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Monthly Archives: January 2012

Day #51: Understanding the Financial Reports for Your Business

26 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by startingovernow in Being Valued, Career Change, Don't be Afraid, Getting Unstuck, How to Build Confidence, Leadership, Leading meetings, Overcoming Adversity, Prioritizing Money, Productivity, Time Management, Work Life Balance

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busniess coach, entrepreneur, executive coach, how to read a balance sheet, how to read a finanical report, leadership, leading a team, Mary Lee Gannon, meeting facilitation, P&L report, Pittsburgh, reading a balance sheet, small business finance, strategic planning, understanding cash flow, understanding financial reports, understanding profit margins, what is an income statement

365 to Get Results: Day #51: Understanding the Financial Reports for Your Business

No matter where you are in your career, you need to be able to understand financial reports so that you may plan, ask the right questions, hedge off disaster and grow. I meet entrepreneurs every week that believe that passion for their product or service is enough to succeed. I continually encounter executives who leave the finances of their organization to an accountant or vice president of finance without oversight. As is referenced in Michael Gerber’s book “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It” leaving the finances of your organization to others is the primary reason that entrepreneurs fail. It is also a reason that leaders don’t rise to the top – because they’d rather spend time focused on what they know and love, leaving the foundation of their operation to chance. I am a fan of concentrating on what you are good at and surrounding yourself with people who have your weaknesses as their strengths – but when it comes to finances you just plain have to understand the basics.

Fiscal Year: A fiscal year is any 12-month period that a company uses for accounting purposes. It may begin on January 1st. It may begin on July 1st or any other day of the year and lasts for 12 months.

Balance Sheet: This reflects the assets, liabilities, and the owner’s equity at a given point in time. Essentially it shows on any given day what the company owns, owes and how much it is worth. It’s a snapshot of the business’s value. It always balances: assets = liabilities + owners’ equity. Owners’ equity = assets – liabilities. All other financial statements flow to the balance sheet.

Income Statement: An income statement shows revenues, expenses and profit for a specific period of time – generally a month, quarter or year. This is often called a profit and loss statement, P&L, statement of earnings or statement of operations. The word “consolidated” may be placed in front of these words. The bottom line of these statements is the net profit of the service line or business.

Operating Expenses: These are the costs of running your business or service line on a day to day basis. They include all of your expenses: salaries, benefits, advertising, insurance, legal fees, and printing among others. Operating expenses are listed on the income statement and are subtracted from the revenue to establish profit. You will compare your budgeted expenses to your actual expenses monthly to see how your business is performing.

Net Assets: Net assets = the fair market value of the assets of the organization (investments, fair market value of any land, building or equipment) less the assumed liabilities – or bills that still need to be paid.

Cash Flow: most managers focus on profit when they should be focusing on profit and cash. Factors that affect cash flow are: Accounts receivable – Are your customers paying their bills on time. Inventory – Are you stocking too much and selling or moving some part of that too slowly? Expenses – Do you defer expenses when you can? Do you consider your cash flow cycle when you purchase inventory or supplies? Giving credit – Do you give clients too long to pay their bills? Is it too easy for clients to get credit? Managers who understand cash flow tend to be given more responsibility.

Intangibles: A company’s intangibles are anything of value that you can’t touch or spend: employees, customers lists, patents, brand names, reputation, strategic strengths. They do not show up on the balance sheet except for copyrights and patents which may be amortized or paid over its useful life.

Profit: This is what is left over after expenses are subtracted from revenue. There are three types of profit: gross profit, operating profit and net profit. Gross profit = sales – cost of goods sold or cost of services. Operating profit or EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) = gross profit – operating expenses. This includes the overhead of running the business where gross profit just reflects the income versus the cost of goods or services. Net profit = “the bottom line” of the income statement. It’s whatever is left after interest expenses, taxes, one-time charges and any others costs are subtracted from the operating profit.

