Michael Hyatt's Blog, page 61
June 9, 2017
When Leaders Have to Speak Up
3 Ways to Work up the Courage to Say It
As the vice president of the consultancy Gap International, it is Ilene Muething’s job to challenge and confront some of the world’s most abrasive and powerful CEOs.
Ilene is a friend and has done some consulting for my company. I once asked her how she worked up the courage to speak truth to the powerful. She said it was difficult at first, but over time it got easier.
3 Truths to Work up Your Courage
What helped Muething was that she reminded herself of three simple truths to work up the courage to speak up.
1. What I have to say is important.
If you are struggling with whether or not to say something weighty, this is generally a clue that you need to speak up. You are seeing or sensing something important that needs to be said about what is not working and needs to be fixed.
2. They need this criticism to get to the next level.
If they could see it on their own, they would already have made the change. That they aren’t changing it indicates a blind spot. So they need my eyes and my voice to get to the next level.
3. They can handle it.
Too often, we see others as fragile. We are afraid that if we speak up they will shatter into 1,000 little pieces. Or that they will fly off the handle.
But this is usually not true. We need to think of people as giants. They can handle it, especially if we take care with our words and “speak the truth in love” (cf. Ephesians 4:15).
Confrontation in Your Dreams
I asked her this question because there aren’t too many normal people who find it easy to confront others at work.
According to a survey of British workers by the Chartered Management Institute, two-thirds of workers are seriously stressed when they know a difficult conversation is coming up.
In fact, 11 percent get persistent nightmares and awful sleep leading up to any office confrontation.
And I am part of that 11 percent. I am conflictaphobic, to make a word. When conflict is what’s called for, there’s always an internal debate in my head.
“Surely, this isn’t that big of a deal. Maybe I should just let it slide,” vs. “Someone needs to tell her. I would want to know if I were in that situation, right?” And on it goes.
Keeping Your Head Down
As a result, especially early in my career, I would keep my real opinions to myself. I didn’t want to get in trouble. I thought that if I just did what was expected of me and kept my mouth shut, I would get ahead.
This was a pretty good strategy for a while. But it didn’t really work once people were counting on me to lead. I had my reasons for avoiding conflict:
I didn’t want to be embarrassed.
I didn’t want to lose face.
I didn’t want to be wrong.
I didn’t want others to think less of me.
These are a few of the reasons and rationales I used to justify avoiding conflict. The bottom line was that I was afraid.
But as a leader I kept finding myself in situations where I had to either step up and speak up, or watch my team suffer.
Say It With Flowers
Many moons ago, soon after I became head of one of Thomas Nelson’s publishing divisions, I had to confront one of my authors who was exhibiting what people in Washington, DC know well as classic “kiss up, kick down” behavior.
The author was pleasant and cooperative when I spoke with him. That’s the “kiss up part” but then came the “kick down.” He was demanding, uncooperative, and downright nasty to my staff.
Finally, one of them came to me in tears and said, “I’m sorry, but I just can’t take it any more.”
Now I had to make a choice. I could let it go, hoping he would improve without intervention, or I could speak up.
And cue the debate. I wrestled with it all night. I tossed and turned. I got sick to my stomach. I played out every scenario.
Finally, things came into focus: I could either be brave and call the author on it, or I could be a coward and stop growing as a leader.
The next morning I called his cell phone. I was shaking so much, I could barely hold the phone. I went over the facts. I told him that his behavior was unacceptable.
I told him how to make this right: He would call each of my staff and apologize. He would then send flowers to the person he had offended the most. If he didn’t, I would stop publication of his book and send him packing.
I was dead serious, and he heard it in my voice. To my surprise, he did exactly what I had asked.
The Thing About Courage
I learned an important lesson that day. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the willingness to act in spite of my fear.
My people also learned an important lesson that day. They learned that I was willing to stand up for them, even at the expense of my own comfort. It drew us closer together as a team.
Frankly, I still find it difficult to be brave. I don’t consider myself to be a courageous person. But now having several of these experiences under my belt, it is a little easier.
If I can do it, you can, too.
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Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the willingness to act in spite of my fear.
—MICHAEL HYATT
Question: Is there a potentially difficult conversation you need to have? What would have to be true for you to lean into it and speak up? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
June 7, 2017
What You Learn on the Way to Success
A 3-Point Check-Up to Get the Most out of the Middle
Success stories have a beginning, a middle, and a payoff. We often focus on the difference between the start and the success but I’ll let you in on a secret: The struggle between the two is what’s important.
