The Double Win

What do you do when you have a customer you just can’t seem to satisfy? Or a team member who seems resistant to coaching? What about someone in a personal relationship who seems to suck the life out of you?

Sometimes it seems like you’re investing all your energy in the wrong people. What can you do about it?

Good leaders develop people. The problem is that not all employees or customers are created equal. Some can fail to develop despite hours of time and energy. It’s maddening to pour your resources into a person who provides no return on the investment.

But there’s a better way.

We’ve identified five steps to ensure that you’re not wasting resources on the wrong people. We can help you multiply your effectiveness by identifying and investing in the people who really want to grow and improve.

Finally, you can escape from life-draining clients, customers, and relationships and discover the freedom to work with people who energize you.

Does it sound callous to talk about ending unproductive relationships? It’s not, and we prove it inside this episode. Let us help you get your energy back so you can spend it where it really counts!

This episode of Lead to Win is brought to you by The LeaderScore Assessment, a simple tool to evaluate the health of your leadership. Find out more at leadto.win/leaderscore.

RESOURCES

• “Why You Sometimes Need to Fire Your Customers” by Michael Hyatt
• “How to Fire a Monster Client” by Michael Hyatt
• Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships that All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward by Henry Cloud.
• Boundaries for Leaders by Henry Cloud
• Focusmate

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As a leader, you probably have a huge goal in mind. It’s the heartbeat of your ambition, the reason you get out of bed in the morning. Chances are good that you’ve thought about it long and hard, and you may even have a timetable and specific objectives for reaching it.

The problem is that distractions, interruptions, and “business as usual” cause us to loose sight of our goals. Before long, another month, another quarter, maybe even another year has gone by with no progress. It’s disheartening. We know. We’ve been there.

But there’s hope!

Over the years, we’ve developed a killer strategy to ensure you keep making progress on your goals. And it works! In this episode, we’ll give you the simple system we call the 3x3 Goal Achievement Strategy.

If you’re tired of watching your biggest goals slip through your fingers while you’re busy putting out brush fires, this episode is for you! Here’s the system that will give you laser focus on the things that matter most every day.

Here’s what’s coming inside the episode:

• True-life story of what happens when you have goals but don’t implement them.
• What makes goal achievement so much harder than goal setting.
• The right number of goals to set annually—and quarterly.
• How limiting your focus multiplies your achievement.
• How we select our own Big 3 Goals for each quarter.
• The difference between a goal and a project.
• How to translate quarterly goals in to weekly achievements.
• How to use the Eisenhower Matrix to pare down your to-do list.
• Why looking back periodically can help you make progress in the future.
• A simple hack to make time for imporant-but-not-urgent items.
• The secret reward you get for focusing on only three daily tasks.
• How your choice of daily actions drives progress on your annual.
• Examples of our daily to-do list.
• The difference between a task and a project (and why it matters).
• The well-known business principle that supports choosing just three daily actions.
• How to harness the power of alignment for goal achievement.
• Why we make no distinction between personal and professional goals and tasks.
• Two different strategies for selecting daily tasks on weekends.

Once you’ve heard this episode, don’t be intimidated by the process of narrowing your focus. Just try it! If this strategy doesn’t work for you, that’s totally fine. But we think it’ll be a game changer. You’ll start seeing daily progress on your most important goals.

Share the Love

Are you following us on Instagram? That’s the best way to keep in touch with our latest thinking, get previews of upcoming products, and even go behind the scenes a bit our work and family lives. Instagram is our personal favorite social channel, and yes, we really do read your comments and often respond. Follow @michaelhyatt and @meghmiller to get the latest.

While you’re at it, why not share this episode there or in on own favorite social media. Remember the hashtag #leadtowin.

Resources from this episode

• Full Focus Planner
• The Eisenhower Matrix
• @michaelhyatt on Instagram
• @meghmiller on Instagram

