Category: Corporate Culture

Joy to the world!

 

The holidays are here! Time for celebrations and good cheer!

It is the season when we gather with family and friends to acknowledge our blessings and remember those no longer with us. It is also the season to give yourself the gift of presence, both personally and professionally.

Love thyself and love others, in both word and deed. Give yourself and grant others grace; this time of year can be stressful and filled with a range of emotions. Know that you are loved and tell others you love them too.

Set goals and make a plan to be successful in the coming year. Stop to think about your most significant accomplishments and disappointments of the year. Commit to writing your goals for 2020. What is one thing you will start doing, stop doing, and continue doing to reach these goals?

Give more than you receive. Serving others can not only provide a sense of purpose, it also helps counteract the effects of stress, anger, and anxiety. Volunteer Houston is a great place to find the perfect way to give your time to those in need. They also have a special Holiday Project!

This year I will remember my Grandma who passed in September. I also give thanks for the countless memories I’ve made with family and friends. I stop to acknowledge the many clients who entrust me to help guide their businesses to success. And my daily gratitude goes to my very best friend, my wonderful husband. Indeed, I am blessed!

Best wishes to you and yours for a wonderful holiday season.

-Christine

 

Image: 106424271 © creativecommonsstockphotos – Dreamstime.com

Thankful

YOU are the reason my heart is happy.

Every person who has touched my life has added something to it. Family, friends, clients, partners – I am grateful for the countless people who bless my life, both personally and professionally. Thank you to those whom I serve; working with you and your teams brings me so much joy. Indeed, it is more blessed to give than to receive, and it is with a servant’s heart that I serve others.

As the holidays approach, and we remember those we love and those we’ve lost, remember to love yourself too. A little self-care goes a long way to help you be your best, for yourself and others. Stop every now and then to be present in the moment. Reflect on the passing year and know that joy and sadness can co-exist as you remember missing loved ones. And above all – breathe! Gentle, deep breaths ease stress, even if only for a moment.

May you and yours enjoy every blessing of the coming season. Thank you for being in my life; I’m better because of it.

All the best

♥Christine

photo: 109908122 © creativecommonsstockphotos, Dreamstime.com

Six Keys to Business Success

The Six Keys to Business Success

Running a business can feel like herding cats at times, with so many priorities vying for your attention every hour of the workday. Yet as with most things, the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, is something to keep in mind when making a conscientious decision on how to spend your time. Focus on those few things that will yield the greatest impact for your business.

  • Core Focus

The company WHY of who you are and where you are going must be clear not only with the CEO but across the entire organization. Every employee must have their personal Why defined. If an employee is not invested in where the company is going, their performance will slow the organization down. Some organizations call this Core Focus their Mission.

CEO Action Strategy: Host a team meeting to create and/or confirm the company vision and each employee’s as well.

 

  • Culture

The CEO is responsible for creating, exhibiting, and upholding the culture through defined Core Values created with the Leadership Team. All employees must understand the core values internally and externally adopt how they work together, with suppliers, clients, etc.

CEO Action Strategy: Do a survey of your employees asking their perception of the current company culture and how well the core values are implemented. Ask employees for involvement; create an employee committee to poll employees on how well the culture is reflected within the company and what the leadership team or employee committee can do to ensure the core values are implemented across the organization.

 

  • accountability

The CEO should ensemble a Leadership Team with department heads or division leaders to ensure the entire organization has balanced representation like the three-legged stool – Sales/Marketing, Operations, Finance (IT, HR, Admin, Accounting).

CEO Action Strategy: Meet weekly with the leadership team with a set agenda to celebrate successes, review the weekly business scorecard, review progress on strategic quarterly initiatives, discuss employee/client concerns and company issues, and hold each member accountable to follow-up agreed to by the team.

 

  • Leadership

CEOs must develop those around them in order for the company to grow; leadership team members need to continue to grow both individually and with each other or the company will “hit the ceiling” or outgrow its leaders. Utilize Assessments to help the leadership team understand and recognize their strengths and weaknesses and where the best use of their time is related to their “unique ability” – what they do really well – so they can help their direct reports do the same thing independently and together.

CEO Action Strategy:  Create a development plan in areas of soft skills and technical skills; hold each other accountable. Consider reading a leadership book and discussing the highlights together; some options include Good to Great, 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, Traction, eMyth, etc.

