We did not set any New Year Resolutions…

Resolutions are really like desires or there like to have happen things, like to be kind of things or if I could afford anything kind of things. We find it is best not to dream and not put things into actions.

However, as we have done for the last five years, my wife Pauline, and I take a day out of our schedules in early December to do a mini strategic planning retreat. Each year we determinedly review our progress achievements and reflect on those items we did not achieve. We take some time to discuss areas of our life, work and relationships that comprise the central focus of who we are, what we believe and what needs work. The areas we focus our planning around are those we say are critical success categories. These indicators are those vital areas of our lives that we deem as most important and I share them in no particular priority. Our final effort is to produce a Goals and Planning Calendar. The calendar provides a visual representation of what we plan to accomplish, important celebration dates, our travel commitments, relaxation and fun times. It is nothing fancy, just something we put into calendar layout and print. It is powerful to keep in front of you.

Here are our critical success categories:

Business goals

Pauline’s real estate business, Stoney Knoll Realty - 25 plus years of work, labor and love of helping good people make good buying and selling choices.

Bill, Strategic Talent Management – a 16 year consulting partnership with a focus on managing and developing human potential to maximize business results.

Our respective businesses provide the dreams and goals that serve to be our “income” focus. Our focus is excess cash flow, my definition of fun!

Relationship goals

Where in our relationship do we need to improve to maximize our love and joy as a married couple? We so often realize that this portion of our lives can be quashed by all kinds of other important stuff. While we are not prefect at this, we do set a day of the week as a date night or just find time to relax and watch a movie - together. Primary goal - Finding time to just be together, do things together and see some of the beauties in of God’s great earth.

Family goals

We are a blended family with children and grandchildren that are scattered from east to west coast. Our primary challenge is to see them as much as possible and to communicate with them regularly. One important goal this year will be my family gathering around my daughter’s Sarah’s marriage this spring in Sacramento to a good and thoughtful man – Mark. Also, to play some catch with my grandson, Simon. Other important family things will be Pauline’s second son is moving from Long Beach, CA to Manhattan, NY in February. Pauline’s daughter, Tiffany will still be in college in Tampa, FL. We will visit my son Bill, Laura and grandson Thomas in March in Richmond, VA. Pauline’s oldest son, Jon and family, wife Colene and granddaughters, Olivia and Molly live very close by. Our desired goal is to get them up to the lake this summer at our camp in Weld, ME. Primary focus – connect with all, so that they all know they are special and very dear to us.

Our Home goals

As with all homes, there is much to do around here. Our primary challenge is going to be redoing the landscaping in front. We have about 3 acre with older apple trees and plenty of God’s creatures to see. I actually find mowing the grass a great escape.

Our Camp goals

The camp is a place of rest, peace, and beauty that just quiets our hearts. The work is getting the boats in and cleaning up after the winter’s mess and some repainting. My enjoyment comes from setting by the fire, with a glass of wine and hearing Pauline voice reading aloud. Pauline finds it as a place to put all of life’s woes behind and just be at peace. Primary objective is to clean-up, fix-up, and mellow-out.

Spiritual and Serving goals

 We make our faith and commitment to serve others a vital part of who we are and what we do. Pauline and I volunteer our time to work with couples in our community that have troubled marriages; in a program, we call “Considering Divorce.” Our belief is by saving a marriage we can save a family from the heart pains of divorce. Our goal is to selflessly pour our love to those struggling, by sharing our faith, our own life stories, our friendship, and using the facilitating skills we have been blessed with. This continues to be another area of personal development.

Personal and Health goals

 We believe that our bodily vessels need constant development, exercise, and good care to maximize a life full of potential. Our common focus is to eat right, live right and be right in all that we do. I have healed from my foot wounds and hand surgery, so no excuses now.

No, we do not set resolutions, however, it will take a lot of resolve to work and achieve the goals we have for 2010. I will keep you posted.

If you do not know or care about what you want, then any road you travel will do.

However, if you want to have a clearer focus for your life, just remember, what you think about, you can bring about!

So start now and build the dreams for your life and then get to work in creating the reality to where your mind has traveled.

One year from now…three years from now…five years from now,

ask yourself…the specific

What kind of relationships will I have fail, friends and co-worker

What position will I be in?

What things do I want to own?

What changes do I want to make to my home?

What type of vehicle will I drive?

What will I have done for professional development?

What things do I want to do for my family?

What trips will I have taken?

What kinds of things will I have accomplished in my community?

What qualities would I want people to say I have?

What kind of reputation will I have—Personal and Business?

What will my closes friend and relations have said about me?

What groups will I have participated in?

What will I have mastered—for work and for play?

What do I want my health to be?

What hobbies and interest will motivate me?

What will my self-image be?

What will my appearance be?

What are my new habits?

What will be the size of my retirement portfolio?

What obstacles in life will I have overcome?

What will be different if I do change or do not change?

What would I do if money were no issue?

What else is possible because I have planned?

How much are hidden costs it costing you?

