How to Stop the Dreaded "Decision Drift"

Have you ever had a meeting that didn't work out quite as a planned? Where everyone agreed to a specific course of action and two weeks later you discover that what they've been working on doesn't come close to your vision of what should happen?

 

When these situations arise, we usually blame poor communication. We didn't communicate clearly. People weren't really listening. We thought we had consensus when we really didn't.

 

Faulty communications can certainly play a role, but there's a lot more at work underneath the surface. This situation clearly illustrates how the way our brain works can undermine even our best intentions.

 

When we gain consensus on a decision or course of action, everyone agrees on the surface. But as soon as people leave the meeting and start making in-the-moment decisions, their underlying attitudes and assumptions get in the way. They typically don't have the same attitudes and beliefs as you, so they make decisions that differ from the ones you would make.

 

As each new decision is made, this process builds until everyone ends up miles apart on the project. So you gather for the follow-up meeting and everyone wonders, "What happened?"

 

Fortunately, succession visioning comes riding to the rescue (cue "Lone Ranger" music).

 

Success visioning is based on the brain's inability (on many levels) to distinguish between what is real and what it is told. Used by premier athletes around the globe, it relies on the brain's ability to drive the body to action when it sees a clear endpoint or goal. There are many ways to use success visioning. In business, I recommend the following:

 

Start by using future, active, past tense questions to define winning or excellence. For example, "When we have achieved success in working well together, how often did we touch base? What decisions did you want us to make together versus having me inform you about? Who else is working with us and how did we keep everyone informed? What are the most important things we will have focused on first, and how will we make sure we all stayed on track?"

 

Note that these questions use a past tense voice, as if they have already occurred. Here's why.

 

When we begin with the present tense, our brain typically fills in with all the reasons we can't make something happen. But when we convince our brain we have already achieved success, it doesn't know we have not. So it fills in the blanks between today and the target date with innovative solutions for achieving success. It focuses on winning rather than what is in the way.

 

Future, active, past tense questioning helps to paint the picture of success between the individuals involved, often uncovering expectations that would otherwise not see the light of day. Once a conversation uncovers what success looks like for a given timeframe, it becomes much easier to meet each other's expectations and work together as a team.

 

Success visioning can also help to determine more effective ways of working during meetings. For example, start your meetings by asking:

 

• When we have had a successful meeting, what decisions will we have made?
• How will we have most effectively made those decisions?
• How will we have gotten all the input we needed?
• Whose input will have been most critical/important?
• How will we have exposed any assumptions underlying what we decided?

 

For ongoing conversations, particularly around sensitive issues or areas where people have a lot of passion, make your thinking process visible. Explain your assumptions and the data that led to them. Give examples of what you propose, and explain who will be affected, how, and why. Encourage others to explore and question your assumptions and data. Reveal where you are least clear in your thinking, and stay open to different points of view.

 

To ensure alignment, ask others to make their thinking process visible. Explain your reasons for inquiring and ask questions like, "What leads you to conclude that? Help me understand how you got to that point. Tell me more about why you're thinking that way."

 

This process starts to uncover the underlying beliefs, assumptions and meanings others have about the topic under discussion. Only when we understand the why of someone's belief or behavior can we make decisions that both parties understand and can adhere to. 

 

At the strategic level, success visioning can be used in a process called ‘destination modeling' to help organizations get clear on what winning looks like. Most companies have clearly defined financial objectives. Destination modeling involves going beyond the financial metrics and painting very clear pictures of what it will look like when you win in other areas of the business.

 

For example, when we have achieved our marketing goals:

 

• What new products will we have brought to the market?
• What new markets will we be serving?
• How will we be known in those markets?
• What new competitors will we be competing against?
• What new team members will we have brought on board?
• What new systems, processes and technologies will we be using to serve those markets?

 

Again, use future-active, past tense questions that position the goal as if you have already achieved it. Your brain, in many ways, can't distinguish the difference between mental imagery and reality. So when you paint a picture of winning, it actively seeks out ways to make that picture happen.

 

Of course companies need to track financial metrics such as revenues, cash flow and margins. But these only don't typically motivate, inspire or engage employees. Use destination modeling to paint detailed pictures of what it looks like to win in other areas of your business and you will be amazed at the alignment that occurs. 

 

Use the power of the brain to get clear on excellence. Expose your thinking to each other. And use destination modeling to define winning in every area of your business. You'll find that everyone in the organization is running the same race, and you'll never again have to start a follow-up meeting by wondering, "What happened?"

