HOW DOES WORK COMPLEXITY IMPACTS YOUR MORALE?

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

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HOW DO YOU MEASURE BUSINESS ETHICS?

December 23, 2020

THE QUESTION OF THE DAY

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? PURPLE Banner.png — **HOW DO YOU MEASURE BUSINESS ETHICS?**

CALENDAR 2020 - Banner PURPLE RIGHT 50% Copy.png — **As the volume of expected behavior and it's quality.**

**Because ethics are related to employee’s/people’s actions**

Ethical standards are linked to the employee's actions (telling the truth, keeping human dignity, honoring our promises .etc). We scrutinize our inclinations and motives and then propagate them into our actions. Based on how our actions align with the company's cultural and ethical guide/expectations, we fit into the norm of ethical behavior (or not).

Looking at the picture above - which of the qualities for ethical behavior can you identify and which can you substantialize and measure in your organization?

Before we start to measure ethics, it is important to set a baseline expectation for ethical values and how much (volume) our actions adhere to them.

We suggest that company leadership should first build a foundation that enables ethical behavior. We like the 3T's - Transparency, Trust, and Tangible Actions. They not only drive ethical conduct; they are the foundation for the motivation of employees as well. See the post from Dec 6th, "How do you calculate motivation." When you start measuring the internal volume of expected behavior and it's quality, it is good practice to tie them to external indicators as well.

Some useful external ethical indicators are:

The volume of established and maintained a loyal and satisfied customer base
Quality and its rating of customer engagement (social media, reviews, support cases, escalations)

Green Box-Rectangle Ethics Dec 23.png — **Build your Ethics on the 3T’s foundation**

Our approach and platform support 3T's that drive ethical behavior - TRANSPARENCY, so everyone knows What's Going On (WGO), TRUST in fair work recognition or correction of everyone's conduct, and TANGIBLE ACTIONS that follow desired behavior. Then it's up to you to make motivation happen.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

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HOW MUCH OF YOUR COMMUNICATION GETS LOST?

December 22, 2020

The QUESTION OF THE DAY

? LIGHT BLUE Banner .png — **HOW MUCH OF YOUR COMMUNICATION GETS LOST?**

CALENDAR 2020 - Banner LIght Blue RIGHT 50% Copy.png — **50% every time it’s transferred**

**Because we lose half of the critical context with each human layer that transfers information.**

If you transfer your message through 3 people, only 12,5% of your original content is received.

Looking at the graphic above - how much of your communication gets through?

While listening and learning, bear in mind that you lose 50 percent of the original context when you internalize information. When you convey it to someone else who was not part of the initial communication, they get only half of what you said.

If you don't communicate directly through all the organization layers, you create an environment of natural confusion.
Try to calculate how much information is diluted when it comes to the final recipient. Here is the formula:

Comunication Lost (formula) - Dec 22.png

(Where L is the number of organization levels between the communicator and the final recipient)

Communicate directly across all the layers.
Write and talk in postcard-sized chunks: 100 spoken words = one postcard. People do not process more than what is on the postcard, so give them a chance to digest and react.
Practice skip-level engagements with your teams.
Don’t rely solely on communication with your immediate reports—it might isolate you from the broader, more realistic picture.
Minimizing organizational hierarchies helps to ensure efficient communication, alignment, and performance. Remember that you might lose up to 50 percent of your communications as they move across each organization level.

Green Box-Rectangle 7% Coms 12.png — **IT IS NOT WHAT YOU SAY, BUT HOW IT IS RECEIVED**

Our Solution reduces the loss of communication content by highlighting factual information, so it is kept intact through all layers and transfers. The recipient gets the core context no matter how many times the message was transferred.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

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HOW DO YOU CALCULATE TRUST?

December 20, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

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? RED Banner.png — **HOW DO YOU CALCULATE TRUST?**

CALENDAR 2020 - Banner RED RIGHT 50% Copy.png — **Trust level is the sum of Credibility+Reliability+Intimacy all divided by the level of Self-orientation**

**You monitor trust level because without trust, nothing happens**

Trust is a very personal quality. It is the expectation that situations controlled by others will have a positive outcome for us. It is the belief that other people have our best interests at heart and not just their own. Institutions do not build trust. People trust other people by building relationships between themselves.

