December 26th, 2009

Execution Tip: Think about the impact of “Team-building” (personal and/or professional) on Execution Excellence.

by Dr. Brian Higley

Another critical component of Execution Excellence is the ability to surround oneself with the sort of people who will be supportive of your achieving your most important SMART Goals.  The ability to do so begins with an understanding that you deserve to be around supportive people, is strengthened by becoming clear about how to bring supportive people into your life and is further fortified by learning ways to decrease time spent with unsupportive others (rather than believing that you have to spend a lot of time with people who do not support your major goals in life for one reason or another).

For example: Team-building to support the goal “Take out all trash every Wednesday before 9AM” can be facilitated by:

1. affirming that there are people who can appreciate the value of this goal,
2. actively seeking out these people and spending more time with them, and
3. minimizing time spent with those who ridicule this goal (or you as a person). Read the rest of this Article »

November 2nd, 2008

Creating an “Excellence Tree”: 6 Steps Toward “Mission Activation”

by Dr. Brian Higley

To return to the original Mission Activation article, click here.

Here are what we have found to be the 6 most important components of a powerfully ”Activated” Mission.  Since we believe that Mission Activation is so similar to the process of growing a strong tree, we often refer to the process of Mission Activation as growing an “Excellence Tree.”

1. “Check The Soil”: Assess current levels of (and potential for) Mission Activation. In order to Activate a Mission, it is often helpful to first get a sense of how many of the Mission Activation components listed below are working for (or against) teams and individuals.  There are many ways to assess the soil – some more valid than others.  We’ve found that the best way to assess current Mission Activation potential is by having team members to take part in a confidential online Mission Activation audit, “The CACE Assessment.” For individuals who are not a part of a team or group, we assess the soil on an more individual basis via The Self-Mastery Assessment.

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November 1st, 2008

“Planting” an Excellence Tree: A Critical Step in Living a Mission Statement

by Dr. Brian Higley

To return to descriptions of all 6 steps toward Mission Activation, click here.

Living a Mission Statement requires an Activated Mission – “Excellence Trees were designed to promote Mission Activation.  Here are the four phases of “Mission Activation Step 2: “Planting an Excellence Tree” the second step to consider when attempting to actually live a Mission Statement:

A) Identification of clear, “Mission-aligned” Primary Objectives is the first phase of Planting the Tree.  In order to see more Mission Activation, everyone needs to know (and agree to a certain extent) that objectives such as “Increase financial profits by 10% this quarter” or “Promote a culture of excellence and satisfaction throughout the team,” or “Recruit and train the best people,” etc. are the most important ways in which to spend time, money and energy.  An important effect of Primary Objective clarification is that clearly prioritized objectives often plays a key role in helping teams stay motivated to live their Mission.  If people know why they are being asked to do something (”because it helps us accomplish Primary Objective #1 – and because Primary Objective #1 helps the Mission along in this way . . ., “), they tend to have a stronger commitment to doing what they are asked to do at a high level of quality.  At our firm we call this process “Mission Connection;” getting ourselves and others strongly connected with our Mission by being able to answer all “why should I do this” questions with “because it helps our Mission stay Activated – and here’s how. . . ”

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September 15th, 2008

Moving From “Wishing” to “Doing”: 5 Keys to Getting Things Done

by Dr. Brian Higley

I’m often told that people fall into 2 categories: “wishers” and “doers.” Individuals who tell me this are often surprised to hear my response: that my experience and research indicates that this is almost always absolutely untrue! My conclusion may seem counter-intuitive at first, but I recently conducted a scientific study on this topic and found some very interesting results that might be helpful to both your business and your personal life.

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May 24th, 2008

Habit Support the Key to Change: Lessons from Fat School

by Dr. Brian J. Mistler

“You are what you repeatedly do; Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle

Indeed.

Another of my favorite thinkers, Rick Maurer, recently posted on this same topic after reading an article in the Washington Post about “Fat School”. Rick is another national consultant with some outstanding ideas. He’s also, like me, influenced strongly by Gestalt principle of change. If you haven’t checked out Rick’s blog Change Management News: Change Without Migraines ™ you should. Here’s Rick’s post:

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