Mike Figliuolo's Blog, page 66

When you put a team member in a stretch role, how much of that role should they know how to do?

Our reader poll today asks: When you put a team member in a stretch/developmental role, how much of that role should they know how to do before you give it to them? 90% or more: 2% 70%-90%: 16% 50%-70%: 51% 30%-50%: 25% 0%-30%: 5% Balancing risk and growth. Developmental roles are purely a balance between risk and growth. If you don’t take any risk on people, they can’t grow. If you take too much risk, they’ll possibly struggle and fail. Finding that sweet spot can be challenging. Most successful growth roles I see put someone in the “they know 70% of the new role” range. About 67% of you fall in that space. If they know too much about the new role, they’ll grow a bit but then that growth curve flattens out. For those of you putting people in roles where they know less than 50% of the new...



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Using The 80/20 Rule to Think Critically

Learn how an Italian gardener’s simple principle can make problem solving much easier. Critical thinking doesn’t only apply to coming up with recommendations. You need to think critically about the way you’re going to spend your time and energy. Those things are limited. You have too many problems to solve and not enough time. I encourage people to follow the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle. The Pareto Principle The Pareto principle was coined by Vilfredo Pareto when he noticed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. He was also a gardener, and he noticed 80% of the peas coming out of his garden came from 20% of the pods. He said, “That’s interesting. Two totally different realms demonstrating the same...



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Turn Off Your Brain: How to Regain Control of Your Sleep as an Entrepreneur

Establishing good sleep habits can improve your health and productivity as an entrepreneur. Reclaim your sleep with these tips. Today’s post is by Brad Wayland, Chief Strategy Officer at BlueCotton. If you are anything like me, you are no stranger to long, sleepless nights – no matter how bad for your health they might be. But take it from me, this is not something you want to make a habit. You need to reclaim your sleep. Here’s how to do just that: It is three in the morning, and you are on a roll. It does not matter that you need to be up at eight tomorrow. You have work to do, and now is the time to do it. Except it is not. At all. Not only are you killing your productivity by pulling these all-nighters, but you are also slowly killing yourself. I will spare you the details. I am...



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When someone misses a deadline they set, how do you handle it?

Our reader poll today asks: When someone misses a deadline they set, how do you handle it? I hold them just as accountable as if I had set it. 59% I let it slide a bit because they’re learning to self-manage. 33% I blow it off — it was their deadline to set, and it’s theirs to manage. 7% Deadlines matter. Whether you set the deadline or your team member does, holding them to it is highly important to the majority of you. Other commitments are often made based on that deadline and your team member slipping can have follow-on effects. For those of you who are more lenient, this is a teaching opportunity. Help your team members understand how to better estimate deadlines as well as plan and prioritize their work so they meet them whether those deadlines are self-imposed or...



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5 Phrases That Make You Sound Ridiculous

Paying attention to your word choices will make you a more effective communicator. Keep your speech concise by avoiding these common phrases. Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS. “At the end of the day…” You sound ridiculous. You just don’t know it. Word choice matters. We spend countless hours in meetings with colleagues discussing big, important ideas. We write hundreds of documents making our case for one initiative or another. We write thousands of emails. We give dozens of presentations. And you know what? We sound ridiculous. Using buzzwords can make us sound like hyper-educated idiots who swallowed a thesaurus. In our efforts to sound more intelligent and compelling, we use big words and bigger phrases we hear other smart and compelling people...



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5 New Year’s Resolutions to Make Your Business Culture a Winner

  Meeting company goals begins with employees and managers working well together. Mark McClain shares his advice for improving business culture in 2021. Today’s post is by Mark McClain, CEO of SailPoint and the ForbesBooks author of Joy and Success at Work: Building Organizations that Don’t Suck (the Life Out of People) (CLICK HERE to get your copy). New Year’s resolutions are not only for individuals but businesses too. Company goals set for the year ahead are usually measured in data and tied to categories like revenue production and expense reduction. After a difficult 2020 due to COVID-19, many enterprises’ bottom-line numbers will take on extra importance in 2021. And business culture will be just as crucial. Any resolutions that company leaders make are an effective way to...



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How comfortable are you with reading, understanding and executing contracts?

Our reader poll today asks: How comfortable are you with reading, understanding and executing contracts? Extremely: I understand contracts well and have no issues executing them 18% Very: I’m familiar with most contracts and am mostly comfortable executing them 36% Kind of: Contracts sometimes confuse or intimidate me, but other times I’m comfortable 28% Not very: Unless it’s a simple contract, I prefer to leave contracting to the experts 14% Not at all: I want nothing to do with contracting in any situation 4% Practicing Law without a License? Slightly over half of you are very or extremely comfortable with understanding and executing contracts. That’s a great skill to have given how prevalent they are in everyday business. If you’re in the minority who aren’t as...



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Life Lessons Interview with Mike Figliuolo

Mike Figliuolo, thoughtLEADERS’ Managing Director, recently sat down with Jinky Diola of WorldClassPerformer.com to share some life stories, tactics, and experiences. Read the full interview below. You can find links to this interview and other WorldClassPerformer interviews at the bottom of this post. Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Did you have any particular experiences/stories that shaped your adult life? I grew up in New Jersey just outside New York City. I had a normal suburban kid life. I was entrepreneurial from a very young age. Started by selling painted pencils at school. I’d use about $0.10 of materials and charge $1.00 a piece. After that, it was a paper route. Then my comic book collecting/selling business where I actually ran comic book...



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Marketing 101 As We Head Into 2021

As the world continues to change, organizations can benefit from adapting their marketing strategies. Michael Stahl shares ten ways to make the most of your marketing efforts in 2021. Today’s post is by Michael Stahl, CMO at SERVPRO (CLICK HERE to learn more). The year 2020 brought both challenges and opportunities to marketing professionals. In fact, that’s probably an understatement. But the year has come to a close (thank goodness!), and it’s time to look ahead to hopefully brighter, safer, and more profitable days. As we shift our sights to 2021, I’ve put together ten marketing basics that can help you build a strategy to increase engagement, market share, and revenue. Reposition your product for modern consumer needs Considering we don’t know when the global pandemic will end, nor...



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How would you characterize your organization’s attitude toward customer service?

Our reader poll today asks: How would you characterize your organization’s attitude toward customer service? We go out of our way to exceed expectations 61% We do our best to meet expectations 32% We try to meet expectations but don’t worry too much if we don’t 6% We do the bare minimum to get by 1% Is meeting expectations good enough? IN a hyper-competitive world, a clear majority of you are going out of your way to exceed your customers’ expectations. It doesn’t take much and it goes a long way. For those of you satisfied with meeting customer expectations, recognize that your competitors are trying to push beyond those expectations. Fall short enough times and you’ll find those customers are no longer yours. We all know it’s less expensive to keep an existing customer...



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