KPIs: Not Scary After All

Fun Fact: Target practice is only useful when there IS a target!

Gather ‘round and let me tell you a quick story of the time I was a really great leader with a rock-star team and STILL screwed things up.

Back when I was in the corporate world, I had this one really awesome employee. (Actually, I had a whole team of them, but that’s for another story.) She was SO dedicated. SO committed. She went above and beyond and then-some to help our clients solve their problems and get what they needed. What more could you ask for, right?

Let’s make a pretty little list of all the things that went right, shall we?

• I gave her expectations for how to deliver great client service.

• And then I got out of her way - giving her the autonomy to do her job on her terms.

• She had a natural talent for helping and problem-solving…a perfect fit for the position.

• Clients loved her to pieces and we never got a single complaint about our service.

• We had a great pulse on exactly what our clients needed because we provided such high-touch service, so we were able to make our products and services even better.

HOORAY FOR ALL OF THAT!

There was, however, an unfortunate shadow to all of the above goodness…

These mind-blowing support services we were providing were no longer profitable.

She was putting in SO much time to handle client issues, particularly for a handful of our super-needy clients, that it just wasn’t sustainable. And because she loved this work, she wasn’t complaining ... she was just being her awesome, rock-star self.

As her manager, it was my fault, because I wasn’t measuring how much time she was spending on each client. And because I wasn’t measuring it, she wasn’t paying attention either. And before you knew it, we had WAAAAY over-delivered and trained our clients to expect this level of service from us over time. 

Have you ever been there? Sometimes the best of intentions get us into sticky situations.

So how do you decide what to measure in your business? 

“KPIs” or “Key Performance Indicators” is just a fancy term for “what we’ve decided to measure”. KPIs are a set of metrics that you use to measure two important things:

1 - The ongoing health of your business in each of the main functions or departments of your business: Marketing, Sales, Operations/Fulfillment, Finance & Administration, and People (HR).

2 - Progress towards your strategic objectives (Usually, these will be your quarterly goals.) 

Let’s dig into each of these buckets to take a closer look…

KPIs for the Ongoing Health of Your Business

When it comes to setting KPIs to measure the ongoing health of your business, less is more. These are going to be the handful of metrics you look at week-after-week to identify any areas of concern so you can take action. If you have 50 of them, it becomes way too overwhelming to keep up with tracking and assessing what’s going on. They are called KEY Performance Indicators for a reason...not everything gets to be a key. 

So we recommend getting the list down to 10-or-fewer for your business. Now, that doesn’t mean each of your departments isn’t tracking their own, more detailed metrics that you can dive into when you need more information, but the top-level ones should be a lean, mean list of only the most critical measures that drive the bottom line of your business.

Every business will have different KPIs, but you might consider ones like Conversion Rate, Cost Per Conversion, Profit Margin or Customer Satisfaction.

These KPIs can be changed whenever you want, but after you’ve been using them for about 6 months, you should have settled in pretty well with a good set that can work.

IMPORTANT: Make sure each KPI has an owner and that they are being reported on and flagged for issues regularly (ideally, weekly). This weekly reflection will help you quickly determine whether you’ve identified the right KPIs to help you make decisions and move the needle.

KPIs for Measuring Progress Towards Strategic Objectives

Hopefully you’re setting quarterly or monthly strategic objectives/goals with your team and measuring progress towards those goals. These critical projects and initiatives are the ones that are going to allow you to be more competitive in the market. 

Because if we only focus on keeping things going the way they are...well...it’s not good. 

And so once you set your strategic objectives, it’s time to dig in and determine what additional KPIs will be required to measure progress towards those objectives. 

For example, if you want to increase leads by 25% this quarter, you’ll need to add a KPI to your list for # of leads so you can track your progress towards the goal you’ve set. 

This does 2 things:

1. It helps keep your team focused on making progress towards the objectives you’ve set.

2. It helps you see when something is going wrong (or right!) so you can pivot mid-quarter, if necessary.

If all you do is set your objectives, cross your fingers, and hope for the best, I can guarantee you’re not going to move that needle. 

