'Stop Doing “Housework”

Stop Doing “Housework”

November 29, 2023

 

How close are you to reaching your 2023 goals?

For many of us, once Thanksgiving is over, it’s one mad rush through the holidays. Not much time to make a difference in how the year will end up.

But the year isn’t over. You still have about 30 days left to make one final push.

There’s one little thing that can enable you to reach out to close a few more sales without adding more time to your crazy, filled calendar.

Stop doing housework. Just stop.

I don’t mean stop making your bed (although that’s ok, too).

I’m talking about all the little bits and pieces that you go around sweeping up in the office.

Office “housework” = non-revenue-generating work.

You’re taking on low risk and low reward tasks, and the odds are good you’re about to do it again. Like even today.

We know saying “no” can be difficult.

Yet here’s one thing that’s not hard:  not offering in the first place.

How much office housework rests on your “To Do List?” Time to let go of something.

Identify just one thing. If you’re especially ambitious (you know who you are), identify three things.

Then take that time you get back and allocate it to reaching out to that prospect who’s “this close” to saying yes.

You’ll be spending the same amount of time in your business. With some junk off your plate replaced by revenue-producing work.

You’re so close. One little change can give you the one big push you need to reach or exceed your 2023 goals.

You can do it!

Blessings,

Chris Williams

'Control What You Can

Control What You Can

November 22, 2023

 

Have you ever been in a business situation that made you so frustrated that you wanted to pull your hair out? Take a restroom break for the remainder of the day?

If you are like most of us, you have. And if you haven’t, count your blessings.

I can still remember one of the worst—and the action that saved the day.

The managers in the company had been called together to come up with a solution to a problem that was affecting morale, productivity, and revenue. We started with the usual brainstorming exercise to put every possible solution on the table.

So far, so good.

But then, we had to narrow the choices down to three. And that’s where the trouble began. Try as we might, even with a skilled facilitator, we couldn’t decide where we should focus our efforts.

We spent over an hour talking about a few options and nothing seemed to fit the bill. People held fast to their preferred choices, but just could not persuade others that those choices would bring about the required change.

She was dressed in business clothes, but that facilitator should have been wearing a magician’s cape and carrying a wand. She guided us to a solution as magically as pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

Here’s how.

She drew this table on the whiteboard.

   CONTROL                                               INFLUENCE                                         NEITHER

 

She then asked us to group our proposed solutions into those three categories. What could we as managers control? What could we influence in a way that either solved the problem or moved it in the direction of control? What could we neither control nor influence?

It surprised us – and maybe it will you, too – that we were spending most of our attention on things that fell into that far right column. No wonder we couldn’t agree! Who would want to choose a solution that they had no power to implement?

That wise facilitator suggested that we spend the remainder of our time on the options in the control column and come to consensus on which of them to implement and how we would do so.

It’s no exaggeration to say we all breathed a big sigh of relief and that we felt better about ourselves, each other, and the problem.

Seems simple. And it is.

But sometimes, we lose sight of this wisdom amid pressing problems or disagreements.

Put this table in your management toolbox. Take it out the next time your team can’t seem to come to agreement on something.

Who knows? Maybe something magical will happen.

'Practice Gratitude

Practice Gratitude

November 15, 2023

 

Can you believe it? Thanksgiving is next week!

That means we are halfway through National Gratitude Month. So how is that going for you? Are you setting aside time for your own reflections on gratitude each day? Maybe taking some time in staff meetings to recognize the good things?

If you haven’t been intentional about gratitude in either your personal or your business life, it might feel a little artificial or forced at first. Some people may save it all up to have something to say at the table at Thanksgiving. Or express it randomly, out-of-the-blue, when no one is expecting it.

If you want gratitude to have the greatest possible impact, it’s important to make it a consistent part of your personal routine and your business culture. Like anything else, the more you practice gratitude, the better you get at noticing things to be thankful for and the easier it is to express your grateful feelings.

Doing these three things will help you to make gratitude part of your personal life and business culture:

  1. See it – Being grateful starts with recognizing the positive things that are happening every day. At work, we can get into task mode and focus on what needs to be done. Taking focused time each day to look at things with appreciative eyes will bring big improvements in your emotional and physical well-being.
  2. Speak it – It’s not enough to just notice what you’re grateful for, it’s important to express that gratitude…to your team, your family and your customers. Sharing your thanks encourages others to do the same.
  3. Systematize it. Whatever your preferred ways to show gratitude, create systems to support them. Make it easy to stay in the practice of gratitude. Try adding gratitude checkpoints to your business processes. There’s no end of ways to show you care, so play around and see what works for you and your team, then commit to it. You’ll be grateful you did!

 

Today and every day, we are thankful for you…our team, our colleagues and partners, and our customers. May your lives be filled with many things to be grateful for.

Blessings,

Chris Ann Williams, CEO