My Top 8 Work Related New Year’s Resolutions For 2014
My Top 8 Work Related New Year’s Resolutions For 2014
One thing that doesn’t happen for me as CEO is
that I do not get a written review at the end of the year. This isn't good! I should be reviewed & critiqued just like everyone else. So I’ve
decided to write my own review, but in the form of
New Year’s Resolutions. So without
further ado, here are my Top 8 Work Related New Year’s Resolutions For 2014
Resolution #1 - Get Less "Likes."
I think my biggest mistake as CEO last year was being overly concerned with
being well-liked. In this Facebook era of wanting more likes, I actually think I need less. As a leader, you
naturally want to be well liked, and you NEED to feel empathy for your
employees. However, I feel l ventured too far down that road. There were
times over the last year where missteps were made, and I was overly
forgiving. I’d say things like "Oh, don’t worry about it. Happens to all of
us." It’s hard for me at times to reconcile my desire for employees
to not be afraid to take risks, with the need for accountability. It’s
something with which I struggle. The bottom line is that I’m being paid as CEO to
make the company successful, not to get the most ‘likes’ and this is something
I’m going to focus on during 2014.
Resolution #2 - Be More Direct.
Related
closely to the "wanting to be liked" thing is a need for me to be a more
direct communicator. I find it incredibly difficult to look someone in the eyes
and give them negative feedback when they make a mistake. I find this
especially difficult when it is someone who works really hard and who otherwise accomplishes
great things. When I do muster the
courage to deliver negative feedback, I tend to beat around the bush. I know this is
definitely not the way to go. In the coming year, I am making it a personal
goal to give constructive feedback to employees in as direct of a way as I
possibly can. Typically this involves me shortening my sentences. I need to
remove extraneous words that I throw in to soften the blow. It’s best to just
be direct. In the end folks will appreciate it and respect me more. Jeremy, our
manager of Account Services, is someone who’ve I’ve really admired and learned
from in this area. He has close relationships with people on his team, yet has the ability to delivery concise, direct feedback when necessary. He
doesn’t try to beat around the bush or sugar coat things and I admire this
about him.
Resolution #3 - Get It In Writing.
One symptom of my lack of direct communication is that there
have been times this past year where employees have misinterpreted what was discussed with me at meetings. I believe being more direct in my
communication will go a long way in solving this, but I also plan in the coming
year to always follow up important meetings with a written summary of
what was discussed. That way if there’s any confusion, the email confirmation
should bring it to light.
Resolution #4 – No Surprises.
No
one in the company should be surprised how they are doing and how the company
is doing. As I look back over 2013, I believe that I didn’t make it clear enough
for folks how we were performing relative to our goals, and what that would
mean come review/bonus time. I do believe that Jack, our new full-time
controller, will be able to help that a lot. I have asked him to make it one
of his primary goals for the year to keep everyone well informed on the health of the business. This won’t just be traditional quarterly presentations. He'll be providing daily updates so everyone knows exactly where we stand. I don’t
think we did a good enough job with this during 2013.
Resolution #5 – Connect The Dots.
As
I look back on 2013, I don’t think I did a good enough job showing people how
the projects we were working on related to our KPIs. Too often, I assumed employees were making that connection. Whatever the project, I need to do a better job
articulating how this is tied to a goal, metric, KPI, etc. To this end, we are in the process of reorganizing the company. All teams and projects will be organized around our two big KPIs - Member Growth & Booking Growth. When you think about it, if a project doesn't relate to one of these two KPIs, why are we working on it?
Resolution #6 - Be Bold. Be Decisive.
As
I look back at 2013, there were some bold moves that we made, such as
offering a LITE membership for vendors. I believe it took us too long to make those decisions. It's an increasingly competitive landscape, and we no longer have the luxury of time to make
important decisions. Whether it’s LITE memberships, booking fees,
or monthly billing, we need to think things through very carefully, but then be bold and decisive in our decision making. I improved at this during 2013 – certainly better than I was in prior years –
but I still have a ways to go. There are two people in
particular who have really helped me in this area – Marissa, our VP of
Marketing and Mike, our VP of Technology. Both are
comfortable making bold changes and they’ve helped me come a long way in this
area.
Resolution #7 – Get Coached Weekly.
Over
the last few years I’ve had the good fortune of working with Dr. Paul Marciano,
who has a background in leadership and organizational psychology, and is now
one of the leading authorities on employee engagement and retention. Dr. Paul
has done wonders for me and others on the team and I look forward to continue
working with him over the coming year. One thing we realized, however, is that
having him come to visit every 2 months is not ideal. Too many
things happen between visits. We are now modifying the arrangement to replace bi-monthly visits with weekly coaching calls. I’m really excited by this. There were a few thorny HR issues this past
year that I could have handled MUCH better had I been communicating more regularly with Dr.
Paul.
Resolution #8 - Hit The Numbers!
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