4 Steps to Empower Yourself and Accomplish Your Goals

Posted on by Rob and Steve Shallenberger

People who have a sense of direction and purpose feel empowered. Yet only 10 percent of people have written professional and personal goals. Imagine how great it would feel to take all your good intentions and make them a reality. In other words, to get laser-focused on the things that matter most — and have the motivation to actually do them! 

A friend named John is an accountant and has several children. He’s been successful in many ways and always had a seemingly great life. However, he was a point where he felt like he had plateaued and was in somewhat of a lull. He’d done well financially and accomplished a lot, yet he felt like he could accomplish more and do more than he currently was. When asked about goals, he responded, “I’ve never really set goals in my life outside of work. I’ve thought of a lot of things I want to do but never really turned them into goals.” After a short discussion, he decided to set his roles and goals for the first time in his life. That year, he developed five specific goals — just one for each role. 

For example, in his “personal” role (taking care of himself), he came up with a goal to run a 5K in less than 30 minutes before July 30th. Another goal was related to a financial performance target for his role in the accounting firm that was a big jump from where his performance was the previous year.  

To John’s amazement, he accomplished all five of his goals by year-end. He said, “I wouldn’t have done a single one of these five things had it not been for my written goals.”  

He’s now a believer in the power and focus of roles and goals. The next year, he added more goals to each role and has continued to see significant growth in each area of his life. It took him 40 years, but he finally sat down and identified what mattered most to him. Goals took the impossible and made it possible. He designated five targets, and he landed the arrow right in the bullseye for each one. 

To set your own roles and goals, follow these four steps: 

1. Review your vision. 

A person’s goals should align with his or her vision. Rather than focus on the problem, shift the playing field to the vision. The vision is the purpose or destination, and the goals are the path to make the vision a reality.  

2. Identify your roles. 

Look at your life through the lens of the five to seven roles that matter most to you. For example, some of your roles might include manager, sales rep, parent, spouse, and friend. Your personal role is your most important role.  

3. Set SMART goals in each role. 

At some point in your career, you’ve likely heard of the SMART acronym. Goals are SMART when they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-specific. The same acronym can apply to your goals. Never use the words more or better; be specific with timeframes and amounts. In addition, give yourself flexibility within a goal and avoid the “daily” goals.  

4. Send your goals to three people who you trust. 

Several studies indicate this step significantly increases the likelihood of a person accomplishing his or her goals. Once you develop your annual goals, send them to three people who you trust. One of the keys to accountability is to share them with someone whose opinion you respect.  

What’s the impact? 

These simple steps will empower you. More importantly, they will cause you to look through the “Do What Matters Most” lens and lead a life by design. Like John, you’ll find yourself accomplishing things that previously never made it past the all-to-common phase of good intentions. 

As the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland points out, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” 

For a free roles and goals template, visit BYBgoals.com. 

Do Mission-Focused Tech Jobs Exist? Here’s What to Look For

Posted on by Adam Chace

As the incoming CTO at education technology company Curriculum Associates, a major factor in my decision to work for the company was the authenticity of its mission. This commitment to social impact has kept me motivated, engaged, and driven to continue making a true difference in people’s lives.

Looking for a purposeful job in tech? Here are few ideas to focus on that I’ve picked up after years of working in and hiring for a mission-driven organization:

What are the Company and Employees Excited About?

Before you schedule any interviews, do some digging into the company, its background, and culture. Suppose a company is truly mission-focused and puts people over profit. In that case, it will shine through in the language on its website, social media channels, and other communications like company newsletters and press releases. Even if you’ve heard good things about a company, taking the time to do this so you can form your own initial opinion going into the interview is crucial. In your interview, be sure to ask any questions you may have based on your research. How do your interviewers respond? Do they seem truly happy, driven by the company’s mission and values, and excited to work there? Do they find purpose in their jobs? Is there pride in the impact to users along with pride in the product itself? There’s a lot you can learn from simply observing how they respond to your questions. On the flip side, the questions they ask you are just as important. Suppose they’re equally focused on your fit and interest in the mission as they are on your hard skills. In that case, there’s a good chance they genuinely make corporate social responsibility (CSR) a priority at their company.

How are Employees Treated?

A truly mission-focused company values its employees, supporting them and ensuring they are satisfied and fulfilling the greater purpose they seek in their workplace. While researching to determine if a company has competitive benefits and good professional development opportunities before your interview is wise, it’s also important to ask your interviewers some targeted questions to uncover what life is like is really like at the company. Ask about topics like the company’s work/life balance, volunteering opportunities, and CSR initiatives that the company has implemented. Be sure to inquire about how the company measures and nurtures employee satisfaction. This will help shed more light on the working conditions of people who are actually employed at the company.

Does the Company’s Focus on Mission Extend to Its Products?

A company treating its employees well and prioritizing purpose is great for internal communications, but if you’re looking for a truly mission-focused environment, do some research into the company’s products as well. Companies with a deep dedication to mission are more likely to measure a product’s market reach, revenue, or customer acquisition and how those products positively benefit consumers and, as a result, further the company mission. Consider asking your interviewer about top company priorities for the year or quarter, listening carefully to how the work and its impact are described. Also, when speaking with members of the tech team, ask if they get opportunities to have first-hand access to the people their work helps. This is an especially crucial component because it fosters a connection with the technology work and the real faces and voices of those they reach and demonstrates the company’s true commitment to social impact.

