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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: , ,

Your Cast of Characters

March 5, 2013 By

Summary:  Each person you work with has their own character. To be able to work with them you need to understand them.

If you work with people around you, you have noticed that each one has it’s own personality. Some are easier to get along with than others. If you didn’t have to work with everyone, that would be fine. However when you part of team, getting along with everyone on the team is important.

characters 320x213 Your Cast of Characters

Courtesy of PhotoXpress

Please note I said “get along” and not “like”. The distinction is important as like means getting to know a person beyond the work environment, which is not necessary to work together. After all we all have work colleagues that we can work with but may not want to go out to dinner with on a Saturday night – and that’s ok.

To be able to work with the various people that make up you team, you need to understand them. How?

Listen. If you really want to get to know a person and what is important to them – listen. No talking just listening. This is actually than it sounds. Ask a few questions and listen. In their own words they will tell you a lot.

Talk to them. After listening you will understand a bit about them. To learn why they do what they do and the why. Talk to them about their career, why they have made the choices, etc. Be careful not sound like an interrogation or an interview. It may take more than one chat to get there.

Mimic. This does not mean copy or be their shadow. Learn how they present information, talk and work with others. This will tell you how they want to be treated. Mimic their behavior subtly back to them to get the best results.

By learning about each person on the team, you are learning about their character. Like a play each character has it’s role. Learn your characters and their role. Only then can you being to work together.

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

Day One Leadership

February 12, 2013 By

Summary: Whether through promotion or hiring for your own company – you may now be leading your former peers! Now what?

It happens, sometimes it’s planned and other times not. You may know it was going to happen and sometimes you may not realize it.

It’s leading your peers. It could be due to a promotion you were working for or maybe it was unexpected. Maybe it is because you have your own business and you decided to hire people you have worked with before.in these instances you probably didn’t think about what it would mean to be responsible or in charge of your peers.

day one 320x320 Day One Leadership

The first day comes and you have become keenly aware that your colleagues are looking at you for direction. You have that big lump in your throat, the butterflies in your stomach are huge and your confidence is no where to be found.

It’s ok…take a deep breathe we will get through this together.

Before your first day as the “boss” you will need to prepare.

  • What is your vision for the department/company?
  • In the big picture, what would you like everyone to accomplish (think long-term).
  • If it is your company, create a training plan for them to learn “how we do it here”

On your first day meet with your team to discuss two things:

  1. The elephant in the room! Talk about how you realize it is a little awkward to be responsible for the team after sitting along side them. Let everyone express what they are thinking. When it is your business make sure the person understands it is a business relationship and you have expectations for their work. Sometimes people may take advantage with the attitude “the boss and I go way back”.
  2. Discuss your vision. At this point be general so people understand what you are moving towards. What ever you do – don’t go into how things were done wrong with the previous boss/company. You are building on what they already know. Start positive and humble and you will earn their respect.

Enjoy the ride. Understand just like a good roller coaster ride there will be ups and downs. It’s ok and its expected. Learn and adjust from the downs and enjoy the ups.

What was your first day like as a leader? What tips do you have for future leaders?

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

Starting Leadership

February 5, 2013 By

Summary:  You have realized you are a manager and more importantly a leader. Where do you start? How do you create the team you want?

You have grown your business to the point where you can’t do it all yourself – congratulations! You are tasting success and you love it. You hire people to work for you and then you realize something….

Maybe you have just been promoted, you are excited as you have been working hard on advancing your career. You are enjoying the new paycheck and the new challenges and then you realize something…

starting 320x242 Starting Leadership

Courtesy of PhotoXpress

 

In both these cases you have realized that you are a manager and more importantly….a leader. Why the distinction? Being a manager is about processes, things, inanimate objects. You can manage the flow of a project, you can manage your email however you cannot manage people. People need to be lead, they have to want to follow you and your direction. If you manage them, they will be as productive as your stapler. You guide and lead them and in return they will give their best everyday.

Sounds easy right?

How to get started and create the kind of team you want? These should get you going.

Vision. Share your vision for the team, department and company. Explain how they fit in and give them a purpose. People need to know how they fit into the big picture and how they contribute to the success.

Listen. Let them do the talking. Ask questions and listen to their response and ask more questions. People are full of ideas and suggestions, you don’t need to have all the answers. You do need to give them a voice so they want to share.

Set expectations. Let them, know what you expect. This could mean daily progress, end results, client management, sales numbers, however you will determine their success. If you don’t let them know – they can’t achieve it (or at least work towards it).

Create Accountability. Hold people responsible for their actions – the good, bad and ugly. Praise when deserved in public and consult with them in private when a change is needed. Where possible have them come up with plans and determine how to proceed – you should be their sounding board not the answer.

These four simple sounding steps will  help you start your leadership in the right direction. Simple sounding and in reality will take dedication and persistence on your part to keep moving forward.

How did you start your leadership? What leadership practices have you found beneficial?

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

The Buck Stops Here

January 29, 2013 By

Summary:  We have all heard the saying “the buck stops here”. The word for this is accountability. Begin a culture of accountability with yourself and your people.

We have all heard the saying “the buck stops here”. This is usually heard when someone is referring to the CEO. However most of us would like to hear this from all of our staff. Well maybe not so much that the buck stops stops with them as much as they take responsibility for their actions. Not just the ones which have positive results but the negative ones as well.

buck 320x240 The Buck Stops Here

Courtesy of PhotoXpress

There is a word for this…accountability.

A word some have attributed to workplace Nirvana.  If only people were more accountable,  all would be good at work. Or, we need to increase accountability if we want to move forward. Or, until we have accountability we cannot progress.

How do we get this? Is it possible or some fairy tale of perfection which cannot be reached.

You can develop a culture of accountability. It starts with YOU. Yes, this is important that you lead by your actions – lip service won’t do.

Are you accountable for what you do and the decisions you make? If not, your people wont be either. If you are, ask it from the rest.

How do you begin to instill accountability in others?

Praise in public. Besides being a good human relations effort, people will appreciate the recognition for their hard work.

Criticize in private. Again, good human relations. Also people need to know when to make corrections, when the desired results weren’t achieved and  when they were plain wrong.

Debrief.  When things go wrong, review with the person what happened and why. In retrospect were there signs they didn’t notice, people not working to their full potential, unrealistic deadlines or poor direction. Only by reviewing what didn’t work can they be avoided in the future. Also review what went right and what needs to keep happening.

Seek correction. On solo tasks or projects, corrections need to be made. Ask for what they will do going forward. Don’t tell them, its important they come up with the solution.  This act alone with create responsibility within the person.

Lessons learned. Share the debrief with the team, have all involved come up with a solution. Same as above on a team level. Everyone contributes to the solution and the team will take responsibility.

What have you done to create accountability?

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