 

  • Long-term Goals

The CEO must determine with the leadership team where the organization needs to be in five years, 10 years, or longer. This group needs to be able to plan, predict, and execute to end up where they want to go. This ensures the business can maximize market share and stay ahead of the competition, while also providing clients with what they need and opportunities for employees to learn and develop.

CEO Action Strategy: Set aside a full-day off-site meeting with the leadership team for strategy planning to determine the long-term goal of the organization; perform a SWOT Analysis in detail that will help identify the multitude of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats the organization has to capitalize on. Determine what the strategic initiatives are that the leadership team needs to focus on every 90 days to reach the company’s long-term goal.

 

  • traction

The CEO and the leadership team must share the vision, long-term goal, how to get there, and what it means for the company and its employees to create buy-in and participation across the organization. This keeps everyone headed in the same direction and focused on the same goal.

CEO Action Strategy:  Host Quarterly Town Hall Meetings and share successes every 90 days with employees; remind everyone of the core focus, core values, mission, scorecard, trailing 12 months of financials, and refocus on the strategic initiatives for the next 90 days in order to reach your goals.

 

Remember that true leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders. Work with your leadership team to determine the main pillars of your business and then share them openly and often. When your employees know where the business is going and what’s in it for them, they are invested in the journey and the likelihood of reaching the destination together as an organization is infinitely higher. EOS®, the Entrepreneurial Operating System, provides clear concepts and practical tools to help take any business to the next level. Contact Christine Spray, a Certified EOS Implementer™, at [email protected] or 832-380-8224 or visit www.tractionforbusinesses.com to learn more.

 

About the Author:

Christine Spray is a nationally recognized business development keynote speaker, best-selling author three times, consultant, trainer, coach and Certified EOS Implementer™. Spray serves as a CEO and business advisor with a passion for helping people and companies grow.

 

Photo credit: © Roman Samborskyi | Dreamstime.com

For YOU I am both grateful and thankful

Grateful AND Thankful

The holiday season is upon us, a time when many reflect on their lives. Gratitude and thankfulness fill our heads and hearts. Did you know there is a subtle difference between the two? By definition, ‘grateful’ is feeling deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received whereas ‘thankful’ is feeling pleased. Gratitude is driven from the outside, thankfulness from within. And we need both.

 

I keep a daily Gratitude Journal, a recording of five things each day for which I am grateful. This reminds me of who and what blessed my day. I often review this journal to trigger my internal thankfulness mode. Doing this ALWAYS brightens my mood. And indeed, thankfulness has been shown to have countless physical and psychological benefits. A mindfulness of gratitude also produces many similar internal and external benefits.

 

Today and every day, know that I am GRATEFUL you are in my life and I am THANKFUL to have a heart bursting with joy. To you and yours, I wish you a blessed Thanksgiving.
– Christine

 

Photo: © creativecommonsstockphotos – Dreamstime.com

Leading through change

 

Leading Through Change

At Strategic Catalyst, we do believe great leaders can be made because we’ve seen it happen with hundreds of our clients. The Leadership in the Workplace series we just wrapped up focused on traits of leaders and strategies to sharpen leadership skills. These strategies are intended to build the person in the leadership role. With a strong leader in place, it’s time to assess the current business landscape and identify what is needed to propel the business to the next level.

“The next level” will vary by business – it may be penetrating a new market, increased net revenue, adding key staff, or redefining the corporate culture. Such changes can stir a range of emotions in employees; fear, anger, anxiety, and tension are common and can stop progress dead in its tracks if left unchecked. Leadership can be a lonely road when charting through such changes. Strategic Catalyst can be the objective coach and mentor to navigate leaders along the emotional path to the next level.

Create a leadership action plan

Working together, our first step is to define the action plan needed to ensure a leader is equipped to address the challenges ahead:

  • Set Leadership Goals
    In leadership, as in life, you will never come to the end of your learning, but you want to rank in priority order those qualities you want to develop.
  • Address the Goals
    Determine how you will accomplish your goals. Do you feel you need to learn more about teamwork so you can better lead a team? Join a team sport. Do you want to communicate better? Take a creative writing class or join Toastmasters and get some public speaking experience.
  • Seek Inspiration
    Learn about a variety of leaders, their styles and how they dealt with challenges. Read books and conduct research on the internet or at libraries.
  • Choose a Role Model
    Based on your research; choose a role model that fits your personality. Read several biographies and find videos on his or her life.
  • Seek Experience
    Take a leadership role in a social group or club. Gain experience working with people on many levels.
  • Create a Personal Mission Statement
    Imagine your legacy. What do you want to be remembered for? What do you want people to think of you? What kind of leader are you determined to be? Write a statement that defines who you will become.