What is the Turnover Rate?

Technology workers typically remain at a company for roughly two years, but mission-driven companies can often retain their employees much longer. When you speak with HR, ask them what the company’s turnover rate is, both generally and for tech employees specifically. In addition, if you talk with the engineering team, be sure to ask how long they have worked there, what drew them to the company, and what has kept them there. Listen for answers that highlight how the meaning and impact of the work are a big factor.

How Did They Handle the Pandemic?

As we move past the COVID-19 crisis, asking about the company’s COVID-19 response is a great way to determine a company’s true character and how they handled an extremely difficult situation. How did companies step up and support employees during the pandemic? Did they recognize their changing responsibilities, such as working from home while their children were also trying to learn from home, and make efforts to help them succeed? Is it mandatory for all employees to be back in the office now, or is the company giving them more freedom of choice on working style? On the product side, did the company shift resources to prioritize products essential to their customers, even if they risked revenue decreases? These are a few important questions to ask as you’re making your decision.

Determining if a company is actually mission-focused takes effort, but it is crucial to do your research if it is important to you. Taking the time to ask the above questions will ensure you are making an informed, educated decision on your next position to help you land a role that leaves you feeling fulfilled, supported, and motivated by the higher purpose of the company you choose.

Circular Economy Success Secret: Start With Product Design

Posted on by Mats W. Lundberg

The World Bank predicts that global annual waste generation will have reached 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050. That’s almost a 75 percent increase on the 2 billion tons we generate today. Building a circular economy will play a crucial role in reducing this forecast. Here, Mats W Lundberg, head of sustainability at global engineering group Sandvik, looks at why circularity needs to be considered from the initial design process; otherwise, it’s already too late.

Product lifecycles traditionally follow a linear economy, where materials are transformed into products that are then used and thrown away in a ‘take-make-waste approach. This is unsustainable.

The primary principle of a circular economy is keeping assets in use to create a responsible way of using resources while reducing waste. Circularity is crucial in closing the loop of product life cycles.

A key component of this is keeping products in use for as long as possible, such as sharing, maintaining, reusing, and remanufacturing the product. The preferred end-of-life strategy is recycling, which is perhaps the most common circular economy approach adopted.

Time to Act

Manufacturers should take steps to reduce waste in line with goal 12 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which is ‘responsible consumption and production’. In addition, a 2020 survey by IBM found that over seven in ten consumers say it’s either moderately or very important that brands are sustainable, environmentally responsible, and support recycling.

The circular economy is applicable for all products, no matter how large or small. For example, a mobile phone is a relatively small piece of technology but can produce a high amount of waste. The average person replaces their phone every two years, which can amount to as many as 35 phones in a lifetime.

Producing a single phone can require 240 gallons of water, and scientists have warned that many vital earth elements are becoming increasingly scarce due to the rate at which phones are manufactured and thrown away. This exemplifies how all products can require a large amount of materials, energy, and equipment to manufacture and are therefore part of a bigger chain of use and waste.

Conscious Design

This wider chain of consumption must be taken into consideration when designing a new product. Addressing ‘leakage points,’ where materials and energy escape out of the circular system, will maximize recovery of resources and help close the loop.

Redesigning products for sustainability is one of the advised actions in the World Economic Forum’s recent report, Net-Zero Challenge: The supply chain opportunity. The action recommends design choices that reduce waste, improve recyclability, and increase the share of input recycled materials.

Sandvik incorporates a number of these practices in working towards its goal of achieving 90 percent circularity by 2030. For example, metalliferous waste and other by-products from its sites are reused or recycled to the greatest extent possible. In addition, around 82 percent of our stainless steel and special alloys are based on steel scrap or secondary raw material, as we call it.

Sandvik also practices circularity in its rebuild solutions for the mining industry. Traditionally, an exhausted piece of mining equipment would be discarded, but Sandvik offers a more sustainable alternative through its machine refurbishment service. Sandvik’s rebuild solutions have been estimated to extend the life of machines by as much as seven years, while at a fraction of the materials and cost required for a new
machine.

However, Sandvik not only considers circularity in its products and services but in its packaging too. Its Package Selector Application (PSA), which is planned to go live in the second half of 2021, uses an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that can analyze the product to select optimized packaging. By using the smallest packaging possible, material waste is reduced, and energy can be saved during transportation.

Recycling is Key

As well as designing out waste, manufacturers should consider what will happen to the product at the end of its use. Recycling can be encouraged through buy-back schemes, where the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) buys back the product from the consumer and recycles it. For example, Sandvik and its strategic business partner Stamicarbon offer a buy-back program for recycling high-alloy steel.

When customers in the urea fertilizer industry need to replace old equipment at their plants, Stamicarbon decommissions the heat exchangers with the precious alloys. Sandvik uses the recycled material in the production of new stainless steels. The equipment is replaced quickly and easily to avoid disruption to production. Every part of the value chain benefits from this model.

Sandvik deploys another buy-back scheme at its Wolfram site, where used cemented-carbide tools are converted back into basic raw materials. Making new tools from recycled solid carbide requires 70 percent less energy than producing with virgin raw materials. The process retrieves a high amount of tungsten, a scarce and finite material with reserves of only around 100 years of consumption left.