Gross Profit Margin = gross profit divided by revenue
Operating Profit Margin = operating profit or EBIT divided by revenue
Net Profit Margin = Net profit divided by revenue

Capital Expenditures and Depreciation: A capital expenditure is when you purchase a product – a thing – that is considered a long term investment such as office furniture, computers and other equipment, vehicles, buildings. Generally a threshold dollar amount is set so that any purchase over that amount automatically becomes a capital investment (can be $500, $1,000, $5,000 etc.) while anything less is an operating expense. Operating expenses show up on the income statement and therefore reduce profit. Capital expenses show up on the balance sheet. Only a depreciated amount of a piece of capital, a portion of its cost, appears on the income statement rather than the entire purchase being subtracted in one month because that could falsely represent that large expense the company or businesses is doing poorly. By the end of the year it will balance out. The depreciation is accrued, or spread over, the estimated life of the product and is referred to as a noncash expense.

Accruals: An accrual is a portion of a given revenue or expense line item that is recorded across a particular time span instead of in the month it occurs. For instance, you may pay a high software maintenance fee once a year. Instead of reporting that expense in the month the bill is paid, an equal portion of it may be spread out or accrued over a particular time period – often your 12 month budget cycle. The reason for this is to match revenue to costs in a given reporting period – so that at any given time your business does not appear to be in the red when you know it will even out at the end of the year.

If you understand these very basic accounting principles you will better be able to track the deficits and opportunities in your business. Simply accounting software like Quickbooks Pro or Quicken Home and Business will automatically create these reports for you but the reports will do you no good if you do not understand them. Start now!

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Mary Lee Gannon is the president of StartingOverNow.com – Leading Productivity Solutions for People and Organizations. Mary Lee is a graduate of The Duquesne University Professional Coaching Program and an alumnus of the 2010 Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital Coaching in Medicine & Leadership Conference. Her personal turnaround came as a stay-at-home mother, with four children under seven-years-old, who endured a divorce that took she and the children from the country club life to public assistance from where within a short time she worked to the level of CEO. Services include: Workshops, Meeting Facilitation, Coaching, Webinars, Speaking and Management Consulting. Areas of Specialty: Strategic Planning / Board Development / Healthcare / Public Relations / Goal Setting / Meeting Facilitation / Acountability / Leadership / Time Management / Life/Career Transition. Her book “Starting Over – 25 Rules for When You’ve Bottomed Out” is available in bookstores or at Amazon. Get her FREE ebook – “Grow Productivity – A Leader’s Toolbox” on her web site at www.StartingOverNow.com.

Day #50: Create Your Triple Five Report Friday for a Killer Next Week

25 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by startingovernow in Being Valued, Career Change, Don't be Afraid, Getting Unstuck, How to Build Confidence, Leadership, Leading meetings, Overcoming Adversity, Productivity, Time Management, Work Life Balance

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better productivity, coaching your employees, creating a five year plan, executive coaching, facilitating a meeting, Goal setting, leading a productive team, Leading meetings, life purpose, management tools, Managint your team, Mary Lee Gannon, Pittsburgh, starting over, strategtic planning, your life plan

365 Ways to Get Results: Day #50: Create Your Triple Five Report Friday for a Killer Next Week

In my career I have repeatedly watched people either not set weekly goals or set their goals for the week on Monday morning. How dreaded is that? Who wants to come to work after a long relaxing weekend and start the day by having to figure out what to focus on for the week. I say set your goals for the next week on Friday when you have the benefit of what is and is not working on top of mind by using a simple three part report: The Triple Five Report.

Managers that have trained under me have their employees fill out this report every Friday, keep a copy and submit a copy to them before they leave for the week. I’ll give you some practical applications of that after I explain the report.

The Triple Five Report

Who is to do it: You. On you. (And your employees on themselves.)

When to do it: Every Friday afternoon. (Saturday or Sunday if you work weekends.)

Where to do it: At your desk.

How to do it: Have blank copies of the “Triple Five Report” form in a file nearby so that you may simply pull one out and hand write it before you stop working for the week.

