How To Ensure Your Business Remains Innovative As It Grows

As companies get larger, there is a tendency for them to lose some of the innovative edge and versatility that defined them as start-ups and young enterprises. Several factors common to larger firms contribute to this, including increased bureaucracy and more rigid, hierarchical command structures.

Accordingly, one of the challenges that growing businesses face involves keeping the company nimble, and ensuring that the workforce and leadership alike continue to adapt to technology and changing market conditions.

Encourage experimentation, with some margin for error.

All businesses strive to offer products and services that are commercially viable, and for larger firms in particular, a preoccupation with maximizing shareholder value can intensify those commercial pressures. Unfortunately, a drive for immediate windfalls can undermine more sophisticated forms of innovation that require time and capital investment to develop.

Major innovations cannot happen without experimentation, and experimentation is inherently risky. Many successful businesses have invested in products and technologies that never really took off. (Think of Google Glass, or QR codes, for example.) To genuinely innovate, managers must be willing to take risks on novel concepts that may not always pan out.

Consider the potential, and not just past achievements, of job candidates.

In applying for a position at your company, job candidates will typically emphasize their past experience and achievements that are relevant to the role—and well they should. But in looking to hire and promote, don’t get so fixated on the past successes of a candidate that you overlook the potential of applicants to grow as individuals and expand their skill sets.

In the recruitment stage, in interviews, and in personality surveys, try to incorporate questions that will reveal whether a candidate is curious, open to new approaches to old problems, and believes in h/er own potential to cultivate new skills.

One question that may reveal all of these attributes is: “What new skills or knowledge have you gained in the past year, and what did the learning process involve?” Alternatively, the common interview question “Do you have any questions for me?” can help bring out the curiosity, level of engagement, and preparedness of the candidate. Consider giving job candidates an assignment that will test their skills and approach to problem-solving.

Personal accountability matters.

One of the most important attributes of strong leaders is a capacity to assume responsibility when something goes wrong. In other words, they believe the locus of control is primarily internal rather than external. These are the types of individuals you should seek to hire and promote.

Personal responsibility is important from the perspective of organizational growth. Individuals who are willing to assume primary responsibility for their own shortcomings are more likely to learn from them and modify their approach. By contrast, those who convince themselves that their errors are entirely attributable to bad luck or circumstances beyond their control risk missing the lesson.

Reflect on your performance.

It’s not enough to merely work harder or put in longer hours when your business faces a challenge: you need a plan to help steer your efforts in a productive direction. Real learning requires not only hard work and persistence, but also active mental engagement.

One practice that can help is daily reflection—over the course of the work day, what did you do well, what would you have done differently if offered a second chance, and where do you see room for improvement? To facilitate this kind of reflection, you can encourage staff to keep a work journal, and set aside time (10-15 minutes of the workday) for entry-writing.

Best Practices For Firing Someone

It’s a conversation almost no one enjoys having: a member of your staff has fallen short of

expectations, and you’ve decided to let that person go.

With notable exceptions—including a certain U.S. presidential candidate and former reality TV star—many employers favour a gentle, tactful approach to firing. After all, people rarely enjoy being bearers of bad news, especially the kind that can dramatically alter an individual’s life. Nonetheless, clarity and assertiveness are crucial when it comes to firing. No wonder some companies prefer to rely on independent HR consultancies for “termination assistance”!

Be fair and transparent, and maintain a documentary record.

For both legal and ethical reasons, you should establish consistent ground rules for every person you hire, including your organization’s termination policy. If you are having difficulty with an employee, raise the issues you’ve identified in one of h/er regular performance reviews, or arrange a meeting to discuss the matter. Keep a detailed documentary record at every stage of the process. If you see no improvement in the employee’s performance over time, then dismissal may become necessary.

Double-check with the HR department (if you have one).

HR can help provide information about extenuating circumstances the employee faces, or any other relevant details that could influence both your decision and the timing. An HR professional can also provide general support, and be present in the room during The Talk. (If nothing else, it sometimes helps to have company and moral support on such a weighty occasion.)

Once you’ve made a final decision, don’t delay.

It may be that you’re indecisive about firing someone, and you’d like to give that employee an opportunity to redeem h/erself. But once you’ve reached a final decision to dismiss a member of your workforce, and you know deep down that you won’t change your mind, avoid the temptation to dither. The longer a person who isn’t up to the job stays with your organization, the more harm s/he may do, and the more extra work s/he will probably generate for your other staff.

Identify a confidential venue for the conversation (like a conference room or private office), and then get on with it.

Get right to the point.

When everyone (you, the employee, and the HR professional) is seated and paying attention, announce your decision up front, followed by your reasons. You can soften the blow slightly by formulating the statement like so: “I’m afraid I have some bad news: we’ve decided to let you go, because...”

At this point, it’s possible that the employee may attempt to bargain, or become combative. You can express regret about the situation, but avoid the temptation to become defensive, hesitate, or engage in a verbal joust. You’ve made this decision because you believe it’s in the best interests of your business, and it’s final.

Address any technical questions the ex-employee has.

There may be concerns around severance, unused vacation days, or other matters you hadn’t considered yet.