Sandvik is committed to using engineering and innovation to drive sustainable business by keeping products and materials in use. Today, 18 of Sandvik’s production units report 100 percent waste recovery, and Sandvik is ranked among the top ten percent of environmental performers in its industry globally by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).

It’s undeniable that the current rate of waste generation in the world is unsustainable, and more needs to be done to prevent materials from going to landfills. Manufacturers have the power to create real change by making the circular economy a key consideration in product design, therefore helping to keep valuable materials in use and preserve resources.

Circular Economy Success Secret: Start With Product Design

Posted on by Mats W. Lundberg

The World Bank predicts that global annual waste generation will have reached 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050. That’s almost a 75 percent increase on the 2 billion tons we generate today. Building a circular economy will play a crucial role in reducing this forecast. Here, Mats W Lundberg, head of sustainability at global engineering group Sandvik, looks at why circularity needs to be considered from the initial design process; otherwise, it’s already too late.

Product lifecycles traditionally follow a linear economy, where materials are transformed into products that are then used and thrown away in a ‘take-make-waste approach. This is unsustainable.

The primary principle of a circular economy is keeping assets in use to create a responsible way of using resources while reducing waste. Circularity is crucial in closing the loop of product life cycles.

A key component of this is keeping products in use for as long as possible, such as sharing, maintaining, reusing, and remanufacturing the product. The preferred end-of-life strategy is recycling, which is perhaps the most common circular economy approach adopted.

Time to Act

Manufacturers should take steps to reduce waste in line with goal 12 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which is ‘responsible consumption and production’. In addition, a 2020 survey by IBM found that over seven in ten consumers say it’s either moderately or very important that brands are sustainable, environmentally responsible, and support recycling.

The circular economy is applicable for all products, no matter how large or small. For example, a mobile phone is a relatively small piece of technology but can produce a high amount of waste. The average person replaces their phone every two years, which can amount to as many as 35 phones in a lifetime.

Producing a single phone can require 240 gallons of water, and scientists have warned that many vital earth elements are becoming increasingly scarce due to the rate at which phones are manufactured and thrown away. This exemplifies how all products can require a large amount of materials, energy, and equipment to manufacture and are therefore part of a bigger chain of use and waste.

Conscious Design

This wider chain of consumption must be taken into consideration when designing a new product. Addressing ‘leakage points,’ where materials and energy escape out of the circular system, will maximize recovery of resources and help close the loop.

Redesigning products for sustainability is one of the advised actions in the World Economic Forum’s recent report, Net-Zero Challenge: The supply chain opportunity. The action recommends design choices that reduce waste, improve recyclability, and increase the share of input recycled materials.

Sandvik incorporates a number of these practices in working towards its goal of achieving 90 percent circularity by 2030. For example, metalliferous waste and other by-products from its sites are reused or recycled to the greatest extent possible. In addition, around 82 percent of our stainless steel and special alloys are based on steel scrap or secondary raw material, as we call it.

Sandvik also practices circularity in its rebuild solutions for the mining industry. Traditionally, an exhausted piece of mining equipment would be discarded, but Sandvik offers a more sustainable alternative through its machine refurbishment service. Sandvik’s rebuild solutions have been estimated to extend the life of machines by as much as seven years, while at a fraction of the materials and cost required for a new
machine.

However, Sandvik not only considers circularity in its products and services but in its packaging too. Its Package Selector Application (PSA), which is planned to go live in the second half of 2021, uses an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that can analyze the product to select optimized packaging. By using the smallest packaging possible, material waste is reduced, and energy can be saved during transportation.

Recycling is Key

As well as designing out waste, manufacturers should consider what will happen to the product at the end of its use. Recycling can be encouraged through buy-back schemes, where the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) buys back the product from the consumer and recycles it. For example, Sandvik and its strategic business partner Stamicarbon offer a buy-back program for recycling high-alloy steel.

When customers in the urea fertilizer industry need to replace old equipment at their plants, Stamicarbon decommissions the heat exchangers with the precious alloys. Sandvik uses the recycled material in the production of new stainless steels. The equipment is replaced quickly and easily to avoid disruption to production. Every part of the value chain benefits from this model.

Sandvik deploys another buy-back scheme at its Wolfram site, where used cemented-carbide tools are converted back into basic raw materials. Making new tools from recycled solid carbide requires 70 percent less energy than producing with virgin raw materials. The process retrieves a high amount of tungsten, a scarce and finite material with reserves of only around 100 years of consumption left.

Sandvik is committed to using engineering and innovation to drive sustainable business by keeping products and materials in use. Today, 18 of Sandvik’s production units report 100 percent waste recovery, and Sandvik is ranked among the top ten percent of environmental performers in its industry globally by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).

It’s undeniable that the current rate of waste generation in the world is unsustainable, and more needs to be done to prevent materials from going to landfills. Manufacturers have the power to create real change by making the circular economy a key consideration in product design, therefore helping to keep valuable materials in use and preserve resources.

The Morning Habits and Routines of Millionaires

Posted on by Peter Pru

Productivity and success are all about mindset and routine. Don’t believe me? Look no further than some of the greats: Oprah, Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. To us, they’re billionaires, people we look up to in hopes of one day achieving even just a tiny slice of what they have. But in all honesty, they’re not that much different than us.

