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Archive for category Health and Safety Dept

The Open Plan Office Failure

Feb 16

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Health and Safety Dept, Innovation and Creativity, Risk Management | No Comments

Open plan offices offer a lot if your team communicates openly with each other share conversations with customers and offering information or advice between a small group of staff. The challenge comes when you expect the team to work without distractions (planning – on the phone with customers etc.)

Ok so what was the big deal with going for open plan in the first place? Cost? Having the chance to break down barriers? More open communication? Other…

Let’s go the other way, what’s the deal with a ‘closed’ office? Greater privacy – Easier to concentrate – Cut down on noise – More wall space (for planning charts and so on…) – Your computer can be oriented so only you see what’s on the screen (ok not the best reason but surely quiet important!)

Perhaps the best way is to go halfway (is that possible?) creating spaces which offer users the ability to have privacy, a sense of security, still have some degree of communication openness, not have the cost of a full office, and provide the user with that sense of ownership or personalisation without having everyone look at your personal items etc

Maybe we could go for the cocoon, or pod, I seem to recollect back in the 70’s the Illustrator Roger Dean (Did lots of futuristic and fantasy album covers) created a whole bunch of futuristic spacey spaces and one of them included a ‘Learning Pod’ and individual cocoon shaped like a giant seed pod. Is that a way to go…

I believe the answer probably lies in clearly looking at what the business, your business, is all about and exploring the ideal way to make what needs to happen, happen, in the most effective way possible.

If your team really work as a team, then maybe a team space is required with separate areas to compile info for the team.

If your team are working directly with customers, then perhaps they just need a space where they can do that with minimal fuss.

If your team are a bunch of slackers and serve no real purpose to your amazingly big conglomerate then perhaps a bunch of hotel rooms with Wi Fi connectivity might be the go…

I guess what I am really saying is to ‘go deep’ and look at the specific reasons your team need the space they need and how they will interact (or not). I guess I am also thinking make the space adaptable so things can be altered when the need arises.

Oh and let’s not forget the concept of status, where the ‘boss’ gets the ‘closed office and privacy’ and the others get ‘open space and prying eyes’ surely we can think beyond that and come up with spaces which cause people to believe they are highly valued contributors without any loss of status.

Perhaps open plan failure is just a starting point to creating office space success.

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Do you have staff? STOP NOW!

Jun 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Health and Safety Dept, Risk Management | 1 Comment

Pay attention people, all hell could break loose with your staff and you may not even know it! Ok I may be exaggerating a little but the thing is you could have a potential problem so stop now and read on…

Here’s the issue, you figure the people you employed will have some common sense and do the right thing in your business, know their skills, apply them well and be a productive part of your business community. But wait, what if you learned they may not have so much common sense after all, don’t feel bad (just yet) many people seem to fall into this category…

The specific issue this time is OHS, lets set a scene to explain why. You explain the OHS system when you employed a person and figure they will remember to let you know if an incident happens, even if it is a minor one or even if it has the possibility of happening. But over time they forget.

Lets go a step further, the staff member in question,  twists quickly in the course of  doing their job, no lifting of an object… just a twist, lets say to change direction while walking… In an instant they feel some pain in their back, a strain or sprain of some kind.

They think to themselves, “I wasn’t doing anything at the time, and even though I am at work there is nothing to report.” well not true, they have an injury which took place at work, not due to work but AT WORK. Therefore it should be reported. In this case however it wasn’t.

The issue becomes greater as the person decides the next day to take time out to se a Doctor as the pain is worse and needs to be seen to. Their Doctor is busy so they go to another, see a long waiting list and decide to give it a miss, they have missed a day of work and will see if they can sleep it off. The next day they return to work still a little sore from the ordeal.

Chances are it may never turn out to be an issue for the person or the organisation, but what if it did.

Lets say the person does have an issue, and on advice they get legal advice, the solicitor tries to pin down what took place and the OHS records at the business show nothing reported, then they close the book and say “Sorry it’s doubtful there is any case for the company to answer as there are no records of an incident taking place, was there a witness? No, oh well then there is nothing to make your story stick…”

Interesting story, but in real life such a situation can be tragic for the employee if they can not pursue any action, tragic for the company if they lose an employee or end up with one who may be able to only do some of their original duties, which could be tough all round. Or imagine they just spread the word your organisation is lousy for not looking after people, more mud, and some will stick.

