I wanted to share my experience of what “DONE” looked like as I completed my goal of writing and publishing a book last year. I think you’ll find my story one that you can relate to because it will echo similar experiences you may have had with projects in your business.

“What does DONE look like?”

It’s one of my favorite phrases to teach a leadership team. When we use it in Rock setting, we say, “if it is a SMART Rock, we know what DONE looks like.” It reduces ambiguity and increases clarity (hallmarks of a healthy team) and we’ve essentially all made an agreement about what we will FOCUS on for the next 90 days.

For the last nine months, I’ve had my own experience with “what DONE looks like.” And lest you think I had a bun in the oven (nine month terms bring back memories of LONG ago), I was actually writing a book! Now, this is no surprise to those who know me well, and you probably got a little sick of me telling you it was “done!” Being a 9-QuickStart on the Kolbe scale and a low C on my Culture Index Profile (Rainmaker!), no one has been more anxious than me for this project to be actually DONE!

What I’ve learned (and what many of you are also learning) is that there is DONE, there is DONE, DONE and finally, there is DONE, DONE, DONE!
What my stages of “Done” looked like:
* April 15th – The idea for the book solidified. (And taxes paid, just like you!)
* July 12th – The skeleton and content were complete, but then I had another idea: the book would be MORE USEFUL with tools! It was done, but not complete. (Do you ever “add on” to your Rock? I see you smirking!)
* August 5th – I was convinced I had the best book that would ever come out of MY brain; I was DONE! So, I sent it to some test readers for feedback. (Anyone ever got the “Well, I haven’t approved that yet!” look from a leadership team member?)
* September 30th – I had incorporated the feedback and the book went through its fifth full edit. (Thanks, Keen Editing Service!) I celebrated that it was DONE, DONE! Then, it had to be produced. (Have you ever said, “Hey, what did we ever do with that Rock we started in Q1?” or “Now we need to implement the Rock . . . oh crap!”)

Finally, on December 16th, the cover and interior were ready to PRINT! Is that DONE, DONE, DONE?

I could go ON and ON about the various stages of DONE, but to keep myself sane during this process, I made 90-day Rocks that helped me meet my eventual objective: a book, in print, available for others to use to add value to their enterprise.

My 90-day rocks and due dates helped me stay focused on my objectives. My rocks were self-imposed, and my assistant, Lindsey, kicks my butt if I’m off track (thanks, Lindsey!). I also learned the difference between FINISHED and PERFECT. During the feedback process, I felt paralyzed as to what feedback to take and what feedback to reject. I knew I wanted a simple, authentic and actionable book. (I knew what DONE looked like to me, but I was fearful of OWNING it!) Some readers said I should go deeper into theory, some said I should add more examples, some said I shouldn’t have a casual “kick your ass” tone, others said I needed to make it more professional. My coaching “idol,” Steve Chandler, graciously spent time with me on the phone and he said, “Jill, it will never be perfect, but you can DECIDE when it is finished.”

Call it DONE, or call it FINISHED. I’m happy to announce that by focusing on my Rocks each quarter, and saying NO to a lot of other crap, the book is DONE, DONE, DONE. The book is now available for sale on Amazon!

My next quarter’s rock is to get this book into the hands of people it can help. And that means creating some buzz. I invite you download a sample chapter by texting the word “chapter” to 44222, and our automated system will get it to you right away.

Why the free chapter? Because this quarter’s Rock is to sell the dang thing! Thanks in advance for creating buzz! Keep reading for a quick summary of why you need this book.

Earn It! A Summary:

When one of your employees asks for a raise, does your inner voice scream, “UGGHHH!”? For most bosses, this is reality. You feel pressure to “take care” of your people, but at the same time, you feel pressure from the P&L Statement. Earn It! is your solution! The next time someone asks you for a raise, hand them the book and say, “I’m glad that you are looking for opportunities for growth, please read this book and come talk with me in a few weeks.”