 

About the Author

Holly G. Green is author of "More Than A Minute," and the CEO and Managing Director of The Human Factor, Inc. She has more than 20 years of executive level and operations experience in FORTUNE 100, entrepreneurial, and management consulting organizations. She was previously President of The Ken Blanchard Companies, a global consulting and training organization as well as LumMed, Inc. a biotech start up. For more information, visit her at http://www.thehumanfactor.biz and http://www.morethanaminute.com

Some Must Have Presentation Skills For Managers

With the cut-throat competition happening in the market these days, it is fortunate that there are now a lot of programs geared towards developing effective presentation skills for managers. This is very important for any organization since the managers are the ones who hold the batons to the employees. One thing you can do is hire a life coach if you are a manager and you will soon find yourself performing at your optimum level of performance.  Here are a few of the things which a life coach can help you with:

1. You will know the most effective way to communicate.
One help you can get from hiring a life coach is that of communicating effectively especially if you are talking to your key stakeholders. Keep in mind that you can never be effective unless you know the needs of your audience. Hence, identify what could possibly be the questions, assumptions and thoughts running in their minds. In addition, you will also need to be passionate when you talk. Otherwise, you will just sound like you are babbling; that is, talking without meaning any word at all.

2. You will learn how to create impact in your presentation.
There are times when you will also need to talk to a panel of executives such as the Board of Directors or the Man COM (Management Committee). Hence you need to equip yourself with all the knowledge you will need. With this kind of audience, talk with depth the instant you open your mouth. These people are busy bees and they have no time for details. They will expect you to give them a background of the subject; after which, you may already divert their attention to some graphic presentations to make everything easier to comprehend. "Do not focus on minor details". This is actually the key to carrying out a very effective presentation.

3. You will master how to effectively sell yourself through presentations.
Since your presentation skills are your weapon against competition, it is a must that you hire a life coach to help you present really well and therefore, succeed. Keep in mind that you will need to show your audience what stuff you are made of as there are a lot of equally competent managers out there; if not "even more competent" managers than you. For this, you will need to hone your presentation skills which are actually the most effective way to sell yourself.

4. All ears on you.
If you will think about it, a successful manager will always have all ears of his audience on him. If you are able to radiate a sense of executive presence in your audience, then there is no way that your addressees will not believe what you say. But then again, there are also a lot of managers out there who although they may be receiving full attendance of an audience; it ends up that their messages are ignored by the audience and it seems like they have not said anything at all. Do not be one of these managers. Hire a life coach and see what great wonders doing so can do to your career!

About the Author

Can a personal growth expert make the difference you need in both your personal and busines life? Find out here - Life Coach London

Is this coach really offering what you are looking for?

Presentation Skills For Senior Executives - 3 Top Tips

If you are a Senior Executive wearing a very valuable hat in the cut-throat corporate world, you will surely need to know the best way of presenting yourself to an organization as well as to all the other employees you are working with. With this, you will need to find the most efficient strategy to hone your skills further. In fact, there are a lot of programs out there that are geared towards enhancing presentation skills for senior executives.

All you have to do is find the ones that will work best for you. Keep in mind that you cannot just simply rely on self-help books or guides to develop your presentation skills. Thus, you should try hiring a life coach to help you improve on your presentation skills further. Here are a few of the things that a life coach can do to develop "effective presentation skills" in you:

1. How Senior Executives Should Talk
If you will hire a "confidence coach", you will be taught that when you talk, you should right away capture the attention of your audience. Talking is not merely all about opening the mouth and saying something. It goes beyond words because you will need to have a deeper connection with your audience especially if you are a Senior Executive in the organization already.
 
After which you will need to be visual when you present. This will definitely be appreciated by your audience as they themselves are very busy and would have not much time to listen to all the specifics and details of the subject matter.
 
2. How To Power Dress
Let your executive presence be felt at all times. There is no other better way to do it than to power dress. By dressing up powerfully, you are actually sending a powerful message to your audience. You are commanding respect and conviction. With a life coach, you will be taught of how to properly dress up for any business function. As soon as you gain the respect and trust that your position needs, you can be certain that building the teams you need is not going to be any difficult for you anymore.          

3. How To Motivate Employees
There can be no other way to motivate your audience than to show your leadership. Remember that you may either gain or lose the trust of your audience with the way you present. That is why it all the more becomes essential for a Senior executive to get coaching as far as presenting to an audience is concerned. With a life coach to teach you, you can be 100% certain that the minute you stand up there in front of your audience, you will have right away won their trust in you.

Bottom-line of all these is; get a life coach to obtain effective presentation skills for senior executives. There are boatloads of coaching firms that you can check out to once and for all be effective with your presentations. After all; there are still a lot of other great opportunities out there that you can accomplish!

About the Author

Can a personal growth expert make the difference you need in both your personal and busines life? Find out here - Life Coach London

Is this coach really offering what you are looking for?

