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April 21, 2015 by sereynolds

5 Ways to Lead in Challenging Times

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

What do leaders do when their stock price has dropped 75 percent and it’s their job to get it back up? What should leaders think when the thrilling vision they had for the future has been clouded by economic uncertainty? How do leaders get inspired when their employees are dejected, worried, and distracted–and let’s face it, on some level so are they?

Wait–don’t answer that. You can’t.

Because no matter how much you know about leadership, regardless of what the research says or what best practice implies, there’s only one way to find the right answers to these questions. Leaders need to find them for themselves.

In a time of unprecedented challenge, leaders don’t just need to lead their companies. They also need to lead themselves. They need strategies for improving their effectiveness while sustaining a sense of professional well-being. Every one of us has an internal source of strength and stability. Without care and consideration these renewable resources are seriously at risk.

In order to survive and thrive, leaders can’t just go about business as usual. Business isn’t “usual” anymore. It’s undergoing a seismic shift. Leaders need to get their footing in a shaky reality and learn to embrace the possibilities ahead.

So how does a leader actually practice personal leadership? What do they need to do? It looks like this:

Take time to think. Leaders need to step out of the daily rush and think about what they’re doing and why. Doing so, they will find the clarity and focus they need to get back into the action in the most effective way.

Look inside. Instead of being driven by the demanding urgencies, leaders can discover their inner resources–their strengths, their values, and their aspirations. Take for example, the leadership practice of visioning. Visioning is so vital that it is practically the prerequisite Chapter One in any book on the subject of leadership. Leaders of all kinds must have a clear vision to succeed. They need to know where their organization is going and why, and they need to communicate that vision clearly at all levels inside the organization and out.

But on a more personal level, leaders must also have a vision for themselves. At the level of the leader, visioning becomes something different than that longstanding vision that has to stand the test of time. It becomes something more fluid, more intuitive, and more flexible. It is a vision that changes as they change, but with consistent themes over time. The goal is not for a leader to establish one clear and permanent vision but to learn the skill of getting clarity about their vision again and again. For example, take an operations executive in a global medical equipment firm who had gotten overwhelmed by the pace of change in his company, which was growing exponentially, and his personal life, in which he was supporting aging parents. He had begun to be plagued with the big existential questions, like, “What am I doing?” and “What’s it all for?” By using visioning techniques as a way of finding clarity, he was able to discern what he wanted for himself as a leader, a son, an aspirational executive, and a person. As his circumstances continued to change, he learned to reconnect with clarity about his own personal vision–one that helped him to both be a better leader and lead a better life.

Rethink time and teams. The efficiencies of personal leadership come from a paradigm of abundance. Leaders need to recognize the wealth of resources available to them when they maximize their time and use the supportive people in their lives to help them achieve.

Work with a coach or mentor. Personal leadership is supported by a partner who can pose thoughtful questions, make observations, and help leaders learn to see new possibilities.

Look for ways to align and integrate one’s life. We are who we are wherever we are. The closer leaders can tie their true selves to their leadership roles, and in turn their leadership roles and their lives, the happier and healthier they will be–on all fronts.

Is it easy? Not necessarily. Introspection can be hard work. Is it worth it? Ask yourself: What would change for leaders if they had an inner resource to help them maintain stability and security within themselves when the world outside seems so unsound?

Successful leaders know that answer. Here are a few words from leaders who value the personal side of leadership:

“Leadership is personal. Management is personal. There’s something very powerful about bringing your whole self to work.” -Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook

“If you can get your talents and passions to align with the organizational need, you’re really in a position when you can maximize contribution to company and achieve your career best.” -David Kilby, Director of Intel University, Intel

“As leaders it’s time to dig deep personally. There are a lot of people out there that are frozen. It’s a time to create a new future, and we can’t do it if we can’t think clearly.” -Lisa Weber, President, Individual Business, MetLife

When you practice personal leadership, you can take the practices of leadership more generally and apply them to oneself. As a result, both you and your team will flourish, even in challenging times.

April 7, 2015 by sereynolds

Senior Vice President at MGM Resorts Gives 3 Life-changing Ways to use Feedback

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

We’ve all encountered organizations that are going through a lot of change. I recently worked with an organization going through a transitional phase – they had a new division and even that division had gone through a major overhaul so they could be higher functioning within the whole of the company. All of that change can be hard on a team. Fast-forward a year later, I talked to one of the senior leaders on the team and found out that things had dramatically improved. The team was functioning productively, communicating with each other, making positive changes, and they were really on the right track.

