Where are the A Players?

"Recruiting is a process, not an event. It must be ongoing and continuous. Can you imagine only going after a new customer when you lose an existing one?"

- Jack Daly

"At most companies, people spend 2 percent of their time recruiting and 75 percent managing their recruiting mistakes."

- Richard Fairbanks, CEO of Capital One

"Don't send your ducks to eagle school."

- Jim Rohn

Whether we need to hire more people as we grow, or Topgrade and replace those Ducks with Eagles, we have to RECRUIT. If you are like most owners and leaders, you hate the thought of it. We don't do it well, we do only when we need to and then under pressure to fill a void.

"For every result there is a perfect process for achieving it." So the process you have historically used to recruit and hire people has gotten you the results you now have. To change the results you must change the process.

Coach For Engagement, Productivity and Satisfaction

"Doing performance coaching right means 42% higher productivity."

(Bersin report: High-Impact Performance Management: Using Goals to Focus the 21st-Century Workforce)

The jury is not still out, the key to the care and feeding of great employees is coaching them clearly, positively and often.

In fact, based on a recent survey, the Zenger Folkman group (authors of the Exceptional Leadership book) noted that employees had a preference for receiving corrective feedback 3 times the level of their preference for receiving positive feedback!

Are you avoiding that corrective feedback? You are actually doing more harm ignoring your staff than just being honest and coaching them where they need it.

Some Zenger Folkman statistics- based on the best and worst leaders (as givers of feedback):

Engagement measure	Worst leaders (Little feedback) (10th percentile)	Top leaders (Weekly coaching conversations) (90th percentile)
Intent to quit	42%	15%
Perceived opportunities	33%	70%
Feel fairly treated	28%	73%

If you avoid giving feedback (corrective or positive) then this has a dramatic negative impact on the performance of your team.

10-15 minute Weekly Coaching Conversations are powerful as you can see by the study above. These informal conversations build trust and improve communications immensely. How many times have employees come into your office and quit and you had no clue?

I've had clients who started these one on one conversation and told me they were taken aback by what they learned. How things they thought had been communicated in group huddles were totally misunderstood. One on one the employee feels more comfortable asking questions and real understanding is the result.

Ask them what they failed at the week before and what they learned. Ask what their big win was. Ask what they are focused on next week. Ask what their goals are. And most importantly how can you help them achieve them. Discuss specific things they could be working on to reach their goals, improve their performance, etc. Things you saw last week they did well.

These sessions with your direct reports can be the most valuable 10-15 minutes you spend each week. 

Why Aren't You Taking Action?

"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy."

- Dale Carnegie

Like so many of my clients, I have trouble at times taking Action toward a goal or new habit. I have clients that, month after month, fail to start and sustain their weekly huddles, raise their prices, begin recruiting and building a virtual bench, etc.

Why? We know it is what we want but we stop!

First let's talk about goals and rocks and habits. Before we discuss why you are not taking action toward a goal or rock, or developing a new habit, let's talk about what those things are.

Goals are SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Realistic and Time based. They should be numbers, ratios, binary. The things we need to do to achieve them are the Rocks/Actions, and many times we must develop new habits to complete and sustain the Rocks /Actions.

Goals must then be commitments - things you are not interested in happening, but things that you want badly to happen and are willing to do anything to achieve.  That means things you sometimes are uncomfortable doing. But if you write the goal on paper and you prioritize the actions /rocks and habits it will take to achieve them, you have become a really good Goal Setter. However, if you then find yourself procrastinating, trying to find time each week to pursue the Actions you need to take to obtain your goals, then that is all you are: a Goal Setter. That can be frustrating and creates a lot of self-doubt and stress, something you don't need more of.

So why do we stop and put off taking the action needed to reach our goals and plans?

John Asserif in the following 7 minute video answers the question for you. My only addition is that when you write down why you are stalled out, you take each of those fears and/or uncomfortable feelings and ask yourself: Are they really true?Will I let that happen? What is the possibility?

Fear is in the the fact that you cannot predict the future. The horrible things your mind can conjure up will never happen but those "thoughts" are paralyzing. Are they true? No.  Shift your mind to creating the future you want by taking Action now - today - and the fear will disappear.

Watch John's video here.

Say No To Respect the Yes

"Saying NO (politely) may be uncomfortable for a few minutes, but saying YES may plaque you for hours, days and sometime months."

(I heard it somewhere J)

From Imperative Blog

I, like you, am asked to do things all the time - by my friends, coworkers, boss, neighbors...the list goes on. Sometimes, without taking a second to think about it, I say yes. I say yes, even when the answer is no.

I fully understand the difficulty of trying to please, since I feel an innate pressure to say "yes" to others, especially at work-often at the expense of my own needs.

But there are times it's easy to say no. For example, if I'm leaving the office to catch a flight and a coworker asks for my help, there's a solid chance I'm going to say no. I won't feel bad because I am committed to being on time for my flight.

But if a coworker asks you for your help when you have nowhere to be, what would you say? Even if I had a major deadline or a lot of work, I would set aside time to help my coworker, or feel guilty if I didn't. After all, I don't want to be considered rude or unhelpful.

When I habitually say "yes" to everyone else, the inevitable happens: I overcommit.  I disappoint myself and others and feel guilty about my choices. Saying "yes" to too many opportunities, too many projects, and too many people is a recipe for failure.

The good news is, you have more control than you might believe. No matter how much pressure you feel to make others happy, saying "yes" and saying "no" are choices you make.

What could I say to my coworker instead? Try this one: "I'm sorry, but I don't have time to do that because I'm committed to the project in front of me. If you still need me once I've completed it, I'd be happy to help."

The key is to commit yourself to your previous "yes;" whether you need to catch a flight or finish your own work before lending a hand. You have to respect the "yes" of your own work, the "yes" of your own time, and the "yes" of your schedule.

Habitually saying "yes" is just that: a habit. Once I recognized and broke the habit, the confidence I built in saying "no" was life-changing.  The respect I have for myself and my commitments is also observed by others. I realized that saying "no" to overcommitment is a sign of strength, not weakness.

When someone asks you for something, pause and consider this: if you say "yes," what else are you saying "no" to? Did you commit yourself to an early night or plans with friends? Remember that saying "no" is a sign of self-respect. Don't self-sabotage yourself by overcommitting and exhausting yourself. Be confident that by saying "no," you are respecting the "yes."