Our clients will recognize this as our Rule Number One – Integrity. I think integrity is one of the most revealing factors of our character.  The ability to make a commitment and keep it is an essential ingredient to everything we aspire to become and achieve. Integrity is the cornerstone of trust. Without trust, there will never be the basis of a solid relationship.

Having a high Integrity Quotient (IQ) – (Number of times you completed your work on time, first time divided by the total of requests for commitments) is the source of internal motivation that drives individuals from goal setting to goal achievement. Integrity moves us from mere dreams and resolutions to the mastery of accomplishment that fuels our complete sense-of-self (self-awareness, self-confidence, self-regard, self-esteem, and self-direction).

Falling short of high integrity, leads to overall lower performance dependability, hurts team morale and labels the individual as not trustworthy. Sadly, I hear so many complaints about low IQ performers and the problems that result from their missed actions that I wonder how much it costs the company (lost opportunities, lower morale, and cost of redoing) and certainly their credibility in the workplace and the company’s credibility in the marketplace.

Some have suggested that it is not just a black and white issue of simply meeting or missing an estimated due date. So years ago we appended our Rule Number One to include this option of escape: As soon as you realize that there is a CHANCE that you cannot keep your word, you MUST let all those involved know of that likelihood and further what your revised plan and time estimates will be. Preferably, you should be doing this in person as it builds character. If there were no mitigating circumstances for changing the original estimated due date, than this would negatively influence the Integrity Quotient.

Now, please understand that with the complexities of life and as the scope of the original project changes, and then with the approval of new estimates, the original dates are changed and this change should not count against the Integrity Quotient as the scope of work has changed.

Personally, I am an advocate of an IQ of 85% to 90% as achieving performance standards. Above 91% of the time is exceeding, while 70% to 84% is meeting minimum standards and 69% or lower is failing to meet performance standards. The breakpoints are set to allow for honest reporting and not to establish a system that would lead to a false perfection expectation. Once an IQ score has been established, the goal is to improve upon it.

Do you know your IQ score?

• Maintain an effective daily planning system - Give your word and keep it.
• Set challenging Goals and Rewards – build your Self-Esteem and savior your results.
• Prioritize most difficult tasks first - begin early on difficult and unpleasant tasks.
• Do not procrastinate - focus on the possibilities of getting on with things. Delaying progress increases the chance for errors, reduces recovery time, and increases stress.
• Benchmark your progress towards completion - you cannot manage what you cannot measure.
• Plan for and anticipate interruptions - interruptions are why you are here.
• Eliminate time wasters - unimportant tasks rob energy and kills enthusiasms.
• Ask yourself if this is a task/project that can be delegated – delegate if at all possible.
• Make the best decisions possible, as soon as possible - then clearly document, and communicate your decisions. Poor communications leads to errors and threatens morale.
• Designate a proper times to do you work effectively – but not at home.
• Do it right, the first time - redoing things weakens self-motivation.
• Communicate your schedule and priorities to your staff/team - Say what is important and why, ask for their support.
• Handle paper only once. If you touch it, act on it - Delegate it, Dump it or Do it, when you touch it.
• Learn to use the technology available—it is the key to long-term productivity and quality.
• Know you practical limits of work quantity and quality. Do not push beyond your limit - this can lead to burnout.
• Evaluate areas for self-improvement and continued learning - staying the same leads to stagnation.
• Evaluate your staff/team members - look for their contributions and show your appreciation, this builds self-motivation and gets everyone’s engines roaring. Look for areas that need attention now and develop that skill in your employees/team members.
• Plan for effective meetings - share agendas, purpose of meeting, participation requirements, and anticipated results.
• Other tips for meetings - take notes, ask questions, keep an open mind, be ready to accept meaningful change and take immediate action on your assignments.
• Make time for yourself - reward yourself for effectively managing your time.

We spend so much time working on our businesses that I wanted to reflect on the things that "MY" ideal company would be accomplishing!

Leaner & Quicker to service the market: specifically focused on critical needs, lots of energy to capture market share – Thinks Big and Moves Quickly

Adaptable to Change: constantly searching for opportunities, ways to improve & grow to meet client’s expectations – Actually Over-Delivers internally and externally

Cash Productive: cash is king, more self-reliant, manage with as little debt as possible, if they do have debt, it is structured and managed effectively – Good Understanding of Money

Recession Proof: implements strategies to minimize economic impact in a downward economy – Forward Looking Perspective

An Inflation Perspective: they will grow faster than inflation with little or no increase in operational costs or increased overhead – Thinks Zero Cost Solutions - First

Family Friendly and Supportive: today employee commitment is critical to the organization’s bottom line results; good companies stay focused on how to satisfy the employees that provide the services to customers and bring value to owners – They Reward the best and Say Goodbye to non-contributors

Stable & Conservative Philosophy: will do less "trying" to be all things to all customers, they will dominate a niche, they will farm out work to more specialists, the cost of doing everything in-house will become ROI focused, Good Companies will build Strategic Alliances

Free Market-Oriented: entrepreneurial spirited, focus on Possibilities vs. Consequences, Opportunities vs. Problems, they compete on quality, price, service dependability, and availability providing longer-term value for value relationships – Believes what one Thinks Drives Actions

Strategic Thinkers: in terms of Strategy they plan and executive, they are prepared to adjust their plan as conditions warrant; they strategically engage the entire organization – They Stay Relationship Focused and Constantly Deliver Results

Sometimes we need to hold a mirror and take a good look at ourselves.

