Jason A. Belt

Coalesce – come together to form one mass or whole.

recent posts

About Me…

  • I’m a dad, husband, friend, and son
  • I am a nerd and I love sports
  • I love learning about new things
  • I am fueled by solving problems with people and building teams

  • Why did I start a blog?

    My brothers visited me in the Mitten this weekend and as always we had a blast! We usually start with some insults, laughs, and hugs, and then we love to watch football, visit a few pubs, and just unwind.

    After the dust settled from the back-slapping and merciless jokes, one of them asked me with a side-eyed smirk; ‘So you are blogging…. why?’

    Then the other sat his beer down turned toward us and grinned; ‘Wait, J is blogging… what?!?!’

    So, I told them this;

    I have always taken detailed notes. Almost every project and client interaction are documented. Every win. Every mistake. Every time I had a conversation and chose door #1, then when looking back I probably should have chosen a different door, or hallway, or left the building.

    So, I have years of experience documented and maybe these notes will help someone. I am able to look back and review lessons learned and also apply these notes, turning them into a historical record, in small snippets that are digestible and practical. I love making things and it gives me an outlet in that regard as well.

    Another reason is that I have kids and they will have kids, so what better way to record who I was than documenting what I did, what I think, and what I care(ed) about?

    The last reason I found in this process is to help new managers that might be able to glean some tips, tricks, practical skills, and even some support from these notes turned blog posts.

    In all of these experiences, I was on the front lines of many problems and I did not have any experience tackling them as a manager. Fresh out of college, bachelor’s degree in business management in hand, I had no clue how to manage, let alone lead people… I had to sit back and work the problem, take notes, make connections, whiteboard, and boil things down into processes and systems that actually made sense and that people actually used.

    Over 60% of new managers report not having any sort of support after promotion into their new roles. So, there is a gap here and as a new manager 20 years ago I can recall how steep the learning curve was for me. So, with faster communication and decision-making expectations, so many more options in working scenarios, and generational blending, it’s no wonder first-time managers are feeling the heat, just like I did.

    What started out as a personal project for me, organically grew to include helping new leaders have practical skills, tools, and someplace to go for encouragement. I have a passion for taking the complex and conceptual and boiling things down into that practical and usable. If a process or tool is too complicated, then the adoption goes way down and it’s a waste of time let alone a stressor for everyone.

    So, If this blog helps someone or an organization apply some practical tools to improve their management, then I will be thrilled.

    My brothers have supported me over the years, so in the end, they loved the idea and the fact that they know I love to plan and organize things, so of course, they made fun of that aspect. ‘J is always planning and writing things…’ Love those guys.

    Happy note-taking!

    Jason

    jab@jasbelt.com

  • They sell it, We lose it… Who’s using it?

    They sell it, We lose it… Who’s using it?

    Many salespeople and companies focus on what Alec Baldwin hammers in the classic movie, Glengarry Glen Ross…

    ‘Always Be Closing’

    Well, If that’s your only focus as a company, you will have to ABC to outsell attrition.

    Let’s be real. Sales is hard, actually cold calling or warm dialing as the Sandler folks refer to it, maybe the hardest business profession ever. I have tried it, hated it, and it’s one of my many failures and lessons learned.

    Leaders at all levels of the organization need to take the handoff from the sales team, realize that getting that deal took 1000s of calls potentially, respect that, and then intentionally help the new client actually use the service or product they bought.

    Fancy people call this ‘Product Adoption’.

    Simple people say ‘You don’t use it, you lose it…’

    Here are some quick tips to bake this into your Sales, Ops, Account Management, or Delivery teams.

    • After the sale is complete, use an onboarding checklist and touch on the top 3-5 features they should know how to use
    • At the first Weekly, Monthly, and Quarterly account management meetings, ask how they are doing with those features
    • Each meeting you have with them bring usage stats and call out how the product is helping them, but then touch on a feature they could be using moving forward
    • Be a cheerleader for others in the organization to engage with current and new users by asking how they like specific features, or anything they would like changed

    Just like when I wrote about my sore 40-year-old muscles… If a new close /won client is onboarded and forgotten, they will forget you and then leave you wondering why your product or service lacked… when it could be that they just needed someone to help them actually use what your sales team closed and celebrated over coffee…

    Want to talk about some ways your leaders could enable ‘Product Adoption’ (people using the stuff your sales team sold) email me: jasbelt@gmail.com

  • Cape Coral, Fort. Myers, St. James City – Photos

    Cape Coral, Fort. Myers, St. James City – Photos

    Happy Sunday!

    I visited my brother Chris in August and took these photos during our adventures. He lives in Cape Coral Florida and as most people witnessed, the area was devastated by one of the worst Hurricanes in history.

    So, I wanted to take a few moments and share some of the photos from the trip and please keep these people in your thoughts as they rebuild. Yes, we love breweries and pubs.

