Why are we having this meeting?

"Why are we having this meeting?"

What a GREAT question!

"Why are we having this meeting?"

I have a equally great follow up...

"Do I really have to attend?"

OMG!

We waste soooooo much time in meetings...non-productive...useless...boring...meetings.

UGH!

Everyone knows what I am talking about and everyone hates these things and yet we still have them. How many meetings have you been to where you looked around the room, the speaker had lost the audience and everyone was looking down at their phones.

We should end the meeting right there!

But we don't...

Why?

Why do we continue to do something that everyone in the organization hates and finds very little use for?

Habit

Bad Habit

An awful terrible bad habit

(I said that last line in my best Grinch narrator voice)

So, how do we fix this time waster?  By putting ourselves on the spot.  By looking into the mirror when we decide we have to hold a meeting and asking, "Why am I holding this meeting?"  If you cannot answer with anything that moves the organization forward...that develops people...that gets to a solution...

Then we should not hold the meeting.

If you answer "Because we are supposed to hold a meeting each week. It's how we've always done it."

Then we should not hold the meeting.

If you say, "Because I have to clarify the information we discussed at the last meeting and that we sent out in email last week."

Then we should not hold the meeting

Simple as that

Well...it might not be that simple because the meeting culture is ingrained in most organizations but I challenge you all to work from the inside to change this culture.  Meetings should be a last resort.  Building relationships is what moves organizations forward and very few relationships are made stronger in meetings.  Unless it's from a sense of kinship built through misery.

Now...if you have to hold a meeting - and sometimes you just have to - make sure the right people are attending the meeting.  Make sure everyone attending knows what the discussion topics will be and in  a proper amount of time for them to prepare properly.  Start the meeting on time and end it on time.  Stay on topic and be as succinct as possible.  Get everyone involved.

Those attending will love you.

But...

They'll love you even more if you stop holding so many meetings

Give it a try...let people love you

Put yourself on the spot and ask, "Why are we holding this meeting?"

Answer - "We're not!"

Call Outs, No Shows...

Everyone knows this but it is always good to get a reminder now and again...

Employees do not leave companies...they leave managers

Folks don't leave because of GE or Amazon or JP Morgan...they leave because of Bob or Kathy or Steve.

People leave because the environment created by their immediate supervisor.  You know this is true - you have probably experienced it yourself.  I know I have!  I never left but I did "outlast" a bad supervisor...although I came close to leaving.

I titled this post "Call Outs, No Shows..." because this is a symptom of the bad manager problem.  If you have a department that is experiencing a lot of call outs, sick days, no shows then it may not be that the associate doesn't have a positive work ethic.  You need to look at the supervisor.  How is Bob treating his team?  Is Kathy engaging with her staff?  Does Steve let people know how they are doing and is he capitalizing on their strengths?

If you are having trouble keeping a staff...it may not be your hiring pool.  It may just be your managers...

A simple quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Scatter joy!"

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

Someone is Counting on You

It's very easy to realize and remember that someone - probably many someones - are counting on you.  You may hear it a lot from others.

From your coach, "The team is counting on you!"

From your parents, "We're counting on you to take care of the house while we're gone."

From your friends, "I'm counting on you to pick me up on time!"

As leaders we must go beyond knowing that people are counting on us and realize that everyone on our team has someone - or many someones - counting on them.

Counting on them to provide shelter

Counting on them for food

Counting on them for support in many arenas.

We cannot treat this lightly - it is a HUGE responsibility of a leader to remember this and create the environment that allows the team to be successful so that they can live up to those counting on them.

Too often I see "leaders" treat this responsibility cavalierly, ready to write off a team member quickly, after one screw-up...one mistake.

"Oh, Mr. X isn't going to make it.  I told him to do something and he did it all wrong.  He needs to go."

I hear statements like that a lot and it bothers me.  Mr. X has family or others counting on him in some form or fashion and we're ready to write him off so quickly without thought of what will happen to him and the people counting on him.

Some might say that "It's not my problem.  I have a business to run and if Mr. X is messing up. He needs to go before he hurts my business."

Very short-sighted

EXTREMELY short-sighted.

STUPID

We will be better leaders, better mentors if we remember that our team members have others counting on them.  We will do all that we can to provide the support, teaching, training, coaching, and development to allow Mr. X to be a great team member.  If we do all of this and Mr. X still doesn't get it then we owe ourselves and Mr. X a graceful exit from our business.

It's just the right thing to do.

So always remember that there is someone - many someones - counting on every member of your team.  It'll make you a better leader and create that environment that allows for success to happen.

Your team is counting on you

"If this isn't nice, what is?"

One of the things [Uncle Alex] found objectionable about human beings was that they rarely noticed it when they were happy.  He himself did his best to acknowledge it when times were sweet.  We could be drinking lemonade in the shade of an apple tree in the summertime, and Uncle Alex would interrupt the conversation to say, "If this isn't nice, what is?

