Tips and tricks for Professional Development.

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Zoom-ify Your Space

What does your desk and work area say about you?

What does your zoom background say about you?

What does your appearance say about you?

 

Zoom-ify! The prouder you are of where you work, how you work, and how you present yourself, the greater confidence you will have when communicating with others.

Open a new zoom meeting (with yourself only) and look at yourself as one of your colleagues or stakeholders would see you. If your camera is angled so a person on the other end of the zoom call can see your desk or work area, what impression would they take away from that? How organized would they think you are? What assumptions may they make about you?

Evaluate Your Appearance.

  • Do you need to put in a little more effort before a call?
  • Look at your Zoom background (whether your space or a zoom background), what does it say about you?
  • Do you need to tidy what is behind you, move your desk, add better lighting, or sit on a better chair?
  • Are you looking eye-to-eye at the person on the other end of the conference call, or are you looking down at your camera showing your double chin?
Zoom-ify Your Space

Zoom-ify Your Space

 

I have seen it all over the last six months: unmade beds in the background, the camera facing onto a bathroom and seeing family members come in and out, TV on in the background, dressing gown / PJs / clothes on the back of doors etc… I have also seen some of the best and worst digital zoom backgrounds. In particular, one made me motion sick as the individual had her child filmed on a bike going around in circles in the background, okay for the first two seconds but not for a 30-minute call.

Take some time and Zoom-ify Your Space!

 

Do you need some time to test out your zoom communication with someone? If you are interested in learning about how professional development or executive coaching can help support your leadership or your leadership team, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com to schedule a convenient time for a complimentary zoom strategy session.

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Business Strategies = Business Sustainability + Growth

Are your business strategies driving your business sustainability and growth?

2020 has been a test on many levels for small businesses. Business plans were put on hold as we had to pivot and adapt to new economic realities overnight. 

For some, the pandemic has equated to significant growth and urgency for their product or service, others a complete pivot in direction, some simple survival, and regretfully others the closing down of their business. We have had to put all of our focus and energy into making the necessary changes required for our company, our employees, and our clients or customers.

Make The Right Decision

We have had to make the ‘right’ decisions quickly, trust the process and be relentlessly consistent working towards seeing the other side of the pandemic– what we did not estimate reasonably… was the duration that we would work in this mode. As we are now in the last month of 2020, I encourage you to review how far you have come during the previous nine months if you have not done so already. 

As we continue to live and work in our new normal of ‘COVID,’ pull out your business plan and refine it to a one-page document. This one-page business plan will help guide your focus and be an easy reference to align your team on the ‘important’ and defined action you to focus on moving forward.

Day-To-Day Operation

Dealing with your day-to-day operational issues, putting out fires as they arise in the business, or dealing with staffing issues is very different from thinking and planning strategically for your business. Your one-page business plan will be a visual reminder to focus on the essential activities daily to enable your business to grow and scale.

 

business strategies

One Page Business Plan

Your one-page business plan answers the Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why questions of your business. It also lets you prioritize working on what is essential to move your business forward and say ‘no’ to other tasks that add no value. 

 

‘If you want everyone on the same page in your organization, you need a one-page business plan to work from. What’s on your one-page business plan?’

–Jenny Reilly

 

Step 1: To start the process, I encourage you to answer the following three questions:

  1. What issues or problems are you currently challenged within your organization?
  2. What strategies could help your business be sustainable over the long term?
  3. What strategies could help your business grow and scale?

Your answers to the above questions will help you determine shortfall areas or required focus that will need strategies. 

 

Step 2: What is your business vision? Where do you want to take your business in 2021? If you have a written vision statement, does it still stand true, or does it need to be revised?  Your vision statement will enable you to communicate where you are going to all internal and external stakeholders. 

 

Step 3: List your key business Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (S.W.O.T). This will help you strategize and focus on what you do well, incorporate trends, address competition, identify and action opportunities, and put in blockers for threats.

 

Step 4:   Identify 7-10 business goals that you want to focus on in 2021. Use the S.M.A.R.T.E.R goal framework.

 

Step 5: Your strategies should be robust and provide a roadmap towards your goal achievement. Your strategies will also help you differentiate your products and services from your competitors.

 

Step 6: Detail the top three to five activities under each strategy to start; this will help you commence the formulation of your roadmap moving forward.

 

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Your one-page business plan will help you drive focus, ensure accountability and alignment of all your activities.

 

Execution is 75% of the Challenge in moving forward on your Goals

Once you have your one-page business plan, you are only 25% of the way done. You will then spend the majority of your time on execution. Planning time is often bypassed or shortened as individuals are eager to get started. I cannot stress enough how important the planning stage is to ensure that you have a protocol in place for your execution. 

