to ignore and focus on, and confirm to each person they are in the right place to have a rewarding and prosperous career.

As you wind down for the holiday break, consider how you can inspire your team, bring them together, and unlock new ideas and capacity in January.

I was working with a new technology executive of a global consumer products company and we brought together his team of 125 people from around the world to identify how we could increase revenue and market share by the technology solutions they provided. We discovered that some of the 10+ year veterans of the company had never visited HQ before. We discovered that brilliant ideas lay in people’s heads in Amsterdam, Beijing, and Bangalore because nobody had every asked them and the communication lines were solely focused on solving immediate technical problems. As we were wrapping up the event, five of the team shared that they had been interviewing with their competition, had offers on the table that they were now going to decline because they now had greater understanding and belief in where the company was heading and their role in contributing to that success.

Many people choose to change jobs as part of their New Years Resolutions, now is the time for you to consider how you keep your best people.

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val

P.S. I hope you enjoyed this week's VAL-uable Insights, sign up here to get them in your inbox each Monday morning: http://valwrightconsulting.com/newsletter-sign-up/