How to Make Your Campaign Go Viral

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Scott ALSBy now, you’ve seen the videos – thousands of them – of people dumping buckets of water on their heads in the name of charity. It’s the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, a phenomenon that’s swept across the U.S. and U.K. within just a few weeks to become one of the biggest internet trends of the year. Odds are, you’ve either participated in it yourself, or know someone who has.

 For the uninitiated, here’s how it works. Someone is challenged to either donate $100 to the ALS Association or make a smaller donation AND film themselves pouring a bucket of ice-cold water over their heads. They post the video to their facebook or other social media site and extend the challenge to two or three friends who then have 24 hours to accept the challenge themselves. And the story repeats itself. Again, and again, and again.

The first challenge was issued in July and videos of people shrieking at the cold-water shock quickly went viral. The challenge has been accepted by celebrities, children, and teams – many devising extremely creative ways to douse themselves. It’s also drawn its share of detractors and copycats.

Regardless of what you think of the idea, there’s no doubt the Ice Bucket Challenge has been successful. Public understanding of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) has skyrocketed. Donations to ALS research have also seen exponential growth. The ALS Association reports that donations since July 29th have exceeded $100 million. By comparison, the organization takes in less than $20 million during a typical year.

So, what’s the scoop? Why have so many people been moved to pick up a bucket when other well-intentioned ideas have fallen flat? What can we learn from the ALS movement?

While there’s a lot to learn from this example, I think there are three characteristics of the Ice Bucket Challenge that contribute to its overwhelming success.

  1. It’s easy to participate. The Ice Bucket Challenge is easy to take part in. All you need is a bucket of water, a small donation, and your smart phone. It can be completed anywhere and requires no forms, registration, or waiting period. People are immediately turned off by great ideas that require huge investments of time, effort or money. But keep the barrier to entry low, and participation levels go up significantly.
  2. It’s fun. Admit it, it’s a lot of fun to see your friends and favorite celebrities screaming in shock as the cold water hits them. Plus there’s a sense of community that occurs by joining the ranks of those who’ve accepted the challenge and a sense of pride at being part of a movement supporting a worthy cause. If you can make your campaign fun, you gain people’s attention.
  3. It’s personal. A key part of the Ice Bucket Challenge involves issuing a challenge to two or three friends. It’s hard to resist a personal invitation from someone you know. This aspect of the challenge is what caused it to go viral. Each participant becomes part of the communication strategy and keeps the challenge alive. The camaraderie between friends is strengthened by shared participation in an event, and no one wants to let down a friend. So look for ways to get people not only participating, but actively promoting your event to their network.

Think about your next customer campaign, employee program, or community event. How can you incorporate these elements to give it some extra oomph?

 

Lady Liberty – A Symbol of Teamwork

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The Statue of Liberty by Scott Voland (8/16/14)My wife and I recently returned from a weekend vacation in New York City. I’ve visited a couple of times before to attend conferences, so I really enjoyed this opportunity to see the city through the eyes of a tourist. We mapped out a few places we wanted to eat and some attractions we wanted to visit and, of course, Susan had some shopping in mind as well.

One of the attractions we made a point to see was the Statue of Liberty. I’ve always been amazed by large-scale works of art such as this. And pictures just don’t do it justice. You have to see Lady Liberty first-hand to really appreciate her.

Did you know that the statue was a gift from France? It was first conceived of in 1870 by the politician Édouard René de Laboulaye and sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. They hoped that by honoring the United States’ advances in the name of freedom and liberty, the citizens of France would be inspired to move toward democracy themselves. Bartholdi traveled to America to gain support for the idea. President Grant quickly agreed to the gift and Bartholdi returned to France to begin the work.

Bartholdi’s design called for building the statue in sections that would be shipped across the Atlantic and assembled on site. French citizens donated to the project and as sections were completed, they were displayed at fairs and other exhibitions. The statue was completed in 1884 and fully assembled in Paris. It was presented to the U.S. Ambassador and the French government agreed to pay for its trip to New York.