Writing Your Own Story
As you work to win at any endeavor that truly matters to you, there is going to come a point when you are tempted to quit, give it up, throw in the towel.
My friend Donald Miller, author of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, would say this is part of your great “story arc,” the dramatic outline that nearly every compelling tale—including yours and mine—follows.
You might start off strong with the destination in sight, and you make some progress. Everything seems easy. You are a little surprised but soon become confident and even cocky. “This isn’t so hard. I’ve got it nailed,” you think.
Then you come to the middle of your story, the obstacles. Things get frustrating. You’re working hard, but treading water at best. You feel trapped by circumstances.
“Discouragement, anger, sadness are all emotions that you might experience when faced with an obstacle. These emotions could dissuade you from attempting to overcome the obstacle,” psychiatrist Karyn Hall warns in a recent Psychology Today article.
The dilemma is that you’ve come too far to go back, but you aren’t sure you have enough resources to finish what you started. Do you quit or push forward?
Try, Try Again?
People think it becomes a compelling story when you push through to reach your destination, and from the outside it probably is. But many who have done this realize the destination wasn’t all that important.
Instead, what stands out to us is what happened on the journey—which determines how we have changed and what we’ve become.
In the 90s, I owned my own business with a partner. We loved steering our own destiny. We had some initial success. I thought “We must be pretty good at this” and “This is a piece of cake.”
Then we hit a rough patch.
A few big transactions fell through and a few clients fired us. We could still pay our employees, but we had to forego paying ourselves for a long time.
One day I came home from work and told my wife Gail I needed to lay down for a few minutes before dinner. I plopped down on the bed and wanted to cry but couldn’t even get that out. I was too numb for tears.
I had a wife, five kids, a mortgage, and a bunch of bills. I wanted to throw in the towel. I felt stuck.
Well, I didn’t quit and my partner and I eventually got things unstuck and turned things around. It was hard and took far longer than I hoped, but we had some measure of success.
3-Point Check-up for Success
On the other side of that and several other hard-won success stories, I can say that success wasn’t the most important part. What really mattered was what happened on the way to making it.
From all of these struggles, I have devised a regular simple self-checkup to get perspective, which you can use as well:
1. Am I taking care of myself?
Without sufficient rest, nutrition, and exercise, my attitude will sour and I will have fewer resources for managing the challenges. In fact, sometimes a good night’s rest can move mountains.
2. Am I asking the right questions?
Questions are very powerful tools for improvement. Beware, however, that persistent doubts often masquerade as questions, which can leave one disempowered and depleted.
I make it a point to regularly ask constructive questions like these:
What does this situation make possible?
What do I like about this relationship/project/or job?
How does this challenge provide a way for my leadership or character to grow?
What is really at stake here—and why do I need to finish again?
3. Who can give me perspective on this?
Usually, my wife Gail helps to nudge me in the right direction. But sometimes I also need the counsel of my pastor, a trusted friend, a life coach, or even a therapist.
The bottom line is that I need people who aren’t as neck deep in the project as I am to help me step back and see the whole forest.
The older I get, the more I see the need to “stay in the story.” It’s always tempting to throw in the towel when things get tough. But when you do that, you miss the most valuable part of your story—the middle.
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Don’t quit when the going gets tough. The middle is the most valuable part of your story.
—MICHAEL HYATT
Question: What have you lost by quitting, or gained by not quitting? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
June 5, 2017
7 Steps to Faster Audience Growth [Free New Webinar]
Learn How to Build an Engaged Online Following in 30 Minutes a Day
When I talk with people about the frustrations they feel in building an engaged online following, slow growth and insufficient time come up more frequently than anything else.
I get it. When I first started blogging, I would spend hours on an important post, expecting it would take off. But no matter how much time I invested, I had fewer than a thousand readers regardless of what I did. Not even my mom was interested!
If you’re building an online platform, you don’t want to miss my new webinar, 7 Steps to Faster Audience Growth: How to Build an Engaged Online Following in 30 Minutes a Day. Register now. There are multiple time slots to accommodate your schedule.
And it’s not like I had endless hours to dedicate to breaking through the barriers in the first place. I had a family and full time job as the CEO of a major corporation. I had to fit my platform-building into the margins of my workdays and weekends.