I interviewed the Senior Vice President at MGM Resorts, Kelly Litster, to find out the strategy they used to make the difference. She said one word that stood out to me: feedback.

These are the three things Litster’s team learned about feedback:

We learned how to give feedback. One important step this team took to improve its performance was to create a sort of social contract. They agreed to a number of behaviors they wanted to hold themselves accountable for. The team started practicing a “scoring” technique to track how well they practiced the behaviors individually, and learned how to give feedback to explain their scores for each other.

Teams like Litster’s often include a number of common elements in their “operating agreements.” Some items might include avoiding blame, looking for the root cause of a problem, communicating messages even when they’re hard to say, and receiving messages without defensiveness even when they’re hard to hear.

Litster’s team held themselves accountable to scoring each other on those behaviors – a technique that made it possible for each of them to see how they score numerically, quantifying their behavior. Each individual team member can see the items they need to work on, try to remedy it and watch their score go up. It allows them to keep track of how they’re doing and provides a vehicle for how to communicate those messages and transform their culture.

We learned how to take feedback. Litster observed that on her team, members grew in their ability to listen and open their minds to feedback, learning how to do things differently instead of being closed off.

“We had to build trust,” Litster said, “The contract (or promise to behave a certain way) started us off – we joked about it before we could live by it. Then we had some serious trust building to do. Once there was a tiny bit of trust and someone was vulnerable – the team started to come together.”

They say a breaking point either leads to a breakdown or a breakthrough. In Litster’s case, it led to a breakthrough. They made it safe to give feedback within their team culture, so important messages could be both delivered and received. Taking hard feedback may not always been easy for a team member. It may not be pleasant. But it is helpful, and essential to elevate the team.

We learned how to use feedback to make improvements. Litster noticed that her team learned to assert themselves, to be necessary for the service of the greater goal even if the feedback made them uncomfortable initially, and they learned how to help each other. They also learned how to ask for help. Then they tracked their results and watched as the whole team came together in a more effective way. They also became open about giving compliments and offering help. The whole atmosphere became more congenial and productive. Perhaps most importantly, they were able to start demonstrating that they genuinely cared about one another and helped each other succeed.

If you lead a team, consider how you can use these same strategies for transforming the culture in an equally positive way.

Is your team comfortable giving and receiving feedback?
Do you have a system for communicating what’s important and how people are performing?
Do you have an agreement about how to improve based on the feedback?

With these three practices on using feedback that were so successful on Litster’s team at MGM Resorts, you can tackle a changing corporate landscape productively, and you’ll learn a lot about yourself and your colleagues along the way.

March 31, 2015 by sereynolds

Separators, Integrators and Cyclers: 3 Ways to Balance Your Life

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

“I don’t believe in work-life balance.” Speaking with business leaders about how they think about their time, I’ve heard that same sentence three times in the last week.

At first I was tempted to debate with them. I do believe in work-life balance. Regardless of how you frame it–some people prefer to call it “work-life choices” or simply “life”–I believe you have the opportunity to live a life where you have plenty of time to do the things you need to do in the office or at home.

Apparently, that’s arguable. Questions I’ve seen in media headlines on the topic challenge the concept.

“Is work-life balance possible?”

“Does an expectation of balance put undue pressure on people?”

“Shouldn’t we all just learn to integrate our lives in this 24/7 world?”

A healthy debate like this can help us see different angles on this challenge we all face. Yet, sometimes the debate over how we “should” organize our time spirals into a more negative version–the “I’m right/you’re wrong” kind of confrontation that leaves everyone feeling attacked.

The real problem isn’t that we have different perspectives on work-life balance. The problem arises when we try to impose our views on others.

A client of mine recently complained when his boss overloaded him with extra projects that would stretch him past capacity. When my client dared to point out the obvious–that with so much work at once, he couldn’t possibly do a quality job–his boss snapped at him for “not pulling his weight.” For the record, this client was one of the highest-performing leaders in the division, and not one who could fairly be seen as a slacker. The underlying problem was that his boss thought working 24/7 was acceptable at any cost. My client did not.

In another interaction I witnessed, one manager berated another for “working so hard you never see your kids.” Again, this was an unfair judgment. I knew both managers to be extremely family oriented and perfectly healthy time managers. The problem arose because they simply worked differently–and judging each other only caused animosity.

Frustrated by the pattern I was witnessing, I wanted to find a way to help people out of the struggle and into a more productive point of view.

Then I met Ellen Kossek, who offered a solution.

Ellen Kossek is a Professor of Management at Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management, Research Director of the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence, and author of CEO of Me: Creating a Life that Works in the Flexible Job Age. She has a theory about approaches to work-life balance and, along with her colleagues, has developed a work-life assessment to help individuals understand their styles. She calls the three types of approaches separators, integrators and cyclers.