These KPIs only stay on the list until the objective is reached or until you choose to forgo working on an objective. So throughout the year, you’ll have KPIs that pop on and off your list...and that’s just fine!

KPIs Are Your Friends

It can be a pretty big shift to start measuring and reporting on results in your business if you’ve never done it before, but without them, you’re kind of flying blind. 

And don’t try to do this all yourself...you need to give your team ownership of the KPIs for their departments if you want them to truly take ownership of their results. Otherwise, you’re just that weirdo over in the corner worrying over a spreadsheet by yourself.

You’ve got this. Just begin and give yourself the freedom to adjust KPIs as you determine what metrics are right for your business this quarter. 

And if you need help with defining your KPIs, we have a program for that! Book a free call and let us know!

I Heart Trainual

I have the best clients…fangirling during my panel at Trainual’s Insider’s Summit! 🎉

I love Trainual.

There. I said it.

If you don’t know what Trainual is, well, get ready to be gushed at because it’s one of the best business software tools around AND one of the best companies I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. In short, Trainual is an online tool to help businesses “get their business out of their brains” and document every process and policy so they can onboard, train and scale faster. (Check out my sweet affiliate link below, if that sounds like something you’re interested in.)

And it has been an AMAZING week to be a Trainual Certified Consultant (We help clients document their businesses in Trainual!), because I had a front-row seat to watching the team put together the best 2-day virtual event I’ve ever seen. From the care and attention to detail that went into every planning email and marketing message, to rolling out incredible new features that address core business problems, to the brilliant and generous business leaders who shared their wisdom about running a business, to the A-List guests like Gary Vee and Shaq. I’m just so proud to be even mildly associated with this organization.

But the awesomeness of Trainual goes way beyond their impactful live events and it’s about time you know about it.

And so, without further ado, here are five reasons I love Trainual (There are way more than this, but you gotta stop somewhere.):

Five Reasons I Love Using Trainual to Document My Clients’ Businesses

#5 - It’s SO Simple

I’ve built online courses in “Learning Management Systems” for more than a decade and they are often VERY complicated to use, because you need to understand instructional design and assessment best practices to really get the most out of all the bells and whistles. And while this is fantastic when you ARE an instructional designer, they’re not ideal for the typical business owner to use. For businesses that are trying to scale quickly, there isn’t time to learn all of those principles AND learn a complicated software tool too.

Trainual gets right to the heart of what business owners need, even speaking in their language of “processes and policies,” and organizes content simply and effectively. It’s easy to jump right in and begin creating, which is essential if you want your team to actually keep up with documenting your business!

#4 - Sharing Content by ROLE

Storing process documentation and training in Google Drive is… fine… I guess? But does it ever get used? Be honest.

If you’re a newbie, where do you even start reading?

And which documents are relevant?

And how the heck does this all fit together??

Trainual’s role based content solves that problem by allowing you to only assign a new employee the content that’s relevant to their position. This makes learning their new job feel much less overwhelming and gives a clear picture of where to begin (and where to end!)

The whole point of writing down your processes is to get people to use them, right?

#3 - Loom.com Integration

I may need to do another article on my love for Loom.com, because that is real too, but I’ll keep it short here and say that it’s a software tool that allows you to record quick videos of your face and/or your screen. Trainual has built Loom RIGHT INTO THEIR APP so you can literally just hit “record” from within your training, record a quick-and-dirty video of how to fill out that expense report, and you’re DONE! And there are so many other integrations from YouTube to PDFs to Airtable! It makes building training content faster than ever. And speed is key, when it comes to getting this work done.

#2 - It Keeps getting BETTER

Some of the software tools I use seem like they never change. It’s like they just tinker with some bells and whistles and colors and fonts from time to time, but it never really gets better. Trainual is the opposite.

Whenever I’ve noticed something that “bugs” me, it’s only been a matter of time before it’s been completely redesigned to work better. They are LISTENING TO THEIR CUSTOMERS, y’all.