What separates Winfrey, Zuckerberg, and Bezos from entrepreneurs like us is that they did something that only 0.08 percent of the world’s population has done: reached billionaire status by building something incredible. They remained persistent in their pursuit to the top. Every morning, they wake up, having their entire day mapped out for them, while most entrepreneurs wake up without a plan.

Mindset and routines are a prerequisite for success. And even then, people like Winfrey, Zuckerberg, and Bezos still follow a strict routine. I love looking up these different routines because you can catch a glimpse into the lives of these individuals. And it might be hard to believe, but most of the time, they’re incredibly normal. Bezos’ morning routine, for example, consists of “puttering” (his words) around the house, reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, and having breakfast with his kids.

My point is: what matters isn’t what you do in the morning, but that you stick to it. This is what will separate you from other people. How can you put this into practice? By using the B.U.I.L.D. system, which has helped me become a more productive and profitable business owner. I talk about this more on my YouTube channel, but let’s dive into it.

Build out your B.U.I.L.D.

The B.U.I.L.D. system is all about gamifying your routine. I know this all might sound a little corny at first, but you’ll quickly become addicted. I’ve been following B.U.I.L.D. for years now and even have some of my old journals. It’s crazy to look back and see how far I’ve grown since then. I call this version of myself the ‘old me’ because I don’t even recognize myself as a business owner or person anymore, and I couldn’t have gotten to this point without a routine.

Here’s a breakdown of what B.U.I.L.D. stands for:

  • B: BODY. This is pretty self-explanatory, but it’s about taking care of your physical well-being. Whether you lift weights at the gym, go on bike rides, or hike, it’s important to nurture your body.
  • U: (YO)U. Every person needs ‘you’ time. What are your passions and hobbies? Spend time doing whatever you want to do. This can be learning a new language, playing video games, or meditating — whatever makes you happy.
  • I: INCOME GOAL. This part of the system is focused on your career goals and doing what it takes to increase your profitability. Influencer outreach, writing copy, and creating ads are examples of what this step could look like.
  • L: LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS. Just like you need ‘you’ time, it’s also important to make time for your loved ones. Put the phone down and spend quality, uninterrupted time with your significant other, your kids, or your friends. 
  • D: ‘DO’. This step is simple: ‘do’ something that is aimed at developing who you are as a person. This can be reading, taking an online class, or attending a conference. 

Productivity is all about balance.

The point of the B.U.I.L.D. system is to create balance. It should never be ‘career’ versus ‘family’ or ‘mental health’ versus ‘physical health.’ When you’re too fixated on just one aspect of your life, the other areas will suffer. Too focused on your career? You’ll ruin relationships. Too focused on ‘you’ time? You’ll never hit your career goals. Productivity is only possible when you nurture all facets of your life. When you strengthen your mind and body, you have the energy and perspective to be a better leader. And when you prioritize your professional goals, it encourages you to put that same intensity into your personal life.

Routine creates habits.

In the B.U.I.L.D. system, you set quarterly goals for yourself but track your progress every day. The reason for this is that it takes time to see growth. For example, one of my goals a few years ago was to begin meditating. As a newbie, I could barely do it for more than five minutes. That increased to thirty minutes and then to forty-five minutes; today, I not only meditate every day, but I’m up to an hour. 

You don’t want to push yourself too hard at the onset and risk burning yourself out. But you also don’t want to go so easy that you aren’t pushing yourself at all. B.U.I.L.D. should make you feel comfortable in the uncomfortable while having an established routine will instill habits that will continue to serve you for years to come.

You should never lie to yourself about your routine. You’re the only one that’s going to be looking at your journal, so if you’ve been slacking in one area and you record that you’ve made progress, it’s only going to hurt you in the long term. Always be honest with yourself and hold yourself accountable.

Reflect and change.

Part of this honesty and accountability is reflecting on your progress. I look at my journal every Sunday to measure my progress from last week. Let’s say I didn’t work out as much as I wanted to, or maybe I had to work more so I didn’t get to spend as much time with my family. I would then prioritize those areas for the upcoming week. It doesn’t matter if something ‘good’ or ‘bad’ happened to you; you should view these circumstances as data. Like in business, you should then use that data as insight into how to improve your productivity and development. When you change the input, you change the output. 

Wake up in the mornings with a game plan. When you wake up knowing what you’re going to do for the day, you can’t fail. Half of the hard work is just showing up every day, but with consistency, you’ll soon notice a tremendous difference in yourself — and so will the people around you.

https://youtu.be/DZgJWS14ws8

The Morning Habits and Routines of Millionaires

Posted on by Peter Pru

Productivity and success are all about mindset and routine. Don’t believe me? Look no further than some of the greats: Oprah, Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. To us, they’re billionaires, people we look up to in hopes of one day achieving even just a tiny slice of what they have. But in all honesty, they’re not that much different than us.

What separates Winfrey, Zuckerberg, and Bezos from entrepreneurs like us is that they did something that only 0.08 percent of the world’s population has done: reached billionaire status by building something incredible. They remained persistent in their pursuit to the top. Every morning, they wake up, having their entire day mapped out for them, while most entrepreneurs wake up without a plan.