But the Statue of Liberty almost never made it to America.

Under the original proposal, The United States would finance the design and building of a pedestal for the statue to stand upon. The American government, however, proved reluctant to donate to the effort. The Governor of New York, Grover Cleveland, vetoed a bill to provide half the cost. Democratic representatives stalled a congressional bill to fund the full project. The pedestal, initially designed to be 114 feet tall, was reduced to 89 feet in order to reduce the cost.

Still, the statue sat in Paris for almost a year before sufficient funds were collected to complete the pedestal. It took a grass-roots campaign by newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer (does that name ring a bell?) to generate enough interest to move the project forward. Eventually, sufficient work had been completed for the statue to be moved to New York. It was finally unveiled in place on October 28, 1886. Now President Grover Cleveland presided over the city’s first ticker-tape parade as part of the festivities and the Statue of Liberty began welcoming immigrants seeking a new beginning in America.

I find it interesting that people, and organizations, so often fight against clearly beneficial opportunities. The Statue of Liberty would obviously serve as a symbol of America’s success to the rest of the world, and yet Congress refused to allocate the necessary resources. It would bring recognition and tourism revenue to the City of New York, but the funding bill was rejected. And keep in mind – the statue was a gift! All we had to pay for was a display stand. I wonder what the French thought of us at that point.

As is the story of America, the people stepped up. The pedestal was paid for by 120,000 individual donations from ordinary people. Pulitzer published the names of every single donor, and 80% of the donations were of less than $1 each. The team pulled together and accomplished what seemingly couldn’t be done.

What opportunities are you missing out on right now? What great work is being held up by infighting, someone’s desire to maintain the status quo, or fear of failure? What if your team actually pulled together? What could the sum of their many individual efforts, focused on a common cause, accomplish? Something amazing, I bet.

Not a Customer? No Service For You!

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imageThe term “customer experience” entered the business vocabulary a few years ago, replacing “customer service” as the standard by which service is measured. “Customer experience” refers to the sum of a person’s interactions involving a particular organization. Every exposure to an organization – every transaction, every phone call, every mail piece, even the stories told by a friend – has an impact on the customer experience.

But what about the non-customer experience? Have you ever stopped to think about what non-customers think about you? A lot of us carefully craft the image we want prospects to see. We spend tons of money working to craft an image for the prospective customers we’ve targeted, hoping to influence their buying decision. But sometimes, it’s the little things that make the biggest impact.

Last night, my training partner and I went out to dinner after finishing up a coaching workshop. We’re in Dallas and located an Outback Steakhouse fairly close to our hotel. The parking lot was pretty full, so Eddie parked the rental car in the lot next door. The business, Espresso RMI, was closed; lights out and lot empty. A sticker in the door indicated they closed at five o’clock each day. It was around seven when we arrived, so any employees and customers were long gone.

We enjoyed a nice dinner at Outback and watched some of the NIT first round games on TV. Exiting the restaurant, we walked toward the lot where we’d parked only to find our car had been towed. Upon closer inspection, we found a sign notifying potential visitors that non-patrons were not allowed to park in the Espresso RMI lot. The sign had obviously been run over and was bent close to the ground, very hard to see in the dark by a couple of guys from out of town looking for dinner. Towing, the sign indicated, was enforced 24/7 – even though the business closed at 5:00.

We called for a taxi and made our way to the tow yard to reclaim the car. The experience cost us $27 for the cab ride and another $164 to get the car back.

I’d never heard of Espresso RMI before. I’m sure the stance they’ve taken on parking in their lot stems from a desire to provide the best possible service to their customers. However, I’m not a customer. I’ve never used one of their products or known someone who has. I didn’t even interact with one of their employees last night. But my non-customer experience with them is a negative one. As a result, I’m unlikely to ever do business with them. furthermore, I’ll be sharing this story with my clients for years to come, influencing their perception of the company as well.