Looking at the formula above - how do you measure trust in your organization?

According to Charles H. Green, four qualities need to be considered to determine the trust level (TL) or trustworthiness of another person.

C = Credibility - Does the person have a proven track record and knowledge in a specific subject (are they a credible speaker)?

R = Reliability - Are the person’s actions predictable (can you trust them to deliver on their promises)?

I = Intimacy - Do you feel safe and secure with the person (can you trust that they will not share confidential information with others)?

S = Self-orientation - Is the person focused on your needs (are they interested in you or only in themselves)?

You can set up a simple Trust level (TL) calculator.

Think of a person whose TL you want to evaluate. On a scale of one to five, assign a value to each parameter (credibility, reliability, intimacy, and self-orientation), One is the least favorable, and five being the most favorable rating. Apply Formula from above to get a perceived trust level.

Green Box-Rectangle Trust 21 Dec.png — **Trust is a foundation of the 3T’s enabling your success.**

3T's enable your success through - 1. TRANSPARENCY, so everyone knows What's Going On (WGO), 2. TRUST that generates maximum combined effort towards the outcome, and 3. TANGIBLE ACTIONS that get things done.

HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD YOU SPEND IN MEETINGS?

December 19, 2020

DEC 20 - QUESTION OF THE DAY

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? BLUE Banner.png — **HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD YOU SPEND IN MEETINGS?**

CALENDAR 2020 - Banner Blue RIGHT 50% Copy.png — Team members <25%, Managers <50%, Executives <75%

**Because after aligning and establishing clarity everyone needs to work as well**

What is a meeting? A MEETING is a live social interaction between two or more people to inform, align, or decide, in a positive setting no matter where or how people connect (in person, on the phone, video call).

The word earned a bad connotation in recent years, but meetings are at the center of human engagement and collaboration. We need meetings, but we need good and short ones.

Looking at the graphic above - how do you invest your time? Do you know your split between meetings and focused work?

Forrester estimates we spend only 18% of our time on focused work and waste 40% of our overall productivity. Most of the waste is attributed to the meetings.

If you are an expert worker the majority of your time should focus on execution, and less than 25% should be spent in meetings (coordination, reviews, updates)

If you are a manager, your job is to engage people and make things work. That should take less than 50% of your time so you can focus on your work, including continuous development.
If you are an executive, you have managers linking aspirations with practicalities and creative workers to execute a smooth delivery. Because you are accountable for your people and business's wellbeing, setting aspirations, and being the face of your company on the market, you will spend 75% or more of your time in meetings. Aspire to keep 25% of the time for your executive time (reflection and preparation)

Green Box-Rectangle Meeting Cost.png — **INVEST YOUR TIME WISELY**

Our Solution shows you where you invest your time in real-time. It provides instant reflection you can use to prioritize your next actions in alignment with your goals and avoid jumping on things that are urgent instead of focusing on important objectives.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

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HOW MUCH OF YOUR LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL DO YOU USE?

December 18, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

According to John P. Kotter, one of the keys to driving organizational success is more leadership. He observes that the leadership potential inside each of us tends to stay untapped and is not converted into skills that we can use. He goes on to argue that even if leadership skills are developed, oftentimes they are not used to lead.

Looking at the graphics above - how much of your leadership potential do you use?

Although they seem similar, there is a difference between management and leadership.

Management has more to do with the mechanics of the business (hiring, planning, supervising, etc.)

Leadership includes the human element (inspiring, motivating, communicating, and so on).

Management is often more mechanical (deadlines, tasks, etc.), while leadership deals with unique personalities, relationships, and encouragement. Neither management nor leadership, however, can get you to your destination (vision) on their own—you need to combine both in order to succeed.

Kotter sets the balance required for successful change and transformation at 75 to 80 percent leadership and 20 to 25 percent management.

In our experience, the most significant challenge and cause of failure is the separation of management from leadership.