Mindset and routines are a prerequisite for success. And even then, people like Winfrey, Zuckerberg, and Bezos still follow a strict routine. I love looking up these different routines because you can catch a glimpse into the lives of these individuals. And it might be hard to believe, but most of the time, they’re incredibly normal. Bezos’ morning routine, for example, consists of “puttering” (his words) around the house, reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, and having breakfast with his kids.

My point is: what matters isn’t what you do in the morning, but that you stick to it. This is what will separate you from other people. How can you put this into practice? By using the B.U.I.L.D. system, which has helped me become a more productive and profitable business owner. I talk about this more on my YouTube channel, but let’s dive into it.

Build out your B.U.I.L.D.

The B.U.I.L.D. system is all about gamifying your routine. I know this all might sound a little corny at first, but you’ll quickly become addicted. I’ve been following B.U.I.L.D. for years now and even have some of my old journals. It’s crazy to look back and see how far I’ve grown since then. I call this version of myself the ‘old me’ because I don’t even recognize myself as a business owner or person anymore, and I couldn’t have gotten to this point without a routine.

Here’s a breakdown of what B.U.I.L.D. stands for:

  • B: BODY. This is pretty self-explanatory, but it’s about taking care of your physical well-being. Whether you lift weights at the gym, go on bike rides, or hike, it’s important to nurture your body.
  • U: (YO)U. Every person needs ‘you’ time. What are your passions and hobbies? Spend time doing whatever you want to do. This can be learning a new language, playing video games, or meditating — whatever makes you happy.
  • I: INCOME GOAL. This part of the system is focused on your career goals and doing what it takes to increase your profitability. Influencer outreach, writing copy, and creating ads are examples of what this step could look like.
  • L: LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS. Just like you need ‘you’ time, it’s also important to make time for your loved ones. Put the phone down and spend quality, uninterrupted time with your significant other, your kids, or your friends. 
  • D: ‘DO’. This step is simple: ‘do’ something that is aimed at developing who you are as a person. This can be reading, taking an online class, or attending a conference. 

Productivity is all about balance.

The point of the B.U.I.L.D. system is to create balance. It should never be ‘career’ versus ‘family’ or ‘mental health’ versus ‘physical health.’ When you’re too fixated on just one aspect of your life, the other areas will suffer. Too focused on your career? You’ll ruin relationships. Too focused on ‘you’ time? You’ll never hit your career goals. Productivity is only possible when you nurture all facets of your life. When you strengthen your mind and body, you have the energy and perspective to be a better leader. And when you prioritize your professional goals, it encourages you to put that same intensity into your personal life.

Routine creates habits.

In the B.U.I.L.D. system, you set quarterly goals for yourself but track your progress every day. The reason for this is that it takes time to see growth. For example, one of my goals a few years ago was to begin meditating. As a newbie, I could barely do it for more than five minutes. That increased to thirty minutes and then to forty-five minutes; today, I not only meditate every day, but I’m up to an hour. 

You don’t want to push yourself too hard at the onset and risk burning yourself out. But you also don’t want to go so easy that you aren’t pushing yourself at all. B.U.I.L.D. should make you feel comfortable in the uncomfortable while having an established routine will instill habits that will continue to serve you for years to come.

You should never lie to yourself about your routine. You’re the only one that’s going to be looking at your journal, so if you’ve been slacking in one area and you record that you’ve made progress, it’s only going to hurt you in the long term. Always be honest with yourself and hold yourself accountable.

Reflect and change.

Part of this honesty and accountability is reflecting on your progress. I look at my journal every Sunday to measure my progress from last week. Let’s say I didn’t work out as much as I wanted to, or maybe I had to work more so I didn’t get to spend as much time with my family. I would then prioritize those areas for the upcoming week. It doesn’t matter if something ‘good’ or ‘bad’ happened to you; you should view these circumstances as data. Like in business, you should then use that data as insight into how to improve your productivity and development. When you change the input, you change the output. 

Wake up in the mornings with a game plan. When you wake up knowing what you’re going to do for the day, you can’t fail. Half of the hard work is just showing up every day, but with consistency, you’ll soon notice a tremendous difference in yourself — and so will the people around you.

https://youtu.be/DZgJWS14ws8

Returning to the Office is Ultimately Good for Business

Posted on by James Berry

As the vaccination rollout is gathering pace and restrictions are easing, many business leaders are considering if and when to return to the office. While saving on office costs and commuting time is attractive for any business leader, there are some key factors to reflect on that may not be immediately apparent and could affect the success of the business in the longer-term. 

For many, working from home has been a godsend. The absence of stressful commutes, spending more time with loved ones, and the quiet solitude of a home office are just some of the benefits of not leaving home to go to work. From a business perspective, many companies lucky enough to continue working through the pandemic have saved on infrastructure and physical rental costs, so they have seen an uptick in profitability.

So why are businesses thinking about returning to bricks and mortar? What is driving this decision, and what are the long-term implications of this decision from a business perspective? Here I’ve examined five reasons why I think leaders should be considering a move back to working in a physical office environment.

Culture and New People

Building all-important company culture and solid engagement in this remote environment is incredibly difficult with existing staff, let alone new joiners. Data supports the hypothesis that employees who are more connected to their co-workers and employers are more productive and loyal. According to studies by the Smith School of Business and Gallup Organization, reported in Harvard Business Review, disengagement in work can be costly. The research revealed that disengaged staff had 37% higher absenteeism — much more difficult to measure with remote teams — and made 60% more errors.

