Todd Herman Associates e-Update

Taking Stock

In This Issue:

• How you can use this year's experiences to make a better 2007 for your business by:
  • Defining what success means to you
  • Defining what success means to your organization
  • Setting goals for your organization
  • Achieving goals for your organization
• Our Business Process Review & Improvement services can help your company improve its process performance, thereby improving customer satisfaction and financial results. Find out more here ››

Also:

• Is Todd keeping his BlackBerry this month? Click here for Todd's Results ››
• THA can speak at your next civic or professional meeting. Schedule a presentation for your organization ››

Taking Stock

This time of year, many people's thoughts turn to taking stock – seeing how things went this past year, and how things need to be different next year. I have used a process in both work and personal items, based on concepts in the book, Today Matters, by leadership consultant and author John C. Maxwell. Dr. Maxwell's book deals with personal growth and success, and the concepts apply equally to a business environment.

What is "personal success"? Legendary basketball coach John Wooden said, "Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming." Defining success as "peace of mind" allows every person to have a unique definition of success. Dr. Maxwell suggests the following framework of 12 life areas to help define success:

Making progress toward becoming your best is, according to Dr. Maxwell, a function of both good decisions and daily discipline.

Good decisions are achieved by:

• Identifying specific goals in the 12 areas that will define what "success" means to you.
• Evaluating your current status in each of these areas.
• Sharing your goals and self-evaluation with a friend or accountability partner, and asking for – and then really listening to – their feedback.

Daily discipline helps you make steady progress through:

• Picking three areas – two areas of strength and one area of weakness – to work on for 60 days.
• Re-evaluating your progress in the 3 chosen areas. If you have achieved significant progress in an area, move on – otherwise, stay with it for another 60 days.
• Repeating this cycle until you have all 12 areas under your belt.

Success as "peace of mind" also applies to an organization and to the persons entrusted with its leadership. One useful framework for an organization is a balanced scorecard, a series of interrelated goals tailored to each organization's mission. Typically, measures are identified and organized in the areas of:

• Financial Results
• Customer Satisfaction
• Process Performance
• Employee Learning & Growth

Goal setting begins by:

• Deciding on measures and goals that reflect "success" in your chosen framework. An example measure and related goal may be "Make 50 sales calls on qualified prospects per month."
• Evaluating your current state against your identified goals, by calculating your current baseline performance measures – for example, your business may currently be averaging 42 sales calls per month.
• Sharing your goals and self-evaluation with a trusted business adviser – this could be your CPA, banker, attorney, consultant, executive coach, or someone else whom you trust to give you unvarnished feedback.

Goal achievement proceeds by:

• Selecting three areas – two areas of strength and one area of weakness – to work on for 60 days. Measure results monthly.
• Re-evaluating progress in your chosen areas.
• Repeating this cycle until all key goals have been achieved.

In December 2005, I took stock of my business and decided to focus on two major goals in 2006. I am pleased that there has been significant progress on both these goals. Not only have desired improvements occurred in the business, but my peace of mind – always important to any owner, executive, or manager – has dramatically improved.

As you take stock in your business and personal life, remember that making good decisions about your goals and practicing the daily discipline to achieve them helps bring peace of mind – the ultimate definition of success.

Our client projects begin with someone taking stock of their business situation, and deciding improvement is necessary. We frequently help our clients take stock and identify priority areas, and we invite other companies to contact us to do the same.

Sincerely,

Todd L. Herman

Todd Herman & Associates PA
Green Valley Building / 604 Green Valley Road, Suite 303
Greensboro, NC 27408
Phone/Fax: 336.297.4200