Vol. XXIV

Dear Managers,

Preparing for a new year brings a sense of anticipation; a time to reflect on the past year and to prepare to build the fortunes of a new year. What can I do today to prepare to meet these future objectives, while maintaining a close eye on our current expectations? Let’s start by examining what is going well, and what is not.

ARE WE EVER SATISFIED?

Probably not. A manager’s daily emphasis must often be on those areas that are just not working. They become nagging anxieties, like a headache that won’t go away. Difficult issues require added focus and attention. They have a tendency to become magnified by the fact that they never completely pass; with every solution comes a new area of concern ready to take its place.

On balance, these areas of concern are a small fraction of the whole picture. Most areas are working very well. Similar to a medic who deals with life and death each day, our perspective can easily become skewed by constant problem solving. As a result, the many successful areas neither command our attention nor prompt our sense of satisfaction.

DOCUMENT YOUR SATISFACTION

It is essential to begin by bringing greater focus to those aspects of your life and business that deserve your full satisfaction. Develop a comprehensive list of those areas that you feel good about. Essentially, this is a list of all your non-financial business and personal assets. It is time to search for your nagging fulfillments rather than your nagging anxieties! This process will only serve to enhance, replicate and renew itself with proper focus and attention.

Your list should include:

• Areas that have exceeded your expectations for the year
• Individuals who have established increased value to your organization, making
your job easier and more effective
• Steps you have taken that have proven to be successful to your organization
• Personal victories that at one time seemed insurmountable
• Clear benefits you enjoy due to the success of your organization
• Even the smallest of pleasures from both a business and personal perspective

I guarantee that as you develop your document, those areas that may have loomed very large have now been knocked down to a much more realistic perspective. Having spent months in the throws of a very difficult time, the potential exists to retain your sense of anxiety and concern well after the problems are solved. You may awake one morning to realize the crisis has passed … only you didn’t take the time to notice!

Be sure to keep this document for reference in the future. It is all too easy to lose a balanced perspective and overlook the many areas that are working well.

NOW CAN WE LOOK AHEAD?

With the satisfaction document close at hand (Glued to your forehead! Pinned to your shirt!), begin to establish your objectives for the year.

• Define the areas that will best prepare your organization for the opportunities a
new year holds.
• Define and evaluate areas that have not lived up to your expectations.
• Separate the minnows from the whales; know your impact priorities.
• Project your priorities six months in advance – what preparation is required?
• Finalize your agenda and plan of action for the new year.
• Begin to establish your areas of focus for the short and long term with your
staff members.

Now that the two documents are complete, be sure to compare the results. I have no doubt that your bottom line looks pretty good. Sit back and enjoy the many assets of your organization and what you, and those with whom you are associated, enjoyed and accomplished.

SYNCHRONIZE YOUR RESOURCES

Prior to the end of the year it is essential that your entire staff be on the same page. They, too, have the responsibility as professionals to define their individual objectives and strategies for the new year. Establish your expectations for their participation in the planning process. Is it time to redefine the job descriptions of your staff based on their individual strengths and potential?

Review each member’s major and minor roles within your organization. I often find there is a desire to assume a greater responsibility for their roles when I share my confidence in their individual and professional skills. By nature, many underestimate their own potential or don’t want to step on another’s toes. Explain that steel tipped shoes may be required in your organization!

Obviously, the most qualified individuals to establish goals and objectives for your sales regions are the sales associates servicing those regions. While the overall company objectives will need to be established in your office and shared with your associates, it is only their expertise, knowledge and commitment that will allow these goals to be implemented and achieved.

In preparation for the new year, all parties should make the effort to write down the specifics of their individual goals. Schedule a meeting with each associate and ask that they come prepared with their objectives clearly defined. You may find instances where some goals are too lofty, or your perception of a territory’s potential has been overestimated, but a common ground can be found.

All parties gain a much greater insight for having participated in the process. Professionals expect and deserve to be a part of the process that establishes their goals for the year. No one wants to simply be told what their region must produce.

HO, HO . . . HUM!

Outside of the holidays and all they entail, has the month of December become a productivity wasteland? I have found that it completely breaks the rhythm nurtured over the previous months, and can take up to three months to re-establish. We all enjoy the holiday season, but is there a way to make this month a bit more rewarding professionally, retaining our focus and rhythm? With this concern in mind, I implemented two ideas.

Several years ago I began a December Promotion program which offers special incentives to our customers. The key to the program is that customers must see their representative and place orders during the month of December to receive the benefits of the promotion. Creating a sense of urgency (now) and the reality of a missed opportunity (don’t you dare), can be a very productive tool in gaining your customers’ attention at an undeniably hectic time of the year.

In addition to our December Promotion, I decided a year ago to change our company’s calendar year for forecasting purposes. Rather than starting our forecasted year on January 1, it begins December 1. By doing so, I believe it brings greater energy to a difficult month, and a heightened emphasis to starting the calendar portion of our year on the right foot. The objective is to insure that everyone is at full speed by January 1.

Not only did this maintain a better rhythm for the group, I found it to be much more efficient to prepare the forecasts a month earlier, as it preceded the clerical crunch inherent with a new year.

HOW YOU START…

The time to finalize your plans is well in advance. Use the excitement and anticipation – that back-to-school feeling – to maintain rhythm in your current year. It will allow you to begin your new year at full stride.

… IS HOW YOU WILL FINISH.

Personal Regards,

Keenan

INTERPERSONAL© is published by INTERPERSONALBIZ.COM, Keenan Longcor, Editor, ©2008. Duplication of this publication is permitted for both personal and business use. Excerpts may only be quoted with acknowledgment of INTERPERSONAL/INTERPERSONALBIZ.ORG as the source. For re-publication rights, please contact the editor at KEENAN@INTERPERSONALBIZ.COM