042 How to have a staff meeting with yourself

We all value getting better. But how do we know where to start and what progress we might be making? It may be time to have staff meetings with yourself.

This episode’s Inspire Me quote is from Victor Hugo:

“ The future has several names. For the weak, it is impossible; for the fainthearted, it is unknown; but for the valiant, it is ideal.”

It takes being valiant to take a good look inside. In this episode of Reinventure Me, Leary and Armin discuss a very simple but powerful exercise to determine what changes are most important for you to make.

Back in 1997 Tom Peters, wrote an article for Fast Company magazine. “The Brand of You” sparked an epidemic of personal branding. We discussed personal branding in episode 19. This episode is about how to think about yourself as You, Inc and specifically how you should conduct a staff meeting with yourself.

It may sound strange, but this simple process can provide structure and clarity around the most important changes you can make to create a more appealing future. Start with drawing five circles around a circle in the center, as depicted in the image above. Label the center circle, “CEO” and each of the five outer circles with “Sales,” “Marketing,” “Finance,” “R&D,” and “HR”—the five major functions of a business.

In a quite place, hold a private conversation with you as CEO, then switch to formulate the answers as each of the other department heads might respond with the situation that you’re evaluating. For instance, if you’ve just been fired, or perhaps you’re contemplating a new job, consider what each of the functional area leaders in your business of “You” might say about your situation.

As CEO of You, Inc., you have an critical function to perform—you must keep the conversation going and focused on creating a productive (not destructive) outcome. Mimic the five behaviors of great CEOs:

1. Ask tough questions.  Don’t let yourself off the hook. Find what you are resisting and go there.
2. Listen intently. Write down your answers. Writing creates clarity. And accountability.
3. Create options. Identify possible actions steps for each functional area.
4. Decide what’s important. Usually there are one or two action steps you can take that help all the others.
5. Celebrate learning. Good CEOs celebrate learning, no matter how hard it comes because it builds a better future.

Avoid making the mistake of listening to only one of your staff. Often, in a panic, we might listen to the Finance voice, for instance, and entirely miss a great opportunity that might present itself through the other voices if we only allow ourselves to entertain them.

The Challenge Me for this episode is simply to give it a try and comment on the show notes how it worked.

Resources mentioned or related to this podcast that may be helpful to you:

• What is a personal brand and do you need one?, Episode 19 of Reinventure Me discusses how to create your personal brand
  
• A staff meeting with You, Inc., Leary’s blog post on this topic