And the new functionalities they’re constantly adding, like this newest release on Wednesday, are actually changes that small businesses need, not nice-to-haves. Because Trainual is clear about who they serve and the change they’re looking to make, their development is acutely aligned to exactly what I, as a customer, need. It’s awesome.

#1 - I Love Their Humans

I’m pretty sure Chris and Sasha over at Trainual have people-picking (and core-values-guarding) superpowers, because literally every single person I’ve ever encountered at Trainual (and I’ve met a LOT) is over-the-top kind and thoughtful and detailed and just overall cares a whole lot about the work they’re doing and making things awesome for customers.

It’s like every single person on the team is a leader in their own right. More than that, their love for one another just shines through in the way they talk each other up and give each other credit and gratitude and it just makes me want to partner with them forever because I know they’ll keep doing the right things to make their clients (and my clients!) happy.

I work with a lot of businesses and this level of consistency in a team is rare to find. I’m grateful that Chris and his team go out of their way to teach what they’re doing on the inside so the rest of us can learn from their example.

It’s really nice to see the “Good Guys” win for once, and I can’t wait see what Trainual does next! In the meantime, I’ll still be over here helping businesses use Trainual to grow and scale!

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Do you need help implementing Trainual? We can save you a lot of time by guiding your team through the process of documenting your most important processes and teaching them how to keep it up-to-date! Let’s talk!

It’s Time for a Quarter-End Pause

Good Idea: Pausing along the journey to make sure you’re headed in the right direction
Bad Idea: Lying down ON THE ROAD ITSELF.

As business owners, we’ve each set out on a unique journey with our team to our desired destination (our “mission”). And every day our little band of travelers is presented with new challenges to overcome and new opportunities to potentially seize. And so we keep walking along together, step-by-step, day-by-day, going...going...going. The journey itself can be so fulfilling. 

But if we don’t stop from time to time to check the map, it’s easy to just get caught up in the daily process of moving along the trail and get a bit...lost.

And as this quarter comes to a close, with the next one just around the corner, it’s a perfect time to take a pause to reflect on how far we’ve come in the last 3 months. To celebrate the hard-won victories and dig into where we fell short to see what we can learn. 

But most importantly, it’s a fantastic time to revisit our company’s purpose and mission to make sure we’re still on track.

I love Jim Collins and Bill Lazier’s definitions of purpose and mission from their book, BE 2.0:

Purpose: The fundamental reason for the organization’s existence

Mission: A bold, compelling, audacious goal, with a clear finish line and specific time frame

Defining these two types of “destinations” are critical because they get everyone on your team clear about the whole point of what you’re trying to accomplish through your business. 

As James Clear said:

Life is easier when you know what you want—but most people don't take the time to figure out what they want.

It's not that we are completely lost, but our efforts are often slightly misdirected. People will work for years and ultimately achieve a lifestyle that isn't quite what they were hoping for—often, simply, because they never clearly defined what they wanted.

An hour of thinking can save you a decade of work.

But even if you have the clearest, most inspiring purpose and mission, things will come up to throw you off-course.

Because the opportunities along the journey...they are SO exciting! We can’t believe our luck! And of course every opportunity we take advantage of will take us someplace new. 

And those challenges...MAN they can be terrifying! Our choice for how we respond will also take us someplace new.

The important question is whether that someplace is closer or farther away from the purpose and mission we stated in the first place.

Which takes us back to the importance of the quarterly pause. 

It’s basically impossible to avoid missteps on your journey to build your business. Even the best decisions can sometimes take you off track. But as long as you’re reliably pausing to reorient yourself with where you want to go, you can pivot to get back on track. 

I love new quarters because they feel like fresh starts where anything is possible. You can stop, take stock, and choose an entirely different path, based on the new information and your current location.

Just because you invested a lot of time or money going in a different direction doesn’t mean you should stay the course.

Pause. 

Envision your destination. 

