Month: March 2020

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Focus on Your Strengths and Not Your Weaknesses

Focus on Your Strengths and Not Your Weaknesses

It seems in every performance appraisal or job interview it comes up. Yep, your weaknesses. We all know there are things we could do better, but seriously, do we need to shine a bright spotlight on them?

What Happens When You Focus on Your Strengths

Some entrepreneurs believe it is better to focus on your strengths. Focusing on what you are good at enables you to be at your best. It increases enjoyment in your work, and you accomplish more. Instinctively we all enjoy doing things fit are our strengths. When we do things that we love, we get excited. When we are doing things we love, time seems to fly by. It makes us shine, feel good about ourselves, and we perform better.

What Happens When You Focus on Your Weaknesses

Take a moment to think about your weaknesses. How does that make you feel? Tired? Defeated? Drained? When you’re procrastinating it usually involves something you don’t enjoy doing. It stops you from being your best. Focusing on your weaknesses is not the way to make headway in your career.

Improve Your Successes with a Mentor

A mentor can help you make the most of your strengths and use your strengths to solve problems. They know you and can help you get through the difficult days. A great mentor helps you to see that you don’t have to be a pioneer all the time. Your dreams are achievable.

Reframe How You See Problems

Reframing helps you to overcome negative thoughts and use them to feel good about yourself.

Sometimes you may feel that you feel you don’t ‘fit in’. Many successful people have felt that way. You can let the feeling of being different eat at you and undermine your self-esteem. But try to ‘reframe’ the situation to look at it differently. Reframing can help you overcome those feelings. For example, reframe those thoughts with, ‘what makes me strong and different is a good thing. If someone underestimates me, it’s OK. It allows me to catch them off guard.’ Look for ways to turn those moments into something that helps you.

Finding Success

If you want to succeed, focusing on your strengths is the answer. Recognizing your strengths will help you be better and push yourself harder. Keep your eye on your strengths and find ways to enhance and improve them. You’ll love what you’re doing and enjoy your journey to success. *

Need help? Contact us today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

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Successful CEOs Spend Less Time Managing Then You Think

Successful CEOs Spend Less Time Managing Then You Think

Successful CEO’s have the ability to spend their time in the most efficient way possible. Their focus is to grow their organization. They’re focused on encouraging their employees to work hard for their company. CEOs are master delegators. They spend less than 40% of their time focused down, managing others. Instead, they spend upwards to 30% of their time looking up and another 30% looking out.

Looking Up

One of the CEO’s main purposes is to be the public face of their organization. They’re the person that shareholders and boards of directors look to for answers. They communicate direction, information, and offer reassurance. This leaves stakeholders feeling confident on where to spend their money.

Well informed stakeholders are able to make better decisions. This includes where and how much they invest in an organization. With investment funds at stake, spending time with stakeholders is an effective use of a CEO’s time.

Looking and Listening Out

What good is the public face of an organization if it’s not seen? An amazing CEO is a well connected and networked CEO.

This means they can’t get stuck behind a desk managing. They must get out and spend time with customers, competitors, influencers, collaborators.

If they want to help their company grow, they need to open their ears. They should always have their ear to the ground listening for ways to improve and grow in innovation. They need to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly. They use this information to mold their products into what customers want. Industry trends change daily. It’s important to be able to move and flow with those trends. This is all the more reason for a CEO to spend time looking out and listening out.

Knowing When To Look Down

Effective CEOs, know how to identify tasks they must complete and tasks they can delegate. They delegate those tasks to leaders in their organization who know how to do the same. Those leaders use the same process to move the tasks down to the appropriate department. This way tasks get assigned to employees whose time is best served completing them.

This process of delegation gives CEOs more time to spend where it’s needed most. They don’t get bogged down with managing their teams. They know when and where to spend their time. This allows them to lead up and out more than they lead down. *

Need help? Contact us today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

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Tackle These 3 Things Before it Kills Your Company

Tackle These 3 Things Before it Kills Your Company

Keeping your company competitive can be risky business. Every industry has its challenges, but all will face these three universal risks. As an exceptional leader, you need to take a proactive approach when it comes to risk management. Now is the time to put safety procedures in place. Protect your business from these three risks.

The Fight For Talent

No industry is immune to the talent war. There’s a growing talent gap between employees with skills and those without. As this gap increases, finding great talent is getting harder daily. Companies are having to pull out all the stops to find talented employees and keep them.

You can prepare for this battle through great recruiting and training.

Recruiting amazing talent is essential. Even if you don’t have any job openings. Hiring a skilled recruiter is a great investment.

Be proactive by auditing your employee benefits. Benefits can attract talented applicants. Survey your current team to ask them which benefits they value. Find out if there are any benefits they recommend.

Another way to close the talent gap is by focusing on educating your current team. Investing in existing employees saves you money in the long run. Your company should provide continued education and access to developmental training programs.  Offering extensive learning and development plans is an important step. This shows your employees that you care about their career goals.

Embrace Digital Transformation

To keep your business relevant you need to be innovative. This means embracing accelerated digital transformation. As a leader, you need to look at how you can leverage digital, especially AI. You don’t need to buy into every new tech program on the market.

As a leader, you have a responsibility to stay informed of new technology. Look for ways to increase productivity. This means purchasing valuable AI tools for your company. Look for ways to use these tools to remove unnecessary stress from your team. This will free them up to focus on more important tasks.

Protect That Data

Data failures at major companies are big news. Mistakes and data breaches don’t get swept under the rug. You’re probably thinking of those companies now. Invest in protecting and keeping your customer’s data safe. Audit security processes today to prevent being a major headline tomorrow.

These three risks can break a company that’s not prepared. As a leader, you need to face these problems head-on. You need to stay vigilant. Being proactive today can save your company tomorrow. *

Need help? Contact us today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

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3 Practical Tips for Great Bosses Who Are Never in the Office

3 Practical Tips for Great Bosses Who Are Never in the Office

As a boss, your busy travel schedule often prevents you from working in the office with your employees. In fact, most bosses spend more than half their working hours away from the office. While it may feel as though you’re struggling to properly run your business, there are some things you can do to make sure you’re being the best boss you can possibly be even away from the office.

Delegate the day-to-day

When your travel schedule keeps you out of the office, the most important thing you need at the ground level is managers you can trust. These people are the single most important thing in making sure everything is running smoothly on a day-to-day basis. Trust these managers with handling the tasks you would normally be handling.

It’s also important to show confidence in the people running things for you. As a boss, we get you may be a perfectionist, but it’s important not to undermine those to whom you delegated. This will be a big hit to their confidence.

Use Remote Tech

Remote tech is becoming more and more commonplace in the working world. Video calls via Skype give you the opportunity to check in with your employees in real-time. Take advantage of this!

You should also take advantage of the real-time reporting tools available to you. These programs allow you to keep tabs on your company no matter where you are. If any red flags pop up while you’re on the road, you can pinpoint and address them.

The Importance of Scheduling

If possible, many CEOs try to reserve their traveling to certain days of the week. This allows them to have concrete times where they’re available at the office. For example, you travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays but are available at the office on Mondays and Fridays.

You can use these days at the office to meet with direct reports. Your business will run smoother when your employees know when you will and won’t be in the office. Of course, schedules can be hectic and all over the place at times, but when possible, try to stick to a set in stone schedule.

Need help? Contact us today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

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