Time truly is like money. We only have so much of it and always wish we had more. If we are frugal with it, we can maximize our time, invest it wisely, and be incredibly productive. We can squander our time by being disorganized, lazy, and a master of procrastination. Lastly, we can allow our time to be stolen by others simply because we let them. Like money, time will disappear if you don’t pay attention and budget it like the precious resource it is.

Here are some no-compromise strategies to manage your time like you manage your money:

• Attitude and time: You have to change your attitude to manage time like money. By attitude, I’m referring to how you perceive yourself and your ability to accomplish great things. Anyone can check tasks off of a task list, but truly great leaders believe in their ability to accomplish great things. If you believe that you are capable of doing great things, you need to budget time to achieve them. If you don’t believe, why bother? Winning means believing in yourself.
• Vision and time: Vision is projected income. It’s the goal. It’s what you channel all of your resources toward achieving. It’s the direction in which you lead your company. It’s at the top of the scoreboard. If you don’t have a vision – you don’t have a destination. It’s like having cash in your pocket that you spend on whatever until it’s all gone.
• COGS and time: “Cost of Goods Sold” is where you budget the largest chunks of time to achieve your vision. COGS represent the most important work that needs to be done. It’s the high value work that must be done without compromise. It may be spending thirty to forty percent of your time interacting, relating, and communicating with staff, or just taking the time to show your appreciation for the individuals working for you. Your COGS represent the time you invest in making your vision a reality. No compromise.
• Gross Profit Margin and time: Controlling your Gross Profit Margin is essential to financial success. It represents how much money you have left to cover General and Administrative (G&A) expenses – and Net Profit. G&A expenses are largely fixed expenses and will occur no matter what. So if your Gross Profit Margin is too low, there won’t be enough money to create Net Profit. Simply put, if you don’t manage the time you invest in your COGS, you won’t have a life.
• G&A and time: Your G&A time is your budget for all the stuff that needs to get done no matter what. Just like you have to pay your rent, you have to budget time for managing your finances, dealing with vendors, meetings, performance reviews, and the general work of leadership. If you don’t budget your time, you won’t get the general work done … and that will compromise your business and your life.
• Net Profit and time: Leaders always talk about balancing work and personal time. Just like Net Profit is a planned outcome, so is personal time. Personal time is your Return on Investment for the time you put into work and leading your company. You’ll never achieve the gift of free time if you don’t take a no-compromise approach to managing time.

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The problem for successful entrepreneurs is finding a way to retire from their own companies. Many have that, “I’ll sell it and cash out one day,” thought tucked way back in their brain. Others have children working in the company and think, “My kids will run the company when I retire.” Still others maintain that, “My employees will run and own the company one day,” thought that allows them to fall asleep at night. These are all great thoughts, but in reality, most entrepreneurs are so caught up in running their companies that they do a pretty lousy job of building a solid exit strategy. Many just avoid it altogether.

So, for all of you entrepreneurs out there, here are some no-compromise thoughts on how to retire from your own company:

• Reality of different timelines: Companies live on for generations; leaders do not. Got that? What are you doing now – today – to ensure that your company will endure long after you sell it or retire? Too many owners run their companies as if they will live forever. The years fly by. The time to start planning your exit strategy is the day you start planning your business.
• Vision crossroad: A leader’s vision is the company’s vision. However, when the leader’s personal vision shifts to retirement, there is an inherent danger that it can bring the company’s vision along with it. Simply put, the company’s vision becomes to retire its leader, and that’s asking for trouble. The best strategy is to begin coaching your leadership team to create an updated company vision that embodies where THEY want to take the company. Letting go of the visionary role is tough for entrepreneurial leaders, but when approached with the right mindset, it is a very exciting and empowering process.
• Let go of the reins: Whether your intent is to sell or retire, you must let go of the reins and allow your leadership team to oversee operations and management. The intent is to make your company self-sufficient and self-sustaining. It’s a process that takes years of coaching and mentoring to prepare your bench of leaders. It’s much like teaching a child to ride a bike: you begin with training wheels to instill confidence, then you remove the training wheels and hold on to the seat as they pedal away. When you quietly let go … they’re cycling on their own. A self-sustaining company is more attractive to a buyer – and fetches a higher selling price. Or, it simply sustains your income in retirement.
• Financials: If you had to slide your company’s financials across the table to a potential buyer, what story would they tell? Would it be the story of a healthy company that manages cash and expenses, contains liabilities, and drives profit? Or would it be the story of a company that is cash-strapped, burdened with debt, undisciplined, and racking up losses? If you’re not proud to slide your financials across the table to a potential buyer right now, it’s time to get into the Strategies coaching program. I’m serious, because ugly financials means there is a lot stuff that needs to be addressed – beginning with leadership. You can’t sell or retire with ugly financials. Got it?
• Pick your exit door: Do you want to sell your company, or transition the leadership? Either way, you must decide how you want to exit your business and begin preparing for that day – even if it’s ten or twenty years from now. If selling is the exit door you want to go through, then start looking at your company as an asset and make it shine in its culture, financial reports, and how it operates. If you choose succession to family members or employees, you must do the same as selling, but with extreme emphasis and clarity on what the company will look like after you step down. This can be quite complicated and requires outside coaching and guidance.

The last thing you want to become is the elephant in your company’s living room. Your retirement is a natural progression. If you want to reap the financial rewards of building an enduring company, begin planning your exit strategy now. No compromise.

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As a leader, you are responsible for harnessing and orchestrating the talents and capabilities of employees into a high performance team. To do so requires an ongoing commitment to training, coaching, evaluating, mentoring, and inspiring individuals to achieve their full potential – so in turn, your team can achieve its full potential. Yes, people work for money, but studies consistently show that money is not the prime motivator for job satisfaction and impressive performance.

Individual financial incentives motivate employees in the short-term picture, but emphasizing financial rewards leads employees to focus on personal gain at the expense of teamwork. Avoiding the short-term and producing the right outcomes over the long-term requires preparation. This means planning, discipline, and execution. Preparation shapes and defines your company’s culture. Preparation pulls a team together into a cohesive entity capable of achieving the extraordinary. It’s about the team, pride, quality, and winning.

Here are some no-compromise thoughts on individual incentives and why they compromise teamwork:

• “We” thinking versus “me” thinking: Financial rewards come with winning as a team. Winning as a team means a healthier and financially viable company capable of giving raises, team bonuses, and investing in training and personal development. Individual incentives, on the other hand, mean there will be winners and losers at the expense of teamwork. Winning teams bring everyone across the finish line. Which thinking do you want in your company culture?
• Prepare versus bribe: As stated earlier, it’s the preparation, training, and mentoring of individuals that produces results. Telling someone to “sell more” or “get your numbers up” while backing your command with individual incentives and/or commissions won’t magically improve performance if skills are lacking. There are no shortcuts around preparation, training, and systems development – especially if quality and extraordinary customer service are what your company stands for.
• Pay based on overall performance: High sales and a bad attitude don’t deserve financial reward. High sales and low client retention don’t deserve financial reward. High sales and not playing by the rules don’t deserve financial reward. But individual incentives and/or commission do reward these things – it emphasizes the performances and behaviors you don’t like paying for. That’s why I have never been a fan of individual incentives or commission. Pay based on overall performance goes far beyond sales to include skill development, culture, teamwork, and individual strengths. It may seem counterintuitive, but just because an individual can sell a lot doesn’t mean he or she is an asset to the company.
• Team bonus rocks: There’s nothing more inspiring to watch than a team coming together to hit goal. Everyone is pushing and pulling in the same direction. The experienced are helping the inexperienced. Leaks are plugged. Opportunities don’t slip through the cracks. Good decisions are made within the team. Winning activates the bonus pool and everyone celebrates the win. In reality, the win is far more empowering than the bonus. The bonus is simply icing on the cake.

The message here is to focus heavily on the preparation of your employees to achieve the desired outcomes and to weigh how your reward system will positively or negatively impact teamwork. Never compromise teamwork.

