Are your meetings productive? Ironically, a vital work collaboration tool can also be a time-waster. Hundreds of hours are spent on meetings every week.

Sessions can also be calculated in Peso value. Depending on the people in the room, the total monetary value can run from thousands to hundreds of thousands.

Why is it that most employees and a few managers are allergic to meetings? They try to shun them. Meetings are avoided like the plague.

With over 30 corporate years of experience, many meetings I attended are time wasters. Some meetings I attended had no clear objectives. Some had no agenda. Some meetings seem to be a repeat of the previous one. There are days that meetings seem like we are listening to a monologue.

Don’t get me wrong. I still believe that meetings are excellent sources of ideas. Great collaboration can be exhibited during meetings. Yes, meetings can be productive provided the following:

– It has a clear written agenda sent before the meeting.

– The meeting is attended only by people who need to be present.

– Any reading materials and presentation decks are sent within 48 hours to participants. Sending reading materials saves time from having to read the deck at the actual meeting.

– If the meeting will be a monologue or announcement, then an email would be better.

– Minutes of meetings are captured and sent to the attendees 24 hours after the meeting.

– The meeting objective is stated before starting the meeting.

– The meeting facilitator keeps discussions back to the agenda.

– You should spend only 1/3 of your working time a week.

So go ahead. Follow the guidelines above and have highly productive and short meetings.

A leader’s behavior shouts so loud people cannot hear what he is saying. Likewise, our actions shout so loud that people cannot hear our words. This is even more so for leaders.

As a leader, people always watch their every word and move. The leader’s behavior will always trickle down the company and become the culture. The values exhibited at the top are mimicked as you go down the ladder.

A great leader I met some time ago was very charismatic. He could utter the most inspirational words at the right moment. He commands attention without even trying when he stands in front of people. He is battle bruised and a successful entrepreneur. This leader has accomplished a great deal, given that he is just entering mid-life.

I would hear him say that the job of leaders is to set up their people to succeed. Leaders should set up people to succeed. That’s a great aspiration and a worthy purpose.

However, with his drive and determination for the company to succeed, he would sometimes forget that his leaders are not of the same caliber and experience.

We, as leaders, often forget that what may seem easy for us is not necessarily easy for our direct reports. What may seem like an easy goal for us can be a scary undertaking for our direct reports. After all, they do not yet possess the years of experience and knowledge gathered through the years as we do.

We all have our management and leadership maturity levels. No two levels are the same. We took different routes and learned different things up the ladder. We had different mentors, different sources of learning, and different values.

Having said this, it’s not fair to hold our direct reports to the same competency standards that we hold ourselves. Unfortunately, I am also a victim of this. I sometimes wonder why a direct report is struggling with a task that I think is easy enough. Well, the answer is because we have different levels of competencies.

When people that was supposed to be set up for success by the charismatic leader start to fail, they get verbally showered with painful words. Once this starts, a pattern emerges, and the occurrence becomes more frequent.

After a few months, the leader in question would begin to strain and leave. It’s not only the mediocre ones that go but also the good ones. Some leave even before being given a promotion. There is no psychological safety in the workplace.

On the other hand, I met another leader that also started from humble beginnings. She created a company of eight employees into 1,600 after several years. Her secret? She sets people to succeed. She never says this, but she does it anyway—one of her core beliefs in developing leaders to succeed. We had set up a leadership development program for the succession pool.

Without proper orientation, training, and support, she does not abruptly place a leader from one role to a higher position. They take months to prepare a leader properly. The up-and-coming leader is then posted in an OIC role for six months. This will give them the time to learn the ropes, and be trained, mentored, and guided accordingly.

One of the worse things we can do to our people is promoting them without providing them the tools to succeed. Providing them with the tools before we allow them to swim makes a big difference. Setting people to succeed means preparing them. Setting people to succeed also means that if someone we promote fails, we take accountability for the error in our judgment. We cannot just blame it on the failed leader. It’s primarily our fault.

Setting people to fail means promoting them, pressuring them, and blaming them. That’s a recipe for a toxic environment with a high attrition rate.

Let’s not do that. As leaders, we must develop our leaders. We have the responsibility to provide them with the tools needed to succeed. We need to teach them how to be successful swimmers before we get them to compete internationally. Finally, we need the humility to take accountability for a failed promotion.

That’s the true mark of a servant leader.