In Earn It!, your employees will find skills and tools that will help them EARN the raise they want by PRODUCING MORE MEASURABLE VALUE. They’ll learn (in a fun, simple, take-charge way) how to SEE the big picture of the company, SAY the things that need to be said, SOLVE issues within their departments and SERVE others by teaching them to be productive, too. The employees who take this opportunity will become the STARS of your company, freeing you up to do the strategic leadership you’ve always wanted to do.

Here’s to OWNING your DONE.

Any idiot can create something complex. It takes a real genius to make that “something” simple!

This is constant – as your business grows, it will NATURALLY tend to become more complex. By teaching everyone in the company how to ACTIVELY combat complexity, your company will grow faster and stronger. Here are three tools to stay “simply” on track.

1.  Simple Language:
•    Create a “Company Dictionary” – Define your top ten most-used terms, document them and be fanatic about using them. For example, what do you call a customer? A client, a partner or a user? Decide, then make it stick! Some clients even name their processes with catchy phrases to make them easier and fun to remember. These phrases are a shortcut to better understanding. One of my favorites: “It’s time for that client to get the ‘EGG BEATER!”’ (I’ll let you guess what that is!)
•    Use pictures – If you are struggling to understand each other, draw! Use that whiteboard and draw pictures for each other and customers. Creating visuals is a simple way to communicate even a complex concept.
•    Drop the fancy or political language – How would this be explained to Grandma? Silly, but getting people to speak and write in simple language supports better understanding.
•    Use a time limit – For example, ask, “In 30 seconds or less, tell me what the issue is.” Another variation of this is to say, “Describe that in 10 words or less.” Using these two phrases will get to the SIMPLE outcome – faster.

2.  Simple Processes:
•    The 1-hour rule – To break a pattern of complexity, grab a piece of blank paper and try this. Imagine that you had only one hour to train someone how to do a job/process. How would you spend your time? What are the CRITICAL things they would need to know? Make a list of what you’d teach in an hour that would get them to the BEST possible outcome. From that data, create a bullet list of topics or information that you’d teach. You now have the most simple process document for the job/process. (See the 3 Step Process Documenter Tool in the EOS Toolbox for how to document it formally).
•    What will we NOT do? – Add this question to your leadership toolbox. “If we do THIS, what will we NOT do?” Whenever you add to or tweak a process, ask yourself if you can take anything OUT of the process. When we only ADD to the processes, the complexity sneaks up on us, week by week.

3.  Simple Delegation:
•    The Priority List – Give your direct reports a general priority list. For example:

1. Current clients
2. New clients
3. Connectors
4. Internal operations

With a priority list, your team can prioritize almost any task that crosses their desk, and attend to it with the correct amount of focus and urgency.
•    The Decision Tree – I’ve seen a few forms of this, but the one I like best delegates authority according to the amount the decision will cost the company. For example “Keeping our Core Values in mind, do what you need to do to make the customer happy.  Any decision that costs the company less than $100 and solves the problem, do it.” As the employee matures professionally, give her a higher limit of decision making authority.

Here’s a simple way to create EXPONENTIAL PRODUCTIVITY in your company: (Warning! Here comes the shameless plug for my new book!) Buy my new book Earn It! and hand it to your employees! It will teach them to produce more measurable value BEFORE asking for a raise. Plus, it’s designed to have THEM do the work (via simple tools and exercises I teach them) of learning to be the STAR PRODUCER you need to move your company forward, forever!

Now on AMAZON. 

It’s often difficult for an entrepreneur to have faith that Innovation actually happens when a company holds steadfast to its Core Focus, but it’s true. And while the world is concerned with diversifying, and responding to or finding “disruptive” technology and industries, I’ve witnessed the Core Focus being the friend of the Visionary, more than its enemy.

EOS teaches that a business is more likely to die from a glut of opportunity rather than starvation. Having a specialty or a niche when you own an entrepreneurial firm naturally increases the chance for success, because being the expert in one area sets you apart from competition. Having a Core Focus allows you to target a very specific market, and make better use of your marketing efforts. And with a clear vision, your people are very clear and intentional in their efforts.

