Our “Little Gray” hen hatched out five peeps in late June.  Unfortunately, one of them had a bad leg, and while she could hop around, she couldn’t roost. After about eight weeks, we had to move her on to greener pastures.  Of the remaining youngsters, it appears we have at least three roosters.  About four weeks ago, I headed up to the coop for the weekly cleaning, and I found one of those cockerels (young roosters) hanging out in the coop.  I kicked him out so I could clean, and as he ran down the ramp, all the other chickens started chasing him and pecking at him.  When I intervened, he was crammed up in the corner of the run.  I picked him up and found that he was pecked raw and nearly lifeless.

At this point, I decided he needed to be moved to the smaller coop just 20 feet from where I stood.  All I needed to do was open the coop gate, walk the 20 feet to the other coop, open that gate, and put him inside.  But this simple journey became a bit of an obstacle course, because I had two very interested retrievers who wanted to help.  Now, if I had expected to be handling chickens and moving them from one coop to another, I wouldn’t have brought the dogs, but this was the situation I found myself in.

So, I stood there, contemplated the situation, and did what anyone would: I took a selfie.  No, I did.  But then I realized I was stuck.  There was no way I would be able to handle this situation alone.  I could either set the cockerel down and take the dogs up to the house, risking further attacks on the cockerel, or I could phone a friend.  So I called Mike and asked for his help.  He came up and was able to pull the dogs away so I could move the injured cockerel to the other coop.

I don’t know why all the chickens were picking on that particular cockerel.  Even his three “hatch-mates” chased him around.  That is one of the things I don’t like about chickens.  They can be mean.  They peck at each other. They don’t support each other.  They are the antithesis of how I encourage my leadership teams to behave.  And honestly, it makes me a little sad.  I know it’s just in their chicken DNA, but why must they do that?

When implementing EOS, I work with the leadership teams to get them healthy.  That means having uncomfortable conversations with one another, calling people out if they aren’t living by their core values, holding each other accountable, and caring so much about the company and its people that they will enter danger.

In his book Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni defines a team as a group of people who share common goals and the responsibilities and rewards of achieving them. However, according to Lencioni, not every group of people in an organization is really a team. They might have the same manager or work in the same department, but that doesn’t make them a team.

When implementing EOS, I work closely with an organization’s leaders, guiding them to become a true team. For them to succeed, they must embrace collaboration, accountability, and unity. My work is most rewarding when I witness this transformation—watching a group of individuals embark on their EOS journey and evolve into a cohesive, high-performing team.

I see leaders lean into the discomfort of holding each other accountable, emerging stronger and more united. They align around a shared vision, celebrate their wins together, and provide unwavering support during challenging times. It’s a privilege to witness teams navigate failures, rebuild together, and grow even stronger. I’ve also seen team members face personal struggles only to be lifted up by the care and strength of their team.

These moments of resilience, trust, and growth are what make my work so fulfilling. Watching leaders transform not just their businesses but also their relationships and personal lives is a constant reminder of the power of teamwork and shared vision.

Celebrating and supporting each other creates a team that is determined to succeed.  As Lencioni says in his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (the main book that preceded the book mentioned above), “A healthy team can dominate any industry, at any time, against any competition.”  If you sense your team isn’t as healthy as it could be, and you need help getting it where you want it to be, please get in touch with me.  Together, we can transform your flock of leaders pecking at each other into a team of leaders who are working together toward a common vision.

A few days ago I made my morning walk up to the chickens with the dogs.  As I approached the gate, I saw Sven, our rooster, standing with his back to the gate in what appeared to be a protective stance.  Sven is 2 years old and to date hasn’t been aggressive with me or the other hens.  My first thought was that perhaps that “switch” had flipped in his head and he was ready to fight.  I opened the gate and asked him if he was planning on moving.  As I did, I realized his spur was caught in the chicken netting and he was stuck.  He tried to free himself, but he couldn’t. He was so nervous with me so close that he kept trying to get away, making the situation worse.

I walked back to the house to get some snips and returned to the gate.  I was hoping I could cut the netting from under the gate, but that didn’t work. So, I slowly eased myself into the coop and crouched down next to him, within about 12 inches.  He stood completely still.

