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Prioritizing Your Efforts with Strategic Filters

November 22, 2023/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Strategic filters can help you prioritize your efforts based on the objectives of your organization.

Once you’ve created a list of initiates that you’re going to pursue to help you achieve your vision, you need to evaluate those initiatives according to objective criteria for comparing them to one another. Because ultimately you need to prioritize those initiatives. The ones you’re going to pursue are the ones that meet the majority of your objective functions.

I like to use a tool that I call strategic filters for doing this evaluation. These strategic filters are going to be based upon the objective functions of your organization and the goals that you find to be important. Once you’ve constructed your strategic filters, you’re going to assess every single initiative relative to that set of filters.

Let’s say our company is growing and we’re also trying to expand internationally and we really want to launch some new products. So we’re going to create two types of filters. The first filter set is going to be qualitative, the second filter set is going to be quantitative. So I may construct evaluation filters that look at things like, “Is the product new? Is it going to leverage our existing brand? Is it white label and non-branded? Is it going to help us be global or does it focus on domestic markets? And lastly, is the product simple or is it going to be complex to launch?”

Those qualitative filters will help me assess those products and those initiatives based upon my goal of taking my brands global. Once I’ve decided if they’re a fit with the qualitative filters, I also need to look at the numbers. I may have three sets of numbers that I consider as my financial filters. I may look at the net present value of the initiative. I might consider the internal rate of return of that initiative. So if I invest money, what’s the return I’m going to get on it? And lastly, I might look at the impact of that initiative on my total growth rate for the organization. Having this complete set of filters will enable me to evaluate initiatives and identify the ones that are going to drive the most objectives as well as rule out or deprioritize the ones that don’t help me achieve my goals.

So your set of strategic filters should be based upon the objectives of your organization. As you evaluate your initiatives against them, you’re going to decide whether it passes a filter or fails. You can use a high, medium, low as you evaluate each initiative against those filters. Having done this evaluation, you’ll be prepared to move into a prioritization process.

Want to learn more about building high-performing teams? How about taking an entire course on it? Check out the video below to learn more about the course and get started. Or you can go directly to the course and start learning how to build high-performing teams. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

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Balancing Your Team’s Workload

November 15, 2023/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Consider these five criteria when distributing work to your high-performing team.

Another key task as the leader of a high performing team is how you distribute and balance work across the members of that team. It needs to be done fairly. Note, I didn’t say equally. Work allocation needs to be done fairly because you want perceptions of equality and you want people to work on things they’re good at but also that they’re excited by.

There are five criteria to think about as you think about distributing work.

First, for priority. Priority needs to drive everything. It’s based on the teams and the organizations goals. If a project is a top priority and somebody’s available to do that work they get that work, and you need to allocate it appropriately.

Second, consider the skill set of the people where you’re thinking about distributing the work. If they have the right skill set, you’re going to get a high quality result. This also prevents people from failing. You’re giving them something they can be successful with.

Next, consider availability. All things being equal in terms of priority and skill set, who is free to do the work? Who has the bandwidth? You should not be shifting resources from one project to another when you have available resources to pick up that new project. If you start shifting resources around between projects when you have available resources elsewhere, you’re going to lose momentum on that first project, and that project might fail.

Next, you have to think about the development opportunity this project might present for that person, because that’s how you’re going to take your team to the next level of performance.

The last consideration is, “Does somebody have an interest in it?” If someone is really interested and really passionate about a project, you should let them take it on. They’re going to be really motivated, excited to do it, and hopefully their performance will follow. One caveat here: Make sure people don’t just gravitate to the work they enjoy doing and they stay away from things that they’re not comfortable with because they’re going to end up getting pigeon holed and they’ll be very narrow in their focus.

If you think about all these considerations as you distribute work across that team, it’s going to ensure that you tackle the highest priority projects with the resources who have the right skills to do it. It’ll be balanced in a way where you’re going to execute the project and develop your people at the same time.