Rather than continue to wrestle with the issues of work-life balance (and whether it’s even possible) you might consider which of these approaches work best for you.

Separators. Separators compartmentalize. During the weekdays and the workday, separators focus on their work and the task at hand. When the weekend hits, the separators put the phone down, reclaim their freedom and enjoy their down time.

An example of a separator is a client of mine who is a CEO of a start up firm. She has several children, and between her family and her job, she could easily choose to work all day, everyday. Instead, she consciously chose specific hours for work and specific hours for home, and she made an agreement with both her firm and her family to adhere to the schedule. She made sure everyone was taken care of–including herself–and from them on, she felt free. Both her clients and her family knew what to expect, and everyone became accustomed to her schedule. She knew that separating was the way she worked best.

Integrators. Integrators blend the different parts of their lives all together.

An example of a great integrator I know is a small business owner. Dramatically successful and with a fast rise into seven figures, she loves to work. She also loves her life. This entrepreneur chooses to work wherever she is, whenever she wants to–or not. She has her phone, laptop and car at her disposal at all times. She does what she wants to do and goes where she has to go and gets it all handled along the way. She can be found taking a business call on the treadmill or sitting with her kids in the office conference room having coloring time. She might leave work at three in the afternoon to pick up her kids, but then after everyone is situated at home she’ll sit at the kitchen table with her laptop and join an evening conference call.

Integrators allow work and home life to blend together. As long as they make sure they have time for themselves and their work, and as long as everyone’s needs are met, it all seems to come together and everything gets accomplished.

Cyclers. Cyclers follow what might be seen as a more traditional model: work hard and play hard, each in their own time.

If you’re a cycler, you go through phases that are all about the work. Your hours might be long, and you work really hard, allowing yourself to stay focused and reach important milestones and outcomes.

Then you go on vacation. You completely unplug. You sleep and swim and play. You feel restored and happy, and when the vacation’s over, you put away your beach towel and head back to work.

This model seems to work well for a lot of people. Parents, especially, seem to benefit from aligning their work schedule to their kids’ school calendars, which tend to operate with this “cycling” approach. They can work while the kids are in school and then take off the breaks that their children get, whether it’s two weeks at the holidays, a long weekend here and there, or even those long summer vacations. Entrepreneurs, executives, and inventors I’ve known have all appreciated the ability to immerse themselves in their work for awhile, and then reward themselves with some good, quality time off.

Let’s revisit the scenarios I posed earlier in this article. The manager who wanted my client to work 24/7 was a cycler; his style bumped up against the values of his direct report, who was a separator. The manager who scoffed another manager’s workaholic-seeming style was a separator also; but she misread and misinterpreted her colleagues’ integrator way of life. With Kossek’s lens on work-life balance, none of these people were “wrong” in their way to managing their time. But they were wrong to judge other people for managing their time differently. Many different styles can accomplish the same goal. The real way to judge the effectiveness is to gauge whether the work gets done in a way that supports a healthy quality of life–however you define it.

As you consider these three models, ask yourself a few questions.

What model appeals to you most?
What model are you living with now?
Is there any way to bring the two closer together?

Once you choose your way of making your life work, you can more easily accept other’s choices and go about focusing on your own.

March 24, 2015 by sereynolds

The Puzzle Method of Scheduling Your Day

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

I was sitting at my desk the other day and felt completely overwhelmed. Like many of you, as a business owner I had many things to do at once: three calls to make, an article due, meetings to attend, and random appointments scattered throughout the day. I was completely paralyzed in the moment. Every task seemed equally important and unimportant at the same time.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you have many things to keep track of: Marketing, communication, client work, providing services, leadership–that’s five without even stopping for a breath.

How do you keep all of that in mind without feeling like you’re it’s all going to fall apart? Well, one way is instead to think of putting it all together instead. Like a puzzle.

If you’ve ever done a puzzle, even as a kid, you know how it goes. It’s somewhat random and can seem overwhelming at first, but there are steps you can take to make it easier on yourself. You take a good long look at the picture on the cover of the box, so you have a sense of the ultimate result. You can find the four corners and put them into place. You can build the edges around the perimeter of the puzzle. You can sort the pieces out on the table so you can see them all, then choose one at a time to pick up and put into place.

If you are patient and do one piece at a time, puzzle-making can be a surprisingly relaxing activity. As you finish little sections, you get a tiny thrill of satisfaction, and of course, there’s that big feeling of achievement at the end when, at last, the puzzle is complete.