Writing narratives for marketing collateral is challenging at times. Startup owners usually create narratives that are confusing, too wordy, or have too much industry jargon.

There are countless books about writing narratives for Marketing collaterals or copywriting. With a few guidelines, you can immediately make a better impact with your narrative.

All you have to do is remember to use the acronym PSHS. This stands for Problem, Solution, Hero, Story.

1. Craft your message to articulate a problem your target market has. Even better, identify the pain point of the problem.

2. Follow this with an explanation of how your solution solves the problem.

3. End by painting a picture of what success looks like for the Hero of your story, which is your target customer. Remember, your product or service is never the hero. They are the guide to the hero (customer).

4. Stitch the above in a story format. Don’t write this literally. Messages delivered in a story format are easier to recall.

One optional piece of information you may need to include is the CTA or Call to Action. You cannot assume that the reader knows what to do after reading your copy.

To illustrate this, let’s say you are writing a narrative for Father’s Day. You operate an e-commerce website that sells specially curated, limited edition gift boxes.

You can write an email blast with an image of a dad smiling as he opens a gift. Your copy goes, “Don’t forget to get your dad a gift for Father’s Day. We have a variety of limited selection, high-quality curated gift sets. Order now!”

You can then improve it a little using the PSHS approach.

“Are you struggling to find the perfect gift for dad for this Father’s Day on June 19?

You can give him our limited edition carbon fiber money clip, pen, notebook, and leather watch case.

Make your dad happy with our exclusive limited edition Father’s Day gift box.

Watch your dad’s face light up this Father’s Day.

We have limited stocks. Click here to order now.”

The approach can also be used as a guide when creating pitch decks or proposals. The approach highlights how you can solve a customer’s problem and show them how it feels to be a hero.

Customers are more attracted to the benefit of your product or service. Features only come second. Don’t pitch your features. Put the benefits they get front and center or your message.

You are not the hero. The customer is always the hero of the story. Your job is to help the customer solve their problem and paint a clear picture of what success looks like. You are ‘Yoda’ to Luke Skywalker. Luke becomes the hero with the help of Yoda.

There are a variety of creative ways to craft your copy or message. Have fun and make your message more compelling with the PSHS approach.

Sometimes we look back at our life and think that we could have accomplished more things. We feel that there were things that we should have done but did not do.

I have done this retrospecting now and then. But, if you think about it, one of the significant causes of regret is that we stopped dead in our tracks in doing something.

We think of something fascinating that you want to do or accomplish. We plan for it. We put in the time and effort for it, and when we were about to embark on it, we hesitated. Then we stop. We postpone it for whatever reason. Finally, we get busy and forget it altogether.

One day, you meet one of your friends who seems to be getting in shape from boxing. First, you do a quick search of all boxing gyms around you. Then, you call each one and see which one you can afford or can accommodate your free time. Then, you research the gloves and the gear you want to buy.

On the day you plan to enroll, you hesitate and push back to the following week. You did not want to disrupt your next few days because you needed to focus on a project you needed to complete

The following week comes, and you have other excuses to push back. After a while, your boxing workout project is forgotten. Years later, you think. I could have been in better shape today if I had pursued my boxing interest. Regret seeps in.

The only cure to hesitation is just one thing, do it. That’s it. Just do it before you start hesitating and making all kinds of excuses.

In the book the 5-second rule, the author gives a straightforward yet powerful solution. She said that when you want to do something significant, count backward from 5 to 1. When you reach 1, do it. She noted that scientifically our brains are wired to protect us from change. As we count backward, our brains are occupied with counting that it does not have time to come up with excuses. When you reach ‘one’ and do it, then the brain no longer has the power to hold us back.

Pay attention to your thoughts. See if you are holding yourself back from doing something important or valuable. Then, even before you get the urge to come up with excuses, count backward and do it. Your life will be more fulfilling and happy for it.

Sometimes, it’s a struggle to get people to a higher level of capability. At times, they don’t care so much about developing themselves. Sometimes, they want to learn new things, but their ability to learn and apply is not very fast. Sadly, some people are coming to work just for the salary. Some only look at work-life as a series of tasks to complete.

The challenge is how to distinguish one type from another?

It’s not an easy question. The best recourse is to manage your expectation of people. One, understand that everyone is different. Even more profound is that everyone is different from you.

Second, ask them and look them in the eye as they answer. Ask them if they are genuinely interested in developing themselves. Listen to their answer and watch their body language. Try to see if they are both giving you the same answer.

