"Now THAT's an hour of my life I won't get back!" ..it's a phrase I have heard a number of times leaving meetings, I'm willing to bet you have as well, in fact come on, let's admit it, it's a phrase we have all probably used. Meeting are generally those parts of the business that people hate and it doesn't seem to matter if you are an exec or anyon...

Meetings are a complete waste of time!.. well if that's how you feel then you're probably doing them wrong! I know sounds strange when you go to so many meetings to hear that but yep you're doing them wrong and what's more, as a leadership team, there are only 4 types of meeting you need to be having, that's right, only 4 meetings but lik...

What are you trying to do?  For the last 3 times I've started to write a particular article and then stopped, restarted, then stopped again. The reason?.. it just doesn't look right, it's not how I had it in my head, it's not... perfect. It wasn't till I was out walking the dog that it hit me, I was stuck in one of those really dangerous spots...

Did you ever notice how what looked like impossible tasks or deadlines seem to just happen when there is that sense of crisis? "If we don't achieve X then we" loose the major customer or the company or whatever it is. People rally around, pull together and suddenly everyone is heading the same direction and you make the numbers or the deadline? It ...

The Thematic Goal as we discussed here, is your rallying cry to give your organisation the laser focus it needs to have on a specific topic. In a sense you create your own 'controlled' crisis without a crisis. Now that you have clarity about what is the most important thing your organisation needs to focus on, it's time to figure out the next stage...

The Thematic Goal process is, as we discussed here, a process for creating a rallying cry to give everyone focus on the single most important thing in your business, right now. It's executed by using Supporting Objectives with Lead measures that we discussed in our last post, here. Once you have your lead measures then, it's time to get into action...

The Daily Check in is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, its a check in session where daily schedules, activities and issue alerts are shared between the team so everyone starts on the same page each day. The meeting should last no more than 5 minutes, 10 minutes at the most! There is no agenda for this meeting and you sho...

As part of a run down on the 4 Meeting structure which really comes out of Patrick Lencioni's book Death By Meeting (also referenced in his book The Advantage) last week we talked about the 5 minute meeting, this week it's the Weekly Tactical Meeting we're discussing. You'll remember from our summary (check here if you don't!) that this is the 45-9...

As part of the 4 Meetings process we talked about having a scoreboard set up for your 3 or 4 key metrics that you want to track for each quarter. There are a number of templates around that you can use, you can develop your own as well but we thought we would share one of ours. Overview We've structured the Scorecard to make it as simple as possibl...

We have talked a lot about the benefits of a thematic goal but did you know we created a template that you can download and get stuck into using right away? Here is the link to get your very own copy of it completely free Grab Your FREE Template For your FREE template of the Thematic Goal process just fill in the form and we will send you a co...

As part of our run down on the 4 Meeting structure which really comes out of Patrick Lencioni's book Death By Meeting (also referenced in his book The Advantage) last week we talked about the first two meeting types, the Daily Check In and the Weekly Tactical so lets talk about the Strategic Meeting and why it's critical. Strategic decisions a...

We have all been to those off site 'strategic' meetings where you spend more time hiking through hills, playing golf, river rafting, falling off tables in the obligatory 'trust' exercises and, I'm sure, many more "Team Building" exercises I haven't even thought about. What a waste of precious time, don't get me wrong I'm not saying t...

The Complete Process We love the Thematic Goal Process, we've talked about it often here and we've even designed some templates to help you make it work but we wondered what else can we do to help. The, it hit us, an E-Book.. something you can take away, print off, hand out to friends colleges so they can discover the process in their own...

In our previous post on Core Values, we outlined Permission to Play Values, those values that must be present in someone before you even let them in a organisation. There are some obvious ones here, Honesty and Integrity for example but there may be other ones that your organisation decide to add that are specific to your business or industry and t...

So you have done the hard work, you have figured out what your real Core values are, you are clear on your permission to play values and you also have a couple of aspirational values that you are going to build a plan to embed these into your organisation. You are all set, let's get the posters made & framed! Frame them, Don't Frame them.. Not ...

Can we have a quick chat about your company Purpose? Great, so just tell me what it is … At this point in the conversation one of a few things typically happen:   The individual starts to trip over their words and gives a long string of jargon which doesn't really mean much, and I possibly nod off halfway through.The individual reaches for the...

When you think about a company mission statement what springs to mind? A bunch of buzzwords that create a nondescript marketing pitch that no one really understands or pays much attention to right? If people do pay attention, it's only to laugh at them. Sometimes companies incorrectly toss in a bit about it's long term future as well just for good ...

What is your vision for your company? Can you talk about it with people in a way they will understand? Will it inspire people in a way that they will want/need to get involved and to help with it? Or will it be a statement on a bit of paper that is framed in your entrance hallway or posters in your canteen that everyone looks at the first time, sha...

When we were putting our website together we wanted to make it easy for clients to make a booking with use without lots of back and forth emails or phone calls to see if we had a slot at this time on this day. The answer, of course, was that we needed an online booking system. It needed to be something that fitted with our value of S...

