If you have a company, hotel, organization, or team and are having difficulties growing this week’s tip is for you.
A while back, maybe a couple years ago now, I did an internal review of our company. I did a deep dive and evaluated our teams' goals and where we are heading under my leadership and if we would accomplish them.
You know what I found out?
We weren’t going to make it.
I mean, I can take the team so far but I know what type of infrastructure, motivation, discipline, and tenacity it takes to get to where we want to be and with my time commitments we weren’t going to make it. It was like a solid, red, brick to the face.
And what I mean by this is that I didn’t have the time to devote to all the areas that need to be done and still keep the boundaries I want for myself and team in place. Boundaries like picking the kids up by 530 from daycare, boundaries like a regular work week as an owner, boundaries like being able to take a walk around the block in the middle of the day to clear my head to solve a complex task.
Those are all time-sensitive boundaries. And I feel like you may be in the same boat.
You have a set budget, you have a dream, and you are passionate about hitting your goals but right now you aren’t sure you can get there.
You look around your desk at the 200 post its with to-do’s, your calendar is booked solid and you have a 15 minutes to grab a bite before your boss calls you again, your checklists are written on scrolls that stretch out the door, and your team is always knocking on the door asking you what to do next.
I want you to know that we’ve all been there. You are not alone dealing with that type of stress and anxiety. As a leader these feelings of overwhelm and worry are normal and everyone has them. The feeling that you can’t get it all done is normal but it can change. You can remove those emotions of fret.
And I want you to know there is a simple way to get out of it. Plan your next week on Friday afternoons. What I mean by this is set a time weekly to break your goals into mini sections and just put 1 task that must be done each day. This is your #1 priority each day for the week. Before the phone rings, before checking email, you review and work on your #1 goal. By breaking up our goals into this framework it keeps them a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely).
I told you it was simple.
That’s what it takes. Just simple discipline to plan out your schedule for the next week.
We’ve been doing this now for months personally and with our team where every Friday afternoon everyone plans out next weeks schedule.
And you know what happened when every one of our hotel accountants and picked a time to plan for the next week we not only got back on track to meet our goals but we are now ahead of schedule.
Everyone knew what needed to be done but trying to keep it all in their head, or hunting through all of the post its, it got lost and jumbled in the day to day. But during that planning time, everything is simpler, its clear, its concise, and it frees up head space for everyone to focus on their goals.
Not only that, by prepping Friday afternoons it also helped our clients. Our turnaround times on reports were faster and we were able to spend more time working with them and creating trainings for them.
PLUS, and this is the real crazy part, we work with hotel general managers and owners and you know what one of the busiest times is for a hotel GM? Friday afternoons with leisure, wedding parties, and sport team check-ins and then a quick turnaround on rooms from business and weekly travel. The last thing a GM has time for is a call from their accountant because they need to be with guests and their team. So, this created an ideal time that we could prep for the next week and allow our hotel GM’s more time with their hotel.
But, Buck, you said prep Friday afternoons for the next week and then you said Fridays were too busy as a GM. What should I do?
If Fridays aren’t the time for you to prep for your next week if you are in the hotel space so why not do it Thursday afternoons? The day of the week isn’t as important as it is for you to set a time each week that you can prepare for the following week. Your schedule could be prep on Thursdays and your planning for Friday through next Thursday. It’s not the days that are important but that you are looking at your goals and planning them out.
So, our tip for this week is to take a few minutes and set a time each week to plan. And not just a time for you but for every member of your team. This realigns everyone with their smart goals and responsibilities and puts everyone on the same page. By doing this simple tip week in and week out you will once again be hitting your goals, your team will be more energized and disciplined because they will have a clear plan, and you will feel more confident in your abilities as you start throwing away those post its.
Alright, I hope that was helpful! If you haven’t signed up for our weekly videos, please do so below! Talk to you soon!
