Results-Driven and Process-Focused

It’s an age-old conundrum: should you focus on process or results? Process is how stuff gets done. Results are what need to get done.

Some leaders are intensively results-focused. Hit the number! Everything comes back to the number. People aren’t allowed to forget about the number. As a result, in many cases, the number gets hit. Yet in other cases, the number doesn’t get hit and it’s not clear how you manage towards the number.

Some leaders are painstakingly process-focused. It doesn’t mean they don’t care about results, it means that to get the results they’re continually trying to determine and control how. That’s process. Leaders who focus on process often hit the number and are in a better position to know why and to replicate it. On the other hand, I’ve seen leaders who are so process-focused that the target is allowed to keep slipping back because the process isn’t quite right.

So what’s the answer? Results-driven and process-focused. In this time of big data and analytics, it’s irresponsible not to try to understand the variables upstream of results and to influence them. Yet process for process sake is simply activity. There needs to be a continual positive pressure to get the results.

Drive for results. And focus on process.

Your thoughts?

Michael

The Power of Reinforcement

I’m always surprised how much impact a little reinforcement can have.

I finally meet our property manager in person and send her a quick email that evening saying it was a pleasure to meet her. Thirty seconds. No big deal. Done. So she sends me a reply thanking me for the kind words and how they “warmed her heart.” And how happy she was she got a chance to meet me and “if you ever need anything, please do not hesitate to let me know!” Hmmm, guess not too many people have acknowledged her.

How often do you acknowledge your people? Thank them? We’re all busy, that’s no excuse. It’s a matter of making it a habit so it becomes natural. And to make it a habit you’ll need reminders to get you started. Like a scheduled email to yourself each morning or a post-it you keep on your computer or a repetitive reminder on your calendar. “Acknowledge someone today!”

It’s the multiplier effect. Small actions done a multitude of times can have an enormous effect.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog!

Your thoughts?

Michael

Recruit Individuals but Select Team Members

You’re recruiting for a key position. You want to get the best person you can. Finally, you find a sure-fire candidate and bring him on-board with great expectations. And he fails.

Why? Because he didn’t mesh with the team. Because his traits, style or values somehow undermined his ability to get things done with and through people.

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Success requires collaboration and cooperation. Recruit individuals but select team members. As a football coach I learned a valuable lesson that holds true in business much as it does in sport: The best players don’t necessarily make the best team. But the best team usually wins.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Believe

The New Year. It brings promise, ambition, energy, resolve. It’s a time for commitment. And to be intensively committed you have to believe.

Not just believe in the result, but believe that you can and will do the things necessary to achieve the result. That you’ll do what you know you should do even when you don’t feel like doing it. That you’ll resist distraction and diversion, and keep focused on the prize. That you’ll make the extra effort after the others have gone home. That you’ll turn it around if things are going poorly. And that you’ll fight complacency if things are going well.

The power of belief isn’t that belief creates reality. It’s that belief creates the confidence that you’ll consistently take action to create the reality you want. It was Muhammad Ali who said that when belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.

How deep is your conviction? Do you believe this is your year to shine?

Your thoughts?

Michael