Therefore, businesses must consider how important it is to their business strategy to foster long-term, committed teams who are all pulling in the same direction. They must then ask themselves honestly whether their teams are as engaged and connected working remotely as they were when meeting face to face.  

Physical and Mental Health

There is no doubt that working from home can be intense. You must intentionally create thinking time and separation between home and office life. There is no commute to prepare for or decompress from the workday, which is taking a toll on people’s productivity and overall health. A survey commissioned by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), saw 59% of respondents reveal that they felt more isolated from colleagues, 46% claiming they took less exercise, and 56% finding it harder to switch off as a result of working from home. 

These trends are not sustainable and can damage health and productivity if not carefully managed.

Serendipity

Working from home can easily encourage pre-existing silos to be exacerbated as people will increasingly collaborate with the people they currently work with to complete tasks. Bumping into other people or creating moments to talk to people outside of day-to-day teams is much harder to organize and is often one of the first things to go.

There are myriad disadvantages of siloed working, including duplication of efforts, a breakdown of communication, and lower creativity as teams lose the opportunity to casually cross-reference projects and ideas.

Even with a phased return to work, silos can easily continue as social distancing guidelines will limit the number of staff within an office, meaning managers might be limited to only having the same team in at a time.

Productivity

The early productivity gains originating from people working longer hours because of time freed from commuting have proved, in many cases, to be temporary. This increased work time was only sustainable for a short while, as evidenced by JPMorgan, among others, who have shown a drop in employee productivity as the pandemic has kept workers remote.

According to an April 2020 report by Wundamail, an over-reliance on video chat can lead to a plummet in productivity. Of the 20,000 remote workers surveyed in 2020 across the UK and US, 56% wished they spent less time on video calls altogether, calling for virtual meetings to be reduced. Interestingly though, 73% of respondents regarded video conferencing as getting “work-done”, which suggests that video calls, for some, give a dangerous illusion of productivity, when in reality, very little work is completed or produced.

Hybrid Working

Some employers may well be considering a hybrid route, where people are offered the flexibility to come in on some days and not others. Or, in some cases, a percentage working from home exclusively. This means that there will be a constant mix of people at home and work.

Realistically, it isn’t easy to balance half a team working at home and half opting to come into the office in the medium or longer term. How do you make sure that even with the best of intention, people that are out of sight are not out of mind when quickfire opportunities come in? How can you keep promotions fair and ensure inclination does not sway towards the people sitting in front of you who you can connect with more readily?

So much of what we do in this distributed work environment, others don’t see. They may see the result, but not the other little things that go into making a project happen. For employees, being at the office will make their contributions more visible to managers and senior leadership.

Business and work teams have been living off knowledge and relationships built over time in the physical office during the last year of remote working. This has enabled teams to continue to function and perform. This knowledge erodes over time, and the ease of communication built up through physical presence simply cannot be easily substituted by Zoom. Business leaders at this juncture need to think carefully about the secret sauce that drives their business and whether a dispersed team can deliver the innovation and drive necessary to take them to the next level.

Returning to the Office is Ultimately Good for Business

Posted on by James Berry

As the vaccination rollout is gathering pace and restrictions are easing, many business leaders are considering if and when to return to the office. While saving on office costs and commuting time is attractive for any business leader, there are some key factors to reflect on that may not be immediately apparent and could affect the success of the business in the longer-term. 

For many, working from home has been a godsend. The absence of stressful commutes, spending more time with loved ones, and the quiet solitude of a home office are just some of the benefits of not leaving home to go to work. From a business perspective, many companies lucky enough to continue working through the pandemic have saved on infrastructure and physical rental costs, so they have seen an uptick in profitability.

So why are businesses thinking about returning to bricks and mortar? What is driving this decision, and what are the long-term implications of this decision from a business perspective? Here I’ve examined five reasons why I think leaders should be considering a move back to working in a physical office environment.

Culture and New People

Building all-important company culture and solid engagement in this remote environment is incredibly difficult with existing staff, let alone new joiners. Data supports the hypothesis that employees who are more connected to their co-workers and employers are more productive and loyal. According to studies by the Smith School of Business and Gallup Organization, reported in Harvard Business Review, disengagement in work can be costly. The research revealed that disengaged staff had 37% higher absenteeism — much more difficult to measure with remote teams — and made 60% more errors.

Therefore, businesses must consider how important it is to their business strategy to foster long-term, committed teams who are all pulling in the same direction. They must then ask themselves honestly whether their teams are as engaged and connected working remotely as they were when meeting face to face.  

Physical and Mental Health

There is no doubt that working from home can be intense. You must intentionally create thinking time and separation between home and office life. There is no commute to prepare for or decompress from the workday, which is taking a toll on people’s productivity and overall health. A survey commissioned by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), saw 59% of respondents reveal that they felt more isolated from colleagues, 46% claiming they took less exercise, and 56% finding it harder to switch off as a result of working from home. 

These trends are not sustainable and can damage health and productivity if not carefully managed.

Serendipity

Working from home can easily encourage pre-existing silos to be exacerbated as people will increasingly collaborate with the people they currently work with to complete tasks. Bumping into other people or creating moments to talk to people outside of day-to-day teams is much harder to organize and is often one of the first things to go.