Think of your Core Focus as a filter for new opportunities or ideas from within the company, most often initiated by the Visionary. This filter that strains the ideas through the micro-porous filters of your Purpose, Cause or Passion and Niche (all things that are defined in the EOS Implementation process.) Most of the time, if the opportunity does not fit within the Core Focus, it gets rejected. But rather than thinking of this Core Focus as an all-or-nothing tool, I teach my clients to think of it as the brake pedal. Not screeching to a stop, but gently tapping the breaks on a new idea. Tapping the breaks in order to do some research, talk to a few customers, meet with a few influencers, put together a budget, and decide how much time and money to spend on exploring this new idea. Some clients have even created Research and Development budgets for new ideas and possible innovations. We tap the brakes, present a clear opportunity to the Leadership Team and make a decision based on data gathered vs. gut or enthusiasm (or just boredom from doing the same old thing!)

Here are some tactics to consider, helping ensure that Core Focus is a true friend that supports Innovation in your organization:

1. Suggest that the Visionary take an Innovation Rock each quarter and assign a budget to investigating his/her new ideas.
2. Have an Innovation meeting once a quarter with representatives from all departments. Asking for volunteers will get creative people in the room. Challenge the team to come up with ideas that will keep the company relevant with current customers, beat the competition and use current resources and relationships to create additional value for your industry.
3. Put a blank poster board in the break-room with the question, “What Do Our Customers Want? (One word).” Ask everyone to populate it, and strive for 100 different words by the end of the week. Bring the results to the Innovation team and report out on the exercise at the next All Company meeting.

By its nature, driving innovation produces many shiny things that can potentially dilute focus. Being mindfully dedicated to your Core Focus helps frame your innovation process. With the added measure of discipline, you will define fewer, but better opportunities and more likely achieve them.

”Five frogs are sitting on a log. Four decide to jump off. How many are left? Five, because deciding is different than doing.” That is how Fred Kofman, VP at LinkedIn begins his post entitled Are You Making This Mistake at the End of Your Meetings? If you are a member of LinkedIn, you can read the whole post here. It is worth it. Lots of practical advice. The gist is that you must make a commitment to solve the problem, not just discuss it.

Too often leaders get together and discuss their challenges and end meetings with no definitive plan to solve the problem. They do this sometimes out of fear that they may be wrong. Other times they do so because they can’t reach a consensus, or worse, they can’t reach 100% agreement. Whatever the reason, they end up revisiting their issues over and over. Or they choose to discuss and potentially solve an easier issue. Or they brush the issue under the rug. Or maybe they put band aids on the issues and plan on dealing with them some other time. Or they decide to gather more data. Or hope they go away. Sound familiar? Here are further points from Kofman’s article about commitment.

Time to Commit

A well-formed request demands a clear response. There are only three possible answers:

1. Yes, I commit.
2. No, I decline.
3. I can’t commit yet because,
   1. I need clarification.
   2. I need to check; I promise to respond by X.
   3. I want to propose an alternative.
   4. I can make it only if I get Y by Z.

Anything else is a weasel promise. Here are some interesting ways by which people often say, “No, I don’t commit.”

> Yes, I’ll try.
> OK, let me see what I can do.
> Seems doable.
> Let me check into it.
> Someone will take care of it.

When you declare, “I commit,” you assume the responsibility to honor your word unconditionally. You take on an obligation to deliver on your promise; or if you can’t, to do your best to take care of the requester.

When you declare, “I decline,” you might still try to do what you were asked, but you don’t commit. You do not give the requester the right to hold you accountable. It is much better to have a clear “no” than to get bogged down in a wishy-washy “I’ll do my best.”

There are many good reasons to decline. You may not have the resources; you may not have the skills; you may have a conflict with a previous commitment; you may anticipate problems; or you may just not want to do it.

