PD Strategies Blog

Behavioral competencies are more important the functional job competencies. Organizations that leverage behavior competencies create cultures of performance and success.   And Peter Drucker is alleged to have said that culture eats strategy for lunch. This means the without the culture including vision, values, people who share those values and doing the right thing; then your strategy is not worth the paper it is printed on. In Good to Great, Jim Collins explains that building a great organization is as simple as “Getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.” It may be simple but it’s not easy. You will need to change the way you hire people. Unfortunately, all too often owners and hiring managers tend to make hiring decisions by looking at background in the industry, jobs held before, and job history. Significant time is spent looking...

Managing a team is a skillful balancing act. How do you hold people accountable while empowering them to do their best work? On one hand, you have the work to be done—the business to be performed. On the other hand, you need engaged and self-motivated and even self-managing team members. Going only one direction can cause problems. I love to go back to management theories and one which I first studied when I was back in college is the Blake-Mouton Theory. You can Google it to learn more. This theory highlights some problematic management styles. If you are authoritarian or a control freak, you are concerned with doing it the way you know it needs to be done. My way or the highway. The other extreme is the leader who values relationships, wants harmony, and believes the work will get done. If you are this type of leader, you will not...

In your business you should focus on doing the right things at the right time for the right reasons. Hold your focus and stay sharp on the things necessary to grow and adapt to changes. Don’t get bogged down in the daily operations and get lazy and develop a rut. The owner stops seeing the big picture. Sometimes day to day things are occupying all the time and money is being made. The business has had years of successful sales and profits. Since your business is still making money and continuing to operate the reasoning is, if it’s not broke don’t fix it. What are your ready for a sudden change in business environment? As a financial planner friend of mine says, People don’t plan to fail; they just fail to plan. To plan for success take this 5 area checkup: 1. Make sure you know what business you are in....

There are so many changes now with the churn in the job market because of the Great Resignation. This can be a time of opportunity to find out how you can leverage the strengths you have and how to use strengths of team members to have increased results and job satisfaction for all. I think it is foolish to try to improve your weaknesses or limitations. Even if you attempt to do it you will never be fully satisfied, and you will be in a constant state of stress. But isn’t that what many of us try to do?   When your child comes home from school with his or her report card and it shows, for example, an A in math, B’s in history and science, and a C in English, what is your response? That’s right. Most people will talk to their child about raising the grade in English. But...

There seems to have been plenty of anxiety about the future in the last two years. The best way to predict the future is to create it I work with business owners in Westchester County New York who define success through their vision, their values, and goals. In addition, they monitor and measure results. To get started, you need create your strategic plan, consisting of goals and objectives, and a way to measure your progress. Without these elements you are relying solely on luck. What you measure is just as important as having and plan and executing it. For example, many business owners are familiar with the acronym EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), or more simply said profit. But that, again, is a measure of what happened in the past. It may not predict what will happen in the future. Using measurements that predict whether you are on...

Sometimes we can all use a friendly reminder that sales today is more about developing relationships rather than closing sales. Here are 7 ideas that will open up your current sales thinking and help you become more effective in your selling activities: 1. Don’t use a sales pitch but instead start a conversation. When you call someone, avoid making a mini-presentation about yourself, your company, and what you have to offer. Start with an opening conversational phrase that focuses on a specific problem that your product or service solves 2. Your central goal is always to discover whether you and your potential client are a good fit. Let go of trying to “close the sale” or “get the appointment.” If you simply focus your conversation on problems that you can help potential clients solve, and if you don’t jump the gun by trying to move the sales process forward, you will...

If you lead a team your primary objective is to get results. That being said, the leader needs to develop the interpersonal skills to engage the team in achievement of those results. When I speak with my Westchester County NY business leaders about traits that make a good leader no one can agree. The only trait that is agreed upon is having empathy. All successful leaders can set goals and achieve results. The most effective way to keep the team focused is “management by objectives.” Follow these steps. Start with a clear strategic vision—a strategic plan that inspires. Then create goals that support that vision. Next, work with your team to define the desired results. Align your people and your processes and make sure that everyone understands the goals and the plan. All your operations should be linked to your plan. Then virtually everything that happens should work toward achieving that...

