Research shows plenty of upsides to diverse workplaces — more innovation, more successful decision making, better ability to connect with a wider variety of stakeholders. In 2021, after four years as a board member of the Philadelphia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (PICC), I was asked to serve as its president. Coming into the role, I knew we needed to make some changes.
Read MoreYou might think that since companies spend upwards of $2 trillion every year on acquisitions, they’re a sure thing. The truth is, mergers and acquisitions fail at a rate of 70-90%. The biggest hurdle companies face after a merger or acquisition is the integration of teams. Few take the time and give the focus needed to build cohesive teams.
Read MoreWhat do you do when you need to make an organizational change or let an employee down and you want to maintain a successful employer-employee relationship? For each situation, the first step is being willing to have difficult conversations with your employees.
Read MoreHow do you develop a system for compensation that gets you the talent you need, is relatively easy to administer, and is equitable across your organization? If I could impart two pieces of wisdom to every company with employees, they would be these: document every promise or concession you make; and assume compensation transparency.
Read MoreGiven the bonds that can develop in the trenches of an early startup or young business, it’s not uncommon for business relationships to veer into friendship. What happens when a company grows beyond a person that helped start it? And what do you do when you’re the one faced with that dilemma — do you choose the business or your friend? Or is there some way to choose both?
Read MoreIf you’ve turned your nose up at the concept of psychological safety because, frankly, you’re getting tired of trying to figure out every new buzzword, I’m encouraging you to rethink. Creating a workplace culture where people feel safe to be themselves and feel respected for their contributions is critical. You’ll lose talent if you don’t.
Read MoreAs your organization grows, expands, and perhaps becomes entirely virtual, you’re having to find more ways to create those frequent touchpoints. Quarterly meetings are an excellent tool for communicating your vision and ensuring alignment on your team.
Read MoreWhat coaching style do you need to use with each of your team members? Just like you probably have a coaching style you’re most comfortable with, each of them also has a style of being coached that’s most effective for them. You have to coach the people who report to you, so as a leader and a coach, you may have to get comfortable with different styles of coaching.
Read MoreGetting good at giving effective feedback is one of the most important parts of leading — right up there with learning to delegate. Having those conversations, sometimes difficult, is crucial to their development and to your organization’s success. Here are our tips for doing it well.
Read MoreIf you’ve worked with a good coach, you know how transformational the process can be. Your employees need that experience as well. They’ll grow, be more engaged employees, and become happier. Your business will be all the better for it.
If you’ve just seen yourself as their manager, you’re missing out on a big opportunity. Actually, a big requirement. Now more than ever — when people are changing jobs at an alarming rate and everyone’s reeling from all the uncertainty in our world — you need to keep your employees engaged.
Read MoreCompanies need to spend as much energy finding employees as they do finding customers. Recruiting talent is just as important as acquiring customers. Maybe more so? After all, it’s talent that allows you to grow.
Cost is the biggest reservation we hear from founders and entrepreneurs who are contemplating their first hire. Affordability is obviously a critical part of the hiring analysis — and there’s a lot more to it. Whether you’re ready to hire and (perhaps the bigger question) who you should hire depends on multiple factors.
Read MoreIf you’re in business, you’ve heard of a SWOT analysis. You’ve probably done one — maybe more than one. When did you last do a SWOT analysis for your organization? Unless you’ve just been doing some strategic planning, it’s likely been awhile. We see businesses wait too long between SWOT analysis sessions. They trudge along under old conceptions of their strengths or weaknesses and fail to effectively respond to the changes around them.
Read MoreIntentional professional development is one of the most effective investments organizations can make in their own success. Yet it’s something we frequently find lacking. Here’s how to create a plan for every employee.
Read MoreThe CEO rulebook is completely different from the founder rulebook. And once you’re not a startup anymore, you can’t keep acting like one. If you do, you’ll risk the success you’ve worked so hard to achieve.
Read MoreWhether you’re creating a full-fledged training program, helping a few high-potential individuals, or support a recently promoted manager, you need four things to support their development.
Read MoreEvery organization has a culture, whether it was created intentionally or not. Developing and implementing your values puts you in control of that culture. Most importantly, it helps you identify who’s aligned with it and who’s not. Here’s how to create your core values — not just some words that you put on a wall or a website — but the actual tenets that underpin your organization’s culture.
Read MoreAs it turns out, determining whether someone will be a good fit for your organization is hard. Outsourcing the hiring process is a smart choice for many organizations. And you’re not limited to recruiting firms.
The future is uncertain, and the businesses that succeed will be the ones who prepare for it. They’ll do more than a quick risk assessment. They’ll follow a series of careful steps to ensure they’ve planned for whatever lies ahead.
Read MoreThe concept of a coach used to be reserved for athletes. Now you can hire a coach to help you with everything from weight loss or parenting to public speaking and career transitions. So with all these coaches running around, how do you know what’s a worthwhile investment of your time and money?
Read MoreStartups and Small Businesses sometimes find themselves at the edge of a chasm. With success in developing and growing their business, a stage is reached where they find that the "next step" is a big one! Trajectify partners with the entrepreneur to build momentum and trajectory to be able to cross the chasm.
We offer private and group (Mastermind) coaching and hold frequent events and seminars.
Trajectify is founded my Mike Krupit, veteran of eight startups. Mike has helped dozens of companies grow and mentored and advised hundreds more.
Ask a room of leaders why they set goals and most will say accountability. That answer creates the problem. Goals exist for alignment. The company needs to reach a number, so this group does this, that group does that, and together the math works. Everyone is pointed in the same direction. Focus comes second. A good goal tells you what to say no to.
The instinct to build a team that moved in the same direction, at the same pace, with the same set of perspectives is limiting. Consistency is created at the expense of range. The goal isn't alignment of strengths. It's coverage. The most dangerous teams I've seen weren't the ones with conflict. hey were the ones with none. Where every conversation ends in agreement. Where nothing gets surfaced. Where the people who see things differently may have learned to stop saying so.
The same restlessness that makes it hard to stay on plan is what made them start the company in the first place. The wandering mind, the refusal to be satisfied with what already exists, the ability to see something before it exists: that's not a disorder. That's the source.
If you're building a company, knowing your role isn't optional. The visionary needs someone who will build what they see without getting in the way of the seeing. The integrator needs someone who will point at the moon and mean it and keep pointing at the same moon long enough for the bridge to get built. The mistake I see most often: trying to be both or hiring someone who mirrors you when you need someone who complements you.
The fear of success doesn't usually announce itself as fear. It sounds like planning. It sounds like due diligence. It sounds like being responsible.
What it actually is: A limiting belief. It’s spending today's energy on problems you'll only face if you win
Right people, right seats doesn't mean everyone eventually moves into a leadership role. It means finding the seat where each person does their best work and building a structure that makes those seats worth staying in. Create a path for people who want to grow as individual contributors. Create a separate path for people who want to lead. Reward both. Respect both. Pay both.
Don't prevent scraped knees; prevent bus crashes. A scraped knee hurts. You might carry the scar for years. That's the point. The pain is proportional to the lesson. A bus crash can lead to catastrophic loss. The project. The company. The relationship. Something that can't be recovered. The leader's job isn't to eliminate mistakes. It's to know the difference between those two things.
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Sometimes exploration is worth it. Sometimes you just spent a week of the team’s attention answering a question the founder could have tested in an afternoon. That is the part I think leaders underestimate. Ideas do not only cost money. They cost time, focus, and brainpower long before anyone approves a budget. The question I’d want answered is: how much of the organization does this idea deserve yet?