There are myriad disadvantages of siloed working, including duplication of efforts, a breakdown of communication, and lower creativity as teams lose the opportunity to casually cross-reference projects and ideas.

Even with a phased return to work, silos can easily continue as social distancing guidelines will limit the number of staff within an office, meaning managers might be limited to only having the same team in at a time.

Productivity

The early productivity gains originating from people working longer hours because of time freed from commuting have proved, in many cases, to be temporary. This increased work time was only sustainable for a short while, as evidenced by JPMorgan, among others, who have shown a drop in employee productivity as the pandemic has kept workers remote.

According to an April 2020 report by Wundamail, an over-reliance on video chat can lead to a plummet in productivity. Of the 20,000 remote workers surveyed in 2020 across the UK and US, 56% wished they spent less time on video calls altogether, calling for virtual meetings to be reduced. Interestingly though, 73% of respondents regarded video conferencing as getting “work-done”, which suggests that video calls, for some, give a dangerous illusion of productivity, when in reality, very little work is completed or produced.

Hybrid Working

Some employers may well be considering a hybrid route, where people are offered the flexibility to come in on some days and not others. Or, in some cases, a percentage working from home exclusively. This means that there will be a constant mix of people at home and work.

Realistically, it isn’t easy to balance half a team working at home and half opting to come into the office in the medium or longer term. How do you make sure that even with the best of intention, people that are out of sight are not out of mind when quickfire opportunities come in? How can you keep promotions fair and ensure inclination does not sway towards the people sitting in front of you who you can connect with more readily?

So much of what we do in this distributed work environment, others don’t see. They may see the result, but not the other little things that go into making a project happen. For employees, being at the office will make their contributions more visible to managers and senior leadership.

Business and work teams have been living off knowledge and relationships built over time in the physical office during the last year of remote working. This has enabled teams to continue to function and perform. This knowledge erodes over time, and the ease of communication built up through physical presence simply cannot be easily substituted by Zoom. Business leaders at this juncture need to think carefully about the secret sauce that drives their business and whether a dispersed team can deliver the innovation and drive necessary to take them to the next level.

8 Questions Every Aspiring Business Owner Must Ask

Posted on by Patrick Burke

Do you have what it takes to own a business? Your first answer might be that it depends on the market, but that’s only part of the story. So is thinking it depends on your product. The bottom line is it depends on you.

We tend to hear more about business successes than failures. Although this year, given the pandemic and its economic impacts, we’ve seen plenty of failures, most people still believe that if they want to be a successful business owner, they can. But if you don’t focus on your own drive, abilities, and tolerance for stress and uncertainty, you’re missing a key part of the equation. And if you start a business without really finding out if you should, you’re making a grave mistake.

Say you’ve got a great idea. You’ve got a niche service. You’ve done the research, and there’s space for you to grow a company. Before you start looking for a storefront, look in the mirror by asking yourself these eight simple but vital questions.

1. Can I listen?

Business owners must process a vast amount of verbal communication. They need to be good at listening, adept at assimilating and filtering, and doing it fast — so all communication, from employees to customers to your advisers, needs to result in a positive outcome for your business.

2. Can I lead?

Unless you’re planning on opening a shoeshine stand or a one-person consultancy, you need to be able to lead and motivate people. You’ll get the most value from your employees if they know you value them — and you may need to occasionally swap hopes and aspirations over coffee with your employees to really understand their needs. Once you understand their needs, you can better motivate them, which will in turn help you achieve your own dream. It’s an excellent trade-off.

3. Can I sell?

This question often hits a nerve. Very few products sell themselves. Generally, a business must convince a customer that have a need, and more importantly, that this product meets their need — and delivers the best possible value. If that’s actually true, it’s simply a matter of being interesting enough that the customer is willing to continue a conversation long enough for you to establish these three truths. That’s about being persuasive. If you have any doubt about your ability to persuade, ask your partner what they think. It’s likely you did some sort of sales job on him or her at some very critical juncture. Were you successful?

4. Am I competitive?

To be a good business owner, you must enjoy doing whatever it takes to overcome all your business supremacy challenges. You must be motivated by a burning desire to do these things better than your competition — and realize that few products or services are so unique that your customer can’t get something comparable elsewhere. You must have the need to not only please your customer, but to do it so well you’re beating your competition senseless. How do you know? Check your financial statements — they’re your scoreboard in this game. If you see profits, be ready to reinvest them right back into the business, or you won’t continue winning. That’s what most successful entrepreneurs I’ve dealt with do. They don’t necessarily make money so they can spend it.

5. Am I a hard worker?

Owning your own business is entering into a highly consumptive relationship, so be honest with yourself. Don’t start a business to support your golf habit. You can do that a lot easier with a high-paying job. Business ownership is the wrong avenue if your quest is simply more personal resources. Your own business must be more than just a means to an end. It’s everything — and must be a passion.

6. Am I a risk-taker?

This isn’t a matter of leaving your umbrella at home when there’s rain in the forecast. All growth comes from taking risks and executing at the highest possible level. You’ve also got to be willing to wildcat; dry holes are necessary to find the gusher. If the thought of zero return on your time and money over what could be protracted intervals is too daunting, stay put.

