Time to Reflect on 2020 and Work on Your 2021 Plan
Wow! Wasn’t that a year? It felt like a couple of years jammed into one – and was certainly one of the most interesting of our lives.
Two things to consider over the holidays:
- Gratitude for all the great things this crazy year has brought you – perhaps a reminder of what’s most important, your work or home team who rallied and became stronger, mastering technology in a way you never thought you could do
- Reflection about all those good things.
The best way to do this is to use the tools in Chapter 17 Plan, Plan, Plan Again, in Your Oxygen Mask First.
- Do a one-page annual reflection and then reset your plans for the rest of your life. Look at what you want at the very end of your life, then in 10 years, three years and one year. Then build out your action plan for the next quarter.
- Take an hour to contemplate by yourself, draft your plan, then share it with your family and/or your partner in life and/or a good friend. Discuss it with them and see if they have any comments or questions to enhance your thinking.
You can suggest they do one, as well. And you can do one for your family or as a couple. The key is your reflection on the past year, through the windows of Work, Self and Life; and to look forward to what you want to create.
If you find that people in your life are still feeling burdened by the events of this year – COVID or other things – here are a few more resources:
- Manage Your Mental Health - A series of articles I wanted to share that I’m hoping will help you either manage your own mental health or help someone around you that might be stressed.
- Chapter 15 - Love the Lessons to help them to see another side of what may be painful for them, and to change their story from ‘woe to wow’.
Good luck with your reflections and your plans!
The Loss of a Legendary Leader: Tony Hsieh
Over the weekend, I read an article that made me feel sad: the story of a wildly successful CEO whose mental health slipped down a similar path to many successful performers and musicians - like Elvis Presley, who I talk about in Your Oxygen Mask First.
We can never know the full details – nor should we – of these situations, but what I read in the Forbes article about the last months of legendary Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, underlines the importance of helping to prevent what happened to him - for ourselves and for those we care about.
Even though he was known for his ‘exceptional generosity, humanity and vision’, he struggled with mental health and addiction, and surrounded himself with people who allegedly didn’t have his best interests at heart. Interventions by concerned family and friends, including the singer Jewel, were unsuccessful.
“I made a list of the happiest periods in my life, and I realized that none of them involved money. I realized that building stuff and being creative and inventive made me happy. Connecting with a friend and talking through the entire night until the sun rose made me happy. Trick-or-treating in middle school with a group of my closest friends made me happy. Eating a baked potato after a swim meet made me happy. Pickles made me happy.” - Tony Hsieh
When people struggle mentally, they often reach for addictions and distractions to help disassociate from the pain. When they do it long enough, that behaviour starts to feel normal, and the ante and the doses are upped to find relief - and that creates a new source of pain.
Help and Support
The best help is available from a professional - a psychologist or counsellor - whose daily work is helping people with mental pain. You can find one with a simple google search, ask your doctor or contact a local mental health hotline – just google “mental health hotline” and your city.
Additional resources
The ALGEE model – a five-step mental first aid action plan to guide what to do when someone you care about is struggling (source: Mental Health First Aid)
The Mental Health Continuum - helps someone assess where they are, and to understand the behaviours that signal trouble.
Image Source: BC Emergency Health Services
The Challenge
- If you are struggling (in the orange or red zone above) – or know someone who is – seek help from a counsellor or psychologist. Ask your doctor if you don’t have one or call the Mental Health hotline in your area. Everybody needs help, at one time of another.
The Ask: Stories
At Lawrence & Co., we have a real passion to help people get past the stigma of mental health challenges – especially high-performing leaders who seem to be more susceptible to burnout – and to make sure they get the help and resources they need.
And, to help others, we sometimes sensitively (and anonymously) share stories about those who have had extreme mental health or burnout issues and found a way to come back to a stronger, more resilient life.
Like this story about a CEO we worked with, who found his way back from a deep burnout and is now loving life and setting records in his business.
Know A Story That Should Be Shared?
If you know of anyone with a story to share that can help others, please get in touch.
Tony Hsieh Image Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Topgrading Training
My Business Would Be So Much Easier If I Didn’t Have to Deal with People!