The moral here is to keep training and reminding your staff to be highly aware of safety issues, making it a number one priority always, and reporting the simplest thing, actual or potential, which could be a risk to the organisation or a person. Lets hope the subject of our story has no further issues and the sprain gets better soon!

Workplace Bullying Policy

Jun 14

Posted by Steve Gray in Health and Safety Dept, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management | 1 Comment

Don’t turn off and stop reading because you are a small business, Don’t stop reading because you believe you have all the bases covered on this one, and just because your people in the HR department say there is no need for such a thing due to no cases of it at this point be wary of that.

Imagine you employ a bright eyed graduate or fresh faced school leaver brimming with interest and potential, then after a few weeks you see them with less of a smile, less of a pep in their step. For most people watching this person they might say, yep the realities of being in a job have kicked in, he he!

That can be the case, but what if they have found their supervisor or a co-worker has given then some grief, a few terse words, a few statements which have impacted on their esteem. This might seem like petty stuff but the impact of this sort of situation can get out of hand very quickly, the worker may feel powerless, in a bind, awkward, berated, useless and so on.

Your business has a duty of care,  you have a duty of care and this needs to be stated up front that everyone in the organisation also has a duty of care. Therefore that being the case guidelines need to be in place to clearly out line what actions are taken in situations like this and to spell out some basics as to what might constitute bullying, harassment and other situations which might impact a persons esteem.

Okay so now a bunch of  you are saying “Hey the hell do I have to care about a persons esteem? Heck I pay them to do a job, they should do it and put up with the situation, they should harden up, the world is a tough place…”

My view on that is how can you not care about a person you employ… If you are not into caring, avoid being in business. If you don’t care, your customers won’t either and then your staff will soon disappear. Yes it’s that basic, and you need to ensure you have the situation covered or you could be caught out VERY QUICKLY.

So do the right thing and have one ready to implement now, I suggest at the very least you do a search on google and see what comes up, grab one that suits and use it. for a rock solid start try the public service in your country and see what they have you can edit to make it your own. one I looked at recently had a 44 page doc you could download easily enough and it had various examples as well. http://www.apsc.gov.au/ethics/respect.pdf

To finish, imagine this, you are interviewing people for a job, on telling them about the organisation you are able to show them a copy of your bullying policy. It shows you care, it shows you will not tolerate people who don’t care, it shows you want to have happy people enjoying being part of the team, together everyone feels safe and in a organisation which values people, enough said…

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The Franchisor has a duty of care…

Sep 20

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchising, Health and Safety Dept, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Sales Dept | No Comments

In business we all have a duty of care to some degree, we also have to make a profit at some stage by providing a product and or service that’s what makes us a business and not a charity.

In franchising I see it that the duty of care is still there, its perhaps very different to working directly with an employee but it still exists. In some areas Franchisors have been criticised for some of their practices and over time regulators have put in a lot of work to ensure unscrupulous operators are out of the system or not supported, by putting into place some devices to make their business be seen as one that cares at a deeper level will only assist them in sales and their longevity in the market place. If the duty of care is lacking there can be issues arise that cause more friction and pain than good will and esteem.

So what sorts of things can they do to bolster their duty of care?

1. Stop the churn - Churning is a term used to describe a person giving up their territory and the main company reselling it at a future time, so they get a number of start up fees from the one territory. This great for them but not for the person trying to sell their territory. it causes a sour feeling for the seller and perhaps some tension from the franchisors side, over time the wound may well heal but the stigma remains. if they had worked with the initial owner to create a business that was glowing, and perhaps create a ‘passive income’ then they would not have to sell, in fact they would have created an asset of greater value.

