Do you know the difference between an SIT and an SIC?

When planning a transition, the most important factor in valuation is the strength of your management team.

If you intend to sell your company to family or employees, a Successor in Training (SIT) is someone you are grooming to assume your role.

If your objective is a third-party sale, a Second In Command (SIC) is the one who will be supporting the new owner.

They are very different, but both require that you have a clear transition strategy. Take our assessment today and let’s discuss your objectives. Click here >>>

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.

What are quiet quitters and why is this phenomenon common these days?

Every person wants to achieve great success and results in what they do, and eventually grow their career. The challenge here is that sometimes things might not work out, and you can end up just going to work to have a job. You don’t work over what the job expectations are, and you go out as soon as the clock shows the end of your schedule.

What is a quiet quitter?

The quiet quitter is a person that won’t work more than what their job description entails. They aren’t engaged in growing the business or anything, instead, they just do their job and nothing else to get paid. Some of them might be unhappy with their position, others just want to find another job but they didn’t find one.

Is this bad for a business?

Generally, you want your business to grow. If you have an office of quiet quitters that just do their job description and nothing else, that’s hard to do, and you need to take action. With that being said, in Toronto, around 4 out of 10 managers are taking on the employee workload to make up for losses generated by quiet quitters. So yes, the issue is there, it is prevalent and you need to take action against it, otherwise, it will become even more problematic.

Does this lead to quiet firing?

As you can imagine, quiet quitters generate a bit of animosity around the office. It also brought a phenomenon named quiet firing. What happens is that employers will avoid an employee, they won’t share critical information, pass them when it comes to promotions, and they won’t even share feedback. Even if it might seem extreme, such a thing will arise and it can lead to a variety of different challenges.

Doing that can demoralize an employee, but that’s the reason why you would do it in the first place since it negates quiet quitters. At some point, the quiet quitters will end up leaving their job, since they see the job itself is not good anymore and they will just move on.

That on its own is exactly a thing you need to take into consideration. That alone goes to show the challenges that can arise are problematic since quiet quitters might find it hard to sustain their job. This quiet war at the office is something to think about.

Have you taken a look at our new book? Check it out today!

Click here to order on Amazon or to read more.

We would love to hear your comments.

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.

How to claim your power: Become who you want to be.

Are you ready to get more of what you want? To become who you want to be? To build confidence to make better decisions? If you want to get unstuck and move forward, this book is for you. The framework Gary Brunson leads readers through is one that has brought help, healing, and personal insights to hundreds of people throughout his career, first as a psychotherapist and for the past few decades as an in-demand executive consultant to business owners and entrepreneurs.

The model set forth here provides an avenue to becoming more aware of the filters we default to and the patterns of response we might not even realize we have. It is for those who want to better understand themselves as well as for leaders who want to create more emotionally healthy workplaces.

The overarching frame for this book is three things that we have control of in our lives:
1. How we are going to turn up each day
2. What we decide we are going to be, become, and try to accomplish with the life we have left.
3. How we view all experiences of our past, and what we choose to do with them in our present and future life.

Doing the first two things requires us to intentionally reconnect with ourselves to reclaim the power we already have to be the creator of the life we want from this moment forward to the end of our lives. Then and only then can we execute those first two things, jettison the role of a victim, and live out our power to be the self-determined creator of our own lives.

We have all scripted ourselves to manage our lives in hundreds of ways. We operate daily out of automatic patterns of behavior, and mostly we are unaware of the fullness of those patterns or where they have come from. It pays to examine them when something happens that puts us in a situation about which we feel a strong emotion such as sadness, anger, scare, happiness, excitement, or tenderness. Brunson provides what he calls Golden Questions to gently interrogate those emotions when we experience them, as a means to reveal the existence and source of those patterns.

You’ll appreciate Brunson’s practical wisdom and story-telling whether you are a young adult launching on your own, a CEO or owner of a company who wants to take your businesses to the next level, or you just think it’s time for life transformation.

Click here to order on Amazon or to read more.

We would love to hear your comments.

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.

Reestablishing the sense of being a part of a team and community while at work

The pandemic has shown every CEO and even regular employees that it’s difficult to stay productive while isolated. You need a sense of community and socialization, apt communication and an active company culture for everyone to stay happy. Thankfully, we are now able to create a sense of community in different ways, and these things can be adapted and adjusted accordingly.

Mutual learning

Encouraging employees to share their knowledge with other team members is actually very helpful. One of the advantages is that it allows everyone to learn something. Managers can still learn things from other employees. The same can be said about a CEO. There’s always something new to learn, and there’s no shame in teaching and helping each other. It also delivers a great, engaging company culture.

Encouraging employees to take a break

Burnout is very problematic, and the best way to avoid that is to encourage employees to take a break. Around 8% of employees unplug from technology, so most of them still remain connected to tech. It’s  hard to take a break, which is why one of the main leadership ideas to focus on is helping everyone avoid burnout and working too much. Encouraging the team to take some time off and getting better rest is important, make it a part of the company culture and you will see amazing results.

