Archive for category Leadership

What are you Addicted to?

May 16

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People! | No Comments

Why should addiction matter in business? It helps to appreciate what people are ‘excited’ by so you can understand and therefore work with them more effectively.

Let’s take a look,

Mostly addiction is about chemicals – Illicit drugs are the obvious ones, but the brain is ‘excited’ by all sorts of chemicals, Serotonin, Dopamine, Caffeine, Alcohol and Adrenaline to name a few. Some seem to last just a short time, while others may be longer lasting.

The power of these chemicals is often VERY strong (some more than others) and while in most instances these lead to positive outcomes, the opposite may also true. The upshot of the chemical addiction is the physical acts which come as part of that process.

Years back I worked with unemployed people on Job Search programs, occasionally I could get them ‘excited’ and in a ‘buzz’ about jobs and life in general and see their eyes light up. I would then joke about me giving them ‘free drugs’ (Serotonin, Dopamine etc.) just from having a chat, that generally gave them a chuckle. Some came in the next day with stories of telling their partner and or families that I had given them free drugs, we got a good laugh at the shocked responses they got. After that, all I had to do was say “more free drugs!”

With workers (and yourself) it would pay to know about the administration of these drugs to enable your team to be the best they can be.

So how do you cause these ‘chemicals’ to be released, the right ones at the right time to get the right result? Read more free business tips that’s how. Then implement a bunch of initiatives to get the ball rolling. Before long you could become the drug dealer of choice! If it worked really well, customers will arrive in droves and you will have more resumes from willing workers than you can ‘shake a stick at.’

Fixing People Problems

May 14

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning | No Comments

Ever noticed that things seem to go from good to bad, and then wondered if there is anything you could have done about it? Probably not something you can stop every time but perhaps limit its impact.

Let’s look at this in terms of staffing issues and how you might minimise ‘bad things’ happening.

So what sorts of ‘things’ am I talking about here?

Negative changes to:

Attitudes
Interest in the work
Interest in work mates
Interest in solving challenges (policies, procedures, politics, creative thinking to solve challenges).
Interest in themselves (self-esteem)
Enthusiasm to work
Quality of work
Interest in the company
Interest in the industry
Interest in customer services
Interest in their work space, facilities, equipment etc.

With this many things on this list (and probably a HEAP more) you can appreciate there are many variables which people can be affected by, some of these can be long term things The big question some of you will now be asking is what causes some of these things to happen, followed by what do I do about it?

Some Possible Causes:

Communication issues – Interpersonal – Intra-personal – Clarity of and or interpretation of the information
Leadership – Too much, too little, wrong sort (power and control)
Management – Too much, too little, wrong sort (micro managing – power and control)
Management fads – Things changing again, policies, procedures, values, beliefs… oh look we reinvented the wheel, lets go back to how things ere it was better… frustrating!
Too many chiefs – Who would you follow?
Wants to fly like an Eagle, but is hanging out with Turkeys
Frustrated by lack of – Progress – Systems – Planning – Politics – Idiots – Resources – Facilities
Work changes – Things got more techo but little or poor training was put in place – more things added to the list of things you are meant to be doing
You (the supervisor/leader) became a freak, time freak, detail freak, communication freak etc… all this simply FREAKS people out, stop doing that
Self-image – team image – High – low
Changes to personal tastes (e.g. once liked the industry and now not so much – liked the work environment and is now tired of it.)
Bullying etc…
No releif from constant work pressures
Made suggestions but nothing happens… or little if any recognition for suggestions or just being good at what they do
Politics in the business, got bad and never really recovered!
Departmental rivalry (more politics)
Travel too far to get to work
Personal situation has altered (break ups, divorces, family hassles) yours or theirs, yours can impact on them, their own is probably more direct
Drug issues (not enough – too much) you, them, others
Health issues

Clearly there are personal issues you as a boss or supervisor may not have much influence over, but the work issues should be able to be dealt with. Make a list of the items and check out to see if any of them can be tweaked to make things better. Over time you might find the range of things which would normally go from good to bad will reduce, a little prevention is better than a lot of fix ups.