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Growing a great company has nothing to do with luck. It has to do with your leadership ability to surround yourself with the best players; to innovate, execute, and make good decisions; and to manage cash while capitalizing on opportunities. Throw in a healthy dose of accountability and being the best just may be within your reach. And if you do become the best, you’ll quickly discover that it takes just as much hard work to stay at the top of the game as it did to get there in the first place.

Every company starts out wanting to be the best, but things happen along the way that keep pushing that coveted title further and further beyond your reach. A few years of bad decisions, cash-flow challenges, and dealing with toxic employees can sap a leader’s mojo and self-confidence. When a company’s thinking and behavior is stuck on average – i.e. not actively pursuing the extraordinary – the outcome, as expected, will continue to be average.

Here are some no-compromise strategies to help you be the best:

• Stop talking about it: When all employees hear is, “We’re going to be the best,” followed by little or no action, they stop listening. More importantly, they stop believing. Being on the pursuit to be the best is an exciting journey full of hazards, amazing discoveries, and rewards. But the voyage doesn’t truly begin until the train leaves the station. Leaders take their companies, people, and customers to extraordinary destinations. Stop talking about it and kick it into fast-forward.
• Take responsibility: Seriously leaders, it’s not your people that are holding you back – it’s you. Leaders are notorious for pointing the big finger of blame at their employees. Well, who hired, trained, coached, evaluated, and inspired them? Who isn’t playing by the same rules employees must follow? Who is so busy working on other stuff that employees aren’t getting the attention they need? Being the best means that you must bring your best game to work every day.
• Have a vision and keep the drumbeat: Your vision of what being the best looks like must be presented in extreme clarity to each and every employee. Everyone must know what your standard of the best looks like, what their roles are, how it’s measured, and how the culture will change. Then, relentless communication must kick in to maintain momentum and focus. If you make that big announcement and fail to follow it up with relentless long-term communication, your train will sputter and stall within sight of the station.
• The tough stuff: For leaders, there’s a price to pay in being the best. It means working through those unpleasant leadership blockages that hold you and your company back. If you don’t like making unpopular decisions, dealing with difficult employees, or following a budget, average will always be your best. If you’re a micromanager, average will be your best. If you’re all about the numbers rather than your people, average will be your best. If you don’t trust anyone, no one will trust you…and average will be your best. Got it? No compromise.
• A higher standard: To be the best, you must set your company’s success bar high enough to make it stretch, feel the burn, and grow. Holding everyone to a higher standard of thinking and behavior is non-negotiable. Commitment and passion are infectious. You’ll know you’re on the right track when vendors, customers, and business associates take notice. Excellence always stands out in a sea of average.
• Yes, it’s a culture shift: Change initiatives that elevate an entire company always involve a culture shift. Culture is the collective thinking and behavior of a company. A company simply cannot achieve next-level success without going through a culture shift. Leading a company successfully through a culture shift is the hallmark of a No-Compromise Leader.

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A coaching client just informed us of their discovery that a trusted employee has been stealing from the company by manipulating and creating false transactions in the company’s business software. Luckily, another employee saw something questionable and informed the owners. After hours of examining and comparing transaction logs, it was clear who the culprit was, how it was done, and for how long it’s been happening. Damn…isn’t running a business difficult enough without having your own employees stealing from you – especially one from your trusted inner circle?

The owners were shocked and devastated to discover just how extensive their trust was violated by this key employee. To learn that thousands of dollars had been siphoned out of much needed cash flow is one thing, but to learn that someone you trusted intentionally stole from the company right under your nose is where the real and lasting damage is done.