Start establishing shared experiences online

Virtual shared experiences are great because they blend the team together and eliminate any fears that some team members might have. Simple things that allow team members to connect, share stories and make them accustomed to each other can help immensely. It’s a great leadership technique that helps lower stress levels, while encouraging more personal connections.

Removing the toxic company culture

Unfortunately, some businesses have a toxic company culture that doesn’t encourage people to connect and share moments that much during the day. Simple things like eating or even cooking together can help a lot. They are beneficial, and can help improve job performance.

Use nostalgia to your advantage

Nostalgia is a great motivator for a lot of people. It can alleviate stress and anxiety, since it can help people get past those challenging times in their life. It also builds resilience, and many times it will make it easier to boost your performance at work.

Conclusion

As you can see, rekindling that sense of community at work is very important, and there are different ways to do it. These leadership methods listed above are very efficient, and they bring in front an extraordinary potential. It’s a good idea to start implementing these, since they can provide great results, especially in the long run. If you want to grow your business, you need to have a stellar company culture and happy employees, and these methods can help you achieve such a goal!

Have you taken a look at our new book? Check it out today!

Click here to order on Amazon or to read more.

We would love to hear your comments.

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.

How to claim your power: Become who you want to be.

Are you ready to get more of what you want? To become who you want to be? To build confidence to make better decisions? If you want to get unstuck and move forward, this book is for you. The framework Gary Brunson leads readers through is one that has brought help, healing, and personal insights to hundreds of people throughout his career, first as a psychotherapist and for the past few decades as an in-demand executive consultant to business owners and entrepreneurs.

The model set forth here provides an avenue to becoming more aware of the filters we default to and the patterns of response we might not even realize we have. It is for those who want to better understand themselves as well as for leaders who want to create more emotionally healthy workplaces.

The overarching frame for this book is three things that we have control of in our lives:
1. How we are going to turn up each day
2. What we decide we are going to be, become, and try to accomplish with the life we have left.
3. How we view all experiences of our past, and what we choose to do with them in our present and future life.

Doing the first two things requires us to intentionally reconnect with ourselves to reclaim the power we already have to be the creator of the life we want from this moment forward to the end of our lives. Then and only then can we execute those first two things, jettison the role of a victim, and live out our power to be the self-determined creator of our own lives.

We have all scripted ourselves to manage our lives in hundreds of ways. We operate daily out of automatic patterns of behavior, and mostly we are unaware of the fullness of those patterns or where they have come from. It pays to examine them when something happens that puts us in a situation about which we feel a strong emotion such as sadness, anger, scare, happiness, excitement, or tenderness. Brunson provides what he calls Golden Questions to gently interrogate those emotions when we experience them, as a means to reveal the existence and source of those patterns.

You’ll appreciate Brunson’s practical wisdom and story-telling whether you are a young adult launching on your own, a CEO or owner of a company who wants to take your businesses to the next level, or you just think it’s time for life transformation.

Click here to order on Amazon or to read more.

We would love to hear your comments.

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.

Steps Navy Seals are using to make decisions

Making the right decisions is one of the crucial parts of leadership. You can’t just make any decision, because each option comes with its own challenges, benefits, but also repercussions. That’s why it’s a good idea to turn to Navy Seals and other people that are trained to make decisions on the spot. There’s a lot you can learn from a Navy Seal, especially when it comes to their decision-making process.

Here’s how Navy Seals make a decision!

Gathering input

The work of a Navy Seal is dangerous, so you can’t make a decision without the right input. That’s why every Navy Seal will gather as much input as possible to ensure they know what they are getting into.

Needless to say, this can be a great idea for managers, recruiting experts, and even a CEO.

You always want to know the situation/topic inside and out before you make a decision; otherwise you might end up making the wrong one.

Only focus on decision-making when there’s a clear understanding of the situation, process, and also the potential repercussions. Rushing towards a decision is not what a Navy Seal does, and it’s certainly a bad thing for anyone, especially a CEO.

Find the right time to make a decision

As we said earlier, you don’t want to rush when making any type of decision. Instead, you want to be 100% sure that you’re doing the right thing. So it makes sense to follow the Navy Seal approach and assess everything, gather info and then study it properly. Only after you check everything for a while will you be able to make a great decision. It’s well worth it to not rush and instead focus on understanding everything, then you can schedule the right time to make a decision.

Course-correct as needed

There are many variables you need to take into account when making any type of decision. Sometimes these variables will change, and thus you need to course-correct. Yes, course-correction is important and it really is one of those things that will help enhance your decision and ensure it fits your needs. Do that, and the results can be incredible.