2. Make the start up better – Sure new franchisees get training and before the training is the sales process. What if before the sales process came a due diligence checklist? Or a guide to what makes a successful franchisee in their business… It would be great to have info that showed a scenario of how to make the business work rather than a risky stab in the dark. It could also be a model of how to operate the business if they get into it. It serves two purposes, to inform as to how the business might run, and as a qualifying device to pick the right franchisee and not just any franchisee. Take it further and insist they spend at least a week or two helping out another franchisee, then ask if they really want to do it, find out the whys and why nots and build on that to make the business stronger. Even go so far as to provide them with a simple financial checklist or spreadsheet, that shows the average costs of running the business and then do some financial from there, it could be an excel preadsheet they use ont he computer to punch in various figures to see what they could make, not trying to figure out roughly what’s possible.

3. Train better – It’s one thing to learn about a product or service but another to learn about business skills, even if you have some already. Business is such a diverse device that one type of business may not mean the skills are transferable. Role plays, scenarios and various practical examples can be useful as well as the mechanics of leadership, finances, marketing, HR and so on. The more info you get to work with the better. Then add to the training later on, seminars, franchise group meetings and conventions go some way to doing this so make it a feature.

4. Communicate more – So you have a new franchisee, a contact at head office and over time they get disgruntled and you wonder why… make the effort to have the team keep in contact, when you contact them they say, “We would be more productive if you head office people did not keep calling us!! Ha ha! but hey keep it up the support is great!” An email occasionally is nice, a newsletter okay, but the real McCoy of face to face or over the phone contact regularly makes a real difference. Be there for the franchisee, not just pay lip service to it so they can really sense you care.

5. Use your FAC – The franchise advisory council or whatever you choose to call it, should be a vital link to the inner workings of your organisation. It should be the guide to improvement, the quality development device that you call on to get momentum happening. Lets face it the franchisees are the customers to the franchisor so the FAC becomes the focus group to learn from. Well trained FAC’s can become mentors, and get feedback from the people at the coal face.

6. OHS – In most cases where a duty of care is mentioned, Occupational Health and Safety is the area where it gets mentioned. The same here, all the above points are about caring for the franchisee physically and mentally. So consider using some form of OHS plan to find ways pf helping the franchisees. It may even be as obvious as showing them ways to boost their own OHS in the workplace and becoming “safety watch its” that may make a difference.

7. Minister and discipleship – Not totally in the religious sense, but in the setting of standards, the leadership of teams, the passing on of the “good word”. Be the way, the truth and the light… Be the person they respect as a leader, be the one who is the font of knowledge and is there with the right sort of advice and helping hand they need when they need it. It’s more of a holistic approach to caring and your role in the organisation as the leader. Consider it as mentoring, coaching, leading, ministering, discipleship and or anything else you care to call it, be their right hand and be it brilliantly!

8. Do the internal stuff - It’s one thing to work with the franchisees, but how often do you focus on your staff? How are they awarded and rewarded for their contribution above and beyond the $$ they earn. If the franchisees and prospective franchisees are doing their job they will notice the turnover of staff, any annoyances in the background etc. Your job No: 1. is to build the esteem of the internal team so that they glow with enthusiasm and delight at being part of your team and the things it achieves. Tey in turn will look out more for the franchisees and any issues they have more readily.

None of the above points are meant to be easy, in fact they might just add to your workload a little, However if you want your franchise business to be exceptional in all it does, these are a guide to finding the way forward and the franchisees will love the care and attention you show.

Your magic business…

Aug 30

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Finance, Growth, Health and Safety Dept, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, IT Dept, Leadership, Negotiation, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Operations Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

Today you are doing what SPECIFICALLY…

- to make your business more profitable?

- to cause the staff to LOVE you?

- to cause the customers to LOVE you and your team?

- to cause your suppliers to jump through hoops to give you great deals (and LOVE you)?

- to ensure your workplace is the best place to work, form both a safety and aesthetic perspective?

- to cut down on red tape?

- to create more elegant systems?

- to ensure your business is growing well?

The list can be as long as you like, with out this kind of input your business can stagnate and fade, in short it can shrivel up and die… So do something today to make it thrive.

Caring leads to loving… yes loving!

