Do you have the discipline and focus of an Olympian?

           

 In the past few days, I have been enthralled, amazed, and truly inspired by the Olympic games.  I love watching the competitions, learning the athletes’ stories, and watching each Olympian earn his/her spot in history.  The story lines are beautiful and the entertainment superb.   However, I am struck by the sage business advice found in each Olympians’ story.  This morning I shared an article that spoke to the wisdom of branding on the global stage. Tonight’s article is on focus and discipline.

As I watch the Olympians, each one is focused on the physical challenge at hand.  Whether a dark horse trying to put together the perfect performance to earn a medal or the strong favorite expected to dominate the event-the Olympians have the discipline of focus.  These extraordinary athletes know that yesterday’s performance, whether good or bad, is in the past, and today’s success depends on having the discipline to focus.  In business, you also need the discipline of single-minded focus.

Think about your own practice.  Do you truly have single-minded focus on the challenges of today?  Too often, professionals rob themselves of the gift of focus by worrying about the past. Every second you spend thinking about what you did wrong yesterday is a second you cannot spend doing it better today.  You have to trust me on this one, it doesn’t matter if you made the biggest bone-headed mistake of your career five minutes ago, it is time to forgive yourself, learn from your mistake, turn the page, and move on.  If you don’t, you rob yourself of the discipline of focus needed to succeed today.

Are you thinking this is a lesson you don’t need?  Let me give you the most common scenario that I encounter in my coaching practice.  I work with type A, high achievers, who routinely take on way more than they, or anyone else, can achieve in a day.  I call this the helium hand syndrome.  This willingness to take on the world serves many of my clients very well.  Until it doesn’t.    At some point, the over- scheduling catches up and something has to give.  Whether it is having to say no to new projects, turning in projects late, or feeling like they are being forced to compromise quality to meet deadlines, the helium hand-syndrome eventually catches them all.  

There is no shame in being caught by the helium hand.  It is the response to being caught that tends to separate the field. 

Some of my type A, high achievers come up with an aggressive plan to work through the helium hand crisis.  These folks focus on the projects that need to get done first.  They prioritize.  They use militant calendar discipline and laser focus to check off the items they must do today.  They do not look backwards.  Instead they focus their attention on the next project, the next project, the next project until they work through the crisis and feel in control of their work and lives again. 

Others, go a different route.  Others choose to keep repeating old patterns, taking on more and more even when they haven’t finished today’s priorities.  At some point these folks learn to hate all forms of organization.    They give up on calendars, throw files around their desks, and pretty much attempt to use disorganization to attempt to hide from the ever-growing pile of work.  These folks rob themselves of the ability to focus on the present because they spend their time worrying about what projects they should have done or what dead line they might miss.  Eventually these folks reach a point where they cannot sleep through the night because the never-ending to do list wakes them every night with the regularity of an alarm clock.  They cannot enjoy time off because they are worried about the what if.  This lack of focus wreaks havoc on their psyche and single-handedly steals the joy of achievement while the lack of discipline deadens the satisfaction of a job well done. 

If you are reading this, it is probably safe to guess that you too are a type A, high achiever.  Kudos!  It is  a great club.  I am proud to be a member.  But, remember, even we type A folks, make mistakes from time to time.   If you happen to find yourself in the throes of the helium hand syndrome, resist the temptation to beat yourself up for getting there in the first place.  Instead, remember these Olympics.  Let go of any would have, could have, or should haves and attack the situation with the discipline and focus of an Olympian. 

About Jonelle- Jonelle Vold is a business coach that is passionate about your success.  A mother of twins, former Assistant Dean at a tier-one law school, attorney, and seasoned sales professional, Jonelle understands the challenges of high-level professionals.  Her coaching philosophy is every person has the ability to be a rainmaker by cracking their own personal code and doing business with intention.  You can reach Jonelle at jonelle@jonellevold.com or www.jonellevold.com.  

Walking the tight rope. Your life, your work, and your balance.