Why do it: Because when you return to work the next week you will know right where to start without looking back at last week.

What to do:

1. Create your “Triple Five Report” form in a simple Word document. At the top of the page type: “Triple Five Report” under which you will create a line entitled “Name” and one entitled “Date.” Then on the rest of the page create a three row/one column chart where each row covers a third of the page. You will type the following statements at the top of each section. If you don’t want to create a chart, then just type the first statement below at the top of the page followed by the second a third of the way down and the last a third of the way from the bottom.

1. What were your five greatest accomplishments this week? Did you meet your goals from last week?
2. What were your five greatest frustrations?
3. What are the five goals you plan to accomplish next week?

2. Three-hole-punch the forms. Keep the uncompleted forms in a folder and the completed forms in a binder.

3. Hand write your answers to these three questions every Friday afternoon before you stop working. Keep them organized in sequence.

Managers, while this report is an opportunity for you to coach people on setting good goals, it is also your job to help people with step two of this report – their frustrations. If the specifics of the frustration is out of their hands and cannot be avoided, coach them to apply their strengths to be able change what they can control and to identify what may be eliminated from their to-do list. Help them prioritize their work in alignment with what is important to them and the organization. Be sure to send clear messages that will help them understand what is a priority and what is not. Then listen while they identify the path they will devise to get to your agreed upon destination.

When You Are in a Slump

When you are “stuck” or in a slump take a look at the binder that holds your reports and reflect on the goals you have been setting. Are they too formulaic and weak? Can they be farther reaching? Are you procrastinating? Reflect on your STRENGTHS and your VALUES which you have determined from other worksheets on my Web site. How would you apply your strengths to call you to a higher standard? Are your goals in alignment with your values?

I have used this Triple Five Report with my staff across a number of organizations. It truly helps them understand better what is important and what is not. It allows me to coach them to become the leaders they want to be while also eliminating useless work from their plates. And it keeps us all on the same page regarding the direction of the organization. I use it for myself to help keep me on target. As leaders we sometimes think we don’t need such discipline. Nonsense. Try it for a couple of weeks and see what new things you accomplish. Start now!

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Follow Mary Lee Gannon on Facebook, LinkedIn or on Twitter.

Get Mary Lee’s tips on “Strengths – Free Tools to Help You Define Your Strengths” on her Articles and Tip Sheets page.

Mary Lee Gannon is the president of StartingOverNow.com – Leading Productivity Solutions for People and Organizations. Mary Lee is a graduate of The Duquesne University Professional Coaching Program and an alumnus of the 2010 Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital Coaching in Medicine & Leadership Conference. Her personal turnaround came as a stay-at-home mother, with four children under seven-years-old, who endured a divorce that took she and the children from the country club life to public assistance from where within a short time she worked to the level of CEO. Services include: Workshops, Meeting Facilitation, Coaching, Webinars, Speaking and Management Consulting. Areas of Specialty: Strategic Planning / Board Development / Healthcare / Public Relations / Goal Setting / Meeting Facilitation / Acountability / Leadership / Time Management / Life/Career Transition. Her book “Starting Over – 25 Rules for When You’ve Bottomed Out” is available in bookstores or at Amazon. Get her FREE ebook – “Grow Productivity – A Leader’s Toolbox” on her web site at www.StartingOverNow.com.

Day #49: Create Your Vision Board – Watch it Happen

23 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by startingovernow in Being Valued, Building Relationships, Career Change, Don't be Afraid, Easy More Money Strategies, Getting Unstuck, How to Build Confidence, Leadership, Overcoming Adversity, Productivity, Time Management, Work Life Balance

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executive coaching, how to find my life purpose, how to make a vision board, leadership, make a 5 year plan, Mary Lee Gannon, my life purpose, Pittsburgh, starting over now, what do do with my life

365 Ways to Get Results: Day #49: Create Your Vision Board – Watch it Happen

A Vision Board reflects vivid imagery to remind you every day of where you are going. Not sure where that is? Read along.