Now that you’re remembering what the spirit of puzzle building is, let’s also remember what it isn’t. Putting together a puzzle isn’t usually stressful. There’s never a timeline or a deadline. You don’t have to finish it. You can just drop in, do a few pieces, change your mind and work on a different section for awhile, and put it down to return to some other time.

Imagine if managing a busy day could so light and (dare I say) fun? It can be, if you apply the same kind of thinking.

Let’s go back to the scenario we started with. You’re at your desk feeling overwhelmed, somewhat scattered and sure you’ll never finish anything, much less everything, on your list. So you decide instead to think of it as a puzzle. You take those first few steps to make life easier on yourself.

Write down everything you have to do. This is the picture on the cover of the box.
Schedule the ones that can be scheduled. These are your “corners.”
Put the rest of the tasks on a To Do list. These are your “edges.”
Organize your desk so you can see everything easily. This is the sorting process that will help you be efficient.

Now you can pick up one task at a time, just like the individual pieces of a puzzle.

The shift in thinking that makes the biggest difference is to remember that even though you may feel an internal sense of urgency, most of the time you can be patient and take your time–trusting that when you do, you actually move more efficiently through your tasks than when you race through them in a rush of urgency and stress.

There may be a lot of pieces to your business, but they’re all part of one cohesive whole. Focusing on one area at a time, and working on a few different areas a day, will help you put the whole thing together.

Now, so far we’ve been talking about using the puzzle idea to schedule your day. Whatif you applied this logic to your whole business? It’s a strategy I teach entrepreneurs for being able to manage a complex, multi-faceted endeavor of building a business.

Study the “cover on the box.” How do I want your whole business to come together? What will success for your company look like? Now you remember what you’re doing this all for.

Look for the cornerstones. Puzzleshave corners; businesses have cornerstones. What’s the vision? What’s the mission? What’s the strategy? What are the goals? With those four pieces in place, your business is anchored into place.

Form the edges. One of my favorite new books is Essentialism by George McKeown. In it he asks a life-changing question: what’s essential? You can even ask yourself that question in the moment: What’s essential today? Staying aligned to what’s essential will help you prioritize, in the big picture of your business and in the day to day implementation.

Look for themes. It’s the rare puzzle builder who can randomly pick up any piece and put it neatly into place. Why do we expect this of ourselves in our business? Give yourself permission to work on themes. Maybe today’s the day you work on a new article you’ve been wanting to submit. That’s one “part of the puzzle.” Maybe tomorrow you’ll spend some time with clients–another part of the puzzle. In this way, nothing has to be started and finished in one sitting–you can work on things as they come naturally, while trusting that eventually, it will all come together. It always does.

Puzzle making at first seem random and chaotic, but puzzle-building can be methodical and relaxing. One by one, the pieces of your busy day will go into place–just like the pieces of a puzzle.

March 20, 2015 by sereynolds

The Formula for Success, and How to Actually Use It

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

We’ve all been there: you’re sitting at your desk reflecting, finding yourself frustrated with the lack of results you’re getting in your business. You reach the conclusion that you’re either working too hard and not getting enough results (sales, clients, income), or you’re just not sure if you’re doing the right thing.

Whether you’re doing the right thing with no result, or you’re doing the wrong thing with no result, the end result is the same: nothing.

So often success in business depends on the right formula. The right clients and customers; the right team; the right business model; the right branding and marketing; the right timing; the right action; and so on. It can be scary if you’re not getting results, because you don’t know which part of the formula is off.

Here’s a solution that can clear the confusion and get you back on the path to success. The formula is this:

Strategy + Execution (with Consistency) = Results.

I learned this model from a fellow consultant, but I never really understood it until I used it in my personal life.

Like most people, I was trying to lose those last insufferable “stubborn five pounds.” Despite being healthy and fit (enough) most of my life, somehow I had lost track of what I should be doing. I didn’t have a great workout plan to follow. I had forgotten what I should be eating to stay trim. As a result, I was much less consistent about my health routine, and that made it hard for me to get motivated. Finally it became clear to me I needed a strategy. I found a trainerto build that strategy for me, and once I got on the program, it was much easier for me to follow direction and get back on track. I knew what to do in my workout. I knew what to eat. I just had to do it–to execute the plan. Once I started doing that consistently, lo and behold those five pounds came off.

Business owners often fall into a similar pattern. They somehow, over the course of time, fall out of their marketing routine or forget what they should be doing about business development. As a result, they too become less consistent and less motivated. They too are missing the strategy. Whereas my trainer could create a diet and fitness plan for her clients, I often find myself helping entrepreneurs write Personal Strategic Plans they can execute–and when they do so, consistently, they also get the results they want in the form of clients, customers, and profit.

