Working with Magic

With the end of another football season getting close (and the end of the college football season already) we’re getting to know who might be the winners and losers this year and already seeing lots of changes in the coaches for the teams. There’s been lots of talk about some of the changes with the coaches, of course the biggest news coming out out of New England. I don’t know that it’s a surprise to anyone that the iconic sweatshirt-wearing coach is out after some rocky seasons and few wins, and the biggest block of discussion is around how much he actually contributed to all those successful seasons, especially with his star quarterback going to another team for a 7th season-winning year while the coach he left behind couldn’t get much done (I do believe he played a role in the success all those years, how could he not?!).

Personally I’ve been part of teams that were just plain magic from top to bottom, and I hope you’ve been able to experience that at least once in your life or that you will. The top leadership, the other leaders and even the team players/followers/customers were all part of the magic. I’ve also worked with people who despite bad leadership or tough followers/customers were able to make the work move smoothly and successfully, and when we worked together magic still happened, but not to the degree that it did when the whole team was on board.

The story is a reminder that we can do great things individually, even when the team around us isn’t always supportive or anywhere close to magic. It’s also an encouragement to choose whenever possible to work with teams that make magic together, and to remember that any group of people can make magic together if they work together and are in the right mindset (I could point to a bunch of different sports and business teams where this was true at one point or another). I also believe that you’re never too young or too old to start working on being a magic-contributor rather than being a magic-killer. And the best way to make sure that more teams of all kinds have magic is to believe it’s possible and encourage your kids and family to believe the same. What magic have you seen created within teams?

People Power

What was the biggest lesson you learned in your success journey this year? I learned a lot in my various pursuits this year and the one thing that I still can’t get over is how fast time moves even though it’s not supposed to be moving any different than it used to. It feels like things take much longer than they used to to get done, there isn’t enough hours in the day to get everything done and what happened just 6 months ago seems like a lifetime ago. I’m still puzzling over how we’ve managed to lose so much time or do so much that our sense of the passage of time is completely distorted.

But the lesson I really learned this year is the difference that having the right people in your life make. I’ve worked for and with a ton of people over the years and as I’ve said before on this blog the harder journeys and successes that took more effort were the ones that I didn’t have an A-Team around me or wasn’t able to rely on the people who were in place in the way that I would have liked. I don’t think anyone likes to admit they’re getting old, but I’m not 20 anymore and simply can’t do everything I used to do and not pay for it in the days that follow, which is why the team around you makes so much difference. And that’s not just in cases of work, but life as well because it’s a lot easier to navigate all the challenges and climb the mountains that we face in life when we’ve got a team we trust and will support us.

So what’s the plan for the year ahead? Being courageous and speaking up more consistently about the people who need to be on my team when I’m facing a big project or working through a challenge in life. I like being independent and working alone, and I know that I’m very capable, but not only can I not do it all alone, I don’t want to at this stage of my life anymore. I don’t need to do it alone to prove I can do it or how capable I am. I’d much rather have the teamwork than try to get it done alone. What lessons have you learned in your success journey this year?

Remember To Celebrate Your Business

As we acknowledge the end of another year in less than 2 weeks we’ve reached the time that most businesses stop and celebrate the good things that have happened and think about the things they want to change or improve in the new year. This week, with Christmas, Boxing Day and Kwanzaa just days away, we’re going to talk about celebrating the year that you’ve almost completed, and I think we should start with an important note: even if you didn’t have the greatest year I do believe there are things to celebrate and things that happened this year that will be building blocks for a better year next year.

Let’s start with the celebration that everyone asks about to get it out of the way: sales. I think it’s the one time of year that people like hearing about how many sales there were, how many of those sales were with repeat customers, if you were able to increase the amount purchased per sale (and not just because of inflation), how many new items or services you offered to customers in the year, number of products or services you improved this year, and the number of satisfied customers who left a review for you or sent in an email with feedback. So even if you’re not all about the numbers or you, rightfully, focus on many things as indicators of your success in business that year, it’s a good time to review those numbers so that you can see that you did do well this year, or at the very least better than you thought you might have (especially if you don’t run your numbers as often as you maybe should).

Second, let’s celebrate the cool things your business has done or been involved in over the past year. Did you win an award, support to a local (kids) sports team, mentor a business owner or entrepreneur in a developing country, donate man hours for a local charity or non-profit project, do a joint venture or special partnership with another business, or get featured on a prestigious website? These things are awesome, but they don’t always translate to trackable sales so we don’t always talk about them as much as we should. Why should we talk about them? Because as much as being in business is about financing your life and the lives of your employees, I believe we should all give back in some way beyond that.

