Tag Archives: Strategy

Making Decisions Before You Need To Make Them 

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Would you call yourself a GOOD DECISION MAKER?

How do you know if you are a GOOD DECISION MAKER?

You are a good decision maker if your decisions are yielding the results you want.

To a certain point, which is different for all of us, we make good quality decisions, promptly and with confidence.

These decisions yield the results we want and we move forward with our lives & work.

Past a certain point, which again is different for all of us, we make poor quality decisions, are slow to make these decisions and make them with less confidence.

These decisions do not yield the results we want and we don’t move forward with our lives & work.

In early 2021, I was making quality decisions, promptly and with confidence. These decisions yielded the results I wanted and I was moving forward with my life and work. As the year progressed and I took on more & more and became busier & busier, my decision making reduced in quality, became slower and I made decisions with a lot less confidence.

These decisions yielded the results I did not want and I wasn’t moving forward with my life & work.

In hindsight I realised I had DECISION FATIGUE!

DECISION FATIGUE is when the number of decisions we need to make outweighs the capacity we have to make them and we feel like we cannot make  even one more decision – even the simple everyday decisions become difficult!

How do you know if you have DECISION FATIGUE?

If you say YES to more than 3 of these, chances are you have DECISION FATIGUE!

  1. Do you find it hard to make decisions?
  2. Are you slow to make decisions?
  3. Are you less confident than normal in making decisions?
  4. Have you been making decisions that yield results you don’t want?
  5. Do you feel fatigued when making decisions?
  6. Is your to do list becoming unmanageable & overwhelming?

The antidote to having decision fatigue is making EXCELLENT DECISIONS.

Why would you want to make EXCELLENT DECISIONS?

  • Decisions you make will be made quicker
  • Decisions you make will be made with more confidence
  • Decisions you make will be aligned to your vision for your life & work
  • You will be more mindful & intentional in your life & work
  • You will be less frustrated & overwhelmed
  • You will be utilising and saving time, energy & focus
  • Will be saving and making more money

So, the million dollar question is HOW do you AVOID DECISION FATIGUE and MAKE EXCELLENT DECISIONS?

YOU MAKE DECISIONS BEFORE YOU NEED TO MAKE THEM!

Here are the 3 steps to MAKE DECISIONS BEFORE YOU NEED TO MAKE THEM!

  1. START WITH STRATEGY

Strategy is one of my favourite things to do. 

If I were to sum up strategy in one word it would be DIRECTION!

Strategy whether it’s a personal or business strategy is all about having structure & systems that set your DIRECTION, support your desired DIRECTION and monitor progress towards your DIRECTION.

The following are the core elements of a stable strategy – Vision, Mission, Values, Goals, Metrics, Plans, Actions, Thinking, Learning, Improving, Reflection, Recognition & Celebration. 

When you have all of the above in your personal/business strategy, decision making becomes so QUICK, EASY & SIMPLE.

When faced with a decision, ask ‘Does this align with my strategy?’

If it does, then the answer is an ABSOLUTE YES.

If it doesn’t, then the answer is an ABSOLUTE NO. 

The above decisions are made when you create your strategy and plans at the beginning of the year, quarter, month, week and day hence,

MAKING DECISIONS BEFORE YOU NEED TO MAKE THEM!

  1. CREATE DAILY PLANS & DAILY DISCIPLINE

From your strategy, you will be making annual, quarterly, monthly & weekly plans.

From your weekly plans you will be making DAILY PLANS.

Ideally you will create your daily plans the day before which means you are making decisions about what you are going to do BEFORE YOUR DAY EVEN STARTS!

This is a huge part of MAKING DECISIONS BEFORE YOU NEED TO MAKE THEM!

Creating DAILY PLANS makes you focus on what is important and what absolutely has to get done the next day.

Everything else is a NO!

So that is a bit utopian, in that if it were that simple, DAILY PLANNING would be much more popular!