The formula for results is as follows:

Strategy. Ask yourself: On a scale from 1-10, do you believe you have the right strategy for your business?

What’s your ideal business model?

What should you be doing in the areas of marketing, business development and customer satisfaction?

What systems do you want for your team, your time, and your service delivery?

Making decisions in areas like these is key. Taking yourself on a good strategic planning offsite–even if you’re a solopreneur–is necessary to set the vision, mission, strategy, goals and activities that make up the business you want. Once those decisions are made, you can stop worrying and get back to work making it happen.

Execution. Ask yourself: On a scale from 1-10, are you executing the strategy well enough for it to pay off?

If your strategy dictates that you need to attend three networking events a month,, have you scheduled them in your calendar? Have you arranged childcare so that you can attend? Have you cleared your business schedule to attend the events? Have you made travel arrangements?

If your strategy tells you you need to take every Friday off to follow up on sales calls and tidy up your contact management system, are you actually focusing on those activities at that time?

Is there anything you’re supposed to be doing but really aren’t doing at all?

Even though a strategy is essential in building a profitable business, it isn’t enough. You have to commit to following the strategy with perfect execution.

So be honest: How well are you executing on your strategy? Are you really doing the things you’re supposed to do?

Consistency. Ask yourself: On a scale 1-10, how consistent are you in following through with executing the strategies for your business that get results?

The first time I heard the success formula it was explained to me as “Strategy plus Execution Equals Results.” I followed that equation and got nowhere, and that’s because I was missing consistency. So I added it to the formula: “Strategy plus Execution with Consistency Equals Results.”

Once my trainer had given me the diet and exercise plan she knew was right for me, and even after I had the system underway, she pointed out to me that I wasn’t being consistent. If I put in a great workout–but only once or twice a week–it simply wasn’t enough to get results. Business people often fail in a similar way. They have systems in place for working with clients, like networking and engaging in social media, but they’re inconsistent and not doing it enough. At best, they’re leaving money on the table. At worst, they’re giving up on the whole enterprise because they think the strategy “wasn’t working.”

One final tip: One of the things I learned from my trainer was the necessity of tracking. In fitness: Track your diet, track your calories, and track your mileage. In business, track your activities, track your successes, and track your results. That way you’ll be much more certain as to whether you have the strategy that’s working; you’ll be able to execute it more effectively; you’ll be motivated to stay consistent, and you’ll get the outcomes you want. That creates momentum and can help you build a business that lasts a lifetime.

March 10, 2015 by sereynolds

The One Sentence You Need To Tell Your Boss, And Yourself

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

Often when I work with executives and business owners, they complain that they feel underappreciated for the hard work that they do. They may have received feedback that they’re valued in the past, and they may feel accomplished. But they don’t always feel like others recognize their worth to the company.

If that sounds familiar, you may be tempted to blame the people around you. Why can’t they see how hard you work? Why don’t they appreciate how much you contribute to the organization? Well, the answer may be that you haven’t taken the step to tell them.

If you want to be viewed as a valuable, contributing member of your organization, you need have the words to articulate your value. If you can’t explain your value to others, they may have a hard time identifying the value themselves.

An easy way to do that is with a simple strategy I call your Concrete Measurable Result. Knowing your Concrete Measurable Result helps you quantify what they bring to the table.

Your Concrete Measurable Result is a single-sentence statement of value that illustrates the results of your efforts.

For example, one might say: “This year, as a result of my marketing efforts, I added $50,000 in new sales of products to our bottom line.”

Or: “As a result of my business developments and networking efforts, I added three big new clients to our clientele this year, who are collectively worth $300,000.”

Or: “As a result of my efforts to improve efficiency, I minimized time-wasting activities across my team and department, and we calculated that we saved 20 percent of our time, which we reallocated to strategic activities, including one project that was worth $3 million to a client.”

All of these are examples of Concrete Measurable Results in which individuals have quantified their efforts to show their value.

There are three main parts to creating a statement of Concrete Measurable Results:

Part One: Describe your effort. Put your finger on what exactly your effort was to create the result. Did you hire a new team and get them on board? Did you put in extra hours to polish a piece of work? Did you come up with a brilliant new idea that’s now paying off? This piece is critical, because it helps you to understand where your efforts are making a difference, and thus helps others to see it, too.