Lately, I have had a lot of conversations about the concept of work/life balance.  What I find fascinating about each conversation is that many people seem to think balance is a single event.  Somehow you make dramatic changes to your work schedule, your care-giver, or your daily routine and this dramatic change somehow pulls your world into perfect alignment.  While this idea is appealing, I have never experienced or witnessed it in the real world.

In my view, work/life balance is more like walking a tight rope.  Picture someone walking across the tight rope holding the long stick with their arms to maintain their precarious position on the wire.  With each step they must adjust to keep their weight balanced.  If they begin to lean a little too far to one side, they adjust the stick to counter-balance and regain their center.   Each step is an adjustment and the tight rope walker must always be conscious of their movement and their ultimate goal of remaining in balance.

I am the mother of two amazing seven year olds.  I also own my own coaching and consulting business.  I am working on a tech start up.  And, oh yes, I recently made the decision to take on half-time employment at my alma mater to help the institution through a particularly precarious situation.  So, to continue the circus metaphor (after all I do have two 7 year olds) I have a lot to juggle.  In fact, I probably drop more balls than I catch.  Yet, most days, I believe I have balance.

At this point you probably think I am simply delusional.  I have a sense of balance because in every area of my life, I have clear priorities and rules that I have created that allow me to feel in control of my time.  For example, dinner time is very important to me.  Monday through Friday we eat at the table, as a family, every night.  My husband and I share the cooking.  Dinner is never anything fancy but always includes the requisite amount of fruits and vegetables.  As a family, we all know this time is sacred and we honor this time.  With one exception, on Wednesday nights I travel for business.  So, on Wednesday my family eats without me, often joined by an Aunt or Grandparent.  Yes-I called the time sacred and told you that once a week I choose to skip out on this scared time.  I also feel great about both statements!

Wednesday nights while I am away from my family, I enjoy my time away.  I do not waste time, energy, or mental capacity feeling guilty that I am not home.  In my head, I have created a “rule” that one week-night away from the family is a perfectly acceptable arrangement.  Occassionally, business requires more than one night away.  When this happens, I pull out my work/life balance stick and begin navigating my way through.  Sometimes this means, I leave the office early one afternoon to make up for the dinner I am going to miss.  Sometimes, I make a mental commitment to get up early on a Saturday morning and cook breakfast in an effort to recapture that time around the table that I hold so dear.  Sometimes, I make the decision that multiple nights away is just fine and there is no need to adjust.  The point is, regardless of the time commitments thrown my way, I have created a system that allows me to remain in control. 

Like any tight rope walker, occasionally there is an event that pulls me too hard in one direction and I fall off the rope.  This school year, my children enjoyed 15 bouts of strep throat between them.  All of those sick days pulled me off the tight rope and temporarily toppled my work/life balance.  During a recent consulting engagement I had a client whose CFO was embezzling from her.   This discovery and the resulting work required to deal with it, pulled me off the tight rope.  In both cases, once I found myself out of balance, I re-evaluated, took the required action, and got back to work creating balance.

If you are feeling like the term work/life balance was created to torture you, it is time to re-evaluate your rules.  Chances are you have created rules in your head that set you up to lose the balance game.  Take a hard look at your work life and your home life.  What do you want to more of in each?  What are you willing to give up to get it?  If your children are babies, perhaps you want more awake time.  If so, can you alter your work schedule to allow you to be home from 4-7 even if it means working again once the baby is asleep?  Do you need to leave the office early three days a week to get through baseball season?  Rather than approaching work/life balance with the idea of making dramatic changes to miraculously pull yourself into alignment, start small.  Maybe all you need is 4 nights home for dinner to make you feel like you have balance?  Just like the tight rope walker, stay focused on your end goal and make small adjustments.  Don’t beat yourself up when you fall out of balance.   It will happen.  Stay aware and keep adjusting.  Work/life balance is absolutely possible.  But it requires conscious and constant effort to get there. 


About Jonelle- Jonelle Vold is a business coach that is passionate about your success.  A mother of twins, former Assistant Dean at a tier-one law school, attorney, and seasoned sales professional, Jonelle understands the challenges of high-level professionals.  Her coaching philosophy is every person has the ability to be a rainmaker by cracking their own personal code and doing business with intention.  You can reach Jonelle at jonelle@jonellevold.com or www.jonellevold.com.  