My daughter is 9, I joke that she's 9 going on 19! There are many reasons I'm proud of my daughter, too many to list here but her inquisativeness is fantastic and when I started the I actually got her busienss cards made saying "Trainee Big Boss" as a bit of a joke but she's taken a keen interest in things as we went along. So I want to share ...

It's been a busy time of it of late balancing commitments at work and at home. Between on-boarding some really exciting new clients, working with our existing clients on some really interesting challenges, of course the obligatory paperwork elements and developing a great new Lean Administration workshop as well it's all go. Then of course there is...

You have done all the hard work, you have figured out the purpose of your organisation, you have a vision for the future and are clear about your mission and you have developed your three sets of values (permission to play, core & aspirational) and they are all great values! Since everyone is aware these things and you talk about your values al...

How often have you left a meeting feeling sure that everyone was on the same page, you were all clear about what was agreed, who was responsible for what and when it was to be done only for all to fall apart 20 minutes after the meeting? Sadly, it's not unusual, and it's one of the biggest areas of frustration within many organisations, leading to ...

I was talking to someone the other day about gardening in their organisation, I must admit it got a bit of a "are you mad" look which was fair. However, when you think about it there are similarities. After all as a leader, your role is to grow your people so let's think about it for a moment or two.  Room To Grow  Plants need room to gro...

How do you measure success? Is it money? Is it fame or influence is it the ability to do what ever you want or is it something else? I'd like to argue that it is none of these, you may end up with one or all of these things of course, but is that really the way to think about it? When you think about family, friends, you think if the many memories ...

One of the great things about doing online surveys is that you can get completely honest feedback from people about virtually anything. One of the downsides of course of doing surveys is that you have to collate the data afterwards which normally means figuring out how to download it from the survey system and then get it into a spreadsheet. Once t...

We all have habits; they build up over time and whether we like them or not form a large part of who we are and how we go about doing things. Before we leave the house, we check our pockets for the keys and wallet, and we know where the keys are because out of habit, we put them in the same place when we come in, the bowl by the phone or the hook a...

Here is a question I ask a lot, when I say a lot, I mean at least daily! It's one of my favourite questions when talking with clients and for myself as well! It's one of those questions that really should be one of your key questions as well, are you ready for it because it really is going to change your life, I know sounds like hype right? it's no...

My mum used to make the best chicken and veg soup, she'd boil up a chicken to create the stock, then remove it and add the chicken meat back, then she would add Split Peas, Pearl Barley, Lentils, Carrots, Peas, Onion and lastly some salt for seasoning. It was the same process every time, they were added in the same order, the same weights were used...

 When it comes to changing or improving things they say it's always easier to critique an idea or a draft of something than start with a blank sheet of paper, you never really get to start with a blank sheet anyway, there's always something that's set in stone, but what if there wasn't? What if you could genuinely start with a completely blank...

Organisations talk about their values, they frame them and put them on their walls, but do they really pay much attention to them? Frequent readers of the blog know that I have a passion about organisational culture, it's the one single true advantage your organisation has over any other so having a true set of values that you can build your cultur...

I was at a meeting the other week when one of those annoying corporate sound bites was used to shut someone down, you know the ones that seem to sound right but when you stop and think about it a little they make zero sense at all. We've all heard and probably, unfortunately, used them from time to time but this one is one of the dumbest ones I can...

I attended a client's monthly management meeting the other week and it was interesting to say the least. The session was scheduled for an hour (so in my head I'm thinking that's a bit short) and it was to cover operational performance and a new product they were designing for a new market they were looking to enter. I'd asked in advance why they we...

Solving problems can be challenging, that is after all why they are called problems. It gets harder though if it is something completely out of left field, something that is completely new to you and just leaves you stumped. It can be stressful at times, especially if you have a bunch of people all depending on your decision. Thankfully, you are pa...

Recently I was talking to a group of people (all from different organisations) about Standard Work. That is when organisations have a method of doing things, just one method, everyone does it the same way so you can get repeatable results. However, the important thing about these standard work routines or practices is that they do have to change ov...

The working year has many milestones that are marked on the wall or outlook calendars. Some are looked on with excitement and some, well not so much. The annual break and long weekends would be the big positives, on the other side we have things like monthly budget reviews and of course the annual employee reviews. It does not matter if you are the...

If I knew then what I know now… The inference from that little phrase is that you would obviously make a different decision and so things would turn out better. Often however that's not the case, certainly not with people at work. We all hire people who aren't suited for the company, they aren't necessarily bad people, it's just they don't fit the ...

We've hit the final quarter of the calendar year, and now is probably a good time to talk about the very best place you can spend a bit of your time. Yes, you need to keep delivering for your clients and finding more and taking care of day-to-day business, but you also need to take a step back and get rid of some zombies! Every organisation has the...

People don't leave jobs they leave managers, it's a phrase you see across the internet and popping up on memes on social media and of course talks on youtube and TED. There are countless surveys out there that will tell you 57% of people or 78% of people or any number you, want leave a job because of their boss, and so it must be true, that's why p...

Lets start a conversation about your company values, you know that list of words or phrases that you have pinned to a wall somewhere, the ones that the exec team brought back from the golfing weekend or outward bound event or hot spa deep breathing team joining session (I don't think these actually exist but sometimes I can be surprised). That grou...