Creating Chemistry Between the Members of Your Team

November 8, 2023/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Chemistry and trust are what differentiates an average team from a high-performing team.

It’s great to have a clear vision and mission and a nice set of prioritized initiatives, and you’ve got all the right people. But what starts differentiating a team from a high-performing team is chemistry and trust between the members of that team. These intangibles are some of the most critical elements of building that team, but they’re also some of the most elusive ones to build and to capture.

You need to understand it’s about personalities and shared beliefs. Make sure everyone on your team is involved in the interview process because candidates will show different sides of themselves to different people. And sometimes, those sides can be unattractive detractors from what you’re trying to build.

When I was a consultant, we were bringing in another consultant onto the team, and that person interviewed very well with the other members of the consulting staff. At the end of the interview process, we all got together in the team room, and we talked about this candidate. And all of us were very excited about hiring him. And then we stopped and we asked our front desk receptionist what she thought of him. She said, “He was incredibly rude. He spoke down to me. He acted like I didn’t matter.” That individual did not get an offer of employment from us. And he’s probably still wondering why.

To assess what people are like, you can use some standard tools out there like The Myers-Brigg Type Indicator, Personalysis, and other standard evaluation tools to help people understand each others’ personalities and their styles and their preferences. Don’t just do it for candidates. Sit down and do it with the entire team. It’s not critical for people to have the same personalities; actually, it’s quite detrimental. What matters here is you have to help the members of your team understand and respect the other person’s personality and how they like to work with others. Some people may have shared experiences, or they may have a shared ethnicity or geography that they’re from. Help them find some point of commonality that they can build from.

Once you’ve figured out the chemistry of the team and you have people with the right fit, you need to start building trust between the members of that team. Trust is about shared experiences and predictability. Shared experiences show people how others perform and react during stressful situations. You may look at putting them on a big project together, where people can share in experiences and build stories together and feel like they accomplish something with one another. The impact is people start feeling like they can rely upon one another to achieve the goal. They start feeling responsible for each others’ well being and looking out for each other.

Now, the second element of trust is that predictability. I want to know how my colleague is going to react in a certain situation, because then, when they tell me they’re going to do something, and I’ve seen them behave in a manner that’s consistent with that in the past, I am much more likely to trust what they’re telling me they’re going to do. And if I understand that person’s values on top of having that predictability, well, that’s a really strong bond between me and that other member of the team, because then I really start believing what they tell me they’re going to do because it’s consistent with their beliefs and their past performance.

So, if, as a leader, you’re able to step back and look at the team and assess who’s going to be a good fit, how to get the right chemistry between the members of the team, and then get them trusting one another because they have shared experiences, and they’re predictable to one another, that team is going to gel very quickly and start functioning as a team instead of as a group of individuals.

Recruiting the Right People for Your Team

November 1, 2023/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

One of the most exciting aspects of building a high-performing team is recruiting people to be members of that team. Follow these three tips to improve your recruiting process.

One of the most exciting aspects of building a high-performing team is recruiting people to be members of that team. There’s nothing better than finding that really talented person who wants to come work with you.

As you think about doing this recruiting and finding the right people, you need to understand how to create role descriptions based on the team’s skill needs. Experience-based role descriptions might sound like, well, “The individual must have five years of experience on a small business credit union underwriting team working at a small mid-Atlantic community bank with multiple branches.” That’s a really specific description and there are very few people who probably meet those requirements. So you’ve shrunk the recruiting base that you can find somebody in. Instead, write skill-based job descriptions. Think about the initiatives you’re pursuing and the skills this person has to have. For example, “The individual must have the ability to perform complex financial analysis and combine those results with judgment to make effective decisions.” Those skill-based job descriptions open the applicant pool. It’ll enable you to get those new people in faster.