Slowly, I started to cut away the netting around his spur.  After four cuts, he was able to free himself and run away.  I watched him for a bit to make sure he wasn’t injured. He looked OK, but he wasn’t quite as “cocky” as he normally is.

I walked back to the house feeling pretty good about myself and saving my rooster.  But then I started to think about him.  He’d been stuck and had to succumb to my help in order to get free.  I’m sure that was hard for him at some deep chicken level.

I wonder, if I had been in his shoes, could I have stood there and waited to be cut free?  Knowing myself, I would have struggled for a long time before I actually asked for help.  I believe I am not alone –  a lot of people have that same challenge. It can be humbling and sometimes demoralizing to admit we can’t do it alone.

I have always been the person who is willing to step in and help others, but when I need someone to lean on, it is very difficult for me to admit it and even more difficult to actually ask for help.

However, what I have learned in the past year is that my relationships with my clients, my friends and my family are deeper when I share what is going on in my life, including areas where I’m struggling and need help.  It has taken me a long time to get to the point where I could do that, much less write about it.  A wise person in my life once told me, “You can’t truly be of service to others until you allow others to serve you.”

When you look at yourself and the people around you, are you paying attention to what is going on in their lives?  Are you creating an environment where people are comfortable asking for help?  Are you slowing down and really connecting or are you double booked, often cancelling your one-on-ones for things that seem more urgent in the moment?

Looking inward, are you allowing others to help you, or are you trying to project the image of someone who has it all together? If this is hard for you, I understand.  But developing deep, meaningful relationships requires honesty and vulnerability.

Still not convinced?  Research shows that companies with a culture of belonging and caring have less turnover, higher productivity and are more profitable.  Sounds like a win-win proposition!  If you see the value but aren’t sure how to start, please reach out to me.  I’m here to listen and support you on this journey.

During a recent trip to Europe, I had a chance to meet up with our German friends and travel with them through Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic and Austria. They had visited us last summer and left inspired to get chickens. So, last October, Burkhart went to work building his chicken coop and eventually got his first chickens in May of this year. He had a lot of adventures as he began his journey to become Chicken Daddy, including outsmarting a clever chicken who learned how to escape the coop, dealing with broody hens and setting up the coop so the hens would lay eggs in the coop and not in random places on their property. During our recent travels, I shared some of the things I’ve learned in an effort to reduce his steep learning curve. After all the help I received from my chicken coach and the chicken whisperer, it felt good to help another aspiring chicken dad on his egg-laying journey.

The fact is there are always people who want to help others be successful in their endeavors, whether it be around raising chickens, traveling through Europe or running a business.

In the work I do, I have the privilege to walk alongside business owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs and support them as they navigate the challenges of running a business. Running a business is hard work. It requires dedication, grit and, often, sacrifice of time and personal resources. Many business owners feel they are alone in facing the challenges of running a business – they can’t share those issues with their employees, friends or even family.

About five years ago, I was coaching a few employees of a local business. During that time, I developed a great working relationship with the CEO. About two years ago during a meeting with this CEO, he started sharing all he was doing with his management team. When he finished, I asked, “Do you feel the weight of running this business squarely on your shoulders?” He took a deep breath and said, “Yes, and it is exhausting.” I suggested that a peer advisory group such as Vistage would allow him to interact with other business owners who could help him navigate some of the challenges he was facing. I introduced him to a Vistage chair, and he joined the group. A year later, he called me up and said, “I see the value of Vistage for me. Now, I need an operating system for the company. Let’s talk about EOS.”

A year into their EOS journey, the leadership team has really embraced EOS and the changes it has brought about. When I asked a leadership team member to name the greatest impact that EOS has had on the company, he said, “Honestly, it is the CEO. With clarity of vision and having the right accountability chart, he is letting go and allowing us to run our departments, which is freeing him up to do what he is really good at.”

So, let me ask you: Do you have a coach who is going to help you achieve your full potential? Are you part of a peer advisory group that can help you solve issues in your business while maintaining confidentiality? Do you have a business operating system that will allow you and your company to achieve your full potential? If not, please reach out to me. Together, we can find the best resources to support you on your journey.