The Truth Will Set You Free

         

   Recently, I was meeting with a prospective client.  Having spent her entire legal career in government practice, she was reluctant to engage in any form of business development.  As we talked through business development and all the different tools for building relationships with strategic partners and those folks who might actually have problems you can solve (e.g. clients), a light bulb went off for her.   Suddenly she realized that her magic formula for finding new clients is her former career in government. 

During the conversation we talked through the concept of an Ideal Client or someone who you are uniquely situated to serve because you have the exact knowledge or strengths to solve their problems.  We discussed referral relationships and how important it is for others to understand who to refer you.  Finally, we discussed how her background is unique and has afforded her expertise and situational experience that her competitors do not have.  The light bulb went off when she realized that her business development plan could and should reflect who she is, what she brings to the table, and her unique background and abilities.  Further, her business development efforts should center around anticipating and solving problems for her Ideal Client!

 The look on her face as she savored this new found knowledge was priceless.  Somehow somewhere along the way she had come to believe that business development was about gregarious interactions with total strangers as you shamelessly sell a skill set you don’t actually have.  As I explained to my new client, there are 100 ways to build relationships, your business development plan should reflect those things that you do well and are willing to do lots of.  The key to business development is taking consistent and strategic actions while finding ways to add value or be of service to your potential clients.  Just like snowflakes, no two business development plans will be exactly the same. 

The realization that she could develop business by being exactly who she already was and leveraging her strong regulatory background was a huge relief for my client.   So much so that it has me wondering how many other professionals are out there thinking that to build a book of business they should abandon all the successful things that have brought them to this place and follow some prescribed business development method that is not a good fit for them? 

The moral of today’s story is a simple one- the truth will set you free.  Business development is not something you do once or twice a year to satisfy your boss.  Business development is part of the way you practice and run your business.  YOU are the key to a successful business development plan.  Your plan should be a truthful an accurate description of YOU filled with strategies and activities that play to YOUR strengths and solve problems for the clients YOU are uniquely qualified to help.  We are all potential rainmakers. Some of us are just further along in the process.

 If you are struggling to bring in new business-chances are your strategies are not aligned with your strengths.  Need help creating an effective business development plan that works for you?  Well-call me of course!  My strength is seeing your potential and developing business development strategies that work for you.

About Jonelle- Jonelle Vold is a business development coach that is passionate about your success.  A mother of twins, former Assistant Dean at a tier-one law school, attorney, and seasoned sales professional, Jonelle understands the challenges of high-level professionals.  Her coaching philosophy is every person has the ability to be a rainmaker by cracking their own personal code and doing business with intention.  You can reach Jonelle at jonelle@jonellevold.com or www.jonellevold.com.   

How to make partner in 5 easy steps

            It is that time of year again- time for law firms to decide which of their treasured associates will be given the coveted promotion of Partner.   Walk the halls of any large firm and the floors are likely abuzz with the excitement of the upcoming decisions.  Senior associates can be found checking receivables, billable hours, and lobbying mentors for support.  There are lots of “what if” conversations taking place, a last minute focus on marketing, and even some reliance on superstitions (crossed fingers, lucky ties, favorite lunch places, etc).

While I enjoy the excitement of this time of year as much as the next person, I am also a little taken aback at the level of surprise associated with this business process.  I have had many a conversation with individuals that are “up” for partner who have no real grasp on the criteria of partnership or how their individual performance measures up to the unknown criteria.  Say what?  How is this possible?  These are smart people.  They would not be “up” if they weren’t.   This is your career people. Having a fuzzy idea of what you need to do to succeed is not acceptable. It is like running a race in the dark with a good guess about where the finish line is.  It is absurd! 

            If you are one of those folks “up” for partner this year-you may want to stop reading.  This advice is probably a little too late for you.  I will cross my fingers and toes along with you and hope for your best.  However, if you see partnership in your future in the next year or two-keep reading.   Below is a short and sweet plan to make your candidacy for partnership more like a one-candidate election and less like the NFL draft.