For years, I’ve advised clients to look at their organization through the eyes of the customer. Going forward, I’ll also address the eyes of the non-customer. What they see and experience is just as important.

Who’s Driving the Taxi?

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imageI just got back from Houston. I spent all day yesterday in meetings, moving from group to group and topic to topic. But the business I conducted wasn’t the most interesting part of my trip. What I can’t stop thinking about is my taxi driver.

Normally when I travel for business, I’ll reserve a rental car. I like being in control of my time and will often have a free evening to explore or shop. Having a car allows me to decide on a whim where I want to go. Picking up and dropping off at the airport makes it easy.

But for this trip, I was given a last-minute invitation to fly in on a private plane. I cancelled the front end of my flight and the rental car. We landed at a small airstrip without any rental options. Another passenger gave me a ride to my hotel where the desk clerk helped me secure a taxi for the next morning.

Bright and early yesterday morning, the familiar yellow vehicle pulled up at the front entrance and out jumped Eugenio.

Now, you’ve probably heard the stories – some true, most not so much – of the taxi drivers who go super-overboard. They have a blanket in the back seat if you get cold. They have a thermos of hot coffee and a cooler filled with soft drinks. Thy offer you the morning paper and an assortment of magazines. They give over control of the car’s audio so that you can tune in to the music you like the most. They go above and beyond to provide you with the most incredible cab ride you’ll ever experience. And of course, they work off of reservations. You’re lucky they had a cancellation or you’d never have even known they existed.

Eugenio is not one of those drivers. Don’t get me wrong, the ride was just fine. He was friendly without being overbearing. And after verifying my destination, he did ask if the music he was playing was ok. But no mind-blowing, over the top gestures of customer service were forth coming. He waited patiently while I answered some emails on my phone before engaging me in conversation and quickly delivered me to my first meeting.

As I signed the credit card slip, he asked if I needed a ride after the meeting. I had already arranged to ride with others who were heading the same direction as I was, and I told him so. I did, however, need a ride to the airport this morning. Handing me his business card (Take a look at it. For obvious reasons, I’ll keep it forever), he agreed to meet me at 6:45 in front of the hotel. Sure enough, he pulled up this morning about ten minutes earlier than necessary, and I got to the airport in plenty of time.

Eugenio didn’t try to reinvent the taxi business. He didn’t seek to overwhelm me with a series of WOW moments. He simply provided the service I was looking for, secured additional business and then made sure I knew how to contact him in the future. Anything beyond that would have been unnecessary and, in my opinion, awkward.

My point is this: To be seen above the crowd, you don’t have to be a giant. You just have to stand a little taller. So many businesses try to revolutionize their industry in an attempt to out-shine the competition and then fail to live up to their own hype. It’s like the football team that pulls out the secret play – that may or may not work – when simple execution of the basics would win the game. In a world where so many organizations fail at the simplest of tasks – arriving on time, delivering the correct order, providing correct information – those who repeatedly perform in a manner that’s unremarkable will win the day. Don’t worry about offering me a drink. Just get me where I need to go on time and I’ll ride with you every time.

D-6 Does Not Work

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This afternoon I made a trip to the office vending machine for a little chocolate fix. I tend to go for Snickers, occasionally opting for Twix. If chocolate doesn’t feel right, I’ll go with a PayDay. Well, as you can see from the picture, an earlier visitor had gone looking for their favorite snack and left disappointed. So they left a note. “D-6 does not work” They even dated it 11-27.

Instantly, I felt a wave of panic. “Oh no, what if D-6 holds the Snickers? I’ve got to have my Snickers!” It turns out slot D-6 holds salty peanuts. There were plenty of peanut bags in the slot, so I imagine the issue is mechanical. Lucky, Snickers are in slot D-0. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Dropping my quarters into the coin slot, I began to feel sympathy pains for my unfortunate co-snacker. I’ve been in their shoes plenty of times. You probably have too. Remember?