Have you heard the phrase, “Well, you’re no spring chicken?” As you can imagine, the subtext is that chickens are typically born in spring.  For me, that means at least one of my chickens is going to be broody.  In case you are a chicken novice, a “broody” hen wants to gather a clutch of eggs, incubate them and ultimately hatch them. The first step in this “broodiness” is gathering eggs to sit on until she has an appropriate number in her clutch.

In my experience, that “appropriate” number in a clutch can exceed 12 eggs. So we intervene. Considering the size of my coop and the number of potential broody hens, we have settled on six eggs being an ideal clutch size.  Once a hen goes broody, we mark the designated eggs and then, on a daily basis, lift the broody hen up and remove all unmarked eggs from her clutch.  Depending on the hen, her acceptance of this daily handling can vary from a quiet “growl” to all-out pecking at the handler.  Other than occasionally leaving the coop to eat and poop, she will sit on her eggs for three weeks.

A few days prior to the expected egg-hatching date, we relocate her and her eggs to a separate coop.  Every morning, I check on her.  Her typical response is to puff up her feathers and lowly growl at me.  But inevitably that changes once her peeps arrive.  At some point she’ll puff up even more, and her growling will become much more aggressive.  That is the clue to listen for the first of “the peeps.”  The hen hovers over her brood until all the peeps have hatched.

Once her brood is complete, she will start to parade them outside the coop.  She teaches them how to eat, pulling food out of the feeder and putting it on the ground for the peeps.  She will show them how to peck at the grass looking for bugs.  During that time, her protective nature moves into high gear.  If she feels threatened by me, she will charge at me with all her feathers fanned out, keeping herself between me and her peeps.  Over the next week as her peeps become more self-sufficient, her aggression will mellow out a bit.  She’ll still make her motherly clucking noises to alert her peeps of potential threat, but if I need to enter the coop to refresh the food or water, she won’t charge me.

As I reflect on a hen’s behavior through these stages, it is apparent that her behavior changes with the needs of her clutch.  For a whole host of reasons, I’m not going to compare the stages of raising peeps to the stages of raising humans.  However, I am going to compare them to the care and development of employees.

Every organization needs people to achieve its vision.  There is no way around this.  Yes, the type of work we need done may change over time, but we need people.  As humans, we are unique beings who are constantly growing and (we hope) evolving.  As such, every team member is at a different stage in their professional and personal development.  Some employees come into the organization with a lot of knowledge but not a lot of experience in the position they were hired to fill.  Some employees have amazing talent but are missing some of the soft skills needed to thrive in their position.  And some employees want to grow their skills in order to advance their careers.  Regardless of where each of your team members are, they all need a manager who cares for them and wants to help them develop.

Have you ever stopped to consider what stage your employees are in and what they need from you to be successful? When they come to you with an issue, are you solving the issue for them or taking the time to help them solve it for themselves?

I don’t know about you, but when someone comes to me with an issue, I struggle with the temptation to jump in and solve it for them. As I like to say, I’m really good at solving other people’s problems. Mine, not so much.

We love to solve other people’s problems for various reasons.  One reason is that it takes time to coach someone through finding the solution for themselves. Another reason, if we are honest with ourselves, is we like to be the hero. But when we solve the problem for another person, we prevent them from finding their own solution and ultimately owning that solution. This robs them of the opportunity to do the hard work, come up with the right solution and grow in confidence once they solve the issue.

Depending on the stage the employee is in, they may need more or less guidance to find the right solution.  But, regardless of the stage they are in, this guidance needs to come in the form of questions, not directives.  Instead of giving answers, perhaps ask, “How could you solve this issue?” Or “What are some solutions to this problem?” If they don’t know, ask them, “What are some options?” Or, “If someone came to you with this issue, what would you suggest?”

Then keep asking them, “and what else?” until you feel they have enough options to consider.  Then ask, “Which of these solutions would yield the best result?” and maybe, “What makes you say that?”  The magic is in letting them work through the issue while you prompt them with questions along the way.

