Weekly newsletter #49
The best of what I've read this week, about operations, training and education, communication, and more
Hello!
I hope you are already having a happy new year!
I have been working on my goals and roadmap for the year, which includes a mix of personal and professional:
Make my business profitable enough to support my living expenses and business expenses 💵
This is a failed 2023 goal that will be more realistic in 2024, since I now have a few completed products for sale and the marketing engine has been started.
Including making a full suite of employee onboarding educational products…once you have documentation, you can create a great onboarding program! Sign up here to help with that future research.
Finish my book 📚
Another failed 2023 goal, so I am working to reserve and respect more time for it in 2024 since publishing a book is a life goal.
Once the book is done, start a master’s degree in instructional design 🎓
I get a big discount from my part-time university job, and the competency-based program can be sped up or slowed down as needed.
Reserve time to spend with a friend(s) once a week 😄
I moved closer to several of my friends in 2023 (which also reduced my living expenses by 50% 🎉) so this goal should be achievable! And it will remind me to take breaks from working.
Enough about me. Now, onto the weekly resources that hopefully help you achieve your goals!
Thanks to this week’s sponsor:
Ben Stroup’s newsletter — The Velocity Factor. I highly recommend subscribing!
Last week’s most popular link: A tie!
Natalie Furness shares tips for building a RevOps department in 2024
Darrell Alfonso shares trends from the Marketing Ops super huddle event
What I've been reading, watching, and listening to:
Justin Norris writes about how to position your marketing operations team as a strategic business partner
Randi-Sue Deckard shares a ‘Fearless’ framework for leadership
Matthew Volm writes about how RevOps is the collection of, not different than, the combination of other Ops
Jeff Ignacio writes about transitioning into leadership in RevOps
Mallory Lee writes about the great tool fatigue of 2023
Ben Meer writes about how to manage up at work with a Friday highlights email
Heidi Kirby shares how to respond to a training request
Kyle Coleman writes about the chicken-and-egg situation of being blocked from manager jobs because you haven’t managed people before (with a documentation mention!)
Blaine Tetterton writes about project management in marketing operations
Travis Scott shares how to win a first project when changing careers and how transparency builds trust
Kathryn Montbriand writes about exercises to help you envision your ideal future
Jessica D’Amato Crosby writes about what happens if you’re afraid to delegate
Sean Lane shares a buying journey graphic
Ethan Evans writes how office politics are the number one career blocker clients cite
The Secret CFO sums up financial management in 280 characters
Ben Stroup writes about how goal setting is not a linear process
Ali Schwanke writes about a training request to bring marketing in-house
Articles, Reports, Guides, Newsletters
Al Dea writes about Ideas For The World of Work in 2024
Alicia Butler Pierre writes about The X-Matrix: Don’t Start 2024 Without This Strategic Planning Tool
Team ProcessDriven writes (and has a video) about 9 Ways to Stop Overdue Tasks Causing Overwhelm & Stress
Wes Kao writes about how anger management made her a better leader
Lyssa Test writes a guide on people strategy
Ben Stroup writes about Strategic Decision-Making: Unlock the Potential of Decision Support
Kathryn Montbriand writes How a one-page role charter saves her from Chief of Staff headaches
Harvard Business Review ($) writes about The Hard Questions to Ask When Planning Your Strategy
Greg Alexander at Harvard Business Review ($) asks: Are You a “Bottleneck Boss”?
Addy Osmani writes about the power of starting: First do it, then do it right, then do it better
Podcasts & Webinars
Marc Hans discusses being Gracious in Victory and Humble in Defeat and chats with Maris Garcia on the Think Differently video podcast
David Nebinski and Lani Assaf discuss the book “Four Thousand Weeks”
Jill Felska and Lois Weinblatt discuss building visions and combatting burnout on the Want to Work There podcast
Kim Scott and Lenny Rachitsky discuss Radical Candor on Lenny’s newsletter podcast
Christy Tucker discusses Scenario-Based Learning in Higher Ed
Featured Events or Classes:
January 10 - Engage & Elevate: Strategies for Personal Networking and Community Success from Leslie Greenwood and Rachel Rozen
January 31 - The Gold Standard of Leadership Development from Pavilion
Ongoing - Top Ops Mastermind for Operations Experts from Beyond the Chaos
Ongoing - People Analytics 101 course from Tskhay & Associates
Featured Book:
Featured Jobs:
A Few Ways I Can Help You
Does your job have a professional development budget that was refilled for 2024? 🚀
How to document your business processes: 2-week live class
How to write a clear process anyone can follow: 3-hour workshop
Create a system to keep documentation in use and updated: 2.5-hour workshop
The on-demand version of ‘How and Why to Document Your Business Processes’ is always available when you’re ready!