A New Year - Improving My Performance in 2018! Déjà vu!

Exactly a year ago today I wrote an article about my thoughts for the coming year and what I needed to do personally to improve. It was interesting for me to go back and review it today, not just to see whether I actually did anything about any of the points raised but to consider my thoughts for 2018. The original article is https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-year-improving-my-performance-2017-tim-hearn

In reading the article, one thing stands out for me ... the points made in January 2017 are just as valid for 2018 so this is a continuous improvement process, not just a To Do list for the year. There are also a number of other areas that really contributed to my year like diversity, inclusion and talent that are very important and worthy of a separate article.

An appraisal of the article is best provided by my customers, partners and team but a few personal comments are warranted, then some thoughts about 2018.

1. Whatever I did last year is not going to be good enough be achieve success this year.  It wasn't, but at least I was prepared, I've had a successful year overall, and I stepped outside my comfort zone several times which was fun! I spent more time with customers and partners to understand their challenges first hand. Outside work, I also started to learn the bass guitar to get my brain thinking and learning differently. In 2018, I will need to do better in every area, and my team will need to be ever more willing to step outside comfort zones to be successful.
2. I worked hard last year but I didn't work smart enough. I made progress in 2017 but I spent too much time commuting and being in the office when I could have been elsewhere. I spent too much time working on the Urgent/Important and not enough on the Non-Urgent/Important (see 7 Habits), and I spent far too much time on email which generated even more incoming traffic. In 2018, the biggest impact to my own productivity will be the time I spend on email each day, and the biggest impact to my home life and wellbeing will be to replace time on Facebook with time on the bass guitar.
3. I must understand better how my customers business is changing. I got closer to customers and to our strategic partners and joining the TechUK Public Sector Board provided further insight and new friends. What is clear to me is that the pace of technological change is creating significant IT skills shortages, particularly in public sector, and so I need to help make things simpler, more automated, and to translate technology capability more quickly into business/service value. In 2018, I need to ensure that my team delivers tangible business value through successful digital transformation, and for this to be translated clearly at board level.
4. I must understand who my competitors are how they are winning. I made the least progress here, and it's the area where I need to improve the most. We are taught not to sell negatively to our customers which is right, but we should be brave enough to ask our customers and channel partners about the value that they get from our competitors, what they do well and what we do well, and learn accordingly from strengths. In 2018, I will work with my team to understand the competitive landscape in our focus accounts and build on our strengths.
5. I must spend more time communicating as a human and less as a device. I make a conscious effort to regularly speak to each member of my team by phone and not to resort to email and txt. This also helps me to more regularly coach, support and advise, and get more direct feedback. Skype was introduced, which is both a blessing and a curse, but I have increased my use of video rather than audio. This all has to be supplemental to regular face to face meetings which I've continued to focus on during the year. In 2018, I want to continue to improve as a human being rather than a device operator and have quality face to face interactions at work and home without having an iPhone in hand!

Last year I said that my personal success would be largely based on 3 things:

1. Can I improve my overall performance as a sales leader to encourage my team to be the best that they can be, as individuals and as team players - and for them to be happy in doing so.
2. Can I get closer to my customers to help them transform their business and add true value that they can quantify and recognise - and which satisfies my personal need to make a difference
3. Can I work smarter to balance the increasing demands of work with the equally increasing need to enjoy life with family and friends

I feel that I made good progress on all 3 but there is much still to be done.

My personal success in 2018 will be largely based on 3 things:

• Keep focused on developing 1,2 and 3 above and now enhance with ...
• Continue to embrace change and development, keep learning, keep pushing, keep trying and enjoy the ride
• Spend as much time with people as possible, whether my team, peers, boss, my customers and business partners and get out from behind the bloody screen!

And again .... Nobody said it was going to get any easier! Happy New Year!