A few years ago, I was on a call with one of my clients.  She was frustrated with the business and felt she needed a new business model.  I began asking her questions about what made her feel that way, what issues she saw, what changes she could make.  Over the course of an hour, by addressing these questions, she was able to identify changes she needed to make.  At the end of the conversation, she thanked me for helping her solve her problem. I told her all I did was ask questions and she identified the changes all on her own.  She was actually surprised when she realized I hadn’t made a single suggestion.  The conversation made her feel more confident in her decision-making skills.

After the call, I thought more about my part of the conversation.  I realized asking questions rather than telling her what to do was hard work.  I felt the internal struggle between telling her how I thought she should run her business and slowing down to listen to her and ask thoughtful questions to help her make the right decisions for her business. The truth is – it isn’t my business, and I couldn’t possibly know what the right business model should be for her. For me to think otherwise is just arrogance on my part.

How about you?  Are you playing the hero in your employee’s story? Or are you allowing them to grow in confidence by asking insightful questions?  If you need some coaching on how to ask insightful questions, please reach out to me. I won’t solve the issue for you, but I will ask thought-provoking questions and share some resources that have helped me.

For some reason, when I introduce pullets into the greater flock, my older chickens seem to regress. They start chasing the pullets away from the food, squawking at each other, and in general not being very nice to the newcomers. I get they need to re-establish their pecking order, but do they really need re-learn how to be a kind chicken? My biggest frustration is that this means the new chickens are forced to sleep in the nesting boxes. When the younger hens try to jump onto the roosting bar, the older hens start pecking at them. Last summer, we ended up with four hens roosting on the bars and the remaining nine pullets crammed into the nesting boxes. While dogs don’t like to sleep in their pee or poop, apparently chickens don’t care. So we end up with messy nesting boxes, and “poopy” eggs.

This spring I was determined to address this issue once and for all. And you know what? I solved it! I put a board in front of the nesting boxes right before the chickens went to bed, forcing them to figure out how to coexist on the roosting bar. It felt like I took another step toward enhancing my chicken mama skills.

I shared this excitement with my husband, but he really didn’t seem too impressed. I know, the fix didn’t take a lot of effort, but it did take me some time to figure out. I have been struggling with this issue for three years!

I am on a journey to become a chicken mama, and that means I’ll have small wins and a few losses along the way. Three years ago, some of you may recall, we lost all but one hen and one rooster during the Great Chicken Massacre. It was a painful experience, but we went through it together. It seems only right that if we are going to suffer together, we should also celebrate together! So I coached my husband that I wanted him to celebrate with me, regardless of the size of the win.

Recently, I have become aware that some of my leadership teams aren’t celebrating their successes together either. At the beginning of each session as part of the check-in, I ask each team member to share one personal and one professional highlight since we last met. Sometimes a team member will quickly read off their wins with their head down, then move on to the rest of the check-in. When this happens, I wonder why. Is the team member uncomfortable sharing the wins? Is there something happening in the team that is preventing them from celebrating together? Or are they just focused on the task at hand?

Being on a leadership team can be very challenging, and team members often feel the weight of leading the company. As I tell my teams, you get to take credit for all the great things happening in the business, but you also have to take responsibility for all the problems in the business: lack of cash to cover payroll, not enough sales to hit the quarterly targets, sticky personnel issues. In any company, though, there are also great things happening. And if we don’t stop and celebrate the progress being made, as well as the great things happening in our personal lives, we are missing an opportunity to grow closer as a team.

One thing I often tell my clients is, “A great team working together can solve anything.” However, being a great team means being a healthy team. This means being willing to be vulnerable with each other, calling each other out, challenging each other. In Patrick Lencioni’s book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” he says a team that focuses on collective results “enjoys success and suffers failure acutely.” I don’t know about you, but having someone to enjoy success and suffer failure with seems a lot better to me than having to experience all of that alone.

So, the next time one of your team members shares a win in their work or in their personal life, I’m going to encourage you to stop and celebrate with them. If they feel uncomfortable celebrating, ask them why. Ask them if they are getting the support they need from the team. Remain committed to ensuring that your leadership team is a healthy team, so it can serve as a model for the rest of the company to emulate. If you see your team struggling to work together toward a common vision, please reach out to me. My passion is helping leadership teams become healthy and cohesive, not a bunch of hens pecking at each other.

