Availability

When talking about the process of evaluating players, Former NFL Executive and current ESPN analyst said in an interview: "The best ability is availability". I've never heard someone articulate this point in such a succinct fashion and it resonated with me. It's true in sports, but it's also true in the workplace.

We cannot succeed at anything we do, in any aspect of our life, if we're not there, where we need to be, participating. You can have the most talented player in the world, but if he/she is constantly hurt or otherwise not able to play, what good are they to a team? How can they help you win?

Many of us have had employees with some Rockstar qualities. Perhaps most the most typical scenario is a very good salesperson who seems to land clients that no one else can. However, that same employee may have other qualities or circumstances that keep them from showing up at work every day and as a result, they never reach their potential or even worse, they're too much of a headache to even keep on staff.

The importance of being available goes beyond internal issues and employees in your office. As a consulting firm, we regularly talk about marketing and business development with our customers, and from my perspective, being available is easily the #1 most important thing. Be there. Show up. Everything else follows getting yourself out there and talking to people.

At Grey Elephant, we've dedicated ourselves to being available to our clients twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. We show up at every relevant trade show that we can and do our best to speak with everyone. As we turn the page to 2017, think about how you can make yourself more available to clients and potential clients and we all but guaranty that you'll see positive results!