Tag: root cause

year in review, past year, year in review, analyze year, annual review, review of year, year-end review, end-of-year review, past year, business review

6 Resources That Can Help You Analyze the Past Year

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How well did your business do this year?

Answering this question can bring up a lot of emotions, especially if things did not go as expected. You might feel the pressure of setting end-of-year deadlines. Looking back can result in guilt if we didn’t reach our goals, or anxiety about setting new ones.

Many business owners feel a tug-of-war between accomplishing daily duties AND stepping back to see the “30,000-foot view” of their company. But even though it can be really scary, doing a Year In Review is very helpful.  That’s why I recommend taking time to look back at what happened using data that is quantitative (numbers) and qualitative (experiences). Once you review the results (good and bad), you reduce the risk of failure by making adjustments to your plans for the next year.

Here are six helpful resources to guide you through the process.

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Year In Review, Disappointment, Annual Review, Crummy Year, Awful Year, Failure, Business Year, Disappointing

What to Do If Your “Year In Review” is a Disappointment

Published on by Grace LaConteLeave a comment

Some years, things go really well.

And some years, they do not.

If you’ve experienced a lot of difficulties in your business, you may be tempted to see it as a massive failure:

“What a crummy year! It was so terrible. I can hardly wait for it to be over.”

“The new year can’t come soon enough.”

Even you were not able to meet your strategic business objectives this year, I encourage you to consider the positives that happened, rather than speeding past it.

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company culture, internal culture, business culture, culture building, Facebook Live, FB Live, strategic risk, FAQ

Company Culture FAQs Part 5 of 5

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This is the final episode in a 5-part series about Company Culture Frequently Asked Questions.

I wrap up the series with some advice about employee engagement, the elements of a successful company, and books I recommend.

Watch the recorded video here, or read below for bonus-filled content.

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estimate, quality, qualitative, qualitative loss, risk management, staff turnover, layoffs, resignation, strategic risk

How to Estimate the Qualitative Loss From Staff Turnover

Published on by Grace LaConte1 Comment

What is an employee worth to you?

Not just their ability to generate sales or produce a measurable outcome, but also in terms of the experience they provide, and the emotional impact they make?

How can we calculate the degree of value an employee brings to a company, and what we lose when they quit?

Previously, I discussed ways to increase Risk Intelligence after staff turnover, and how to calculate the financial impact.

In this third segment, I explain hidden values employees provide, the 9 things we lose when an employee leaves, and simple ways to calculate the cost of quality.

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estimate, staff turnover, layoffs, resignation, turnover cost, staff turnover costs, risk management, strategic risk

How to Calculate What Staff Turnover is Costing You

Published on by Grace LaConte1 Comment

Did a long-time employee just hand in their 2-week notice?

Are you worried about how fast you’ll be able to find a reliable replacement?

Hiring the right people is extremely important for every business owner. That’s because staff are the most important resource in any company. Replacing an employee can cost significant money, time, and effort.

To avoid making an expensive and frustrating hiring mistake, you need a way to evaluate your company’s turnover data.

In this post, I explain some facts about turnover, why it relates to organizational risk, and how to calculate the total annual cost of adding new staff.

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unconscious aggression, aggression, aggressive, behavior, leadership, leader, anger, angry, management, risk management

Why Unconscious Aggression is So Hard to See as a Leader

Published on by Grace LaConte1 Comment

Can we be aggressive toward someone and not even know it?

I think we can.

Aggression is behavior that is hostile, forceful, or destructive. It comes from the Latin ad- (“to”) and the word gradi (“to step toward something or approach; to attack”).

It is an outward expression of inward anger that can cause incredible harm to others, even if we don’t realize it at first. Sometimes it’s difficult to know what aggression looks like, especially if you’re very comfortable with a highly competitive atmosphere.

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The Inferno of Dante, Dante's Inferno, Divine Comedy, Divina Commedia, Robert Pinsky, bilingual, translation, Italian, strategic, strategic perspective, strategy

Dante’s Inferno From a Strategic Perspective

Published on by Grace LaConte1 Comment

When you hear the words “Dante” and “Inferno,” your initial thought is probably something like this:

  • Some guy named Dante wrote it a long time ago
  • It’s a book about the levels of hell
  • The Catholic faith has something to do with it
  • There’s something about “comedy,” but not in the traditional sense
  • I might have read the book in high school

Up until recently, that’s pretty much all I knew about this classic work. But what gems of wisdom are hidden in those lyrical texts? I decided to find out.

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pain, good pain, bad pain, painful decisions, decision-making, management, risk management

How to Use Good and Bad Pain in Decision-Making

Published on by Grace LaConte7 Comments

This is the second in a 3-part series about Pain and Decision-Making.

 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

 

Although pain is usually viewed as harmful (“bad pain”), it can also help us (“good pain”). Let’s examine the useful kind.

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employee, employee for a day, foundational staff, management, start, strategic planning, strategic risk

“Employee For a Day”: How to Start

Published on by Grace LaConte5 Comments

Are your staff afraid to share what is going wrong in your company? Do problems keep happening, and you don’t know why?

A great solution is to step into the roles of your staff and see the situation first-hand.

One fantastic technique is what I call “Employee For a Day.” It is a simple, hands-on activity where an executive leader leaves their role, and she or he sits in the seat of employees to see the organization from their point of view.

In my previous post, I describe what happened when I entered the day-to-day world of my staff. It humbled me, challenged me, and ultimately led to several changes in the organization.

There were a few drawbacks as well. Here are all the dirty details of how to get started.

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Employee for a Day, Employee, Staff, Foundational Staff, Management, Managers, strategic planning, strategic risk

What Happened When I Became an “Employee For a Day”

Published on by Grace LaConte11 Comments

Do you ever go through an “a-ha moment” that suddenly makes you aware of a totally new perspective?

That happened to me a few years ago. Like many top-level leaders, I had slowly and imperceptibly developed “Corporate Ladder Bias” during my transition from employee to executive. This subconscious change occurs when our field of vision is consumed with all the problems and headaches at the management level. We become blind to the day-to-day frustrations of what I call the “Foundational Staff.” These are employees at the lowest levels of an organization, including:

  • Housekeeping
  • Direct Customer/Patient Care
  • Food Service (or Dietary)
  • Maintenance (or Physical Plant)
foundational staff, organizational roles, organizational chart, housekeeping, direct care, food service, maintenance
Grace LaConte’s 4 Types of Foundational Staff

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