Sally, our lone survivor of the Great Chicken Massacre of May 2021, is a feisty hen.  While Sven is at the top of my flock’s pecking order, I’d bet money that Sally is the top hen.  I’ve seen her peck at the younger hens when they wanted to roost next to her at night or chase them away if they have a little morsel of treat that she wants for herself. Last year, she went broody in early spring, but we weren’t ready to add peeps to our flock. When I kicked her off her eggs every day to collect them, she would aggressively peck at me.  This occurred every day for over 3 weeks until she finally gave up.  She went broody two more times during the spring and summer before we finally agreed to let her hatch those eggs.

When her chicks hatched, look out! Sally would fiercely defend those chicks by attacking any potential threat including other hens, peeps from another clutch, or one of my dogs that got too close for her comfort.  At one point a chick from another brood wandered over to Sally, not realizing this wasn’t her “mom,” and Sally grabbed that chick by the neck and tossed her away.

A few years ago, we ended up with a plethora of broody hens.  We had eggs and broody hens all over the coop.  Sally hatched her chicks first, and in order to make room for the other broody hens, we moved Sally and her chicks from the hatching coop (a.k.a. the birthing coop) into the main coop.  The next evening, I went to check on them and there was Sally, sitting on her own chicks and someone else’s eggs, while the two broody hens were huddled off to the side (and not on eggs).  Even funnier was that our rooster, Hei Hei, was sitting on the remainder of the eggs.

But youth doesn’t last forever.  I’ve recently realized that Sally isn’t laying eggs anymore.  She might be a feisty hen and a great momma hen, but her job is to lay eggs.  So, here I am – wrestling with the hard decision of what to do with her.  Sure, I could keep her and let her live out her life at Marlee Acres.  But I only have room for 11 hens, and if I keep her, I am limiting the number of egg-producing hens I can care for.  She is my oldest hen, and she has been a great hen, but I wonder: is it time to put her out to pasture?

How many business owners struggle with this same challenge? You have a long-term employee who has been loyal through hard times, but as your business grows, it feels like perhaps the company has outgrown her.  How do we balance loyalty with the needs of the company?

Let’s take the emotional piece out of it for a moment.  I believe the greatest gift we can give our employees is the opportunity to do work they love and excel at.  This should also include the ability to assess their own performance and progress, independent of feedback from their manager.  In the world of EOS, that is what makes the Data Component, specifically what we call the measurable, so powerful.  A measurable is any number that an employee is accountable for keeping on track every week; it is activity-based and within the employee’s control.  People who GWC their seat (Get It, Want It, have the Capacity to Do It) are motivated to keep their measurable on track.

We can find a good example of a measurable in the sales seat.  Closing new accounts is an obvious goal for a sales person. But closing new accounts is a by-product of other sales activities. So let’s break those down. What actions would a person in the sales seat need to do on a weekly basis to ensure they are closing the desired number of new accounts?  Is it a certain number of phone calls completed? Sales presentations made? Or something else? The answer to those questions is a great measurable for someone in the sales seat.

Often when I ask a sales person their goal for number of weekly sales calls, what I hear is “as many as I can.”  I have no idea what that means – do you?  As Zig Ziglar said, “You will never hit a goal that you don’t set.” Sales can be a tough grind, but having clarity on weekly targets can motivate people to stay focused during inevitable droughts.

The goal is to make sure everyone in your organization has at least one number they are accountable for keeping on track.  If you haven’t done that yet, look at the 5 roles each seat is accountable for on the accountability chart.  What would be an activity that a person sitting in that seat could complete every week that would result in success in that role? Or think about specific activities that would lead to improvement in that particular seat.  The measurables don’t have to stay the same forever; just pick one or two where an improvement could help the company move toward achieving its vision. Then revisit those measurables on a quarterly basis.

If you are struggling with this concept, EOS Worldwide posted this article around how to find good measurables for HR.  It may spur some good ideas within your leadership team.

