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Think like an athlete – self-motivate with goal-setting

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Self-motivate|Think like an athlete – self-motivate with goal-settingSteve Redgrave, CBE, DL is arguably the greatest British Olympian. As a rower, Redgrave won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games. When asked to explain his success, Redgrave explained: “Self-belief is probably the most crucial factor in sporting success. The bodies are roughly equal, the training is similar, the techniques can be copied. What separates the achievers is… the iron in the mind.”

This principle is incredibly pertinent for sales. Those salespeople who continuously win and close are those who have learnt to stay motivated and connected to their goals. However, maintaining effective and consistent motivation at all times is hard. Many salespeople are stuck in a comfort zone or in a pattern of behaviour they find difficult to break. Equally, some people have goals and clearly defined actions, but procrastinate when the time comes to take action.

Change is critical to developing, growing, and attaining goals. Change means moving through one’s comfort zones. While comfort zones might have their own drawbacks and people might be bored and frustrated by them, when push comes to shove and action is required to move out of them, most people choose the easy option to remain – not changing at all.

Goals should be SMART, defined as specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time driven. They should also be written down. To set goals effectively, we always advise following a set process. The exercise can be done alone, but often it is productive to do it with other people—family, friends, or anyone who plays a supportive role in your life.

  • One: Gather eight pieces of paper and label each page with one of the eight life goal areas (social, physical, financial, mental, professional, family, personal, spiritual). On each page write a brief summary of where you currently are in relation to this life goal.
  • Two: Place a circle in the middle of each page and draw lines that point outwards from the circle. Then allow yourself to feel what you would like to accomplish in the future. Write these goals on the lines.
  • Three: For each piece of paper with a different life goal area, prioritise and pick the three most important goals.
  • Four: On a new piece of paper, create a master list of the top three goals in all of the eight areas.
  • Five: Check for any conflicts. If you can, try to make sure the goals are not too heavily weighted in one or two areas. The more holistic your goals are, the more likely you are to achieve them.
  • Six: Write a detailed description of how you are going to achieve these goals. This is your action plan. It’s important to decide what you are going to do now and what you are going to do in the future. Take care not to overload yourself with too many actions in the present. However, it is good to stretch yourself by having bold and audacious goals.
  • Seven: Breaking down the goals and actions into short-term goals and actions can be a very powerful way of building the goal-setting and attainment “muscle.” Three months (12 weeks) can be a very effective time frame for establishing a life-long pattern of generating and sustaining the fire of internal motivation.
  • Eight: Share your goals with others, especially those who will be impacted by the goals: friends, family, colleagues, or people you like and respect and who like and respect you. This creates a powerful statement of intent from yourself that you are deeply committed and connected to your goals.
  • Nine: Review your goals and try to fine-tune them on a weekly basis. Obtaining valued accountability from others provides support and encouragement, as well as objective sanity checks.
  • Ten: Be courageous, tenacious, and persistent. Goal setting can be challenging since it pushes you through your comfort zones. Remember that it is important to keep going, even when the going gets tough. The ROI of goal setting will reward the effort and courage of sticking to the process.

Sales success is often more about perspiration than inspiration. The gold medal salesperson understands that a high level of motivation is required to sustain consistently high performance. This person understands that optimum motivation is maintained by having a strong emotional connection to their goals.

About the Author

Anneli Thomson is a Managing Director of Sandler Training UK as well as a world champion triathlete. For more information, please visit https://www.sandler.com/resources/sandler-books/gold-medal-selling/

Wondering How to Get Your Team Motivated? Here Are 5 Helpful Tips

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |how to get your team motivated|Wondering How to Get Your Team Motivated? Here Are 5 Helpful TipsFor some people, motivation is a difficult thing to possess on the job. As a business owner or manager, there will be many times that you need to get your team motivated.

Getting your team ready and motivated to work together is a skill you can learn and practice along the way.
Keep reading for our five tips on how to get your team motivated.

1. Set Goals and Celebrate Them

One of the best ways to get your team motivated is to set goals and have a way to celebrate them. Have a meeting with your team and see what your big goals should be. You can then come up with a reward for reaching these goals as well whether it is a personal reward or something that they all get at the end of a quarter.

OKRs are a great way to set goals and track them along the way. They can help you to figure out what your objective is as well as the key results. This is an awesome program you can use in many different areas of your business.

2. Lead By Example

As a business owner, all eyes will be on you so make sure you’re leading by example. This means that you should do your best to promote productivity and happiness in the workplace. When your team sees that you’re a motivated and productive boss, then they will be more likely to be motivated as well.

You also need to come into work every day with a smile on your face even if you don’t feel like smiling. No one likes to be around a negative Nancy so try and make aspects of your day good. Even when there are downfalls in business you need to try and put a positive spin on them so your team doesn’t get bogged down by the negatives.

3. Good Communication

Another way to get your team motivated is to communicate with them and see what they need. Good communication comes from both ends so as a business owner you need to make sure that your team knows you’re willing to communicate with them.

