Performance Pathfinder

What is more important? The plan or the actions you take?

#28

Many people work hard day-after-day. However, very few are making much progress. They operate on an event-by-event basis and never link daily actions to the broader picture or plan. When there is no plan, work-a-day mentality takes over, and it is all but impossible to focus on what’s really important.

Plans (and strategies) are keys to success for three reasons:

They force you to imagine what tomorrow can be
They provide necessary guides for action
With an accepted plan, wheel spinning is avoided

Action idea:

Begin observing actual results and comparing them to what you want. Then ask, “Was this result called for in the plan?”

This is a simple, fast and revealing way to decide what is important to you, the team and the company.

I hope that you will try this. It may provide you some good insights.

Best,

Richard Reardon

800 560 0880

Five quick ways to insure you continue growing

Everyone wants authentic growth and success in their job. Most sacrifice one or the other. Here are five ideas that may help.

The job:

Accept that your current position is the most powerful lever for your own growth.

You:
As you grow, the company grows. Your company wins if you have your values straight.

Results:
Make sure that you are clear on the specific results your role requires. Be extra clear where the role expects you to contribute to others.

Passion:
Put your own true and authentic development first, and the company wins. Use your passion to keep both the company’s growth needs and your own needs in focus

Expansion:
Independently identify the essentials of the job and be preared to increase the results expected, based on your own vision and zest.

The main point:

We are made to create, accomplish and expand. The job you hold is your main stage.

Richard R

800 560 0880

Two keys to a keeping your sales efforts first-rate:

Two keys to a keeping your sales efforts first-rate:

The first test of a first-rate sales effort is whether it creates new value and new satisfaction for the customer.

The second test is: Does the manager know how to get fresh ideas to improve sales?

Innovative goals will keep you first-rate:

A smart manager knows that positive change always starts with a great idea. Such ideas never appear out of the blue. They require effort and a plan. However, since most people want to be more creative on the job, there is a natural capacity for 99% of us to think things through, resolve any issue and then move on to deciding innovative goals that will serve the customer far better than before.

An effective manager knows that they must give people the chance to create, to be involved, to be accountable, and to see actual progress every week What better way to accomplish that than with an “innovative goals per quarter” process.

Action idea:

Look at your sales efforts over the past year. What did you like most?
Make a list of the actions that have become routine and perhaps a bit boring (note: they may be necessary and boring)
Develop at least five new ways to meet your customer’s needs. If you don’t know, ask the sales team.
Review current operations to spot those areas that may benefit from upgrade or complete elimination.
Meet with all those involved in serving the customer to create a “big idea” list. The only requirement is that the ideas must be actionable within 30 days and must create new value for the customer.
Identify one idea to be implemented and used as a test case. Know how you will measure its effectiveness, etc.
Decide to implement an on-going “90-day innovative goals process” for the entire year to judge its impact.

Summary

The two keys to having a first–rate sales are:

Create new customer value every year.
Obtain innovative ideas and goals from yourself and your sales people every month.

I hope that you will try this simple, yet effective process. Try it for one year, minimum. Less than that and it will appear as if you aren’t committed. When you stay with it, over time, that department will transform itself.

Cheers

Richard L Reardon

800 560 0880

Here is a method that is helping executives accomplish more!

Here is a method that is helping executives accomplish more:

There is one fundamental insight behind all personal accomplishment. That insight is that your expectations are driving your results. The fact is, you get what you expect in life, not what you say you want.

The challenge:

The problem for most is that we have not been taught how to properly manage our expectations so they become actual results. Instead, expectations are lowered to match what we now have. This can create a status quo condition that feeds on itself. Nothing can really change until new and higher expectations are introduced. You govern your entire week through your expectations and they must be self managed.

My suggestion is to learn how you can constantly (at least weekly) review your expectations to correspond with your desires. (This requires that you know what you want. Desire first, expectations second).

Why expectations are so powerful for accomplishing what you desire:

To help give this topic some context, here are several points related to the power of expectations:

You rise or fall to meet the exact level of your expectations
Your future is limited by only your imagination and expectations.
Trust your desire, expect the best of yourself and accomplish whatever you want to accomplish because the talent needed comes with the expectation.
You awaken in others the same outlook and expectation you hold toward them
Expectations you have of others will shape their behaviors and outlook.
Whatever it is you desire or face, adopt the expectation “you will make it work” and watch the amazing progress you will make.
What you think and expect means more to your future success than anything else in your life.