Now, about that employee you fear the company has outgrown: does that person have a measurable they’re responsible for keeping on track every week?  Is that number within their control?  Are they hitting that number?  Do they GWC their seat?  I firmly believe that every employee wants to come to work and do a good job, so I’d encourage you to make it easy for that employee to understand what a good job looks like.

But what if you have a “Sally,” someone who isn’t performing in that seat?  One option is to do nothing: leave her in the seat and let her perform to the level she is capable of.  The downside of this is you’re sending a message to the rest of the employees that the goal of having all the right people in the right seat doesn’t apply to everyone.  Another option: you could move that employee to another seat she is more suited for.  Or, finally, you can encourage her to move on to a greener pasture where she will have the opportunity to spread her wings and fly.

As you decide how to handle this situation, consider what is best for the greater good of the organization.

Need help talking through your issue? I’m an email or phone call away.  Together, we can find a solution that allows you to honor your core values while respecting the contribution this employee has made to your organization. And if anyone would like a feisty, aging hen, I’d be happy to ship her to you.

My chicken coach is always looking for ways to spoil her chickens.  I remember when she asked her husband to spend $50 on a chicken swing so they chickens could have something fun to play on and his response was there was no way they were spending that kind of money on a swing (I’m proud to say that I built my chickens a swing and all it cost me was the effort of assembling the swing out of recycled materials). My chicken whisperer takes her chickens for a walk after a good rain so they can eat all the worms on the driveway.   These chickens owners really love their chickens and in return, the chickens reward them with eggs o’ plenty.

I enjoy my chickens as well.  I enjoy watching them, especially after making a change in their coop.  They are such inquisitive animals that they just can’t help but go check out any little change I make in their area:  additional food, new toys, or even mice traps.  They will inspect it, peck at it and inevitably start moving things around.

Since my chickens are somewhat famous, I frequently get asked, “Julie, what’s going on with your chickens?” Typically, I smile and say they are doing great.

However, last fall, when my chickens weren’t laying, I was frustrated.  I was doing all the hard work and not getting the rewards for my effort.  During this egg-laying drought, when people would ask me, “how are your chickens?” I’d respond with a sigh and say, “They are fine.”

As much as I enjoy watching the chickens, the purpose of having chickens is to have fresh eggs.  And when they aren’t producing, it is frustrating.  Yes, I still care for them, make sure they have food and water, clean their coop, and bring them treats, but without eggs, it isn’t all that much fun.  I know that this dip in egg production is normal but I can’t help but wonder in the back of my mind if maybe this dip is due to something more than the seasonal lack of daylight.  And this little thought tends to cloud my enjoyment of being a chicken mama.

As a business owner, I know that my business goes through normal cycles.  But when sales are down or I’m having an issue with a client, it can be a bit unsettling.  In my mind, I know this is normal and I need to stay focused on the bigger picture, but some days that feels so hard.

I know I’m not alone in feeling the weight of running a business that doesn’t seem to be performing at the level that it should be.  This weight can lead to feeling like I did during my egg laying drought, and telling yourself and others, the business is “fine.”

When I’m implementing EOS with my clients, I tell them they are not allowed to say the “F word” in my session room.  I don’t want to hear Fine or Sure from them. I want them to get energized, fired up, frustrated, angry, and excited.  Because if the leadership team isn’t feeling that way, how can they possibly expect the employees to bring their best self to the business every day?

Yes, businesses go through really difficult times.  And those difficult times require the leadership team to dig in and solve the issues that are preventing the business from moving through them. That desire to solve those issues requires energy.  As Albert Einstein said, “You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.”

A recent client was struggling with cash flow.  They had grown very fast, and as you know, growth requires cash.  But they were cash strapped and it was impacting every single aspect of the business.  The leadership team walked into my session room with the weight of the business on their shoulders. The CFO was so stressed, she wasn’t sleeping, and the owner had made himself physically ill from the stress.   “How are you?” I asked.  “Fine,” they replied.  “Are you excited for today’s session?” Sure, they sighed.  The weight in the room was so heavy.  I realized I had my work cut out for me that day.