Do Your People Put In?

Apr 30

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning | No Comments

Do your people go the ‘extra mile’ and add greater value to your organisation? Well why not? Here are some clues to work from.

People will do more, if certain things happen, often these ‘things’ are not too much to consider in the scheme of things. Let’s take a look.

People put in when…

They can see the business is well led – People respect good leadership, clear decision making and planning is taking place and they know about it.
The business is secure – They know they have a solid income base and can see the products and services they provide are of value to the consumers. They also sense the future is rosy because of good planning, use of innovation and the profits not being squandered somehow.
They are respected – People who sense they are respected often go the extra mile, “You respect me – I respect you”. This happens from the leaders in the organisation and is infectious across all in the team.
Communication is clear, open and honest – Keep people in the dark for too long they may not see the light at the end of the tunnel. Therefore keep them in the light, let them know what’s happening.
They know the business cares by… – They provide quality resources, tools, technology, good work environment, good systems, policies and procedures. This of course includes OHS as a given, not a ‘have to have’ add on.
Their work environment is stimulating – Comfortable, well maintained, safe, secure and interesting enough to keep them engaged in what they do.
The cultural values and beliefs provide a solid foundation – At the core of the business, the culture is driven by the values and beliefs, if your team know these have suitable guidelines to live by they will fit to and often exceed expectations, especially if these values and beliefs are spelled out and details provided of scenarios of the values and beliefs in action to serve as positive examples.
Sense they are part of the solution – Customers have wants and needs and if these can be met and the team feel as though they were a positive contributor to the solutions then the results can be the team feels they have a sense of purpose.

Now set to work and focus on each point as a matter of urgency so your people can be all they can be and set stunning examples for new team members. Your customers will love the people who go the extra mile and return with more cash more readily in the future. That can only spell one thing, more business success.

The Stuck State Business

Apr 17

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management | 1 Comment

Stuck state business, a business where they are “stuck in the same state” this allows for little if any growth and comes from the idea called Homeo Stasis – Where things are held as they are – “Don’t make waves things are okay as they are” The challenge with this is that other factors change while your business is standing still and before long challenges occur and your business can face various threats to it’s survival.

Based in biology terminology, this ‘stasis’ relates to organisms and the way the ‘whole’ can be maintained, the right amount of light, nutrients, etc to ensure the organism can survive. The organism dies when things get too far out of balance and things go astray. With limited ability to improvise – adapt – or overcome a simple organism has little chance of survival.

In business the ‘organism’ becomes more complex, there are more variables, in many cases it is a range of little ‘things’ which can make or break it’s ability to thrive let alone survive.

Lets look at a few variables

Staff – motivated – skilled – communicating well?
Systems – complex – simple – effective?
Strategies – Marketing – Management – Operations – in place or not?
Values – minimal – developing – fully developed – where are things at?
Resources – tools – materials – workspaces – finances – training – well utilised?

Now you can see your business as a complex organism and one where the balance of all the factors to make it successful, have to be juggled carefully to keep things in harmony. In this case harmony can equal a static situation which does not allow for growth.

For the sake of your business, figuring out what is keeping the status quo where it’s at could be important in the logical approach to evaluating the situation. OR you could take a ‘quantum leap’ and step over that, avoid the analysis and look at a range of things that can be done that might not already be done, to head things in a healthier direction. A bit like doing a range of exercises to build core strength in a body when you thought you could get away with just one or two exercises, often the result is better in the long run.

What you can do

Communication – Discuss – projects – people – resources – aim to connect – synergise – empower – inspire – what works – what doesn’t – distil lessons learnt & distribute – reduce barriers – reduce hassles
Create a learning cycle – Assess a project before it starts – assess it inn progress – evaluate the aftermath, what went well, what didn’t and what can you learn from it
Aim for excellence – “If it could be done better do it!” look at all aspects to what makes things tick- Systems – strategies – skills – structure – service – quality (to name a few)
Provide a sense of belonging – achievement – contribution
Goal set – share the info – share the wins – explore the challenges and shortcomings.
Love your people – they make the hard resources move – they do the ‘stuff’ that pays the bills and builds the profits if you love them they will love the customers
Love your customers – connect – discuss – focus – ask – explore them – know them – let them know you and your team

All of these things can keep your team nimble and exploring a wider range of actions and thinking processes than their usual comfort zone allows. All of this should allow your business to explore the idea of thriving, not just standing still in a warm spot where things are comfortable but pushing at least some of the boundaries to make things work better.