Here are some no-compromise strategies to help you and the rest of your company through the aftermath of discovering that an employee has been stealing:

• Stealing is stealing: It’s not just taking money that qualifies as stealing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a box of pencils, paperclips, supplies, or products…taking something that doesn’t belong to you is stealing. Padding an expense account is stealing. Sleeping while on the clock is stealing. Just because it doesn’t “feel” like stealing to the employee doesn’t mean that it isn’t – stealing comes in many forms, and happens when greed and entitlement thinking overtake good judgment, ethics, and values. No compromise.
• Due diligence: It doesn’t matter how indisputable your evidence is, the first call you make should be to your attorney for guidance on how to handle the matter before confronting the individual with accusations of being a thief. Jumping in without proper legal oversight could potentially backfire on you with a defamation lawsuit, so it’s best to play it safe. Your next call should be to the police to report the alleged crime. The police will also guide you on what you should and shouldn’t do. The most important thing to do is document anything and everything related to the case.
• Fire and recovery: Before confronting the offender, you must decide on what you want the outcome to be. Unfortunately, you really don’t have many options. If your proof is questionable, you need to present your evidence and demand explanation. Note: Do not get sucked in by a sob story. If you reject the explanation, the employee must resign or be fired. If the proof is indisputable, the employee needs to resign or be fired. The offer to submit his/her resignation should be attached to the full recovery of what was stolen. Firing means pressing charges and recovery through legal means. Remember, every decision you make sets a precedent for if (or, unfortunately, when) you encounter this type of situation again.
• Confronting the offender: It is extremely important to contain your emotions and filter everything you say to avoid repercussions. This should be a formal meeting with a witness present to monitor what is said. Based on discussions with your attorney and the police, you may consider having one or both present. Nothing communicates the seriousness of the situation than having your attorney and police officers present. In fact, it may be best to turn the conversation over to them. That puts more stress on the offender and less on you. The meeting ends with the employee admitting to the offense by resigning or being fired. Let the police handle it from there.
• Damage control: The ick from these situations doesn’t just get all over you – it gets all over everyone in the company. Word will spread like wildfire; therefore it’s essential that you brief staff as quickly as possible. It’s best to present a sanitized version of what happened. It’s important to take the high road and not demean the offender. Terms like “stealing” should be replaced with terms like “questionable transactions.” Employees are pretty savvy and will figure out what you mean. Prepare talking points to guide employees through conversations with customers, vendors, and others. The important thing is to contain the drama and for the company to move on. The impact should be controlled and the situation rectified properly – you simply had an employee who risked his or her job and reputation by stealing. Now they are suffering the consequences. Case closed.
• Learn from the lesson: There are more ways to steal from a company than you can imagine. Therefore, the best offense is a good defense. Rethink and rebuild your systems and procedures to plug the holes. It’s a shame that tactics like security cameras need to exist in the workplace, but they serve a purpose. They protect the innocent just as much as they prevent temptation.
• Continue to trust: The actions of one individual should never tarnish your belief in others. There are many employees that deeply care about your company and its values. Distrusting everyone will eventually cause distrust to embed itself in your culture. No-compromise leaders nurture cultures of high trust by practicing smart trust that comes from well-designed systems and procedures.

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Being the leader of a business is perhaps one of the most complex, rewarding, and often brutally frustrating professions. Leaders are constantly held accountable, subjected to relentless demands, and must always be at the top of their game. A true leader works tirelessly to drive the Four Business Outcomes: productivity, profitability, staff retention, and customer loyalty. But when you peel away all of the trappings of leadership, what it really comes down to is believing in people – and that’s where things start to get interesting.

A leader’s job is to achieve results through the work of others. They keep people and teams on task. They maintain order, direction, and momentum. But would you want to work for a leader who is solely driven by the numbers, in an organization where people are simply the means to an end? In turn, would you want to be that kind of leader? You will get your results, but at what cost to those you lead; and at what cost to the work environment, or company culture?

