Lazy employees, team meetings on steroids, and when reading more is a BAD idea

Here’s a quick Q&A roundup of some recent advice I’ve shared with clients.

These are topics I’m frequently asked about…

So I’m betting these answers will help you too.

Q: “Craig, you said that an employee’s ‘failure’ comes down to 1 of 2 things…

A matter of skill or a matter of commitment.

I can see how you would improve the first issue (skill) with SOP’s, training, mentorship, etc. But how do you fix a team member’s commitment? And how would it be my fault that they are not committed?”

Answer:

A team member’s LACK of commitment comes from a LACK of communication (your fault)

When there is a void of information, people make up stories.

If you don’t share the info below, the team members make up stories like, “He/She is only doing this for the money,” or “They don’t think I’m important,” or “The boss doesn’t do anything around here.”

(It's the same as when your team members give you a vague excuse for missing a meeting... You make up stories about them!)

On the other hand…

A team member’s strong commitment comes from understanding a few things:
a) The Vision of the business

b) How the business helps customers

c) How the team member sees their role in both a & b

Your job is:

To communicate the BIG vision on a regular business and to be as specific as possible.

To relay as many success stories as possible so they see how your business is helping people every day.

To connect every team member and allow them to share what they do so that everyone (including themselves) can understand the contribution each team member makes to the BIG Vision and to the success stories generated in the business.

If you sell products or services…

The vision you need to communicate is that you are helping people.

Your products are good products that change people’s lives.

Everyone on the team has made a contribution to getting these products to the customers and changing people’s lives.

Our BIG vision is to help X people do Y.

To do that, we must sell XYZ. Etc.

Q: “Craig, I’m really busy… What do you think of adding a goal of reading for 20 minutes per day? Am I missing out by not reading a book a week?”
Answer:

Great question…

Now let me ask you…

What are we really after here?

Is the goal to add more “good activity” to our schedule?

Or…

Is the goal to generate a “specific accomplishment” from learning time?

Of course the answer to adding any action should be a specific accomplishment.

Now we ask…

Is reading the fastest way to achieve the accomplishment?

In most cases it’s not…

For example…

If you want to improve at phone sales…

What’s better?

1 hour and 40 minutes of reading a generic sales book every week?

Or a single 60-minute consultation from a sales training expert?

Answer: the consultation!

It can be life-changing when you get custom advice from an expert…

And you’ll remember it better compared to the “tips” from reading on a kindle while watching TV or listening to an audio book while you lift weights.

So back to “reading”…

Is it helpful?

Yes.

But is it the most helpful of all the learning options available to you?

That’s the question to be asking about how you use every minute of your time.

The means is not the end.

The doing of the activity is not the pursuit.

The result of the activity is what really matters.

If you need specific business help…

Perverse procrastination with some “book a week” challenge or 20 minutes/20 pages daily is often NOT the right path…

Especially when you can simply connect with someone that can solve your problem in 60 minutes or less.

Accomplishment > Activity

Q: “Craig, I feel like I’m always stuck in meetings…”

Answer:

You need to implement our weekly rhythm of:

- Team Weekly Alignment Meetings

- Goal Set & Review Meetings with individual team members

- Daily or Weekly “War Room Meetings” with your marketing team

>> Checkout how this helped my CEO client Charlie Johnson save 5-10 hours per week

It was a game changer and has helped him to scale his business much faster than he was previously.

=====

Alright, that’s it for now.

Enjoy your weekend!

Success Loves Speed,

Craig

PS - If you’re ready to 2X your income (or more) while working 10 less hours per week...

... Just REPLY to this email with the words “2X 10 LESS” and we'll set up a time to chat with you to find out if we can help.

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