Did You ‘Value’ Your Business?

Apr 11

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

In the past set of nine articles I have outlined some ways to look at the values your business operates with. Now it’s up to you to take each and develop some guidelines around each for how you want your team to operate. May I suggest you hand the list to your top people, give them a head start, tell them to develop some ideas and options and email them to you (compile the details in a group meeting). Then develop an organisation wide set of values, possible scenarios and situations around them.

Compile the guidelines into your master operating procedural documents, begin to live it, refer to it and explore all it has to offer.

Any future steps the organisation takes should be done in light of these core values, then over time these can be ‘tweaked’ to suit.

Now you are fired up to tackle this as a project (even you small business operator…) then here is a link you can email to your team to work with.

And another article on values to tie it all together

Now look at how you bring the various aspects of this together to create great results for your business by taking positive action.

Oh and while you are at it, get your team to explore any other values they think would be useful for your business, drop me a line to let me know via the comments for this post and I will take a look and consider adding them in.

Tags: accountability, adaptable, business, business mechanics, business success, communication, growth, HR, hr leadership, Leadership, passion, People!, Planning, respect, service, steve gray, tolerance, training, values

Leadership

Apr 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Leadership | 1 Comment

There are many things an organisation needs to be ahead in the profits race, Leadership and the positive values it instills is the first thing which should come to mind, with no lead, how will anyone else know what needs to be done, when and by whom? It’s a great value by which to build your business from.

Leadership: The courage to shape a better future by taking positive actions – The ability to motivate people to explore excellence – Lead by example “see something, do something”.

Take action to be all you can be as a leader, even if you don’t think you have what it takes, learn fast, get better at communication, making decisions, building rapport, service, motivating, influencing (Positively!)

How will you encourage others to lead, so that others can see things happening and take action to create a better outcome, (see something, do something). How will they respond when you ask them to ‘step up to the plate’ and take the lead?

Your ability to take action may mean you have to make a time commitment to learning something new (in a book, a class or online.) as well as having to sacrifice some things in the short term to get better business results. Your ability to be an ‘exceptional leader’ will make the difference between a group of people who work together and get results to a team of stunning individuals who come together and work on incredible projects everyone loves to be a part of. The difference between the two, HUGE, the catalyst, you… go ahead and lead, knowing that your goal is to create an awesome team right now.

Jangled Nerves and Your Team

Mar 28

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Leadership, People!, Risk Management | No Comments

Your people mean everything to your business, your customers and profitability, of course you look after them (you know better than to treat them badly) but sometimes things slip.

You have been plodding along nicely, watching things tick over and out of the blue you messed up, instead of chatting to an employee about an issue normally seen as small, you jump in and give them a written warning on a blue card. You figure you have chatted to them about other issues in the past and the person in question has been with the organisation for over 5 years so they should know better and you jumped in with the written warning. Perhaps you were feeling short tempered, lots of things providing pressure to your daily routine, perhaps other things were playing on your mind.

In hindsight you were busy and this seemed like an easy way to resolve the issue. For the employee however it hits hard, like a quick slap in the face.

The issue, normally resolved fast with a quick chat, where they soon admit they slipped up, now becomes something more. Perhaps the employee will say something like “Hey, how about a verbal warning first…?” But things turned out differently.

Perhaps the employee will say nothing and the issue will fade, or it might fester and become a thorn in their side, niggling at them. Trust once at a high level has now been downgraded, cynicism can kick in and things could start to slide. Let’s hope the issue fades fast.