Be the change

In their book, The Leadership Challenge, authors Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner identified five abilities that were crucial to successful leadership:

  • Model the Way
    You must lead by example. You can’t come into work 10 minutes late every day if you want your employees to arrive on time.
  • Inspire a Shared Vision
    If you capture the imagination, you will inspire creative thought and increase loyalty.
  • Challenge the Process
    Don’t continue doing something just because “We’ve always done it that way.” Situations change, and sometimes a policy or procedure never worked well in the first place. Think outside the box.
  • Enable Others to Act
    Truly empower people to act on their own within their level of authority.
  • Encourage the Heart
    A positive attitude is infectious.

Understand your leadership style

Christine works with leaders to identify their leadership style, and how to leverage it. The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership model addresses four types of leadership styles:

  • Telling
  • Selling
  • Participating
  • Delegating

 

Identify SMART goals

You are prepared as a leader to be the champion everyone in the business needs to follow in order to reach the next level. Now is the time to identify what that next level is and define the parameters of success around it. List the SMART goals and be sure to share them with everyone in the business. Remember the emotions employees may be feeling and help them understand what’s in it for them as the changes are being implemented.

  • Specific: The vision itself is general while the goals are specific targets to be met.
  • Measurable: Goals must be measurable in terms of progress and attainment.
  • Attainable: Clearly, a goal which cannot be met is not a goal, it is an idea.
  • Realistic: A goal may be attainable, but not with the resources at hand.
  • Timely: All goals need to be accomplished within an established time frame.

Change is not easy. People don’t like it. Leaders must be willing to walk alone because some of the team who started the journey with you will not finish with you. And that’s OK. Strategic Catalyst is here to help.

By Christine R. Spray

Photo: ID 128940008 © Daniil Peshkov | Dreamstime.com

Leadership Pt 4 – Create a Thriving Workplace

 

Create a Thriving Workplace

This fourth article concludes our Leadership in the Workplace series. To reiterate what is the foundation of this series – great leaders can indeed be made. By focusing on a few basic traits, it is possible to develop leaders who are the backbone of a strong business.

The previous articles addressed how to cultivate meaningful relationships, building trust, fostering positive workplace values, and coaching and motivating others. We wrap up the series with a trio of related topics to take your leadership skills from good to great – clarifying issues, conducting better meetings, and strategizing for improvement.

Leaders are responsible for creating and fostering the workplace environment. All the articles in this series address some aspect of crafting a positive, engaging, and fulfilling workplace. The leader’s role is to regularly set the stage for success through all the cycles a business naturally takes.

All businesses face issues, things that challenge forward progress toward the established goals. Leadership requires the ability and skill to address issues head-on as soon as they occur.

 

Clarify Issues

  1. Create a committee clearing house to identify, define, and prioritize team issues.
  2. Carry a small notebook to jot down information, opinions, and ideas you hear from the team.
  3. Identify a personal mentor or coach who you can meet with regularly to talk openly about leadership issues.
  4. Establish a feedback group to get insights into your leadership style and behavior.
  5. As you gather opinions and viewpoints on an issue, make sure you get a diversity of ideas from diverse people.
  6. Stop on occasion and identify those things that you feel are working well and those things that are causing stress.
  7. List the major issues that you have confronted over the last two years. Is there a pattern? Is there a type of issue that keeps emerging?
  8. Keep a log of the time it takes you to handle an issue. Determine if you are handling issues in a timely and efficient manner.

Meetings are what some might call a necessary evil. Yet meetings should not be the time suck they so often are in many businesses. Take disciplined steps to make meetings a better experience for all involved.

 

Conduct Better Meetings

  1. Develop a list of things that you can say to let meeting latecomers know that tardiness is unacceptable.
  2. Complete the following metaphor: “My style as a meeting facilitator is like ______.”
  3. At your next meeting tell the participants that you are working on one or two meeting facilitation skills. After the meeting ask the group how you did with each.  Ask for suggestions.
  4. Identify three to five adjectives that define your style as a meeting facilitator.  Then, ask selected team members to identify your strengths and weaknesses as a meeting facilitator.  Any Patterns? Similarities? Surprises?
  5. At your next meeting stop midway and ask the participants how the meeting is going.  Ask for suggestions to improve your meeting facilitation.
  6. Establish an assessment group and identify ways to keep meetings focused and on track.
  7. Make a list of ways to replace meetings with other forms of communication.

