Mike Figliuolo's Blog

How to Assess What Happened in a Negotiation

Reflect on your negotiations to improve your performance in future rounds.

Throughout a negotiation, you should be assessing what’s happening. Track major negotiating points over time. See what’s a plus or a minus versus the last round of negotiations. If you go back to your initial goals and what the other party’s initial goals were, their must-haves, want-to-haves, nice-to-haves, and also evaluate it for your end, you can track where you’re making concessions over time.

Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World.

What Are We Missing???

 

 

Employees need to know that what they do matters—how it matters, where it matters, how long it matters, for whom it matters, and why it matters.

Today’s guest post is by Wendy Lipton-Dibner, author of What MATTERS Matters Most.

They’d tried everything from bonuses to retreats, and while each intervention produced motivational boosts, the results were always short-lived.

Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World.

What’s your view of socializing with customers or vendors outside of work?

Our reader poll today asks: What’s your view of socializing with customers or vendors outside of work?

It’s a great idea, and I strongly encourage it – 14%
It’s a good idea, but it needs to be limited and monitored – 62%
It’s a good idea, but it needs to be limited and monitored – 62%
It’s not a good idea — a lot of things can go wrong – 14%
I avoid it, and instruct my team members to do the same – 10%

Socialize but with boundaries.

Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World.

Overallocating to Meet Your Goals

Overallocating is a strategy that can help you meet your goals by aiming higher than you need to.

When you’re breaking department goals down and allocating portions of that goal to different teams, you can take an approach that’s known as overallocating the goal. This means, when you add up all the subteam goals, they amount to more than the overall department goal. This approach can improve your chances of hitting your high-level department goal, but this approach can also put unnecessary pressure on your teams to deliver more than they have to.

Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World.

What’s your priority when bringing in a new team member?

Our reader poll today asks: What’s your priority when bringing in a new team member?

Defining their tasks and deliverables – 22%Acclimating them to the team and culture – 65%Helping them network in the organization – 4%Working on their skills training – 8%Something else – 0%

Get them acclimated first.

Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World.

Holding Your Teams Accountable for Missing Goals

 

There need to be consequences when a team doesn’t meet their goals. Hold people accountable so they know their goals mean something to the organization.

People are going to miss their goals. Things happen. But when it happens, there need to be consequences for missing that number. Unless there are mitigating events, follow your incentive plan’s implications.

I know one business unit that missed its top-level revenue goal and its bottom-line profit.

Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World.

When you’re hiring for an opening on your team, what best describes your approach?

Our reader poll today asks: When you’re hiring for an opening on your team, what best describes your approach? I hire someone who…

Has a proven record of delivering in exactly that role.  8%Has a lot of experience with the role, but some growth ahead.  47%Doesn’t have much experience in that role, but they have a lot of potential. 

Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World.

Do You Need to Revise Your Business Unit’s Goals?

When the environment changes, revisit your goals and see if they need to change.

Markets can change quickly. Those changes can alter priorities. They can render some of your goals irrelevant. When that happens, change the goal. Do so quickly so the team can change its focus to higher priority objectives. It’s foolish to continue pursuing an irrelevant goal. Be willing to change it and set new goals that are more appropriate for that new environment.

Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World.

Build The Business Wall: Crush The Busyness Noise

Business, not busyness: the Wall fuels brutal focus to win big. Build yours to slash egos and chaos, and drive victories in growth and results.

Today’s guest post is by Jonathan Escobar Marin, author of LEAD TO BEAT: The Leadership Rhythm That Shapes Tomorrow.

The meeting room was a pressure cooker, the kind where careers are forged or shattered. The CEO, a wiry woman with a gaze that could cut steel, stood at the head of the table.

Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World.

4 Pitfalls to Avoid When Setting Goals

Keep these four mistakes in mind when setting goals for your business unit.

Even if you set great goals, you might not get the behaviors you want if you fall in some common pitfalls. There are several major common departmental goal-setting pitfalls that you can avoid.

Setting conflicting goals

The first is not looking at an integrated view of all your goals. You may miss dependencies across departments. 

Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World.