    As for my brother, he is safe and sound and his place was thankfully 90% whole and now he is back to his regular routine along with helping some of the places pictured clean up and find some sense of normalcy.

    If you would like to help, here is an article written by a local news station in Cape Coral and surrounding areas impacted by hurricane Ian.

    All the best!

    Jason

    jab@jasbelt.com

  • Ripples under the surface

    Ripples under the surface

    These photos were captured from the dock at the family cottage in Northern Michigan. The wind impacting the water caused these ripples in the sand on the bottom.

    Makes me think of how many of us personally and professionally smile on the surface, but are just as complicated and wavy like these ripples below.

    Perhaps you work in an office, and depending on the culture, maybe it’s hard to candidly be yourself. You are the smooth water, but have some ripples below…

    So, something that helped me in the past was finding a work person you can connect with and be yourself, bounce ideas off them, and share some humor while you both are making good waves, together. People see you guys having fun, but still making those good waves, then little by little the culture changes and everyone is better off. Culture is contagious after all…

    Happy Saturday!

    Jason

    jab@jasbelt.com

  • Time blocking: Master of your domain?

    In this article published on inc.com, Tommy Mello describes the art of ‘time blocking’ where a leader or entrepreneur takes control of their calendar and sets specific blocks of time on their calendar to focus on the one main thing that will create the most value. He references how Musk and Gates do something similar, but how did they get to the place to even do this?

    When I hear the phrases control your calendar or block off time to focus, for some reason I think of the classic Seinfeld episode ‘The Contest‘. It is probably due to my juvenile male sense of humor, but being the master of your professional domain takes two other essentials.

    This article does a great job of calling out the two dependencies for any leader that wants to try time blocking.

    1. People – the right people to enable you as a leader and that will make the systems better for you. Without you having to supervise their decisions, they have a great handle on the expectations and make things move and improve without you there every minute.
    2. Systems that scale – Systems that bring out the best results for 10 people should also work for 100s of people. Some of these systems might be a simple project management program with automation or a simple checklist everyone uses.

    If a leader does not have the right people and then those people aren’t working in and helping to make the systems better, then time blocking will be a fool’s errand. Giving the right leaders space is also called delegation.

    Delegation is a skill that can be learned, especially if you are working with the right people. It is a combination of setting outcome-based expectations and then setting the leader free to find the outcome within the system, making adjustments on the way, and you as their leader building in checks or verification points to coach.

    So, find people that will invest in you, and the company systems, and can be trusted to produce outcomes, then time block away with checks and verification built in. Easy. Right?

    Do you or others struggle with time management?

    Are leaders delegating to the right people?

    Do you have simple and repeatable business systems?

    If any of those or other management issues ring true, send me an email, and let’s talk…

    Jason

    jab@jasbelt.com

  • The 40-year old cliff? No one told me…

    The 40-year old cliff? No one told me…

    Seems like every guy in their 40s has a similar story starting with, ‘In my younger days I made some bad choices with my body, and now my (body part) hurts…’

    I am no different and I would often complain of how my lower left side/back/hip was hurting and how it was frustrating to now be as capable as I was in my younger days…

    And to compound the tragedy… I noticed that on my 40th birthday, Apple decided to adjust my fitness expectations lower. This ‘cliff’ was determined by the expected maximum heart rate for my new age bracket.

    WHAT!?!

    Are you telling me that because of my age I am just metrically limited? Yes, this is apparently a fact of life.

    Not only did I feel it, my trusty sidekick, the Apple Watch, but was also telling me that I was doomed to a current and future life of limitations.

    So, I sat on this news for about a year. Stewed on it. Yes, one year… I had other things to do…

    Then about 4 months ago, I was dealing with some professional challenges, major stress, my watch beeping at me due to resting heart rate elevation during meetings, and my wife and I almost didn’t make it through a rim-to-rim in one day Grand Canyon challenge (Long Story), so I thought I need to hit this fitness gap head-on.

    First, I started by actually looking at the Cardio Fitness metric for what it really was: The maximum amount of oxygen according to my watch that my body can consume during exercise.

    So, simply… I can increase that number and my capability by exercising.

    ‘So do more things J’.

    So, I set two goals: I want to move the number higher and stop some of the aches and pains. Time to research stretching and activity options for the old guy…

    Second, I looked at ways to improve my flexibility and tapped into the yoga workouts on Apple Fitness and found the stretching to be helpful in alleviating some of the pain.

    Third, I started moving more and incorporating some bodyweight training.

    Fourth, upon deciding to make a professional change, with the consultation of my wife, I had the time (and brain space) to take on running and we both joined the Peloton community.