You can’t get to a destination if you don’t know where that is. You create your Vision Board to reflect where you see yourself or your business when you’ve reached your ultimate goal. This will add clarity to your calling and allow you to visit a crisp image of where you are headed every day – even if right now that image looks more like an out of focus blur.

Supplies You Will Need to Create Your Vision Board

1. Poster or foam board.
2. Markers
3. Yes! Glue or Rubber Cement. Not Elmer’s glue as it will ripple your images.
4. A stack of magazines of varying types. Collect them from friends or doctor’s offices. Make sure they are different or you will be limited. Use magazines on business, fashion, women’s issues, sports, nature, cooking, fitness, travel, etc. You may choose to use photographs or other art textures.

How to Create Your Vision Board

1. Prepare yourself to be open. Sit quietly in a warm and comfortable place that inspires you before beginning to create your Vision Board. Put on inspirational or calming music. Light a candle or open a window for the fresh sounds and smells of nature. Allow your stressors, your worries, your outside influences and your ego to take a back seat for a little while. Relax completely and let your mind go blank. Don’t concentrate on the end results. Concentrate on nothing – just being.

2. Have tools of inspiration in front of you. These include but are not limited to a desk accessory that inspires you, a photograph, your journal or the results of exercises you may have done on my Web site that have helped you define your VALUES, your STRENGTHS, your SUCCESS SKETCH, your PURPOSE.

3. Spread out magazines of all types. Go through them collecting images and words that evoke wonder and joy as well as those that reflect the state of fulfillment you want to achieve. You may not entirely know what your “Vision” is. That is ok. Your Board may be an “Open and Accepting” Vision Board. It is important to gather images that evoke a positive emotion – even if the image is not reflective of anything in particular. What takes your breath away? What makes you smile? What makes you feel love? Make a big pile. Have a lot of fun!

4. Begin to select the images and words that truly speak to where you want to be and place them on the blank board. Eliminate images that are not quite right. You will get a sense of how you want to design your board when you begin to create. You may make concentric rings – each one reflecting a certain part of your vision. Or you may have corners dedicated to certain themes. Be free!

5. Permanently affix images and words to the board. Glue down the images. Write powerful words on the board that describe your vision: “Sales Genius,” “Social Media Maven,” “Six Digit Business.” You may want to put a photograph of yourself on the board.

6. Place your vision board where you will see it every day – and often times each day. Celebrate its message.

A Vision Journal

You may find that you will go through many transitions in your life. Some of my clients keep their vision images in a journal so that the vision ebbs and flows with their changing situation. For this all you will need is a hard bound journal to replace the foam board above. Create!

This is a great activity to do with some friends on a cold winter afternoon or evening. See yourself where you want to be – not the impediments that are before you today. Reflect on that image every day. Start now and watch what happens!

Email this link to a friend.

Follow Mary Lee Gannon on Facebook, LinkedIn or on Twitter.

Get Mary Lee’s tips on Values – Define Them to Live Fulfilled on her Articles and Tip Sheets page.

Mary Lee Gannon is the president of StartingOverNow.com – Leading Productivity Solutions for People and Organizations. Mary Lee is a graduate of The Duquesne University Professional Coaching Program and an alumnus of the 2010 Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital Coaching in Medicine & Leadership Conference. Her personal turnaround came as a stay-at-home mother, with four children under seven-years-old, who endured a divorce that took she and the children from the country club life to public assistance from where within a short time she worked to the level of CEO. Services include: Workshops, Meeting Facilitation, Coaching, Webinars, Speaking and Management Consulting. Areas of Specialty: Strategic Planning / Board Development / Healthcare / Public Relations / Goal Setting / Meeting Facilitation / Acountability / Leadership / Time Management / Life/Career Transition. Her book “Starting Over – 25 Rules for When You’ve Bottomed Out” is available in bookstores or at Amazon. Get her FREE ebook – “Grow Productivity – A Leader’s Toolbox” on her web site at www.StartingOverNow.com.