After four years, I hit an inflection point. My site traffic took a major jump, and it’s been growing by leaps and bounds ever since. But I wouldn’t trade those slow years for anything. Why?
During the slow years I learned the strategies that eventually kickstarted my audience growth and magnified the impact of my message.
These lessons have enabled me to reach more people in less time. And after coaching thousands of people in building their platforms, I’m confident these strategies can work for you too.
If that’s something you’re interested in, I’d like to invite you to a free new webinar I’m hosting: 7 Steps to Faster Audience Growth: How to Build an Engaged Online Following in Just 30 Minutes a Day.
This webinar is designed to help you speed up the slow years without gobbling up your valuable margin. Tune in and you’ll discover:
How to gain exposure beyond your current audience—and what works better than personal promotion
How to streamline your content creation for total efficiency (without sacrificing quality!)
What you should do (or NOT do) with social media to make it valuable for you and your followers
How doing LESS can increase your chances of success
My recommended tools for collecting emails and managing your social media accounts
How narrowing your focus can help you expand your reach (and how to know what that narrow focus should be!)
My recommended “order of operations” for smart audience growth (this will keep you from going in a hundred directions at once)
My go-to options for when you’re ready to make your platform profitable and self-sustaining
This webinar is totally free. But spots are limited, so if you want to participate I recommend registering soon, before the seats fill up or the clock runs out.
You don’t have live with the disappointment of low reader engagement. And you don’t have to let your platform eat up all your free time to the detriment of your relationships, rejuvenation, and rest.
7 Steps to Faster Audience Growth reveals simple, proven strategies to build your online following, boost engagement, and do it all in less time than you ever imagined. I’d love to see you there.
If you’re building an online platform, you don’t want to miss my new webinar, 7 Steps to Faster Audience Growth: How to Build an Engaged Online Following in 30 Minutes a Day. Register now. There are multiple time slots to accommodate your schedule.
June 3, 2017
June 2, 2017
How Is Hiring Like Chemistry? 4 Ingredients for Success
Also: We’re Hiring! See if You’re a Fit for Our Team
Most leaders I’ve met recognize you need the right people to build a high-power team. But few of them have defined the ideal candidate for their organization. They’re playing with fire.
A few of my grandkids are reading the Roald Dahl classic George’s Marvelous Medicine right now. In the story, the boy George mixes up a concoction to cure his grandmother of her sour mood. He adds everything he can find to the mixing pot: pharmaceuticals, paint, shampoo, and more.
The results are explosive—and the antics only get zanier from there. Unfortunately, I’ve seen hiring situations like that over the years.
Explosive Combinations
We sometimes forget that building a team is like advanced chemistry. Why? Because we’re adding and mixing people into our organizations in new (and sometimes volatile) combinations.
Get the combination right, and you’ve got a high-power mixture that can fuel your business and help you reach your goals. Get it wrong, and you might blow things up or just fizzle and sputter on the launch pad.
This is top of mind for me and my team right now because we’re hiring five new positions (details below).
Good leaders usually start with a written job description that covers required educational experience, technical skills, and so forth. But great leaders go further. They take a step back and identify the essential qualities of the ideal candidate.
I’ve made my share of bad hires over the years. They’ve cost me plenty in terms of dollars, headspace, emotional energy, and time. But failure is one of life’s better teachers.
What have I learned?
The H3S Formula
I can simplify the chemistry and get results I want by focusing on four ingredients in any job candidate: humility, honesty, hunger, and smarts. I call it H3S for short.
Think of H3S as a formula for hiring success. I first wrote about it in 2011, and other leadership writers have presented similar ideas since then. I’ll summarize it here:
Humility. A humble person has a good sense of self, including a realistic grip on his strengths and weaknesses. He makes other people feel smart and confident and is teachable. He doesn’t gloat over his wins, or downplay his mistakes. He sees what needs to be done, pitches in, and is excited playing his part on the team.
Honesty. An honest person does not lie, exaggerate, or misrepresent the facts. She gives you “the good, the bad, and the ugly” and owns her part. You can bank on her keeping her commitments, even when it’s difficult, expensive, or inconvenient to her.
Hungry. A hungry person is driven to exceed whatever expectations are set for him. Emboldened by a growth mindset, he’s always reaching for more—setting higher goals. He relentlessly pursues the best solution and embraces change if it can take him—or the company—to a new level.
