So...What's Next?!?

Fear of Growth?

Today I am attending our second monthly "sales accountability" meeting. I will go in reporting that SURPRISE - cold calling still works, and I still have not gotten past the letter A.

Last month my commitments to the group were 5 meetings per week, 100 dials per week and 10 people in the online training classes per week.

I have totally dropped the ball on the online training commitment, and maybe have completed a 1/3 of the dials, but my meetings have been on target.

So - if I increase my dials than most likely the ratio of meetings will go up - so I need to increase my commitment of meetings that I attend. I just need to re-focus on the online training classes.

This all sounds good in theory but there is one problem...in the back of my mind I question whether or not I can deliver on additional sales.  I have an account manager who is very good and an incredibly fast learner, but I need to be sure that I/We can  manage an increasing pipeline of work.

Over the weekend for about 15 minutes I entertained the idea of working for someone else; a bigger company that could support a bigger pipeline. But then I remembered why I went off on my own in the first place. I want to be in charge of my growth and not get pigeon holed. I think that I am in a much better position today to negotiate a role that would allow me expand my skills but I simply think I have more to learn on my own. I have some "unfinished business" in that I want to be able to achieve a certain level of success before returning to the world of bigger business.

I am very fortunate however, in being able to work with the Fuzebox team. They are growing so fast. A year ago they purchased their first office space. I was there before they has desks - I was there when they picked out the space for the studio. The past month they closed on another space.

Yesterday we had a little office party to celebrate the birthdays of Les, Daddy-O, and a couple of people on the IT Team. I had a chance to hang out a little with Glenn who is the co-founder of Fuzebox. As I explained to him, each day I come into the office I leave knowing a whole lot more about how  to manage projects and people than when I came in. I mean there has been chaos there and stress and let downs, but the level of confidence, idealism, and professionalism shines through it all. I love being able to experience that and allow it to rub off on me.

So, as I go to my Sales Accountability group, I am going to re-new my commitment to grow my business and know that I have good people surrounding me who can show me the way.

Setting Expectations

I had a breakthrough today. As with most things it took a few events to finally break through my thick skull.

The breakthrough was understanding mutual expectations.

Let's start with event one. I work with people whom I have a lot of respect for, it is a good place for me to be right now. One of those people had a casual conversation with me  today which led to talking about management. I admitted that is an area where I struggle. His subtle insight to me was that it is important to set expectations up from the start. I think I do tend to fail at that because I tend to "go with the flow" which means I am not always programmed to set expectations or to have expectations with the exception of what needs to be accomplished (big picture) and the immediate tasks at hand.

More and more I am recognizing what areas make me feel uncomfortable, and what I need to do about them.

The second knock in the head happened as I was driving home tonight. I was thinking about a presentation I am giving tomorrow to the National Advisory Board at KSU. I was thinking about the processes for a project that I have laid out and I was quite impressed with the level of thought and insight that went into the development of the processes. The thing is, I did not develop them, a former team mate did.

I began to slip into one of my old patterns. My husband says my biggest pet peave is unrealized potential. It is one thing that sets me off on a tangent. My mind started racing thinking about all the potential that this person has. This person is still a dear friend of mine and still helps me out in a variety of ways. I thought about sitting this person down and talking about their unrealized potential...

I stopped in my tracks. The thing I want most in my life right now is to be able to progress at my own speed and make the decisions that are right for me. The last thing I want right now is for people to tell me their judgements of me. I can not stop people from having their own judgements of me, but I am not interested in what they are right now. Yet here I am thinking about doing to a friend exactly what I do not want happening to me.

So, I realized that the whole expectations things is a two-way deal. In management, I need to set the overall expectations in much more detail, and I need to make sure that they match the other person's expectations.

I do not feel so bad that management is one of my bigger challenges right now. I am hearing from a lot of people I look up to that managing people is difficult for everyone and I do not need to feel so bad about feeling so challenged in this area.

Management Question

Alright, based on my stats - there are a few hundred people reading this blog. Why are you reading this blog? - I don't know! It is simply my ramblings. But I am honored that people find my ramblings worth their time.

So, if my blog has ever provided you with an answer or some inspiration or some insight, here is your chance to give back.

Hypothetical  management question;

A leader's job is to keep their team motivated, productive and passionate. I agree. But a leader's job is also to drive the direction of an organization, which means to redirect activity when there is a need to redirect. People do not like to be redirected - especially if they think their direction is right. Elimination is not always an option, in fact it is very often not the right option. But maintaining status quo is like ignoring a serious disease, especially in a world that moves so fast. If we can not get the team to keep pace because we do not want to upset the status quo then how much more harm have we done? We need to push,we need to rock the boat, but we need to do so while continuing to motivate a productive and passionate team.

I have some answers which are around picking the right team and listening to them. Giving them a voice and allowing them to help create the direction. I read that in a book or two. Living it was another story.

So my question is how do you motivate change without hurting the feelings of those who are resistant to change?

What I Have Been Up To

As I had posted on Twitter, my house looks like I am back in college. I have so much going on that I have bought 12 spiral notebooks to track everything.

Notebook 1 -  Is for my personal coaching sessions - which are starting to find a groove. Tonight I listed opportunities for self improvement. The list is still growing. It is both humbling and hopeful. Nothing that I am listing is a surprise and in fact I could offer all kinds of hows and whys I have certain behavior habits. However the hopeful part is that with acknowledgment and willingness to work on improvement - life can only get better.

Notebook 2 - Business Finance - we are not thinking small with this company - never have. But now it is so important that I really wrap my hands around how to make this company financially healthy so that it can grow big and strong.

Notebooks 3 and 4 and 5 are our product offerings - we have listed out 11 unique offerings that can be offered ala carte or as part of a larger scope of work, not including consulting. I have defined each offering and written out the needs analysis and qualification stages for each offering, but now I am working on very specific project management steps for each project as well as roles and responsibilities for the team that would be involved.

Notebook 6 - Future offerings that we have identified

Notebook 7 - Community work such as Enterprise 2.0, AECF, and TAG's social network

Notebook 8 - Overall roles and responsibilities, policies and procedure, and overall guidelines for the company.

Notebook 9 - The 4 P's for Concept Hub and how we can improve in each area.

Notebooks 10 and 11 Notes for self improvement in areas such as sales, communications, and management/leadership.

Notebook 12 -  Family Activities - now that summer is coming up, there is a lot more to keep up with and the kids are so different now that it is hard to keep up with the goals and needs of them both as well as overall family activities.

Besides ALL of that I am working on a number of proposals, and ongoing client projects.

I am also still speaking quite a bit, though I have not been promoting those engagements as much. I recently spoke for the GA Department of HR and the Mac User Group. This week I am speaking for the National Volunteer Health Association as well as leading a discussion at the Enterprise 2.0 workshop. On April 9 I will be in South FL  running a workshop during the day and am the keynote dinner speaker for the Broward County Human Resource Association. I am speaking at Flourishing Forum on April 17, I believe I am slotted to speak at the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce on April 29 and I am teaching a class for the GA Center for Nonprofits on May 14th.

Alright - I am exhausted - going to bed now....but I leave you with a quote - because I know you have been missing them...and look it's a sports quote too!

If you are bored with life, if you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things - you don't have enough goals.

Lou Holtz - The only coach in NCAA history to ever lead six different colllege teams to postseason bowl games, and a man who also won a national championship and "coach of the year" honors