Sit down in a small group or one on one and ask your employees what they need to stay productive and do their job well. It could be that they need an extra day off for some self-care, or maybe they feel like they aren’t getting paid enough. Do your best to try and fix any issues that they have.

4. Recognize Your Team

As we mentioned earlier you can’t focus on the negatives so make sure that when someone does something good on the job you recognize them for it. This could mean just saying ‘thank you’ in person to recognizing them for their hard work in a meeting.

One of the best ways to get people motivated is to appreciate them for the work that they’re already doing. When employees know that they’re appreciated for the work they do, then they will want to continue doing as best as they possibly can.

5. Don’t Micromanage

As a business owner, you may be more tempted to micromanage your team but this is the worst way to get them motivated. You have hired each of your employees based on their skills so you should know that they can do the job.
Try to take a backseat when it comes to big projects that your team is completing. If they ask for your help, then you’re more than welcome to assist but try not to butt in when not needed.

How to Get Your Team Motivated

When it comes to figuring out how to get your team motivated there are going to be a lot of trial and error. You will just need to figure out what works best for your team when it is time to get them motivated.
If you’re interested in learning more business strategy, then sign up for our newsletter for more advice.

Adjust Your Mindset and Become More Business Savvy Today

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Business Savvy|Adjust Your Mindset and Become More Business Savvy TodayYou know better than anybody that getting distracted happens far too easily these days. We create such a busy schedule for ourselves that we become overwhelmed and overworked, so our productivity levels slow down dramatically. You want to learn to adjust your mindset and become more business savvy right now. Whether you’re focusing working well in a team or you want to expand upon a new business idea, there are so many ways to improve your focus. Consider some of the following techniques and you will soon be able to open your eyes to new methods of success.

Always Look Out for Opportunities

All savvy, business minded people will keep their eyes open for new opportunities whenever they can. It is not uncommon for something beneficial to pass you by, because you weren’t paying attention, so start being more alert. You might have been exposed to a business broker opportunity recently, but you didn’t take the time to learn about the benefits. Of course it is natural to want to focus on your own business goals, but you shouldn’t pass up any golden opportunity to make money and enhance your career.

Never Stop Learning

Being open minded and willing to learn will make you a great business person some day. Even the savviest and smartest of entrepreneurs are open to taking courses, attending events and reading new studies. You should never assume you know everything about your industry, especially when there are emerging competitors coming onto the scene every single day. You need to remain a fountain of knowledge and learn as much as you can about your trade. You will only be able to reach your full potential if you are open minded and willing to take on new information regularly.

Write Down Your Goals

If you want to enter the world of business one day, you need to understand your own goals. When you have the ability to focus on the task at hand and chase your dreams, you will be much more focused. Writing down your goals is the best way to create a tangible action plan that you will actually be able to stick to, so why not give it a go?

Take Advice From Others

It is so important to be a good listener when you run a business. Taking advice from other people can be invaluable, so always take the time to talk to experts from your industry. They will be able to give you a whole host of information you might not have known.

Being focused won’t come easily to everybody, especially when you already have a lot on your plate. It takes plenty of hard work and dedication to get to where you want to be in the business world, but that doesn’t mean you need to stress yourself out. It is quite easy to adjust your mindset and become more business savvy. All you need to do, is look around you and embrace the opportunities that are available. It might take time for these ideas to come into fruition, but you will see the benefits as time goes by.

The Big Picture of Business – Each Role Matters. The Value of Support Staff

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StrategyDriven Big Picture of Business ArticleEvery person in the company matters to its success. Every job is important, as is filling them with the best people for each job. The art and skill of being great support staff is a cornerstone of business success.

From pop culture, think of the great role models that we grew up watching:

Della Street was the loyal secretary to Perry Mason. She knew what everyone was thinking and was the glue to the cases. She was the model for executive assistants and office managers everywhere.

The CEO is made stronger with a good C-suite team. Ed McMahon was TV’s premier second banana. He worked as assistant, announcer, commercial pitchman and sketch narrator to Johnny Carson throughout their 29-year run on NBC-TV’s “Tonight Show.” They had previously worked together on a game show, “Who Do You Trust” on ABC-TV. Bandleaders on the late-night are vital #3 characters on the show, including Doc Severinsen, Skitch Henderson, Paul Shaffer and The Roots band.

The movie star heroes had buddies to help them navigate the adventures. John Wayne and Roy Rogers had Gabby Hayes. Gene Autry had Pat Buttram.

TV show stars had great support casts. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had Vivian Vance and William Frawley as Ethel & Fred Mertz. This historic teaming became the formula for most other TV sitcoms. Shows like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “30 Rock,” “The Office” and others had expanded ensemble casts.

Some performers made careers as supporting players. Ann B. Davis was Schultzy on “The Bob Cummings Show” and Alice on “The Brady Bunch.”

Back characters on TV shows included restaurant and bar operators, where the stars went top relax. There were friendly, familiar places such as Cheers bar, Arnold’s Drive-In on “Happy Days,” the Krusty Krab on “SpongeBob Square Pants,” Dale’s Diner on “The Roy Rogers Show” and other homey places. In the business world are those staff people who make us feel more like family. Therefore, our loyalty to the company rises, and we are more productive.