Smart. A smart person usually scores high on traditional IQ tests. But not always. Some people are book-smart but street-stupid. A smart person is a quick study. She can “connect the dots” without a lot of help. She can think laterally and apply what she knows in one area to another. She knows how to make complex subjects simple. She asks thoughtful questions and is always eager to learn.
Like I Said, We’re Hiring!
If you find yourself reflected in those four qualities, you might be a fit for our team. As I said earlier, we’re hiring five new positions right now:
Executive Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer to stay five steps ahead of our COO by anticipating needs, managing calendars and tasks, and communicating on the COO’s behalf both internally and externally.
Social Media Manager to oversee our social media presence, manage online communities, and build successful campaigns.
Finance Assistant to assist our accounting manager in data management, reporting, and other duties.
Senior Developer to build websites, designing and implementing software, analyzing data and project management for the marketing team.
Customer Support Specialist to provide unparalleled customer support while serving as brand ambassador across our various digital platforms.
If you’re looking to build a positive and effective team, don’t do it like George mixed the medicine. I recommend using the H3S formula. And if you’ve got the necessary ingredients yourself and want to join a vibrant and growing team, check out our careers page and see if you’re a fit.
Question: Have you had any memorable positive (or negative) experiences with new hires? What did you learn? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
May 31, 2017
Where Are You in Building Online Influence?
Take My Free 5-Minute Platform Assessment and Find Out
Most people recognize the value of an online platform. When you have one, you can reach more people with your message, products, or hard-won expertise. You multiply both your influence and your income. Everybody wins.
The problem is that building an online following can feel daunting. I talk to people all the time who want the personal and professional benefits a platform offers. It’s just that they either struggle to get started or gain momentum.
You want to build an online following, but where should you start? My free Platform Assessment will help you figure that out in as little as five minutes. Best of all, it’s free. But it’s only available for a short while longer.
The world of blogs, podcasts, social media, and online products can feel so overwhelming and mystifying. Everything feels important, essential, and urgent. Logo? Design? Slogan? What about lead magnets, email service providers, and all the endless plugins and widgets?
Where do you begin? And once you’ve started how do you get traction and grow?
The answer starts with discovering the few simple things that are most important at your stage right now. To do that, I encourage you to take my free Platform Assessment.
It’s just ten questions and takes only five minutes. At the end, I’ll provide a short video assessing your specific platform challenge—and I’ll give you suggestions for what to do next.
Take my Platform Assessment and you’ll discover:
How to find your starting point on the journey to making a difference!
Clear steps to move from where you are to a greater level of influence.
Specific instruction on the tools and strategies that will benefit you in your current stage of growth.
How to make more income and impact more people.
There’s no reason to feel lost in a sea of competing priorities. Take the Platform Assessment and find your direction in no time!
No more feeling overwhelmed, stalled out, or stuck. With this assessment, you can point yourself in the right direction right away.
You want to build an online following, but where should you start? My free Platform Assessment will help you figure that out in as little as five minutes. Best of all, it’s free. But it’s only available for a short while longer.
May 29, 2017
Which Veterans Would You Like to Thank?
Today is Memorial Day in the United States. For many, this simply means an opportunity to take the day off, relaxing with family and friends. But there’s more to it than that.
Memorial Day is a day we set aside to commemorate those veterans who have died in the service of our country. It was first enacted to honor those in the Union Army who died in the American Civil War. After the first World War, it was expanded to include American casualties of any war or military action.
I have never had the privilege of serving in the military. However, I am profoundly grateful for those who have.
In the U.S., I fear we have come to take our national security for granted. The tragic events of 9/11 were a wake-up call. The fact we have not had another major terrorist attack on U.S. soil is a testimony to the brave men and women who work tirelessly to protect our freedoms both here and around the world.
I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank a few of my family members who have served in the military. Not all of these were injured or killed in the line of duty, but all served with honor and distinction:
My Dad, Robert T. Hyatt, who served as a Marine in the Korean War. He was critically injured when a piece of shrapnel hit him in the head and nearly killed him. He received the Purple Heart. Amazingly, He was just eighteen-years-old when it happened. (He enlisted when he was seventeen.)
