Time to Reflect on 2010 - Feel Prepared for 2011 – Are You Ready?

Today is a short day for most businesses in terms of operating hours. Most of you let your staff go home early today and give them tomorrow off. – Yeah for them.

The bad news is that the time clock never stops for most leaders, C-Level Execs, GMs and CEOs. So while you can pat yourself on the back for being a great boss and giving staff (much needed) time to recharge so they can come back and service your business — unfortunately, for you, my friend, it is CRUNCH TIME.

Those being said, take tomorrow—especially the eve --to celebrate that you are still kickin’! I’m not going to post the numbers, but you know, a lot of your brethren did not make it. SO CELEBRATE! And, if you are into it, or your social or family circle is into it, enjoy football games on New Year’s Day. Yell, scream, cheer and get it all out in the all American way--- the Rose Bowl ;)

And then, be thankful that the calendar is in your favor and you can still focus, intensely, on your business before heading back to work on Monday. Many of your staff will start off by coming in groggy, but as I warned you earlier, you should have prepared them to come in on the first work day of 2011 ready to kick butt. If you have to “remind’ them or feel it is a good faith measure, call a first morning meeting with critical staff and GET THEM MOTIVATED. Now, this isn’t license to KA, it is a license to motivate. Example: Kevin (in charge of logistics) your goal is to have expenses reduced by X % by the end of Q1 and/or profitability up by X%. Sally, (in charge of client service) your goal is to increase billable hours by X % by the end of Q1 and so on…..Then, make yourself available THE FIRST WEEK as a consultant to them to figure out how to accomplish their goals (Hopefully, they took you seriously earlier and have a plan). Then have weekly (or daily if someone gets off track) meetings to hopefully celebrate everyone’s progress. And PLEASE reward them weekly if they succeed. It is such a low cost yet effective method to achieve results and so many people just disregard it or think that it is their job anyway so why reward them? Let me give you a simple example why: I took a group of ho-hum lead generators who were well paid and held daily “recognition” – not beat up sessions—and increased quality and quantity lead production by 400% in three months. And when one of the lead clients took one of those leads and turned it into a $1 million + sale, our contract with that client doubled and the staff felt great.

So, my main message to you on this day, 2 days before the New Year is to celebrate survival – until Sunday morning, then get ready to lead with strength and provide mentoring on Monday. Whether you believe you should have to help staff succeed or not, DO IT. After all, YOU are the leader for a reason – so share your knowledge with others who need it so that in the end, you succeed and your clients succeed  -- and you live another day.  

Happy  New Year! ~ Mary