by Michelle Geromel | Achieving Goals, Productivity
1) Turn Off Distractions So You Can Be More Focused a) Set your phone to Do Not Disturb Mode (you can allow favorites, so your family and even key clients or co-workers can still contact you) b) Use a plug in to make seeing your news feed inside Facebook impossible, while you get your work done on your business pages and in Facebook groups. (See our recent blog here for details.) 2) Get Clear On What Actions Are Creating Results a) Look at your metrics. What went well for last quarter and also the year? What did you improve? What did you learn? How does progress line up with your key targets for the year and the quarter? b) Whatever your key or only project focus was for the month and quarter, how did that go? How is it going? What went well this past month or months. And what can be improved? c) If you don’t have a definitive 1 thing you are focused on for the quarter or the month, what would it take to be more focused on making defined progress on 1 key business improvement? What steps can you take from today through the end of the quarter to bring about change? Remember to be honest with yourself about what you can really achieve. And also remember that you need to measure success. So how are you measuring improvement? How will you know if you succeeded? 3) Create A Plan To Achieve Your Targets For The Year And This Quarter a) What are 1-2 sub goals you can achieve each month? If you already have...
by Michelle Geromel | Human Capital
Most of us our aware when we ourselves sabotage our business, out of fear of success, or some other subconscious belief. And when this is happening, we ourselves may not be immediately conscious of it. Until it happens enough for us to take notice and fix it! And business owners can also be unaware when an employee does the same thing. For example, many of the clients I worked with took a hit during this most recent recession. And, given that many businesses were no longer around, the fact that my clients were standing was a testament to their tenacity. But often, their long time employees don’t necessarily see it that way. They blamed my clients for the bad times, and seemed oblivious (from my perspective) of my clients having taken such good care of their employees when the times were good. However, the employees just wanted great bonuses and lots of overtime, even when the market was no longer allowing for that. So when hours became cut, the holiday party, bonuses and vacations were cut – there was resentment. A few employees out and out started stealing from these companies. Others were claiming hours worked that were bogus. (Another form of stealing.) Which is of course a much easier thing to manage and address than more subtle forms of sabotage. More subtle forms of sabotage can actually be more costly and are often overlooked because it is with the day to day operations staff in the office, not in the field or on the floor. Some examples of this type of sabotage I have seen from either employees...