7. Do I have a skill that adds significant value to this market?

Successful business owners are either the best player at a critical position or the second-best player at several positions. You need to have outstanding technical skills if you’re considering a technical business; impeccable sales skills — and the desire to use them consistently and frequently — if you’re considering a sales-driven business. It’s very difficult to drive a business with only strong administrative skills. The only exception may be a franchise, which has an extremely process-driven approach. In my experience, “right-sized” former executives of process-driven public companies are often successful franchisees. In essence, a franchisor turns the operation of a business into a job with clearly defined dos and don’ts included in its recipe for success.

8. Do I have a clear goal for my business?

This last question may be the most critical: the point of your business must be much more than to escape from your current job. To create a business with real value, you need to set out to create and operate a real value business. For a business to be a true asset, it must consistently turn a significant profit after paying you a fair salary. Otherwise, it’s little more than what I call “an incorporated job.” And moving a business from the status of an incorporated job to an asset requires a series of very purposeful, difficult, and risky acts. An uncommitted owner will inevitably fail to execute these acts if they don’t make asset creation a business goal from the start.

I’ve had tough conversations with clients who were dead set on starting their own businesses, just because they had an affinity for a certain product or service. However, if they know deep down they don’t want to engage in the complicated process of value creation, then starting a business means they will endure significant pain, take on outsized risks, and work harder than any employee without achieving a commensurate reward. But if you are willing to work harder and smarter than ever before towards that goal of value creation, that is certainly laudable.

How to Feedforward, and Never Feedback

Posted on by Paul Cowan

We were a young breakaway agency, packed with talent and hungry for all the opportunities we could get. Our overhead included a ridiculously large budget for salaries that had to be covered every month. We brought in all the clients we could and always asked for their feedback on our work and our agency — how did we do? What could we have done better? Like many start-up businesses, we thought asking for feedback would prove useful and demonstrate that we valued the client relationship above all else. We asked for feedback on almost everything.

Unquestionably, their feedback was filled with good intentions. But our clients tended to be untrained in how to deliver useful feedback. It was often filled with a mix of minute details and opinions, focusing on what was wrong rather than a balanced, useful perspective. The process created tension — our clients were uncomfortable giving feedback and tensed up when they had to. The very act of providing feedback seemed to put them into a negative mindset — the higher the tension, the more negative their feedback.

We’d respond to client feedback as best we could. But it ate up time, eroded our already thin margin, often failed to improve the work, and occasionally increased friction with clients rather than decreased it. We knew there had to be a better way. It was a client-sponsored program that showed a better way, and I have used it ever since: forget about feedback and just focus on feedforward.

We found feedforward could be easily used by even the youngest and most naive clients to give clear future direction. We grabbed the idea and ran with it, using it with every client and internally on candidates, appraisals, office designs, pitch work, and each other. Doing so saved us work, time and money, and helped improve pretty much everything.

While it’s especially useful for agencies and clients, feedforward can work for any enterprise. It can result in meaningful information from any stakeholder, from leadership to consumers. As businesses get back on their feet, we’re facing a climate that’s more competitive than ever, and feedforward can help gain a tremendous advantage.

Here’s how it works:

Get your eyes out of the rear-view mirror. 

Feedback looks at where you were, not where you need to go. It tends to highlight what was wrong, taking energy and focus away from steps for improvement. Meanwhile, time marches on, and you get closer to deadlines every day. Putting yourself in your client’s shoes, consider what it’s like to ride in a car when the driver is constantly checking behind rather than focusing on the road. Doesn’t inspire too much confidence, does it. Without necessarily knowing why, clients get uncomfortable. The friction comes from being asked to provide critique and being concerned that the process of responding could derail momentum and cause delays. 

Focus on what’s in front of you. 

The feedforward structure enables a response from even the most inexperienced clients in a stress-free, organized way. The result is an accurate map of what needs to happen next and a sense of collaboration and shared direction without tension. Couched in the positive, it also tends to build trust. The key is to begin by asking clients to note their instant gut reaction to a proposal, idea, or experience. Sometimes new ideas provoke uncomfortable feelings; we encourage clients to use these feelings as a signal that a new, different, or strong idea might be emerging. In other words, it’s not necessarily a bad thing that they are uneasy about a potential strategy or idea. In fact, it may be a sign of something good.

Ask four essential questions. 

Whoever is providing the feedforward, what’s needed is a response that covers all the bases and allows for everything from initial reactions to tapping into what seems like gut instincts to fuller guidance.

  1. What inspires, excites, or moves you? It could be anything, however small or relevant to the brief or work at hand.
  2. What works? Or what’s just okay? This is an opportunity to acknowledge which aspects are good but not amazing.
  3. What’s missing? This is the chance to give useful guidance. It could be that what’s missing is something that inspires or excites. Or it could be something more ordinary, such as the compulsory requests in a brief.
  4. What would make the idea bigger and better? This provides the opportunity to build on what has been done. It also allows clients and others to articulate ideas for the agency to consider.

Feedforward delivers on its full potential when those providing it are totally honest and open. We found that when questions are framed positively, it’s easier to be thorough. I recommend clients write down their feedforward before sharing it — since in conversations, we are often influenced by others. Writing feedforward in advance also gives a client team the chance to align their thoughts and keep the messaging consistent and on point.

What feedforward does is open up a sense of possibility.

Feedforward gives agency teams a way to feel great about what they’re already done and then build on it. It’s certainly worked that way in our firm and likely will in yours.

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