Next, in terms of hiring, once you have that skill-based job description, think differently in terms of where you go to find people because different perspectives and different experiences are going to bring new ideas into your organization. Additionally, by looking at nontraditional sources, you’ll probably have less competition for that great talent. So instead of recruiting from Harvard Business School where every organization in America is trying to hire those graduates, perhaps you look at different schools where you have less competition. Maybe try and pick off the top two people at the Ohio State University’s Business School.

Last, when you hire this person, don’t just hire for the role that you want them to do. You have to give them head room to grow into. People want to be excited and challenged. They want the opportunity to build their skills, which builds their personal marketability. When you hire them, make sure they can do 70% of the role you’re hiring them for, and they’re going to need to learn 30%. Because when you hire somebody who has 100% of the skills required for the role you’re bringing them into, that’s a very safe bet for you as a recruiter and as a leader, but think about it from that individual’s perspective. If they can come in and do all elements of that job on day one, it’s going to get pretty boring, pretty quickly. After about six months, they’re going to become disenfranchised and frustrated, and start looking for more challenging opportunities. Most people, especially ones that are going to gravitate toward the high-performing team you’re trying to build, are looking at that career path and thinking about how they can grow because that’s a very strong source of personal motivation for them.

So again, as you’re writing these job descriptions and going out and recruiting that talent, think about skill-based versus experience-based role descriptions. Look in nontraditional places for the people who have those skills. And when you hire them, think about their growth path ahead. Make sure they’ve got room to grow and develop as individuals.

Creating the Right Mix of Skills on Your Team

October 25, 2023/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

By understanding the technical skills, the functional skills, and the role-based skills required to deliver on your team’s mission, you’re going to be able to create the right mix of people with the right skills that will help that team succeed.

As the leader of a high-performing team, you’re personally responsible for making sure your team has the required set of skills to succeed and execute against all the initiatives that you have on your prioritization list. You need to evaluate your team’s mission. You need to look at the key initiatives. And then, you need to map out the skills and capabilities required to succeed. You have to assess your existing team and see which skills you have, which ones you don’t, and which team members might be detractors from what you’re trying to achieve.

You also have to think about and understand your team’s culture, which is driven by the vision of what you’re trying to achieve, as well as the broader organizational culture and figure out, do you team members fit within that culture? We’ve all seen people who are great performers and can get the task done, but they don’t work well with the other members of the team. Your job as a leader is to either help them fit in, or find resources who are going to be more appropriate fits for the broader team.

You have to think about several types of skills that are required as you build this high-performing team. First, technical skills. Perhaps it’s coding, or doing analysis, or writing, or creating documents. These are technical skills required to turn out the products and services your team is responsible for.

The second type of skill is functional skills, things like problem-solving, strategic planning, decision-making, communicating, and presenting. These are soft skills that people need to bring to the table, again to execute against the initiatives on your prioritization list.

The last type of skill is a little bit different than we traditionally think about, which I call role-based or cultural skills. These are things like, is this person a leader? Or can they fulfill the role of being the devil’s advocate? Are they your team optimist, the cheerleader?

Once you’ve identified the different types of skills you need, you then need to assess your team. List out what each of those people bring to the team.

Next, look at some of the skills or characteristics the person might bring that are detractors from performance. For example, if you have a creative team that’s trying to churn out a bunch of new ideas, but you have a balance that is focused more on those task masters who are saying, great ideas, but let’s focus and let’s get stuff done, the team might be out of balance with that set of skills. Those things can be detractors that will prevent that team from being high-performing.

Last, look at that list of required skills, going back to the initiatives you’re pursuing, and figure out which of those skill sets you have. Then identify the gaps. Your job as a leader is to identify the types of people you need and then go out and recruit and hire them.

Building a Resilient Team: A New Way to Look at Psychological Safety

October 16, 2023/2 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Unlock resilience in your organization through psychological safety. Forge a strong workforce, thrive in modern challenges.