It’s mid-afternoon and you’re sitting at your desk when the craving kicks in. “I need something sweet,” you think. “Just a little something to take the edge off and tide me over until dinner.” You check your pockets to make sure you have change. And on your way to the vending machine, your mind settles on a choice.

Then you arrive only to find that the machine is out of order. Or your number choice is all emptied out. Or the machine keeps spitting your crumpled dollar bill back out at you. Or, occasionally, the worst fate of all. Your selection gets hung up. It dangles there – resistant to any amount of machine shaking – until you cough up another round of payment.

A trip to the vending machine encompasses the myriad range of emotions a customer can feel when interacting with any business. These emotions can be broken into three distinct phases of the interaction.

Initially, there’s the lead-up. This phase involves everything that happens prior to the actual interaction. In the case of a vending machine visit, there’s the craving for somethign sweet, the frantic search for spare change and the eventual settling of the mind on a desired product.

Next comes the actual interaction. In the case of my frustrated co-worker, I imagine emotions such as surprise and confusion came into play as their preferred selection proved to be unavailable.

Finally, there’s the post-interaction phase. Walking away from the vending machine, you might feel satisfaction or even elation (like when someone else leaves their change in or an extra candy bar drops into the bin). Of course my coworker felt dissatisfied, frustrated and possibly even angry.

It may seem like a small thing, but empathizing with a person’s emotional state as they interact with your business is an important part of designing a superior customer experience. The key is imagine the emotions you want the customer to feel at each stage and then put strategies in place to ensure they encounter a scenario in which those emotions come into play. You also need to imagine the emotions you don’t want a customer to feel and design processes that keep them from evolving.

Were I a vending machine owner, I would want my customers to feel satisfied with not only their purchase, but their experience. I would not want them to feel frustrated or angry. Therefore I would design processes to ensure the best emotions come into play and reinforce their decision to visit my machine. After all, I’d love for them to come back day after day.

Here are a couple of things I might do to ensure the best emotions were felt by users of my vending machine.
• I’d keep track of inventory to know how often I needed to restock to ensure everyone’s favorites were available when they wanted them.
• I’d check the mechanics of each button frequently to make sure delivery was actually taking place.
• I’d post a note letting users know how to get their money back in case of a malfunction.
• I might even run periodic “sales” by discounting certain products to provide an element of surprise every now and then.

All of this ran through my head in the seconds it took for my coins to fall into the machine. I pressed D-0 and the machine’s display instructed me to try another selection. Uh, oh. I tried again thinking perhaps I’d accidentally hit two buttons at once with the same result. So I tried D-1 (Peanut M&M’s), D-2 (Twix) and D-3 (Plain M&M’s) all with the same result. The entire D section is out of commission.

Frustrated and still hungry, I decided to punt. I pressed E-4 and a PayDay dropped down. I walked away an unhappy customer.

What emotions do your customers feel as they anticipate interacting with you? What about during or after the interaction?

What emotions would you like for them to feel?

What steps will you take to ensure your customers feel the emotions necessary to reinforce their buying decision?

The Yin & Yang of Sales & Service

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Wells Fargo made headlines this week after bank analyst Dick Bove went on record regarding a series of frustrating experiences. After wrangling with the bank for months, Bove finally concluded that they are only interested in “seeking new customers and selling them more products and not getting bogged down by offering service.”

A Wells Fargo spokesperson downplayed the issue by citing an ambiguous customer satisfaction number. But having worked in the banking business for several years, I’ve heard many reports from former Wells Fargo employees about the heavy-handed sales management tactics that force employees to shortcut service for the sake of meeting their sales quota. This story illustrates the often contentious relationship between sales and service. Many believe that the ideas work in opposition – that selling and providing good service can’t be achieved simultaneously.

As a sales manager, I believe strongly in having clearly defined goals. But service does not have to be sacrificed in order to achieve sales targets. Here are three tips to make the marriage between sales and service work.