My father-in-law, Col. Sidney C. Bruce (deceased), who had a distinguished career in the Air Force. He served in both the European and Pacific theaters and then went on to serve in the Pentagon as the Secretary to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
My brother-in-law, Col. Philip W. Bruce (deceased), who also had a distinguished career in the Air Force. He graduated from the Air Force Academy. He then served in Vietnam and eventually became a highly-honored instructor at the Test Pilot School.
There are scores of others, including many, many friends who have served in the military. I am eternally grateful for their service and want to take this opportunity to honor them on this special day.
Question: Who would you like to thank? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
May 27, 2017
May 26, 2017
How Much Risk Should Entrepreneurs Really Take?
3 Ways to Launch Your Business Without Betting the Farm
This is a guest post by Jeff Goins. His newest book, Real Artists Don’t Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age , is now available for preorder.When it comes to chasing a dream, is it better to go “all in” or take your time? Despite the age-old claims that we need to risk everything, the truth is taking a leap is not always the best path to create your life’s work.
Most of us love a good tale of risk and reward. We get a thrill seeing people bet big and win. But a study from the University of Wisconsin demonstrates this is not wise.
Big Bets Lead to Bigger Losses
In 1994, a pair of researchers named Joseph Raffiee and Jie Feng set out to measure the success rate of business owners who stayed at their day jobs and started a business on the side versus those who quit their jobs to jump straight into full-time entrepreneurship.
For fourteen years, they followed the trajectories of five thousand American entrepreneurs, and what they discovered was surprising. The more cautious entrepreneurs who did not quit their jobs were 33 percent more likely to succeed, whereas the “risk-takers” were far more likely to fail. In other words, it doesn’t pay to bet big.
But doesn’t this fly in the face of everything we’ve heard about entrepreneurship and chasing our dreams? It turns out that in the real world, the tortoise beats the hare. Slow and steady really does win the race. And this applies to a lot more than just business. Whether you’re launching a dream, writing a book, or getting into shape, most significant change starts with a step, not a leap.
A friend of mine learned this when he quit his corporate job to become a full-time writer. He had some savings but not much of a business started. Still, he was tired of his day job and decided take the leap and go all in. He figured having the extra time on his hands to pursue his passion would be worth the risk. It turns out he was wrong. After six months, he had run out of savings, and less than a year later, he was back at a day job, working for someone else.
My friend chased his dream the way we think it must be done—which is to say, impulsively—and his dream failed, as many do. But did it have to fail? Maybe not. Let’s look at what one of the world’s most successful authors learned when he launched his own career.
The Baby Step Strategy
As a new father and lawyer, John Grisham woke up early every morning, went to his office, and wrote a page of his novel. That was his goal. One page per day for 365 days. It took three years, but by the end of that time, he had completed the manuscript for his first book, A Time to Kill.
The book would eventually go on to be a bestseller, one of many to follow, and in the process Grisham would invent a new genre—the legal thriller. Soon, he would become one of the world’s most successful authors, but he did not do this by betting big.
Grisham became a writer by stealing away a little time each day, thirty minutes to an hour a day. That was it. With a growing family and a new career, it would have been reckless to quit law and become a full-time author.
In fact, that wasn’t even his goal; he was just writing to see if he could do it. He took one step at a time, and three years later he had a book. It wasn’t until he was two bestsellers in to his writing career that he left his law practice to pursue writing full time. That’s the art of the small bet.
3 Steps to Launch Your Creative Dream
What do we learn from this? As an author and entrepreneur, I consistently run into other creatives with big dreams who think they either have to starve for their art or become an overnight success, and neither are true.
At the same time, we can’t stand still. We have to move. So here are three actions you can take today to move you in the direction of your dreams:
Believe you have what it takes. When I began my career as a writer, I interviewed Steven Pressfield and asked, “When does a writer get to call himself a writer?” He said, “You are when you say you are.” For me, this meant I had to start thinking like a professional if I wanted others to take me seriously. Success always begins in the mind.
Behave as if it’s true. Like Grisham, when I decided I wanted to be a writer, that meant getting up every day and treating my hobby like a job. I wasn’t quitting my job or taking a giant leap. I was just taking one small step in the right direction. Frequent small steps beat occasional big leaps every time.
Become your dream. Over time, these steps add up. The process may take years, but a slow and steady strategy almost always outperforms the big bet. Before you know it, you are no longer dreaming of being a writer or an entrepreneur or an artist. You have become your dream.
