What Happened and Why? A Simple Guide to After Action Reviews

Our focus this month is on lessons learned.The first step in learning a lesson is studying the material. Enter: After Action Reviews.  After action reviews An after action review is like a “what just happened?” replay button. It allows you to review a project by reliving the victories and freeze-framing the oops moments.  An AAR…

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Why Small Businesses Must Embrace The Art Of Lessons Learned Analysis

It’s November! And that means… spending the whole month not believing it’s November.  That, and starting to review your business year.  It’s time to look at what happened in your business and what it means for next year. This important exercise is a Lessons Learned analysis.  What is “Lessons Learned” The lesson learned concept is…

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Goals Don’t Work—People Do: The Challenge of Gaining Employee Buy-In

You’ve set the goals for the quarter. Now comes the real work.  Because let’s be honest: businesses don’t hit targets, people do.  Getting your team’s buy-in isn’t optional. It’s the secret to getting things done. Buy-In is more than a memo Getting buy-in isn’t just about announcing a new goal at the Monday meeting or…

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Sticking with the Plan: Keep Your New Productivity Alive

Congratulations: your productivity plan is in place.  You’re on track to hit your targets and see real business growth. But here’s the part many overlook: Now comes the maintenance phase — and it’s just as critical. Productivity stumbles The period after a change is the most vulnerable.  You have gone through the extra attention and…

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Move From Productive Foundations to Productive Work

Last week, we explored how productivity starts well before the first task is ticked off your to-do list.  It’s a management practice.  Today, let’s turn our focus to the crucial steps to make every day genuinely productive. Steps to productivity The steps to productivity are: Goal Setting With Meaning Effective productivity hinges on clear, actionable…

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From Goals to Gratitude: Better Goals For Devoted Clients. (The Worksheet)

“The secret to setting up the correct goals is to always tie your goals to your customers,” writes Pooja Agnihotri in her insightful book, 17 Reasons Why Businesses Fail.  I agree. As regular readers will know: your business goals should address your 3 core pillars of Business Goals, Happy Employees, and Loyal Customers.  The question…

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