Finally, celebrate your people! It’s so important to celebrate, recognize and thank the team that has worked with you all year long so hard to make your business a success and get your products and services out into the world. Even though the only “requirement” that you have to them is to pay them their wage/salary (or in a few cases sign the internship paperwork), employees are made up of more than just financial needs and they really appreciate being recognized for the hard work they’ve done, the good ideas they’ve had and the ways they’ve consistently shown up for your business. At the very least you can use this time of year to go over some of the best reviews people have gotten from customers, recognize milestones that people have crossed in their careers, celebrate continuing education that has been completed, and give out some certificates for people who have made unique or creative contributions or are just loved by customers and fellow team members. And if you can do more than that and give them a holiday bonus or gift or bring everyone together for a holiday meal or offer something like flexible hours or time off for the holidays, they’ll appreciate you for celebrating with them in this special season of the year.

So what are the things that your business is celebrating from 2023?

Celebrate Your Team this Christmas

What’s one of the things that can really make your work day and your business succeed or fail? That’s right, the people. I’m working on a project that’s got a lot of moving parts, has had over a year of stops and starts, and I’m more than a bit concerned that we’re just not ready now that the next stage is finally here. The thing I keep trying to remind myself is that the key people involved in the next step are very capable, smart, practical, trustworthy, competent people and the only reason that it might succeed without being a complete dumpster fire and day I don’t want to look back on, is because of them.

When you hire someone to work for your business there will always be upsides and costs, but I’ve yet to find a situation where the cost of keeping a truly skilled, capable, smart, and/or customer service oriented person employed isn’t worth the cost. Yes, it may be harder to find them and you have to do more interviews and search longer. Yes, they may command a higher salary. Yes, they may need more flexibility with their schedule because of their health or kids. But the value that they add to your business because of how dependable, strategic, caring, focused, helpful, friendly, creative and/or knowledgeable they are is always far and above the cost you pay to find and keep them.

So this holiday season take time to honor and celebrate your team. Everyone should be appreciated for working through the challenges that naturally come with the holiday season, but make sure to show the people who are invaluable to your success your appreciation and let them know that you recognize what they add to the team, how important they are to the success of your business, and how much you appreciate that they care for your customers. Who on your team could you not do without?

The Right People, the Right Team for Success

This past week has reminded me that as great as any plan is, it’s just as crucial to have the right and sufficient people to execute it. I worked on a project that reminded me that I’m not 20 anymore and I can’t do the things I used to do then and get up the next day like nothing happened. You may be familiar with that feeling! I was still working to get back to normal days later.

In my years of working in different industries and with many different people from the very old to the very young, I’ve learned that some people are great thinkers, some people you want at your back when the going gets tough, some people are organized, some are always willing to lend a hand or ear, and some people have the best heart. If the person with a great heart is your support for something that really requires an organized person or someone with a strong back, you may leave with a smile on your face, but it’s not the person who you really needed to work with.

This is another reason why it’s good to be friendly and get to know people, because you want to know who you can depend on for different situations, and if you’ve only got 2 friends, chances are good they’re not going to be available all the time or they’re not necessarily going to be the right person for what you need support for.

As we get deeper into the holiday season, we’re actually provided with lots of great opportunities to get to know new people or get to know people we already know better and build on those relationships so that we can call on them in times of need, and they can do the same with us. With Thanksgiving less than a week away, it’s also a good time to thank the people in your life who have helped you and who make your life better. Who are your go-to people?

That’s Complicated

I’m all about keeping things simple (if you’ve been around here for a while this is something you know about me). But as much as I wish the world would just comply and do things simple for me, and everyone else who likes simple, the truth is that there’s a lot of really complicated stuff that goes on around us. It’s fascinating to me how it seems simple to say that we’re connected by the internet around the world, but how that actually happens is so much more complicated than it sounds. Whether your business works primarily with complicated things or you’re more about the consistently simple, from time to time we all have to deal with more complicated situations. So let’s talk about some of the things you can do to make those complicated situations a lot easier to deal with, if not as simple as possible.

Complicated becomes a lot simpler and easier to handle when you’ve got a plan. For those of us who struggle with timing/time, this is something that can help us too. Making a plan means that you’ve brought as much information to the table (or whiteboard, or digital ) as you can, spread it all out, put it in the most logical order, and made sure that information is available for anyone and everyone who needs to know it. Part of creating the plan is putting together a list of things you don’t know yet and/or don’t know how they’ll fit in but know they have to. Another part of the plan is gathering essential information that won’t change even if some other aspects of the complication do.