Still other back characters bring cohesion to the enterprise. On “Gilligan’s Island,” those glue-adhesive characters were the Professor Roy Hinkley and Mary Ann Summers. Those vital employees in the business world might include the IT guy, the receptionist, the mailroom manager, the ethics adviser and the secretary to the Board of Directors.

Great executives know the value of crediting support figures for the business success. Lt. Columbo was always quoting his wife as basis for testing hypotheses, though the character was never shown. Newspaper publisher Perry White was always upstaged by his employees, notably Clark Kent/Superman. Al Roker does the weather on “The Today Show,” and he is also the motivating segment host as well. Nobody turns letters like Vanna White, making her essential to the legacy of “Wheel of Fortune.”

And then there were those mentors behind the scene who were responsible for lots of creativity. The Beatles had George Martin as their producer. Steven Spielberg had John Williams as music composer for his films.

A host of people make the CEO look good. Further, they transform the company to greater plateaus. Warmly recognize the contributions of executive assistants, trusted advisers, mentors, support staff, hier apparents, adjuncts, vendors and outside stakeholders.

Here are some characteristics of support personnel and rising stars who will make it as professionals and business leaders:

  • Act as though they will one day be management.
  • Think as a manager, not as a worker.
  • Learn and do the things it will take to assume management responsibility.
  • Be mentored by others.
  • Act as a mentor to still others.
  • Don’t expect status overnight.
  • Measure their output and expect to be measured as a profit center to the company.
  • Learn to pace and be in the chosen career for the long-run.
  • Don’t expect that someone else will be the rescuer or enable you to cut corners in the path toward artificial success.
  • Learn from failures, reframing them as opportunities.
  • Learn to expect, predict, understand and relish success.
  • Behave as a gracious winner.
  • Acquire visionary perception.
  • Study and utilize marketing and business development techniques.
  • Contribute to the bottom line, directly and indirectly.
  • Offer value-added service.
  • Never stop paying dues and see this continuum as “continuous quality improvement.”
  • Study and comprehend the subtleties of life.
  • Never stop learning, growing and doing. In short, never stop!

About the Author

Hank MoorePower Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame is now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.

The Big Picture of Business – Ethics… Good for Business

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StrategyDriven Big Picture of Business ArticleIn order to succeed and thrive in modern society, all private and public sector entities must live by codes of ethics. In an era that encompasses mistrust of business, uncertainties about the economy and growing disillusionments within society’s structure, it is vital for every organization to determine, analyze, fine-tune and communicate their value systems.

Corporate Responsibility is more than just a statement that a committee whips together. It is more than a slogan or rehash of a Mission Statement. It is an ongoing dialog that companies have with themselves. It is important to teach business domestically and internationally that:

  1. We must understand how to use power and influence for positive change.
  2. How we meet corporate objectives is as important as the objectives themselves.
  3. Ethics and profits are not conflicting goals.
  4. Unethical dealings for short-term gain do not pay off in the long-run.
  5. Good judgment comes from experience, which, in turn comes from bad judgment.
  6. Business must be receptive–not combative–to differing opinions.
  7. Change is 90% beneficial. We must learn to benefit from change management, not to become victims of it.

Corporate Responsibility relates to every stage in the evolution of a business, leadership development, mentoring and creative ways of doing business. It is an understanding how and why any organization remains standing and growing…instead of continuing to look at micro-niche parts.

Integrity is personal and professional. It is about more than the contents of a financial report. It bespeaks to every aspect of the way in which we do business. Integrity requires consistency and the enlightened self-interest of doing a better job.

Financial statements by themselves cannot nor ever were intended to determine company value. The enlightened company must be structured, plan and benchmark according to all seven categories on my trademarked Business Tree™: core business, running the business, financial, people, business development, Body of Knowledge (interaction of each part to the other and to the whole) and The Big Picture (who the organization really is, where it is going and how it will successfully get there).

One need not fear business nor think ill of it because of the recent corporate scandals. One need not fear globalization and expansion of business because of economic recessions. It is during the downturns that strong, committed and ethical businesses renew their energies to move forward. The good apples polish their luster in such ways as to distance from the few bad apples.

Corporate Responsibility means operating a business in ways that meet or exceed the ethical, legal, commercial and public expectations that society has of business. This is a comprehensive set of strategies, methodologies, policies, practices and programs that are integrated throughout business operations, supported and rewarded by top management.

Corporate Sustainability aligns an organization’s products and services with stakeholder expectations, thereby adding economic, environmental and social value. This looks at how good companies become better.

Corporate Governance constitutes a balance between economic and social goals and between individual and community goals. The corporate governance framework is there to encourage the efficient use of resources and equally to require accountability for community stewardship of those resources.

As part of strategic planning, ethics helps the organization to adapt to rapid change, regulatory changes, mergers and global competition. It helps to manage relations with stakeholders. It enlightens partners and suppliers about a company’s own standards. It reassures other stakeholders as to the company’s intent.

About the Author

Hank MoorePower Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame is now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.