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Leaders must motivate people. The problem is that everybody’s different, so what inspires one team member may demotivate another. It can be confusing to lead a diverse team.  But personality is not an unsolvable puzzle. And we’ve got three powerful tools to help you put it all together.  We’ve identified three personality assessments that give you a clear understanding of how your team members think, feel, and work. Use these in your business, and you’ll never wonder how to motivate your team again. You’ll gain an engaged, focused workforce that will bring their best energy to work.   Here’s a peek this episode: We reveal our own journey with using personality assessments. Why we use personality assessments in our business.  Why it’s more productive to focus on strengths than weaknesses.  How it affects a team member to be free to focus on strengths. We reveal our top five strengths.  How knowing a teammate’s strengths helps your working relationship.  A clear, concise description of the Enneagram. How knowing your direct report’s profile helps you be a better leader. The best metaphor for leading a diverse team to produce results. Author Ian Cron weighs in on the mistakes leaders can make with personality assessments. Why we don’t use the Enneagram in our hiring process.  Amy Bruske of Kolbe Corp. answers the question “Why do smart people often have trouble getting things done?” A quick description of the four modes of the Kolbe A Index, which measures how we initiate work. How knowing a person’s workstyle helps them excel. How the Kolbe A Index helps you determine whether a person will succeed in the role you’re hiring.  What happens when a person is not “hardwired” for the role they’re in. Now that you have a handle on these personality instruments, here’s what we hope you’ll do. Pick one of these and take it yourself. After you become familiar with it, you’ll be able to determine when and how to roll it out to your team.  You’re going to love this discovery process! Resources from this episode Michael Hyatt & Co. Team StrengthsFinder 2.0 The Narrative Enneagram Kolbe A Index The Road Back to You by Ian Cron and Suzanne Stabile Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton Striving Zones How People Act when Free to be Themselves by Kathy Kolbe

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Every leader is motivated by a compelling vision for the future. There’s something you want to achieve. You know where you’re headed. The problem is that it’s hard to keep that vision real for your team. They’re busy and easily distracted. Before long, another quarter has slipped by and you haven’t made real progress on the big outcome you’re after. How discouraging!  But there’s hope! We’ve got a compelling formula for communicating your vision to every single member of your team.  Based on decades of corporate experience, we’ve distilled vision casting into a series of four steps. Follow them, and you’ll see your team transformed. They’ll go from being mired in the busy work of Monday to Friday and become motivated partners in helping make your vision a reality. This really works! Shout-out! Here’s a shout-out to listeners BenJoeM2, who left this review of the podcast on iTunes: “Been listening since day one and have loved it! Really is great advice for any leader in work, home, or church." Thanks friend. We really appreciate the feedback.  And we’d love to hear from the rest of you too. If you’re enjoying the program, lease rate and review us on iTunes. If you’re not sure how to do that, check out this simple tutorial.  And don’t forget to subscribe. We don’t want you to miss a single episode, bonus episode, or free content that we make available only in this channel. Subscribe today on your favorite device.  Resources from this episode Lead with a Story, Paul Smith The Book of Mistakes, Skip Prichard The CEO Next Door by Elena L. Botelho, Kim R. Powell, Tahl Raz  “What Sets Successful CEOs Apart” by Elena Botelho, Kim Powell, Stephen Kincaid, and Dina Wang    

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Do you ever have enough hours in the day to do all you need to do? If we’re honest, most of us would say no. Work, family, friends, rest, exercise, reading, relationships—something’s got to give. For most of us, that something is self-care.

The result? We give more and more to work and others, and less and less to ourselves. It’s a recipe for burnout.

But you deserve more than life on a treadmill. And there’s no need for you to throttle back your dreams. You can have the double win: win at work and succeed at life!

In this episode, you’ll hear the three key benefits of prioritizing self-care. And? We’ll give you tips for how to do that.

This episode of Lead to Win is brought to you by The Focused Leader 1-Day Intensive. To focus your leadership, claim your ticket to our November 12 intensive before July 15, when our early-bird pricing expires. Find out more at leadto.win/intensive.

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Here’s the situation: one of your most lucrative clients has admitted to unethical behavior and is entirely unwilling to change. Do you keep the account and tie your name to their misdealings? Or do you terminate the relationship and lose over a million dollars in sunk cost?

What about this: your top salesman is accused of inappropriate behavior toward team members of the opposite sex. You believe the complaints, but the top-performer denies them. Do you fire the salesman and lose your “rainmaker”? Or do you tolerate the behavior regardless of the effect on morale?

In this episode, we’ll give you five steps for dealing with a high-performing but bad-behaving employee.

Those weren’t just case studies. They were real workplace dilemmas we’ve faced. You may have a tough personnel decision sitting on your desk right now. That produces a lot of stress and anxiety. You may feel like you’re forced to choose between your integrity and the future of your business.

But you don’t have to. We believe you can run a highly successful business and sleep well at night. And we’ll give you the insight and confidence you need to confront bad behavior in the workplace, even when it’s costly or inconvenient.

Following the steps we’ll give you today, you’ll keep both your financial performance and your integrity intact. You’ll gain the respect of your top performers and your entire team.