The right balance of both management and leadership will unleash a large amount of physical, emotional, and intellectual energy. In fact, it could release up to 35 percent extra energy from within your teams, which can be put towards the constructive outcome of your transformation.

Our Solution is helping leaders keep employees engaged, motivated, and monitor their workload and utilization. You can proactively see if your team gets distracted, and protect them from disillusion and disengagement.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

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HOW DO YOU CALCULATE CAPACITY?

December 18, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

? CORAL Banner.png — **HOW DO YOU CALCULATE CAPACITY?**

CALENDAR 2020 - Banner PINK RIGHT 50% Copy.png — **Capacity = Work / (Resources x Time)**

**You can then plan realistically according to the time and capacity that you have available.**

Think of capacity as a volume of work that can be accomplished in a given time by available resources. Make frequent capacity checks against the work you plan to do. If you do not have enough capacity, you have failed before you start—there are laws of physics you cannot beat.

Looking at the formula above - how do you plan, monitor, and manage capacity?

Do you ask yourself a question: How much time do things take? Think about the whole company’s work capacity. Do you know how much time things take and how much time is allocated to individual tasks?

Resources without known capacity create an imbalance between available skills and business needs, preventing you from reaching your final objectives.

The more you are aware of the dependencies and necessary timing for work, the better you can judge the chances of achieving your goals. Understanding your capacity will result in fewer surprises and more predictive work. You will avoid delays and rework (and the associated costs), and your work will be done on time and in the right sequence.

Measure and control your progress frequently. There are 1,440 minutes in a day—make sure you make the most of them.

Green Box-Rectangle Wellbeing 18.png — **Take care of the wellbeing of your people. They will take care of well being of your business.**

Our Solution shows every employee's capacity and workload in real-time. You see the risk of burnout and the ability to finish work on time.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

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HOW DO YOU CALCULATE COMPLEXITY?

December 17, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

It is a simplified formula that works well to estimate if you are getting too complex. For instance, apply it to the people in the meeting, and you get the number of individual conversations they can have among themselves. So how many topics will you bring up for a discussion in a group of 10 individuals? With only one topic, ten people can engage in 45 different conversations.

Looking at the graphic above - how complex is your environment? How many people do you engage with daily, how many tools do you use to interact, how many dependent priorities do you manage?

Would you achieve more if you focus on less?

The appetite to drive constantly more things brings organization to a spin, confusion, and ultimately disengagement.

Ideally, work in groups of 4 to 7 people (6 to 21 possible links) you can still manage because you can create transparency, assign clear responsibility, coordinate well, and catch social loafing.
Don’t have more than 7 places you store information.
Try to avoid working with more than 7 tools.
Three topics to manage at any given time give you plenty of complexity.
You can handle more, but that extends your working day and might not be healthy.
Track your work and share the complexity level with your management.
Try to focus on a specific topic within one group and set of tools for sufficiently long to make noticeable progress. Then move to another set.
Do not switch focus too frequently. You will need too much time to recalibrate too often and won’t make enough progress.

It sounds rather incredible that you need so many interactions when you work. The Hackman formula shows that even a simple task including too many people, tools, and topics can become a rather complicated and expensive endeavor! When you start looking at your business through the Hackman formula lens, you quickly understand the cost of the complexity your organization incurs.

Green Box-Rectangle VISION.png — SIMPLE IS HARD NOT EASY

Our Solution shows you complexities in real-time. It provides instant reflection where work, people, and their actions are accumulated. You can declutter and prioritize your next actions in alignment with your goals and avoid jumping on urgent things instead

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

HOW LONG SHOULD A MEETING BE?

December 15, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

In 30 minutes, you can cover a maximum of two topics if you have prepared in advance and shared materials. Make sure the right people are attending and encourage participants to come ready and familiar with issues. Keep to the agenda, so you don't drift to different activities and drop the attention of the participants.

Watching the video above - how long are your meetings? Do you accomplish what you need? Are you making decisions during your meetings?

We believe that a weekly checkup representing 15 to 20 minutes of the meeting can be pushed to the preparation materials or video update.