When we got to issue solving, they were overwhelmed with how to work with the short-term cash flow issues while they secured the financing that was soon to come. We worked through the IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve) tool, starting with identifying the issue, then listing potential solutions.  At first, they let their current frame of mind limit their thinking, but I just kept writing down any idea they came up with. From there, the team identified some significant actions they could take to address the issue in the short term.  As they looked at the list of actions, they started to perk up a bit.

I turned to the team and said, what do you think?  Does this feel like we are identifying some solutions to address this problem?  Instead of the “Sure” I had been hearing all day, I started to see some head nodding.

We took that momentum and turned to another issue that need to be solved.  The team used the same process and came up with some great action-oriented solutions.  I could see some smiles on their faces and I knew we were making progress.

I asked the team, do you think these actions will have a significant impact on your short-term cash flow issue? And the head of operations smiled and said, “Hell, yes!”

Your employees, your customers and your families need you to put the energy into solving the issues facing your organization with energy and passion.  If you don’t have that, how can you possibly expect them to bring that energy?

Are you facing a challenge in your business and you aren’t sure how to solve it? Does your leadership team feel weighed down by these challenges and you aren’t sure how to energize them?  If so, please reach out to me.  I can work with you and your leadership team to provide the tools to help you solve the greatest challenges facing your business, so you can go from “Fine” to “Hell Yes.”

I am always energized by the winter solstice. Yes, it marks the time that our daylight starts to increase. But even more exciting for me is that it is around the time when my pullets start laying eggs. Since hens need about 15 hours of daylight in order to lay eggs, egg production will drop off in the fall/winter. However, once pullets (hens less than 1 year of age) reach about 20 weeks of age, they will lay through the winter.

Once early December arrives, I live in anticipation of finding an egg in the nesting box. Every morning I go up and eagerly peek into the box hoping to find an egg. And this year, I have been disappointed every day past winter solstice and Christmas. My hens looked healthy, they were eating and drinking, walking around the chicken run. But they were not laying eggs.

My fellow chicken mamas were all reporting that their hens were laying eggs. So, at about that point, I started questioning my chicken mama skills. What is wrong with me? What is wrong with my chickens? How did I fail my chickens? Why did I think I could be a chicken mama? I even considered selling my coop and chickens. I know this isn’t helpful for my chickens or for me, but that didn’t stop me from descending into chicken mama purgatory.

Then, on December 26th, I took a step back out of my funk and thought about what I could do for them to encourage egg production. As I considered my options, I decided to give them some fresh oyster shells. Oyster shells are used as a supplement for hens to augment their calcium intake to help them produce strong shells. I emptied the oyster shell feeder on the ground and filled it with fresh shells.

Hens are very inquisitive. They will inspect anything that is changed in their area including new bedding in the coop, mouse traps, food scraps or even weeds from the garden.

So, as soon as I left the coop, they promptly inspected their new shells.

The next day, I was rewarded with an egg. My first egg in 2 months.

Now, you could say that correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation, but I’m just going to go with it. Whatever it was, I am finally getting eggs! Life at the coop continues to be productive and I’m feeling much better about my chicken mama skills!

So, let me ask you. Has your company ever failed to produce the results you desire and you have no idea how to fix that situation? Did you go down that rabbit hole and start questioning yourself as a leader? Wondering if you have the skills to run a business or department? If you have, you are not alone.

However, that line of thinking isn’t productive. And while you may know that deep down inside, it is often so hard to pull yourself out of it.

I was recently talking with a business owner who was extremely frustrated with the performance of his company. As he analyzed the situation, he kept returning to perspective of “what have I done wrong?” However, once we started to talk it through, he began to see the real issue. And the issue was that he was tolerating unacceptable behavior from members of his leadership team. That clarity gave him the courage to make the changes that needed to be made.

I encourage all of my leaders to take Clarity Breaks so they can remove themselves from the day-to-day operation of the business and look at situations from different perspectives. I think we all get stuck in the weeds and forget how important it is to take a step back and look at the situation from different angles. A change in perspective often brings different solutions. The perspective could be that of an employee, a stakeholder not involved in the day-to-day operation, or even a customer. Try asking, “what does this situation need that it currently isn’t getting?”