A few issues here which need to be looked at. The procedure you would normally follow (a few verbal warnings before a written warning) has been ignored. Your usual stance of getting more information to fully evaluate the issue was also missed. You were under pressure to perform other tasks and to some degree have failed your own high standards.

It’s a pity this has happened, but interesting to note that a small issue can get out of hand fast.

For the Employee the situation can set off a small ripple of disgruntled communication to colleagues who can react in a variety of ways, hopefully it fades out (you hope) but if it multiplies the ongoing effect on productivity and morale can be devastating. The worst part is you may not even know about it until it’s too late.

Of course there is always the issue that you may have introduced a new procedure, policy etc and forgot to tell people “For major issues a written warning on a blue card is all about raising awareness of our Duty of Care… note it’s not for disciplinary action purposes, but simply serves as a reminder.” but you wouldn’t forget to tell the folks now would you. Of course you would also make sure that someone else reads the info first to see if it appears threatening, but no it has in BIG letters Written Warning across the top and it looks like a disciplinary action.

You can’t be perfect, but one way to resolve an issue like this is to get regular feedback on what’s being communicated, to you from them and from them to you. This way you can be on active alert for issues when they arise.

The ideal business

Mar 22

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Leadership | No Comments

Sounds like a great title huh, you probably thought, oh is it one that makes great $$ (yeah) and does it have incredible profits (well YEAH!) and does it mean I have to hardly run it… and don’t have to have many skills???? umm probably not.

What I’m thinking of here is the structural side of the business idea, rather than the sort of business it might be. So no it’s not the far out super freaky pizza business that serves east west Tex-Mex surprises with a Thai influence.

Imagine a business, where you have made things tick over nicely the staff are stable (and happy), your customers like what you provide and the way forward looks good. Income and profitability tick over nicely and you wonder about the bigger picture now you have more time to, you replaced yourself multiple times with great people and can sit back and “enjoy the view”. Now it’s time to look that bit further, or perhaps differently to cause your business to do more of what you want it to.

You know when to put on new staff, knowing when the rest of the team are pushing the limits, and you can handle the ‘lag time’ until they are ‘up to speed’ in the role. You have great measurement tools in place to know what’s working and what’s not. You know what the profit margin is and where it goes to.

What next? Is this it, is this the holy grail of your business goal/s? Are your challenges at an end? Do you simply sell it off and retire (early?) or do you go for the thrill of the chase… the adrenaline injecting process of doing more, and creating anew to push yourself that bit further.

Let’s go for the latter… Lets explore how you can replicate the process to explore success in business and do more, be more have more. After all we live in a world of abundance and by the sound of things if you have read this far you have probably said to yourself yes I do all these things and I am in that lovely lofty position to be able to do more.

You have created an ‘organism’ which grows, it’s more than just sustainable and you can stand back and enjoy the benefits of it’s growth. Now take out a pen and pad and jot down the mechanics of the business, what makes it tick, what makes it profitable? What sets it apart from your competition to the point where you don’t have to even be there anymore to enjoy it.

Take that list and ask, Can I develop a formula from our current successes to be able to reproduce that in other businesses… short answer will probably be yes.

I suggest at this stage you take a look at the list in a way which deals with the essence of the success and not just trying to think about other businesses you might like to try out or test. Look at the structure, how information flows, the team and culture, the values and beliefs, all the things which can cause the internal structures to remain steadfast and provide the right sort of support for growth.

Now you know what makes your current business tick and the building blocks for ANY new business, it’s up to you to act on the information.

If you create a new business or five, hold this thought in your mind… “in war success has never come to those who fought on more than three fronts” (go on prove me wrong…) it’s said this was Hitlers downfall in the end. So how will you as a business owner develop more businesses without this happening.

Firstly you will be mindful of it, secondly you will probably recognise that each business will not be run by you, you simply provide the ‘right structure and resources’ then step back and advise on ways to tweak the enterprise to generate greater success.

Go on, give it a go, if things go well through great planning you will end up with a site of businesses making good profits you will be able to share around with others, therefore creating more positive abundance in the world.