Day #48: The “Goals-to-Results-Now Worksheet”

17 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by startingovernow in Being Valued, Don't be Afraid, Getting Unstuck, How to Build Confidence, Leadership, Prioritizing Money, Productivity, Time Management, Work Life Balance

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5 year plan, business coaching, executive coaching, Goals to results worksheet, making a 5 year plan, Mary Lee Gannon, measuring results, Pittsburgh, setting goals that get results, starting over, Starting Over - 25 Rules When You've Bottomed Out

365 Ways to Get Results: Day #48: The “Goals-to-Results-Now Worksheet”

How you are doing on your New Year’s Eve resolutions? Terrible? Most people find resolutions hard to keep. Why? Because they have no foundation to support your desired change in habit.

This year I gave my clients a “Goals-to-Results-Now Worksheet” and I am sharing it with you here free. This tool will give you a vision, a plan of action and results. At the end of this newsletter I will share with you the difference it has made in my life in just a few weeks. You may cut and paste this tool into a Word document to get started today or click on the link at the end of this blog for a free PDF version of the worksheet that allows you to pencil your plan into each section.

The Goals-to-Results-Now Worksheet

Answer these life-defining questions to create your plan with steps you can execute today.

1. What are 10 things I want to be?

2. What are 10 Things I want to do?

3. What are 10 things I want to have?

4. What are 10 Five-Year Goals that will help me accomplish questions #1 to #3? Make them SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results Oriented and Time Framed. Make them vibrant and heartfelt!

5. Now back into your goals by listing 10 One-Year Goals you have accomplished at the end of one year that got you on your way to your Five-Year Goals. Be sure to list these in the past tense such as “I have __________”

6. List five 30-Day Challenges you will start to get you closer to your one-year accomplishments? Ie: I will organize one part of my home for at least 30 minutes every day for 30 days.” or “I will do one thing every day to create buzz around my business such as creating a contest, posting on a forum, joining a Linked In group etc.”

Here are just a few ways this worksheet has made a difference in my life since I completed my 2012 version three weeks ago.

1. Under #1, I have written 40 pages of a new book for a Goals-to-Results Workshop I will offer this spring on “Creating a Vision and a Plan for Your Life or Business.”

2. Under #1, I wanted to tie up loose ends regarding fitness and health. I made an appointment with an eye surgeon to address a lazy eye issue that had been dogging me for a year to find that I don’t yet need surgery – just new glasses with prism.

3. Under #2, I wanted to volunteer somewhere purposeful and made a few calls. Last week the Small Business Administration called me to be a volunteer for their volunteer agency – SCORE with the first meeting in February.

4. Under #5, I have changed the focus of my website to be more Goals-to-Results oriented as opposed to starting over oriented as my coaching practice is more focused on small business and leadership.

5. Under #6, I have engaged Constant Contact as a tool to create this newsletter and build my email list.

6. Under #9, I am working on my 30-Day Challenge of organizing and purging a particular section of my home just about every day. Since I began I have cleaned out closets, the disarray under my bed, my garage, the laundry room and more. I’ve kept it up for 11 days.

These are just a few examples of the many things I have accomplished in just a few weeks using this Goals-to-Results Worksheet. It’s hard to get going when you aren’t sure where you want to be. Use this tool to open the vision for purposeful work, personal life and fulfillment with a Goals-to-Results strategy. Start now!

Click for the link to the PDF version of The Goals-to-Results-Now Worksheet.

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Get Mary Lee’s tips on Four Goal Setting Strategies that Rock on her Articles and Tip Sheets page.