Sure, some may risk it all and end up winning, but those are the exceptions, not the rule. When I was interviewing hundreds of creative entrepreneurs and full-time artists for my latest book, Real Artists Don’t Starve, I noticed most did not quit their jobs at first. Instead, they built their dream slowly on the side. And because they took their time, it lasted.
The first step to launching a big dream is just that—a step, not a leap. Small changes over time lead to massive transformation. You can do extraordinary things when you are patiently persistent.
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Frequent small steps beat occasional big leaps every time.
—JEFF GOINS
Question: Do you know people who took a huge leap instead of patiently pursuing their passions on the side? How did it turn out? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
May 24, 2017
How Little Things Can Lead to Big Results
3 Ways to Help You See and Play a Different Game, and Win
When it comes to winning at work, you have to focus on the big things. Don’t sweat the small stuff, right? Not so fast.
The small stuff does matter. In fact, according to Andy Andrews, bestselling author of The Little Things, it might matter more than you could possibly imagine.
Why the Little Things Matter
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“Everybody talks about the big picture,” Andy recently told me. But, he said, “every big picture that is ever created is created one brush stroke at a time.”
To explain that thought, he pointed to the Mona Lisa. Leonardo da Vinci’s friends mocked him for using such small brushstrokes, Andrews said. It took forever! But the egg was on their faces.
The painting da Vinci worked so hard on is now widely recognized as a “masterpiece of photographic quality,” created one tiny, misunderstood brushstroke at a time.
Little things matter in three ways, Andy told me. They help you see things better than the competition, play a different game, and lead in new ways.
1. Seeing Little Things Helps You Win
Whether by his materials or working through the coaches, Andy has helped nine college football teams win national championships—despite never playing football past the sixth grade.
“There are little bitty things I notice that can help them, that can turn games,” Andy explained. And that kind of attention to detail applies everywhere.
To show how it all matters, Andy pointed to the story of Michael Phelps’s great triumph at the Beijing 2008 winter Olympics, where he set a new record by winning eight medals. He won that eighth medal by 1/100ths of one second or “less time than it takes for a hummingbird to flap its wings once,” Andy said.
Phelps’s victory was made possible by every individual stroke and turn. And it was boosted by his disciplined training.
The great swimmer had pushed himself hard to build the strength and skill that he needed. He had also rested enough so that he could get the most out of the finely tuned machine that was his Olympic body.
In business, your competitors are right behind you, like Phelps’s fellow swimmers. You’re going to have to find the margin to win—and it doesn’t have to be by much.
2. Little Things Help You Play a Different Game
Andy emphasized that little things can affect not just sports but all of life. Despite having no background in real estate, for instance, he worked with a real estate firm to drastically increase its sales. How?
He started by sitting down with the leaders and asking some simple questions. When he learned that the listing agent typically makes half the money from sales, he said the objective should be simple: List all of the houses.
The real estate agents initially shook their heads at that one, but Andy researched why people listed their houses with a certain agent. He found it had nothing to do with the reasons businesses usually assumed for it.
People listed with agents who made a positive difference in their lives. So the new game, which none of the competition was yet playing, was for the agents to get into the community and make a meaningful contribution.
This lesson should be broadly true in other businesses as well. When we add value in unexpected ways that may not even be related to the game we’re playing, that creates a relationship. It may be small, but that relationship is how we get the business.
3. Little Things Help You Lead
I asked Andy how leaders can get people to focus on the little things without micromanaging them. He said it comes down to the example we set, not just what we say but what we do, and how we do it.
That makes sense because all leadership begins with self-leadership. If we pay attention to little yet important things, our people will look to us, see this, and often do likewise, though they may need even more encouragement.
I can think of four practical steps to build a team that pays attention to the little things, to serve the customers.
Don’t just do it, say it. Mind reading goes only so far. It’s a powerful combo to both tell your team you’re paying attention to the small stuff and also let them see you doing so.
Screen and hire for it. Bring in new team members who show signs they pay attention to details, especially how they affect people.
Reward it. When you see people on your team who pay attention to the little things that help customers, do a little thing yourself and thank and reward them for it.
Allow mistakes. When you see people missing the mark, you can correct them but be gracious. Realize that might take time to work its way into the DNA of your organization.
But don’t settle. Andy would also say keep prodding, because a new focus on the little things could make all the difference.
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The small stuff does matter. Maybe more than you could possibly imagine.
Question: Have you ever worked with someone who paid attention to the little things? What impression did they make on you? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