Here’s a Look Inside Today’s Show

• Michael shares his worst experience dealing with a bad-behaving top-performer. (sexual harassment)
• Learn the real driver of performance. (Hint: it’s not superstar employees.) (culture)
• The one thing that provides the clarity you need to confront poor behavior. (culture)
• Megan shares an experience of confronting lack of integrity in the workplace.
• Michael shares a time when he “bet his job” on confronting a high performer. (michael firing publishing client)
• What to do when your boss doesn’t support you in confronting aberrant behavior (Megan)
• Tips for conducting a workplace confrontation (step 4)
• What to do when the behavior is bad—but doesn’t warrant termination. (
• What behaviors you can coach which you can’t (character vs. performance. Megan)
• The often-overlooked last step in terminating an employee (tell team)

Is there a confrontation looming in your business? Be thoughtful, be wise, and be confident. You can handle this!

Resources from This Episode

• “The Right Way to Fire the Wrong Person” by Michael Hyatt
• “When Conflict Is Brewing” by Jeremy Lott
• Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

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Has this ever happened to you? You get in the car and pull out of the driveway, just like you do every day. Then it dawns on you: “This is Saturday!” You’re halfway to the office when you realize you were headed to the store. Oops. It’s easy to drift along in the wrong direction. That happens in life. And it happens in business. That phenomenon is called the drift. Just like the current in a river, life has unseen forces that pull you along in a given direction. Lifestage, busyness, culture, obligations —all of that forms a draft that pulls you forward, whether you realize it or not. If you’re not careful, you can wake up to find that your business and personal life have drifted to a destination you never intended. We’ll show you how to avoid that by living your life with intention. We share three simple, powerful questions that will help you avoid the drift and navigate against the subtle forces of busyness and distraction. You can live your life on purpose if you pause long enough to answer these three profound questions. We are super excited about this episode! Why? Because we know how much these concepts have improved our lives. Here’s what we hope you’ll do after listening. Schedule some time on your calendar right now, and commit to using that time to reflect on the three questions we’ve shared with you. You’ll be amazed at the clarity you gain, and the determination to stay on course toward your biggest goals. Shout Out! Thanks this week to “mikekellyonline,” who left a review of Lead to Win on iTunes. Mike writes, “Even as a mid-level manager, I have been able to continually use the content offered through this podcast to become a better leader in the Navy.”Thanks great to hear, Mike. Thanks for sharing. If you’re not subscribed to the podcast, we recommend you do that now. And please leave a review  on iTunes. Good, bad, or indifferent, we want to hear from you. Your comments help us make this program a greater value for everyone. RESOURCES “Are You a Pilot or a Passenger in Your Own Life?” by Michael Hyatt “Shift the Drift” by Michael Hyatt   Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want  by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan to Achieve Your Most Important Goals by Michael Hyatt  

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Feeling overwhelmed? Wow, do we know what that’s like! When you’re caught in that whirlwind of tasks, it feels like you’re downrange at Top Golf! You’re pelted with a new to-do item every few seconds.

It’s even worse when you don’t have a staff. With no one to delegate to, you just fall further and further behind.

But there’s another way!

Though we have a good-sized staff now, it wasn’t always that way. We know what it’s like to work alone or with limited help. And we can tell you that it is possible to delegate even if you don’t have a staff!

The first thing you have to do is change your mindset. Once you begin to see the possibilities, you’ll find nearly endless opportunities to offload work. Believe it or not, even as a line-level staffer or solopreneur, you have options!

Here’s a Peek Inside the Episode

• How to overcome the hurdle of “I need to do it myself.”
• How the Eisenhower Matrix can triage your to-do list.
• Solid definitions of “fake work” and “downhill work.”
• How to use AI to delegate routine tasks to your computer.
• How custom signatures can save you a ton of time on responding to email.
• Tips on negotiating out of previous commitments.
• How to get “volunteer” help from coworkers.
• Solid solutions for on-demand hiring.
• How to get your boss to say yes to more resources.
• Three easy steps to say no gracefully.
• Tips for saying no to your boss on new projects.

Once you’ve listened to the episode, here’s what we hope you’ll do. Just try it. Pick one of these ideas and put it to work in your business. We think you’ll be blown away by the results!

Let’s Get Social!

We absolutely love connecting with listeners on social media. Right now, we’re hooked on Instagram. And yes, we do personally post and respond on these accounts! This is a great way to hear our latest thinking, get the inside track on new products, and even see a few pictures baby pictures of Naomi, the latest addition to the family! Connect with us @michaelhyatt and @meghmiller.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• SaneBox email manager
• Spark email and calendar manager
• Magic
• Belay Solutions
• Fancy Hands
• InstaCart
• Recommendation Briefing Form
• “Need Help? Here’s How to Ask for It” Lead to Win episode
• “How to Get Your Boss to Say Yes, Part 1” by Michael Hyatt
• “How to Get Your Boss to Say Yes, Part 2” by Michael Hyatt
• “How to Get Your Boss to Say Yes, Part 3” by Michael Hyatt

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Ugh, another meeting! Do you know the feeling? We sure do. We’ve sat through our share of bad meetings. But would you believe we actually love meetings now?