These are great steps that Navy Seals are using in order to make decisions. It’s very important to acquire information, stay calm, and focus on understanding the entire situation before you choose any decision that might be suitable. Even then, you still have to course-correct at times, so it’s crucial to do that as you monitor the outcome of your decision!

What works for you? We would love to hear. Contact us today.

Please share with your colleagues & staff.

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.

How to claim your power: Become who you want to be.

Are you ready to get more of what you want? To become who you want to be? To build confidence to make better decisions? If you want to get unstuck and move forward, this book is for you. The framework Gary Brunson leads readers through is one that has brought help, healing, and personal insights to hundreds of people throughout his career, first as a psychotherapist and for the past few decades as an in-demand executive consultant to business owners and entrepreneurs.

The model set forth here provides an avenue to becoming more aware of the filters we default to and the patterns of response we might not even realize we have. It is for those who want to better understand themselves as well as for leaders who want to create more emotionally healthy workplaces.

The overarching frame for this book is three things that we have control of in our lives:
1. How we are going to turn up each day
2. What we decide we are going to be, become, and try to accomplish with the life we have left.
3. How we view all experiences of our past, and what we choose to do with them in our present and future life.

Doing the first two things requires us to intentionally reconnect with ourselves to reclaim the power we already have to be the creator of the life we want from this moment forward to the end of our lives. Then and only then can we execute those first two things, jettison the role of a victim, and live out our power to be the self-determined creator of our own lives.

We have all scripted ourselves to manage our lives in hundreds of ways. We operate daily out of automatic patterns of behavior, and mostly we are unaware of the fullness of those patterns or where they have come from. It pays to examine them when something happens that puts us in a situation about which we feel a strong emotion such as sadness, anger, scare, happiness, excitement, or tenderness. Brunson provides what he calls Golden Questions to gently interrogate those emotions when we experience them, as a means to reveal the existence and source of those patterns.

You’ll appreciate Brunson’s practical wisdom and story-telling whether you are a young adult launching on your own, a CEO or owner of a company who wants to take your businesses to the next level, or you just think it’s time for life transformation.

Click here to order on Amazon or to read more.

We would love to hear your comments.

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.

The Misconception of a New Normal

The New Normal. The term has become a bit of a catchphrase since the early months of 2020. So much so, in fact, that the concept feels to many almost cliché. “New Normal” implies that current business dynamics are stationary, but business owners know that is far from accurate. Nearly every aspect of today’s marketplace looks and feels different than it did just a few short years ago. And it will look and feel even more different tomorrow than it does today. Yes, the rate of change in the post-pandemic business world is simply astonishing.

There are so many innovations that are altering the way businesses do business. November 2022 saw the release of ChatGPT by OpenAI. The artificial intelligence chatbot is already shaking things up throughout the business and education sectors and is expected to wield widespread impact for years to come. Maybe even forever.

Many businesses are still struggling with a sluggish supply chain. For some, it is probably better than it was a year ago, but a Gartner survey found that 76% of supply chain executives say their company is facing more frequent disruptions than three years ago. The slow supply chain recovery is due in part to continuing global political unrest and issues in China. The causes are almost irrelevant for most business owners; what is important to them are the continuous ups and downs in their ability to secure the raw materials and goods to run and grow their businesses. Look at lumber. It has been on a crazy rollercoaster ride since 2020, propelled by the pandemic, but also exacerbated by weather and other factors out of the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Lumber costs soared then plummeted (then soared and plummeted again). And there is nothing normal about that.

The point is that the explosion of innovation and the impact of ongoing market stressors will continue to thwart any semblance of a New Normal. And in a way, that’s okay. Business owners who survived pandemic slowdowns, lockdowns, and shutdowns have learned firsthand how to accept – and almost embrace – change.

What Should Business Owners Expect?

Again, business owners are perpetually in the midst of significant change right now. However, there are evolving trends that appear to be establishing their footing in most businesses today.

1. Artificial Intelligence. As we mentioned above, ChatGPT is poised to change the way we run our operations. Business owners can easily apply the technology to enhance their customer service capabilities, incorporate it into their recruiting and hiring processes, and leverage it throughout their marketing.

2. A Focus on Hiring & Retention. Employee acquisition and retention are very challenging. Added to the mix is an influx of workers due to mass layoffs in big tech. By concentrating on your people and your company culture, your business will be better equipped to find and keep the people you need to successfully run and grow your organization. 

3. Commitment to Cybersecurity. The current threat environment in technology is expanding, even for small businesses. Data breaches, malware, ransomware attacks, and other cybercrimes are expected to cost $8 trillion in 2023. Small businesses are a hacker’s favorite target. Make sure to carve out money in your budget to secure a strong cybersecurity posture.

So much is in flux in today’s world, so let’s not call it the New Normal. Let’s just call it progress.

Have you taken a look at our new book? Check it out today!

Click here to order on Amazon or to read more.

We would love to hear your comments.

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.