Leadership is the constant pursuit of excellence, making your business the best it can be for employees and customers.

 

Strategize for Improvement

  1. Work with a small group to create a “stop doing list.”  These are procedures, actions, or policies that are outdated, cumbersome, redundant, or annoying.
  2. Set a few minutes aside each day to reflect on how things are going professionally.  You may want to ask a few team members to reflect with you.
  3. Make a point to recognize team members who successfully implemented positive change.
  4. Make a list of procedures, functions, and/or policies.  With a committee of key players, grade each from A to F. Then talk about improvements.
  5. Make a point to talk to numerous team members one-on-one and ask them the following two questions: “What is quality?” and “How do we achieve quality?”  Take notes.
  6. Review your current process of delegating.  Then develop a list of guidelines for the delegation of tasks.  Ask yourself how you can do it more effectively.

I routinely work with the C-suite to develop leaders. While not all employees have the ability or desire to lead, leadership can be honed in those willing to pursue the greater good. Use these closing tips to constantly keep your company’s vision in mind.

  1. Hold informal “round tables” to discuss the future of your team.
  2. Keep a professional journal in which you focus on four aspects of visionary thinking: needs, wants, desires, and dreams.
  3. Write out the “best case” scenario for what you want your team to become.  Give it to your team and ask for responses and additions.

John C. Maxwell, author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership has so many concise and clear thoughts on leadership. This one sums up what has been addressed in this Leadership series. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

 

By Christine R. Spray

Photo: ID 134046195 © Fizkes | Dreamstime.com

Leadership Pt 2 – Building Trust

 

Building Trust

The second article in this leadership series is on trust, one of the most critical traits of a strong leader and necessary for success in the workplace.

Trust is defined as the reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, or surety of a person or thing – confidence. A 2016 survey by consulting firm PwC found that 55% of business leaders believed lack of trust in the workplace was a foundational threat to their company. Yet, to have a trusting workplace, leaders must first be trustworthy.

Below are exercises that can help develop and strengthen in all leaders. Remember to execute these steps with a clear purpose in mind, and then reflect on each upon completion. Build these exercises into your daily, weekly and quarterly schedule, to ensure completion and achieve greater frequency.

Building Trust

  1. Work with a small group and identify “trust busters.”  Discuss ways to avoid or eliminate trustbusters.
  2. Identify three team members who you trust the least and list those things that you distrust about them. Are there some common threads in all three? What is it that drives you to react to them cautiously?
  3. Over the next few weeks try at least one strategy to build a positive connection with each of the identified team members.
  4. Find a short article on trust and give a copy to each of your team members. Ask them to discuss it with you over lunch or before or after work.
  5. Establish a feedback group in which you discuss the level of trust on your team. Identify positive things that you can do to build trust.
  6. If you made a leadership mistake, admit it, and discuss it with your team. Note how the team reacts.
  7. Define authentic behavior for yourself.  Set some standards for authentic behavior and hold yourself accountable to them.
  8. Make a short audio tape in which you affirm your commitment to building stronger levels of trust. Listen to this tape periodically for motivation and affirmation.
  9. Survey your leadership peers to discover what they do to build trust with their teams.

Driving Positive Work Values

As you continually build and model trust, be mindful that it is only one of the values critical for success. While the specific values of each business will vary, a regular and mindful focus on developing those values is necessary to instill them at all levels of the workplace. Try these exercises with your core leadership team:

  1. Engage team members in casual conversations around the question…” What is a values-driven team?”
  2. Discuss ethical standards with your team members.
  3. Develop a matrix that shows the relationship between your values and your management behavior.
  4. Research managerial ethics. Report your findings to the team.
  5. Identify and clarify team norms or rules of professional interaction.
  6. Link professional behavior to workplace values.
  7. Write down the workplace values that define your approach to leadership.  Share them with your team members.