 

Execution is often a real juggling act on strategy as our time is usually taken up in the day-to-day operational activities, staffing issues, and meetings. You can quickly determine if you are encountering execution or procrastination issues if:

  1. You are working longer and more hours, however, not moving forward on goal achievement.
  2. Profitability is decreasing as you are not focused on what is essential to move the company forward. 
  3. There are continual errors that keep occurring in various areas of the business that are not being addressed. 

Execution Tips

Once you have defined your strategies, it is time for execution. Execution also requires planning time to ensure all implementation steps are done sequentially to save time and effort. 

 

Accountability and Responsibility of Action

Accountability enables an individual to have a clear purpose, track the action that they are completing and communicate clearly on issues, challenges, or delays as they occur. 

If more than one person is accountable for an action, the blame game can prevail, and items may be more easily apt to fall through the cracks. Multiple people can work on a project; however, assign one person for accountability purposes to be responsible for reporting back on progress and roadblocks.

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After Planning

After writing your one-page plan, you should be able to state your business strategies simply, understand what you need to do to sustain the business in addition to what is required to grow and scale. 

Please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com to book a complimentary strategy session to help you start planning business strategies, address execution challenges, or provide additional guidance in writing your one-page business plan.

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Having the Right People in The Right Job Fosters Success

Success

Having an individual in a position that they are not suited nor competent is exceptionally draining. Even though uncomfortable, it is crucial to address these relationship challenges head-on as it is best for the individual and your own success in the long run. 

Employee Retention

Retaining an individual on the team who is not a good fit can equate to a cost of 15X their salary. From personal experience, I have made two exceptionally bad and costly hires in the past, and they were stressful experiences and not ones that I would make again. No matter what level you are in the organization, whether C-Suite Executive or Manager, we all struggle with how to move forward in ensuring we have the RIGHT people in the RIGHT job.

 

As an employer, it is our responsibility to provide a workplace or virtual environment for our employees to enable them to be productive. However, it is the employee’s responsibility and job to be productive. 

 

success coach vancouver

 

Difficult Conversations

It is a given that there will be times when hiring, no matter the selection processes you have in place or how careful you are in the process, that issues will arise. The best tactic to achieve success then is to act as swiftly as possible to negate the damage that a bad hire can make. When you are in a position whereby the employee is not meeting expectations, productivity levels are low, or they are simply not the right cultural fit, it is time to act. Analyze the expectations you laid out upon hiring, their actual competency and skill levels to the position responsibilities and detail the performance deficits or gap in the organizational cultural fit. Having difficult conversations with the employee is the first step; however, if no significant change in behaviour or performance is achieved, it is time to let the individual go before the team is affected.

 

Four Areas to Focus on When Determining the Right Fit 

If you are challenged in deciding on a candidate in the selection process or question if a person is an excellent organizational fit, I encourage you to measure them against the four personal categories below:

  1. Grit: Has the individual proven that they are innovative and able to think outside the box? Do they have a desire to be better and do better professionally? Do they want to excel and continuously develop and grow? Has the individual given examples of how they have demonstrated perseverance? Do they receive constructive feedback well? Are they resilient? By that, I mean willing to try, fail and try again?
  2. Result orientated – Are they motivated to achieve KPI’s to succeed? Are they driven, able to create momentum and focused on the results they want to achieve?  Are they able to recognize what results are important? Are they able to outline and execute on steps needed to achieve the desired results of their position? 
  3. Skill Set – Do they have the skills for the job? Will they able to competently perform their tasks with confidence? Do they possess core professional skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving, teamwork and collaboration, strong work ethic, oral and communication skills? 
  4. Values – Are they a good fit with the work culture? Are their core values aligned? 

 

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Indicators That Will Help You Determine If You Need To Let a Person Go

  1. Lack of Integrity: a non-negotiable is integrity; no-one on your team will want to work with an individual who has a lack of integrity and is a person that they cannot trust. If they lie, misinterpret a situation, backstab or gossip, these are behaviours that don’t tend to go away. If there is a lack of trust, they should not be on your team. 
  2. Continual Poor Performance: if you have given the employee training, guidance on expectations, and their performance cannot meet your minimum expectations, it is time to terminate. Poor performance affects others on the team, and it’s not something that can be hidden.
  3. Affecting The Morale of the Team: If an employee has a toxic attitude and is poisoning others’ environment, this will not usually turn around. As a leader, it is our job to protect our great employees as they are hard to find, and we want them to stay motivated and enjoying their job, so if someone is affecting that, they need to be removed.
  4. Unreliable: If an employee is unable to meet deadlines, regularly arrives late or leaves early, is hard to get a hold of, or does not follow through on promised action for team members, they are unreliable, and their behaviour is unlikely to improve.
  5. Lack of loyalty:  if the individual is damaging internal or external relationships, is an instigator in pitting individuals against each other, or does not respect you and undermines your efforts as a leader, the bottom line is that they are impacting your business and keeping them on is more damaging than letting them go.  