Part Two: Describe the result. Say: “As a result of my efforts, I accomplished ‘x.'” Look for something that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. For example, if you hadn’t personally studied the map of the production floor, the company wouldn’t have generated a productive re-design. Or if you hadn’t improved your qualifiying technique for customers, your company would have wasted a lot of time and money on ineffective advertising. This is the part where you list the result, showing the meaning for someone else and the company as a whole.

Part Three: Quantifying the result. If you really want to drive home your value–for your company and for yourself–try putting some hard numbers to the results. Here you’re looking for dollar figures, or a percentage increase or decrease. This is where the results become concrete and measurable.

Now that you have this information you can use it in the following three ways:

You can write the statement ahead of time, identifying the concrete result you hope to achieve at the beginning of the year to set a goal.
Another way is to use the statement as a reflection, evaluating at the end of a project whether it was worth it, or where your time is best spent going forward.
Last, your Concrete Measurable Result tells you what you need to be communicating to others. Don’t make people guess at your impact; let them know about it. If you feel like you’re working very hard but you’re not sure you’re getting the result, it might be because you’re not making yourself aware of how valuable you really are–being able to identify your worth in just a sentence or two helps you know that and communicate that to others.

Now, we should note that Concrete Measurable Results are not about bragging or puffing yourself up. They’re certainly not about taking credit where it’s not due or overshadowing others. Rather, your Concrete Measurable Results are simply a measure you can take to see where you’re having the biggest impact on your company–and to help others see it, too.

Related: 6 Signs You Need a Coach

March 3, 2015 by sereynolds

3 Common Events That Can Make Or Break Your Career Growth

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

We have many coaches in our lives. Teachers, sports coaches, mentors, and even our friends and families can become coaches to us in certain ways. In an article earlier this month I talked about the six signs to look out for that indicate that you could benefit from an executive coach, someone from outside of your organization who can guide you through career twists and turns.

But when is it time to pull the trigger? How do you know which twists or turns might become insurmountable and require outside help?

The following three scenarios are situations we inevitably run into at one point or another in our careers, sometimes multiple times. They’re situations in which a coach can step in and help you make the choices that are right for you.

You have an aspiration. The question I like to ask people is, what opportunities are you excited to take advantage of over the next year? Some possibilities:

New responsibilities. Is there a new project you’d like to take on, a team you’d like to lead, or an expanded role you’d like to take?
New business ventures. Do you have a new product to create–or to launch? Do you have some new potential partners?
Higher revenue goals. Is this the year you finally clear six figures? Or maybe seven? Does your team have the opportunity to be the best-in-class?

It’s so exciting to be able to see the very real possibilities ahead of you. But don’t let those ideas merely stir you creativity–make sure they light a fire under you so you actually get going and achieve the vision.

So many people don’t. They lose track of their goals, lose steam, or give up in defeat. That’s when to call a coach. Your coach will be sure the vision and goals stay first and foremost in your mind, so even when you’re busy, stress, overwhelmed, distracted, or not making progress, someone is there not only rooting for you but urging you to keep moving forward. A coach can help accelerate your advancement to get you over the finish line.

You’re looking for a career change. Whether you’re getting a promotion into a new role or looking to move companies altogether, coaching can help you shape your vision and get some clarity about what the next steps would be.

A client of mine was in a job at a company that went through a reorganization process, and the tasks he ended up being responsible for after the shift were tasks he wasn’t happy with and didn’t challenge him. As a coach I helped him by stepping in and providing clarity on what he does want and the steps he can take to get there, and we came up with action items that re-aligned him with his goals and interests. He was able to articulate a new plan for his career–one that had him developing a new niche in his old company. He found a renewed sense of purpose and meaning, and others saw him as confident, capable, and succeeding during a time of challenge and change

You’ve reached a plateau and want feedback. If you can feel yourself starting to lose motivation, if you’re frustrated with your boss and are losing respect for your company’s leadership, or if you are feeling that the feedback you’ve gotten from your boss isn’t aligned with you, then a coach can step in and provide the feedback you’re looking for to help you progress and grow.

The most successful businessmen and women I know are voracious about getting feedback. They crave the truth; they want to know where they can improve. They want to know their strengths and weaknesses. Without that kind of feedback loop, it’s hard for them to know how they’re doing. The sense of “plateauing” can be demotivating, because you don’t know how to move onward and upward. If your boss isn’t helping you improve, or if don’t respect or agree with the feedback you do get, you can find yourself stuck in “park.”

The good news about feedback is it’s always available, and you can access it yourself with the help of your coach. Your coach can choose self-assessments that will get you good information about your personality, strengths, and tendencies. He or she can help design a 360 for you, so you can get lots of feedback from all around. Your coach can even help you process the feedback you do have, differently. Seen from another angle, there might be some real hidden gems–messages that you do need to hear, and may be able to view in a different light with the perspective of your coach to add new insight.