Tags: business, business mechanics, business success, creativity, hr leadership, ideal business, innovation, lateral thinking, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, steve gray

Your Brilliant Business

Mar 13

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Leadership, People!, Planning, Starting out in business | No Comments

Your brilliant business is caused by people doing more of the right things – Thinking – Adding value – Loving what they do – Taking initiative – Exploring options and Providing great service to name a few.

Well that’s my view.

We could spend ages debating the issue, what a brilliant business is, how it’s measured and the results it provides. But I want to focus on the ethereal things which caused it to be a brilliant business. The initial points I put up are a big part of that.

Let’s go back to the start, a business you set up started with an idea, you could see what you wanted, probably saw yourself running it how things would turn out. In your minds eye you saw a plan of action coming to reality and all the key pointers I started this article with are what bought the dream to reality.

It was you in the beginning who put in the effort, you did the thinking, the planning, took initiative, explored options and provided great service to ensure prospects and customers would come back for more.

The next step in your business was a big one, you took on staff, partners and or associates who could see what you saw, felt what you felt and heard the positive accolades for the products and service you provided for customers. You managed to encourage your ‘team’, they got motivated, excited and became driven to follow in your footsteps.

The results spoke for themselves, happy customers, great products and services and the bottom line reflects the top level positive work everyone puts in.

There it is, your brilliant business, brilliantly utilising your ‘soft resources’ to ensure the ‘hard resources’, products and services, are in the right place at the right time for your ideal prospects and customers.

Sadly all of this is not a common occurrence, in fact it’s a rare situation, one sadly lacking in a world where hope, excitement and the ‘thrill of the chase’ has been eclipsed by businesses which start up and fade, some fast, some slow.

All of the above points and so much more in formation is available to those who want to ensure their ‘business idea is given the best chance of survival in the ‘formative part of the business process’ and thriving in the maturing part of the process, yet too many fail fast.

What annoys me the most is that people who have great intentions in starting their business find the sense of loss palpable. All that was required was the right sort of research, a solid plan of action and the ability to cause people to follow your brilliant lead. Alas too many businesses do not have that and what could be a great start soon becomes millstone.

Let’s ask then, what sort of business do you want to have? One with brilliant prospects and outcomes or one doomed to failing fast? Now ask what will you do to make sure it’s not the latter!

Tags: branding expert, brilliant business, business, business mechanics, business success, communication, creativity, hr leadership, innovation, Leadership, People!, Planning, small business marketing, steve gray

Your Customer Relationship Executive and Your Business

Feb 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

Following on from a previous article on Customer Relationship Executives I thought you might like a few more pointers to make the process of building this role easier, here goes.

Your business has become big enough to have a person in this role, other businesses of your type and stature have them and it seems to work for them. So how about your business? The decision has been made and someone has to implement it. What to do next?

You’re leading them so ask what you want them to do and how you will support them to do it. (make a list FAST!)
Get a budget sorted their wage and ancillary costs, the resources they will need on a basic level and then the resources needed for them to excel at what they do.
What sort of person would you IDEALLY like to select for the role. Think personality type, adaptability, flexibility, nimbility, stunning phone manner, highly courteous at all times to ALL other personality types and so much more (another list!)
Where will you position them so they can feel part of the team but have the privacy their role may require?
How will you support, coach, mentor and support them?
How will they be seen by other staff who might currently do a part of this role as part of their usual duties… How will they be seen by other staff in terms of importance within the business?
What access to the database will they have?
What I.T. support will they get?
What Admin support will they have?
How will you measure their performance?
What will your expectations be of them?
How often will you meet with them?
What other people will have to interact with them so they can get their job done?
What sort of position description have you put together, does it include enough detail? Does it leave scope for them to add to the role?
What training will they need – to start with and along the way?
Who will fill in while they are away? Will this fill in person be able to effectively fill the gap and continue in a ‘business as usual’ kind of way or will they need to work one on one with the existing person to make the transition seamless?

Notice how there are lots of questions, stop and ask yourself, how will I cope with all this as well as my existing workload… hmm hope you have your ‘skates on’!