1. Focus on service. Nobody likes being sold to, and selling is an aspect of business that is hard for many employees to get comfortable with. So when the focus of an interaction is on selling something, nobody walks away feeling good about it. But service is different. Customers want help. They want someone who’s on their side – working to help solve their problem.

And most employees naturally want to be of service. Helping people feels good. It just so happens that helping a customer often includes educating them about a product or service that they don’t have. When viewed as part of customer service, selling becomes easy.

2. Set sales goals with the customer in mind. When you set sales quotas for specific products, it pressures employees to sell customers things they don’t need. For example, setting a goal of 10 credit card applications a day for a banker can cause them to feel as if they have to shove an application in front of every customer they meet, even if a credit card is not right for them. This is not customer-focused selling.

Rather, set goals that give the employee leeway in what products are offered to each customer. Train them to engage the customer in a conversation about their needs and drams in order to uncover products that help move them closer to their own financial goals. Focus on helping the customer reach their goals and you’ll reach yours.

3. Remember when not to sell. Selling is important, but not at the risk of offending, and potentially driving away, your customer. There are times when selling is not appropriate. For example:

  • Your company has made a mistake that has caused the customer inconvenience.
  • The customer is distracted, agitated or in a hurry.
  • The customer has waited an abnormally long period of time for service.
  • Any situation in which you would not appreciate a sales pitch.

Selling is an important part of the growth process for an organization. But so is service. Try viewing the concepts of sales and service as complementary, rather than opposing parts of the customer experience and you’ll achieve sales and service harmony.

Coaching Styles, Part 5 – The Cheerleader

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“We’ve got spirit, yes we do. We’ve got spirit, how ‘bout you?”

Cheerleaders date back to the late 1800’s. A university of Minnesota student named Johnny Campbell recruited a few of his buddies, grabbed megaphone and hit the field to lead the home crowd in chanting the school anthem as a way of showing school spirit and energizing the team. Other schools soon adopted the practice, organizing their own “pep clubs” with motivated “yell leaders.” Eventually, women joined in the fun and, as a result of World War II, began to dominate the activity. Today, cheerleading is considered a sport in its own right with teams competing all over the world.

When it comes to coaching, the Cheerleader has three key goals. The first is keeping the team energized and focused on moving forward. Some people have a natural inclination to stay on task, while others are easily distracted or discouraged. Sometimes the finish line is so far off, it’s difficult to see. This can be the result of a long campaign cycle or a project with an extreme level of complexity. Sometimes setbacks occur and individual or team morale takes a hit. It’s the job of the Cheerleader to step in and rally the troops when they sense energy levels getting low.

Cheerleaders are also responsible for recognizing and reinforcing positive results. When something goes right, it’s important to capitalize on that forward momentum. Recognizing one accomplishment can catapult a team member into the next one. Individuals who receive positive feedback are more likely to repeat the reinforced behavior. So when you see someone doing something you like tell them – cheer them on.

A third goal of the Cheerleader is highlighting examples of desired behavior for others to emulate. Make no mistake; your employees are watching to see what behaviors and results get your attention. I once publicly recognized an employee’s weekly sales production on a particular product line. I didn’t offer a reward – I simply mentioned their name during our weekly sales meeting and told them how impressed I was with their efforts. I shared with the team how one person could make a big impact on the organization and let them in a short round of applause for the highlighted individual. The next week, every single salesperson posted improved numbers.

Being an effective Cheerleader requires you to be on the lookout for good things that happen and act on them. Sadly, most managers struggle with providing positive reinforcement. For some reason, most find it easier to identify issues that need fixing. But the results from positive reinforcement always overshadow those from punitive action.

So grab your pom-poms and let’s hit the field. Are you with me? Two, four, six, eight; who do you appreciate?

