Maximizing the Human Potential

Decision Making

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andrew shaffer consulting decision makingMany business leaders I speak to express frustrations with their team’s inability to change behaviors. The executive team will make decisions or create a new strategy only to have the employees resist. This can be extremely frustrating at best, and kill your business at worse. There are many things that go into good decision making, and ensuring that decisions are actually followed through. Today I am going to challenge you to review your decision making process. Could your process be impeding your ability to get things done?

Decision Making

One of the fundamental duties of leaders and managers in any organization is decision-making. Leaders and managers make decisions every day from prioritizing and assigning tasks to how to implement a new strategy. The decision-making process in every company is different and unique to its own culture. Decisions could be made by the owner/CEO, or by a board or committee.

It doesn’t matter how decisions are made in your company there are real consequences to your employees with each decision, although some decisions have a bigger impact than others. In my experience your decision making process can have the greatest impact on employee retention and productivity. Here are some things you can do to make sure your decisions don’t have a negative effect on your company.

Communicate

I was in a meeting with a dozen or so employees at a company as they were learning about a new corporate policy regarding their benefits. The Human Resources department put together a detailed Power Point presentation to clearly explain the changes and the impacts to the employees. Human Resources representatives were at each presentation to answer any questions that the employees might have. They were well versed on the details of the new program, however they never adequately communicated why the decision to change the benefits was made. What was the rationale behind the decision? As a result, the employees assumed that it was made to appease shareholders at the extent of the employees. Was that the case? I don’t know. Does it matter? No, that was the perception and perception rules. I can tell you that the employees did not feel VALUED after that meeting.

Seek Input

In today’s social media driven world of comments and likes people express their opinions on almost everything. This culture of sharing opinions flows over into the workplace as well. Employees like to have some say in the decision-making process. They like to have their voices heard. In large organizations it is challenging or unreasonable to expect that everyone has their opinions heard.

However, their voices usually can and should be represented in the decision making process. Employees and management alike could have a “seat at the table” for decision making. This does NOT mean that you have to implement every decision from all stakeholders. It does mean that all viewpoints are considered in the process. Then when decisions are made the concerns expressed by all decision makers should be addressed when communicating the decision. Letting people know that they were heard and part of the process increases engagement, and helps improve retention and productivity among your teams.

Executing

I have observed meetings where senior executives (or even front-line managers) have made decisions, but never executed the decision. What a waste of time and energy! Why were they not executed? It could be a wide variety of things from feeling excluded the process, not understanding why or how to implement the decision or just thinking the decision was stupid (managers don’t understand how work gets done). Whenever a decision is made, someone has to implement or execute the decision. Allowing everyone to be represented in the process, communicating the why behind the decision, and adding accountability helps ensure that your decisions are executed and you get the results you are looking for.

This Week’s Challenge

How are decisions made in your company? Are your decisions having the impact you want them to have?  Do you need help setting up a decision-making process that is inclusive, and achieves the desired outcomes?  We can help.

If you need help, or would like to learn more about how to retain your top performers,  please reach out to me. I’ll be happy to help!

Business Slumps

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andrew shaffer consulting business slumpsMy boys are full swing into fall sports.  I have one boy that plays baseball, and another that plays soccer. My baseball player found himself in the middle of a hitting slump. It started late in the spring season and lasted through the summer. We worked on a few things to get him out of the slump so he can start hitting again. Last week, was the first game of the fall season.  At this first at bat, he broke out of his slump with a solid double to right field. He looked at me from second base, with a huge smile and said, “I’m back!”. This week I am going to talk about some strategies we used to get out of the slump and rejuvenate a ball player.

Business Slumps

It doesn’t matter if you are a professional baseball player, a professional salesperson, or a CEO, we can all get into a slump from time to time – a period when we just can’t get anything right. No matter how hard we try we just come up short. This can be frustrating! We feel like we’re doing everything right, yet we just can’t seem to get the same results.  First, relax. It happens. Second, there are a few things that you can do to get out of that slump and start hitting home runs again.

Back to Basics

I like to golf. During the spring, I’ll get my clubs out of the basement and head out to the driving range to get back into form.  Generally, the more I play, the better I hit the ball. This makes sense, because of the practice.  Inevitably in the middle of the summer I start feeling confident with my shot and really try to hit the ball hard.  I mean like the pros do. Well, I am far from being a pro, so the harder I try to hit the ball, the worse my shots become. Even when I decide to back off and not hit so hard, I still can’t hit a decent shot. I eventually must go back to the range and focus on the basics until I figure out what I was doing wrong.