If you find yourself questioning your skills as a manager, owner, or leader, this is a great clue that you may be in need of a clarity break. And if you get to the point where you realize you need some help solving that issue, remember, I’m just an email away. Together, we can work towards an egg-cellent solution that is in the best interest of all parties.

The fall weather is upon us. The days are getting shorter and nights are getting cooler. Since chickens can’t see well in the dark, they start heading to bed much earlier and sleeping in much later. Even Sven, our sweet rooster, delays his crowing until about 5:30 in the morning (a nice change from the 3:30 AM start in the peak of summer). Hens need about 15 hours of daylight to lay an egg, so unless I add light to their coop, this also means that my egg production is on the decline. The good news is that I do have some pullets (hens that are less than a year old), and once they start laying, they will lay throughout the winter (oh, the joys of being young). So in the next few months, egg production will start to increase again.

However, the biggest challenge for this time of the year is making sure the chickens are prepared for winter. They need enough warmth in the coop during those cold spells we tend to get in the Pacific Northwest. (I know, it’s nothing like the insane winter temperatures the Midwest experiences.)

The tricky part is that I don’t have power available at the coop. So, I’m forced to find other ways to generate heat. Every summer, I completely empty out the coop and fill it with fresh pine shavings. I need to do this early enough in the summer so that the poop the chickens drop on to the shavings as they roost at night has enough time to start decomposing, which generates heat. By the time the cold weather comes around, the goal is to have at least 4 inches of fresh and not-so-fresh shavings on the bottom of the coop.

This all sounds great except that my pullets are currently not being allowed to roost in the coop. They are being forced to cuddle up in the nesting boxes. Last week, I spotted five hens and one rooster roosting on the roosting bars, while the other 11 (a combination of cockerels and pullets) were crammed into the two nesting boxes. If one of them tries to roost, one of the older hens pecks at him. So how do I get my youngsters to start roosting and pooping in the main part of the coop?

I should have seen this coming, as the same thing happened last year, but I neglected to do anything about it. And so, in an effort to stop this vicious cycle, I’m going to fix this issue, once and for all.

This is a common challenge for my clients as well. They know they need to focus on fixing certain issues in the business, but without a strong commitment and focus, things just keep rolling along, albeit with a bit of frustration. One of the tools that I teach them is the importance of setting rocks. Rocks are just 90-day business priorities. The term “rocks” came from Verne Harnish’s concept of life being a glass jar, and we decide what to add to our glass jar. We have rocks (the big priorities), pebbles (day-to-day tasks), sand (daily interruptions) and water (everything else). Most people start by adding water, then sand, then pebbles and ultimately don’t have room for rocks. So, I encourage my clients to start with the most important priorities and then add the pebbles, sand and water.

As the leadership team comes together, they look at their 3-year picture and 1-year plan and then come up with the most important things they need to focus on in the upcoming 90 days. We start with what the company needs to focus on, then expand to what each member of the leadership team needs to focus on. Ultimately, we want to end up with 3-7 rocks for the company and 3-7 rocks for each member of the leadership team. I encourage them to write SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound), or at least define what “done” looks like. Once the team agrees on the priorities, everyone goes back to work with a focus on getting those rocks completed.

In a recent session with a client that has been running on EOS for a while, I was able to observe them really challenge each other on what the priorities were and what they could realistically complete in the next 90 days. It took a while for the team to hash out the priorities to the point that every member of the team was excited and ready to get to work on getting them done.

Unfortunately for me, my hens are not aligned around my rock of getting everyone roosting at night and pooping in the right place. This makes my job quite a bit harder, but I am determined to apply the necessary focus to complete this rock so I don’t let my flock down.

How about you? Do you know what your business priorities are for the next quarter? Is the team working together to ensure those rocks are completed? Or do you feel like you are a bunch of chickens pecking at each other and preventing progress? A new year is just around the corner, and if you want to set yourself up for success for 2024, reach out to me today. I can help your team work together to achieve a vision that is beneficial for all of you!