"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy
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Annual and Quarterly Planning -- STOP Focusing on What's Wrong!! My latest syndicated "Growth Guy" column opens with a public apology to all the companies I've misguided over the past twenty-five years -- I apologize for dredging up all their problems, for focusing on what is wrong instead of what is right. Focusing on "what is working" is an entirely new way to approach strategy planning -- please take ten minutes and scan my short column under DETAILS below.
Report Card Time -- Do You Focus More on the A's vs. C's? Marcus Buckingham, author of Go Put Your Strengths to Work, notes that focusing on the C will not improve the C. Yes, you must address the C, but spend your time studying the A's. Why do they like that subject? What does the teacher do? How is it taught? Only by studying the A can you improve the C. And, again, it gets everyone focused on the positive.
Marriage and Family Counseling -- my wife and I went through a rough period in our marriage a few years ago and sought out traditional marriage counseling. However, after several sessions we both realized that we felt worse after the sessions, since the focus was on "what is wrong." What helped turn around our relationship was a specific activity in an ImagoTherapy weekend called flooding (something we've done with our children as well). In essence, one of you sits in a chair while the other person "floods" you with all the reasons they love/like/admire you, anchoring each positive with a touch across your shoulders.
Relationship Handbook -- this book by George Pransky further strengthened our relationship. Pransky, like Buckingham, denounces the focus on problems and weaknesses. Instead, his thin little book takes a radical and positive approach to strengthening relationships.
The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry -- this is the 70 page booklet that turned it all around for me. Have your team read this book before going into your next planning session -- or simply read it now. And please take a look at my column below. Focus on what's working!!