Third, empathize with them. Some don’t know what they don’t know. People are sometimes conditioned that work is all it is work. They were not allowed to dream of a better career. They have the notion that learning stops after you leave the University.

There is this excellent lesson from John Maxwell’s book about Mentoring. We need to filter the people we mentor using a set of criteria. We have a certain amount of time and resources to develop others. We need to use it wisely and be selective.

When selecting whom to mentor:

Mentoring the 20% who will make 80% difference

1. Select mentees who make things happen

2. Select mentees who seek opportunity

3. Select mentees who can influence others

4. Select mentees who add value

5. Select mentees who attract other leaders. They influence others. They focus on others’ strengths. To attract leaders, you need to be a better leader.

6. Select mentees who equip others.

7. Select mentees who have positive attitude.

8. Select mentees who are loyal. Mentees who put you in a positive light in front of others. Seeks to help you, their mentor.

As I step back, thinking about it. It is profoundly true. For many years I have had the opportunity to mentor different people of different nationalities. However, the more meaningful ones possess a particular set of behaviors and competencies.

Let me share the story of the bricklayer and cathedral builder. This Italian gentleman was walking in Rome in the 15th Century. After a few blocks, he comes across a bricklayer laying bricks under the heat of the noon sun.

The gentleman stops and asks the bricklayer, ‘Good day, May I know what you are doing?’ The bricklayer looks up. With sweat on his forehead, he frowns and says, ‘I’m laying bricks.’

The gentleman thanks him and walks further down the wall being built. After ten meters, he comes across another bricklayer. He asks the bricklayer the same question. ‘Good day. May I know what you are doing?’ The bricklayer puts down the brick he is holding. He wipes the sweat off his brows and looks up. ‘Can’t you see? I’m laying bricks!’

The gentleman thanks him and walks further down the wall. After another ten meters, he comes across a third bricklayer. He asks the bricklayer the same question. ‘Good day. May I know what you are doing?’ The bricklayer wipes his face and looks up. With a big smile, he replies, ‘Ah, young man. Thank you for asking. I am building a Cathedral!’

Seek people that understand they are building a cathedral.

Find cathedral builders and help set them up for success.

In my three decades in the workplace, it’s interesting that most companies don’t pay enough attention to developing their people.

They would even look at it as a cost or expense. In times of financial difficulties, the first budget cut is training. That’s assuming there even is a training budget, to begin with.

The world is evolving so fast that we need to transform our organizations constantly. It means that new skills or upgrading of skills are required. We want to be competitive, yet we don’t invest in our people. How is that even possible?

We claim that our people are our most valuable asset, yet we don’t grow our most valuable asset. We expect them to become better at their work. We expect over and above performance. How is that possible without adequately planned and executed development strategies?

Would you expect your child to be good at a skill without someone teaching him? Would you expect your son to be good at playing the piano but not invest in honing his skills? I should hope not. Would you say, ‘here is a piano, son, learn it? Oh, by the way, I expect you to be the next Piano genius in the country.’

As our economies recover, the more aggressive companies are positioning themselves to be able to capture a more significant cut of the pie. They invest in their people’s ability to sell, provide fantastic customer service, effectively manage projects, and turn out great marketing content.

It’s a great time to grab market share from the slower players. We cannot do that without people. We cannot do that if we don’t develop our people to a higher competency.

Google, Apple, Rustans, Citibank, and other significant players know the importance of people and the criticality of developing them. That’s one of the reasons these companies can outperform their competition. They invest in their most valuable assets. The operative word is ‘invest.’ They don’t spend; they invest.

Companies cannot provide excellent customer service, products, and customer experience with a mediocre workforce. After all, behind these are people.

Our most important asset is our people. Invest in them, and the investment will return with great dividends.

“The doer alone learneth.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

Time and again, we have a piece of knowledge or information we wish we knew. We are at a loss on how to motivate our team. We can’t figure out how to prepare and execute an effective presentation. Our level of expertise helps propel our careers and life.

When we do get that nugget of knowledge that can make a difference in our lives, we would usually do one of two things.

We continue our fascination with it for a few weeks or even months. After that, we allow it to fizzle out without a fighting chance.

Or we put the knowledge to use. We understand that learning is useless unless it is put into action.

Putting learning into action improves our lives, our careers, and the lives of the people that look up to us.

Let us remember that learning is not the key to a better life. It’s the application of the learning.

Have a great day!