Because your coach is someone in your court–without ulterior motives- he or she can give you a clearer picture of the next steps you should make to achieve the goal or position you want.

The Leadership Research Institute released a statistic that said the number one predictor of leadership effectiveness is a commitment to self-improvement. What that means is that what makes people see you as a more effective leader, and what makes you a better leader, is being open to learning. If you find yourself in any of the above situations, then learning is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your professional growth.

Related: 6 Signs You Need a Coach

February 17, 2015 by sereynolds

How To Save Your Struggling Business With Personal Leadership Practices

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

The mark of a company able to adapt to a changing environment and to seize opportunities are leaders that lead the business, lead others, and most importantly lead themselves. Leaders perform best when aligned to a vision that inspires and motivates them to act.

Successful companies that maximize the talents of their leaders build personal leadership into their cultures, focusing intently on developing and communicating a meaningful vision and strategy; aligning the motivations of individual leaders to the direction of the firm; and effectively strengthening leaders’ skills and abilities to prioritize and make decisions that deliver the intended results–both for themselves and those they lead.

Entrepreneurs can build a culture of personal leadership by emphasizing the vision and strategy of the firm, and helping leaders to identify their personal goals and objectives.

Ask yourself:

What counts as success for your firm? How, and how consistently, is that message conveyed?
What do individual leaders care about that will motivate them to achieve success for your firm, for clients, and for themselves?
What do leaders need in terms of support for effectively prioritizing activities, developing action plans and managing their time?

Questions like these can help leaders align their efforts both to the firm and to their personal motivations, leading to a greater ability to leverage existing talent and sustain performance over time.

If the firm has decided to place its bets on its talent and make that its competitive advantage, then it’s got to do better. How do you do that? You get very clear about the vision, make sure everyone is aligned to it, clarify the strategy for the firm, and teach individual leaders to make their own personal and uniquely-motivating visions and goals for themselves. Then empower them to deliver on those visions and goals with skills related to action planning, prioritization, time management, and so on. The idea is that the individual leaders are so excited and energized by what’s in it for them personally that they align all their efforts to that achievement, and that achievement rolls up into the vision of the firm.

The image is one of, let’s say, a subway station. People are milling about, on their cell phones, individually getting things done but in no particular direction. One could stand on the balcony and say, “Look at all those busy people! So focused on their work… Everybody getting stuff done in their conversations and on their laptops even as they wait for the train…”

But compare that to a pack of marathon runners–all lined up and running the same direction at the same time toward the same finish line. They need to put their efforts into making sure everyone was running the same direction, for the same reason, and doing their best to stay focused on the same finish line. Then they could focus on minimizing the distractions that come from a lack of focus (such as poor decision making skills, poor prioritization, poor time management) and building up the leaders to do even more, better, faster (through coaching and mentoring).

Personal leadership assumes that leaders perform best when they are at their best, personally as well as professionally. So in addition to getting organized around vision, strategy and goals, it’s important to foster a strong appreciation for what it means to be a high performer and what it takes to sustain that level of success.

If your firm wants to capitalize on the investment its making in its leaders, it would recognize that to get the best results out of these kind of talented individuals, it needs to help them not just achieve but find a sense of personal motivation and fulfillment that will inspire and motivate them to over deliver not just for the firm, but also for themselves. That way, everyone wins.

February 10, 2015 by sereynolds

6 Signs You Need a Coach

If you’re a person who is highly engaged, excited about your work and reaching your goals, hopefully that keeps you inspired and on track on a daily basis. But, a number of forces compete with our well-being that can chip away at our motivation over time.

See if any of these symptoms sound familiar: you’re overwhelmed, discouraged, exhausted, and you feel disengaged. When you feel your motivation starting to wane, you need to get your groove back, pick yourself up and get back to a place where you feel strong, energized and positive again. The bad news is that this can be a challenge. The good news is that you don’t have to do it alone.

This is where executive coaching can be your most invaluable asset.

Executive coaching is a particular type of leadership development, customized and tailored to you, totally focused on your success and achievement. As a coach, it’s my job to care as much about your success and achievement as you do. When you have a coach, it almost feels like there are two of you.

If you often think that it would take two of you to pull off everything you’re trying to do in your work and life, you may need a coach. Here are five other emotional signs to watch out for:

Overwhelm. If you’re feeling lost in your to-do list, unable to focus, and challenged in making a plan of attack on how to get things done, a coach can help you sort priorities and get focused, allowing you to feel more in control.