Aug 28

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Health and Safety Dept, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, The Customer Service Dept, The Sales Dept | 2 Comments

Caring for your staff can lead to respect, the word caring means showing positive and real interest towards each other. I am suggesting we take a caring approach to build the love we have so we can avoid, bullying in the workplace, foster greater connection with our customers and staff.

This article mixes well with “Your staff and service made easy” and should probably be seen as the next step on from it.

Of course there are various levels of love and I am sure you will appreciate and respect peoples personal boundaries and expectations in this regard, the aim is not to get into “hot water” but rather prevent hostilities!

In the beginning love needs to come from people who appreciate love and indeed have love for themselves (I’m not talking about egocentric over the top love here…) so on the list of “lovers” it would probably look like this.

1. They love themselves – then they know what its like and can lo ve others.

2. They love others, their close personal team – family then friends and workmates.

3. They love the customers - without them you are not in buisness so give them some love too!

4. Love being in business – no point in doing something you hate…

5. Love your offerings - are you selling great products and services or???

6. Love you business environment – take a look around, is it a gret place to work? really? get witht he progra and sort out some of the details so you can make thing humm!

7. Love the work teams - you may not be able to have much input into how they work together but if you love the team principles you can have a more productive and fun work place.

8. Love their communications – go on foster some great communications, break down some barriers and watch the teams flourish.

9. Develop a love for leadership skills – and instil these in everyone, make them all leaders (of their own projects.)

Okay so how would you do all of this?

1. Get great at coaching – mentoring – supporting and leading. Find out what you can do to be good at these and you will become a powerful support device to cause your business to fourish.

2. Create systems and methods to create closeness – then watch how the individuals and teams work to make the most of the situation.

Your aim in doing all of this is to create a work culture that supports, cares, holds people in high regard… in short it builds the love.

Bullying no thanks…

Jul 23

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Health and Safety Dept, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

Of increasing annoyance is the challenge employers face in dealing with Bullying in the workplace. No longer is it just a blue collar “stir up the new apprentice with some pranks issue” but it’s a bigger issue involving all business types. It seems there are as many bullies as there are workplaces.

Finding out you have a bully is one thing, but dealing with them is entirely another… Often you find out you have one or three bullies far too late and their manipulative ways mean they may have already infected a range of people in your organisation. Poor productivity, lots of sick days taken, higher staff turnover may be just a few of the indicators a bully is in your midsts.

To combat this employers, managers and supervisors need to be vigilant that 1. they are not the bullies and that 2. they have a process of some kind in place for dealing with them. Finally 3. they have a way of discovering if they have any.

Attached is a document that can give you some insights into bullies and the ways they do things, use that as a starting point to pinpoint the behaviours bullies have and then work towards ways to over come these parasites feeding on your business.
Workplace Bully Information

What’s in your blind spot?

Jul 19

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Health and Safety Dept, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

In a car you have a couple of blind spots that mean you have to turn your head to see out of a side window to see what is really happening, and I see the same in business, in retail it’s often called store blindness where the details become common place and things that need to be changed, cleaned up repaired etc are not seen. and I guess due to us being in our businesses so much many other things escape our attention.

Yet funnily enough the blindness disappears often when we go to someone elses business, we are able to turn on our radar and spot any number of minor things that irritate us.

So to be able to see the blindspots in your busness and then do something about them is vital. Here are some poitnsto consider.

  • Ask others – customers staff members, friends and family.
  • Use your professional support people – accountant – coach – bookkeeper.

Whoever it is get them involved in taking a look at what’s happening and give you real feedback. make a list of what needs work and do it or delegate it.

Tragic Business…

Jun 30

Posted by Steve Gray in Health and Safety Dept, People!, Personal Development, Risk Management | No Comments

In our local paper today we read of a 30 yr old who had taken his life… Sad, and tragic, what made it worse my wife and I had taught this “lad” I remember his boisterousness, his propensity to get in to mischief, his moments of sheer happiness and the odd moment of withdrawl. In the main he was a good kid that went on to pursue a dream in hospitality and became  a head chef in one of our local restaurants after a number of years studying, and travelling overseas. At age 30 it seems too young, but then it happens at many ages.