There are many challenges in the world of business, but getting the right people doing the right things consistently is the biggest issue for most CEOs and leaders.
I believe that most people have great intentions - then life and their own issues get in the way.
Close to a decade ago, when doing research for a book, I interviewed 50 CEOs around the world about what had made a difference in their ability to successfully scale their companies. Fascinatingly, eight of those CEOs strongly – and I mean evangelically passionately – talked about how a methodology called Topgrading™ was life-changing, to them and their companies.
It was their secret sauce to grow their companies because they had notably stronger people on their teams.
I’d heard of Topgrading, had studied it a little bit, and heard author Brad Smart speak about it. I thought it was interesting, but after the passionate endorsement of those CEOs, decided to dig deeper into the methodology myself.
So, I hired a certified Topgrading practitioners to train me, one-on-one - because I’m not good at sitting in a classroom for two days - and I found that many of my beliefs and assumptions about effective interviewing were deeply flawed. I quickly saw why a number of the key hires in which I was involved were successful. And why a whole bunch weren’t - why some candidates slipped through because of the way we approached hiring.
Read the Entire Book
It became clear that, following most hiring practices, we were judging a book too much by the cover or maybe the first few pages. No wonder only 20% to 30% of the people we hired turned out to be A-Players. And why we had so much pain, agony and drama dealing with the other 75%. A big distraction to growth and a drain on senior leaders.
The Topgrading methodology is about reading the entire book of a person - to fully understand the whole person rather than the image they are portraying. To truly get into the history, facts and details of who they are, how they operate, what they believe, and to assess and understand what they are good at – and not.
To be clear, this is not about whether or not they are a good person. It’s about determining if their natural strengths, beliefs and operating systems will match the jobs we have in the company.
That was a transformational day in my life and journey. Ever since, we’ve worked to get our clients to leverage the benefits of the Topgrading methodology.
Nothing in this world is perfect but for the clients who have committed to using this tool, we’ve found their success rates go from 25% or 30% to north of 70% and, in some cases, north of 90%.
Still not perfect but a heck of a lot better.
Topgrading Training
So, I’m excited to share that we are doing a two-day virtual Topgrading training session, with Chris Mursau, president of Topgrading. Chris is a master Topgrading professional, and great guy to spend time with.
For the past few years we did a live session for our clients and network to learn Topgrading together. This year, our team has been working with Chris Mursau on virtual sessions, which we’re pleased to bring to you, in the new year.
The training is designed for two or three people from your company to attend. This provides the best chance of implementing it and creating the changes you need.
If you’re not sure, watch our Topgrading webinar. Chris and I talk about what it takes to build a notably stronger team and how your hiring process can drive that.
Here are the details:
Topgrading Webinar - January 8, 2021
8:00 am to 9:00 am PST
Register for the webinar here
A conversation with Kevin Lawrence & Chris Mursau:
- Meet Topgrading President Chris Mursau
- Learn about the benefits of Topgrading and how you can build a team of A-Players
- Learn how to improve the effectiveness of your hiring process and dramatically increase hiring a high performer, the first time.
Topgrading Virtual Workshop - Feb 2 & 3, 2021
7:30 am to 2:30 pm PST
Immerse yourself in the secrets, shortcuts and proven methods of Topgrading:
- Get hands-on experience conducting chronological interviews and creating thorough Job Scorecards
- Receive personal coaching from hiring expert and Topgrading President Chris Mursau
- Immerse yourself in the proven methods to hire high performers who will drive your company to succeed.
Following the Workshop, participants also receive:
- A complimentary 1-hour coaching call
- Access to an online tool kit
- A two-month free trial of Topgrading Online Solutions (TOLS).
For more information or register, please contact Janice Watkins at janice@lawrenceandco.com.
The Gift of Wellbeing and Resilience
It’s been a crazy year and to help yourself and others on your team - and in your life - to see what they need to do to stay strong and resilient, why not gift your entire team and your family a copy of my book?
In a world where almost every human wears a mask, if I had a crystal ball, I might have called it Your N95 Mask First Instead of Your Oxygen Mask First!