The reason that a group of employees is not achieving desired outcomes is usually traced back to the leadership. It has been said that if all of the students fail the exam the fault lies in the teacher. Like students you and your staff may not be on the same page. While that is personally frustrating how much money is that costing you? You can change that. Here’s how. Become a focused leader who empowers engaged employees who in turn create loyal customers leading to growth and success. Let’s start with the focused leader. You may have the title of manager but that does not mean you are seen as the leader. As managers we can influence the process through which people recognize our leadership by creating an environment where people will join “the team” because they see the purpose of what they are supposed to do and understand the vision,...

It is certainly easy to say that you know today’s problem. There is no denying that the last two years have provided challenges. Don’t just make the mistake of thinking once the country returns to “normal” we will be fine. Smart employers are starting to ask questions and look for root causes. The problem of the great resignation and the search for talent is real. Is it just because of the pandemic or has the last two years cause some paradigm shifts? What you are seeing are symptoms and they are real problems. You want to remove the problem or, at least, move forward in spite of the problem. You can’t take a knee jerk reaction and treat the symptoms. It is important to look at the whole picture rather than make a reactive fix. It would be a mistake to treat the symptoms rather than cure the disease. Many reactive...

During these times we are hearing plenty of messaging. Although it is intended to inform much of it confuses. I have been finding recently that people are confused and to the point that they want to shoot the messenger. These are times of turmoil. Productivity almost always suffers in times like these because employee stress dramatically increases due to the universal fear of the unknown. We are seeing this all over. In our organizations leaders struggle with crafting the clear message. Many times, they believe they are communicating with employees when it comes to matters that affect them. Unfortunately, they often underestimate the number of matters that includes. Can you say with certainty that you know what is important to employees and what to tell them? The only way to know is to put yourself in their shoes and see thing from their position and mindset. Think to yourself, “If I...

Some managers like to delegate and disappear. Other are the opposite and they are control freaks. Both managers are ineffective and doomed to failure. An effective leader does not simply hand out jobs for others to do. The effective leader first puts the structure and processes in place to assure the successful execution by others. Consider the person who starts a business because they love the product, food for example. The is so much more to running a restaurant than understanding food. You need to know how to run an operation, and, in fact, you don’t have time to get into the weeds on the food. You must lead and manage and understand all elements of that business, but primarily, be able to manage and hold your employees accountable. I worked with someone who had built a very successful home services business. He did the sales, and his wife did the...

A key core competency in management and in sales is Relationship Management. Being able to influence people is a skill that needs to be developed. Those who are successful influencers are able to move people to action by showing them what is in it for them. All consultants (internal or external) and all managers will have great success if they learn this. Trust is vitally important, and this is built on credibility and respect. In this information age anyone can look something up. No one holds a knowledge monopoly anymore. Dan Pink, in his book, “To Sell is Human,” talks about how we are all in sales so to speak. He calls this the art of moving people and it applies to everyone from consultants to teachers. The old formula of sales no longer works. Those who remember sales from years ago remember ABC which means Always Be Closing. This is...

Have you completed your annual goals review for 2021 and goals for 2022? It is important to have strong goals for your critical business areas. But what about the things that you will stop doing? First, you should see that things did not work. It might be marketing activities for example. You will want to eliminate the ones that did not produce desired results. Ok check those off. Now let’s talk about something different. If any of you have ever done an assessment with a coach or you have had a developmental assessment for you job you probably saw a section on the worksheet that is titled “I will stop doing…” Attitudes, behaviors, and activities can account for our success or failure. We should be measuring the results of our activities to see if they are moving in the direction of our goals. Start by looking at your activities that have...