Discouraged. It can be enormously frustrating to want success and quality of life and somehow not be able to attain it. A coach can help you reconnect to your internal motivation for doing things, and reconnect with the things that you love and want to do. Doing what you want to do will help lift your spirits.

Frenzy. With so much to do, respond do, pay attention to, and think about, you can start to feel buried. The demands are steady, the e-mails keep coming, and you have a thousand places to be. You fly through things as fast as you can just to stay afloat. A coach helps you listen to your quieter voice of inner wisdom that will settle you down.

Sacrifice. When you separate success from quality of life, you face a dilemma. You end up making decisions you don’t want to make: to work or stay home, to take a promotion or preserve your sanity, to follow your heart or stick to the security of a so-so job. Coaches help organize your time so you’re not missing the vacations and time you need to maintain your mental health.

Mediocrity. When you lose sight of the grander vision of your life and leadership, you end up tinkering in the minutiae instead of increasing your value. You forget about high expectations. You’re just shooting for “good enough” and “done.” A coach helps you set standards for yourself so you’re not just puttering along, looking for the lowest common denominator. A coach helps you raise the bar for yourself in a way that’s invigorating.

Dissatisfaction. When you aren’t able to pinpoint your contribution and live a life of meaning, your achievements can feel hollow. You might feel disconnected, bored, isolated, unmotivated, stagnant, or burned-out. You might even start to wonder what it’s all for.

You may not be able to lift yourself out of the doldrums, but with a coach you can transform your perspective and get back to a place where you’re excited about your work and achieving your personal and professional goals.

February 4, 2015 by sereynolds

3 Secrets To Streamline Your Work Day

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

I recently heard a news story on the radio about how chefs organize their kitchen space to be most efficient. As I was listening it occurred to me that managers can use this to organize their own teams.

The strategy the chefs used was one they referred to by the French term, mise-en-place.” The phrase mise en place means “putting into place,” or “setting up.” For chefs, a mise en place refers to gathering and arranging the ingredients and tools they need for cooking in one central location. It helps the cooks coordinate vast amounts of materials in a labor-intensive environment. A chef who abides by this practice, everything in your station is entirely organized to use the minimal amount of time and effort to get something done. Very complex, high stress tasks become streamlined and focused .

If a mise-en-place approach can simplify the very complicated tasks of cooking fine meals at high speed, imagine what it could do for you in your business.

The thinking behind mise-en-place, is to think through an entire system so that the steps and materials are in place for execution, with the highest predictability and the least amount of effort expended. All of the effort goes into the preparation so that the execution can be flawless.

The success of the mise-en-place philosophy is based on self-discipline and focus–two skills that are essential for entrepreneurs and managers. The following steps take the mise-en-place philosophy from the kitchen to your office space:

Take control of your office space. Everyone wants to save a little bit of time here and there, and with the mise-en-place philosophy you can save a lot. You should be able to sit in your chair without standing up and be able to reach everything you need in one place, the way the chefs prepare their cooking stations. You shouldn’t have to get up for anything.

To arrange things most effectively, monitor your actions to show what you need in a day, and organize your office so that those things are immediately within your reach. Can you reach the books, files or binders you need for the day’s work from where you’re sitting?

You can still make this work for you in a small office space by making sure everything is right in front of you. Think of a sushi chef–they don’t need to walk around the kitchen; they have the rice, fish, seaweed, and any other ingredients right in front of them. So if you find that you have to walk across the room to get to the printer, consider getting a tabletop printer instead. If you are constantly running to the supply closet, set up a drawer of the supplies you need most often and stock it so everything you need is right at hand. Be ready ahead of time.

Take stock. Ideally, you shouldn’t run out of anything. Either you, or your assistant or office manager if you have one, make sure that you are stocked with everything you need, like pens, paper, or ink. The same is true on a digital level. Files are neat, organized, never cluttered, and easily accessible at any moment. You have enough disc space on your computer. Your contacts are organized and complete. Make a checklist and keep it in mind.

Prepare your day. Prepare your daily tasks for optimum efficiency. Know what calls you’re going to be on that day, have hardcopies of what you need for any meetings, and take inventory of your to-do list for the tasks ahead. Once you’re prepared, you can press “go” and get started with everything laid out in front of you. You can get right to work, just like a chef at his station.

To fully integrate mise-en-place, remember the secret is all in the preparation. Get prepared; set yourself up; try to think of everything; observe where the system breaks down, and make adjustments until everything runs like clockwork. You’ll look more professional, and feel more productive too!