As well as DAILY PLANNING daily you will also need DAILY DISCIPLINE.

DAILY DISCIPLINE is the difference between keeping your daily plans and not keeping your daily plans.

Are you prioritising your DAILY PLANS & DAILY DISCIPLINE?

If so then you are MAKING DECISIONS BEFORE YOU NEED TO MAKE THEM!

  1. PRACTISE THE ART OF SAYING NO

Decision making is more about what you say NO to than what you say YES to.

DAILY PLANS mean you have made decisions about what you want to do each and every day.

Effective decision making is saying NO to everything else.

I get it, saying NO to everything that isn’t on your daily plan might work in an ideal world, but we don’t live in an ideal world. We live in a messy, unpredictable, busy world, where plans working out exactly how we planned them are almost an exception to the norm!

Even so, learning to say NO is a game changing skill to master.

Not only will learning to say NO make you a more effective decision maker, it will protect your time, focus & energy enabling you to move closer to your personal & professional goals.

I have 3 tips for you in terms of practising the art of saying NO,

I. Treat NO as your default

Most of us have YES as our default. We may say YES to requests and then if we realise we really wanted to say NO, we figure out a way to reverse our decisions.

In terms of decision making, this is highly ineffective, causes us much stress and  means we are not being honest with ourselves and others. 

Wouldn’t it be more effective to say NO when you want to?

How could you make NO your default?

II. Treat NO as a muscle to strengthen

Practising the art of saying NO is like building a muscle – the more you use it, the more it grows and the stronger it gets.

The more you say NO, the easier saying NO becomes, the more confident you become at saying NO, the more you will see the immense benefits that saying NO can bring and the more you say NO, the more you and your boundaries will be respected.

The more you say NO, the stronger this muscle becomes and the more you will enjoy using it.

iii. Learn to say NO like a small child

Have you ever watched how small children say NO to things?

A small child’s NO is a clear NO – nothing and no-one will change their minds.They don’t feel the need to tell you why and they certainly aren’t apologising for their NO!

This is because small children know what they want and they don’t have all the baggage relating to the word NO that adults have.

How can you learn to say NO with the same confidence and clarity as a small child?

I wish you super success with your decision making so that your decisions result in the life & business you want!

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If so download my free ebook  ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below and you are all signed up! 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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A Simple Guide To Your Quarterly Review

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Photo Credit: Isaac Smith on Unsplash

And so another quarter comes to an end. The strangest quarter most probably in many of our lives! We are in the middle of a global pandemic due to Covid-19, a virus that started with one infection has changed the world as we currently know it and the history books forever.

The end of each quarter is time to look back and reflect on how things went in the past quarter and plan for the quarter ahead. The Covid 19 pandemic may have been unexpected and unprecedented but with so much change and the global situation continuously evolving it is more important than ever to review Q1 and plan for Q2 professionally and personally.

Firstly I hope you and your loved ones are safe and you are using this time of solitude, self isolation, social distancing etc to benefit and enrich your life in whatever way you can.

Having a business and personal strategy is all about creating an amazing sustainable business and creating a fulfilled, purposeful and meaningful life. Your business and personal strategy is only as good as the reviews you do and the changes you make as a result of these reviews.

When it comes to business and personal strategy and the goals you have set, the quarterly review can be the most important. It certainly is my favourite review because it’s a full review of my strategy, it’s a deep dive into progress of goals and there is way more progress quarterly than can be seen daily, weekly and monthly which is always motivating. As humans we are wired to perform better when we are making progress which is why strategy reviews are so important. You may not think you are making progress but you are probably making much more progress than you think!

