STOP doing everything – Praise
Skilling up, Trusting and providing the Opportunity for your second in command to fulfil their potential is all part of developing your business so that it is no longer a Life Sentence. Praise is the oil that keeps things rolling. One of the sad things of course is that as the Owner/MD of a business, it is rare for anyone to say “well done” to you. Nevertheless you recognise how important it is to make words like these a routine part of the organisation’s culture. Some people simply never get their effort and work publically recognised and yet this is the life-blood of successful organisations.
For some, business is about hard, brutal, aggressive attitudes where the fittest survive and the weakest go to the wall, or the dole queue. ‘The Apprentice’ may be good television and there are plenty of people who experience this type of culture in everyday working life, but it doesn’t have to be like this. There is a huge amount of evidence to suggest that people respond better to an environment in which they feel valued and supported. Praise from the boss for a job well done helps to establish such an environment.
We are talking about real praise here – not habitual meaningless empty phrases. It has to be meant – and people know the difference. It also has to be deserved. It should sometimes be a quiet word – one to one – sometimes it should be in front of others.
But it is so easy to forget, caught up as we are with the daily pressure of doing the job. What steps could you take to make sure this is part of your management style?
STOP doing everything – Opportunity
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So you have taken some steps towards freedom from the Life Sentence of running your business. You have identified or recruited a good second in command. You have clarified what Skills that person has or will need to develop in order to play their part in moving the business forward – and to relieve you of some of the pressure. You have invested in training, development and coaching so that they feel equipped to do the job. You have recognised the need to Trust them to deliver – within the context of a clearly defined and agreed strategic vision which identifies desired results and outcomes.
So now you need to give them the Opportunity to deliver the agreed results – and this means you need to get out of the way!
This is the hardest part of the process. This is when you see if the first two steps have been a reality or simply a paper exercise. But if you really have skilled them and you really do trust them, you really can’t then be looking over their shoulder all the time. Sure you need to work on the results you have agreed to deliver but then go walking, or wind-surfing or whatever it is you do to relax and de-stress. The business will benefit and you will be amazed at the insights and creative thinking that you can do when the pressure is off. When is the last time you had a flash of inspiration? I bet it wasn’t when you were under pressure at work.
Maybe, instead of doing something to relax, you could go to see some customers. Talking to (or more importantly, listening to) customers is something that many Owner/MDs don’t do anywhere near enough – usually because they are too busy. But finding out how customers really see your organisation, product or service is invaluable.
As well as doing this you could take time out to think about the business. There is normally no time to do strategic thinking. Some suggest that Owner/MD’s should take at least one hour a day to do strategic work – the work that moves the business forward. In reality one hour a day is not enough. This is the kind of work which only really becomes possible when you step aside from the day-to-day operational details – which only happens when you give your second in command the opportunity to deliver.
“Ah” you say. “This is a luxury I can’t afford” but the truth is that it is not a luxury – it’s essential for you and your business. There is no one else in your business who will do the strategic work, so if you don’t do it, it won’t get done. It is essential. And of course, you can’t afford not to. Think about your stress levels, your health, your marriage, your family… As the song goes, “Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think”!
Stop doing everything…
Trust your second in command
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You’ve identified the areas, tasks and responsibilities that your second in command will focus on. You’ve discussed it and clarified your expectations with them. You’ve invested in training, developing and possibly coaching them so that they have the skills they need. So why don’t you let them get on with it?
This next crucial step requires trust. It needs you to let go of those things you have been hanging on to. It means you have to accept that initially at least, things might not get done as you would have done them. You have to trust that your second in command will deliver.
What is the basis for this trust?
This is where a clear, compelling, effective and well communicated strategic vision comes into play. This is the touchstone. Drawing a line with gold on a touchstone will show you the purity of the gold. The touchstone of the Strategic Vision is the standard by which the Second in Command (and everyone else in the business) are guided. As long as that touchstone is being honoured, you can trust them to get on with the job. BusinessFirelighter coaching can help you put together a real, focused and effective Strategic Vision which will make a real difference in your business. For more details give me a call 07803 142741 or send an email to
steve@businessfirelighter.com
Secondly, you have to have checking mechanisms. The kind of things I mean are
• key deliverables that make sense, which mean that both of you know that the job is being done.
• regular meetings for clarification, support and encouragement
This is important because we are talking about delegation here, not abdication. This kind of trust is not giving someone a task or role and then forgetting all about it. It is more about establishing a clear relationship of trust – a two way street – you trust them to get on and do it – they trust you to let them get on with it and to give them what they need to do it.
Remember, you don’t have to do everything…
STOP doing everything!
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I know. It’s your business. You started it and nobody can really do it how you do it. You have the contacts, the knowhow, the experience, the passion. Or at least you did have the passion. It’s a bit frayed at the moment because there is not enough time in the day…and the weeks go so fast…and there is just so much to do… and why can’t these people… do I have to tell them how to do everything?…
STOP.
Do you have a ‘second in command’? You know, the person in your organisation who could actually do so much more but who is probably looking for a new job because you don’t give them a chance?
STOP.
Think about it. You don’t have to do everything. You don’t need to do everything.
Just S.T.O.P. and focus on that capable person and think in terms of
Skills – Trust – Opportunity – Praise
I’m going to look at each of these elements in turn over the next four BLOG entries because getting an effective second in command in place is crucial to the overturning of your Life Sentence – transforming the business that sucks your life out of you.
Fire your employees!
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Sometimes… just sometimes…
Maybe you find yourself with a ‘Chief Sales Prevention Officer’ in your sales team, or a ‘sociopath’ on your customer service team, or a ‘bully’ supervising your production people, or a ‘self-serving bore’ on your Board. How did that happen? Perhaps you inherited them or maybe your selection and recruitment process wasn’t quite what it should be. Whatever… here they are…and you know (and most likely everyone else knows) that they are seriously damaging your business, or at best, making life more difficult.
Of course sometimes firing is the only answer, as difficult as that can be. Sometimes you owe it to everyone in the business and usually there is no one else to make the decision. It’s your business, it’s your vision, and as Michael Gerber (E-myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
So what is the alternative? Well, how about firing your employees? What if they really understood what your organisation is trying to do? What if they could identify how the values and aims of the business really connected with their own values and aims? What if they caught a sense of passion about what you are trying to achieve? What if you fired them up with a real concern for customers, products or services? They used to call this employee engagement but that’s a very cold and sterile term. We are talking about something much more engaging! You can try to light fires under people to get them going, but it’s better to light fires inside them. But in order to do that you need to have the fire inside you. So how passionate are you about what your organisation does, about its products or services, about its customers and end-users? It could be that even the most reluctant employee might just get fired…
The one thing worse than a failing business…
…is a successful business.
Well of course on one level that is absurd. We all strive for a successful business – SME or Corporate. Success, however we define it, is the key driver – growth, higher turnover, increased profit, stronger balance sheet… But here’s the thing, success can be a killer. It can blindside us to the threats and opportunities on the horizon which can so easily make or break our business. The complacency that can come with success is deadly.
At least with a failing business, as long as you realise the situation, you can take steps to begin to put things right. You get some advice, rethink things, take action before it’s too late…hopefully. But one thing’s for sure, when you realise what is happening, complacency is not an issue.
With a successful business though, everyone feels secure. Times are good. “Why shouldn’t things carry on like this, after all, we’ve worked really hard to build this up”. “We are doing a great job and our customers love us”. And then one of your key people leaves because they weren’t quite as fulfilled as you assumed they were…and one of your competitors innovates some new technology which makes what you offer look old-fashioned…and the Regulating Authorities introduce a new hurdle which none of your people are equipped for…and one of your biggest customers relocates to India…and your raw materials suddenly cost 20% more…and so the list goes on. Could you have spotted any of this? Probably…but in a successful business no one has time to look ahead – we are too busy being busy.
So whose job is it to look around, see the big picture, anticipate the future? Well yours of course. Who else is going to do it? You are the CEO, the Managing Director, the Owner of your business. Quite simply it’s your job to make sure that the complacency that comes from success doesn’t destroy what you have. A business Coach can be really helpful in this and this is the kind of service offered by BusinessFirelighter™ Coaching but it isn’t essential of course. What is essential is that you take this task of scanning and second guessing seriously…and then take action accordingly.
The one thing better than a successful business? One that stays successful.
What you focus on increases
It’s one thing to have a vision, a bright, positive vibrant vision that connects with your very being and gives you a powerful sense of purpose. It’s another thing to communicate that vision effectively with people who sometimes are in a very different emotional place or mindset. You can put it in the newsletter. You can frame it and hang it on the wall. You can laminate little cards with it on for everyone to keep in their wallets or purses. You can present it at the big company meeting… and most likely, after all of this effort, most people won’t be able to remember it – however simple it is – after a couple of weeks. Familiar picture?
Well there could be some help for us leaders from the disparate fields of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) and neuroscience. One of the basic ideas in NLP is that what you focus on increases. It’s just one of those things. Focus on negative things and more negative things start to show up. Focus on positive things and positive things tend to start showing up. Ok so I’m still waiting for my £1m cheque to come through the letterbox so maybe it’s not an immediate thing but I do know that when I’m in a positive frame of mind I start noticing good things. Interestingly, in his book ‘Quiet Leadership’, David Rock outlines the results of neurophysiological research which clearly demonstrates that attention actually changes the brain structure. The more we give something our attention, the more the neural pathways associated with processing it are widened and the more it becomes ‘hard wired’ in our neurophysiology.
Given this, what reinforcing tactics can we use as leaders, day by day, which will increase the density of attention that our people give to the vision? Walking it and talking it – sure. But also, assuming the vision is succinct and memorable (rather than the 1000 word statements I’m sure some organisations have), weaving it into the daily fabric of the organisation, its meetings, targets, systems as well as the formal and informal conversations you and your people have, will increase attention on the vision. Since ‘what you focus on increases’ as the vision becomes embedded, so the attitudes and behaviours start to come into line with it. As the engagement goes up – so does the efficiency in the organization and with it the profit. Easy isn’t it !
Who are you?
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One thing that the CEO of a small business becomes aware of very quickly is just how much difference a mood can make – both ways. I’m sure that this is true for the leader of any organisation, of any size. The ripples may take longer to spread out to the outer edges of a large company but be sure they will. CEO, manager of a Business Unit or team or anyone in a position of leadership should recognise the ancient truism that ‘a fish stinks from its head’. When you next catch yourself walking into the offices with a negative, worried frame of mind, bearing the weight of the economic crisis on your shoulders just look at the faces of those you lead. Read the body language.
Compare that with the times you go ‘bounding’ in, full of enthusiasm and a sense of excitement for the challenge ahead (surely you do have days like that!). The fact is that as the leader, you are the organisation. Who you are shapes what the organisation becomes – so, in the words of ‘The Who’ – “ Who are you?”. Taking time to find out is time well spent. What is your core, your essence? What is it that lights you up? Who are you…really? The ‘you’ that is sometimes hidden beneath the masks, layers, pressures and cares of daily living – and corporate life. How far does that ‘you’ connect with the vision your organisation has?
As leader you are the champion and guardian of the organisation’s vision, but that’s tough if it does not inspire you. And if you are not inspired, how can you expect anyone else to be since they all take their lead from you. On the other hand, when you know who you really are and the vision connects with and springs from that knowledge, you soar and you give your people wings since they all take their lead from you. So I say again, “Who are you?”.
Leadership Qualities No 6
The last of these six outrageous leadership qualities is ‘Impassioned and obsessive communication’ because, after all, the best and most vivid vision will remain a personal dream unless it is clearly and effectively communicated.
By impassioned I mean the communication should have a sense that it really does matter…this thing…this vision thing. The leader doesn’t need to do a rah-rah speech every morning to rally the troops – that’s not what it means. She does need to believe in the possibility and rightness of this vision and want desperately to communicate it. It’s deep. It’s real. And it’s really important. The leader has to find ways to infect others with their passion.
And it has to be an obsession – a compelling motivation – a drive to find opportunities all the time – opportunities to quietly restate the vision, to surface some assumptions that are getting in the way, to challenge behaviour that undermines the vision. And yet to do it in a way that keeps people on board, that helps people to stay focused. So this impassioned and obsessive communication needs to be gentle, nurturing and firmly set in the context of journey, as the organisation moves forward.
What could be wrong with employees enjoying their work – understanding the organisation – ‘getting’ the vision – and feeling they are playing a vital role in helping the organisation get there?
How is this possibly going to happen if the leader doesn’t encourage it and make it possible?
Leadership Qualities No 5
I have a couple of my own to add to Tim Brighouse’s list. The first is ‘Laser-like Vision’.
The leader has to have a vision – a view of where the organisation is going – a clear and precise picture of what it will be like. Why ‘laser-like’ vision? There is some ambiguity here.
The leader has to be able to imagine that end point in as much detail and with as much clarity as possible. These days lasers are used in situations that require absolute precision – from surgery to astronomy. The leader needs to apply that same kind of focused clarity in the formulation and ‘imagineering’ of the vision. A woolly vague idea will not do – the vision has to be precise and clear even if it is massive, apparently impossible, or at the very least challenging.
But there is so much more to it than this. The role of the leader is also to illuminate that vision so that others in the organisation can be inspired by it –commit to it. There is a huge difference between normal light and laser light. Normal light spreads out as it goes so that, at distance, the beam is wide and weak. Laser light remains concentrated and focused however far ahead it shines – it loses none of its intensity, none of its sharpness. Laser light stays bright. The vision of the leader for the organisation may be a long way out into the future and so keeping it illuminated in a constant, focused and concentrated way is vital for successful implementation.
How clear is your vision?