Mary Lee Gannon is the president of StartingOverNow.com – Leading Productivity Solutions for People and Organizations. Mary Lee is a graduate of The Duquesne University Professional Coaching Program and an alumnus of the 2010 Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital Coaching in Medicine & Leadership Conference. Her personal turnaround came as a stay-at-home mother, with four children under seven-years-old, who endured a divorce that took she and the children from the country club life to public assistance from where within a short time she worked to the level of CEO. Services include: Workshops, Meeting Facilitation, Coaching, Webinars, Speaking and Management Consulting. Areas of Specialty: Strategic Planning / Board Development / Healthcare / Public Relations / Goal Setting / Meeting Facilitation / Acountability / Leadership / Time Management / Life/Career Transition. Her book “Starting Over – 25 Rules for When You’ve Bottomed Out” is available in bookstores or at Amazon. Get her FREE ebook – “Grow Productivity – A Leader’s Toolbox” on her web site at www.StartingOverNow.com.

Day #47: The Seven Questions Essential for Business Strategy

06 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by startingovernow in Getting Unstuck, How to Build Confidence, Leadership, Overcoming Adversity, Productivity, Time Management, Work Life Balance

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business consulting, business goals and plans, business planning, Business Strategy, executive coaching, How to write your plan, Mary Lee Gannon, Pittsburgh

365 Ways to Get Results: Day #47: The Seven Questions Essential for Business Strategy

Answer these seven simple questions and you will have a strategy that will not fail you.

1. What is the purpose of your business? You should be able to recite your purpose in one sentence. The purpose of your business should be personally rewarding to you. It should bind together all of your action plans and activities. It is a guide for when you may be slipping away from your core goals. It is the difference you make in the world. It is why you exist.

2. Who is your customer? Be specific. Who must your product or service satisfy to achieve results? Is it men or women? What is their age? Where do they live? What race? What professions or trades? Who do they trust? Where do they go for fun? What causes do they support? Where do they spend time? Who are their friends? What is their income? What is important to them? What are their immediate goals? What are their five and ten year goals?

3. What will prompt your customer to act? You must know what your customer cares about if you want to meet their needs. But just because they say they care does not mean they will be inspired to act. You have already defined who you think your customer is under #2. You have defined that by your estimation. But you cannot truly identify what they want until you ask them directly. Create a survey and ask them some non-threatening demographic questions to validate who they are but also, what they would like to see in your product or services. Frame the questions with action statements such as, “Would you purchase _______ if it did ________?”

Surveys can be given in your place of business, in the mail with a postage paid return envelope, through online posts and forums, via an email request, or via a free electronic survey on SurveyMonkey.com. After you do this you will better be able to identify new markets you might explore based on the demographics of your audience. If you find that your clients live in the suburbs, focus their time and energy on their children, and are mostly women, you might begin networking in women’s professional organizations, visiting online forums for women, giving free lectures in suburban communities on something that is of value to the family.

4. What is your niche? Why you and not your competitor? What do your customers or clients need more of in order to get/be something they desire: more money, more thin, more time, more freedom, more fulfillment, more customers, more business, more friends, more what? Who needs your product or service? Don’t look at your business in terms of features and benefits. Consider what would happen if your business did not exist. Will it matter? What will make your prospects turn only to you for your product or service?

5. How will you measure your success? Business plans, grant applications, and other financial qualifying documents require you to show exactly how you will measure your success for a reason. If you do not know what you are aiming for, how will you know you have made a difference in meeting your purpose? It must be quantifiable. Not “We will have succeeded if we have more business.” More like, “Within the three months periods we will track the number of overall customers, the number of new customers, the amount of overall business, and the amount of business from new customers.”

6. What are your goals and plan? If you have spent time on the above four questions, the answer to this question should be clear. Your goals should be in direct alignment with the purpose of your business, targeted to fill a need for your ideal customers, and evoking a call to action from your prospects so that the results are measurable. Your plan is the action you will take to meet your goals. Be flexible. The goals and plan should be able to be altered midstream depending on the results you encounter.

7. How will you celebrate? It is important for you and your team to celebrate your successes. This will instill the realization that strategy does pay off and that the experience of a well-designed and executed plan is worth repeating. Start now!