A method to accomplish more:

I am always asking clients, “What did you expect?” That question forces you to look inside and see what you are really thinking about a situation or your own progress. We always expect something. The question simply brings it to your awareness.

Action idea: 2 questions:

Ask yourself these two questions several times each week. The questions enable you to see inside yourself make adjustments and become a more accomplished person. The inner look will force you to stay in touch with your vision and that you are the one to make it happen. Ultimately you will be skilled at thinking in terms of advancement and staying true to expectations that support that advancement. Your passion for what’s possible will flourish.

The questions:

What is it you most want in this situation?
What do you expect will happen?

Try this. It is something you can start today on any are you choose.

Best,
Richard Reardon
800 560 0880

Real world examples:

Obviously the approach has application in any area of your business at any level. Delving into these two questions, along with the conversation they spark can lead to quick and doable changes. Here are three examples

A Sales Manager developed an entirely new system for accountability for new account results

A Business owner surfaced and eliminated seven items that quietly blocked progress for many months

A self employed professional changed his service offering to be more in line with his interests and passion

How to actively participate in your own evolution

How to actively participate in your own evolution –and hone in on what really matters.

To accomplish results in business requires depth. Only when you can integrate the inner realm (you) with the outer (the business) can you expect meaning and success. One coin, two sides.

The issue in a nutshell – Progress, but is that all there is?:

A good executive needs to know many things: how to anticipate, see implications, draw conclusions, provide directions and so on. While executives may have many visible success characteristics, they can still feel they aren’t going anywhere. The business may be moving along, but their own progress is disappointing.

Two sides of your success:

It is important to be realistic and see your success as a direct result of both your strategic and personal sides. Think of them as the inner and outer conditions of your work.

By strategic, I mean the usual: Goals, plans, reporting, leading, customers, growth and others. The personal side concerns your own sense of purpose and meaning as well as anything else you are working toward developing – that’s why it is the personal side.

You can’t help working with both, even if one is more in the forefront. The strategic side almost always gets the lion’s share of your attention. The personal side is “left for another day”.

It is wise to accept that these elements are two sides of the same coin. You can’t have one without the other. In fact, one drives the other and vice versa.

Your role as a vehicle:

Assume for a minute that your current role is to facilitate your personal growth. If that is true, the role really is the vehicle to achieve both personal and business success. Successful executives are able to fully engage both sides.

Roles can become a drag & keep you from the future:

It is easy to understand how we can quietly busy ourselves into roles that become a drain. However, your current position and plan is not of any use if it doesn’t take you to the future you want.

The 12 month view – yours:

If there is a part of you that is not satisfied and does not want to settle, take a closer look at yourself, what you have accomplished, and what is the discrepancy between what you have and what you want.

A well crafted, 12-month Personal Strategic Plan is the only reliable way to take today’s situation, learn from it, make some decisions and actively change your view of what’s next.

Begin with the belief that you do have tremendous capacity to change and grow; otherwise, you would already have settled. The idea is to learn how to adjust upwards toward what you want. If we aren’t careful, we unknowingly adjust down to match what we are getting.

The beauty of having your own personal strategic plan is three fold:

1. You always use today’s situation as the next link in the chain of your success.

2. You learn that you can’t skip steps. You must deal with your current situation.

3. You definitely feel you are moving in the right direction becaause you wrote the plan..

The plan you come up with is not important. You need it, but it is not nearly as important as its preparation. The preparation of a personal strategic plan is itself the end. To prepare and decide a this type of plan, you go through a lot of soul searching analysis and juggling, and it is this mental exercise that is valuable.

Action idea: A 60-minute written exercise:

1. Ask yourself if you are you really headed to where you want to go?

2. Is your role – what you are doing - really what you want to be doing?

3. How much of a fog bank have you been living in over the past 12 months?

4. Determine the discrepancy between what results you now have and the

results you really want. Make the list as long as possible and with enough detail so anyone can understand your point.

5. Accept that the disceprency is there to show you where you need to change

your view of reality. Something is not working and you need to

determine why. Think in terms of what you need to learn or do.

6. Upgrade your view of the results you want. Do not lower them.

7. List five blocks that prevent your progress. Think of things you did or did

not do that made a difference in your progress. What was the

thinking behind those actions?

Interpret your responses and insights and list what really matters to you in your current role. Now you can make an outline of your personal strategic plan.

I hope that you will use this exercise. Let me know what you discover.

Cheers,

Richard R

The year end upgrade:

Year end upgrade coming – six questions that will give you an inside advantage

Want to get an early start on your year end adjusting, advancing and movement? Try this easy, written exercise.