Thank your past self for the gift of getting you this far and then choose the next right path.

Happy Quarter 4, ya’ll.

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Need help figuring out your plans for next quarter? WE KNOW HOW TO HELP! Click the button below and let’s chat about it!

Can you Change Your CEO Personality?

My fantasy tough-woman CEO self. As you can see, she takes zero crap from anyone.

Like most people, I’ve always had a story in my mind about “what kind of person I am.” 

I’m friendly, caring, organized, funny, curious, interested in solving problems...the list goes on. 

But the other (shittier) side of that coin is that I can sometimes be non-confrontational, conflict-avoidant, slow to decide...you get it. 

And it’s true that I have behaved in the ways above many, many times. Enough to make the case that those are part of my personality. Because, in all honesty, our “personality” is really just our consistent pattern of behavior: How we respond to stressors, how we engage with others in the world, how we solve problems, which things light us up, etc. 

Since we humans are wired to preserve energy, once we form certain patterns of behavior in our childhood that “work” for us, we tend to stick with them. It’s way too much work and risk to try to change. For me, I clearly learned early-on that being nice and easy-going was a strategy that got me what I wanted. To be honest, it served me well for many many years. 

The problem is, at some point, you become an actual, real-life adult and the personality traits that were your greatest assets in childhood no longer serve you in your grown-up life.

And your out-dated personality traits definitely don’t serve your business.

In the past, my desire to “not rock the boat” has caused me to…

• Stay quiet when I really needed to give some tough feedback

• Charge less than I should have

• Take on clients that weren’t aligned to my values

• Keep employees on staff way longer than I should have

• Hold back on marketing the awesome work we do

• Do more work than I promised (way beyond “above and beyond”)

Author Michael Port says, "Most of our business problems are personal problems in disguise,” and I KNOW how true it is. I have lived that reality. 

So are we just stuck with our personality? Are we doomed to repeat these same unwanted patterns of behavior forever?

Here’s what I believe: It is absolutely possible (with a whole lot of help) to break a problematic pattern of behavior through developing deep awareness of those patterns. But it may not be possible to interrupt the initial internal response. And that’s ok. 

Here’s how that works for me: 

I shared last week about having a strong reaction to how a colleague showed up with me in a business meeting. My initial reaction was to feel angsty about it and then to move to dismiss it...to let it go. “It’s not worth the trouble of bringing it up.” “I don’t want to make them feel bad.” “I’m sure they were just having a hard day.” 

And while I do believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt, I also want to be the kind of person who speaks up when a boundary has been crossed. 

So even though I had the initial impulse to “let it go,” through lots of practice and some trusted support, I became aware of what I was really feeling and what I actually wanted in that situation. It took me a few days, but I was able to speak up and share with that person how the experience made me feel. And I was able to do it in a way that felt aligned to my value of “Love Humans.” 

You guys. I broke the learned pattern. 

And do you know what else?

I won’t break it every time.

I’ll still get sucked into the old ways of acting sometimes. But every time I successfully break the pattern, it makes it more likely that I can do it again and again. 

I will probably always be someone who has to work hard at this. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Feeling pain and discomfort is part of being human. But the more I can become aware of what is causing that pain and how my trained patterns bubble up, the more likely I am to make a conscious choice of how I want to respond.

And that’s how I become more like the woman - and the CEO -  I want to someday become.

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Uncovering your Core Values by Noticing what Ticks You Off

Core Value #1: The swings should always be open.

Last week I had a meeting with a colleague that felt a little…”off.” They showed up the call with suuuuper low energy and responsiveness, which was unusual. Throughout the day, I noticed my mind kept drifting to our call and it kind of bugged me. Why would I care so much about their energy? Everybody has a bad day, right?

The next day, as I was reflecting on my grouchiness about the whole situation, it hit me. This “ticked off” feeling was just a signal that I cared about something a whole lot. The interaction with my colleague had touched upon one of my core values.