Today’s guest post is by Joshua Berry, author of Dare to Be Naive: How to Find Your True Self in a Noisy World (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

In a small, dimly lit workshop, a skilled blacksmith once molded raw iron into finely crafted tools. With the ringing of his hammer against the anvil and the heat of the forge, he created pieces of exceptional quality. This blacksmith, let’s call him John, had a reputation for producing durable and reliable tools that would withstand the test of time.

Fast forward to the present day, and John’s philosophy still resonates, but it has found a new application. Today, the raw materials aren’t iron and steel; they are the hearts and minds of your workforce. The hammer’s ring is now the sound of collaboration, and the heat of the forge represents the pressure and challenges of modern work environments. And just like John, who knew that a well-crafted tool requires care and precision, business leaders must understand that their workforce thrives when they create an environment of psychological safety.

In recent years, the idea of a “safe space” in the workplace has become somewhat of a buzzword, even a meme in some circles. For those who come from more “old-school” approaches to work, the concept may seem soft or unnecessary. The prevailing belief often leans towards “toughen up and show up to work.” However, in this article, we’ll explore a perspective that resonates with those who value grit and resilience, showing that providing care and psychological safety to employees is not about coddling but about forging a workforce of extraordinary strength.

The Resilience Dilemma

Imagine two individuals working side by side, both highly skilled and motivated. One has the resilience of a finely crafted tool, while the other, despite their potential, constantly buckles under the pressure. What sets them apart? Psychological safety.

Psychological safety is the foundation upon which true resilience is built. It’s not about shielding employees from challenges or eliminating stress. Instead, it’s about creating an environment where they feel safe enough to take calculated risks, voice their concerns, and learn from their mistakes.

In the world of the “old-school,” toughness is often equated with resilience. Employees are expected to handle stress, adversity, and criticism without showing signs of weakness. However, this tough-it-out mentality can have detrimental effects on both individuals and organizations.

The Hidden Costs of Toughness

The “toughen up” approach may seem effective on the surface, but it comes with hidden costs. Employees who feel unsupported or judged for expressing vulnerability are more likely to:

1. Burn Out: Suppressing emotions and stress can lead to burnout, which not only affects individual well-being but also hampers productivity and innovation.

2. Disengage: When employees don’t feel psychologically safe, they’re less likely to engage with their work or share innovative ideas, ultimately stifling creativity.

3. Exit: High turnover rates are often a consequence of workplaces that don’t prioritize psychological safety. Employees leave in search of environments where their voices are heard and respected.

4. Stagnate: Without the freedom to take risks and learn from failure, employees may become stagnant, and their development may plateau.

The Resilience of Psychological Safety

Now, let’s pivot from the “toughen up” mindset to a more appealing perspective for proponents of old-school work ethics: the idea that psychological safety is not about coddling but about building resilient, high-performing teams.

1. Encouraging Growth: Just as a blacksmith carefully shapes and tempers metal to create a durable tool, leaders can foster psychological safety to encourage the growth and development of their employees. When individuals feel safe to express their ideas, ask questions, and admit mistakes, they are more likely to learn and adapt.

2. Boosting Adaptability: Resilience is not about enduring constant pressure without breaking; it’s about adapting and bouncing back stronger. Psychological safety encourages adaptability by allowing employees to speak up when they notice potential issues or opportunities for improvement. This adaptability is a hallmark of strong, durable teams.

3. Fostering Collaboration: Like the different parts of a finely crafted tool working in harmony, psychological safety fosters collaboration and teamwork. When individuals trust their colleagues and feel safe to share their perspectives, it leads to more effective problem-solving and innovation.

4. Retaining Talent: Just as the best blacksmiths take pride in the longevity of their creations, organizations that prioritize psychological safety retain top talent. When employees feel valued and supported, they’re less likely to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Nurturing Psychological Safety

To convince those skeptical of psychological safety’s value, it’s crucial to highlight practical steps and tangible outcomes:

1. Open Communication Channels: Encourage open dialogue at all levels of the organization. Make it clear that feedback and concerns are not only welcome but also valued.

