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What does it mean to you?

April 2, 2013 By

Summary:  What does culture mean to a business? Define it, work it, use it and celebrate it. It’s all good.

A lot is said about culture – how to define it, do you need one and what does it mean to your business. To many businesses this sound like a “big business” idea and may not realize what this means to them.

actdet imagen para la ruta gaudi 320x233 What does it mean to you?

Park Guell by Gaudi, Barcelona Spain

What does culture mean to a small business? Culture is essentially the personality of the company, what makes it a great place to work and the kind of people working in it.  Think of the companies you admire – what kinds of words do you use to describe it, does it sound like you are talking about a person than a company? Usually, since a personality makes it more personable to us.

What is your culture? Keep in mind their is no right or wrong answer here – your culture is what it is. The real question then becomes – is this what you want it to be?

Define it. Take out a piece a paper and write down the words that describe your company. How do your clients see it? How do your people see it? How do you see it? It’s possible you have three very different lists.

Work it. If your lists don’t match, you need to figure out what you want your culture or “personality” to be and work towards it. Having different view points between the three creates more of a multiple personality disorder than a culture.

Use it. Your culture should be used to find new hires who fit in, attract clients (people like to work with companies like themselves), and keep people motivated.

Celebrate. Enjoy who and what you are.

Share your culture with us below.

 

Filed Under: Authentic Leadership, Employee Satisfaction Tagged With: , ,

Do you have values?

November 6, 2012 By

Summary: Are your values posted on a wall where no one pays attention? Some ideas to work them into your organization and how to live them.

When working with companies on setting up their HR department/policies, one of the questions I ask is “Does your company have Values?”  I am not talking about the personal values each person possesses, they are corporate values on how to run the business and what kind of people you want in your business. A set of values which will transcend every position and every part of the organization. Values are the personal characteristics each person has and exhibits. Values are typically describe in one word or in a short phrase.

Photoxpress 3257792 320x213 Do you have values?

Courtesy of PhotoXpress

Here are some examples:

Integrity.  Continuous Learning. Customer Service. Innovation. Accountability.

You will notice that these examples do not get into religious beliefs – this is about the people in your organization. If you are a religous organization they can be included. Depending on your company you will most likely have between five and ten values. Typically what happens after the values are determine, written and posted; they are forgotten. If you really want the values to be lived everyday, simply putting them on a poster will not suffice.

How do you incorporate the values into your company?

  • Interview candidates against your values.
  • Create your performance review system based on your values.
  • Hand out awards based on the values.
  • Incorporate at least value in each piece of employee communication.
  • Part of the training program

I’m sure if you sat down and took a look at your company, you could come up with more ways to incorporate the values.

How else do you incorporate values into your organization?  

Filed Under: Authentic Leadership, Employee Communication Tagged With: , , ,

Do you have a people strategy?

July 17, 2012 By

Summary:  Do you have a people strategy? What you company will look like in the future? What kind of people you will need? Answer these questions to move in the right direction.

Usually when we think of strategy we think about marketing, sales, and overall direction. When is the last time you thought about your people strategy?

Photoxpress 6294006 320x240 Do you have a people strategy?

Courtesy of PhotoXpress

I had an interesting conversation the other day with a colleague about his wanting to grow his business. Actually it was beyond wanting, he is ready and so is his business. However he was running into some road blocks, mostly he wasn’t sure what he needed as far as people were concerned. Do you find yourself in the same situation?

Here’s what you need to start thinking about:

  1. Start by thinking about “what” your organization will look like.  I know this sounds obvious however we do get caught up here because we look at the people we already have and not position.
  2. Only look at positions. Determine your business needs and what types of people/positions you will need to get the work done.
  3. Add your current people. Do your current people fit into your future structure? Can they with training?
  4. Do you have left overs? Do you have people who just don’t seem to fit in? This is the tough part – you need to decide what to do with these people and determine why they don’t fit in.

Once you have laid out your future plan, you can focus on what you need to do to create the company and people that can support it.

How do you determine your people plan?

Filed Under: Authentic Leadership, Employee Communication, Goals Tagged With: , ,

Ready for Transition? 5 things to Consider

June 19, 2012 By

Summary: Soon you will have to make a transition from lean and mean to growth. Are you prepared? Here are 5 things you need to consider.