In her book, Dare to Lead, Brene Brown defines a value as “A way of being or believing that we hold most important.” 

And as it turns out, the things we hold most important are also the things that cause us the most irritation when others violate them. AND THIS IS SUPER HELPFUL INFORMATION!

Because once we notice our irritations, we can use them to reverse-engineer our core values! 

This little trick works for both personal and business core values, but we’ll dive into the business side of things for today’s post.

If I didn’t already know my business’ core values, I could ask myself, “What do I believe is so important in this situation that it caused me to have this strong reaction?” For me, it’s because I believe that giving my energy and enthusiasm to others is a way I care for them. It’s a form of love. 

At The Process Mavens, we call this core value “Spread Enthusiasm.” We are not stoic process nerds. WE ARE JAZZED TO BE HERE. We come to the room alert and ready and we maintain a posture of presence throughout every Zoom call. It doesn’t mean we’re silly and crazy all the time. We’re just very very focused and engaged. Our clients feed off of this type of enthusiasm - it lights them up and makes us all collectively MORE productive during our sessions. Our enthusiasm is a gift.

So, what things really tick you off? (Besides loud gum-chewing...just me?) Make a list and then dive deep into each one to ask yourself what value that irritation is pointing to. What do you care about so deeply that its violation makes you go crazy?

This little exercise will guide you to your most strongly-held core values. (And it’s pretty cathartic to list all the stuff that makes you mad.)

Once you can name your core values and operationalize them in your business, you’ve got a much stronger foundation to scale the amazing culture you’ve built, so you can still stay “you” no matter how much you grow.

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We looooove helping our clients name their core values! If you need help, click the button below and let’s talk!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

As someone who nerds out on systems and processes, I’ve come to realize that some of the things that bring me great joy and delight are a little ... well ... maybe a lot … weird. 

Lately, it seems like more people are pointing out these oddities. So I thought it might be fun to catalog just a few of the things I would do for free -- even if I didn’t happen to have a business where I get to do them all the time.

1 - Mapping Out Messy Processes

Did you ever see that Netflix series where home organization genius, Marie Kondo, goes to someone’s house and organizes E.VER.Y.THING? There’s this moment when she opens up a cluttered “junk drawer,” and with a giant cheesy grin exclaims, “I love mess!” 

via GIPHY

Well, friends, that is totally, 100% me when it comes to messy business processes. I can’t tell you how many times my clients apologize or feel embarrassed to show me how clunky or mixed up a process is. And I just can’t quite seem to get them to understand how much joy it brings me to turn their mess into one of these babies:

Seriously. It’s the best.

2 - Coming up with Training Objectives & Assessments

When it comes to building trainings, everyone thinks it’s all about the content. (Hint: It’s not.)

But here’s what’s actually awesome: Boiling down the most important behaviors my clients want their new hires to demonstrate as a result of their training. And then coming up with fun and creative ways to assess whether or not they can do those things.

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Maybe it’s my past-life as a 5th grade teacher, but I know that sometimes a multiple choice quiz just doesn’t cut it. Mock sales call evaluations, on-the-job observations, and thoughtful reflections are just way more fun (and more effective!).

3 - Building Automated Workflows

Once upon a time in my corporate career, I discovered a beautiful tool named Smartsheet.com and I was forever changed. Suddenly, I had the power to build tools to automate just about anything I could dream up WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE IT DEPARTMENT! 

via GIPHY

Now I’ve got even more workflow tools under my belt. The fun never stops.  I seriously can’t believe it’s my job to help my clients build workflows to fix their business problems. 

4 - Defining Roles & Responsibilities

Because my brain is compelled to categorize and organize information, it still can surprise me that others don’t share this obsession. 

But that means I get to to sit down with a CEO and show her all 30 positions in her company that she had no idea existed. And then we can define the results each is accountable for. And THEN we can think about the talents someone in that position needs to be successful.

via GIPHY

Knowing that I can help my clients better understand how all the people in their organization fit together is a gift … to both of us. :)

5 - Optimizing Personal Systems

There are SO many things we all want to get done in a given day, week, month or year. And it can be so overwhelming to figure out where it all fits in. Not to mention making sure that the things you’re fitting in are actually the things that are your top priorities. 