My thoughts turn to those who had a longer connection with him, as their team leader, boss, mentor, and teacher. Then the company he worked for, how they would be effected by his departure.

What does a company do when someone decides to exit in this way… Were there indicators or signs this was happening? Could they have done anything? Possibly not. What comes next is the effects, the ongoing thoughts that he should be there, that he is not, that he did so much and will be missed, then on to the reality phase of acceptance and moving on.

Question. What would you do? At every phase of the process… What could you say to make things better, to lighten the load, to brighten the moment, to provide support to one and all…

There is no doubt it is a tricky situation and there are people qualified to advise and support better than you or I, however the process starts somewhere. I invite you to say, what if, but say it BEFORE the process kicks in.

What if I could steer people to the right sort of support? What if I could be perceptive to the subtleties of communication that I could see (at least some of) the writing on the wall? What if others had the ability to let me know as the leader of the organisation that things were not okay…? What if I could be strong enough to sit and chat about challenges my people might face personal and professionally? What if I could assist them to build solid foundations in their lives so they could function  effectively and elegantly at higher levels?

For some they lose the way in life through not goal setting enough, for others its about exploring a more open ended approach and being clear of the reestrictions goals might impose. What ever the reason for losing their way we all share some responsibility if we allow ourselves to not be able to act in effective and elegant ways on what is a tragic turn of events for all concerned, near or far.

She fainted, and I was shocked!

Jan 31

Posted by Steve Gray in Health and Safety Dept, Human Resource Management, People!, Risk Management | No Comments

We have a new student from overseas in our house, we have two students we host from a local school and have done it for years, we love it. Each time one leaves or completes yr 12 to go to uni we get a new one. This year was no different and the new one is a little younger than we have had in a while. They are overseas students and the issues with language keeps us communicating very carefully most of the time.So last night we sat down to dinner, and the youngest one was not saying much (not uncommon) but then she got up from the table and collapsed (I was glad I didn’t cook!) really she just fainted, she had not eaten all day and had only had a little water, so the result was a teenager flat out on the floor!

After the initial panic my wife and I remembered some basic first aid skills, made a hurried call to the school coordinator. I get our long term students to fill out an info sheet so I can know about any allergies etc, so I knew she had none of those happening, it was a process of elimination and asking her questions etc to establish the situation better. It still caused a shock for me as its not every day a teenager faints in our house!
On evaluating the situation I was looking for any ways I could have done things differently and made a few pointers in my head, then it dawned on me, how about in the workplace.

Just like any workplace this was the scenario, zero incidents for 7 – 8 years, then voom, one that gets you thinking. So what would you do? A new employee starts and faints day one, perhaps its stress related, perhaps they did not eat beacuse of it (the stress that is!) perhaps they have a medical condition they did not want to let anyone know about due to any negative pre conceptions.

May I suggest you find ways of making them at ease and assist them to take care of themselves in those early moments in their new position. It could be a great time to evaluate any induction and orientation program you have in place or perhaps it’s time to start one.

Rubbish – Money

Nov 19

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Health and Safety Dept, Innovation and Creativity, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

I recently came across this story and it reminded me of a few things I had seen in the past few years.

Quad/Graphics USA is one of the largest printing companies in the world. It is the brainchild of Harry Quadracci Jr. He constantly searches for cheaper, faster, more effective, exciting ways to do business always applying standards of the highest integrity.

John Imes, their ecology manager said they were producing a considerable amount of waste every day in every plant. John was brought in to see what he could do to lower the costs associated with this waste, and to bring the plants into compliance with Environmental Protection Agency standards and regulations.

John came to the conclusion that, “We live in this town.  If we spew anything into the air, we’ll all breathe it and so will our children.  If we pollute the streams, we’ll all be drinking it.”  So the decision was made that the company had to commit to cleaning it all up. However, in tune with Harry Quadracci’s policies, it was also necessary to still make a profit while doing it.