If you need to cover more than two topics, don’t make meetings longer. Schedule a sequence of meetings or follow-ups 15 to 20 minutes apart. The participants get a break to catch up with urgent items. This allows you as well to invite only relevant parties to given topics and not drag people from their other duties for a whole day. It forces you to stay on time and schedule, making the entire meeting experience structured and concise.

To avoid unproductive meetings, use the 20/80 Pareto principle when you prepare. For every 20 minutes of a meeting, spend 80 minutes preparing to make it productive (key points, discussion flow, and supporting materials). At Amazon, every meeting starts with a quiet 15 minutes for participants to quietly read materials to synthesize and understand the key points discussed.

The science to organize and lead a meeting is well documented. Here are a couple of relevant links:

Forbes HBR NYTimes Tablegroup MindTools

Our Solution helps you to track your time investment between meeting and focused work to strike a right balance for top performance.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND ON DEDICATED TASKS?

December 15, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

According to Forrester research, we tend to spend excessive time on redundant tasks, with only 18 percent of our day dedicated to focused task delivery. We constantly switch between 8 applications on average and need to refocus our mind, which takes anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes.

Looking at the graphics above - how much time do you invest in dedicated work?

It’s estimated that the mental block created by the constant application switching and work on redundant tasks reduces productivity by 40 percent.

To address this, companies need to enable a focused work culture, eliminate unnecessary waste, and motivate workers to contribute more directly to business outcomes. The emerging answer to this challenge is Enterprise Collaborative Work Management. It combines the best of project and task management with social collaboration, cost-of-work monitoring, real-time profitability, and time-utilization tracking to give workers and business leaders complete visibility of the lifecycle of work across the company.

Green Box-Rectangle Focused Work Dec 15.png — Don’t focus on Organizational Structure; focus on Work Arrangements.

With us, team members are not forced into following a specific methodology, such as Critical Path Scheduling or Agile. Instead, they achieve the desired outcome by using the tools available to them in a way they feel comfortable with. Our platform aggregates the most important data points to build a transparent picture of What’s Going On (WGO) so you can decide Where To Focus (WTF) in the context of the whole company.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

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WHAT’S THE IDEAL SIZE OF A TEAM?

December 14, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

When you create transparency, assign clear responsibilities, coordinate well, and catch social loafing while bringing together people with diversified sets of skills and profiles you reach the optimal productivity with the quality of the outcome.

Pizza Size teams Graphics for Dec 14th.png

Looking at the graphic above - what are the team sizes in your organization that achieve the most progress and generate lasting impact?

Initially, a French engineer, M. Ringelmann, discovered that people's effort quickly diminished due to the inability to coordinate with the increased team sizes. That was later corrected by A. Ingham discovering social loafing — when members of larger teams reduce their effort because they feel less responsible for the output.

The opinions on team sizes will vary based on the environment and skills you need to assemble in the Team.

Navy seals team size - 4
Bezos - "Number of people that two pizzas can feed." O*
Basketball 5, Volleyball 6, Waterpolo 7
The team size for maximum productivity will be in the 5-7 person range. O*

If you work with larger teams and reducing team sizes is not an option, here are three tips from Mark de Rond O*

Divide up a complex task into manageable bits
Generate a sense of urgency = give people something to care about more than themselves.
Provide greater transparency by opening up your feedback mechanism

Green Box-Rectangle Team size Pizza 14.png — **Build your Team on the 3T's foundation**

3T's enable team performance - 1. TRANSPARENCY, so everyone knows What's Going On (WGO), 2. TRUST in a maximum effort towards the outcome, and 3. TANGIBLE ACTIONS that get rewarded.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

Can food sharing go digital?

December 12, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

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? Yellow Banner.png — **CAN FOOD SHARING GO DIGITAL?**

CALENDAR 2020 - Banner YELLOW RIGHT 50% Copy.png — **YES, IT CAN, AND IT DID**

myPlates.io is a great example of how communities can strive

Companies are innovating in today's world. There are 800 million people in our world that are hungry and 40 million U.S. residents struggling with food insecurity.

Plates created a platform that empowers people at the local level to make a difference. Food sharing within a community can directly unite and address the neighbor's needs.

Looking at the video above - How much food gets wasted in your neighborhood? How can you get involved?