I can say with confidence that: 

there is no single system that works for everyone.

(Also, once you find a system that works for you, IT WILL EVENTUALLY NEED TO CHANGE.) 

But I actually LOVE reengineering my own personal productivity systems and those of my clients. It’s great fun to dig into what’s working, what’s not, and how to shift things so that things turn out better the next go-around. 

via GIPHY

So many people think that struggling to get things done means something is wrong with them. That they’re broken. It does my heart good to help them see that they just haven’t found a good system that works for them. And that when things don’t work it’s just a sign that something needs to change.

Conclusion: I have my Dream Job

Maybe some of you read this and thought, “This lady sounds like a real piece of work.” But I know there are probably at least a few of you who were thinking, “Oh! I’m not the only one!” (And if you did think that, reach out, because we’re hiring!)

The cool thing is, we need each other. Process people need processes to fix. And CEOs with messy processes need people like us to fix them. It’s when we lean into our own weirdness that we find the hobbies -- and even the work -- that bring us joy. Even if they make us the nerdiest kid on the block.

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Do you need help with any of these delightfully-fun things in your business? Book a free call so you can add some more joy to my life AND get your business working like a well-oiled machine!

The Operations Gap

Don’t be like iguana. Get some help bridging that gap.

I’m really lucky.

The clients that find their way to me are the very best at what they do. They have die-hard fans. They get great results for their clients. They are obsessed with providing excellent experiences every single time. And they do. They are literally changing lives. And I get to work with them. 

But they’re also pretty embarrassed about how things are working behind the scenes. 

They sit in CEO masterminds and workshops feeling like imposters. They know they don’t have the things in place to run their business the way they’d like to. In fact, if anyone of those mastermind CEOs saw how their business really worked, they’d be mortified. Every time they bring on a new employee, it’s another reminder of how they need to clean up their systems, their trainings, their job descriptions … it’s all just so messy.

And the worst part is, they think it means something is wrong with them as a leader. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Here’s what’s real:

You’re not supposed to be good at all this organizational management and training stuff. You’re an expert at your craft. You may be the best in the market. You’ve invested a lot of time and energy in making sure you deliver the very best products and services you possibly can to your clients. 

In other words, you’ve been focused on the RIGHT PARTS of your business. If the thing you sell isn’t what your clients want and need, you won’t have a business to grow.

But now that you’ve got a good handle on what you deliver, you may be seeing the cracks in the systems you’ve built. Maybe your A-Players are looking a little worn out. Maybe you’re a bit worn out too. 

Or drowning in paperwork. 

Or SO OVER spending days training yet another new employee. 

Or feeling stuck about how to get to the next level in your business when everyone’s maxed out.

If you’re lucky, you have an operationally-minded leader on your team, who can help you implement better systems and make things easier. In his book, Traction, Gino Wickman calls these people “Integrators”. But they’re rare. Wickman says the ratio of Visionaries (most CEOs) to Integrators out there in the world is 4:1! 

So what’s a CEO to do? 

Do you need to hire an expensive COO to bridge the gap and finally get your back-of-house operations running smoothly? If you’re a small business, probably not. There are many ways to create the systems, training, and organizational structure you need. 

You may want to hire a Director of Operations, to contract with an Online Business Manager, or to hire a rockstar assistant. You may need to partner with someone who specializes in helping businesses improve their systems and processes -- like The Process Mavens! Which one you choose depends a lot on your business’s size and goals. 

But you can’t ignore the operations gap in your organization.

But please please please ... stop beating yourself up. Stop believing you should know how to do it all yourself.

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BTW…if you want some support about the best way to bridge your operational gap, we’d love to chat! Book a free call and we’ll help you figure it out!