In the last week I have seen several surveys including one from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). They are asking business leaders how their organization is handling change. In the beginning of the Pandemic, I wrote about a case for change now. At that time many were in denial or just wanted to wait. They just needed to get through the traumatic times. Change and traumatic times might be here to stay. Now I am not referring to Covid-19 but I am simply saying that if you are going to wait until things (whatever they are) blow over you and your business are positioned to fail. Why do people resist change? Why to people want to wait and see when the threat in front of them demands action? Understanding the reasons people resist change can help overcome the obstacles to change and create real progress. Here are some reasons...

How do you create a culture of accountability? Check you leaders. Who are the perceived heroes in your organization? What values do they exhibit by their actions? Try this. Write down the culture for which you want to strive. What actions and values create that culture? Do your leaders display those values and take those actions?   If not, then it is time to work on developing your leaders. Many times, we fear discussing these actions and behaviors because we fear causing alienation. Unless we take steps to change the culture, we will continue to have failure. The culture of accountability must be cascaded down from organizational leadership to senior leaders and to all supervisors. How does a manager or supervisor hold members of the staff responsible for performance? What about an employee who needs help but fears asking for help? The results can be devastating when we fail to have accountability...

The pandemic has forced many changes in the last year and the future is not completely certain. Have you thought about incorporating these changes into your business? If you want to have success next year you should be giving this serious consideration. Creating an appropriate strategy will be most successful if you look at your business today, look into the future, then make a plan to create your future. Here are some of the things I discuss when helping my clients with a strategic plan: 1.        Make sure you know what business you are in. Whether you are in real estate, construction and contracting, graphic design, or consulting you must define what you provide to the customer. For example, Kodak should have realized that it was not in the film business but in the image and impression sharing business. In real estate are you selling houses or assisting buyers in improving...

When you are doing something that you really love you never work a day in your life. How true that statement is. That is good for the individual, but it is just as good for the employer. Inner engagement leads to higher quality work, less mistakes, less illness, and retention. Start with yourself. And as Simon Sinek says, Start with Why. If you do not have the WHY the HOW will not matter. Motivation and goal achievement are interrelated. Knowing what motivates you is a key to achievement and knowing how to find motivation in others is a key to leadership. Dwight Eisenhower said that leadership is getting others to do what you want because THEY want to do it. Reach down and find that motivation and bring it to the surface. I hear more and more newer works say they left the job because they were not passionate about it....

Given the great resignation and difficulty finding employees it is easy for hiring managers to overreact. Don’t do it. The wrong people will do more damage than no people. Please remember that culture combined with team engagement has proven to improve outcomes including financial performance. Culture influences every area of the organization. It affects the public and customer perception, but it also affects the way people do their jobs and their connection to the mission and values of the organization. In short, an organization’s culture is seen in actions and behaviors which model the values it lives by. Your hiring process must support your culture. One organization states it this way in one of their cultural pillars. “We very carefully guard who gets to be an associate in our organization.” This organization looks at values, attitudes, and behaviors in making staff selections in addition to those skills needed to perform the...

Ask a business owner how it is going. You might get the answer, “very busy.” Is that a good thing? It depends. If it means lots of customers and revenue that is a good thing. Many times, it means that they are so busy just keeping the business running. In this case the business is running them. Just having a product or service that people want will produce income and can pay bills, but will it truly produce success? But this has not spelled success for many businesses and the lack of the true understanding of what it takes has caused businesses to fail. Some businesses may survive due to external dynamics and timing, but they will become stagnant and the owner will feel like a hamster on a wheel. There is a lack of entrepreneurial leadership. For example, in the restaurant industry there are numerous great cooks and chefs that...

Virtual teams can be top performing teams. Not every organization needs a virtual team or prefers to have one, but these teams are a reality, and they can produce top results. The number of virtual teams or home office workers is steadily growing. Regardless of the composition of the team, the components needed to create traditional high performing teams also apply to virtual teams. There needs to be a visionary and motivating leader to lead highly engaged and dedicated team members. These team members need to have a strong motivation for achievement of their goals. Moreover, the team’s goal AND the members’ individual goals must be aligned. Just because people don’t meet in a physical location does not mean that there can’t be a culture of accountability. Every team and every leader needs to set the example and set the standard for the team to follow. The points are the same...