Here are some no-compromise strategies to help you maintain that vital balance between believing in people and achieving the right outcomes:

• The heart of a leader: Believing in those you lead is the hallmark of a true leader. Inspiring, coaching, guiding, correcting, and applauding individuals to achieve their full potential is a responsibility of all leaders. More importantly, it is the most fulfilling aspect of being a leader. Hitting a goal is a momentary “woohoo.” Helping and seeing an individual stretch, grow, and display that inner glow of personal pride in their work is the true reward of leadership that feeds your passion. Keep believing in people. You will have your share of failures along way, but the heart of a no-compromise leader always has faith in the people he/she leads.
• Mistakes are lessons: No amount of planning can eliminate mistakes. No policy and procedure manual will ever eliminate rule breaking. No system will ever be without flaws. And the bigger your list of consequences is, the more fear-based and antagonistic your company’s culture becomes. Leaders set the agenda, establish parameters, empower employees, and get out of the way. They encourage ideas and innovation. They view mistakes as learning opportunities. Yes, there will be those dumb mistakes that require a fierce conversation and documentation. But fear-based, dictatorial, and inflexible cultures are NOT the cultures that no-compromise leaders create.
• Attitude of gratitude: As kids, we seek affirmation and reward for our achievements. We commit to a workout plan or diet for the reward of feeling and looking better. We set goals to win. We help others because we want to – and it feels good. Working for a leader who keeps gratitude and appreciation locked in a safe feeds a pretty thankless work culture where nothing is ever good enough. No win is ever worthy of praise. A simple thank you, great job, woohoo, or atta-boy is a pretty simple and powerful sign of appreciation. Don’t say you believe in people if any of the above describes you.
• About being liked: Leadership is not about being liked. Leadership is about integrity, trust, mutual respect, appreciation, and accountability. If “being liked” is so important to you, leadership may not be your calling. You cannot say “yes” to everything. Sometimes, you have to make tough decisions on behalf of the company that will be unpopular. There will be times you will feel isolated and alone. This is all part of the reality of being a leader.
• Connecting: Communication and information flow is something that every business, no matter how successful and admired, can get better at. Leaders need to connect personally with those they lead. It’s amazing how even in small companies with just a dozen employees, true connections among staff can be a rare occurrence. When you’re consumed with achieving results and hitting your numbers, you are stuck in your box where employees are reduced to objects. They see and feel your indifference. If you don’t care about them – they don’t care about you. It’s just a job until something better comes along. Connecting is vital. Connecting is believing in people.
• The leader’s leader: Your job is to coach, inspire, and grow the company and its people. But who coaches you? Who keeps you on task and helps you to reach your full potential? Who can you really vent your frustrations to or talk with through your challenges? The most effective leaders have a coach. No compromise.

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Our lives are consumed with deadlines, “to do” lists, emails, deleting spam, meetings, interruptions, urgent problems, family … and that spectacular bucket list of things you want to check off before you check out. We all know that time is precious. It simply ticks by and cannot be recaptured. Nothing drives this reality home better than remembering that our time in this world is finite – not infinite.

It’s virtually impossible for leaders to be immune from time management challenges. Stuff happens and you need to lead in the moment. The world around you relentlessly tries to invade and capture bits and pieces of your time. Guess what? You do the same to those around you. It’s what leaders do. All it takes is for someone to say, “I need to speak to you for a minute,” and before you know it, half a day has passed and you are thrown completely off schedule.

So how do you capture more time to get your stuff done and have some life left over? Here are six strategies you can start using immediately … if you can find the time:

1. Make appointments with yourself: Chances are your calendar is full of appointments with everyone but you. If you have a project that needs to get done, schedule the time to get it done on your calendar. That time is yours. Do not give it up for anything but dire emergencies (the light bulb that blew out in the restroom, for example, is not a dire emergency). Show up on time and prepared to dig in and work. You’d be surprised at how productive you can be when given just two hours of concentrated, uninterrupted time. More importantly, scheduling yourself in this way takes care of the toughest part of a project – getting started.
2. Low-level vs. high-level stuff: If you’re continually frustrated that you’re not getting your work done, consider all of the things you have been doing instead. Entire days can evaporate when you spend your time completing low-level busy work and putting out fires. The truth is, you sometimes focus on the small stuff in order to avoid what you know you should be doing. You chose to do that low-level stuff rather than schedule time to complete the high-level activities that would feel so good to get off of your plate. It’s you who allows the world to interrupt and distract you. And when the world doesn’t do it, you do it to yourself. Got it?
3. Don’t do it all: The one thing that control freak leaders are consistently amazing at is driving those they lead absolutely crazy. Nothing is done fast enough or good enough. Everyone else must be blind because they can’t see what you see. People want to do a great job. People want to feel empowered and appreciated. But control freak leaders are never satisfied. Most of all, control freak leaders are rarely satisfied with their own work. It’s time to let go of some of the controls before it’s too late.
4. Rethink your “To Do” list: This is all about managing what you allow on your plate. Your plate is your schedule. You can fill it with lots of low-level stuff and look busy as hell while accomplishing very little. Or, you can fill your plate strategically with high-level projects that will lift your company to that elusive next level. Think about the value of work and projects before you add them to your plate.
5. Climb out of your rut: This one is simple. You don’t have time to get stuff done because you are stuck in your rut. Your rut is your daily routine and, being a creature of habit, you are comfortable in your rut – even if you don’t like it. Climb out of your rut by allowing yourself to master your time differently. Get to work early. Greet your team. Lead a huddle. Talk to customers. Just change it up for 30 days and see what happens.
6. Respect yields respect: If you want others to respect your time and your schedule, you need to respect theirs. Too often, leaders are the elephant in their living room causing roadblocks, interruptions, and disruptions. Leading is about getting out of the way. Leading is about empowering others to do great things.

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A coaching client asked me for advice regarding an issue with a team leader that had been using the company credit card for personal expenses. By the time the abuse of the card was discovered, the charge totals were quite sizable. There were repeated warnings when minor personal charges continued to show up on the monthly statements. The company has a “three strikes, you’re out” rule, and this team leader had used them all. My client said, “This leader is really good at aspects of the job, is valued, and an asset to the company overall. What would you do if you were me?”

I felt this owner’s pain with the no-compromise decision he must make. If it were not for the credit card abuse, this team leader would be perfect. But the bottom line is that this was a classic case of theft. Trust was broken. A team leader who was supposed to be a role model for others knowingly and repeatedly violated company policy. More importantly, this type of personal behavior regarding money and spending raises suspicion that funds could be missing elsewhere in the company. My advice was, “You have a three strikes, you’re out rule – not 3.5 strikes. There is only one choice to make here.”

Here are some no-compromise thoughts to help leaders work through these tough decisions:

• Bad choices have consequences: The owner knew exactly what my response would be. It’s hard to fire an otherwise good employee and it’s never easy to take someone’s job away after a long-standing, working relationship. But this team leader’s choices and actions took his/her own job away. It’s about taking responsibility for one’s actions. Leaders are human beings and have every right to feel compassion for an individual that they have no choice but to fire. But in such situations, leaders must remember that the employee brought this upon him or herself. Get it over with and move on.
• Explanations vs. excuses: If you’re speeding and get a speeding ticket, the fact remains that you were speeding in the first place. Blaming it on that lead foot of yours is just a pointless excuse. In business, mistakes happen and explanations are needed to determine the cause and prevent repetition, but there is a fine line between an explanation and an excuse. An explanation can include ownership of the error. An excuse is almost always an attempt to deflect blame onto any place other than where it actually belongs.
• All eyes are on you: There are countless examples of leaders tolerating intolerable behavior from one or more employees; lateness, bad attitudes, disrespect, missed deadlines, dress code violations, expense abuse, inappropriate behavior . . . the list goes on and on. The problem with tolerating intolerable behavior from certain individuals while holding everyone else accountable to the rules is that it creates a double standard. Double standards wreck company cultures in every conceivable way. It’s one thing to earn special privileges through performance and teamwork, but it’s something else to earn it through entitlement, indifference, or fear that a key employee will quit. Protecting the company culture is one of the most important duties of a leader.
• Ask the tough question: Every leader must deal with individuals whose performances and behaviors are no longer acceptable. It doesn’t matter if the employee is in an entry-level position or top management – when unacceptable performance and behavior is allowed to continue, it contaminates the company’s culture. And when coaching, counseling, and repeated warnings prove ineffective, it’s time to objectively ask yourself this tough “yes or no” question: “Is there any indication that performance and behavior will improve?” If the answer is yes, communicate exactly what your expectations are and the timeline. If the answer is no, it’s time for the employee to find another opportunity.
• It’s about your actions too: If you’re the owner of the company, you must be responsible for your actions too. Everything you read above applies not only to your staff, but to you, too. Too many owners justify their compromising behaviors and actions simply by saying, “It’s my company.” Yes, it IS your company and that’s every reason to stop being the one who’s getting in the way and harming its culture.

