Brian Niles Shares How To Attract, Manage, and Delight Your Team

One of my favorite sessions at Converge 2015 was led by Brian Niles, Founder and Chief Evangelist of TargetX. Brian touched on some of the basic principles that he uses to attract, manage, and delight his team – as well as best practices for creating harmony between work and life. Here are my top 5 takeaways from the presentation:

1. The Importance of Fundamentals. Your team should share and practice a set of clear and timeless fundamentals that drive all activity in your company. At TargetX, Brian and his team adhere to 30 clearly stated fundamentals – my favorite being “hug our customers.” Brian suggests making a deliberate effort to have your team practice one fundamental each week. Before diving into a meeting at TargetX, some time is always dedicated to sharing the meaning of that week’s fundamental.
2. Take Back Your Life from E-Mail. Did you know that if you get disrupted from a task at hand, it can take up to 18 minutes to get back on track? We all have the tendency to check our e-mail intermittently while working on other tasks, but the truth is that this habit can be a tremendous waste of time. Instead, schedule a specific time in your day to read e-mails. Don’t even let your inbox sit on your desktop – the temptation to check it will be too great.
3. The Power of 3. It seems like there is never enough time in the day to get everything done, right? So, don’t. Figure out what 3 tasks are the most important for you to accomplish on a given day. Focus all your energy on those 3 tasks, and don’t let yourself get distracted by your overwhelmingly long to-do list.
4. Schedule Time to Think. This might be my favorite. Have you ever felt guilty just sitting idly at your desk, thinking about a project? It’s funny how we tend to feel guilty when we we’re not plugging numbers into Excel, fidgeting with a PowerPoint, or doing something. But the best things happen when we simply take time to think – nothing else. Schedule time in your day to take a walk and think. You might be surprised by how doing “nothing” can mean everything to your organization.
5. Eat the Frog. The hard truth is that there are tasks everyday that weneed to get done, but hate addressing. These need to be the first thing you do everyday. After you “eat the frog,” you can then move to tasks you both need and want to do. Your last priority should be tasks you don’t need to do, but want to do. While you’re at it – eliminate things you don’t need or want to do from your life.

I hope these takeaways from Brian’s presentation will help you find more harmony between work and life, and spread that harmony to your team members. When you make an effort to incorporate these habits into your life, your team will surly follow suit.