What Comes Next?

It is the middle of February and the blues are setting in....at home, at work...everywhere.
The Olympics are wrapped and we are onto Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show.  Change is everywhere, except we are still stuck in the doldrums of winter!

What comes next? Usually companies are focused on performance appraisals, year end reviews and looking in the rear-view mirror.  Needless to say, this can cause angst, anxiety and stress to our teams, our own workload and frustration about getting things done over the next year, while we still looking back.

How do we tackle this?  Here are 3 small ideas that can help get you & the team refreshed until the weather warms up.

1. Stay focused on the forward thought and building momentum for the rest of the year
• by using last year's successes, help your team understand how they can capitalize on them this year...example:  use it as a blueprint for the next project
2. Stuck with the same excuses?  have everyone write their excuses/reasons down on a piece of paper, brainstorm through each one.  As you complete one, have the team member take the piece of paper, crumple it up and throw it into the garbage.  It's DONE!  You have now dealt with it.
3. Tackle the worst item or most challenging piece together as a team - brainstorm solutions to the root cause of an issue and put only 1 thing into practice until it is mastered and see if it changes the outcome.  Key to this is to have someone on the team responsible for reporting the progress, new obstacles and resolutions as well as new results.  (Make this one fun, it can be very energy-sapping!)
• Example:  The team is not closing enough deals per week.  Look at the situation, how many appointments do they have booked that are ready to close, that are in the pipeline, that are strictly intro sessions, or is there a lack of booking at all.  Each stage in the pipeline needs to be full - find the gap and start there. 

I completely didn't mention some stretching exercises, meditation or even better eating habits as a key to lifting some of this fog.....that will definitely make a difference as well.

So - I am always willing to bounce ideas around here.  The first chat is always complimentary - if you would like to brainstorm, feel free to reach out  to lora@loracrestan.com and we can set up a call or chat by email.