Blog

November 7, 2020

Greg Thomas

5% Better

What does 5% get you? In school it was the difference between a C and a B or a B and a A. If you were to increase the throughput or download speed of your application by 5% that would be significance. If you were starving for space on an overcrowded 5 Terabyte Hard Drive, that’s 250 GB of saved space. Now what if you were able to get an additional 5% out of your team? What about if you were to get 5% extra from that person struggling on your team? You don’t need to get them to do

November 6, 2020

Greg Thomas

The Components of your Success

Right now, you’re probably realizing that your success to date in the great year of 2020 was built upon all the building blocks you put into effect in late 2019 and early 2020. You’ve gotten by because you’ve been riding that wave of planning that has propelled you through the rest of the year that you’ve had to tweak, but has gotten you through. In looking forward to what is next, it’s not enough to keep pushing off this important component “hoping” that things are going to get better and you’ll be able to go back to the old way

November 5, 2020

Greg Thomas

Outcome-Based Conversations

You might be talking a lot these days. Your calendar might be completely blue. And you might be having great discussions. But two weeks later you might also be wondering why nothing is changing and why what you thought were the actions never happened. It could be because you are not structuring your conversations around outcomes you want to see. Outcomes are bigger then agenda items, they are what you need to see happen next, what the next step is, what you want to come from these discussions. The are the next piece. If you aren’t having conversations that look

November 4, 2020

Greg Thomas

Vacation Guilt in A Remote World

When you can’t go anywhere on vacation, everyone knows where you are. The pull to log in “just once” and check your email. Or respond to that quick SLACK message that shows up on your phone. Or give out your personal cell for people to reach out to you in a pinch. If you choose not to respond, you’re wracked with guilt over letting your team down at a time when you were supposed to be “away”. You wouldn’t treat your team this way, so don’t do it to yourself. If you are planning to be on a “staycation”, do

November 3, 2020

Greg Thomas

I’m Big On Lists

They help me stay organized. I am constantly writing ideas down on sticky notes and during meetings of random thoughts I need to remember for later. The brighter the note, the bigger the list. Sometimes I get it all done, sometimes I don’t, but what it does help me with is clear my mind to focus on the important tasks and not worry, yes worry, about all the other ideas rummaging around in my head. Lists give ideas a place, if they are good enough, they will graduate to something better.