How will you make sure they are not under too much pressure from ‘moaning customers’ and those who want to yell and scream?
What strategies will you use to keep them motivated and highly engaged in their job?
How will you include them in planning sessions, showing them the stats, having them measure the stats…
What control will they have over the various situations which may arise… Feeding back info to staff, dealing with difficult customers (what sorts of gifts can they send)?
What sort of ongoing ‘keep in touch program’ will you let them do, special occasion cards, reminder letters, promotional freebies and goodies.

Notice how what started out as ‘just another role in your business’ has become a major one, and the person has not started yet!

What limit will be set for their budget? Is it big enough or is it a bare minimum “we don’t know yet how big it should be, perhaps we should start out low and work up from there”?
What level of authority will they have? Can they go straight to HR to warn of another staff member who is causing service ‘issues’ or so they have to ‘go through you’?
Will you require them to work after hours at special customer events?
Will they require the ability to think outside the square or is that left for the Marketing Department only?
Do you want them to be loaded with ideas, or a person to ‘just do the job…’?

Okay you get the idea, this role is vital to your business, if you are not in a big enough position to have a person in this role perhaps there are a bunch of people who are in this ‘type of role’, if so how many of the above become applicable to them… Take a look at the organisations mission, vision, values, beliefs and ideals and see how highly customers are valued throughout that. Need to make changes?

So what is all this, a customer service initiative to cause customers to LOVE what your business does. Without this sort of thinking and action going on, your business just may as well fade into the sunset.

Helping staff to get what they want

Jan 24

Posted by Steve Gray in Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management | 1 Comment

When it comes to dealing with staffing issues it seems as though there are always going to be those who want to help themselves and then there’s the rest.

What to do when you are staring down the barrel of staffing challenges and this is just one of your starting points?

In a previous article I looked at What Staff Want. It gives some interesting insights, but how do you figure out how to deliver the things they want or need and get to that point effectively.

Let’s go for the easy option, Brainstorm…

If you already know what they want and or need to do their job effectively, then facilitating a session with them will assist them to at least understand you want to assist them, and give you an idea of if they want to be assisted.

The real aim is to use the “Collective Intelligence” to get information happening and ideas explored.

You could start out with the list of what people want, then jot down some ideas in advance of things you believe might match to the job, tasks, attitudes and beliefs. Then you have a chance of connecting with them when the discussion starts and they are scrambling to find ideas. You would probably use your information to enhance their thinking processes if they get stuck, you might add in a pointer relating to an obvious task to spur them on.

Brainstorming can be easy – Set some guidelines and go from there.

All ideas are good ideas – We can focus on the good ideas later
Feel free to share – Let people freely add in and occasionally encourage the stragglers to also put in. Invite them to help make things better
Our aim – To explore ideas on improving this business unit – “We have challenges what will improve things?”
Work to a time frame so they don’t just lounge about for ages, aim to get ideas on to paper fast.
Pose some questions to be answered – Perhaps this is the initial brainstorming, getting the issues out as THEY see them, then getting them to provide ideas to answer them
Write fast, and prod for more ideas – Actively explore concepts as they arise
Consider a mind map – Do an internet search on the basics of this, it can be a very visual way of getting the thought processes working.
Collate the main ideas and share them once they are typed up – This can then lead to a plan of action or an attitude shift to some degree.

A brainstorming session should be positive and free flowing. The team should not feel like they are working under duress to come up with ideas. Hopefully after doing this session you will be able to find some excellent starting points to work from. Chances are the team had all the ideas and answers and you were able to positively, openly and honestly listen to them work through the challenges.

Now notice how all of this leads to you being the coach… working with people to get the best from them, without having to hit them over the head and force them to do things. Trust me it’s better that way. Want to be a better workplace coach, try this…

Tags: business, business mechanics, business success, coaching, communication, People!, Planning, Risk Management, steve gray, training

What staff want

Jan 17

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

As a follow on from the series dealing with staffing issues this article explores what staff want, when you know that and provide it, then you will find it easier to keep them happy. Believe me it’s important.

Keeping people happy is one part of the whole business matrix… customers or staff, the common denominator is that they are all people.