I know many of you may have doubts about the course of the economy whether or not it is turning around or not. Regardless of your current view, you will need to make a transition. What transition? Going from lean and mean to growth. Over the last several years many of you have been operating with lean resources, people doing more than one job, and possibly minimal marketing. All of which is understandable during tough economic times. Soon it will turn around and all your hard work will pay off big, resulting in growth. Yeah!

world growth 320x177 Ready for Transition? 5 things to Consider

Courtesy of PhotoXpress.com

So, exactly what kind of transition do you need to make? Glad you asked, here’s a small list to get you started:

  • Marketing. Hopefully you have been marketing all along, now is the time to take it “up a notch”. Increase your exposure as more people are requiring assistance. Unemployment is decreasing so more people are earning wages.
  • Sales. Your marketing efforts should lead to more sales, be prepared for more calls and conversations. The hard sell is not working so be prepared to “soften” up your approach.
  • Finances. Re-forecast your projections for sales, expenses and cash flow. Especially important if you will financing when sales increase.
  • Employees. You have been running lean, people doing more than one job. Take a look and determine how much more they can handle before you need to hire more people. Since the process of finding the right person for you business takes time, don’t be caught by surprise.
  • Community. Now is a great time to give back to the community that has been supporting you over the years. Don’t forget about them when business grows.

Depending on your business, you may have a couple more or a lot more. Just as an unexpected downturn can harm your business, an unexpected growth can have the same effort. Sudden growth can tax your resources and efforts if you are caught unprepared. Draw up your plan now with indicators as to signal when to implement.

What other factors do you consider when your business grows? Share below.

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Filed Under: Authentic Leadership, Goals, Leadership, Policies & Procedures Tagged With: , , ,

Why are you holding on?

May 22, 2012 By

Summary:  Do you have that one person you have kept in your company for too long? What are you doing to change it? Here’s a way to get started.

Do you find yourself looking at one of your people and saying “why are they still here?” or “he is more trouble than he’s worth”, then return to your work and do nothing about it?

Is it because they have get to become so unbearable? You are waiting for them to do that “one thing” where you can get rid of them on the spot? Or you need to hire someone first and how do I do that without them finding out? Worse yet – you are afraid of being sued if you let them go.  You have gotten yourself into a situation that is difficult to get out of – especially if you have accepted this person and their behavior for a long time (maybe a couple of years).

Photoxpress 4498255 320x213 Why are you holding on?

Courtesy of PhotoXpress

So how do you deal with it? Carefully.

Don’t get emotional.  Don’t wait until you have had it and can’t take it any longer – that’s when the trouble starts. Take a deep breath, sit back and review their performance and/or attitude.

Have a discussion. This will be difficult if it has been happening for a while but it still needs to be done.  Sit down with the person and review the last few weeks on what has worked and what needs to be improved.  Don’t go back further than that – you have waited this long and bringing it up won’t make a difference.

Create a plan. Based on your discussion create a plan for moving forward. How much time do they need to be trained, taught and guided? If it’s about attitude, you can request the behavior to stop immediately. Word of caution: don’t let it be “one strike and your out”.  It takes a while to improve and change behavior. Notice if they are making an effort or not.

Document. Time to start putting it all in writing and having the employee sign the document – not that they agree but the discussion was had. Keep the original for yourself and give the person the copy.

Consistency. You have to be consistent for this to be effective. Each occurrence needs to be discussed, not every other one. Also, talk about it as soon as possible. The fresher the memory, the more effective the discussion.

Start. I know…I know…you have been meaning to do this for a while. Well – there is no time like the present. Get started.

Once you start the process you will quickly be able to determine if the person can turn it around or not. In the meantime, get started on getting a new person so you will have little downtime if it doesn’t work out.

Most people want to be good at their jobs and succeed, make sure they understand what “success” means at your company. You may come to realize they are also not happy with the arrangement. If that’s the case, create a plan that works for both of you.

How have you dealt with a wrong-fitting person?

 

Filed Under: Authentic Leadership, Employee Communication, Employee Satisfaction Tagged With: , , ,
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