Being a no-compromise leader is all about being compassionate, fair, respectful, and trustworthy. It’s also about dealing with the tough stuff that comes with leading people and coaching them to achieve their full potential. When the behaviors and actions of a team member continually fall outside of what is tolerable for your company’s culture, it’s time to make the tough decisions and move on.

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Take a moment to imagine what your company’s performance would be like if it was built on a culture of accountability. What would productivity look like? What would profitability look like? What would staff retention look like? Most important, what would client loyalty look like? Without a doubt, your company would be leaner, faster, and fiercely competitive. That’s the good news. The bad news is that too many companies give a lot of lip service to accountability but fall short of the level of commitment and execution needed to create a culture of ownership in their companies. As a result, creating distance between status quo and extraordinary performance is painfully and incrementally slow.

Here are six no-compromise strategies to create a culture of accountability in your company:

1. Know what you’re getting into: As a leader, if you truly want a culture of accountability, you must understand that once you begin this shift, you are going to be the one under the microscope – not just your employees. If you’re one of those leaders that love to launch “this will fix my employees” initiatives, you’ve already failed. Why? You guessed it: accountability begins with the leader. If your pattern is to shift in and out of accountable behavior, you are going to need some no-compromise coaching to hold you accountable.
2. Let go of the anchors: You cannot shift a company culture in a new direction if you’re dragging a lot of frustrations, issues, and toxic waste along. The only way to move forward is to let go of the anchors by getting them out in the open and addressing them. The problem is, too many leaders don’t want to deal with or even see the anchors that hold them back. So why stir up all of that stuff? It’s simple really: everyone already knows the anchors exist. Hoisting them up and confronting them in the open is essential to building trust. No one will support the shift to a culture of accountability if trust is compromised.
3. Show and tell: Accountability means different things to different people. For example, for some it means showing up on time. For others it means it’s OK to show up late as long as they get their work done. A culture of accountability is built on a foundation of clarified expectations. Clarified expectations define the processes (systems) to achieve desired outcomes. People need to understand the rules of the game and what winning looks like. If not, don’t be surprised when your company starts taking on water because people were drilling holes below the waterline.
4. Get rid of the elephants first: Every company has elephants lurking around that get in the way of progress. Things like double standards, attitude problems, indifference, entitlement thinking, procrastination, and other compromising behaviors need to go. If you and your company have been tolerating the intolerable, it’s time to show that herd of elephants the door. I don’t know about you, but I refuse to sign paychecks for people that don’t like working in my company.
5. Create what you want: Creating a culture of accountability doesn’t mean turning your company into a military academy. Remember that accountability is about taking ownership and creating the right outcomes in a planned and efficient manner. You can design that any way you want. If you strive for a culture that’s fun and celebrates self expression, build accountability into it. If you prefer uniforms and structure, build accountability into it. If you don’t build the culture you want, you may not like the one that evolves on its own.
6. Don’t fear it: Accountability is not an ugly word or something to fear. The problem is that many leaders fear the push back and repercussions that may occur when ramping up accountability in their companies. If status quo isn’t working out so well and creating a culture of accountability can position your company to achieve extraordinary results … what’s there to fear? Yes, some employees won’t like the change and leave. Some will stay and resist until they get it or hit the road. Most will embrace the change.

In the end, creating a culture of accountability is not an option. It’s what great companies do. No compromise.