When you are not ready to say “yes” or “no” right away, you may:

• Ask for clarification if the request is unclear to you. For example, if I ask you to help me with a project, you might ask, “What kind of help do you need?” or, “When do you need my help?”
• Promise to respond by a certain time if you need to check your resources, obtain commitments from others, or assess whether you can deliver to specifications. For example, if I ask you to prepare a report, you might answer, “Let me check if I have the information available. I’ll get back to you in an hour.”
• Counteroffer with an alternative proposal to satisfy the need behind the request. For example, if I ask you to meet today, you might respond: “I am not available today. Could we meet tomorrow? Or if it’s urgent, we could speak by phone.”
• Commit conditionally if your commitment depends on factors outside of your control. For example, if I ask you deliver a rush order, you can commit to do it only if I authorize overtime.

Clear commitments don’t mean that everything will work out. Life is unpredictable, so even the most impeccable commitments can break down. In my next post, I will explain how you can preserve effectiveness, trust, and integrity even when you can’t fulfill your promise.

A version of this post originally appeared on www.eosworldwide.com on 10/10/2013.

To remain competitive, today’s business owners want (and need) a highly engaged workforce – empowered to ask questions and challenge the status quo. Employees who have an “ownership thinking” mentality bring more traction to the company’s vision.

This issue recently played out with one of my clients. I could sense the frustration in his voice when he called, wondering how to address a middle management team’s complete lack of ability to solve issues and challenges that faced the company. I thought some field observation would help me better understand the situation, so we scheduled a visit. Meeting  day came – everyone filed in, nodded, smiled and listened. As they said “yes” in response to everything the leader offered up, it was clear they were completely checked out.

This was an un-engaged workforce…It was clearly time for an intervention.

Let’s begin with the end in mind. According to Dale Carnegie, an engaged employee is someone who is “enthusiastic about work, inspired and motivated by leadership, and empowered to do their work their way, confident they can achieve excellence.”

Before we can ask our team to be be solution finders, other key things need to be in place. If you feel you’re surrounded by a team of “yessers,” here are 5 Tips to consider, that can help recondition any team to engage at a higher level.

1. Communicate a Clear Vision: Is everyone clear on where the organization is going? If this clarity is lacking, it’s no wonder that people aren’t sure how to address the challenges.
2. Define Roles and Relationships: Do they understand their role, and what they’re accountable to do in support of the vision? Do they have good relationships with other roles, to support each other cohesively?
3. Encourage Engagement by Listening: State the issue, ask a question and then be silent.  If your tendency is to immediately provide the answers, it will take awhile to ‘retrain’ both yourself and your team. When a question is followed by silence, it creates an uncomfortable space that people want to fill. Another  good way to start is by asking everyone to take one quiet minute to write down their own thoughts around the issue. Both the silence, and the writing exercise demonstrate that you’re interested in their input. Warning: this will be VERY uncomfortable to you if you’ve been used to doing all the talking… Duct tape works!   
4. Create a Socially Safe Environment: Give your team the chance to fail, and a safe place to land when they do. Meeting challenges head on means taking risks. Not all employees are risk takers. This can be modeled by backing off on a tendency to micromanage. If employees feel they need to ask approval before making every decision, this reinforces a mindset of not thinking for themselves. Shift your thinking to removing obstacles and barriers to your teams’ success rather than telling them how things should be done.
5. Reward Employees’ Efforts: There’s disparity in the workplace around employee praise and recognition. Only 17% of employees believe their efforts are appreciated, while 51% of managers feel they do a good job. Lots of opportunity for improvement here! Rewards don’t have to be monetary. A well-timed note of appreciation, words of acknowledgement in front of the team, or a personal lunch are great options.

Participating on it’s own does not always equal “deep thinking” or “solutions finding,” but it is the first step towards creating a fertile environment of empowerment and contribution. Going back to the basics, reinforcing communication, and getting out of the way to foster participation are key in raising the level of employee engagement.