Be kind. If you believe the ex-employee’s potential lies elsewhere, offer to help.

For long-term employees in particular, being fired is a traumatic experience: it can damage their self-confidence, entail the severing of personal and professional relationships, and result in loss of income and abandonment of plans. It is appropriate to show compassion for people facing such circumstances, especially when you are the proximate agent thereof.

Sometimes a staff member who shows talent and potential in certain areas just isn’t the right fit for the position s/he occupies at your business. If you simply can’t find a place for that employee in your organization, you can still offer to ask around or provide a reference.

Parting on amicable terms isn’t always a realistic possibility, but it certainly makes for more pleasant professional relationships down the road.

Managing Your Business’ Workload During The Holidays

The winter holidays offer a chance for employees and managers at your business to spend quality time with their families, decompress, and recharge their batteries. But for many businesses, December is the busiest time of year, and few can afford to shut down entirely for longer than a week. If you want to allow everyone at your company to enjoy a little time off, you’ll need a strategy to manage issues that may arise while you’re short-staffed.

Plan ahead.

If you can firm up details about the availability of your staff and co-workers well ahead of the

holiday season, you’ll be able to design your schedule with greater precision. This will help you avoid the stress of trying to fill in gaps at critical times, and allow you and your staff to set your holiday itineraries. This is especially important if you, or any of your employees or co-workers, hopes to travel.

Rotate on-call responsibility.

Work out a plan to share phone- and e-mail-answering duties, and allow for some flexibility. Draw straws or flip a coin for those occasions that are unlikely to entice many enthusiastic volunteers (like the morning of December 25, or the morning of January 1). Set up shifts, and make sure everyone is aware of when h/er shift begins and ends. To save time and energy on tasks that run across multiple shifts, the person who initiated the work should send an e-mail to the other staff describing the assignment, and what remains to be done. If you shut down your business for a few days, create answering machine messages and automated e-mails to let clients and customers know when they can expect you to return to work.

Share the load.

If there are assignments that need to get finished during the holiday season, try to divide the tasks so that no one feels overburdened. You can do this for both work-related and domestic chores—like decorating the house, cooking, and organizing for holiday parties and social events. Share and delegate!

Design an effective online contact/order form.

An online contact form, with fields that allow clients and customers to describe what they need in detail, can be a great asset during the holidays; it allows you to automate orders so that no one must respond in real time. While designing your form, keep economy of customer/client effort in mind. In other words, the form fields should provide space for essential information, with an optional field for notes. Overly wordy or complicated contact/order forms tend to dissuade prospective form-fillers, who may just prefer to wait—or take their business elsewhere.

Complete generic or non-time-sensitive tasks in advance.

Your holiday consists of precious moments, not surplus time. If your work involves weekly blog or social media posts, for example, prepare a few in advance so you can simply click “Publish” when you need to. Dedicate your spare time to completing assignments before you take a holiday, and you’ll free up additional time for family, friends, and valuable relaxation during that holiday.

Live in the moment and enjoy yourself.

If you’ve set aside a few hours for family and fun activities, don’t taint them by worrying about work. Leave your job behind and enjoy the holiday experience.

Actually, The Customer Isn’t Always Right

“The customer is always right” is a kernel of received wisdom that has stood the test of time—and will likely remain with us for many years to come. Of course, customer service is essential to the success and viability of any service-oriented enterprise, and no manager who fails to prioritize this dimension of day-to-day business can expect to keep h/er job for long.

Nonetheless, the world is full of imperfect people. Everyone makes mistakes. Some individuals are prone to losing their tempers for no good reason, have irritating habits, or place unrealistic demands on others. The odds are good that, sooner or later, you will do business with a customer who answers to one or more of these descriptions.

In other words, the tired old maxim that presupposes the correctness of the customer isn’t true. On the contrary, customers are frequently wrong.

The expertise gap.

You or your staff likely know more about the products you offer and their best uses than many of your customers do. You may occasionally have superior knowledge about what is in a customer’s best interest. If this is the case, try to be forthright.

Many customers are understandably suspicious of the motives and intentions of salespeople—Is he on commission? Will she try to peddle something I neither want nor need?

By encouraging honesty and integrity throughout your enterprise, you will garner a reputation that reflects those values, and in turn, earn the trust of current and prospective customers. You want them to feel comfortable and confident that you plan to help them, rather than exploit information asymmetries to your own advantage. Obviously, a customer who expects a good-faith transaction will be more receptive to your insights than an apprehensive one who fears a hustle.

Give your employees the benefit of the doubt.

No one is entitled to spew abusive language or direct any other form of harassment toward your staff. If a dispute arises between an employee and a customer, you should give the customer’s concerns a fair hearing, but offer your employee the benefit of the doubt.

By giving your employees the support they need to do their jobs well, you’re likely to end up with more satisfied customers too. Workers who believe that their employer will have their back in a dispute will tend to find their work more gratifying, enjoy higher morale, and offer customers an exemplary standard of service.

Of course, this doesn’t imply that you should embrace the equally extreme position “The employee is always right”. But competent, hard-working staff certainly deserve your support in the face of unreasonable customers.

Don’t reward bad behaviour.

If you dedicate yourself to the maxim “The customer is always right”, you’ll naturally be inclined to tolerate a cantankerous customer’s misbehaviour—and by tolerating it, you’ll only encourage more of the same. Don’t give in to the person who yells the loudest or raises the biggest stink; at the end of the day, this policy will do more harm to your business than good. Do you really want your other customers to perceive that the most annoying shoppers are also the ones most likely to get what they want?

Occasionally, you may have to ask a combative individual to leave the premises, so that you can concentrate on helping those who treat you with civility and respect. Bad customers are also bad for business: they distract your employees from more important tasks, and can create an unpleasant experience for everyone.

Practical Advice For Reducing EmployeeTurnover

Employee turnover is a fact of life in the business world, and not necessarily a bad thing—particularly if new entrants are exceptionally skilled and qualified, and the rate of turnover is manageable. But if you’ve experienced higher-than-normal employee turnover, you know how

disruptive it can be to the day-to-day operations of your business.

Regardless of their experience, credentials, and expertise, new hires require training and time to both become familiar with the workplace and integrate themselves successfully into its social milieu. Whereas employees who’ve been with the company for a while have had ample opportunity to learn by doing and develop automaticity with mundane tasks, newcomers initially tend to perform these duties more slowly and less sure-handedly. At least temporarily, this can cause friction, encumber productivity, and detract from the bottom line.

Much of the advice that follows can be encapsulated in a simple axiom: If you want your employees to stick around, give them good reasons to do so.

During the hiring process, favour candidates who seem compatible with your company culture.

Begin with a list of “must-have” qualities for candidates, and narrow the search down to individuals who meet those criteria. Include not only professional qualifications, but social skills and personality traits as well. Is this person equipped to handle the unique challenges of your business? Does s/he seem like s/he would get along well with the other staff, and customers/clients?

Do some research into the job market. What kind of compensation are employees in comparable positions receiving elsewhere?

Search online job boards for positions requiring a comparable skill set, and pay attention to the compensation and benefits that other companies offer—especially your competitors. If you can’t match other businesses in terms of salary, you’ll probably need to offer non-financial incentives—such as a flexible work schedule, greater convenience, shorter hours, or legitimate prospects for upward mobility—to convince employees to stay.

Praise good work, and offer specific constructive criticism of not-so-good work.

Everyone likes to hear that s/he has done a great job. By taking the time to provide positive feedback and congratulate employees on their successes, you will both enhance their positive feelings about the company and encourage desirable work habits.

Delivering criticism of less-than-stellar work in a diplomatic manner, without provoking defensiveness or resistance, is one of the most delicate tasks that managers face. Begin by mentioning at least one thing you appreciate about the recent efforts of the employee in question. When you arrive at the substance of the critique, be very specific about what you would like that person to do differently. Avoid accusatory statements; instead, favour phrases like “In future, it would be great if you could (specific instruction).”

Offer opportunities for growth and development.

Ideally, a relationship between employee and employer is mutually beneficial: the employer garners an opportunity to elevate h/er business to new heights with the help of a talented professional, while the employee enjoys the chance to grow, cultivate new skills, and experience success in a business environment. But an employee is in no way beholden to your organization; at some point, s/he will consider moving on in search of greener pastures, especially if s/he detects a risk of career stagnation. By offering reasonable opportunities for learning, growth, and career advancement, you increase the likelihood that employees will remain with your company over the long term.

A raise or bonus can be a powerful motivating tool.

Even a modest salary increase sends a psychological message to employees that the company’s managers value their hard work, and would like it to continue. 

A Few Pointers on Mentorship

As a society, we are in the midst of a demographic transition: namely, experienced and knowledgeable baby boomers are either retiring or considering retirement, while ambitious, talented millennials and gen-Yers are rising through the ranks. To truly capitalize upon this generational shift, we need to ensure that the most valuable nuggets of wisdom transfer effectively from older workers and leaders to the junior cohort.

If your business is a relatively new start-up, your workforce is likely young. But even young workers rapidly develop skills, experience, and insider knowledge from which more recent hires can benefit. Opportunities for “teaching the teacher” may also arise, if the protégé is more conversant with a specific technique or tool than the mentor happens to be. (Consider the social media savvy of the average millennial versus that of the average baby boomer, for example.)

Start with a plan.

Before you implement a mentorship program at your business, start with a set of realistic objectives, and establish ways to accomplish them. You also need an approximate timeline. How much coaching do new hires require, and how much time per week should you allocate for that purpose? Could some new entrants use more help than others? At what point is it appropriate to phase out a mentorship stint and allow protégés to do their own thing?

Criteria and measures of the success of mentorship efforts are indispensable. What skills or expertise do mentors have, that you would like protégés to attain? Why?

Bring your entire organization on board at the outset.

Gather employees and managers together for a preliminary brainstorming session. Chances are, front-line staff will know what attributes are needed to ensure success, and their counsel will be valuable when it comes to setting appropriate and attainable goals. Make sure everyone in your organization knows about the mentorship initiative, understands what her role will be, and has an opportunity to provide input and feedback at all times. (You may want to delegate a point-of-contact person or set up a committee for this purpose.)

Targets and coaching strategies may evolve over the course of the mentorship process, so allow some scope for flexibility and adjustments to the plan. But keep the big picture in mind: the primary objective of mentorship is to ensure the long-term continuity and success of the organization.

Finally, create survey documents for both mentors and protégés that include the essential measures of success you established in the brainstorming session. These surveys will enable you to aggregate data, track overall progress, and gain valuable insight into the effectiveness of the mentorship initiative.

Prioritize relationships.

A constructive working relationship must exist between mentors and protégés; without this, the prospects for meaningful progress are slim. Some mentors and protégés will develop a productive and amicable rapport almost instantly, others will need a bit more time, and occasionally, pairings may not work out. Use your discretion, keep an eye on the status of each mentor-protégé pairing, and welcome feedback. Consult your survey results for macro-level guidance.

Regular progress assessments

Meet briefly with each mentor and protégé pairing on a regular basis (if feasible). Ask them personally how they feel the process is unfolding, and provide a forum for discussion.

Over the course of the mentorship program, you should perceive that mentors and protégés are increasingly on the same page; this should be apparent to you in both the in-person meetings and in the survey results and feedback. If not, then you’ll need to modify your mentorship initiative, seeking input from your workforce on where improvements can be made.

Concerns over “brain drain”

Some managers worry mentorship brings a risk that highly trained employees will leave the organization for opportunities elsewhere, taking their newfound knowledge and skill set with them. This is analogous to the dilemma countries face when deciding whether to invest in educating their children: what if our most dextrous, astute citizens pack up and leave, causing a “brain drain”? Won’t those resources have been wasted?

Consider the matter from another perspective: if you don’t mentor new employees, how will they garner the technical and logistical proficiency they need in order to enhance the future prospects of your business?

Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of all businesses to provide a desirable place to work. If you do, then highly skilled employees will flock toward, rather than away from, your enterprise. Incidentally, one of the assets job seekers desire most in a would-be employer is the potential for professional growth and career advancement—and mentorship can help to provide that.

The Keys to Effective Internal Communication

Take a moment to browse online job postings, and you will see the same item listed recurrently under “Qualifications”: namely, effective communication skills. As important as this capacity is for

prospective employees, it is even more vital for businesses of every size. This obtains both for interactions with external stakeholders, and within an organization. No team, regardless of the talent and expertise of its personnel, can expect to achieve its potential unless information transfers seamlessly and comprehensibly among its members.

Although many of the requirements of functional internal communication are common sense, you may find the following guidelines useful:

•  Invoke the KISS principle.

 

When you initiate communication, take a moment to consider whether the information you intend to convey is presented in the simplest, most concise, most unambiguous form possible. Is there any room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation? “Keep it simple and specific” is a useful guideline here. Concision is also advantageous in most situations.

•  Accuracy is indispensable.

Double-check e-mails and other documents before you distribute them. If you have doubts about any aspect of the material, seek confirmation either by doing research on your own, or by consulting a colleague. Accuracy is paramount for effectiveness in communication, for two reasons: first, because inaccuracy can compound into missteps and delays that cost time and money; and second, because repeated errors on your part may erode the trust that others place in you. It is generally worthwhile to take a bit of time to ensure accuracy now, rather than spend a lot of time trying to correct mistakes (and repair any damage to your reputation) later.

•  Maintain records of important instructions and agreements. Communicate in both verbal and written form.

Even if you’re confident that you understand what you’ve been told, or believe you’ve made yourself perfectly clear, it is important to make use of documentation rather than simply rely on memory. If, as an employer, you have to convey complex instructions to an employee that involve multiple steps, write them down in clear, succinct language. (Recall the “KISS” principle.) The same advice applies to employees who need to communicate information up the chain of command.

•  Keep communications relevant to the recipient.

The human brain has a remarkable capacity to “zone out”, discounting intelligence it deems irrelevant. This is an adaptive evolutionary trait; for our distant ancestors, the ability to identify crucial facts, and save mental energy by omitting unimportant or superfluous ones, was a prerequisite for survival. However, in our modern civilization, this immanent skill can occasionally backfire; by skimming a lengthy document in order to save time, for instance, we risk overlooking information that is relevant to us.

One of the ways for managers to avoid this pitfall is by tailoring communications to each recipient, with specific details or instructions. This practice also sends a tacit signal that employers acknowledge and appreciate the unique contribution of every individual.

•  Who reports to whom?

All staff should know exactly to whom they are accountable, and for whom they are responsible. As the scale of a company or organization increases, this factor becomes all the more necessary. It is axiomatic that communication should occur through the proper channels, but what are the proper channels? Aim to ensure that everyone who works in your business can answer that question without a moment’s doubt or hesitation.

•  Details matter. But never lose sight of the big picture.

Every business should have a mission statement, which is not only clear and accessible, but understood by all staff at the organization. Once every member of a team buys into a common goal, you will have laid the groundwork for collective success.

The Pros and Cons of Friendships at Work

Employers who aim to improve the loyalty, efficiency, and engagement of their workforce would do well to focus on employee morale. And one of the surest ways to improve morale is to encourage camaraderie/friendship in the workplace.

When employees care about each other, they are more likely to become invested in each others’ success, communicate readily and openly, and cooperate on major projects in a way that capitalizes on their comparative advantages. (For example, “You’re better at writing, and I’m more conversational. So I’ll field phone calls while you take care of e-mails.”) Workers who have developed friendships on the job are also more likely to remain with the company, even if the work itself becomes less appealing. Finally, a reputation for camaraderie and positive employee morale may also enhance your company’s prospects for recruiting top talent.

With all of that in mind, here are some ways to encourage camaraderie in the workplace:

•  Participation in community service/volunteer events. Set aside some time for employees to volunteer for a charity or non-profit organization, and allow them to choose the organization. Or you could sponsor and take part in a public event on behalf of worthy cause, like the local Terry Fox Run, or a Pride parade.

•  Team-building exercises. Though they may seem clichéd, team-building exercises can be effective in helping employees develop a “we’re in this together” mentality. Well known examples include the mine field (leading a blindfolded person through an obstacle course) and the trust lean (catching a person as s/he falls backward). Some companies have even tried sheep-herding and scavenger hunts. In any event, remember that the purpose of the activity is to foster trust and a willingness to cooperate within the group, rather than competition between individuals. Choose accordingly.

•  Empathize. Make an effort to be consistently respectful, amicable, and professional toward employees, colleagues, and clients. Practice empathy and compassion. Take the needs and concerns of your employees seriously, and take individual preferences, personality types, and working styles into account in your personnel decisions. With respect to the type of workplace atmosphere you hope to instill, be proactive and set an example.

•  Keep an eye out for potential conflicts. It is axiomatic that some people simply don’t get along well with each other. Watch out for personality conflicts that you sense may become problematic, and trust your instincts. Where possible, try to match or group people you believe will work well together. If you find that one individual in particular doesn’t seem to collaborate effectively with anyone, you may need to take that person aside to address a specific issue, or even consider letting her go.

The downsides

As the title of this post suggests, the effects of camaraderie in a professional setting are not all rosy. Possible disadvantages include ruptured friendships if one friend departs and the other remains, and more time spent socializing (which may detract from productivity). In certain cases, friendships at work can lead to the formation of cliques and even divided loyalties—consequences that you’ll need to watch out for. As a manager or business owner, you’ll also need to remain cognizant of the line between friendliness toward your employees and friendship with them. While it’s possible to be friendly toward someone while maintaining an air of professionalism, it can be very difficult to reconcile the obligations of management with the responsibilities and commitments of friendship.

In most cases, though, the positive effects of workplace camaraderie far outweigh these potential difficulties, and the challenge of maintaining an affable but professional workplace atmosphere is manageable.

Unraveling the Talent Myth

In July 2002 the New Yorker published an article called TheTalent Myth by Malcolm Gladwell. In this article Gladwell explores the shortcomings of a widely recognized management system put forward by a management-consulting firm called McKinsey & Company who advocate a three-tiered management process known as differentiation and affirmation. In this process of differentiation and affirmation employee performance is rated resulting in each employee being placed in one of three categories A, B, and C. The A’s, or talent group, are to be challenged and given generous bonuses as well as new tasks, new responsibilities, and new titles. The B’s are to be encouraged and affirmed, whereas the lowly C’s need to be let go.

The Problem… or Problems

There are a couple of flaws in this way of thinking that seem obvious. First, is that managers are encouraged to engage employees to do what the employees want and not what the employees are good at or have experience doing. Another flaw, which Gladwell points out, is that companies who are prisoner to the talent myth often move employees into new jobs with greater frequency than companies that are not tied to the same mindset, often spending less than a year at a particular job within the company. The result is that one employee’s range of responsibilities is changing so frequently that it becomes impossible to judge true performance.

Lastly, there is little correlation between a person’s IQ and job performance. The reason for this is the fact that IQ doesn’t measure a person’s competency to what Gladwell calls “tacit knowledge”. For Gladwell, it’s the difference between a school environment, where everything an individual is rated on involves working by themselves (writing an exam or an essay), versus a corporate environment where virtually everything is accomplished by coordinating many individuals around a singular goal.

Let the System Shine

It was McKinsey & Company’s belief that the best and most successful companies were those that adopted the talent mindset – the belief that the intelligence of a company was rooted in the intelligence of its employees. Successful companies were those that went out of their way to seek what they perceived as talent and that fostered that talent by molding their company to the interests of their most talented individuals.

As Gladwell points out, some of the most successful companies were those where the system, not its employees, was the star. As Gladwell writes:

“The talent myth assumes that people make organizations smart. More often than not, it’s the other way around.”

You Learn More on the First Day

My own experience has been that no amount of schooling has ever adequately prepared me, or anyone I know, for what it’s like to actually be out on the job. I’ve heard the old adage “I learned more on the first day on the job than I did in 4 years of university” so often that it’s become cliché. Coming out of college labeled as talent is a great thing and is capable of opening a lot of doors, but talent in school is only one type of talent.

The people I am constantly seeking are those that have broader, even hidden, talents. Someone who graduated from university with less than stellar marks, but did so while holding down a part-time job, or involving themselves in a bevy of extra-curricular activities, is just as impressive as an ‘A’ student. Also, with so much time spent together on the job I tend to try to surround myself with people who have complimentary talents or people that I genuinely like. Operating a business, especially a small business, becomes a shared experience and the people you work with become your family. No matter what might be on their CV, if everybody in the company is not on the same page, it will not be successful.  

Lessons From the FIFA World Cup

Business owners around the world are breathing a collective sigh of relief now that the grand spectacle that is the FIFA World Cup has come to a close, signaling, at long last, that it is back to business as usual. Although soccer doesn’t have the deep roots in North America as it does in other parts of the world, the FIFA World Cup is widely regarded as the planet’s most important and widely viewed sporting event, and one reaches a truly global audience. The World Cup only takes place every four years and this year’s host nation, Brazil, is the country whose economy is most directly affected by the tournament. But the month-long tournament also has enormous economic impacts on other countries as well. Some of the numbers related to the tournament (mostly concerning the US economy), provided by InsideView are staggering. For example, 80% of the world’s population will watch some part of the World Cup; the US, it is estimated, lost $390 million in productivity during their group match game against Germany alone; and the World Cup will cost the British economy 250 million working hours. During the World Cup, quite literally, the world stops.

Where is all this productivity lost?

The biggest area affecting productivity is from workers who actually take sick days in order to watch their nation compete in games. But it gets worse. An estimated 10% of workers will come in late for work having stayed up late to watch the games. And who knows how much time and productivity is lost from workers sneaking a peak during working hours or just conversing about the tournament. All in all, as far as productivity is concerned, the World Cup amounts to a colossal distraction.

Steer Into the Skid

Some business owners’ strategies, in light of these statistics, can be to implement draconian-like policies for the duration of the tournament. But, some business owners are finding that the best solution is not just to not fight it, but to embrace the tournament, and see it as an opportunity to enhance other aspects of the business. According to Mercer research in four Latin American countries, it showed that on average over 87% of businesses are willing “to be flexible during the World Cup in offering employees short-term benefits that may have a positive impact on long-term productivity and morale”.

Specific Strategies

Many businesses are coming up with ways to make the World Cup accessible to their employees while keeping a steady workflow. They include things like allowing employees to leave work early or be flexible with their working hours, watching their nation play while working from home, and even equipping their break rooms with TVs that show the games.

The Lasting Impact

A recent Forbes article even found that the World Cup can actually have a positive impact on the bottom line of a company by boosting morale. Neal Taparia, Co-CEO of Imagine Easy Solutions, described the buzz of excitement around the office by their policy of embracing the tournament and playing all of the games in one of their conference rooms, suggesting that it connected employees to each other and to the products they design.

There’s much to learn from the World Cup, as it will surely test employee commitment. At the end of the day, the World Cup is never the difference between success and failure, but reveals much about the connection between the management and the employees.

Links to studies and works referenced in this article:

http://blog.insideview.com/2014/06/26/2014-world-cup-productivity/

http://www.mercer.com/insights/think/2014/world-cup-versus-productivity-compromise-is-the-goal.html

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101766632

http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2014/06/25/watching-the-world-cup-will-increase-office-productivity/

The High Cost of Free Labor

When I was in college there was a word that floated around the halls in whispers. It drew people in, it had a story attached to it, and it caught the attention of anyone who heard it – it was the word “internship”.

What Belongs to History

Once upon a time, internships were seen as being set aside for, and granted only to, the most exemplary individuals. The way to get an internship took time, effort, and the ability to connect with the people who could get you to where you wanted to go. It carried an uncommon caché that lauded the intern as the bright eyed next generation. It was a springboard for worthy candidates to help them gain real world experience and prepare to enter the workforce while building on the knowledge they were gaining by investing in their education. In sum, not too long ago, internships were both a rare and effective way to kick-start one’s career.

In principle, an internship is a great idea: A company hires an enthusiastic individual looking to build a career in that field and nurtures them, at little or no cost, into eventually becoming a fully functioning member of their workforce. Internships were once a sort of farm team where a company might have been looking to create a position and would tell the candidate, “Tough it out over the summer and when you graduate you’ll be on the team – we have high hopes for you”.

Times Change

It didn’t take too long for people to learn that the path to a better job and a better life went through the area designated for the intern and the volunteer. So when the cat got out of the bag, everybody was out looking for a chance to get some experience that would often serve as nothing more than a way to fill out one’s resume. In no short amount of time, people who had worked as interns were becoming less and less likely to be taken on by the company they worked for, or would parlay their internship experience to go and work for another, sometimes rival, company. Suddenly companies started experimenting with what kind of tasks they could get away with delegating to their interns, and just as suddenly some companies began to realize that branding a job as an internship could be a quick and easy way to get cheap, even free, labor.

The Rise and Fall of the Volunteer

Not all that long ago, seemingly well-intentioned projects would hire volunteers who would trade their labor in exchange for a meaningful experience, usually overseas, that could change lives. It was a direct exchange of labor for experience, straight up. Because of the rising number of volunteers looking for experience to once again, fill out one’s resume, the opportunities became more numerous and the exchange is no longer so direct. Nowadays, aside from the smallest community volunteer group, all volunteers are pay volunteers as in they pay to volunteer. The volunteer experience of working for free has become an actual commodity that people pay for, and is now a business in its own right.

Where We Are

The net effect of intern-volunteer inflation has been to render their titles virtually meaningless. Tales of internship woe among the young are ubiquitous as they are being charged with doing real work, involving long hours for no pay, and coming away from their experience disillusioned and with little to show for it. Within many companies the intern has become a position like any other usually connoting that they are responsible for all tasks deemed beneath that of the full-time staff. Once reserved for individuals who were otherwise green in the workforce, it is now not uncommon to find college graduates, and individuals with several years of relevant work experience, settling for the role of intern by virtue of the fact that internship positions continually replace what were once legitimate full-time jobs.

What Can We Do?

I wish there were clear answers. The truth is, the following are just suggestions: 

• Always try to create full-time employment.
• Make it a policy to pay every employee better than the minimum wage.
• Let your full-time staff share the load of the less desirable, no less important, duties of the company – don’t create a position specifically for them.
• Recognize that interns are there to learn, so you are the teacher and your company is the classroom – so offer them an educational experience.
• If you are someone looking for experience, instead of dropping the big bucks to essentially just travel, find the most local grassroots organization that you can and just say, “I want to help”. The rewards from that kind of community involvement are far more gratifying in the long run.

Work-Life Balance: Remember, it’s Saturday!

It was a glorious Saturday afternoon in early summer and I was hunched over a picnic table garnishing a hamburger when my cell phone rang. I had been in the middle of a good laugh after someone had told a delightful little anecdote but noticed it was one of my employees and, since they were calling me on the weekend, thought it must be something important.

I politely excused myself and gave my employee my undivided attention. I had handed him a rather large project from an important client and several weeks earlier had asked him how long it would take to complete the project. They were apologetic that this was the day that they had said they would be able to finish it, were almost at the finish line, but that friends had come in from out of town.

Before he could even finish his story I asked why he was working on the project when it was so beautiful outside. I told him quite succinctly to stop his work and go out and enjoy the rest of the day and not bother me until Monday.

When I returned to finish garnishing my burger, the group of acquaintances I was sharing this beautiful barbecue with looked at me with their mouths agape saying, “I wish you were my boss”.

“Telling an employee to enjoy life is a boss’ job,” I replied. And I truly mean that, for the following reasons:

1) I handpicked my employees and I trust each and every one of them. I also know that none of them slack off when it’s not time. I let him set the parameters of when the job would be completed, I understand the nature of his job and what it would take to actually complete the project, and I knew full well that his finishing it in a couple of days meant I wouldn’t have to break any promises to our client. So we’d stay in good standing regardless. My experience has shown that giving my employees a great deal of freedom has yielded better results.

2) There is no evidence that working longer hours makes a person more productive. In fact, there have been several studies that outline the benefit to a company’s bottom line by giving employees greater flexibility in their working hours and that overworking employees can have very negative effects. Some studies even go so far as to suggest that overworking an employee can lead to them suffering from a variety of health issues leading to them having to miss work. If that weren’t enough, at least one study, Impacts of Late Working Hours on Employee’s Performance: A Case Study on Engineers in Telecom Company of Pakistan, by Quereshi et al., even suggests that overworking an employee could lead to unethical behavior including, “sexual harassment and breaching the code of conduct of the organization”.

3) I know that if I behave erratically, or make irrational demands from my employees, that it makes them question if we are a good fit. Pushed too far and I could be down one employee and that can be worse than the work not being done on time. Although telling him, “Sorry bud, the work has got to get done” might not have been an irrational demand on my part in this particular instance, I’m still stating quite clearly to him that work is more important than his relationship with his friends.

What is more important?

So this does raise the question: what actually is more important, work or friends? Many people spend more of their time, in a given week, at work than anywhere else, so we are forced to make several considerations based on this fact. The first is that, if they are going to be asked to spend so much time there, is it too small a thing to ask that they enjoy themselves? Second, should work and life really be kept so separate and need to be kept in balance, or is work very much a part of life that should fit harmoniously with all the other aspects of existence that we engage in? And finally, in business, it’s important to remember that relationships are everything, and that the social capital you build in fostering them, whether with clients or with staff, will last with you for the rest of your life.

How to Conduct a Meeting

Meetings, when properly directed, are a great way to get everyone on the same page, strategize, and brainstorm with the aim of moving the company in the right direction. If a meeting lacks the necessary focus, however, it can represent a colossal time-suck and a waste of everybody’s resources. It’s essential to have a clear picture of why a meeting is necessary and what needs to be accomplished. Below are a few “don’ts” and “dos” when it comes to taking the lead and conducting a great meeting.

DON’T conduct meetings every week for the sake of conducting a meeting – it can lead to so many annoying little problems like the anticipation of the dreaded weekly meeting, the didn’t-we-just-discuss-this-last-week feeling, or the incessant mulling over minutia. Not every decision in a company should be left to a democracy and it’s really only beneficial to call a meeting when one is deemed truly necessary.

DO include everyone - if you’ve decided that now is the time to have a meeting it should be because some kind of shift in direction is necessary. Sea changes can implicate the whole company and you might be surprised by who has big ideas. If wholesale changes are necessary, and you limit your company’s rebranding to the marketing team because you see it exclusively as a marketing issue, you’re effectively limiting your options moving forward.

DON’T make your meetings about one-on-ones – a meeting where everyone is gathered waiting for their turn to speak and explain what they do is likely to cause attendees to zone out. The key to a great meeting, and getting great ideas out, is to keep everyone engaged. Set aside time to have one-on-ones so that everyone can communicate what’s relevant about their particular position and then connect them with whoever they might need in other departments. Remember, meetings are about the big picture, not the details.

DO have a clear idea of what needs to be accomplished – a meeting’s focus can be lost so easily by getting bogged down in details. It’s imperative that, when leading a team meeting, you know exactly where your team is at and where they should be by the end. It’s possible to know the answers without having the means to articulate it, so cluing in to what’s being shared in a meeting should be what allows you to formulate an expression of what you know is already there.

DON’T get sidetracked by things that are irrelevant – although it’s important to keep things lighthearted and fun, maintaining control over the direction of the meeting is essential to make progress. Meetings can suffer from too many questions or too much fine-tuning. Ideas discussed at meetings should be global, not particular. It’s important not to just gloss over the details, but keep in mind that the grandeur of an issue should reflect the size and duration of a meeting.

DO allow everyone a chance to shine  - although you’re in control and you make the decisions, a meeting can never be about you. You can communicate company values in an email, but you get feedback in a meeting. Having an open mind, ceding the floor and jumping in only to direct traffic, should be the leader’s role in any meeting.

Summary

Meetings aren’t the kind of thing you want built into the framework of your company but it’s important to have systems in place that keep you in contact with the various branches of your business. A constant stream of meetings can devalue their importance and, as a team leader, it’s important to distinguish between when everyone needs to be brought together and when it’s time to meet one-on-one. Meetings represent an opportunity to shake things up, keep everyone on their toes, and pull them out of the doldrums of the regular routine. Suddenly throwing everyone into a collaborative environment of equals often has an effect of stimulating out-of-the-box thinking and it can be surprising where the next great idea can come from.

The Employee-centric vs. Client-centric Debate

The early days of any new business venture represent an enormous challenge and transitioning from business plan to profitability involves a number of important steps and a great deal of investment. Laying the proper foundation for your business is essential to securing the long-term future for your company so having an insight into where you are going to focus your early investment will help shape what eventually defines your business. There are two major schools of thought here: the employee-centric approach and the client-centric approach. Both have their merits and which works for your business will come down to an analysis of which approach is most likely to make your company stronger in the long run based on the resources and capital that you have available.

Employee-centric Approach

Greatest investment: Capital

Best Marketing Feature: Cutting Edge

Clientele: High End

The idea behind the employee-centric approach is to create an environment where the people you hire have the best tools at their disposal so that they enjoy coming to work. The concept is that if the employee is happy they will be better able to service clients who will be happy in turn. In order to provide your employees with such an environment usually requires investing a lot of capital up front. This is the one drawback to this approach as, by having a high startup cost, you have immediately positioned your company to operate at a certain price point depending on the market for your service or product. You have reduced your potential pool of clients down to those that can afford to pay for your service or product, and you are now trusting that you will be able to market your company in such a way that attracts a high end clientele.

You will benefit from being able to provide your clients with the very latest technology in whatever you are offering, and reminding them through advertising and marketing campaigns that your company is on the cutting edge of the industry is essential to making your company viable. Investing big in your company through an employee-centric approach means going big the whole way. The investment is bigger so operating costs will be higher and, in order to turn some kind of profit, you will likely be asking your clients to pay more for your product or service than some of your competitors. By making such a demand of your clients, it is imperative that you consistently deliver the goods because the moment a client realizes that they can get the same quality product or service for cheaper, it’s their right to jump ship.

Client-centric Approach

Greatest Investment: Time

Best Marketing Feature: Value

Clientele: Anyone

In contrast to the employee-centric approach there is the client-centric approach which places a greater emphasis on customer relations and attempting do a lot with very little. Ever heard of someone building their business from the ground up? Well, that’s the idea here. In the client-centric approach there is a minimal amount invested in capital and, instead, a great amount of time invested in an effort to provide the client with what they are looking for and keeping them happy. Every customer is precious as they represent the lifeblood of the company and one dissatisfied customer could be the ruin of your business. A poor night’s sleep is justifiable if it gets the project delivered on time and on budget.

Although expectations might have to be tempered with limited resources available, the advantage here is that because your costs are lower you are able to attract clients who might be looking for the best rate in the market. This, in turn, easily becomes the strategy behind how to market your company to prospective clients. By offering the most competitive rates you attract clients with smaller budgets, but you can in turn offer your service or product to a wealthier clientele by being able to offer them value, thereby effectively opening your business to a wider pool of prospective clients.