Follow Mary Lee Gannon on Facebook or on Twitter.

Get Mary Lee’s tips on “Emotional Intelligence – Grow it for Better Relationships and Leadership” on her Articles and Tip Sheets page.

Mary Lee Gannon is the president of StartingOverNow.com – Leading Productivity Solutions for People and Organizations. Mary Lee is a graduate of The Duquesne University Professional Coaching Program and an alumnus of the 2010 Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital Coaching in Medicine & Leadership Conference. Her personal turnaround came as a stay-at-home mother, with four children under seven-years-old, who endured a divorce that took she and the children from the country club life to public assistance from where within a short time she worked to the level of CEO. Services include: Workshops, Meeting Facilitation, Coaching, Webinars, Speaking and Management Consulting. Areas of Specialty: Strategic Planning / Board Development / Healthcare / Public Relations / Goal Setting / Meeting Facilitation / Acountability / Leadership / Time Management / Life/Career Transition. Her book “Starting Over – 25 Rules for When You’ve Bottomed Out” is available in bookstores or at Amazon. Get her FREE ebook – “Grow Productivity – A Leader’s Toolbox” on her web site at www.StartingOverNow.com.

Day #46 – Dealing with Emotions When Leading a Meeting

02 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by startingovernow in Being Valued, Building Relationships, Don't be Afraid, Getting Unstuck, How to Build Confidence, Leadership, Leading meetings, Overcoming Adversity, Productivity

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business coaching, dealing with emotions when leading a meeting, executive coaching, how to manage an emotional meeting, managing emotions, Mary Lee Gannon, meeting facilitation, meeting ground rules, Pittsburgh

365 Ways to Get Results: Day #46 – Dealing with Emotions When Leading a Meeting

As the leader of a meeting, organization, committee or project team one of your challenges, especially when dealing with a heated issue, is to be able to channel the emotions that may arise into a productive entity for the group. When an emotion is expressed you must help the person who is expressing the emotion identify the emotion and its source. Then facilitate a discussion that leads them to express the emotion in a way that contributes to – rather than detracts from – group goals and effectiveness.

Now this does not mean that you become the group therapist. On the contrary. The purpose of addressing emotions appropriately is to help the group become more effective at working together. Not to alter people’s personality traits. Remember this is all about group effectiveness – not conscience or winning and losing.

Why do we get overly emotional?

Emotions are an important part of data collection on a project. They help people inform each other. When your emotions and thoughts work together you respond more effectively. Emotions often erupt around feelings of fear, threat, guilt, shame, and anger. Situations may drive higher emotions such as a difficult subject being discussed, unrealistic expectations, the triggering of past emotional experience, or the diverse culture of a group.

There is a physiological reason why sometimes people act out without thinking – react instead of respond. The brain has two mechanisms in dealing with emotions – the neocortex and the amygdala. The neocortex helps you to reason what your eyes, ears and other senses take in. The amygdala determines whether or not the situation is potentially threatening. The response is quick, exact and sloppy often referred to by the clichés of “flying off the handle” or “engaging mouth before engaging brain.”

Two Ways People Express Emotions

People express their emotions in two ways: directly and indirectly.

Directly: An expression of direct emotions might be, “I am angry with you.” or “You promised one thing and then went back on your word.”

Indirectly: People express indirect emotions in two ways: verbally and nonverbally. An example of indirect verbal expression might be yelling, changing tone of voice, repeating a point, verbal attacks, changing of position when accused. An example of nonverbal indirect expression might be dirty looks, crossed arms, negative body language or sighing. One person’s outburst may infer frustration while another’s may infer fear. Therefore you cannot interpret a person’s emotions from their behavior.

When emotions are intense, it is very difficult for the group or comprehend the root of the problem. It is the leader’s job to facilitate a discussion that will eliminate any defensive or offensive posturing.