The point is the importance of taking very good care of yourself – and this isn’t just for CEOs and high-performing leaders. There's a lot of information in there that's relevant for everyone – especially in two core chapters:
- Chapter 3: Double Your Resilience - how to give yourself the care and attention you need to perform at your best - and to stay resilient in a changing world
- Chapter 7: Manage Your Mental Health - how to understand, recognize and improve when your mental health is fading.
Lately, I’ve been having lots of conversations with leaders, entire companies and even families about these topics because, in these times, we need to get more creative and proactive about how to feel good and to stay strong.
Special bulk rates are available of $400 for 50 copies, or $1800 for 250 copies (plus shipping), by contacting us directly – and ask us about the companion Workbook. One or a few copies are available on Amazon.
in addition, if you want us to speak to your team, we are available to give you practical tools and information you can use right now to stay strong and resilient.
Call us if we can help.
Strategic Planning for 2021
In this very interesting year, many companies are thriving while others are hurting – and everyone is wondering what the heck will happen in 2021.
Having a great plan for your business for short, long and medium term is always important, and most companies we work with are appreciating their plans, more than ever. But as one CEO recently said, as we look forward, we need to make sure we look at our business with fresh eyes and blank-page thinking, so that we don’t get lost in the logic of past plans.
We need eyes-wide-open thinking from 30,000 feet, to be prepared for whatever 2021, 2022 and 2023 bring.
Look from Different Perspectives
One of the most important activities in strategic planning is to go back and spend time on the strategic part of planning. One of our clients, in another part of the world, has asked us to do a series of three-hour workshops on different strategic frameworks, so they can think through and crystallize what matters most, from different perspectives.
Some people like to consider strategic questions that we can brainstorm around. Others like to use models like Porter’s 5 Forces, Collins’ Flywheel, Blue Ocean Strategy or Strategy Map. The key is to have a set of tools that you use to frame your strategic medium- to long-term thinking about how you're going to win in your market. And you need to treat them as principles to guide shorter-term thinking, which then guides the individual goals and activities of all your team members, on a monthly, weekly and daily basis.
Take the Time
The challenge is that most leaders are so caught up in the day-to-day, they never seem to get to working on strategy – when they know they need to.
One CEO has time with his strategic thought partner, every week, but they always get stuck in short-term operational issues. He’s now going to set aside time, out of the office for a couple hours at a time, to really soak into the strategic thinking and looking-ahead.
The Challenge
- What do you need to do to carve out strategic planning time for you and your team?
- What do you need to get clarity a decision on before the New Year?
- What are you going to continue to spend time on this throughout the year?
Do you want expert help?
We have four experienced core team members - all competent in strategic thinking and execution planning frameworks - and a network of other great advisors, around the world.
This is what we do all day, almost every day, and so if you are looking for:
- A strategic thought partner or
- Someone to guide you and your team through the strategic thinking and/or execution planning process or
- Someone you can commit a block of time to, who knows frameworks, so can ensure you make this a priority…
Additional Resources Links:
- The Growth Whisperers podcast about How to Get Your Team to Think Strategically
- A blog about Planning for Sanity in the Middle of Chaos.
Building an Enduring Business
Over more than 25 years, I’ve been working with founders of companies to help them to continue to make their companies better and stronger and want to share what I’ve learned.
A couple of weeks ago, Brad Giles - my podcast partner in crime – and I had a great discussion about what it takes to really build a company that continues to succeed for decades. The patterns are very clear - not only in research that others have done, but in what we have seen, through big wins and losses, with our clients.
Logically, I could start with having a vision, but I’m going to start with:
1. A strong balance sheet
Build a very strong balance sheet and have lots of cash so that you are fully prepared, no matter what happens in the world – COVID, a natural disaster, something goes wrong in the business - or a massive opportunity that could catapult you ahead.
Many companies have a very weak balance sheet and don’t have “rainy day” or “amazing opportunity” funds on hand. Warren Buffett once said that the reason he gets great deals coming his way is because, with cash in hand, he can make deals happen in a matter of days.
Here’s recent blog I need about how to manage cash on hand.