Ideally you are reviewing progress of your business and personal goals daily, weekly and monthly which makes your quarterly review easier, more streamlined and more effective,

Here are 6 simple steps to carry out your quarterly review:

Ideally this review is carried out as you approach the end of a quarter so that plans/goals are in place for the next quarter as it begins or very shortly after,

1. Review your business and personal goals, review the metrics you use to indicate progress and the progress itself

  • Are your goals still relevant? This has never been more important given the changes that have happened to business’s and our personal lives since the start of 2020. Are the goals you set at the start of 2020 still meaningful and achievable?
  • Do your goals still align with your business/personal vision and your values? Two things to note here. Firstly, if you don’t have a vision and if you don’t know your values for your business and your life, now would be a good time to start thinking about evaluating these. It is never too late to set a vision for your business and life. No matter who you are, where you are in terms of your business and life,  your circumstances or how old you are –  it is never too late to make positive change and that starts with a vision. Secondly, if you do have a vision and values, do your goals still align to these? Your vision and values are your ‘North Star’ of which everything in your business and life aligns to.
  • Have you the correct metrics in place? Are you measuring the right things? Are your metrics at the right level? Do your metrics highlight progress and also highlight obstacles to progress?
  • How much progress on your goals have you made in this quarter? Have your reached your targets? Have you made as much progress as you set out to make? Have you enjoyed the progress made or has it been an uphill struggle? Have you over stretched or under stretched yourself?

My 2020 goals changed dramatically due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I was due to travel to Japan in May to join Katie Anderson and other Lean enthusiasts on Katie’s Lean Study Trip. This is disappointing but health and safety are the most important things at the moment and so Japan will be go into my future plans.

2. Evaluate what worked in terms of your goals, how were you successful?

  • What worked for you in the past 3 months?
  • What did you do that enabled this success?
  • What areas of your strategy were successful?

3. Evaluate what didn’t work in terms of your goals, what got in the way of success?

  • What didn’t work for you and what got in the way of your goals in the past 3 months?
  • How did you deal with and overcome these obstacles?
  • What areas of your strategy were not as successful as you would have liked?

I find some areas of my strategy are successful, things I really like doing always seem to get done! I also find I continue to struggle with other areas, these are things I know I need to do but maybe can find excuses/reasons/ways out to not do them! It’s all about balance!

4. Make informed decisions about what your key focus areas for the next quarter

Based on the answers to all of the above, what action will you take for the next 3 months? My plan for Q2 2020 is drastically different to what I had planned at the beginning of the year as I’m sure is the case for everyone across the world. Focus on the positives and what you can do to remain aligned to the business and life you want by asking the following questions,

  • Are your goals still achievable taking into consideration progress made in the last quarter and the (still unknown) outcome from the global pandemic we find ourselves in?
  • Do you need more goals to stretch yourself or do you need to focus on less goals as you haven’t made as much progress as you would have liked?
  • Are there goals that no longer serve you?
  • What are your priority goals for the next 3 months?
  • What are your non priority goals for the next 3 months?
  • What will you do to continue progress in successful areas of your business/life?
  • What will you do to learn from and turn around unsuccessful areas of your business/life?
  • How will you measure progress of your goals in the next 3 months?
  • What metrics will you change?
  • How often will you update these metrics?

5. Capture all of the above somewhere

It’s really important to capture your goals and progress on your goals somewhere. Whether you prefer physically putting pen to paper or to use something electronic there are so many options. The science behind why writing things down to enable success is outlined in the amazing book, ‘Write It Down, Make It Happen’. My tools of choice are below,

  • Physical – I love Moleskine journals for writing down goals, tracking progress of goals and journalling. Moleskine journals are colourful, hard wearing, long lasting journals of the highest quality. They can be a little pricey but for me they are worth it! I also use regular notebooks that you can get in any book shop/supermarket for note taking and ideas. It doesn’t really matter what you use from once you write your goals down and track progress daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly that will, at the end of the year, result in your Annual Review.
  • Online – My tools of choice online are Google Docs, Google Sheets and Asana. These 3 tools are all free and very easy to use and are all you need to set and track goals/projects/strategy. Natalie Sisson who introduced me to Asana has created an excellent guide on ‘How To Use Asana’. I use the free version which is perfect for my needs.

