Welcome to Minute with Mallon!

Something I Taught:

I've got a good friend who has decided to ramp his company down a little. He's just tired of all the complexity and wants to take some time to enjoy life a little more.

He asked me if he could hire me to coach him through the summer, determine exactly what needed to take place, and then hold him accountable to what needed to happen.

There's a lot of wisdom in that. Accountability works!

I insisted that we set a goal so that both of us would know when we crossed the finish line. If you don't know where you're going, you risk wandering aimlessly without purpose or direction.

Here's the goal we arrived at:

In order to begin living my life by design, by August 31st, I have reorganized the team to just Susan and I, and I'm doing lots of things that bring joy and happiness into my life. (Not her real name).

Once we set the goal, we discussed actions he needed to take, typed them out in a logical order, and he started moving down the list. He's done a great job of knocking them out!

One thing I suggested was that we use one of our sessions to clarify EXACTLY what he wanted Susan to be responsible for after the downsizing. He agreed.
Years ago I created a sheet called a "My Expectations For You” worksheet. As you can see, there are four quadrants:

I've used this with hundreds of clients and it works like a charm!

We took about 40 minutes walking through the sections, making sure that he was extremely specific on each item and that these were the MOST IMPORTANT things that he wanted. Why?

20% of what you do brings in 80% of the good. And 80% brings in only 20%.

During our next session we had Susan on the Zoom call with us. I explained what we were going to do then we started.

Just to clarity, our conversation was a discussion, not a mandate. She asked questions and we clarified – this was about making sure that all parties were on the same page.

Why is this so important?

Unexpressed Expectations Always Lead to Problems.

Always!

Both my friend and Susan were happy and on the same page by the end of our call.

How does this relate to you as a leader?

Your people can't read your mind. If you aren't clear about what you want, you won't get it. The process I’ve described above gets both parties on the same page, thus eliminating a lot of confusion, frustration, and resentment.

Ready to Transform Your Leadership?

If you want to eliminate confusion, boost productivity, and create a happier, more efficient team, let's work together. Schedule your free consultation today and discover how personalized coaching can help you achieve your goals.

Call me now at 770-906-7397 or email me at Robert@RobrertMallon.com to get started!

Something to Ponder:

If you want tomorrow to be different from today, do something different today.

Zig Ziggler

Something I Learned:

The 80/20 Rule I spoke about above comes from a man named Vilfredo Pareto back in the 1800s. He was a civil engineer but also worked in sociology, political science, philosophy and economics.

… And gardening

At one point he realized that 20% of the pea plants in his garden were producing 80% of the crop.

After that, he began to see this 80/20 rule everywhere. At one point he did some work for the Italian government and found that 80% of the land was owned by only 20% of the population.

And on and on it went, and the Pareto Principle was born.

For most of us, 80% of our revenue comes from 20% of our clients.

Or 80% of the good you do each day comes from 20% of your tasks.

80% of customer complaints are typically about 20% of products or services.

And I can tell you this – 80% of my joy that comes from this newsletter comes from the 20% of you who reply to it with comments! Seriously!!

So BE IN THE 20%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀

I truly love and appreciate your comments and ideas!

Something I Saw:

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Much appreciated and hope you have an wonderful rest of the week!

Robert

Minute With Mallon: Accountability Brings Success!