To keep one person happy you might find their definition is built on getting a reasonable amount of work done in a standard working day, churning through mountains of meaningless paperwork. Meanwhile the next person is kept happy by having variety and not just being stuck in an office.

So what are the core things they want and how can you provide these for them?

Here’s my list.

A sense of belonging – Being valued by others, even in minor ways can help to build and maintain their workplace sense of esteem
A sense of achievement – Some will want to work their way up the corporate ladder, set goals and achieve them
Contributing and adding value – Beyond their basic agreement, work targets etc, they feel as though they have contributed to the whole business machine
A sense of purpose – It’s not a meaningless job, it has a role to play and they can clearly sense that
Organisational integrity – It’s about security, if they know the organisation has integrity they then have a foundation they can believe in and stand by. No integrity, the foundation can give way at anytime this leads to insecurity and can be a reason for staff turnover
Control – For some this can mean the security that comes from having some measure of control over their situation, it might be minor. For others they want the chance to take control of a department, or a division depending on their level of drive or motivation
They like be challenged – In ways which suit them, not you. For some it will be big challenges for others it will be meeting a small quota. It comes down to brain stimulus
They have a suitable work environment – Where it can be controlled, think about it you spend 8 or so hours a day in the business, do you want to spend 8 hours in a hovel or 8 hours in paradise… The choice is a no brainer right? So what’s your environment like? Sure paradise is a BIG step but making it better might only take a few tweaks and a small amount of cash. For those out on the road for instance in a company vehicle, is it clean neat and tidy, new, old, in good repair or a rust bucket. Oh and the Lunch room, a place to relax and unwind, or a stinking cesspool of yuck… (broken chairs etc.)
They have the right tools – Newish computer – Quiet keyboard – Suitable work chair – Effective other tools

Are there others? Probably, it’s up to you to find out. But armed with this as your starting point you can soon see the sorts of core things staff want. Go and chat with your staff and find out what their wants are.

Now you know what staff what, here’s an article on how you might explore this further.

Tags: business mechanics, business success, communication, employee recruitment, HR, hr leadership, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, steve gray

Dealing with challenging staff 1

Jan 16

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Risk Management | No Comments

This article is an extension of a previous one on staffing issues.

You started to see the clues that a staff member was not quite in line with your expected range of behaviours – their efforts are slow, below quality, they resist some tasks etc. In general they become a pain to deal with and you really hope they just vanish one day and the problem is over.

However the reality is somewhat different, they hang around and keep on plodding hoping to keep on getting away with doing what they do, It’s almost as if no one notices them doing what they don’t do.

Your task is to now figure out what to do about it and do it fast so they don’t start to infect others with their attitude.

Your first step is probably underway, that is rewarding the behaviours you want “Well done with the x project…” but if things have slipped out of your grasp a little then the following should be of value.

Here’s how things generally go

They get annoyed with something
They develop some form of resistance as a result of their annoyance (ignore commands, put things off etc)
Things escalate because they believe nothing is going to change back to how it was or get better (they were comfortable with how things were) now you have resentment starting to build
Finally things build retaliation stage, the issue that has resulted in things getting to this stage spills over into them taking negative action, in extreme cases this can get VERY nasty (read workplace shooting…) On the lesser scale they will do tasks slowly, to a poor standard or avoid tasks and probably blame others

The first step is to evaluate the situation – What specifically do they do that is causing difficulties? Make a list and make it evidence based but avoid implicating others (it can get VERY messy if you do!)

Secondly – You need to figure out what may be causing this, here are some possibilities, note all of these can lead a person to be annoyed with the job or the company and therefore their attitude and efforts have strayed.

Their job changed at some stage and they did not like the change but may not have said so, or if they did say something their plea fell on deaf ears
They have been told off for not doing a good job, in a way which has annoyed them. The upshot is they have resented it and have now become resistant and are starting to retaliate
They see the system as being so slack they figure they can get away with anything so they push the boundaries
They are being bullied or harassed in some way (I hope it’s not by you…)
They feel they are undervalued
They have some personal issues – physical – emotional – psychological, which is impacting on their work
The work has become too challenging for them
The work is no longer challenging for them
Things change too often for them, the computer system, they type of work, etc
The work may not have altered but now they have to travel further to complete works now they become annoyed
The list can go on.