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There is nothing more common in business than launching a new project or change initiative. That’s how companies strive to remain competitive and adapt to changing market conditions. It’s how companies tweak current systems and build new ones to improve productivity and maximize resources. New projects and change initiatives must occur for a company to remain vital and relevant. However, the other most common occurrence in business is the number of new projects and change initiatives that fail.

As a coach and consultant, my job is to help companies achieve the right outcomes in what I call “The Four Business Outcomes”: Productivity, Profitability, Employee Retention, and Customer Loyalty. To achieve different and more desirable outcomes, new projects and change initiatives must occur. If the company is in dire straights, its ability to execute change with a high sense of urgency is put to the test. Unfortunately, it is the company’s inability to execute change combined with a low sense of urgency that causes it to be in dire straights in the first place.

Here are six no-compromise reasons why new projects and change initiatives fail:

1. Contaminated culture: Projects and change initiatives are at the mercy of a company’s collective thinking and behavior – better known as the company’s “culture”. It’s a beautiful thing to see a structured, disciplined, team-driven, and passionate culture embrace and execute new projects and change initiatives. On the other hand, it’s painful to watch a fragmented, contaminated, and dysfunctional culture attempt to accomplish much of anything at all. Contaminated cultures succeed in little other than creating drama and casting blame. If your company can’t get new projects and change initiatives across the finish line, you need to fix your culture now.
2. Launch button mania: So, your team is already juggling six important balls and you throw in a couple of bowling pins. Now they’re struggling. Bam … you have a great idea and you throw in a flaming torch. Bam … you have another brilliant idea and you throw in a chainsaw. Your team runs for cover and the whole mess comes crashing down. There is no plan. There is no time to adjust to ensure new initiatives hit their intended targets. The leader just keeps hitting that launch button, frustrating the heck out of everyone, and new projects and change initiatives keep crashing and burning. If your team ever says, “We tried that before and it didn’t work,” it’s a sign that you may suffer from launch button mania. It’s time to shift from reactive mode to proactive mode.
3. Launch button phobia: On the opposite end of the spectrum, fear of change and rocking the boat by hitting the launch button on new projects sends open invitations to a host of ugly consequences. Companies can’t grow when stuck in a holding pattern. New projects and change initiatives are so rare that staff push back on anything that interferes with status quo. Interestingly, launch button phobia stills brings about change by feeding frustration, discontent, and indifference. If this describes your company, it’s time to rock that boat.
4. Just do it: “Just do it” may be a great slogan for the Nike brand, but in your company, “just do it” is a short-sighted attempt to bypass clarifying outcomes. If a new project or change initiative is important enough to launch, it deserves the time and effort to be planned out. You may see it clearly in your mind, but your team needs to understand the whys, whats, hows, and whens that are integral with every new project and change initiative. “Just do it” sets employees, leaders, and companies up for failure. A leader’s job is to get things done by thoroughly clarifying outcomes so everyone is set up to win.
5. Pick eight: Consider beginning each year with just eight new projects and change initiatives. Eight may not seem like much, but it means launching two initiatives per quarter. That’s a big undertaking for any size company. If you only launch six of the eight, and those six are executed brilliantly and generate the right outcomes, that’s pretty darn good. Given this, what’s your list for the remainder of 2013?
6. Connect the dots: These days, everyone’s plate is full. Email boxes are overflowing and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to keep track of everything. It’s even harder to keep everyone on that elusive same page. At Strategies, we use a simple, powerful, and very affordable online project management system called Basecamp. Projects are initiated, defined, and shared among those responsible for getting it done. Every project has an owner and a deadline. Every to-do is assigned and has a due date. All correspondence, notes, files, pictures, etc., stay with that project. Everyone connected to that project receives notifications when any updates are made. There’s a master calendar for all projects, deadlines, and due dates for the next six weeks so everyone always sees what’s coming. Warning: Basecamp only works if you and everyone else is committed and disciplined to use it. Try it for 60 days free. Go to basecamp.com.

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Please share your thoughts with me about today’s Monday Morning Wake-Up. Click above to comment.

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