Complicated becomes a lot less stressful when you’ve been planning ahead. What does this mean? It means having a good team in place both directly with you and other people and businesses you know you can rely on, for example a moving company, a plumber, an animal expert, finance people, people in real estate, cleaners and organizers, automotive people, construction people, tech people and the list goes on. Planning ahead also includes setting aside time in your regular schedule to not only review and stay on top of all the little things that go on, but also to work ahead on things like taxes or maintenance or purchases you know are happening sooner rather than later.

Finally, and so predictably, complicated isn’t as complicated when you communicate. The longer you work with your team of people, the better you know how they communicate (or don’t) and how they deal with stress and big projects, and can do your best as the leader or manager to communicate more with those who need that extra input and attention versus those who can be given all the information and you just check in with them from time to time. But, regardless of whether they require more or less check-ins, your complications will stay complicated if you don’t keep people in the loop. Yes, there’s sometimes information that you feel people don’t need to know, but if you really trust your people, if they’ve worked with you for a long time, you have to make a decision on whether you would prefer things to go well and navigate the complications as successfully as possible, or if you want everyone to be really stressed and upset and frustrated with you for withholding what are really essential bits of information that will greatly impact their ability to plan, plan ahead or do their work.

The sooner you get your team in the loop on your complicated project, the more success you’ll have with that project as well as the more likely that everything else in the business will continue to run smoothly. What are your tips for navigating all things complicated and complex?

Family Teamwork

I’ve been thinking a lot about the topic of teamwork with Memorial Day yesterday and some of the other things going on in my life and the lives of some of my clients. You may have experienced it yourself when you’ve been out in public or struggle with your kids and having them not do their homework or disregarding the fact that you’re in an important meeting or talk back to you or not listen to you. Independence is great, but what happened to the days where we knew that we had to behave when we were out in public with our parents or that we were responsible for certain things and knew we’d be in trouble or at least disappointing our parents if we didn’t do? I don’t think having kids who aren’t listening to you or don’t do what they’re supposed to necessarily means you’re a bad parent. But I’ve been thinking about the possibility that it means you haven’t fully communicated the fact that you’re all on a team together and being part of that team requires teamwork (effort and participation) from everyone involved.

Thanks to sports and even online gaming kids are very familiar with the concept of teams and how teamwork works. But not every family communicates that being part of a family is another team that you’re on, and that being on that team means you have responsibilities. Maybe it’s as simple as the responsibility to let the dog in and out from the back yard or to clear dishes from the table or to do your homework, just the normal things that kids can be responsible for. But when you make the effort to establish those responsibilities at a young age, it makes it easy to transition to bigger ones as they get older.

If you haven’t communicated about the family team, yes it will be a little rough to get everyone into the habit of remembering that they’re on a team and participating and pulling their weight, but it is possible and it will make everyone’s lives better. Of course it will make your life better because you’re not quite as overwhelmed trying to do everything for yourself and all the kids, but it also helps teach kids about responsibility and being a team player which are things they’ll need to know intimately as they become adults and have real jobs/careers and relationships. There’s no shame in admitting you can’t do everything for everyone, nor should you try. The more excited you are about everyone being on the team and everyone supporting each other, the smoother it will get started and quicker you’ll see benefits for everyone.

Putting All the [Business] Pieces Together

Are you aware of the bigger picture in your business? I was talking with a client the other day about this topic. She had attended some seminars recently on some aspects of the financial world and instead of just talking about strategies, they also talked about the basics of getting started. We chatted at length about how great it is to hear all the strategies, but unless you know how to implement them you’re missing a big piece of the puzzle. This applies to so many industries. Yes, it’s great to love animals and get your vet license, but you have to also have a business education if you want to be successful. Yes, it’s great to learn all the latest trends and strategies for marketing, but if you aren’t set up right or doing the basics, you won’t get very far. Yes, it’s great to have a really cool product that all your beta testers loved, but if you don’t know how to run a business or market the product, you won’t succeed.

This is where the question of the bigger picture comes in. In some ways it’s like a puzzle. You remember those from when you were a kid (or maybe you still enjoy them now, which is great), they came in boxes and were comprised of little wooden or pressed paper pieces cut in shapes and you had to put those shapes together to form the picture. If you’re an expert puzzler you don’t use the cover image to help you nor do you make the outside “frame” first, you just put piece together with piece until it all came together. But most of us need the help of the “frame” and the box cover to be able to put it together so that we have an idea of context and don’t get frustrated and miss out on the fun. And if you lost a piece or it accidentally fell under the couch and you didn’t notice, you were in big trouble!