Industry Experience Doesn't Mean Diddly-squat When it Comes to Leading

Sure, he’s not the obvious choice, but he’s been studying and applying leadership principles and getting killer results for more than a decade! Give the guy a chance!

Sometimes when I’m working with my clients, I uncover VERY strong opinions that I didn’t know I had. Recently, I’ve been helping several of my clients hire for key leadership positions, and I’ve come upon a bit of a sticking point. My clients really want to hire a leader with industry experience. And I’ve totally got attitude about it, because...

If you’re looking for an amazing new senior leader, experience in your particular industry probably doesn’t matter.

Yes to being a perfect fit for your company’s culture.

Yes to being a genius at leading people.

Yes to a track-record of getting the kind of results you’re looking for.

But a big, fat NO to requiring experience in YOUR particular industry. 

Seriously. It’s just not necessary.

I hear you over there going, “Oh, you don’t understand my industry though. There’s just no way to lead the team without deeply understanding what we do. What about their credentials!”

But hear me out...

You already have industry experts on your team. They’re amazing at what they do. They know the business like the backs of their hands. As my friend Tim Kauffold put it, “Smart companies should let that leader be a student with their team. Let the folks that have tenure with the company teach this new leader. That way, they invest in one another. Build trust. Move forward.” 

Bringing in a new, talented-yet-humble leader gives their team a chance to rise to the occasion and lead in their own right. 

Or maybe you’re thinking, “But my team would be totally pissed if I hired someone without experience to be their boss. They’d never accept them as their leader. They need to have been in the trenches to truly be accepted by the team.” Honestly? If that’s the vibe you’ve got going on, you need to invest in a strong leader more than ever. 

Again, Tim said it best: “Anyone that resents having to teach a new leader about the industry...lacks the humility to lead successfully long term.” The very fact that they’re resistant to outside perspectives is probably a red flag. The culture needs attention and the team needs a mature leader to lead the way. 

So if you happen to find a strong cultural fit who’s great at leading and gets results AAAAND has worked in your industry, then congratulations to you. You just hit the magical-unicorn-leader jackpot! 🦄 But if you can’t seem to find the industry experience you’re looking for, please don’t limit yourself. You never know what a kickass leader with a fresh perspective might bring to your team and your business. 

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Need to get clear on what results and talents you need most from your new leader? Hooray! The Process Mavens can help! (Click the button below and let’s chat!)

Confidence is Knowing What to Expect

Just for contrast, here’s the opposite of helping your employees know what to expect before day 1 on the job. Not recommended.

I vividly remember my first day of student teaching. My mentor was an experienced sixth grade teacher, board-certified (it’s a big deal), and from the moment I met her, I knew I’d hit the jackpot. You don’t often see a triple-threat who combines no-nonsense classroom management, a sparkle of fun (and mischief), and a caring heart. I was privileged spend an entire semester alongside her. I got to observe her handling all manner of behavior issues, handling tricky parents, teaching complex subjects, structuring her daily routines ... all the things you really only get to see glimpses of prior to student teaching. 

Immediately after my student teaching was over, I got my first real teaching job as a sixth grade teacher. Fortunately for me, it was in the same school, just a few doors down from where I’d been teaching. It wasn’t an “easy” semester, but I was one billion times more confident than I would have been if I’d skipped student teaching. 

The reason is simple: I knew what to expect. 

That’s it. It was the whole reason I felt confident enough to show up that first day and believe “I’ve got this.” All the semesters of classes I took about “how to teach” did nothing to help build that confidence. What I needed was to get in there and see what it was really like to teach a classroom of 32 pre-teens. (And for those of you wondering, it’s … challenging.)

So here’s the question

How can you give your new hires that confidence?

How can you let them know what to expect before they even begin?

You may not have the luxury of providing them with several months of mentorship before they strike out on their own. But you can and should think about how to give them the confidence that only comes from knowing what to expect in REAL life. 

You might…

• Have them shadow an experienced team member for a week before training even begins. (Give them a checklist or scratch sheet so that they focus on the important parts of the job. “While you’re observing A, look for X, Y, Z.”)

