Why Working Less Is Better For You

25 hours is the optimal number of hours to work in a week before you start making mistakes. That is what a new study from the Melbourne Institute proved and I argue that it applies to anyone regardless of age.

Everyone knows that the longer you work the less effective you become, but now there is research to prove that measuring your time in the office is detrimental to your productivity.

Microsoft recently tested a three day weekend for the month of August and saw a 39% increase in productivity over last year. It is no surprise that 92% of the 2,300 employees said they preferred working four days a week, so why don't more companies adopt this approach?

I was interviewed on Radio shows in San Diego, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Grand Rapids, and Des Moines last week about this and I shared the three ways right now today that you can let your employees work less:

1) Let your team know that results matter more than time in the office
2) Watch for burnout on your team and make sure they are maintaining their health and energy levels
3) Regularly ask “What can we stop doing to give you more time and save your energy?"

I’d love to hear how you have implemented this already in your teams.

Dedicated to growing your business,Val

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Why Acquisitions Fail

As Fitbit users around the world are reportedly throwing their watches in the trash for fear of what Google will do with their health data, this week’s news reminded me why so many acquisitions fail. 

Having been part of the acquisition team, managed post-acquisition integrations, and decided when to walk away from acquisitions in my corporate days at companies including Microsoft and Amazon, the insights gained allow me to offer advice to my clients on if/when/how they acquire companies. 

There are three crucial acquisition stages where you can easily fail:

1.The decision. 

* Failing to involve the right executives in deciding if the acquisition is a right fit.

* Being unclear if this is a talent, technology, market share, or competitive blocking strategy as a reason for the acquisition. Don’t pretend it is something it is not. 

* Moving at the wrong speed. You have to know when to make the move at the right valuation or it will be like walking away from the roulette table just as your number comes up. 

2.The deal. 

* Failing to be realistic about how long the founders will stay around.

* Being unclear about what happens to customers. Fitbit has a huge problem here. They might have said that they won’t use customer data to target Google adverts, but now Google owns Nest and has all of your home data, adding Google's access to your health data is a step too far for many. 

3.The delivery. 

* This is the biggest failure point, the execution is assumed to happen automatically without the right resources. 

* From deal announcement to six months after a go-live date, there has to be incredible attention applied to customers and employees. Sadly the latter gets the least attention and has the biggest impact. 

If you would like a copy of my Acquisition Success Tips reply yes please here.

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 Immediately Tell If You Are Wasting Your Breath

An executive asked me to come and speak to their sales organization for their sales kick-off event earlier this year. As I asked them my favorite “So what?” question, to uncover the true impact they wanted to see from their event, I fast realized, and quickly told them, I would be wasting my breath.

I am sure they initially thought I was crazy, but once I explained maybe they thought so a little less. The impact they were trying to make could not be achieved by any speaker to his whole sales organization.

He was focused on the wrong audience.

We quickly identified who were the real people who could impact the changes and results he wanted to achieve and instead I designed and ran an event that was for that select targeted group.  

We created an experience that was far different from the VP of sales original request.

How many times are you wasting your breath? 

Instead, ask yourself:

Can the person I am sharing this with truly impact the results I want to achieve? 

Is there someone else I should be talking to?

Is my intention clear, how can I state that fast?

Will the people hearing my message be ready to hear it? How can I help them be ready if I am in doubt?

How can I best position my message so it appeals to what my audience most cares about?

Is the language I am using neutral, fact-based, and concise or inflammatory, opinionated, and rambling?

Once I have shared what I want to say, can they really take any action?

Whether you are being asked to present at a meeting, preparing to give one to one feedback, asking for a promotion, or getting support for a new initiative, make sure you are talking to the right person and you are properly prepared.

Otherwise you will simply be wasting your breath.

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/