How to Lead an Emotional Group to Effectiveness

First – Manage Yourself:

1. Slow yourself down. Do not intervene right away until you are able to respond in a responsible way without emotion. Breath slowly. Take a deep breath and release it slowly.

2. Be curious and compassionate to your own emotions. Recognize that you are a learner here as well. Identify how you are feeling. You may feel afraid, nervous, scrutinized, stressed. Boot out the judgmental voice. No judgment allowed. Name your emotions. Ask yourself what you are angry about, or fear?

3. Ask yourself what is triggering the emotion. Ask yourself if an emotion you are feeling has surfaced in other situations. Ask yourself if your own behavior is appropriate for the current situation. If you have overreacted, apologize and let the group know that your own emotions have clouded your judgment.

4. Remind yourself of your skills. You read and study better ways to facilitate groups with ground rules and facilitation skills. You are prepared to handle whatever arises. Remember that.

Second – Intervene

1. Don’t shy away from the conflict. When you sense conflict in a group it may be the gift that will bring the group together. It is a golden moment when the stakes are high and everyone is engaged.

2. Name the emotions and their source as they evolve. Someone in your group may say, “The finance department just cuts budgets without caring about what we have to deal with on the front line.” to which you might say, “Nancy, you are pointing your finger and sound angry. Is that right?” If she agrees you might say,” “It’s important for the group to understand what you are angry about. Do you feel comfortable sharing what happened that led you to feel angry about this.”

3. Ask the group for their permission to intervene. Here is where you will request buy-in from the group before your intervention so that they are aware that you are being strategic in your facilitation. Remind the group of the core values of the organization and the meeting ground rules.

4. Break down the issue so that they are not one-dimensional. Often the person who is emotional is seeing the issue from their perspective but not in terms of how it affects other people or departments. And the accused party may only be focused on defending their position and the needs of their department. Use your objectivity to list all of the issues.

5. Get curious and compassionate. Ask permission to ask each person in the dynamic, “When you got (feeling), what was your intent?” The answer to this will be an eye opener for the other party. They probably had no idea what the fears, anxieties or concerns really were on the other side.

6. Ask each party, “What did you hear when this emotion was expressed?” Most likely the response will not be what the emotional person intended. People are starting to realize that what is conveyed in an emotional outburst is not always what was intended. And they deduce not to interpret emotional behavior at face value.

7. Ask each party, “What did you think was inferred and do you actually understand now?” The group begins to see that defensive posturing and offensive attacks don’t lead to progressive outcomes for the group or for the individuals in the dynamic.

8. Celebrate the group’s heightened effectiveness from curiosity and compassion by compiling a list of what was learned from each participant. This list could first be written on individual post-it notes and compiled as a “Group Memory” statement. Or called out in an oral discussion and listed on a board. Honor your achievements!

Effectively dealing with emotions means showing the group how to use emotions to better inform each other rather than avoiding conversations or allowing emotions to drive the project to a brick wall. Start now!

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Get Mary Lee’s tips on “Emotional Intelligence – Grow it for Better Relationships and Leadership” on her Articles and Tip Sheets page.

Mary Lee Gannon is the president of StartingOverNow.com – Leading Productivity Solutions for People and Organizations. Mary Lee is a graduate of The Duquesne University Professional Coaching Program and an alumnus of the 2010 Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital Coaching in Medicine & Leadership Conference. Her personal turnaround came as a stay-at-home mother, with four children under seven-years-old, who endured a divorce that took she and the children from the country club life to public assistance from where within a short time she worked to the level of CEO. Services include: Workshops, Meeting Facilitation, Coaching, Webinars, Speaking and Management Consulting. Areas of Specialty: Life, Organization and Career Transition / Strategic Direction / Leadership / Time Management / Divorce / Productivity / Relationship Shift / Purpose. Her book “Starting Over – 25 Rules for When You’ve Bottomed Out” is available in bookstores or at Amazon. Get her FREE ebook – “Grow Productivity – A Leader’s Toolbox” on her web site at www.StartingOverNow.com.

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