- Starting point: At least one year’s profit available to you in cash - not room in your line of credit but actual cash in the bank.
- Mastery level: A minimum of one year of operating expenses.
People have different philosophies - like those in private, equity-backed companies who like to fully leverage and use all their cash (which is excellent for ROI and fast growth) but family- or founder-led businesses need to be their own back-up, if times get strange. They’re better off with a different strategy. The idea is that you can stick to your plan and not go into panic mode.
2. Consistent profit growth
Some companies have a hard time consistently growing their profits, and can have an amazing one year and not, the next. They lack the stability in growth - and the systems and disciplines - to weather massive surprises. Surprises always happen but honing that profit- and cash-generating machine indicate that you are doing things right.
And there’s a lot that’s required to make this happen.
3. Data to make the right decisions and to learn from the wrong ones
When businesses are small, it easier to run them by touch and feel, because most things happen within 100 feet of the leader. But, as they grow - and in times like 2020, with many people working virtually - you can’t operate by sight. You need to have the right data to make good decisions.
A small business leader is like a recreational pilot, with Visual Flight Rules certification, who can fly a plane with their eyes, with instruments to help. As a business gets bigger, the leader then needs the skills of a higher-skilled commercial pilot with Instrument Flight Rules certification. Relying fully on the right instruments and data, the plane can be flown successfully even if the cockpit windows are covered or through crazy weather. Someone who is only operating visually, in those circumstances, can lose their bearings and make decisions that lead to catastrophe.
4. A system to identify and complete the most important priorities
Like many things on this list, this could be considered basic, but many companies are not good enough at it. Even some substantially sized companies we go into don't have a system for setting priorities in the long, medium and short term, and they have so many priorities that really everything is a priority. They are not focusing on fewer, most impactful things and the best systems.
The best, incredibly powerful system for doing this is in Scaling Up: Rockefeller Habits 2.0, to which I was a key contributor. Your ultimate measure is three or four clear, quarterly goals for the company overall, for each of the departments and, ideally, for every human in the company.
5. A strategy to deliver a sustained competitive advantage
All companies have a competitive advantage as they scale but many lose it or unconsciously dilute it along the way. This is all about having a difference that you can preserve and that means the customers continue to appreciate what you do or how you do it, in a way that makes them loyal and wanting more. And, in the best-case scenario, recruiting other great customers for you because they're so pleased.
As a company scales, you tend to get busy working in the business not on the business. You get caught up in tactics and execution and fail to keep your strategy and competitive advantage sharp.
The worst case is that is that you mistakenly make decisions that commoditize your business or don't have the data to tell where you’re under-delivering what is important to the customer. And then you wonder why growth stops.
6. People-magnet machine
Business is all about people and, if you've got a solid strategy, it’s about aligning the right people to get the right things done. You need a very strong people-magnet machine to not only bring the right people into the system but to grow and develop them – and to make the hard decisions around them to ensure that the team continually gets stronger. It takes a lot of energy to make happen.
7. Strong culture and behaviors
The right culture minimizes friction in the system and directs energy to doing the right things for your customers, where the value is created in the business – not to dealing with internal issues, conflicts and tensions.
This is about having the right people, the right leaders and an environment that inspires people to do their best work.
Read more about the right culture in this recent blog.
8. Long-term vision
Last but not least, you need to build towards something. I've seen companies with incredibly compelling visions that lead a team towards greatness – and others with a compelling vision that’s been forgotten or buried along the way. It’s not alive, acting like a magnet to pull people forward. Still others don’t have a vision at all and are just caught up in the tasks to get their job done today.
The companies we work with continue to scale using a vision that is a combination of principles from Jim Collins:
- A Purpose - They are very clear about the difference they want to make in the world beyond making a profit - the kind pf purpose that captures the heart and soul of what they're about
- A BHAG – A great big hairy audacious tangible goal to drive towards in the next 10 to 25 years.
This is the magical combination of head and heart.
The Challenge
- Rate your company on a scale of 0 to 10 on each of these eight points. Building an enduring business that continues to scale and get better over the next few decades requires at least 8/10 in each area.