So I hope that you will do the same for the rest of your lives.  When things are going sweetly and peacefully, please pause a moment, and then say out loud, "If this isn't nice, what is?"

    Kurt Vonnegut

Gotta Change...top talent is leaving

I spoke to a few Assistant Store Managers (ASMs) today.  3 of them have recently left their company while the other one was thinking about it.  I had worked with each of these ASMs back in the day and they were all "high flyers" each one seemingly on the fast track to success within their company while also helping the company achieve success.  But something had changed in them.

What didn't change is how they were being lead - and it became a problem.

One of the main jobs that a leader has is to identify and develop talent.  To do this a leader must also create a culture that allows for success to happen.  This success is defined differently by each individual and the leader must have a relationship with the individuals that are in their "sphere of influence" in order to know how to create that success culture each associate needs.

This is something we all can be better at.

We have to change...

or

Top talent will leave.

We as leaders cannot concentrate on our own success.  In fact, our success is pretty much dependent on the success of others so it is imperative for us to nurture the environment that each individual has to have to grow.

This ain't easy!

Not by a long shot

But it is the only way for the total operation to be as successful as it can be and we need to change our own thought processes to make it happen.

The old "command and control" system doesn't work well anymore.  We can't just bark orders and expect the team to perform at a high level over a long period of time.  Barking can work in the short term but people will start leaving in the long term.

Exactly what we are seeing with these ASMs.

It is so disappointing to see them leave but I understand it.  We haven't done what we needed to do to keep them engaged.  We haven't capitalized on their desire to do great work...their own personal motivation.  Instead we de-motivated them to the point where they decided things looked better elsewhere.  And they all sounded very happy with their decisions.

Can the one that hasn't made the decision to leave yet be saved?  I think so but leadership has to be very transparent - naked - in their conversation and also be ready to (and wanting to) hear some very candid comments.  And then be willing to change how some things are done.

I write all this to say that I need to take a look at myself and make sure I am doing all I can to create that environment of success that allows us to keep my top talent and allows that top talent to grow to their full potential.  I have an inkling I can do better...as long as I remember that I...

Gotta Change

John Lennon

When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life.  When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I wrote down "happy."  They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life.

     John Lennon

"You Would Have Been Strong...I Wonder if You Would've Been Just"

I was watching the movie "Gladiator" the other night and the Emperor Marcus Aurelius said this to his daughter as he wondered aloud what it would be like if society would allow her to become emperor...

"You would have been strong...I wonder if you would've been just."

I perfect question for any leader.

See...it's so easy to wield the power you have as a leader.  You can bark orders and folks will follow.  You can rule with a strong hand, with hard discipline and people will follow.

For a short time...

It won't last and you won't have peace - just like the poor emperors of the past - someone will always be looking to knock you off...to stage a coup...

Now I don't think it will be as serious as the failed emperors of the past but you will lose control of your operation.  The culture will turn sour and the goals, budgets, sales, expectations will not be met. You will not have anything left to lead.

It is so easy to "write-up" your associates.  And you may believe you have every right to do so.  An associate violates a policy, procedure or something in the handbook so the thing to do is to write the associate up to document the violation.  You cover the write up with the associate and you have done your job as the leader. Move on.

Nope!

That's lazy management - not strong leadership and certainly not just leadership.

I often coach our new leaders about this lazy management.  It is easier in the short term but it is not better.  Sure, it's difficult and takes more time to teach, train, coach and develop your team to success.  It is harder to create the culture that allows for success to happen.

But that is what strong and just leaders do

They take the time to make sure their team has everything they need to be successful.

When you are a strong and just leader you will be the leader that gains followers, that creates that culture that allows for success to happen.  Your team will not be afraid to do the things that lead towards achievement because they will know they have support from leadership. They will know that mistakes are a way to learn...not a way to get punished.

Everyone wants a strong leader...everyone wants a just leader.

A real leader is both...just as the movie Marcus Aurelius suggested...

Being Naked!

Did the title get your attention?

Being Naked!

I hate to disappoint you but there will be no nudity in this post.  So sorry.

The "naked" I am referring to is...

Transparency or Being Transparent

"Having thoughts, feelings or motives that are easily perceived

or

open to public scrutiny"

That's how dictionary.com defines transparent.  I aslo define it as

Being Naked

Be open to the people around you.  Be open in your business with your partners, associates, and employees.  Things just work better with transparency.  The more your team knows about what is happening the more they will be invested.  Your folks want to know what is going on.  They want to be a part of what is going on and they want to help with all the things going on.

Some businesses keep everything under wraps.  They keep everything clothed in darkness and then they wonder why their team doesn't engage in the business.

Take off those dark clothes...become more transparent and enjoy...

Being Naked