Business is the same way: it’s much easier to be successful (and more likely) if you have all the pieces, know you have all the pieces and know how they all fit together. It’s why it’s so important as a leader to spend time talking with your people in real, honest conversations (both employees and customers), why it’s important to ask questions, and why it’s important to learn from a diverse group of mentors and other leaders. This isn’t about micromanaging, but about learning and making sure that you know what connections there are and what connections need to be made so that your employees can do the best they can, your customers are happy, and your business keeps growing. What missing pieces have you learned that you needed to add over the years?

Every Little Bit Counts

You’ve probably heard the phrase “it takes a village.” It’s a phrase I really appreciate and apply to many aspects of my life because time and again I’ve been at such a loss or facing such a challenge and know that there would be absolutely no way I could take another step if it weren’t for the support in my life. I recognize that I have only so many capabilities and there are things I just can’t do, or choose not to do in favor of letting others who have those strengths do those things instead. I don’t believe we should be islands, nor were we created to be islands. Instead we were created to be part of a community and all bring our strengths to the table so that we can live our best lives instead of struggling to be responsible for everything.

And one of the most important communities is the community of people we bring together to help raise the next generation. Even the most introverted children need to engage and interact with others, to experience the different types of people out there and learn from many different situations while they’re young so they’ve got the knowledge and background for when they’re adults. Yes, as their parents or guardians we have the most direct responsibility for teaching them about relationships and how to interact with others, but we aren’t a representation of everyone out there or every type of relationship so it’s important for them to be exposed to others too.

But I think there’s something that we forget about this “it takes a village” concept and that’s that the kids are part of that village, too. As much as they’re learning from us and we’re raising them up, doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be contributing as well, and I’m not just talking about playing and reminding us to play. Growing up there were things that I was responsible for. Maybe they weren’t life altering, but it taught me that even at a young age I had a role to play in the family and I was important to keeping the family unit functioning. I’m not suggesting or encouraging that kids be put into the role of adults and be responsible for raising their siblings or when they’re in their later teen years being a serious contributor of income, but that they understand that no one does this life alone and that you need them, especially sometimes, to step up and help out around the house. Maybe that looks like just keeping their room tidy, maybe it’s about setting and clearing the table, maybe it’s about taking care of the pets, there are so many ways that kids of all ages can contribute and can give you as the adult a measure of peace that not only are you teaching them responsibility, you’re being given some help.

Maybe the most important lesson in the “it takes a village” story is that you’re not alone as the parent either, it’s up to you to ask for help when you need it. Yes, you’re ultimately responsible because you’re the parent, but it’s OK to sometimes tell your kids that you’re overwhelmed and ask them to put in a little helping hand as part of the family. No one should take everything on, and sometimes it’s as simple as setting aside the feelings of overwhelm and letting in the willingness to ask for help, even a little bit, because sometimes it’s every little bit that counts.

Team Earth (Day)

The word that I’ve been coming back to time and again when I’ve thought about this year’s Earth Day is teamwork. It’s really the choice we’ll have to make if we want to save our planet from the possibility of the dire warnings scientists are making about what the future could look like. And what better example to illustrate the topic of teamwork than professional sports like basketball, baseball, hockey, football, and soccer. They have the players who are out there doing their thing, they’ve got the umpires who are supposed to be team neutral while making sure everyone follows the rules, the people who train and coach the players, the people who own the team, the people who manage the stadium, the people who make the balls and other gear, and of course the fans who watch and attend games. In one way or another all of those people are part of the team, whether they realize it or not. The “team” isn’t just the people on the field, it’s everyone who makes the game possible.

And while it’s highly unlikely that a fan would some day be on the field with the team playing along, the same isn’t true about the other areas of our lives that we’re part of a team in. Sometimes we’ll be the player on the field, sometimes we’ll be in the stadium, sometimes we’ll be the responsible owners, sometimes we’ll be the umpires, it depends on the situation and often changes so rarely are we always on the sidelines or always playing on the field or whatever position of the team you think of. Sometimes it’s about who is on location, who has the money, or who has the knowledge, but other times it’s not about anything except who steps up to put in the effort.

Earth Day is one of those days that how we step up may change over the years. As kids we may be dropping a few seeds in the ground to give the bees flowers or helping plant an Arbor Day tree on the grounds of our school, but the same could be true for adults or even seniors. Some years you may not “do” anything to help our Earth on Earth Day like plant or pick up garbage, but you may get out there and enjoy nature to be reminded why Earth Day is important. And other years you’ll be in a position to really make very Earth-conscious choices about your resources and buy products or services that have a better footprint on our planet or support organizations that are caring for our planet or undoing some of the damage that has been done over the years.

By the very fact that you’re living on this planet, you’re part of the team that must choose to either save it or lose it. You don’t have a choice in that since you’re here and space travel and life isn’t an option yet. So what team are you on this Earth Day, and what team are you teaching your kids to belong to this Earth Day?