• Identify 2-5 of the most important tasks they’ll do and give them ample opportunity to practice them, either in a mock setting or with the support of an experienced team member. (Give the trainer a checklist so that they know what to look for. And make sure they turn it in when they’re done so it gets used every time.)

• Create videos of what it’s like on-the-job and include them as part of your onboarding (or hiring!) process. (We love putting videos into our favorite training software, Trainual.)

• Write up a list of “Things that Sometimes Go Wrong.” Give them directions on how to handle each so they’re aware of worst-case scenarios. 

• Provide a detailed “Before Your First Day” letter that explains every detail they’d ever want to know about what to expect on day 1. This might include dress code, where to park, who to check in with, whether they should bring a lunch or will be taken out to lunch, and any other items they need to bring.

Helping your new hires know what to expect won’t just make it easier for them to get up and running. It will tell them that you care about how they feel in their first weeks. You only get one chance to make a first impression on your new hire. The gift of confidence is one they’ll never forget.

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PS - The Process Mavens are really really good at helping our clients make sure their new employees know what to expect. If you need help with your new employee onboarding or training, give us a shout by clicking the button below!

How to Get Your Team to Finally "Take Ownership"

Ahhhh, the gift of ownership.

Ownership.

It’s one of those words we CEOs like to throw around to complain about that feeling that everything in our business rests on our shoulders.

And I get it. 

It’s easy to throw up your hands when someone on your team isn’t performing the way you want them to. It’s easy to say, “Screw it! I’ll just do it myself!” 

But that kind of behavior just feeds the problem. 

The more you do for your team (even the well-meaning ones), the more you’re telling them that they don’t, in fact, have any ownership. They may not even realize that they’re getting this message, but you can bet that they’ll start behaving like they are.

The tricky part is you might not even be able to put your finger on what’s off. After all, they’re keeping up with their required tasks. They may even be a delight to work with. So why are you feeling so exhausted all of the time?

It may be that you’re allowing your team to own certain tasks and responsibilities, but not the results of their position. 

I’ll say it again for you folks in the back: 

If you want to get out of the day-to-day mess of your business, you need to let your team own the results of their position.

So what the heck does that mean, Tamara?

Well, first, it means that you need to be really clear about what results you expect from each person on your team. When you can clearly tell your Customer Happiness Manager that they are accountable for making sure every customer has a remarkable experience, then it’s up to them to figure out how to make it happen. (And to be ok with standing on a table and making sure everyone knows when something is blocking that from happening.) 

This is very different from telling your Customer Happiness Manager that they own “Replying to Customer Inquiries.” Sure, that’s a big part of what they DO every day, but guess who’s still up at night worrying about whether your customers are happy or not? YOU!

Recently I was talking shop with fellow entrepreneur, Lindsey Wander from WorldWise Tutoring. She shared how she was able to give a trusted leader in her team complete ownership of the results of one entire service offering. She told me how it felt good to delegate, “because I’m giving someone a job they’re really good at.” Lindsey got not to be bogged down in the details of the service offering AND her trusted leader got an opportunity to do some work they love. 

Of course, she had to be clear about outcomes and standards, but then she could just step back and let her fly. 

Just a few words of advice when taking this approach…

• Write down the results you’re looking for. (Yes, with actual, written words). 

• Review the results with the employee and get their feedback. Are your expectations realistic given current constraints of time, staffing, or skill? 

• Measure the expected results regularly. At least monthly. (But I love weekly.)

• Give your employee regular opportunities for feedback on their performance, to ask for feedback on your leadership, and to identify obstacles that need to be removed. (ESPECIALLY in the beginning.)

Just imagine. If someone else on your team cared as much as you do about the most important results in your business. Wouldn’t it be lovely?

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Still not sure how to communicate your desired “results” to your team so you can truly get out of the weeds? You’re not alone! We help our clients do this every day.

We’d love to chat about how we might help you do the same!