Eight years later, they actually made a profit from the cleanup efforts!  They were also in full compliance with the EPA.  The first thing John did was to call the EPA inspector and invite him into the plant. “I want you to be my partner in making this plant in full compliance.  How can we work together to make that happen?”  The inspector said that this kind of conversation had never happened before. John said to the inspector, “I want you here with me all the time.  I don’t want an adversarial relationship.  I want to make this plant, and all our plants, clean, efficient and effective. Let’s be partners in this process.”

In looking at the various sources of potential pollution, the ink used in printing was a big one.  They found that inks could be made from soy.  Up until that time, soy-based inks had various problems that made them impractical.  The company investigated this further.  A few years later, they were in the soy ink business, had perfected soy-based inks, and were now supplying them all over the world.

Then, another breakthrough. They discovered various ways of using recycled papers.  Eventually, they discovered that there was a use – a profitable use – for almost everything that had been thrown out previously. Where each plant had been producing many barrels of waste each day, they cut it down to less than one barrel per day. For John Imes, every day has become an opportunity to do something of value – not only for his company, but for his community as well.

For many of us, this kind of ‘thinking outside of the square’ to solve a challenge goes by the way side too quickly, we find it easier to creatively avoid these types of tasks as we may see them as being too difficult.

In time businesses and team members will have to think more outside the square like John Imes and Harry Quadracci Jr, to not only implement change, but to make certain it’s profitable as well.

Consider what things happen around your business and workplace, how can you extend yourself to make it a better place to be, not just for the business profitability but for the community as a whole.

Looking after our ecosystems

Oct 27

Posted by Sam Leader in Health and Safety Dept, People!, Planning, Risk Management | 1 Comment

I have come across two similar ad campaigns which have angered me no end. The first, a TV ad, features a beaming bride who keeps smiling as she takes a work call during her ceremony. The second, on the radio, has a dad reading a bedtime story, before taking a call then cutting it short, explaining ‘Sorry son, it’s daddy’s work.’It makes me want to run a counter campaign: “Lost – Priorities & Perspective. Last seen before the Industrial Revolution.”

Aren’t adverts supposed to be aspirational? Can anyone tell me what is aspirational about working at your own wedding, or having a client interrupt time with your son?

I think we soloists need to lead by example by unapologetically ensuring work takes its rightful place alongside our other priorities. It is our duty to show the drones how it’s done by putting at least as much conscious effort into staying healthy and making our relationships a success as we do into our work.

Each of us is responsible for our delicate ecosystem of work, health and relationships. For this ecosystem to survive, each element and its interrelation needs to be nurtured and respected

The good news is it should be easy for soloists, free of the strictures of tut-tut-you’re-five-minutes-late corporate culture, to ensure there’s harmony between these elements.

And now the bad: lots of soloists are so frightened of not being taken seriously they busily emulate Jobland. In their zeal to create a career others will take notice of and have respect for, they end up creating a black-hole business which consumes all of their energy.

Naturally this behaviour has got “counterproductive” written all over it as when energy does not get replenished by time “out”, our business ends up suffering anyway.

My business partner and all round good guy Robert Gerrish explains the role of the review process he sometimes undertakes with coaching clients, 99% of whom are solo business owners. “I’ll find out how they think they have performed in their business. Then I will ask ‘And how about as a partner/parent/friend?’ If they stall on the answers here, it’s a strong indicator something is out of whack and trouble is not far behind.”

Just because you take a Tuesday afternoon to lie down with a book, lark about in the ocean or have a long lunch with friends, it does not mean you don’t take business seriously and aren’t committed to it.

Time out is not going to kill you. But over-committing to your work just might.

12 Ways People Make Business GREAT!

Oct 20

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Health and Safety Dept, Human Resource Management, Leadership, Negotiation, People!, Personal Development, Risk Management | No Comments

I love working with businesses as they are made up of people as the main part of the mechanism to make the organisation work, but all too often companies run into negative people issues and that can mean things may not go quite as planned some times. I developed this list in response to a cry for help from David, a client of mine. He was feeling under pressure having 25 staff that were ‘all over the shop’ to use his term. Some of the issues were to do with his style of leadership and some to do with the people.

In the end the result was great, absenteeism fell, and before long profitability and productivity was on the rise. Occasionally it does not take much, but when you need to take stock, check the list and see how you might pick up the game.