Food waste is a regrettable reality today. Approximately $650 billion worth of food goes to waste each year globally.

In the U.S., our contribution to that figure is $165 billion. Chipping away at those figures means consciously approaching food production and consumption. The idea of sharing food within a local economy creates sustainability that will reduce food waste globally.

For Diners

You can sign up to be a Diner on Plates for free. Once you create your account, you'll be able to browse available food near you. Maybe you want to dine at a Ramen Pop-up where you're traveling or pick up a free-range roast chicken in your neighborhood. It's all up to you.

For Chefs

Download Chef's Plates from the App Store or from the Plates Website.
Start exploring the app as a guest, complete your original chef profile with a bio, photos, and a video.
Then go to Plates’ Website and follow the process to become a Chef.

Green Box-Rectangle Plates 13.png — **GIVE ACCESS TO HEALTHY FOOD, REDUCE ITS WASTE**

Plate's make it possible to eat local and to eat fresh.

Plates brings local communities together by connecting people with one another through a shared love of food.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

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HOW MUCH IMPACT DOES YOUR VERBAL COMMUNICATION HAVE?

December 12, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Only seven percent of the words we say are absorbed by those we are communicating with. The rest is all down to body language, tone, and inflections. That's an incredible 93 percent left to nonverbal communication. In stressful, tense situations, it doesn't matter what you say; it's how you say it. Today with shelter in place and remote work, we are having to adopt new tools and create new habits to help get our message across and collaborate effectively and make up for the 93% that is nonverbal in other ways. People don't always remember what you say, but they'll never forget how you made them feel. Making people feel positive is one of the critical skills that change leaders need to master to be successful.

7% VERBAL COMMUNIACTION Graphics for Dec 12th.png

Looking at the graphic above - how do you communicate? How does your message come through?

Now many of us are working remotely, it is even more important than ever to try to make sure you adjust to the new normal and communicate well. Tailor your body language and gestures for every individual, and seek personal and live engagements (or live online engagements). Turn your video on when you are in meetings, and if you have something to say to someone that will be a long email, pick up the phone, or schedule a video catch-up. You will get a much more effective outcome.

With the rise of e-mail and social media proliferation, we have started to overuse text (verbal communication), expecting it to have the same effect as active engagement, but it doesn't work that way. Remember to be concise, polite, and respectful - it can be easy for the receiver to misjudge the tone or misinterpret the message. Add a graphic if you can as it helps with clarifying things - a picture paints a thousand words!

In the age of international and cross-cultural teams, where the spoken language is not always the native tongue of every team member, we often fail to realize how our words could be misinterpreted. Be aware and don’t be afraid to seek clarification.

The fact that we don't often see or even hear the real-time reaction and feedback of our audiences takes away our ability to recognize and instantly correct the impact of our message. As we are having to limit physical face-to-face communications, we need to make sure we don’t just rely on email, and voice messages. Use video where you can - there is no substitute for face-to-face communication.

Our Solution helps improve communication by highlighting factual information and reduces the chances of misunderstanding. By wrapping facts in a message delivered in

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE SELF STARTERS?

December 11, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

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Self Starters can create around themselves an environment that appreciates and fulfills their needs. According to Maslow's theory, the number of genuinely self-actualized people (who desire to achieve their full capabilities) is less than two percent of the total population.

Looking at the graphic above - are you a self-starter? Can you self-actualize and motivate yourself?

Self-motivated people can go from the Anxiety and excitement presented by a new Idea, situation, or challenge to the Acceptance of the new reality in a highly compressed time frame without any dip in their performance and output. They are usually good change leaders, innovators, or early adopters.

Green Box-Rectangle Video call 11.png — **Build Transparency, Trust, and show Tangible actions**

Our approach and platform support 3T's that enable Self-Starters - TRANSPARENCY, so everyone knows What's Going On (WGO), TRUST in fair work recognition, and TANGIBLE ACTIONS documented as a Proof of Work. Then it's up to you to empower good things to happen.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

HOW TO TURN UP BEST FOR YOUR VIDEO CALL?

