Recent Articles From My Weekly Column, “Front Lines with Larry Galler”

Published in the Business Section of The Northwest Indiana Times every Sunday since November 2001

Front Lines 340  June 22, 2008

  Link mini-goals for maximum achievement

I was reading about the NASA robot that is digging into the surface of the planet Mars analyzing its composition, looking for evidence of water there. I was struck with the complexity of this quest for knowledge and the many technological disciplines in science, engineering, and management that made it possible to accomplish such a daunting, complex task. Later the same day I was talking to a friend who runs marathons about the physical and mental effort required to get him to the finish line. Afterwards I realized that the feat of a successful landing on Mars, the completion of a marathon and, in fact, many extraordinary tasks in business are linked in that all of them are large, complex undertakings that are too big in concept to take on as a singular entity. But it is possible to break each of them down into mini-goals that, when attached in the proper order, accomplish the overarching goal.

The marathon runner told me that when he becomes exhausted the doesn't think of the finish line as a goal. He makes a mini-goal of just making it to the sign up ahead and when he accomplishes that mini-goal he establishes a new one and another and another. By linking all the mini-goals together he ultimately gets to the finish line and success.

When faced with a large, complex business project, instead of grappling with the big picture end-point create the same type of mini-goals. Break the project into smaller, less daunting and more easily managed components. Establish expectations, budgets, goals and timelines for each component. Celebrate the successful completion of each mini-goal then link them together in a prioritized format. As these components come together the link-up progress becomes easier and more energizing until hot, sweaty, and gasping for breath you successfully cross the finish line.

Take a little time to bask in the glow of your success then start looking for that next planet to explore, the next marathon, or your next product introduction. The process of using mini-goals is the same in every field .

Front Lines 341 - June 29, 2008

It's the enforcer

I went to lunch last week with a long-time friend, the owner of a local, successful twelve-year-old business in a service related industry. When he walked to the table about ten minutes late I could see he was angry, agitated and red-faced. “It looks like you are going to have a stroke, what's up?” I asked.

“I'm sorry I'm late but just as I was leaving to meet you I got a call from a good customer that shocked me.” It seems one of his staff had entered the customer's house smoking a cigarette. The customer, a fastidious homeowner doesn't allow anyone to smoke in the house. She was livid. “Steve knows that smoking on the job is not up to our standards, but he's a good worker and I don't want to fire him. I'm about to bust a gut and I don't know what to do about it!”

I suggested that he should be able to retain both the good customer and the good employee but he would have to work at it by becoming a better leader. He had already handled the first issue by not charging the angry customer and promised it would never happen again. But more importantly working on the “standards” issue should take care of the whole problem permenantly.

I asked him one question: “Why do people do “below-standard” work? The answer is, “because they are allowed to.” It isn't enough to set performance standards like “No Smoking.” The standards must be enforced. It takes leadership to create standards and enforce them without exploding and causing an otherwise valued employee to leave.

If my friend were a great leader he would frequently discuss the company standards, inspire everyone to exceed them, and reinforce them instead of just having them written in the policy manual where they are read once then forgotten. He's enforcing the “No Smoking” policy by having Steve hand write a letter of apology and forfit his commission on that job. I'll bet the price of our next lunch that, if he works at becoming a better leader he won't have to be “the enforcer” often.

I can coach you to Business Success! Call Larry at 800-326-7087 for your complimentary 30 minute coaching session now. It works for many others… it will work for you.

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