Not enough hours in your day? Make better choices

Feeling a little pressed for time these days? (Who isn't!) It turns out you have more time than you think.

In fact, that's the title of a great book new book by journalist Laura Vanderkam - "168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think."  (168 = the number of hours in a week.)

According to Vanderkam, the issue isn't too few hours in the day; it's how we choose to use those hours. In fact, her #1 time management tip is this: minutes and hours are choices. If we don't like how we're spending our time, we need to change our choices and priorities. Granted, choices bring consequences. But it all starts with recognizing that time does not dictate our daily agendas. We choose how we spend our time.

Vanderkam believes that trying to find more time in the day represents an exercise in futility. Suppose you could magically make each day 15 minutes longer. At the end of the week you would have gained a grand total of 1.75 hours.

Instead of trying to "find" time by rearranging busy work or trying to multitask, Vanderkam suggests a different approach. Start by filling your weekly allotment of 168 hours with the things you care most about in life. Instead of squeezing the activities that nurture your family, health and career in between all the "busy stuff," put them first!

This may require some difficult choices. It may also require saying "no" to some people and activities that are hard to turn down. But as Vanderkam points out, our options are to continue complaining about our busyness or get busy building the lives we want in the time we've got.

Which brings us to one of my favorite business leadership topics - staying focused on the destination.

Today's work world moves so fast that I sometimes think the new business attire should consist of running shorts and track shoes. With so much on our plates, it's hard not to get caught up in all the "to doing" each day. The meetings, the voice mails, the emails, the twitters, the juggling of multiple tasks and activities, the Internet and all the information that comes our way. It's no wonder that we tend to lose focus on where we're going and what winning looks like.

It's also easy to get caught up in the fantasy of "if only I had more time!" instead of taking responsibility for how we spend our time. So we run as fast as we can from one task to another, and we constantly yearn for more hours in the day when none are forthcoming.

Here are some of the ways we try to run fast in a desperate attempt to find more time: Multitasking. Working longer hours. Putting off the important for the urgent. Becoming slaves to our emails and mobile devices. Making decisions without taking the time to question our assumptions or review the data.

Intuitively, we know that these aren't the best strategies for getting work done. But running fast is an instinctive human behavior in stressful situations (fight or flight). It makes us feel like we're accomplishing our goals, or at least getting closer to them. So we continue to run as fast as we can without checking to see whether we're running in the right direction or making any real progress at all.

The solution?  Slow down to go fast.

What if you started each day by pausing to review your destination, which includes your definition of what winning looks like for your organization? And what if you then organized your day around the tasks and activities that truly help you reach that destination rather than whatever happens to jump out and land on your plate? Think that might produce a dramatic change in the choices you make about how to use your time?

I'm not talking about a lengthy process. Just five or 10 minutes each morning to review the most important things you can (and should) be doing and making sure they're first on your to-do list.

As you pause before starting your day, ask questions like:

• What are the top three to five things I need to be working on?  How much time have I committed to those activities today?

• Of all the things I think I need to do today, which will have an impact a year from now?

• Are there items on my to-do list that should be handled by someone else? If so, what do I need to do to delegate them?

• What tasks or activities do I feel compelled to find more time for?  Are they really top priority for me or am I succumbing to the urgent over the important?

• If I only had half a day instead of a whole one, which tasks and activities would I work on and why?

It also helps to keep visual reminders in front of you at all times. Put your goals and objectives on your computer screen. Carry them in your notebook. Set up task reminders to ping you. Write them on your whiteboard. Post them in the lobby of your office and on a mirror at home. Do whatever works to stage your field of vision and keep those things that matter most from falling victim to the things that matter least.

When you slow down to go fast, good things happen.

You develop criteria for making better decisions about where to spend your time. It becomes much easier to prioritize, based on what gets you closer to your destination versus what does not. And you progress much more quickly towards where you want to go.

When you focus on the activities that move you closer to your destination, you also spend less time trying to solve other people's problems, which benefits you and the organization as a whole. When you do for others what they should be doing for themselves, it inhibits their professional development while distracting you from essential activities.

"Slow down to go fast" doesn't seem to make sense. But neither does wearing track shoes to work. Stop trying to "find" more time and start making better choices about where you spend your time. You'll be amazed at how much faster it gets you to your destination!

About the Author

Holly G. Green is author of "More Than A Minute," and the CEO and Managing Director of The Human Factor, Inc. She has more than 20 years of executive level and operations experience in FORTUNE 100, entrepreneurial, and management consulting organizations. She was previously President of The Ken Blanchard Companies, a global consulting and training organization as well as LumMed, Inc. a biotech start up. For more information, visit her at http://www.thehumanfactor.biz and http://www.morethanaminute.com