December 9, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Check the entire Micro series

The following five suggestions will make you look like a news anchor every time you get in front of the camera.

Light up your meeting - if no-one can see you, you are not in attendance!
Your picture tells the story - make sure you look the part.
Without great sound, you can’t get your point across.
Your background needs to look clean and attractive.
Your actions trigger reactions - make sure they’re good ones.

Looking at the video above - how can make your presence more impactful?

Natural light gives the best lighting for a video meeting. A selfie ring is a great alternative.

Use an external camera at eye-level. It has a higher- quality picture and more flexibility to get the right angle.

Use headsets, they not only reduce surrounding noises, but most of them also have high quality, built-in mics.

Avoid busy settings and doorways in the background. This will minimize the chance of an unexpected entry such as this infamous one.

Be concise and speak in short sentences. Let people digest what you’ve said by adding pauses. Engage even if you aren’t talking - 93% of communication impact is nonverbal. Your body language and engagement plays a key role

According to HBR, in virtual settings, most 60% of people care about the background behind you, 47% care about clothing type, and 39% about color.

Green Box-Rectangle Video call 10.png — **LOOK THE PART AND ACTS LIKE A PRO**

Our Microlearning series with VIdeo Meeting tips is the fastest way for rapid onboarding on best practices.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

WHAT ARE THE THREE TRAITS TO MAKE IT IN THE 21st CENTURY?

December 8, 2020

DEC 9 - QUESTION OF THE DAY

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To be successful, you need to be able to adapt to any situation. Adaptability is the ability to adjust to new conditions. You also need to have the grit and persistence to push things forward. Grit means stamina. Zoom in on building a culture of team play. Make sure everyone understands their rights and obligations as a team member.

These three qualities are similar to the characteristics needed to make it in the special forces.

ADAPT-GRIT-TEAM Graphics for Dec 9th.png

Looking at the graphic above - how much grit and adaptability do you have and what level of team play do you possess?

A term commonly used to describe this skill set of Adaptability, Grit, and Team play is “situational leadership”—an instant reaction to a fluid and evolving situation. You have to recognize the weaknesses, needs, and priorities in a moment, identify solutions quickly, and turn them into action that moves you or the whole team forward towards the assigned goal.

You need to be able to do it repetitively and under pressure

This philosophy has the best chance of aligning yourself behind the new reality and dissolves anxiety of the unknown. You avoid disengagement that comes from a temporary lack of purpose and achieve the acceptance of the future state.

Green Box-Circle Corners rectangle WGO WTF Copy.png — LISTEN & LEARN to ADAPT, develop Grit and become the best team Player

Our leadership approach enables you to listen to your company indirectly and remotely so you learn What’s Going On (WGO) and can adapt your Focus to any quickly changing situation

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST VALUABLE RESOURCE?

December 7, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

We plan and prioritize WHAT to do, but pay little attention to HOW we spend our time doing it.

Now more than ever (especially with remote working) it is important to start tracking your work time. It may feel as if organizing ourselves is an immense burden in the creative process, but in a world of distractions, if you do not pay attention to where you spend your time, you will not be nearly so successful or effective.

Because our work process is happening so fast and we are switching between actions so frequently, we often cannot track what's going on and miss to connect all the dots that inhibit us from understanding our actions' true value.

QUOTE NUGGET 29 - invest how people spend time no backround.gif

Looking at the graphic above - do you know how you and your teams invest their time?

Benefits of time tracking for individuals:

Gain insights and understand Where To Focus (WTF):
See the % of time spent in meetings vs. deep strategic work
Understand how work contributes to value generation
Get more control of work-life balance - be more effective and impactful
Create Proof of Work for performance reviews

Benefits of time tracking for Businesses:

See the whole picture of the organization - understand who is working on what, for who, and for how long
Manage workflows effectively
Understand the profitability of clients and projects
Make better decisions by seeing the real-time profitability of your business and course-correct on a dime

Our Creative work organizer helps you manage your workstyle and prioritize your time investment in real-time to stay on the top of your game. At an aggregated level it provides businesses with a real-time map of who is working, on what, how long, and at what cost. This gives business owners a 24x7 pulse check on their business and profitability.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

WHAT FOUR THINGS DO YOU NEED TO MEASURE TO DRIVE YOUR BUSINESS?