Why Managers Don’t Coach, Part 5

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For the past several weeks, I’ve been discussing some of the most common reasons given by managers when asked why they aren’t coaching. Along the way, I’ve shared my thoughts on the relationship between coaching and training, coaching the high performer, the importance of regular coaching and time management. In this final post of the series, I’ll address the issue of coaching skill.

Excuse #5: “I don’t know how to coach.”

Typically, this excuse stems from a lack of understanding. Managers who don’t understand what a coach is, will have a hard time figuring out what a coach does. So let’s begin with some definitions. Simply put, coaching is anything you do to help someone improve their level of performance. Therefore, a coach is someone engaged in activities that help another person improve their level of performance.

Many corporate coaching programs have complicated the concept. Attend a typical class on frontline coaching and you will be inundated with complex forms, charts and processes that require any number of acronyms in order to remember them all. Back at the office, you spread out all of the materials only to find that the idea of coaching, as it was presented, is way too cumbersome. Frustration leads to procrastination and, ultimately, the idea of coaching is abandoned.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Look at that definition of coaching again – anything you do to help someone improve their level of performance. When you think of coaching this way, as the process of helping someone vs. a complex set of activities, it frees you to act. Coaching should focus on providing a service rather than following a particular system. So with this new definition in mind, let’s look at some of the activities effective coaches engage in.

Observation: The act of observing an employee in the act of performing their job to identify patterns of behavior. During an observation, the coach makes notes regarding specific strengths and deficiencies in order to address them with the employee.

Goal-setting: The act of defining specific expectations regarding an employee’s performance. Effective goal-setting involves communicating exactly what is expected of the employee with regard to technique and results.

Role clarification: The act of communicating the importance of an employee’s particular job role in the achievement of the organization’s objectives. Role clarification helps the employee understand how the specific tasks they are charged with contribute to the big picture.

Skill drill: The act of repeating a specific behavior over and over in order to develop mastery. The goal of a skill drill is to create an automatic response to a particular set of circumstances.

Role play: The act of practicing a series of skills in preparation for performing on the job. Think of role playing as a dress rehearsal. The goal is to work out any kinks prior to going on stage. Employees who can perform as desired in repeated practice scenarios are more likely to perform when it counts.

Modeling: The act of demonstrating a set of specific behaviors so that employees can form a picture of the ideal performance. Modeling the behavior you want employees to demonstrate provides them with a visual reference to draw upon while they work to improve.

Praise: The act of recognizing when an employee performs as desired and letting them know about it. Effective praise communicates specifically what you noticed, why you liked it and how important it is to continue the desired behavior. Praise should be delivered as soon as possible after the desired behavior occurs so that the employee makes a strong connection between what they did and the positive feelings associated with your praise. Because of the positive emotions it evokes, praise should be used frequently.

Correction: The act of recognizing when an employee fails to perform as desired and letting them know about it. Effective correction communicates specifically what you noticed, why it is undesirable and how to correct the behavior. By nature, correction evokes negative emotions and should be used sparingly. The goal is to inspire improvement, not fear of failure.

These are just a few of the activities commonly associated with effective coaching. I’ll bet you already do some of these. You may be a great coach and don’t even know it. If this all seems new, start small. Get up right now and go catch someone doing something right. And praise them for it. When you come back to your office, schedule an hour within the next week to perform some observations. Remember that coaching is action oriented. So let’s go coach!

Why Managers Don’t Coach, Part 4

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A couple of weeks ago I worked with a manager to develop a coaching plan for her team. We spent quite a bit of time identifying goals, skill gaps and specific steps to help each of her employees improve their performance. She was excited about the work we had done and expressed a great deal of confidence in her ability to carry out the plan. The other day I called her up to see how things were going. Right off the bat, I could tell things hadn’t gone quite as well as they could. The level of excitement in her voice was significantly lower than it had been when we first drafted the plan.

She proceeded to tell me that based on our plan, she had held a series of short meetings with her staff to gain their buy-in and begin the process of working on each employee’s development plan. So far, so good. But the next week someone called in sick so she had to cover for them. And then she got a call that she wasn’t expecting and had to deal with that. And something came up at home that demanded her attention. And so the story continued for several minutes. She didn’t have time.