These comments were adopted from an Unknown Author and changed to relfect my thinking. I thank the original Author for the inspiration.

I have been a consultant for more than 18 years and as such, I measured two important aspects of my financial survival. The quality of the client’s results (their satisfaction of accomplishments being greater than the investment in my services), and the other aspect being the strength of my relationship with the client and staff (their willingness to share their concerns because of their trust in me). I used to say if I could have a choice of just one; let it be the client's results - thinking if I did not achieve a level of results, then I would never have a sustainable relationship.  From actual experiences, I have changed my thinking – I now know that the greatest measure of long-term value comes from the relationship and not the results obtained.

I recently volunteered at  MDA’s- Muscular Dystrophy Association annual Bail-Out fund raiser. I am afflicted with a form of MD, along with my son and daughter and currently one grandson.  So when asked if I would volunteer, you can easily understand my choice.

My thinking to date has been to ask folks that I have helped over the past few years to be the base for my donations. You should probably understand that asking for help is not something that comes easily for me.  Nevertheless, ask I do and trusting that God will touch someone’s heart. I have come to understand that “touch on their heart” comes so much more from my commitment of time in building a trusting relationship, and with personal sharing versus any specific accomplishment. Simply stated people matter more than things.

I have come to appreciate that people do not care what I know, until they know I care…about them. So now, I realize that I will never have a chance to focus on client results, until I first have satisfactorily established a trusting relationship, built more on mutual respect than dollars.

So year after year, the givers come from a list of valued-based friendships. I thank them all.

• That they are not competent enough to manage you
• That they are worried that you will get bored and leave, thus wasting their investment
• That they do not think you would be satisfied with what they can afford to pay you
• That someone in management is threatened by your competency
• That they have little confidence in the future of their company

What I think is going on in the mind of the job seeker.

• You are at a stage where you will do anything to meet your family’s needs
• You really do want to slow things down and smell the roses
• You are just looking for a chance to prove yourself
• You would be really good doing that job
• You just want to contribute and feel worthwhile
• You are willing to start over

The truth is I do not know what the perspective employer thinks. I have never said to a candidate that they have more experience then I need. I am befuddled that in today’s business climate that employers would not want the most experienced and even an "over qualified" person for their job. I would think that they would jump at the chance to get a great return on their investment. However, I hear something different when someone says they were "over qualified."

If you have been labeled as "over qualified," then you should know there is a position out there that will never say you have too much talent…become self-employed. If you want to test the water of being your own boss, call my direct line and leave me a message (603) 617-4935. I would like to help you take a step to becoming your own Boss.


Last Week's Poll Results:

I have become overly sensitive to the words people use and the meanings attached to them. My clients now know that there are certain words that I affectionately refer to as weasel words. Initially, Stewart Chaplin, Stained Glass Political Platform (1900), quoted the phrase- Weasel words are words that suck all the life out of the words next to them, just as a weasel sucks out the yoke of an egg and leaving an empty shell. People use weasel words to enhance the word meanings, but actually give a false impression. So when I hear someone say, "I want to be a better manager or better husband, father or mother, or I’ll be better", - I wonder what better means and if better is good enough.

I would not want to leave you with the impression the better is a bad word or that it is the only weasel word used. Weasel words do have a proper context, for example if we say "that’s better," we hear it as a form of measurement. Actually, my definition of better is a minuet improvement in a positive direction. Nevertheless, if we use better in a context of what to do – it is a weasel word. Because there is no way to assure that better is acceptable or adequate or sufficient. In using the word better as a phase relating to what we want to become – please consider it as looking for the easy way to imply something may be different, otherwise, we would be very specific in our actions and outcomes. Listen to the words you use and think about the message they leave in the minds of your listener. If it sounds goods because of puffery then you may be using weasel words. Weasel words sound great, but really have little specific meaning and provide a poor measurement of change.

Some other weasel words that we hear: More – minuet increase in quantity, often not sufficient or adequate. Try – some effort of willingness, but nowhere near what is acceptable to avoid failure. Hope – Something we want to have, be or do without anymore work.

If you want to change/improve – I suggest you use these words in their proper context and do not accept them when other people use them without clarifying their meaning to you. When I hear a weasel word, it rings like a big gong in my ears. I hear the weakness of the communicator.

Oh! If you want to have some fun - listen to politician and count the number of their weasel words. My favorite weasel phase from a politician is "I’m thinking about trying that." Another common weasel phase from parents is "We’ll see."

If you have your favorite weasel words or weasel phrases please email them to me, with your definition, so I can add them to a future article. My email address is WMaloney@StrategicTalentManagement.com


Last Weeks Poll Results