6. Learn more about business and personal strategy 

The longer I work in business and personal strategy the less I feel I know! There is always another level of strategy to move into and there is always so much to learn.

  • If you are looking for a book on Lean Business Strategy, I highly recommend ‘Getting The Right Things Done’ by Pascal Dennis and really any other books by Pascal Dennis. Getting The Right Things Done is an incredible book that can be visited again and again as you move deeper and deeper into the world of business strategy and success.
  • One of my favourite thought leaders in the area of personal strategy and development is Brendon Burchard. There is no end to the amount of resources Brendon has online. If you want to learn more about personal strategy and personal development, I highly recommend signing up to Brendon’s mailing list. Here are some excellent videos from Brendon on goal setting for success,

New Year Goals for Winning in Life in 2020

Power of Monthly Goals (How to Schedule Your Year)

I hope you and your families are safe and well. I wish you success, health and happiness as you look back at Q1 and even more success, health and happiness as you look forward to Q2,

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Meeting Art and Understanding Lean

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Oprah calls it an ‘Aha’ moment – the moment when something falls into place, when the penny drops, when a lightbulb goes off in your brain and you understand something with an immense clarity that you previously didn’t have.

I experienced this ‘Aha’ moment over 6 years ago when Art Byrne delivered his keynote speech at the 2013 Lean Enterprise Academy Summit. As well as a great guy, Art is a powerhouse of Lean knowledge having lived Lean with it’s highs and lows for many decades. I have read Art’s wonderful book ‘The Lean Turnaround’ many times and knew I was in for something special as Art took to the stage.

My ‘Aha’ moment came in as short a time as 4 minutes into Art’s talk. I had always known that Lean enabled a better, more efficient, more inclusive way of working however after listening to and understanding Art’s simple explanation of Lean, the power of this methodology was finally clear to me. Key elements from these short 4 minutes of Art’s talk that helped me understand the power of Lean are as follows

  • Lean is not a bunch of tools
  • Lean is not a collection of projects or belts (Art in his fabulous honesty makes it clear that in running a business you are not running a karate class!!!)
  • Lean is ‘the biggest strategic business weapon you can ever have’  – a business being ‘a collection of people and processes trying to deliver value to a set of customers and always the best team wins’.
  • Lean is a growth strategy not a cost cutting strategy.

Art continued by explaining the key elements required to be successful at Lean which are having Lean and Operational Excellence are your core strategy, that Lean is led from the top and that people are transformed. Without these elements, Art explains very honestly,  failure will be the outcome!

As Art spoke about transforming people, he explained that people are the only asset you have that appreciates and you want them to keep appreciating, that you also need to respect your people because the best improvement ideas come from the people doing the work. To do this you need to create a learning environment where people are learning every day and are excited to come to work. This then becomes your culture, the way things are done around here – this is Lean.

Art summed up all of the above by simply saying –  Lean is a people thing!

[tweetthis]’Lean is a people thing’ Art Byrne[/tweetthis]

I met Art at one of the break out sessions. He was gracious, humble and generous with his time. I spoke with him around challenges I was having in implementing Lean in my role as I  did not have the influence of a CEO for Lean to ‘come from the top’. He smiled and gave me some of the best advice I have ever received. He said ‘be the CEO in your area’, excellent advice for anyone trying to make things better when it’s not coming from the top!

Art signed my copy of his book ‘The Lean Turnaround’ by using a popular phrase synonymous with Guinness – it was Art’s way of saying how much he loved Ireland and how much he respects Kaizen. And yes, I totally agree with him, Kaizen is good for you!!!!

I left the 2103 Lean Enterprise Academy Summit energetic, enthused and looking forward to the next steps on my Lean journey.

Over 6 years later my Lean journey continues to experience highs and lows, I’m happy to say more highs than lows these days and always, always learning lessons which is at the core of what Lean is about – continuous learning!

Thanks for reading,

Keeping it Simple,

Siobhain

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