    It has been 3 months since I tackled these 4 things and I can report that I feel so much better and really have very little nagging body pain. My cardio fitness number has moved from 35 as reported on my 40th birthday too as of this morning I am above 35.7 in 3 months of fitness. So, on the way up! I enjoy eating cleaner than before and find a sense of achievement in beating my personal records on the Peloton Tread. I found a trainer that I like in Jon Hosking #clubhosky and the routine of doing something fitness each day gives me something to look forward to much like sports did when I was younger. Also, I found that escaping into the workout was so good mentally. The Peloton trainers are very good at pushing you and connecting remotely, which was probably the biggest surprise for me.

    So, people like me, in your 40s, complaining about your body hurting or being out of breath… It’s simple – if you don’t use it, you lose it.

    The simple plan above worked for me, but find what works for you.

    The Peloton Community and Apple Fitness have so many options, in fact, I just incorporated rowing via Apple Fitness last week and love it!

    If you are someone like I was 3 months or so ago, tired of being sore and thinking that you could do more physically, then I encourage you to find a routine that works for you. The key for me was to keep it simple. Make some easy rules like; 1. I will do something active each day and 2. I will eat whole foods 80% of the time.

    Keeping things simple has always enabled me to actually do the things and then find enjoyment faster vs stressing about a huge commitment.

    Good luck and do something fun today!

  • Knowing oneself: Quiet confidence

    Knowing oneself: Quiet confidence

    In 2019 I made a major shift in my career. This shift was to move from the role of an Operation Executive to the role of a Sales/Marketing Executive. In addition, this role was in an organization that has been in perpetual startup mode for years.

    So, I was excited about the new challenge to build a marketing and sales department from scratch, this challenge did prove to rock me mentally. I ran head-on into some serious self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and maybe a little panic. All things considered, I was doing well in that we were landing new business, but the company leader tended to be a person that would spend 45 minutes on one sentence in copy that he didn’t understand or if there was some sort of KPI in another department off, then entire meeting with other leaders or our 1 on 1 would be consumed by this ‘squirrel’ as we tended to label the jumping on one distraction.

    These squirrel phenomena became a major stressor for everyone and I found myself dreading the animal along with everyone else. We would be discussing a project with a client and then out of no-where, in a hedge or tree line somewhere close to left field, some squirrel would jump out and run on too the metaphorical field of play, stopping the game, and thus everyone on the meeting was forced to satisfy this critter before moving on…

    So, new to my role, and sometimes on the defensive and trying to anticipate the next ‘squirrel’ that may be waiting to jump out in my department, I found myself laying on the couch one day questioning my career choices and my capabilities. Maybe I was having a crisis of confidence or a small panic attack, but I knew something had to change.

    I often listen to podcasts and came across one featuring Dan Harris. He had written a book titled ‘10% Happier’ and his story as relayed on the podcast I was listening to at the time about his panic attack on live TV and how he was able to use meditation to find a better way to handle stress and push himself professionally. His experience and message spoke to me. I immediately bought the book and read it in a few days and the practical use of meditation was what I needed.

    Eventually, I tried the app Headspace due to the good reviews and its friendly and non-threatening presentation. I loved the intro classes and then subscribed to the service and have ever since. I meditate regularly, clear my mind, and find peace in being present in the moment, in the breath, and practice.

    To me, the benefits have been wonderful and to know that I have a quiet place, in my mind, where I can find that quiet confidence is truly a superpower.

    So thanks Dan and the people at Headspace!

  • Finding a view

    Finding a view

    I found this view while visiting a seasonal landmark in northern Michigan called, Leggs Inn. We went on their last day of the season this year and sitting there in their outdoor seating, looking at all of the wonderful fall colors, and taking in the fresh breeze from Lake Michigan was wonderful. If you want a great view, filled with nostalgia from a landmark, with awesome Polish food and a good selection of Polish and local craft beer, this is your place!

    I was able to enjoy this with my family and especially my 6-year-old daughter who loves to be outside and was extra cuddly with the cool breeze from the lake. Just the best.

    Where are you going to find your next view? Who are you going to share it with?

  • Stalling Costs

    In this blog entry by Seth Godin, How many good days, Seth mentions the concept of ‘stalling costs’. Or, when the stalling of a tough decision or work has cascading impacts across teams and organizations.

    I have been part of teams where the leader would not make a critical decision around a tough topic.

    How much time was wasted because of this indecision? How many of the leaders on the teams were left to wonder what would happen next? How did this lack of decision or willingness to work through the hard thing negatively impact morale across the entire company?

    Stalling costs can kill the morale, momentum, and overall focus of teams and companies.

    I love the thoughts here by Seth related to buying good days with working through tough times asap, but I also think that as leaders we also look at this from the perspective of cost and I love the visual we get from the term stalling cost.

    Leaders take responsibility and make the tough call. By doing so, we not only keep the team focussed and moving, but we also limit the distraction from stalling, which as Seth puts it, buys more good days…