 

By Christine R. Spray

Photo: ID-143486928 © Peerapong Peattayakul_Dreamstime.com

Employer resources for employee work-life balance

 

Employer Resources for Employee Work-Life Balance

Happy employees is not something nice for employers to have, it is a need that’s directly tied to the bottom line. Of course, human happiness is worth so much more than a healthy balance sheet. Employers who foster a balanced working environment have employees that are more creative, not afraid to make mistakes, supportive of each other, contagiously happy, AND more productive. And let’s face it, it’s more enjoyable to work with happy people! Encouraging a healthy work-life balance is one of the easiest ways employers can influence employee happiness.

First, it is important to recognize a potentially unhappy employee who may be headed for burn-out. Some signs to look for:

  • Loss of interest: Burned-out employees cannot make themselves care about their work, which is the source of their stress.
  • Lack of emotion: Emotional responses are abnormal when someone is burned-out.
  • Loss of motivation: Former motivators no longer are effective.
  • Possible depression: Burnout is closely linked to depression.

Burnout is directly tied to increased turnover. Consider that when everything is totaled, 150 percent of an employee’s annual salary is the cost of turnover. This number is 200 to 250 percent for members of management.

Offer more employee control

Traditionally, employers set all of the parameters concerning jobs. Keeping all of the control, however, augments stress on employees. Simply offering employees more control over their time can help establish a better work-life balance. Studies show that employee control actually increases loyalty and productivity. When, where and how work gets done is the direct purview of employers. Depending on the type of work, flex time, job sharing and telecommuting may all be viable options for employers to consider.

Ask employees for suggestions

Employees have some of the best ideas on how to improve their jobs and the company as a whole. These ideas, however, are not always communicated. Many employees do not feel that people in management care, and that most managers do not have the time to sit down with each employee. The best way to hear about new, innovative ideas is to create an employee suggestion program. Some tips for improved participation:

  • Make it simple: Create a simple process for giving suggestions; complicated rules do not encourage creativity.
  • Respond: Let employees know that you have received their suggestions and will consider them.
  • Thank: Thank each employee who gives a suggestion, even if they are suggestions you do not use.
  • Reward: Employees who come up with useful suggestions need to be rewarded.

Reward staff

This may seem basic, but rewarding your staff is an effective method for promoting work-life balance. Employees who feel appreciated are more confident, and rewards reinforce the behavior you want to see repeated. Rewards can also provide breaks that reduce stress. Rewards do not have to break the bank. There are simple ways to thank employees for their service.

  • Public acknowledgment of service
  • Extra time off
  • Awards
  • Promotions
  • Parties

Establish consistent communication

Keeping employees informed not only makes them more accountable but also helps them understand where they fit into the overall picture. Such understanding is key for employees to feel valued. Companies using the Entrepreneurial Operating Systemâ (EOSâ) will be familiar with the 5-5-5. This tool is a quarterly conversation managers have with their direct reports to stay connected. It is a regular opportunity to make sure both parties are on the same page with essential roles and responsibilities as they relate to corporate core values. The 5-5-5 is also an excellent way to gauge employee happiness in the role.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Given the unavoidable stress of life, which may be exacerbated at work, employees may face times when they need professional assistance. EAPs provide employees access to counseling and other services. Without the aid of EAP counselors, the effects of stress can spiral out of control. Employer-sponsored EAPs give individuals the opportunity to seek help and learn the skills necessary to improve their work-life balance. Counselors can address a full range of topics causing employee stress, including personal crises, finances,  and substance abuse. EAPs are useful investments because they prevent turnover and reduce absences, plus give employees strategies for work-life balance.

Key take-away: Employers can and should take an active role in helping employees achieve work-life balance.

By Christine R. Spray

 

Photo: ID 13345878 © Aldegonde Le Compte | Dreamstime.com

‘Tis the Season

Happy Holidays! As we get ready for all the celebrations of the season and spending time with loved ones, I hope you take some time to focus on you, too.

Even outside of holiday season, adults are more stressed than ever. Now is a good time to reframe our mental approach to the holidays, and every day. There are easy ways to keep stress at bay:

  • Have realistic expectations. Life, and holiday dinners, are never perfect.
  • Helping others can offer a personal perspective.
  • Love thyself. Self-care helps you be your best, for yourself and for others.
  • Let loved ones know you appreciate and care for them.

As we close out 2017, my final message to you is this. You are special. You are worthy. You make a positive difference in my life. Thank you for being in my circle.

Best wishes to you and yours for a blessed holiday season.

-Christine