Excuse #4: “I don’t have time to coach.”

This is an all too familiar excuse. I’ve used it and I’m sure you have too at one time or another. In fact it’s so familiar that everyone uses it for a variety of reasons. The lack of time seems to get in the way of many good intentions. We’re all busy. We all have a number of things that require our attention, and inevitably some of it gets pushed to the side.

But this excuse is rarely about time. It’s about priorities.

When something is really important, we find the time to address it. We make the time. We push other, less important, activities to the back burner so that this task gets crossed off the list. In order to prevent this particular excuse from hindering your coaching efforts, you have to make it a priority. Here are five steps to conquering the time/priority issue.

1. Call the spade a spade. The first step is to honestly assess the priority of your coaching activities in relation to the other items on your to-do list. Laura Vanderkam suggests replacing the phrase “I don’t have time” with “It’s not a priority.” If you’re comfortable with how that makes you feel, then perhaps time really is the issue. If not, you need to …

2. Get your priorities in order. I have a hundred items on my to-do list, with some being more important than others. For every high-priority item, there are 10 low priority activities. But it’s the low priority items that seem to eat up my time. In my quest to mark things off my list, I focus on the quick-and-easy, low-priority items. At the end of the day, I’ve done a lot of work, but often feel like I haven’t accomplished much. I’ve found that I need to tackle the high priority items first, otherwise I’ll get sucked into focusing on the little things and putting out fires.

3. Schedule it or delegate it. The high priority items on my to-do list are typically complex, requiring more time and physical or mental energy. As a result, my tendency is to procrastinate – to put off the more challenging tasks in favor of the easy stuff while proclaiming how busy I am. I’ve learned that there are some things I can delegate to other members of the team. They may not complete the job the way I would have, but if I can live with the result, it’s worth letting go in order to free up time in my day for the items that do require my involvement – like coaching. Important items that only I can address go into my calendar. This prevents others from scheduling meetings or other activities that could pull me away from the important task. Scheduling the activity keeps it in front of me and I’m less likely to forget about it.

4. Pile it up or spread it out. If you have several employees to coach, staring at a long list of activities can be overwhelming. Knowing how you work best can help you manage the work load. If you’re a “pull the Band-Aid off nice and slow” kind of person, tackle your coaching in small chunks. Don’t schedule three employee one-on-ones in the same day. If you prefer to yank the bandage off with one quick yank, schedule a day to focus on nothing but your one-on-ones.

5. Use the buddy system. It’s easy to blow off an activity when there’s no accountability. To make sure you don’t postpone or ignore a coaching activity, let someone else know what you’re planning to do. Find another manager and agree to serve as each other’s accountability partner. Share your planned coaching activities and then call each other up to see how things went. Knowing someone else is expecting a report on your progress will help keep you focused on the right things.

Coaching is a critical leadership activity. It can’t be accomplished haphazardly or on the fly. Effective coaching requires a good measure of discipline and time management. I hope these tips help you give coaching the priority, and therefore the time, it deserves.

Why Managers Don’t Coach, Part 3

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My first sales position entailed taking inbound phone calls from people wanting to set up new cable TV service. My job was to convince the new customer that, instead of “basic” cable, they really wanted/needed one of our packages that included premium channels, additional outlets and other extra services. Training consisted of two weeks in the classroom learning the products and software along with a few hours here and there listening to experienced reps take calls.

I finished the training class and was assigned to a cubicle. When it came to start taking calls, my supervisor plugged in and listened as I stumbled my way through the first three. As the third call ended, he unplugged his headset and said “Well, it looks like you’re good to go.” He walked away, leaving me to fend for myself. That was the extent of the coaching I received. The next time there was any discussion of my performance was during my annual evaluation – one year later.

Excuse #3: “I coached them last week/month/year.”