Points to creating a great workplace

  1. Don’t change people – You picked them, you wanted, you got, now work with what you have to get a great result, if you want something to alter make it you, not them.
  2. Play by their rules (sometimes) – Work with them, if they have rules, they have them for a reason, is it that your rules are not filling the gap/s? Or perhaps they think their rules are better. Be flexible in your approach and check out what they have before running it down, try it you just might like it.
  3. Check list you – Check out what you do, what you can change to better fit the situations you may find yourself in with the workplace. Check your attitude, your communication style, your presentation, your expectations and probably a whole raft of other things.
  4. Look after you – Change can happen at any time, the control of that is up to you, no one else. If you are in control of you and your needs chances are your esteem will allow you to be more, do more, and have more.
  5. Discuss the good and the not so good! – Have open and frank discussions and ensure they stay free form personal attack. Create an environment where people can say how they feel, see how things are going, hear from others and keep in touch with the team and each other.
  6. Listen and do – Talk less about things and go for more actions, doing can make a world of difference to the organisation you are a part of. Remember two ears for listening, and one mouth for talking. So use them in that order. But to add to that cliché, you have two hands, two feet as well, so your capacity to do is greater than the capacity to talk and listen! I won’t even touch how many brain cells you have and how they could come into the equation.
  7. People are different – Neither right nor wrong, just different. Males and females, religious beliefs and ideals, vales and general beliefs. So go with the flow a occasionally, know there are the ‘bad bits’ but learn to be flexible enough in your approach to work with these differences, remember great leaders love people.
  8. Go into battle carefully – Jumping in without too much information from two sides of an argument can be costly, VERY COSTLY! So be careful and choose your battles wisely. Every business has bad bits, they may alter over time, they might get better but love them for what they are at the time. It might also be bothering your staff and they are just waiting for the right time to do something about them.
  9. Develop choices – It’s easy to blame others for things going wrong, but how many choices were there at the time? By developing choices you may just make a powerful difference to the way thing turn out.
  10. Don’t play psych – Psych is for psychs, use your understanding to advantage, but you don-t have to tell them the research and methodology behind what you say and or do. E.g. a plumber does not tell the customer how a pipe is made, the customer just wants it to do its job.
  11. Accuse and lose – Point the finger of blame and you had better watch out, it might just get bitten. People will dodge, lie and leave in no time flat over the smallest issues, why? Because we all want to do good things, and to have the finger of blame leveled at us is not a good feeling.
  12. Let them know you love what they do – Sometimes this might happen very discretely, and others as an over the top display of a job done brilliantly. It might be a few words, a gift, a badge of recognition, but be fair about it and make sure they know they are special people working on a very special task.

Avoiding the ‘always available’ trap

Oct 15

Posted by Robert Gerrish in Health and Safety Dept, Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development, Planning, The Board Room | No Comments

Don’t we just have it all at our fingertips these days? Mobile telephony, satellite monitoring, wireless go anywhere internet connection, SMS and always on email straight to our palm devices. As soloists, there’s no excuse for failing to stay in touch with our work (and our clients) regardless of where we are or when. The marketers of course, would have us believe this is all good.

I disagree.  Sure, some of it can be good and at times it is very convenient, but the worrying trend is that always available may become the workplace norm.

A quick glance at how these new services are being marketed and you’ll see imagery depicting young, happy executives tapping away at the keyboard while at the beach or in the garden. In the distance we see friends and family supposedly playing and communing happily.

Everyone is doing what they love. How nice.

Let’s now consider the reverse scenario: Friends and family playing happily in the office while you work. Do you reckon you’ll get much done? Nope. Me neither. You’ll be distracted and certainly won’t be concentrating on your work.

 

Relaxing with friends and family isn’t a totally passive past time. You need to participate if you are to give and receive. It’s called “being present”. If you’re not joining in, all you’re really doing is moving the office to a new location and one where nothing terribly meaningful is achieved.

Let’s look at other implications of the always available trap.

Remember the good old days when you took a day or two off and were pleasantly surprised when everything ran smoothly in your absence? The times when your clients and associates rose to the challenge of management and decision-making and showed themselves much more capable than you had given credit?