Whether it is golfing, selling, or running a company, we can all lose touch with the fundamentals. It’s not that we forget about them, or ignore them, but we get blinded by our own confidence. It isn’t until our performance is impacted that we pay attention to fundamentals. When you find yourself in a slump, find yourself a coach, mentor or a friend. Have them observe you on the proverbial driving range. Getting back to basics is a sure-fire way to get out of that slump.

Keep Shooting

I had a basketball coach tell me that when a shooter is in a slump, he keeps giving him the ball. That seemed counterintuitive, I mean the ball player isn’t scoring, shouldn’t he give the ball to someone else. His rational was all about averages. He might be in a slump now, but he’ll be on fire later.

This is another way of saying, don’t give up. How many stories do you now about  an exceptional leader taking a new assignment only to struggle to find any success? Maybe that story is about a point in your career. Often the leader will decide they “can’t do this” and they regress to a previous position. However, when that leader decides to keep moving on, and adapting skills, or even developing new skills, then that leader once again begins to excel. Don’t give up and keep shooting.

Get out of your Head

In my intro, I talked about my son’s batting slump. We tried to get him out of his slump. We worked on his fundamentals, we went to the batting cages, and we watched videos. I tried everything I could think of to help him get out of the slump. But no matter what we did, or even how he did in practice, he just lost it during a game.

It seemed that he forgot everything we worked on when he was up to bat during the game. What happened? The last thing we had to deal with was getting him out of his own head. When he was up to bat, he lost his confidence. He kept thinking of his failures and not his successes.  This is so easy to do.

When you are in a slump, the worst thing you can do is focus on the lack of results. Change your mindset and think of your past successes. The big deals that got you in the position you are in anyway. Gaining your confidence back will be that added element needed to excel you out of the slump and back to your old productive self.

This Week’s Challenge

Next time your business or a leader in your business is in a slump, remind them of the fundamentals. Encourage them not to quit. Don’t let them lose confidence. All slumps eventually pass when you diligently work to get through them.

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

Team Integration

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andrew shaffer consulting team integrationMany companies I meet with struggle with the team performance. Their teams aren’t integrated and operating at maximum efficiency. What does a lack of team integration look like?

A lack of integration in business is evident by infighting. For example, production blaming supply chain when they don’t have necessary parts. Or, a sales teams blaming marketing for lousy marketing material. Perhaps, managers blaming employees for lack of production or, employees complaining because management doesn’t get it. Sound familiar?

Scroll down to read this week’s blog post all about team integration.

Team Integration

There is a lot of information to be found on team building. Some of it is good, and some of it is not so good. Most businesses inherently understand team building, and some companies spend small fortunes on team building exercises and off-sites to leverage the benefits of team building.

Team building and team integration is something different. To illustrate, I’ll turn to my experience with youth sports. Every coach builds a team. The coach identifies the needs (the positions needed to play) and, assigns players to play those positions. The coach and their staff will work to develop the players skills to be successful at that position. This is team building. Come game time, the coach has a team.

Team Building vs Integration

I have had the experience of coaching teams with and without integration. The team that wasn’t integrated struggled during each game to be successful. Each player knew his position and responsibilities. However, some of the kids didn’t trust or rely on their teammates. As a result, kids wouldn’t pass the ball to each other, offer help on defense. As a result, when we lost (which was almost inevitable) they would blame each other and never take responsibility for their part in the loss.

When I had a well-integrated team, my players relied on each other, and did everything they could not to let each other down. There was more comradery, the season was more fun, and we won a lot more! When the team was integrated, they were in it for more than personal success. They were there for the team.

Vision

There is an old story about President Kennedy visiting NASA during the early days of the Apollo program. President Kennedy was doing a tour of the facilities and met a janitor wearing coveralls and holding a mop. The president asked the man what he was doing there. The janitor replied, “I’m helping to put a man on the moon.”

Now I can’t believe that story happened, but it does make a point. This janitor felt integrated as part of a team. He saw the vision of putting a man on the moon and he was doing his part. His part might have been moping the floors, but it was a necessary job that enabled the engineers to do their job.