This excuse implies that coaching is an event; either a one-time occurrence or even a series of unrelated meetings that have to be spaced out over time. In fact, a lot of well-intentioned coaching programs support this belief. In order to provide structure and accountability to the coaching process, they advocate scheduling each coaching activity, allowing time in between for employees to practice and develop specific skills.

And, to a degree, this is true. When you dedicate time to teaching someone a new skill, it takes time for them to achieve mastery of the skill and still longer before the new behavior becomes a habit. Scheduling a specific time at some point in the future allows the employee to work on their technique and integrate the new skill or skills into their daily work style. But simply walking away until the next scheduled meeting rarely produces the desired results.

As I discussed in the first article of this series, very little of what’s discussed in a classroom training setting ever makes it into real-life practice. A number of factors contribute to this:
• Too much information was presented, so only bits and pieces are retained.
• Information focused more on theory than practical application, so the employee isn’t sure how to modify their behavior.
• The employee isn’t motivated to actually change their behavior.
• Once the employee returns to their normal work environment, they see no evidence that they are actually expected to change.

The point I’m trying to make here is that coaching is a process, not an event. As in sports, a good business coach understands that in order for the team and the individual players to perform at their best, constant coaching is required. And a variety of coaching methods, both structured and unstructured, scheduled and unscheduled, will be used.

Since we’re in the midst of March Madness, allow me to use a basketball example to illustrate. Let’s say a basketball coach wants to integrate a new offensive set into his team’s game. He’ll use a variety of tactics to accomplish this. Possible structured/scheduled coaching methods are listed here along with some unstructured methods [added in brackets afterward].

• In a meeting, the coach will explain how the set works. He’ll detail under what circumstances it makes sense and why it’s so effective. He’ll use diagrams and film of other teams to clarify expectations so that everyone can see clearly what is supposed to happen. [During and following the meeting, the coaching staff will check for understanding by periodically checking with each player to ask questions and reiterate their particular role in the new play.]

• The coach will devote specific blocks of time to practicing the new concept on the floor. He starts by walking through the movement of the ball and how each player should position themselves as the set unfolds. The team will repeat this over and over until they understand what’s required. [Members of the coaching staff will observe how the players move, provide reinforcement, and where necessary pull a player aside for individual attention. They’ll model the desired behavior, have the player practice it and then observe them as they reenter the larger group.]

• The coach will then bring in a defensive squad. This allows the team to practice the play in a slightly more realistic scenario. This will be repeated several times. [Play will start and stop as the coaches observe small tweaks that need to be made. The tempo will gradually increase so that the behavior can be practiced in increasingly game-like scenarios.]

• The new offensive strategy will then be incorporated into a full-blown scrimmage game. The new set will be mixed in with established plays so the team can get used to switching tactics as needed. [Like a dress-rehearsal, this full-blown role play will test to see how well individual players can modify their behavior on the fly. Play doesn’t stop in order to address issues. Coaching takes place in real time. By now the team will have demonstrated an understanding of what’s required and spot coaching and reinforcement takes the place of heavy coach involvement.]

• Finally, the new concepts will be implemented in the midst of an actual game against another team. Once the coach feels his players have grasped the concept to the extent that they can demonstrate the desired behavior repeatedly and consistently, he’s ready to unleash it on the other team. [Even as the game is taking place, the staff is actively engaged in coaching. Players are applauded for demonstrating their new competencies. Others are pulled to the side, or even off the floor, to receive corrective coaching after a missed opportunity. Timeouts are utilized to reinforce the need to properly execute the new skills.]

I hope you see the importance of viewing coaching as an ongoing process rather than a periodic activity. There is a definite need for a system of scheduled, well-structured coaching sessions. But it’s just as important to take advantage of the unscheduled, in-the-moment opportunities to restate expectations, provide positive reinforcement and correct undesirable behavior. Top coaches know that their number one job is the development of the individuals on their team. They never stop coaching.