Why would anyone risk making a decision about anything now, when you’re just a moment away?

On the other hand, if you want to make every micro decision (er, control freak!) then carry on, you’re doing just fine.

While some soloists may quite rightly say that being always available and in-touch is wonderful for their business, a survey on our site suggested over 72% of you would be more than happy if a surprise law banned mobile phones. Chances are partners and friends are sure to agree!

The answer to this is not that complex. Being available can most certainly be good, but we have to establish boundaries with our colleagues and clients.

If you don’t stay in control of your involvement in your business, you’ll forever be its prisoner.

That doesn’t sound like a good recipe for loving your work does it?

Disconnected? Get involved!

Sep 30

Posted by Robert Gerrish in Health and Safety Dept, Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

Disconnected? Get involved!

Ironically for a number of novice soloists the very thing that appeals – the vision of working alone – becomes a major reason to quit.

Working solo doesn’t suit everyone. Without planned habits and behaviours, isolation and loneliness is extremely destructive.

The trick is to engage in ‘purposeful participation’.

If you’re running a business, you’re clearly participating at some level. We’re talking, though, about purposeful participation, the ‘purpose’ in this context is to avoid the incidence of you becoming isolated or cut-off from the rest of the world.

To keep isolation at bay we must feel connected; we need to foster the habits and behaviours of a purposeful participant.

The onset of isolation is rarely heralded. One day you’re chuffing along nicely supported by throngs of unseen supporters and advocates, the next you’re seemingly invisible and alone.

Here are 4 tips to keep you connected:

1. Build meaningful relationships

Take a look at what you’re doing to foster business relationships that have meaning and a strong sense of connection.

If you’ve got it right, a customer conversation will bring the same joy as speaking with a good friend. You will enjoy a feeling that lasts.

Too often we ignore the ‘relate’ aspect of relationships as the emphasis is on sales outcomes. Look instead at building relationship as a means of furthering a sense of connection.

Hmmm. Reckon this depth of relationship may just impact on sales as well? Now there’s a thought.

2. View your neighbourhood as a bustling office

Next, look at how you relate to those around you – the people with whom you regularly come into contact.

Isolation rarely impacts those working in a busy, populated office. Why? Because all they need to do to maintain a sense of connection (without even realising it) is breeze through a workstation or two, collecting smiles and nods along the way.

So consider your acquaintances as your co-workers – whether suppliers, neighbours, corner shop owners, couriers, or the postie.

Relate more with everyone you meet and you cannot help but feel connected.

3. Start talking to people

While email has hugely expanded communication, it has also, sadly, diluted the essential element of voice dialogue. You remember speech, don’t you?

Talking with others is pivotal to the demise of isolation. Before you whizz off another email, make sure you’re not missing an opportunity to connect with a fellow human being.

4. Challenge established actions

Finally, give some of your habitual actions a going over. For example, how do you travel around? Could you move by another means, one that would help you connect more? Think, too, about what you read. Are you learning anything new from your reading? When is the last time you read a teenager’s magazine or tried to understand alternative music/lifestyles?

Remember, every time you take a proactive step towards getting involved, you’re taking one step back from falling into the isolation trap.

Are you “Shop blind” ?

Sep 16

Posted by Bren Ryan in Health and Safety Dept, People!, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept | 4 Comments

I once worked as a store manager for a fast food chicken chain, (WOW, I was young then).

I learned lots of fantastic rules for good business there, but probably the most important was to always walk in the front Read the rest of this entry »

Job descriptions and your staff.

Sep 10

Posted by Steve Gray in Health and Safety Dept, People!, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

Want an employee to do a job? Make sure the job description is up to scratch. If there is none, create one. If one exists, review it.

Some organisations get the past staff member to write it and hope for the best. I suggest that the whole process could become a great collaboration of the staff and management to describe the role adequately without scaring the applicant with too many tasks for the role.

A job description should outline the role in a way that ensures clarity of communication. It can include various things, just as there are many versions of an Indian curry, so to are there job descriptions.

Read the rest of this entry »

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