2. Lead by Example: Demonstrate vulnerability and openness as a leader. When employees see that it’s safe to express concerns or ideas, they’re more likely to follow suit.

3. Reward Innovation and Learning: Recognize and reward innovative ideas and a willingness to learn from mistakes. Show that the organization values growth and adaptability.

4. Training and Development: Invest in training programs that promote emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and active listening. These skills are essential for creating a psychologically safe environment.

In conclusion, for those who believe in the value of old-school work ethics, embracing psychological safety is not about making the workplace soft but about forging a workforce that’s resilient, adaptable, and capable of achieving extraordinary results. Just as the best blacksmiths take pride in crafting tools that stand the test of time, leaders who prioritize psychological safety are crafting teams that can withstand the pressures of the modern workplace and emerge stronger than ever.

Joshua Berry is a world-class facilitator of change. As an author, speaker, entrepreneur, and director of Econic, Joshua has spent the last two decades helping Fortune 500 companies and venture-backed startups evolve the way they work. Learn more at econic.co and joshualeeberry.com.

How to Identify and Motivate Slackers on Your Team

January 25, 2023/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

You put in a lot of time and energy into leading slackers, but you don’t get anything back in terms of results. Your job as a leader is to figure out what will motivate them to perform.

One type of detractor you might deal with is a slacker. These people are in the lower left corner of the leadership matrix. You put in a lot of time and energy into leading them but you don’t get anything back in terms of results. Slackers have the talent to get the work done. They just done care. They’re not motivated to do it. Leaders spend a disproportionate amount of time managing slackers. They require constant supervision and motivation. What’s so frustrating about them is they have the capability to do the work. They just choose not to.

Identifying Slackers

There are some easy ways to spot a slacker. They tend to be smart and have a strong resume. They can tend to be very self-promoting. They might be a frequent job changer. They’re difficult to get work out of because they constantly debate the merits of your request rather than doing the work. They might renegotiate their deadlines frequently. They’re more interested in other people’s work than their own work. They can tend to be outspoken. They annoy other team members because they always wander into that team member’s lane instead of focusing on their own responsibilities. Other team members push back a lot of times on covering for the slacker because they know the slacker has the capability to do the work.

I know one slacker very well. He was me. I had a role where I had previously been excited about the work I was doing. My boss changed my responsibilities. I was not thrilled with those new responsibilities so I started mailing it in. I just didn’t care. I became very frustrating to lead. I absolutely had the ability to do that work. I just wasn’t excited by it. My form of silent protest was to just not do the work and focus on everything else that was going on in the division. I drove my boss nuts. He was at my desk all the time pushing me, asking where the results were. I never had results to offer. If you spot a slacker on your team, get ready for what might be a long, drawn out engagement trying to motivate them and understand what’s going to get them to deliver the results you expect of them.

Motivating Slackers

Your slackers are in the lower left corner of the leadership matrix. You have to put in a lot of time and energy into managing them, and you don’t get anything back in terms of results. The issue with slackers is they’re unwilling to do their job. They drag the team down with their poor attitude. Slackers require motivation.

The leader’s job is to figure out what will motivate a slacker to perform. This can be in the form of incentives or punishments if need be. Slackers need to have expectations and consequences clearly laid out. The leader has to figure out what motivates the slacker. Whether it’s new responsibilities, compensation, or visibility, once a slacker’s motivated, their performance tends to improve quickly because they have the capability to do the work. The leader’s goal with a slacker is to unlock their motivation. Sometimes that includes moving them to a new role or even out of the organization to a job where they’re going to be happier. This requires the leader to invest more leadership capital in the near term figuring out how to motivate this individual.