Letting People Go

Letting people go is difficult; it is timely, stressful, and involves a lot of work to ensure it is executed with care. For many, this is something that they will put off; however, be mindful of the impact and cost if you delay. If you have an individual who cannot meet performance expectations, is toxic, unproductive or negatively impacting team members, this requires your immediate attention if you want to have success in the business world. 

letting people go

Seven Questions To Help You Assess If You Have the Right People To Achieve Success

  1. Evaluate each person in your organization, and determine if you have the right people in the right jobs?
  2. Is there one or more team members that you consider emotionally draining to work with, and why?
  3. Are your people happy and engaged in their positions?
  4. Do they enjoy coming to work?
  5. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest), how much do your people need to be managed?
  6. Do you have individuals in the team that continually ‘WOW’ you?
  7. If you had the opportunity to re-hire each person on your team, would you?

 

Tips for keeping people engaged:

  • Hire fewer but better people and ensure you pay them well. 
  • Enable people to operate to their strengths.
  • Show appreciation for the effort and provide recognition on result achievement.
  • Be transparent around expectations and KPI’s of staff as this will help set clear expectations and required deliverables.

 

Vancouver Success Coach

Leave Your Ego Behind

Hire people smarter than you; leave your ego at the door. You don’t have all the answers, so please don’t pretend you do; if you lead by directing, it will exacerbate team silence, and you will end up carrying the load. As a leader, you should ask the right type of questions rather than lead by your own opinion. Spend time on developing your staff, not on micromanaging. Focus on individuals’ robust capabilities and where there is an identified skill shortfall put a professional development plan in place to help the individual grow. Communicate systems and structures, train, and ensure there is an understanding of expectations and repeat! Is your ego in the way of the success of your business?

 

If you have problematic staffing issues that you need assistance with, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com for a complimentary 15-minute strategy session. This might be the difference between the success and failure of your company.

 

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How Well Have You and Your Company Adapted in 2020?

Being Adaptable is Critical

2020 has proven how adaptable we are; despite a global pandemic, we have had to work out ways to be better and do better. We have been confronted with continual challenges over the past nine months, situations and problems that we did not have the answers to, or possibly even professional competence to navigate the depth of the unknown.

 

Has your company adapted well? 

 

Have you thrived during this time of uncertainty?

 

Have you been stressed, overwhelmed and challenged in thinking creatively and innovatively in dealing with new scenarios?

 

Why Is It Important to Be Adaptable?

Being adaptable to change is a crucial behaviour that you need to focus on to succeed in business. Being able to adapt helps us adjust to the evolving conditions and function when we are in discomfort, change, or conflict. For many, working during the pandemic has opened us up to new opportunities; we have had to strengthen our ability to adapt and do so overnight. 

 

Resilience, Humility and Adaptability

During this period, leaders who are thriving have come through strongly as they have shown resilience, humility, and the ability to be adaptable while under a great deal of pressure. They have taken on a new way of working, communicating, improvising off old practices and habits, and developing skills needed to be honed to work in this new environment. 

 

Adapted

Exponential Leadership Growth

I have seen exponential leadership growth as individuals have taken a step into the unfamiliar, engaged with their clients and employees in an entirely different way and been focused on adapting and leveraging their businesses. Leaders have been purposeful in their communication, ensured it is timely, consistent and action moving forward is transparent. Leaders have had to let go of plans and goals that are no longer relevant and be open to pivoting quickly, with intent and openness to the unexpected. They have to focus on doing and being better in their leadership position, ensuring those around them are informed of changes and are comfortable with discomfort. 

 

Leaders Story

‘I shared my leadership vulnerabilities with my team, and I was honest about where we stood in the business, what we had to change quickly to plug our hemorrhaging costs and the support I needed from them. This conversation was one that I feared; however, it ended up being the best one I have ever had with my team. Honest dialogue in a difficult time was needed, and my team understood that we had to innovate fast and work in a completely different way to get through COVID.’

