Your A-Team Isn't Performing. Duh...

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services LLC.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

I recently had lunch with a colleague, a business owner, who commented that his team's productivity and  seems to have dipped in performance. He stated they had become lazy and complacent, and wanted to shake things up, to get their attention.  He wanted to know my thoughts on what do do, should he change the comp plan, should he require overtime till results resumed, etc.

Of course, I launched my "Columbo Routine":

• Really! How so? What do you mean?
• How do you measure performance? 
• What activities lead to good performance? How are these measured?
• Has the workload dropped? What else has changed?
• What's been the impact to them?
• What have you done so far? How has that worked?
• (insert additional  Sandler "pain questions" here!) 

The net of it all that the drop in performance stemmed from the following:

• The team is highly competent and well paid
• The business owner had been consumed with other projects the prior few months, and the team was essentially self managing
• There were no metrics or guidepost for them to self manage their daily activity
• There was no reinforcement of the good habits that made them successful
• There was little to no impact on the team as a result of the drop in performance (comp, recognition, etc.)

In most small team environments, the leader is so close to the action that an objective look is difficult.  When I recapped the answers for this business owner, he said "Duh..." and knew exactly what to do. 

As leaders, we are all guilty of being too close to our team and the environment.  We develop personal relationshps and perspectives on the folks we work with - team members, clients, stakeholders - and lose perspective on the  dynamics that impact effectiveness. We are all guilty of "I didn't change. I have a good team. What's going on?". 

This is where we all need people in our professional networks who can help us view our situations objectively.  People we trust that will be direct and objective, and not worried about hurting our feelings.

If you don't have such a person in your network, it's time to get one.

Gen Y Replacing the Boomers - Are You Ready?

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

I am working with a client to assist with hiring a new staff professional for her organization.  This particular client is about my age and a "baby boomer" by all measures.  She is specifically looking for talent that can ultimately contribute to the succession of current leaders in the organization, and is specifically looking for entry level and lesser experienced people who can grow and become the leaders of tomorrow.

I asked her, "Are you and your organization ready to accept such a person?"  She was puzzled in my question as she thought it was actually a pretty easy task: find and hire a sharp individual, and all will be well.

Not quite.

After hiring experienced folks for most of my life as a manager, I switched my tactics to hire folks with potential for many of my roles. How hard could it be to hire folks 25 to 30 years my junior?  What I found was that the expectations and conditions needed for success for this type of talent was quite different than what I had become accustomed to by hiring "baby boomers" and "Gen X'rs" for most of my career.

After unsuccessfully screening a number of these candidates commonly referred to as "Gen Y", I realized I needed to better understand what was important to them in a job.  So, I launched a fairly unscientific survey to a group of 25 or so of the brightest young professionals I know.  I asked one simple question:

"What are the things beyond pay and benefits that are important to you in a job?"

The top response was echoed by over 90% of the respondents: "Flexible work hours and schedule". This was followed by "fun work culture" and "working with people I like to hang out with" and similar comments.  When I started in the workforce years ago, this question would have been answered with "career growth opportunities" and "training and development".

The implication is that in order to attract the best and the brightest of this generation, we need to recognize some of these considerations and think about how they mesh with our company environments and cultures.  Early on, I hired a professional that was a good fit for my needs that, much to my dismay, left a year later.  It turns out we were not a good fit for his needs, specifically the needs beyond the basics of pay and benefits, career growth and opportunity.  He was a young person working with a bunch of traditionalists.  In his eyes, we just didn't get what he needed or wanted - which was true.    

Moving from there, I coached my client along the following lines:

• Work life balance is key, and what that means to to a Gen Y is different than to us Boomers. This might mean new or different processes.
• The outdated and cumbersome administrative processes being used that are an annoyance for a Boomer are totally unacceptable for a Gen Y.  We are talking about a group of people who grew up with cell phones and internet.  
• Security means less to them, and the "experience" means more.  Gen Y is a group that has seen elders and parents lose their jobs and houses, and so employers are not viewed as "permanent".  Instead, they are looking for things to add to their resume' and credentials.
• Be ready to look at assumptions and standard practices in order to make your organization the type that can attract the talent that will become leaders in the future.

There is tremendous value in the institutional knowledge and practices we've built into our organizations.  At the same time, there is value in visiting and questioning these assumptions and practices, and evolving them for the needs of today and tomorrow.  Given the volatility of the business world, we all need this type of agility in tactics and practices to prosper.

A lot of this is the benefit that comes from hiring a workforce that is not :"just like us". The real question is, "are you ready?".

The Right Activity Leads To Results

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

Like many folks in business today, I am pulled in multiple directions, subject to the whim of others in my personal and professional circles.  When in the midst of...

• Launching a new business venture and setting up the proper legal and operational structures
• Prospecting for new clients 
• Delivering to existing clients
• Helping elderly parents
• Working out to improve health 
• Advising the children 
• Doing taxes 
• Nurturing relationships with the important people in my life
• Spending time on hobbies to help stay sane
• Eating, breathing, and sleeping

...and hundreds of other things, there is never enough time to get to it all.  If not watched, I  end up feeling frustrated  by not being able to do all the things I  think I need to do. 

Feeling bad about one's own efforts is not the "secret sauce" in the recipe for success!

In  a previous post, I discussed ways to focus on activities that will get the results we want to achieve. Recent observations tell me we still struggle with "what should I do today" and managing our schedule. I find this particularly acute with established professionals.

Many of us achieved success in our professions through our abilities to multi-task and quickly produce deliverables and responses.  We were  rewarded for this behavior, through promotions, formal recognition, and increased compensation, and thus conditioned ourselves to continually "do more" and "work harder". We pride ourselves in our ability and effectiveness in serving others.

Then, when we can no longer perform at or raise our personal maximum capacity, we start to skip steps, or take risks we shouldn't. Perhaps self doubt creeps in. Maybe we start to ignore some things we shouldn't, like personal health and family relationships and activities.  We become disenchanted with our personal effectiveness, and the inability to do all of what seemed so easy in the past.

As a "one man show" with my business, I  rapidly realized that to be a viable, ongoing entity, I needed to spend as much time as possible in revenue generating activities.  If I spend an hour in email  hell or in research on operational issue, that is an hour I am not putting my smiling face in front of a client. My chances of surviving the first year decrease proportionately.  

To this end, I look at everything I do every day, sometimes a couple times a day I print my electronic calendar out and carry it with me, adjusting on the fly.  From  day to day perspective, I start the day by planning the day almost hour by hour and sometimes in 15 minute blocks. I purposely pull myself away from my PC, and check email during schedule gaps. I block out time for prospecting, client follow up, and whatever else leads directly to revenue generation.  

Similarly, from a macro sense, I look to outsource or get others to do that which takes my time away from revenue generation.  For example, I've recently found a firm that has comprehensive services for handling my "back office" functions (payrolling, invoicing, W2 employee administration, etc.).  I've found solutions to handle all sorts of operational issues that are very cost effective manner, even for an organically financed start-up like mine.

It is a very simple "rule of thumb": if it doesn't produce revenue, don't do it, do it later, or get somebody else to do it.

Do I stick to a rigid, outlined schedule every day? No. Stuff happens that can't be ignored. But, these "crises" can be managed so as to minimize impact on the right activities that will lead to success. And, you'll find most of these interruptions don't require an immediate response.

By planning my day to a detail level, it reinforces my true priorities, and gets me focused on what I should be doing, and not simply what others of demanding of me.

Identify the "revenue" in your professional and personal life, and plan accordingly. If you don't plan your schedule, somebody will plan it for you.

Consulting for Consulting Firms

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

I am launching my own firm that, among other things, provides advisory and consulting services to professional staffing and consulting firms.  Sounds odd doesn't it: consulting services for consulting firms.

Taking a closer look shows that it's not so odd.  Consulting firms face the same challenges that all businesses face: growth, profitability, a volatile market and economy, sustainability, competition in a global economy, threats from  smaller, nimble competitors, etc. The same challenges that the proprietor of the neighborhood cafe faces when an Applebee's open up down the street, or the local businessman has when his taxes or utility costs go up.

The tactical and often high transaction nature of the business within staffing and consulting makes it tough at times look objectively and strategically at the business.  It is in the truest sense a people business. People working with people to provide people to do things.  Given the normal variability of human behavior, should we be surprised we are consumed with just the maintenance of day to day business?

This tactical nature of the business pulls one away from the more strategic and long term aspects of the business.  What is happening to profitability?  Why has revenue been flat during a growth cycle? What are the risks and threats to my business?  How will next year's economy impact my top three clients and how will that affect my business?  Why do I have staff turnover?

This is where a person in the role of a coach, a consultant, a mentor, or an advisor can provide real value. A person who understands the business and can look at your situation with objectivity and clarity, who can see  causes and effects, and  help assess a path to resolution.  The best ones are those can get close to the situation and  understand it yet have little to no emotional stake in the outcome. The ones who sometimes tell us what is obvious but yet we don't always like to hear.

Let the Prospect Decide To What To Buy...Or Not

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

As a sales person, you are in the following situation:

• You are in front of a prospect who, on the surface, seems like an ideal fit for the product or service you provide. 
• You believe you do everything right in this meeting.  You establish rapport, commenting on pictures of the prospect's family or hobby. You connect. You ask a few probing questions, and find out that the prospect has issues or pain around which your product or service can address.
• You begin to ask questions around these issues, and the prospect answers indicate that one of your offerings is the perfect solution for these issues.  You spend more time getting details and suggesting ideas on how to address these issues.
• Towards the end of the meeting, you go to set next steps of maybe a demo or proposal, and you sense a soft commitment, or maybe the prospect is "...busy and will have to follow up next month...". 

What happened? 

Early in my sales career I learned a very hard but valuable lesson, and anyone who has been in sales for any length of time has learned the same lesson, illustrated in the scenario above. 

Like a shark, we smell "blood in the water" and immediately assume that there is prey, ready for us to tear to shreds. So, we start swimming towards it.  We assume that we've found the prospect's challenges, and the prospect has been sitting there waiting for us to solve them.

What we don't realize is sometimes the "blood in the water" is simply that: "blood in the water". 

(Apologies for the rather gruesome analogy. It's all I could think of at the moment!)

Incidents like the one described above are why clients view most sales people as arrogant, money hungry, or worse. We spend time using every trick in the book to connive and persuade the client to move ahead, not realizing that our proposal will be nixed later on because the client does not really care about it.  We don't take the time to really understand what's important to a client.  As a result, we work to sell the client a "hammer" when the client really wants a "screwdriver".

Not only does the sales person loses out on the opportunity at hand, but they also establish a reputation with that client as yet another sales person that doesn't really listen, that is more interested in what they have to offer rather than what the client needs to buy.

What we missed is getting to the issue of most importance to the prospect.  While we may have uncovered something, it may not be at the top of the list for the prospect.  It may be fourth on the prospect's list of top three priorities.  We didn't take the time to ask:

• "How does this fit in to the bigger scheme of things for your group?" 
• "What other things are filling your day?"
• "Should we talk more about this, or are there other things that may be important to cover?"
• "We can talk about a lot today. I'm curious as to what you would really like to get out of our time together..."

Take your time. Ask another question.  See where the issues you've uncovered stack up in the client's eye.

Once you do, you are better equipped to propose the right solution at the right time.

Why We Miss The Simple Things

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

In my experience, many of our seemingly complex challenges can be distilled down to basics. We consult trusted advisors and mentors to tell us the obvious.  Chances are the solution recommended will be straightforward, and we ask "Why didn't I see that?" and the answer will be because we were too busy, distracted, too close to the issue, or maybe not fully confident in ourselves.

This is nicely illustrated  by Stephen Covey's Time Management Matrix (shown here by Sid Savara) from his book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People".  The reason we don't see the simple answers is we are often consumed by the "urgent"  items (quadrants 1 & 3) and dawdle on time-wasters or "mental chewing gum" (quadrant 4). Our personal and business worlds are consumed by the day to day activity that steals the quantity of time we have, and we do little to proactively improve the quality of  the time we spend.

Legitimately, there are times when our waking hours are consumed with items that are urgent and important (quadrant 1), such as personal health or health of a loved one, or a struggling business facing great risks and challenges.  We can be consumed with just getting by. These are the times to leverage a consultant or coach, whether informally through those you trust and respect, or formally via an advisor or industry expert.

However, we can proactively circumvent these times by paying attention to the important things as Covey discusses. If we exercise, then we avoid health issues.  If we set up KPI's for our business and manage to them, we identify trends and risks and can take actions that protect our interests and profitability. If we continue to develop skills and knowledge, we avoid becoming irrelevant in the world of work.

The key for us is to make it a priority to identify and act on the activities that will help improve and sustain the quality of our personal and professional lives, the activities that will "build muscle", so to speak. Whether that comes through our own thought processes or through the help of others is not particularly relevant.

The thing to remember is to make it a priority to devote time and energy to the activities that will improve the quality of our lives, our businesses, and our relationships with those around us.

When NOT To Use A Consultant (aka, "Keep the Simple Stuff In Mind")

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

We have consultants for everything: career coaches, Life Coaches, spiritual advisors, personal trainers, golf coaches, business strategy consultants, sales consultants, etc.

While an advisor can be of tremendous help, we have the power within ourselves to do much of the same analysis on our own.  My experience is that at the root of many challenges is a situation where we perhaps forgot or did not pay attention to the simple things, the basics of positive habits and personal interaction:

• Why did that person react that way? Are they unreasonable or are there maybe considerations I did not take the time to uncover?
• How come this medication for my blood pressure isn't working?  Is it the wrong medication or perhaps I have lifestyle habits that are damaging?
• Why does my teenager not talk to me?  Are they withdrawn or am I too quick to judge or maybe do not really understand their world?
• Why do I have turnover in my staff?  Do people today not want to work or maybe how I lead them makes them feel unempowered?

Admittedly, this objectivity is often difficult to attain.   Simply getting to a frame of mind that enables us to be reasonably objective about our situations, especially when under duress, is a struggle.  However, we've all done it from time to time, and need to practice removing the clutter from our minds to gain clarity:

• Sitting alone, in a quiet place.
• Mediation and / or prayer according to ones beliefs 
• Reading a book and pausing.
• A drive in the country with a stop at a cafe' for coffee
• Listening to audio books.
• A walk

...or any other number of things.  Most of the time, we have the solution to our challenge within ourselves. We need to allow it to come to the surface.

There are times when we are limited by our own knowledge or skill or other resources.  We aren't aware of options or solutions, or legitimately don't have the time to think about it.  Recognize these situations, and turn to an advisor or mentor. This is when one can be of tremendous help, quickly cutting through the noise and distortion to get to the heart of the matter and providing a path to resolution.

It just shouldn't always be where you turn first.