VIDEO: Stick to One Point, Make a Big Impact
A quick message from an executive coach on the surprising power of mission focus.
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Video: Turn Your -But- into -And-
A quick message from an executive coach on shifting one frequently-used word can shift your entire life.
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022 But Reduction • DeskVideo • PODCAST
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A quick message from an executive coach on shifting one frequently used word can shift your entire life.
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Thanks to MusicOpen for providing public domain recordings of Beethoven.
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021 Growing Beyond Control into Confidence • DeskVideo • PODCAST
Free Subscription: RSS
This short podcast describes an important step in the growth of business owners and other leaders, moving beyond the urge to control and micro-manage every action toward acting with confidence in your team and your own ability to respond to every eventuality.
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University of Chicago Alumni Career Webinar
Mind Your Career Webinar:
Would I Benefit from Coaching?
From the University of Chicago website:
Kick-start your New Year with executive coach and dual alumnus, Tony Mayo, AB’77 MBA’78.
- Differences between coaching, consulting, mentoring, managing, therapy, training, and just plain friendship.
- Basic logistics of what it costs, how much time it takes, how to know if it is working, and how long the results last.
- Finding, selecting, and getting started with an executive coach.
- What topics and concerns are best addressed with coaching.
- Typical components of a coaching conversation.
Click here for links to the companion articles mentioned in the presentation.
Also available as an audio-only podcast.
Click here.
The following transcript is included mostly for the search engines. If you want to read along with the video, just turn on the YouTube subtitles.
A Simple Habit That Can Boost Productivity
Read Back
&
Report Back
Here is a simple habit that can boost productivity in your organization. One client credits this technique for an 18% increase in annual revenue with a reduced headcount. It takes practice but quickly becomes second nature.
I brought this method into the workplace from my flight training. Pilots and air traffic controllers (ATC) must communicate precisely and briefly while also executing specialized tasks. Misunderstandings in aircraft can have horrible consequences, so specific communication techniques are required. Many of the most serious accidents are caused by failure to follow these practices, including the 1977’s Tenerife Airport Disaster, commercial aviation’s deadliest incident.
Talk may be cheap but miscommunication is costly.
Have you ever listened to the (more…)
Make New Habits with My 1 Page Annual Calendar
Here is a simple yet powerful tool to establish habits, learn a skill, or complete a project. I used it to reinforce my daily meditation practice and to write two books.
The method is as old as procrastination but has been attributed recently to billionaire comedian Jerry Seinfeld, as in this frequently cited LifeHacker article, where it is called Don’t Break the Chain. I prefer positive instructions, so let’s name it Link-a-Day.
Buy or make a simple, clean one year calendar. Do not just print your Outlook or Google calendar; those have too many distracting details for this purpose. You can start your own on any date and fit 365 days on one sheet by downloading my template here in Excel format or use the Google Sheets version here.
Place your calendar in the physical world rather than in a computer or app where it can hide. Hang it where you will see it everyday. I put mine on the wall right next to my computer monitor. After you complete the promised activity for the day, mark it complete. When you miss a day or two, start again. No regrets, no excuses. Just start again. You can play games with Link-a-Day by playing for a longer unbroken chain or a shorter gap than last time.
That’s it. As Aristotle observed, a person is what she consistently does. Use this to start doing something you will be proud to be.
The Power of Progress Reports
Of all the management tools I recommend, one of the most effective is both very simple and very unlikely to be consistently employed—if it is used at all: the written progress report, completed on a consistent schedule.
The power of progress reports to promote results and reduce anxiety is demonstrated daily, on matters titanic and trivial. The U. S. Constitution requires that the President “from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union.” Public companies are required by law to present results to shareholders, at fixed intervals and in specific formats. Schools send regular reports to parents, our GPS tells where we are, and UPS sends a text when a package arrives.
Still, managers and employees resist implementing this simple process.
Why?
Who cares about why? Just grow up and start doing a progress report. Declare your goals. Confront your results. Adjust to living in reality. Enjoy the benefits of clarity while the less disciplined fail and fail in a fog of vague expectations and inchoate regrets.
Before I explain how to format and prepare a good progress report, let’s deal with some common excuses questions.
Q: I don’t have a boss.
A: If you have (more…)
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