Adaptable Work Space

Meeting Tips to Encourage Being Adaptable

To be adaptive, we need to be curious and ask questions. Whether you are used to doing a morning huddle and have moved to a virtual daily meeting or have maintained weekly team meetings, I encourage you to practice the following:

-when an idea is presented, ask why it is important

-when an assumption is provided, ask for the data to back it up and analyze deeply

-be curious, flexible and open to different perspectives, and ask questions

-be willing to make decisions fast and pivot as necessary

-encourage open dialogue, be honest if you have concerns and transparent if there are issues that you foresee 

-be open-minded to a new or alternate way of doing things

-draw on your grayscale or integrative thinking mindset to help you be more innovative and figure out ways around roadblocks

-increase your risk tolerance level, don’t shy away from failure to achieve a win or success, and

-stay focused on what is important and believe that you will succeed

 

Professional Development

Being adaptable enables us to see new approaches to the way we do business and will open up business models that we may not have considered previously, such as remote work practices or hybrid models as our new norm. We need to be open to new mental modes in business and invest in the professional development needed to thrive in this new time. A focus on employee development in digital, emotional, social, problem-solving, resilience and adaptability skills should be a focus. 

 

Adapted work

 

What professional development areas will you be focusing on in 2021?

If you are interested in learning about professional development or executive coaching options for your leadership or team, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com to schedule a convenient time for a complimentary strategy session.

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Be accountable – no excuses!

Focus on Accountability

In March 2020, when the spread of the Coronavirus started to rise in North America, it shook the foundations of our professional and personal lives. How we worked, where we worked, and how we went about our day-to-day activities changed overnight. I spent a great deal of consulting time in crisis management mode in businesses. In this unique period, we needed to focus on crisis management tactics; however, we also had to keep a close eye on the continuation of action towards goal attainment required for the bottom line.  

 

Be An Agent of Change

To be an agent of change and accountable for your results, no matter what is going on around you (yes, even a global pandemic), you have to be 100% focused on the objectives at hand and the finish line. 

 

I love the following definition of Accountability:

 

‘A personal choice to rise above one’s circumstance and demonstrate the ownership necessary for achieving desired results – to See It, Own It, Solve It and Do it.’ 

– The Oz Principle

 

Accountability does not occur if you see a problem that needs to be resolved but do not step up, own it, solve it, and follow through by doing it.  I have embraced Jack Welch’s, the former CEO of General Electric‘s concept of ‘boundarylessness’ when it comes down to be accountable. 

 

accountable

Encourage Accountability

To encourage accountability and growth across an organization, he advocated that employees needed to stop seeing boundaries or silos of responsibility in an organization. When everyone in an organization is focused on core goals, a remarkable synergy happens whereby you see a greater level of communication, transparency, collaboration, and attainment of results. Everyone knows that what they are working on will lead to goal attainment, are accountable, and the results that they are expected to achieve. When this is clear at all levels within an organization, and individuals understand how their action moves a goal forward, then in turn, the organization benefits as accountability increases exponentially.  

Relentless Accountability

When individuals, teams, and units focus on achieving results, this helps foster an accountability environment that motivates employees to ask, ‘What else can I do here to make it better?  This question, in turn, strengthens innovation, continuous improvement, client satisfaction, individual and team performance, quality, responsiveness, and organizational competitiveness. 

 

Questions to ask that will help foster an attitude and mindset of Accountability 

 

 

  • How else can we improve quality?

 

  • What else can we be doing differently to empower staff and build our team/s?

 

  • How else can we maximize effectiveness?

 

  • What else can we be doing to attain better results?

 

executive coach

 

Accountability Tools

The tools that I use both in consulting and in my own company to track accountability include:

 

  • Outcome scorecards, or a software dashboard with indicators to track progress
  • Weekly progress check-ins to stay aligned, discuss results attained, and provide feedback
  • Process write-ups and checklists to help determine what is working and can be repeated
  • Project Plans, or software such as Trello or Asana help outline all activities, who is responsible for what, and when it has to be done by – excellent reference tools for all team members

 

Accountability = Results:

  1. Focus on what matters most and is of the highest value.
  2. Record your goals, assign scheduled time to work on a plan to provide structure and discipline to ensure you get the job done. This will enable you to focus on execution. 
  3. Stay on top of your daily schedule and focus on three things to move your goals forward at the beginning of your day. Relentless consistency will ensure you follow through and get the scheduled job done.

accountable

 

Accountability Challenge for You!

Over the remaining days of 2020, make a pact with yourself to focus on improving your level of accountability and result attainment. Let’s be accountable for our results – no blame game for what does not come to fruition. Let’s simply make it happen.  

 

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