If you want to become a partner-

Find out the Rules:

            Call me crazy, before I sign up to earn, compete, or win anything, I ask questions about what I am winning.  If you think you want to become a partner at your firm, you need to ask questions.  Here are a few that come to mind:

1.     What are the requirements to make partner (get the specifics)?

2.     Do I get to choose whether or not I am considered for partnership?

3.     What is the nomination process?  Is there a nomination process?

4.     What data points are used to make partnership decisions?

5.     What factors other than hard data are considered?  How are they weighed?

6.     How many votes does it take to make partner?

7.     How many associates can make partner in the same year?

If you REALLY want to be informed, ask to see the partnership agreement.  It would be nice to know what you are actually winning.

Analyze the Data:

            Once you know what is required (again we are talking specifics) to make partner.  You need to ensure that you meet the requirements.  So, look at the data, analyze how you currently measure up.  For example, if you need to have a sustainable book of business  (this seems to be the term de jour) roughly able to cover your costs and that of at least 1 associate, find out what your costs and the associates costs are and add it up.  For simplicity, lets say this means a book of roughly $1million from clients that you can reasonable expect will have additional work in the future.  Now look at your current book and do the math.   Go through this process with every known criterion.  Don’t get too caught up with the numbers, back of the envelope math will do.  Just give yourself a realistic picture of where you stand against your firm’s requirements.

Write the Plan:

            Once you know the requirements and you know how you currently measure up, it is time to get laser focused and craft a plan to fill the gaps.   If your book of business is too small, go see your marketing professional and create a revised marketing plan.   If your receivables are too low, go talk to all the partners writing down your work and come up with a plan to fix the problem.   If the firm wants leadership, and you are not engaged, look for ways to get engaged.   Craft a plan to meet all of the requirements to make partner.   Hint-doing it in your head, doesn’t count.  Put it on paper.

Share the Plan;

            You know me, I am a big fan of self-promotion.  When you do something great you should share it.  Share your plan with your mentoring attorney, your department chair, your marketing partner, and anyone else who will listen.  Sharing it serves two purposes: 1-the reader may have some great suggestions of things you missed, need to tweak, or ideas to add to the plan and 2-it lets them know in advance that you are serious about becoming a partner and taking the initiative to make it happen. 

Execute the Plan:

            If you are really serious about becoming a partner you need to show your firm you are partnership material.  So, take the handy dandy written plan that you spent time creating, and begin allocating appropriate time on your calendar to start executing.  That is right- actually schedule the activities.  And, when the reminder for one of your partner activities pops up, resist any temptation to cancel or move the activity.  You are a lawyer.  You will be just as busy next year as you were this year.   Busy doesn’t count-progress counts.  So, take control of your own destiny now and schedule the time to execute your plan.

Voila!  If you follow the strategy at this time next year, you will know exactly where you stand in terms of becoming a partner.  If you craft a good plan and execute your plan you will dramatically increase your odds of winning the partnership prize.  The best news, when your time comes, it won’t take a lucky tie, rabbit’s foot, or begging to help you get the needed votes.

About Jonelle- Jonelle Vold helps professional service providers build thriving books of business by aligning their daily activities with their personal goals and career aspirations.  A mother of twins, former Assistant Dean at a tier-one law school, attorney, and seasoned sales professional, Jonelle understands the challenges of high-level professionals.  Her coaching philosophy is every person has the ability to be a rainmaker by living with integrity and doing business with intention.  You can reach Jonelle at jonelle@jonellevold.com or www.jonellevold.com.   Women's MasterMind group starting in January, 2012. Are you a woman in business that would benefit from having a personal board of directors?  Do you need some help holding yourself accountable and staying motivated?  Would you like to have a support system of brilliant professional women to bounce ideas off of?  If so, the Women's Mastermind group may be exactly what you need.  Contact jonelle@jonellevold.com for details or go to http://tinyurl.com/4xhchav Labels: