“A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”
Many companies that survive an economic downturn do it by cutting everything that doesn’t keep the lights on and the doors open. In that condition, they are treading water. They may avoid catastrophe, but they’re not going anywhere. The company is set on “idle.”
Allowing the company to idle until the trouble passes might be the right thing to do, but sometimes companies continue to idle even though the worst of the trouble has passed. Why? In most cases, it’s because the CEO doesn’t trust that business conditions are really improving. Maybe we’re experiencing only a brief lull in the storm before it resumes its full fury.
People . . . and therefore, the corporations they create . . . are at their core, cautious and conservative. We have a sense that doing nothing is a safe bet. It’s not. Doing nothing is a conscious choice, and it may not be the safe choice. Our business history is littered with examples of companies standing by while smart, aggressive competitors swooped in to grab market share and competitive advantage.
Obviously, perilous economic times call for some degree of caution. But beware of too much caution. If you keep your ship in port too long, you’ll wake up one morning to find all the cargo is being carried by a competitor’s ship.
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Building Happiness at Work
A friend of mine used to call it the “hum level.” It’s the palpable feel of energy when you walk into a workplace. If people are talking and laughing and generally engaged with one another, the “hum level” is high. If the place is quiet as a church, nobody’s talking, and everybody has their face buried in whatever task they are doing, the “hum level” is low.
When people are happy at work, they are more productive, they interact with customers more positively, and there is less turnover. So what causes happiness at work? A lot of things. We talked about 12 factors that contribute to job satisfaction last week. But there are a couple of key components.
The first is very simple. Do I like the people I work with, and do they like me? That doesn’t mean that I’m best buddies with everyone in the place. It just means that on a whole, I enjoy being with my co-workers and am comfortable that I fit in. That’s why it’s so critical to hire well. One vocal malcontent can poison the atmosphere for everyone.
The second is my boss . . . not necessarily the CEO, but my direct supervisor. Does he or she take an active interest in me as a person . . . my family, my interests away from work . . . or am I just another head count? Is my supervisor accessible and is he or she committed to helping me be successful in my work?
Not very long ago, happiness in the workplace wasn’t discussed much in American business. After all, we’re not running a playground here, right? We’re here to do a job, and if that makes you unhappy, that’s your problem. But as it turns out, happiness at work isn’t some crazy, pie-in-the-sky notion. If it increases productivity, increases customer satisfaction, and decreases turnover, it’s just good business.
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
When people are happy at work, they are more productive, they interact with customers more positively, and there is less turnover. So what causes happiness at work? A lot of things. We talked about 12 factors that contribute to job satisfaction last week. But there are a couple of key components.
The first is very simple. Do I like the people I work with, and do they like me? That doesn’t mean that I’m best buddies with everyone in the place. It just means that on a whole, I enjoy being with my co-workers and am comfortable that I fit in. That’s why it’s so critical to hire well. One vocal malcontent can poison the atmosphere for everyone.
The second is my boss . . . not necessarily the CEO, but my direct supervisor. Does he or she take an active interest in me as a person . . . my family, my interests away from work . . . or am I just another head count? Is my supervisor accessible and is he or she committed to helping me be successful in my work?
Not very long ago, happiness in the workplace wasn’t discussed much in American business. After all, we’re not running a playground here, right? We’re here to do a job, and if that makes you unhappy, that’s your problem. But as it turns out, happiness at work isn’t some crazy, pie-in-the-sky notion. If it increases productivity, increases customer satisfaction, and decreases turnover, it’s just good business.
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
Monday, May 17, 2010
12 Critical Questions
Last time, we met Marcus Buckingham, a senior researcher at the Gallup Organization, and discussed his findings in his excellent book, “Now Discover Your Strengths.”
He has more to offer us.
Buckingham says a workforce can be divided into three categories: people who are loyal and productive, or “engaged,” those who are just treading water or “not engaged,” and those who are malcontents or “actively disengaged.” There are 12 simple questions the answers to which, he says, determine whether employees are engaged, not engaged, or actively disengaged at work.
1) Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2) Do I have the materials and equipment that I need in order to do my work right?
3) At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4) In the past seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5) Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6) Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7) At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8) Does the mission or purpose of my company make me feel that my job is important?
9) Are my coworkers committed to doing quality work?
10) Do I have a best friend at work?
11) In the past six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
12) This past year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
Obviously, the more of these questions an employee can answer in the affirmative, the more he or she will gravitate toward “engaged.” The fewer an employee can answer in the affirmative, the more he or she will gravitate toward either “not engaged” or “actively disengaged.”
Do you know where your employees fall on this continuum from “engaged” to “actively disengaged?” If not, you should find out. The very act of asking the 12 questions may move some employees a few notches closer to “engaged.”
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
He has more to offer us.
Buckingham says a workforce can be divided into three categories: people who are loyal and productive, or “engaged,” those who are just treading water or “not engaged,” and those who are malcontents or “actively disengaged.” There are 12 simple questions the answers to which, he says, determine whether employees are engaged, not engaged, or actively disengaged at work.
1) Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2) Do I have the materials and equipment that I need in order to do my work right?
3) At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4) In the past seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5) Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6) Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7) At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8) Does the mission or purpose of my company make me feel that my job is important?
9) Are my coworkers committed to doing quality work?
10) Do I have a best friend at work?
11) In the past six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
12) This past year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
Obviously, the more of these questions an employee can answer in the affirmative, the more he or she will gravitate toward “engaged.” The fewer an employee can answer in the affirmative, the more he or she will gravitate toward either “not engaged” or “actively disengaged.”
Do you know where your employees fall on this continuum from “engaged” to “actively disengaged?” If not, you should find out. The very act of asking the 12 questions may move some employees a few notches closer to “engaged.”
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Now, Discover Your Strengths
In his excellent book, “Now Discover Your Strengths,” author Marcus Buckingham and co-author Donald Clifton discuss the work they did for The Gallup Organization to find out what makes successful people successful. What do those successful people have in common that makes them high achievers?
So they sifted through over two million interviews that Gallup had conducted over the years. Two million! The interviewees were doctors, lawyers, policemen, and firemen, white collar and blue collar alike, from many different occupations. The only thing they had in common was that they were successful at whatever work they did. Buckingham and Clifton wanted to find out why. Here’s what they learned.
Successful people understand their own strengths, and they work to nuture those strengths, focus on them, and leverage them. They don’t spend a lot of time trying to shore up their weaknesses.
In our culture, if a child is really talented at math and science, let’s say, but struggles with English and history, what do we do? We get that child a tutor or Mom and Dad work with the child to improve in English and history. Buckingham and Clifton would argue that it makes more sense to invest that extra effort in math and science. That’s where the child’s natural talent lies, so we should work to develop that talent to its utmost.
The lesson for those of us in business is two-fold. First, look at ourselves. Are we wasting time struggling with activities that we’re just not very good at? If so, wouldn’t we make a bigger contribution to the company if we off loaded that stuff we don’t do very well to someone else and focused on things where we really excel?
Second, look at your employees. When you identify someone who is not performing well, consider the possibility that they have been put in a position where they are unable to use their real strengths. Instead of trying to give that person remedial help in an effort to make him or her better at the job, maybe you should ask if the job could be modified to take advantage of the person’s strengths, or if not, maybe those strengths would make the greatest contribution to the company in another job.
When asked, “At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?”, out of 1.7 million employees in 101 companies from 63 countries, only 20 percent answered in the affirmative. 20 percent! While that an appallingly low number, it reveals an enormous opportunity. What if we could position the other 80 percent to do what they do best every day? It boggles the mind.
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
So they sifted through over two million interviews that Gallup had conducted over the years. Two million! The interviewees were doctors, lawyers, policemen, and firemen, white collar and blue collar alike, from many different occupations. The only thing they had in common was that they were successful at whatever work they did. Buckingham and Clifton wanted to find out why. Here’s what they learned.
Successful people understand their own strengths, and they work to nuture those strengths, focus on them, and leverage them. They don’t spend a lot of time trying to shore up their weaknesses.
In our culture, if a child is really talented at math and science, let’s say, but struggles with English and history, what do we do? We get that child a tutor or Mom and Dad work with the child to improve in English and history. Buckingham and Clifton would argue that it makes more sense to invest that extra effort in math and science. That’s where the child’s natural talent lies, so we should work to develop that talent to its utmost.
The lesson for those of us in business is two-fold. First, look at ourselves. Are we wasting time struggling with activities that we’re just not very good at? If so, wouldn’t we make a bigger contribution to the company if we off loaded that stuff we don’t do very well to someone else and focused on things where we really excel?
Second, look at your employees. When you identify someone who is not performing well, consider the possibility that they have been put in a position where they are unable to use their real strengths. Instead of trying to give that person remedial help in an effort to make him or her better at the job, maybe you should ask if the job could be modified to take advantage of the person’s strengths, or if not, maybe those strengths would make the greatest contribution to the company in another job.
When asked, “At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?”, out of 1.7 million employees in 101 companies from 63 countries, only 20 percent answered in the affirmative. 20 percent! While that an appallingly low number, it reveals an enormous opportunity. What if we could position the other 80 percent to do what they do best every day? It boggles the mind.
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Increasing Productivity
“Increased productivity comes from continually identifying areas where you can achieve 80 percent of your results from 20 percent of your efforts.”
Vilfredo Pareto was an early twentieth century Italian economist who gave us the 80/20 rule. We hear it most commonly used in reference to sales . . . 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. But the mistake we often make is to spend too much time trying to get the marginal 80 percenters to perform like our superstar 20 percenters. Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend most of our time working with our superstars? After all, they “get it.” They understand and appreciate our value proposition, and if we nurture them and are attentive to their needs, they may have the potential to become even better customers.
Where else might we apply the rule? Is it possible 80 percent of our customer service headaches are coming from the bottom 20 percent of our customers? The customers accounting for the least of our sales are often the most demanding and time-consuming. It’s not a bad idea to comb through your customer list periodically looking for customers who demand significantly more service than they are worth and make them available to your competitors.
How about your employees? Think of the activities that are key to your company’s success. Do you believe that 80 percent of those key activities are being achieved by 20 percent of your workers? Again, doesn’t it make sense to invest time and resources in the 20 percenters . . . the people who are really making a difference . . . rather than spending most of your time trying to improve the 80 percenters?
It’s all about leverage. It’s about identifying the customers, employees, systems and processes that are the keys to your company’s success. It’s about making sure you’re constantly working with those keys to make them stronger and more effective. Where can you get an 80 percent result from a 20 percent effort?
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
Vilfredo Pareto was an early twentieth century Italian economist who gave us the 80/20 rule. We hear it most commonly used in reference to sales . . . 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. But the mistake we often make is to spend too much time trying to get the marginal 80 percenters to perform like our superstar 20 percenters. Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend most of our time working with our superstars? After all, they “get it.” They understand and appreciate our value proposition, and if we nurture them and are attentive to their needs, they may have the potential to become even better customers.
Where else might we apply the rule? Is it possible 80 percent of our customer service headaches are coming from the bottom 20 percent of our customers? The customers accounting for the least of our sales are often the most demanding and time-consuming. It’s not a bad idea to comb through your customer list periodically looking for customers who demand significantly more service than they are worth and make them available to your competitors.
How about your employees? Think of the activities that are key to your company’s success. Do you believe that 80 percent of those key activities are being achieved by 20 percent of your workers? Again, doesn’t it make sense to invest time and resources in the 20 percenters . . . the people who are really making a difference . . . rather than spending most of your time trying to improve the 80 percenters?
It’s all about leverage. It’s about identifying the customers, employees, systems and processes that are the keys to your company’s success. It’s about making sure you’re constantly working with those keys to make them stronger and more effective. Where can you get an 80 percent result from a 20 percent effort?
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
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