Teams that are integrated are working for something larger than them their actual job. They see a bigger picture. Therefore, it is important that leaders share their vision with their employees, so everyone knows how they are contributing, and why their job is important to the company. Many times, people get so focused on the day to day aspects of their jobs, they lose focus of the bigger picture. When this happens teams will start to dis-integrate.

Outcomes

Well integrated teams see much more success than other teams. Again, when you look at sports, players that practice together in the off seasons are more “in tune” with each other than players that don’t. That translates to more victories on the field.

Integrated business teams tend to be more entrepreneurial.  This helps companies find faster cheaper better ways to compete. The entrepreneurial spirt helps companies see beyond the horizon and develop the “next best thing.” Integrated teams develop and retain the best people to help ensure success both in the short and long terms.

This Week’s Challenge

Is your team working at maximum efficiency?  Are you seeing finger pointing and blame in your company? Do you see other signs of a lack of team integration?

Give us a call for an assessment and consultation and see how you can start improving your bottom line.

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

Strategic Planning

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strategic planning andrew shaffer consultingI hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Now it’s on to the next holiday season! This surely is a hectic time of the year. My wife and I were just looking at how busy we are this month! And, that was just stuff for the kids and didn’t include our obligations! During all this chaos, the holiday season is when many companies are finishing up their strategic planning. This week, I’d like to remind you of some things that will help your 2019 strategic plan be more successful!

Strategic Planning

Creating a strategic plan for the following year is a necessary and time-consuming effort most companies execute each and every year. You make assumptions, and contingency plans all in an attempt to predict what will happen next year and how you can continue to make money and ideally grow. In my years in leadership, management, and consulting, I know that the planning process is long and painful. I have also seen where an absolutely brilliant plan put together and as soon as it is time to execute, the plan tends to break apart. This could be from a variety of unforeseen circumstances or factors. Here are some things to consider when creating and executing your 2019 strategic plan.

Team Buy In

Unless you are a solo entrepreneur, you will most likely have to have team buy in to accomplish goals. Your team will most likely be the ones executing your plan on a day to day basis. It doesn’t take a PhD in psychology to understand that people are more motivated and committed to executing something if they had some input into the plan. Dictating from the top often leads to resentment, and a minimal effort. It is not always feasible to have the entire company involved in the strategic planning, at least not directly, so how do you get everyone’s buy in?

Start with creating a compelling vision. A compelling vision will tell everyone on the team where they are going in 2019. You cannot use vague terms. Being a “world class” organization doesn’t give anyone a clear picture of the goal. In contract, “We’re going to the moon,” does. It is a goal that people can visualize, repeat and buy into.

Second, your vision should be compelling to your team members. The goal has to take them someplace they want to go! Employees will want to know what is in it for them.

Finally, everyone needs to know how they can contribute. Your strategic plan should outline how everyone in the organization contributes to the achievement of the goal. People will not buy into a plan if they do not think they matter in the final execution.

Accountability

Now that you have a plan and you have buy-in from your team, the next step is to set up accountability. Yes, accountability means making sure people do what they are expected to do and it is an important part of the equation. Accountability works best when people are able to hold each themselves, and each other, accountable. Peer pressure works with adults just as it does with our teenagers.

When developing your plan, and executing your plan, set up a framework for accountability. Have employees meet regularly (weekly if possible) to provide status on their responsibilities. In these meetings each week, have everyone commit to certain accomplishments each week. Accomplishments that will take them closer to their goal. These should be achievable in a week. Then have each member report on their progress each week. It is important to not allow excuses.

Setting weekly goals every week and achieving them is important to the overall progress. If your supply chain committed to having parts available for manufacturing, make sure the parts are available.

Flexibility

I can’t tell you how many projects I’ve planned and within weeks something doesn’t knocks us completely off track. Eventually the plan can become obsolete and difficult to manage. When you get off track from the original plan, but still need to accomplish a goal the weekly format can help provide a format for progress. By identifying weekly steps that are achievable within a week, you can keep moving forward.

When you do hit roadblocks, or your plan needs adjusted get your team to help identify solutions. Keep them focused on the goal and allow their creativity to flourish. You’d be surprised how creative your team can be when they are motivated and committed to a goal!

This Week’s Challenge

We all have to go through strategic planning. It is important and necessary. Keeping in mind that need to execute the plan and setting up framework that gets team buy in, holds members accountable and provides flexibility will improve your chances of success in 2019!

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.