For example, let’s say you have a slacker on your team. They have a big presentation that’s two weeks late. You sit down with them and you understand that they have the capability to do the presentation. They just don’t seem to be doing it. When you ask them what would excite them about working on that presentation, they tell you, “Well, you always present the presentation. I never get any visibility here for all the work I put in. That’s not a lot of fun.”

Now you have the key. You can unlock that slacker’s motivation. In this situation you might say, “Well, I’ll tell you what—if you finish the presentation, I don’t need to be the one who presents it. You can present it in front of the leadership team.” You might see their performance change dramatically to the positive in that moment. You’ve unlocked their motivation. You understand they want visibility. As soon as you connect the visibility with the work you’re asking them to do, you might see their entire attitude change.

The benefit of more effectively leading a slacker is that they could quickly become a higher performer. They’ve got the skills, just not the motivation. You’re also demonstrating to your team that you’re focused on results and that you will hold people accountable. If you do decide to move that slacker out of the organization because you can’t find proper motivation, make sure their attrition is as positive as possible. Help them transition to that new organization.

Your key as a leader when dealing with a slacker is figuring out with that motivation is. As soon as you know that motivation, you can get them to change their performance.

Want to learn more about developing your team? How about taking an entire course on it? Check out the video below to learn more about the course and get started. Or you can go directly to the course and start learning how to assess and improve your strategic plans. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Sisters, Service, and Sales

January 23, 2023/0 Comments/in Books, Communications, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Sales, Training /by Trevor Jones

Customer service that is focused on customer relationships will impact your ability to make sales and to improve your business.

Today’s post is by Kate Edwards, author of Hello! And Every Little Thing That Matters (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

There is a scene in the Tina Fey/Amy Pohler film “Sisters” that is hilarious. The scene takes place in the dressing room of a trendy shop where the eponymous sisters go shopping for dresses for a party they are hosting that night. They go to a boutique and try on a number of party dresses, but they are clearly clueless. Each dress the sisters put on is completely unflattering as they wear the dresses in all sorts of inappropriate ways.

The shop clerk watches them in deadpan horror and her face expresses what we are all thinking: each dress is worse than the next. The clerk, however, doesn’t help them put the dresses on correctly or offer them sizes that fit; rather, she says “that looks amaaaazing” in a completely flat tone. This character is the epitome of the lackluster clerk who clearly has been told to compliment the customers. No. Matter. What.

Service that is inauthentic, unhelpful or pushy is the stuff of horrible Yelp reviews and comedic movie scenes. But service doesn’t have to be like that. Businesses that take time to connect authentically to their customers will build a client for life. And businesses that ignore service in the sales moment are doing themselves great harm as sales are based on a human connection. Here are some easy ways to connect with your customers that will make the sisters of your business – service and sales – shine.

Establish Customer Quotas, Not Sales Quotas

Too many businesses focus on the number of sales rather than the number of customers. You must remember that customers make sales. Ask your salespeople to create relationships with every type of customer – not just the ones they already know.

How to Focus Joyriders on Your Team

January 18, 2023/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Joyriders are team members that you don’t invest a lot of leadership capital in, but you also don’t get anything back from them in terms of results.

Your Joyriders occupy the lower right corner of the Leadership Matrix. You don’t put in a lot of time and energy but you also don’t get anything back in terms of results. Joyriders can be really tricky to identify. They have a lot of energy and enthusiasm. They seem to constantly be busy. Unfortunately, they seem to work on everything except their core responsibilities. Leaders tend not to spend a lot of leadership capital on joyriders because they seem like they’re delivering results. But at the end of the year they tend to come up short on what was expected of them.

Some ways you can spot a joyrider are they’re high energy, they’re enthusiastic, they’re busy, and they’re social at work. They have broad interests in a lot of different areas. They constantly come to you with new ideas. They’re the first person to suggest launching a new special project. They’re constantly volunteering for things outside of their area of responsibility. They also have a very light track record on results. They’re hard to pin down on their core deliverables and their deadlines. Their teammates end up covering for them and doing the work the joyrider was supposed to be doing. It’s easy to miss a joyrider. The key is to look for a lot of activity and not a lot of results.