List the top result you were expecting to create in 2009
How clear are you of this result’s meaning to you?
How far have you come toward attaining it?
Are you OK with your progress?
Do you still want that result? Why?
Considering your current circumstances, what is your best idea on how to proceed?

Why this mini process is so effective:

We easily forget what we are doing and why we are doing it. It is as if we are guided (controlled) by every day events. This process is a good first step to reverse the thinking process. Instead of relying only on events for guidance, contrast those external events with your ideals and vision.

If you can develop on-going awareness of your ideals and vision, then the events can really help you to adjust and progress.

best

Richard 310 229 1225

Ask these five easy questions and make better decisions:

Making decisions is risky business. Because of the risk and sense of uncertainty, most people lean toward making decisions that are ‘acceptable” rather then decisions that serve their best interest.

Very few people have any training in decision making. That can be real problem when you realize how often you make decisions that affect you and those you count on.

Here are five great questions that will put you on the path toward more thoughtful and rewarding decisions. It is important that you write your answers to each question. The questions are designed to make you think through the situation and your higher needs/goals.

Practice these for a few weeks, and, before you know it, they will be standards you will have integrated.

The five questions:

Why do you need to make a decision?
What if you decided to not make a decision (live with the current situation)?
How do you define the problem the decision would address?
What compromises will be necessary if you implement the decision?
When your decision is implemented, what will you have accomplished?

Action idea:

Take two situations you are facing that require a decision. On one, make the decision in your usual way. Note the level of satisfaction with your decision. On the second, use the five questions. See if you notice any improvement in your satisfaction and level of self trust.

I hope you will use this.

Richard L Reardon

800 560 0880

How to stay on top of your business.

Why do so many small businesses close their doors within 5 years? Why do so many owners simply give up? Is this the best they can do?

If you study the problem, you will discover that most (think 90%) fall victim to their own bad management.

While the word management includes many elements, the top three errors I have seen are:

An unwillingness to self manage
Loss of focus on what the job requires for bottom line results
Not asking the two big questions: Where are we now and what’s next?

Change the focus:

You have probably heard that 50% of all small businesses close their doors within five years. That number may be right or not. The number does not matter to you.

Focus instead on the more positive fact many small businesses are doing very well. These companies know how to succeed no matter what the conditions. They excel because the winning attitude: “Everything we do is a learning lesson to move forward!”

Isn’t that the whole point of being in business? To grow, to produce, to move forward?

If you have a vision of what’s possible for your future and keep that in front of you, you stay in the group that flourishes.

Cheers,

Richard L Reardon

Don’t wait around for improvement — do it on your own!

Many times you will hear people who want change (improved conditions) do not think to change themselves. It just never occurs to them that new conditions must be preceded by changed thinking.

As a society, there is strong pressure on all of us to go along, not rock the boat, wait your turn, etc. All of these are the invisible factors that make us wait around for things to happen – waiting for magic changes to arrive. It doesn’t happen.

If you are really ready for improvement in any area, you must have a clear idea of what you are going to do, how you will go about it, who will be involved and approximately when you will have it done. There is a change process available and you can learn to use it for any area you choose.

Of all the steps involved, the four most important are:

• Develop the confidence that you are headed in the right direction
• Have a well thought out plan full of the right activities
• Know the reason you want this
• Refresh your conviction that it is right for you

These steps apply both in your business life and personal life. As you develop one, the other follows along.

Pick one subject where you have been holding back. Try what you see in the 3rd paragraph. You may be a lot closer than you think.

Cheers,
Richard L Reardon

So California
800 560 0880

Results are all that matter - or do they?

Results are all that matter – or do they?

The more you manage people, the more you realize that many people work to produce results that will have little impact. This is simply wasted time, effort, and resources.

A simple solution

The most direct solution is to insist that every month all managers define results for their position. This may seem like over kill, but it is a very low-cost, high payoff practice. Asking these four questions about any job can triple your chances of making a solid contribution.

The four questions:

• If I could make a significant difference, where would that be (open inquiry, no limits)?
• What is the current situation and what would success require (today’s reality – not last month’s)?

• What strengths, actions, effort and attitude would I need to achieve this?

• Would others be able to see results from my effort? List them.

This process can be done alone, with the boss, or as a team. It does not matter how you do it. What matters is knowing that you will always make a greater contribution when you know what you are doing.

Try it for your own performance and see what you discover.

Richard L Reardon

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