Maximizing the Human Potential

Accountability

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andrew shaffer consulting accountabilityOver the last week, many people have discussed with me the need for accountability. This might be because the year is still fresh and people know that accountability is necessary to be successful. Whatever the reason, people seem to be looking for guidance on how to hold themselves accountable and how to hold others accountable. This week, I thought I’d share some thoughts on accountability to help you become more successful in business and in life for 2019!

Accountability

We all know that accountability is an important factor to success. Accountability is typically introduced through school. We were held accountable for doing our homework, and if we didn’t do it there was typically some form of consequence. As we move into adulthood, we enter the workforce and there is some accountability there to perform to a certain standard, or lose our job.

I have also found that as people enter adulthood, some people struggle with accountability. Either with holding themselves accountable, or even holding others accountable. Being accountable requires discipline, which can be a struggle for some people. This article is going to explore three aspects of accountability and how YOU can become more successful.

To Yourself

The first person you have to be accountable to is yourself. Now this is probably the hardest of the three categories. I know, from my own experience, once I was on my own certain aspects of accountability went out the window. I no longer had anyone telling me when to come home, when to get up or what to eat. Over time, I had to develop a system of holding myself accountable because the consequences were catching up to me.

Holding yourself accountable requires self-discipline and integrity. You have to be able to do the right thing, even if nobody is watching. This is the most important aspect of accountability and makes it possible to hold others accountable. This is leading by example. You will struggle to hold others accountable, if they see that you cannot hold yourself accountable. To be successful create a system of holding yourself accountable. Maybe an accountability partner, or support group can be beneficial. No matter what you choose to do to hold yourself accountable, DO NOT LET YOURSELF OFF THE HOOK when you slip.

To Your Company

Make a habit of accountability at your company. This applies to supervisors, peers and direct reports. You’d be surprised how much people actually appreciate being held accountable, and how much more you’ll be respected. In the workplace, this can be as simple as a follow up. When you assign tasks to direct reports, follow up to make sure they are done, and done to the level you expect.

When working with peers, follow the same advice. If you need support from your marketing department, or the leader of another team, be sure to follow up. When your boss promises she’ll get you the help you need, follow up with her. I realize holding your boss accountable might take a little political consideration, but if she is honest, she’ll appreciate the accountability. Afterall she expects it from you, right?

By holding people accountable for what they say, you not only help improve productivity, you also prove that what you asked for is important. Another way to look at it. If you asked someone that worked for you to provide a report on Monday, and you don’t read it, why did you ask for it? Sooner or later, it’ll give the impression to your team that the work isn’t important. If you offer support to someone and don’t follow through their trust in you will begin to erode.

To Your Customers

It doesn’t matter if you are in retail or provide a service, you have to be accountable to your customers and clients. This doesn’t mean the customer is always right, although you shouldn’t let them know that. This doesn’t mean you give the client everything they want. It DOES mean that you do what you say and say what you do. Last week I talked about the importance of your companies image and reputation. Being accountable to your clients means saying what you do and doing what you say.

Your customers come to you to fill a specific need or want. They also come with a certain level of expectations.  Being accountable to your customers means meeting (or exceeding) those expectations each and every time you do business. Mistakes cannot always be avoided, it happens, but when mistakes do happen you take every reasonable (and sometimes unreasonable) action necessary to regain that trust. Just like with being accountable to your company, once you lose the trust you may never have an opportunity to regain that trust

This Week’s Challenge

Develop a plan to focus on these three areas of accountability. Even if you already think you are focusing on accountability, take time to identify ways you can become even more effective. Adding accountability to your relationships with yourself, your company, and your customers will help your and your business grow.

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.

Strategies for the New Year

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andrew shaffer consulting strategies for the new yearHappy New Year! A new year can mean hope, optimism, and a fresh start for many people. Businesses are executing updated business strategies; annual goals are reset. Some of us might even be creating some resolutions this year. However, if you are like me, and many people I know, you can start the year working on your goals, but in 3-6 weeks you’ll be back to your normal routine. This week I thought I’d share some strategies for the New Year to help you see your goals materialize in 2019!