It’s true. We got so sick of lousy meetings that we decided to do something about it.

When we founded this company, we determined that meetings were going to be something more than a necessary evil. We wanted to make meetings productive and engaging, like they were meant to be.

So we created a meeting rhythm and cadence that ensures we have just the right number of meetings, that they all have a clear purpose, and that they don’t get bogged down or pulled off track.

And it works! Our meetings are enjoyable because we all know why we’re there, that the outcome is important, and it’ll be worth our time. We love meetings—and you can too!

In this episode, we show you how to structure your meetings for maximum engagement and results. We’ve also got two free tools that will make it much easier to structure your meetings. (See the links below.)

This episode of Lead to Win is brought to you by The Focused Leader 1-Day Intensive. To focus your leadership, claim your ticket to our September 5 intensive before June 15, when our earlybird pricing expires. Find out more at leadto.win/intensive.

Here’s a Peek Inside This Episode

• Learn what we consider the worst of all possible meetings. [2:22]
• How to structure one-on-one’s with your direct reports. [3:58]
• Why it’s not okay to cancel one-on-one meeting. [5:36]
• How to structure a one-on-one so it doesn’t ramble. [6:40]
• How to get direct reports to provide information you need in advance of meeting. [7:32]
• Why it’s important to ask for the “bottom line” up front in a meeting briefing [10:00]
• How to structure workgroup meetings and why they are essential. [11:51]
• Examples of workgroup meetings we hold at Michael Hyatt & Co. [12:50]
• Who drives agenda for workgroup meetings, and what’s the guiding principle? [15:28]
• The biggest mistakes you can make in a work group meeting. [16:45]
• Learn the 3 reasons to have all-hands meetings [19:36]
• See why all-team meetings are vital for maintaining engagement. [18:39]
• The kinds of training Michael Hyatt & Co. offers to team members. [19:35]
• How quarterly meetings drive goal achievement. [20:43]
• Which company meetings should include spouses, and why. [23:07]
• How to structure annual celebrations for celebration and morale building. [23:50]
• Why we particularly loves the annual team gathering. [24:41]
• Best practices for all-team meetings. [26:32]

We hope this episode will be a game-changer for the meeting culture of your company. We’re totally serious. Make the changes we suggest here, and you’ll start to look forward to meetings because they produce the outcomes that drive your business forward.

How About a Shout Out!

Team, if you’re enjoying these podcasts, give us a shout out on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews are the primary way new listeners find this show. Please leave a rating right now, and we’d be super grateful if you’d also write a brief review. Good, bad, or indifferent, we’d love to hear your feedback on this program.

Not sure how to leave a rating? Follow this easy tutorial. Thanks!

Resources from This Episode

• No Fail Meetings by Michael Hyatt
• “5 Ways to Hold Shorter Meetings” by Michael Hyatt
• “How to Ensure You Never Have a Terrible Meeting” by Michael Hyatt
• Recommendation Briefing Form
• Effective Meeting Blueprint Free Resource!
• The Focused Leader One-Day Intensive

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To build a winning company, you need a winning team. A-players can skyrocket your success, and nothing will tank momentum faster than adding a B- or C-level player to the mix. We all seem to know that at some level. But when it’s time to hire, we always seem to be in a hurry. We feel some unstated urgency to keep the seats filled and the machine running. That almost always leads to a bad hire, as we’ve learned the hard way! But there is a way to make recruiting easier, and we’ll tell you about it on today’s episode. We really like this episode because it’s a chance to showcase some of the initiatives we’ve created around recruiting and retention. More than that, it’s a subject we’re really passionate about. We love our team, and we believe they are the secret to our success. After listening to this episode, we hope you’ll agree that your people truly are your number-one asset. And? You’ll have the insight you need to begin gathering a top team of your own.   If you’re ready to get off the turnover treadmill and start attracting and keeping high performers, this episode is for you. After you’ve listened, please leave us a review on iTunes. We’d love to hear what you think! Are You a Subscriber? If you’re not a subscriber to Lead to Win, you’re missing a huge opportunity to have these actionable insights and resources delivered straight to your device every single week. Subscribing is really easy. Just tap “Subscribe” on your device, of follow this link for easy instructions. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Michael Hyatt & Company Careers Page Vision Link “What Top Talent Really Wants” by Mark Miller Talent Magnet: How to Attract and Keep the Best People by Mark Miller The Focused Leader One-Day Intensive    

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