How to Focus Joyriders

Leading joyriders involves investing additional time and energy into monitoring this person’s activities and focusing them on their core responsibilities. This means more frequent check-ins and putting more structure and measurement to their work. The additional leadership capital you spend on them is designed to improve their results. Once their behavior’s changed and they start delivering what’s expected of them, leaders can typically pull back and give them the room to operate.

Your goal is refocusing a joyrider on their core responsibilities. Inventory their workload. Reassign or stop unnecessary work that isn’t related to their core responsibilities. Closely manage them against their core duties. Add structure to their check-ins. Have them come in with a list of all the projects they’re working on. Have them articulate what the status is for every single project. And if they start talking about something that’s outside their responsibilities, put a stop to it immediately.

The benefit of more effectively leading a joyrider is that it’s going to surface a core performance problem. You’re going to see where there might be skill gaps or results gaps in what they’re delivering or not delivering. This is also going to demonstrate a results-focused leadership style to the rest of your team. Your team knows this person isn’t getting their work done, mostly because the other team members have to do the work for them. They’re probably not very happy about that. When they see you finally holding this joyrider accountable to doing their job, they’re going to feel a lot better about the work they’re doing. It’s also going to get that extra work off their plate and onto the joyrider’s plate where it belongs. You’re now going to be getting results from a previously non-producing part of the team.

The other benefit is there’s potentially a dramatic performance turnaround here. This person has a lot of energy. They have enthusiasm. Your job as the leader is to make sure you focus it on their most important responsibilities.

How to Develop the Square Pegs on Your Team

January 11, 2023/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Square pegs are team members that require a lot of your time and energy, but they’re not yet delivering the results you expect. One of the biggest benefits of leading a square peg well is you get to feel the satisfaction of helping somebody else grow and develop.

Square pegs occupy the lower left corner of the Leadership Matrix because you’re putting in a lot of time and energy helping them build skills, but they’re not yet delivering the results you expect. Developing square pegs can be fun. It can be rewarding. These people want to perform well. Your job is to coach and develop them to help them build those required skills. Square pegs tend to take to such coaching and development eagerly. Their performance can improve quickly with the right intervention.

Some square pegs lack the skills that are going to make them effective. In those instances, sometimes moving a person to a new role can be your best option. Your goal with a square peg is to fill their skill gaps. Communicate your performance expectations of them and where they’re performing relative to those expectations. Let them know that the status quo is not sustainable. They need to improve their performance. Identify the skill gaps they need to fill. Build a plan with that individual for how they’re going to improve those gaps. It may be training. It may be new responsibilities. It may be coaching from someone else on the team. Set deadlines with them for you to see that performance improvement.

I have one individual who I work with as her executive coach. She had a member of her team who went from being an individual contributor to leading other people. This individual had never led anyone before. He became a square peg. She had to spend a lot of time with him teaching him how to lead other people, how to motivate the members of his team, how to set direction, and set priorities for the work his team was doing. He was in her office multiple times a week. She invested so much more time and energy into him than when he was an individual contributor. The good news was that he wanted to learn these skills. He was excited about leading other people. His performance improved pretty quickly.

The benefit of effectively leading a square peg is that you’re going to be reducing problems for other members of the team. The square peg isn’t getting it done and other people have to pick up the slack. By improving their performance, you’re making everybody else’s life easier. You’re going to take somebody who’s not performing and move them to being a performing member of a team. One of the biggest benefits of leading a square peg well is you get to feel the satisfaction of helping somebody else grow and develop. You’ll help them identify the gaps they need to fill and move them down that path to success.

Do You Have a Square Peg on Your Team?