Strategies for the New Year

Every year I set New Year Resolutions, in three categories: improve health, to improve my career, and to improve my relationships. I meet each of these with varying success, and I know I can do better. For example, to improve health. The week between Christmas and New Year, it is quite common to see me cleaning up the basement and digging out my exercise equipment. I’ll create a workout plan I think I’ll execute and I start exercising. By February something will happen that will take precedence. It could be a work deadline, start of spring sports, or even a cold bug circulating through the house.

The chaos of everyday life sets in and my resolutions get put on hold.  That chaos can’t go away. I still need (and want) to work. I still need to be a father and a husband. Instead of giving up or not setting resolutions, I am going to set the strategies I am going to utilize to help me be successful in 2019. I have recently been introduced to the Four Disciplines of Execution and decided to incorporate some of what I’ve learned there. These strategies will help with your individual resolutions, but they are even more powerful if you employ these strategies for your team goals.

Set and Measure Weekly Commitments

What gets measured, gets done. As a business leader, you know that if you want something done, you have to follow through on it. I can’t count how many times I’ve been in meetings when there is a new initiative introduced, tasks are assigned, and there is no follow up. As you can guess, the initiative didn’t go anywhere. Great ideas, poor execution.

To be successful you have to plan, execute and measure. Keep in mind that it is extremely difficult to make a plan on January 1 that you can keep all year. The chaos of life, and any number of unforeseeable obstacles can get in your way. Review and visit you plan weekly. Set ten to fifteen minutes aside each week to set weekly commitments. This week, I am going to do these three things, above and beyond the chaos, to get closer to the goal. Also, in the brief meeting (even for yourself) track your progress on last weeks commitments. Be careful to not let excuses prevent you from meeting your commitments. Doing two to three things EACH week, will help you get closer to your goals.

 Daily Reminders

When I first got a management job, my boss had a weekly staff meeting Monday mornings. She would pass down important information that we needed, and we would present progress, and issues we had the week before. Every Monday morning, when I’d get in the office, I’d start preparing for this meeting. And each week I’d ask myself the same question “What did I say I was going to do last week?” Then I’d scramble to find out what progress we made on those commitments.

Although the weekly accountability was useful, I probably could have been much more effective if I’d have kept some daily visual reminder of what we are accomplishing. Let me share a few examples. I watch (and coach) sports. In the game, everyone involved can generally see the score, and how much time is left (or inning in the case of baseball). Within an instant I know where we stand and what we need to do to be successful.

When you think of fundraisers, I’ve seen countless thermometers posted around offices showing how close we were to achieving a goal. These visual reminders will keep the commitments in the forefront of your mind, and your team. Scoreboards should be easy to update so they can be updated frequently and progress can be recognized. Using daily reminders will help prevent your goal from getting lost in the chaos.

Block Time

Some of the best career advice I ever received was to set aside an hour a day thinking about my career. I was confused, because I was already working 9-10 hours each day, didn’t that count? What about the times when I wake up at 2:30am worrying about something at the office? Did that count? Nope. This wasn’t just random advice, last spring I was had the opportunity to see Jeffery Gitomer at an event. He asked the audience how many people spend time each day thinking. Of course, most of the room raised their hands. He then challenged us to show him where we block off time in our day to think. Hands went down.

It is important to block off and spend time making your commitments. You and I both know that if you don’t block off time, then something in your daily chaos will fill that time. We are all busy and have a million things fighting for our attention. If we will work towards our commitments “when we get a minute” we’ll never find time to get it done. If it is important, block time in your schedule to make things happen. This might mean getting up an hour earlier, or going to be an hour later. It might mean missing a happy hour every once in a while, but I assure you this discipline will pay HUGE returns.

This Week’s Challenge

Make a commitment to achieve your goals for this year. Either the business goals you set within your company, or for your personal resolutions. Maybe both. Follow the strategy I presented today and watch 2019 be the year you become a shining star!

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.