December 6, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Looking at the graphic above - how do you structure, organize, and connect your data?

Think about how you assess your company’s performance. Do you know what is critical for measuring your progress and results? Have you decided on your key performance indicators (KPIs)?

Volume is a count of units. The units you decide to use depend on your business nature (people, the volume of calls, products, etc.).
Value usually corresponds to money in various formats (cost, bookings, income)and is often related to satisfaction. Perceived value is commonly translated to how much people are willing to pay.
Time is a measure of units such as hours, days, weeks, months, years, etc. Duration is the difference between two points in time, and the term “cycle time” is used when dealing with repetitive processes.
Quality is a perceived measure for meeting expectations.

Can you build all your other metrics from these four?

Green Box-Rectangle Measure 07.png — MEASURE WHAT YOU CAN, NOT WHAT YOU WISH TO

Standardize on what and how you measure across your business. It may take time upfront to agree and align everything. You will save valuable time and energy in the future, and it will become much easier to reconcile, analyze, and interpret data. You will have a higher likelihood of knowing what you are looking at.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

HOW DO YOU CALCULATE MOTIVATION?

December 6, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

In other words, motivation is simply the amount of stimulation in a specific situation based on the belief that the effort invested in work will lead to a performance that will be strongly rewarded.

Looking at the graphic above - how do you assess Motivation?

Can you identify if your teams believe that their efforts will lead to a positive outcome? (Expectancy)
Can you evaluate if your teams believe that their outcome will be rewarded? (Instrumentality)
Can you estimate the perception of the reward’s size? (Valence)

Motivation = Expectancy x Instrumentality x Valence

The formula represents the theory of cognitive evaluation by Victor H. Vroom, or expectancy theory, which brings the following motivational elements together to calculate the motivation value.

Finding if these elements' levels multiplied together brings your team to the right level of motivation is critical for positive engagement. This simple estimate will give you an indication of the direction to discover the root causes of challenges you might be experiencing.

Green Box-Rectangle Motivation.png — MOTIVATE PEOPLE BY ENABLING 3T’s

Our approach and platform support 3T’s that enable motivation - TRANSPARENCY, so everyone knows What’s Going On (WGO), TRUST in fair work recognition, and TANGIBLE ACTIONS documented as a Proof of Work. Then it's up to you to make motivation happen.

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.

HOW MANY TOOLS SHOULD YOU USE?

December 5, 2020

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Just count with us: 1. The Office suite (Word processor, Spreadsheet, Presentation, E-mail, Video Conferencing), 2. Social interaction tool, 3. File storage. Beyond this list, you go into the specialized functional applications for 4. marketing lead generation, 5. sales CRM, 6. Finance Accounting, 7. Customer support, 8. HR etc.

Work Hierarchy - Explainer III for Dec 5th .png

Looking at the graphics above - how many tools do you use?

The explosion of cloud-based applications services encourages employees to bring their favorite apps to the workplace which makes the situation worse. It creates a BYOA culture (Bring Your Own Application), where workers look to test cool features or interface designs (UI) with their colleagues. Ask yourself how many different video conferencing software do you have to use. I can count at least 5. For individuals and teams that might be an exciting prospect but exposes them to tenths in some cases even more applications. For the company as a whole, however, it creates a headache, as information ends up in different places, in nonstandard formats, with security risk and data fragmentation. Companies try to standardize the use of applications. Is that the way to the future? Not necessarily.

Green Box-Rectangle Tools Cog.png — USE THE TOOLS YOU LIKE AND WORK THE WAY YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE

Our approach is different to the standard methods of working. Collaboration is structured around a work hierarchy (e.g. a specific deal, customer or change project) and not at an organizational level. People use tools they like, we aggregate the entire organization's information into one map so everyone can see What’s Going On (WGO) and decide Where To Focus (WTF).

Success is never solely down to creative ideas or unique products or services. The difference between success and failure is actually down to the fundamentals of how you operationalize your business. Check our guide to the best operational and transformation practices, that people love.