January 4, 2023/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

One type of detractor you might have on your team is a square peg. Square pegs have the willingness to do well, but they lack the skills to perform effectively.

One type of detractor you might deal with is a square peg. They’re going to be in the lower left corner of the leadership matrix. You’re investing a lot of time and energy into them, but not getting a lot back in terms of results.

Square pegs have the willingness to do well, but they lack the skills to perform effectively. Sometimes it’s due to being placed in a new role. Other times it’s a function of them not having the training or resources they need. You’ll spend a lot of leadership capital on a square peg because you need to help them develop and grow. You’ll also spend that time and energy on fixing work they’re not doing correctly. Leaders have to figure out the root of the performance gap and help that square peg build the skills they need to perform effectively.

You might have a square peg on your hands if they regularly need rework. They may ask for time extensions. And their work needs to be repaired a lot of times. They’re unable to perform core tasks up to your expectations. Sometimes they even repeat the same errors. Other people tend to work around them. These square pegs are often mentioned as a source of other people’s problems. Sometimes a square peg might be territorial. They may come across as insecure or highly stressed. Sometimes these people are very hard to help.

I had one square peg on one of my consulting teams. Coming into the consulting engagement, I knew he was lacking some skills. That was the good news. The bad news was I had to invest a lot of time and energy helping him build those skills. He did analysis; a lot of times, it was wrong. I’d have to sit down with him, work through the model, and show him how to build it correctly. His presentation pages didn’t look that great. I was not going to put his pages in front of the client. A lot of times, I redid the pages myself. It took a lot of time and energy on my part.

The good news is he was aware of his skill gaps coming into the engagement. He was also very motivated to fix those gaps. When I would sit down with him to go over his analysis or his pages, he was all ears. He was taking notes and trying to improve. It made it a lot easier to work with him. Over the course of the four months we worked together, I did see his skills improve dramatically.

If you have a square peg on your team, they’re going to be pretty easy to spot. Their work isn’t up to standard and you’re going to spend a lot of time helping them build skills and bring their work to a level of quality that’s acceptable to you.

How to Wean Squeaky Wheels on Your Team

December 28, 2022/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

The key to weaning squeaky wheels is to boost their confidence and make them more independent.

Your high-cost producers are in the upper-left corner of the leadership matrix. They deliver great results, but they consume a lot of your time and energy. The squeaky wheel is the epitome of a high-cost producer. They need to be weaned off of taking up all of your time.

Your goal with a squeaky wheel is to make them more independent. Make their check-ins less frequent. Limit their ability to just drop in and talk. Provide them boundaries within which they’re expected to make decisions on their own. Try boosting their confidence in their abilities so they’ll be more independent.

To improve a squeaky wheel’s performance, leaders must take control of their interactions with them. Put structure to those interactions. Reduce the likelihood that they overuse informal channels with you, like sending you emails or just picking up the phone and calling. Give them clear parameters where they should act autonomously, and reward or praise them when they do.

I had one squeaky wheel on my team who was constantly in my office, and I would always talk with him because he was delivering great results and working on cool projects. Eventually I figured out how much of my time he was consuming, and I decided to make a change. I went to him and said, “Hey, from now on, any decision that’s below $50,000 you need to make it. Just tell me after you’ve made it. I trust that you’re gonna make the right call. When it’s above $50,000, make sure you involve me earlier.”

What happened was all those small decisions were no longer coming across my desk. All that time I had previously been spending on $5,000 or $10,000 decisions became my time again that I could spend somewhere else. The benefit of more effectively leading a squeaky wheel and weaning them off of the need to see you and talk with you all the time is that you reclaim your leadership capital. You can invest that leadership capital in other team members who need it more. You’re also building this individual’s self-sufficiency. You set them up for success and encourage them to be a higher performer on their own.

With a squeaky wheel, the sooner you can pull back from the amount of time and energy you invest in them, the faster you’ll be able to reinvest that time and energy in other members of your team.

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