Time to do something…

Let’s face it something needs to happen to “stop the rot setting in”. If you have built a great relationship with your team, you will be intervening early, perhaps at the annoyance or resistance stage. If not you may have a harder task to handle.

Let’s work on this in my next article on this issue.

Dealing with challenging staff 2

Jan 16

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Risk Management | No Comments

Leading on from the other post on this topic. You want to deal with the staff member who is causing some grief (or could be about to) how do you go about intervening to find out what you need to know. The big thing is to get them onside so they will want to chat to you about the issue with ease, the last thing you want is for them to later on suggest they were under some form of duress, caused by you in the questioning phase!

The aim is to have a staff member who is relaxed about you chatting with them, so you can keep them onside and willing to discuss issues rather than some adversarial situation they can get annoyed about.

Here are a few points to consider;

You are aiming to make an assessment not a judgement – There is a difference, assessing the situation means researching and working the facts, judging may well mean you could start off on an accusatory footing. Aim to get solid facts first.
Avoid cornering or accusing them – They may deny anything, then you will be in a harder place trying to get information as they withdraw and may start to lay blame or justify their position – Think about if you would like to be cornered and how you might respond
Keep things open and honest – You want them to feel as though they can readily and easily relate the information you want with no pressure, lies or any form of creative avoidance
Ask “Is it okay if we have a chat about work…” – This way you will have a good chance of getting their permission to chat about the issue/s. Avoid asking “So how’s work going” this can set them up to say “Ok… why” and then be on the defensive
Try the research method – “I’m chatting to a range of staff about things to do with the business, ideas for improvements, how people are going, that sort of thing. Can I do some research with you?” – This can give you permission to ask questions about the business and related info
Spend some time with them – This may not be suitable in every situation, but perhaps you can spend some time with them “on the road”, meet them on site, or perhaps sit with them for a while in their workspace (maybe chatting about a specific task to begin with.)
Make it happen fast – Once you have suggested you want to catch up, make sure you avoid dragging things on, this can cause unnecessary worry all round.
Take good notes – Leaving this part until later can be a trail fraught with danger, collect facts, not hearsay and allegations. Feel free to read back the details and see if they agree with what you jotted down. Consider asking them if they want a copy.

Now that you have set up the chance to have a chat, what will you say? Well it’s going to depend a bit on the angle you take I guess, personally I favour the research method.

Give them the chance to say nothing! – Somewhere in the opening questions if you can throw this in it can be very useful, “Feel free not to say anything if you wish, it’s up to you” this takes the pressure off straight away and allows them the option to avoid things, chances are they will actually switch on internally and answer practically any question you pose to them.
Begin with some easy things – “if they have a new vehicle, “So how’s the new vehicle going, one of the other guys is not sure about his…” or “This last six months has been really busy/quiet how has that been for you?”
Look for lead ins – They answer one question and it leads on to another that fits well to you finding out more, or causing them to open up more.
Stack questions – Putting together a bunch of questions in one hit can cause the person to start talking and not stop for a long while – basically you set their brain firing on a range of questions and they just start to respond. It could start like this…”We have been busy this past month don’t you think, It has been for me, and then the summer kicked in and we had those orders come from the retailers, do you think the upgrade to the computer helped with at or was it just me that thought it struggled, anyway… That’s not what I wanted to ask really… any how, what’s been happening in your area?” – With practice you can stack questions with ease and sit back for a while and get more than just yes’s or no’s to your key question/s
Work from their viewpoint – How do you see things… how do things feel for you… what do you believe is happening… Do things sound ok from your end? This works from an old American Indian saying of “Walk for a while in the other person’s Moccassions” this can then allow you to get their perspective and may lead you into more of the right questions and or give you some empathy for their viewpoint. It may also give you the real reason they are doing what they do, rather than some smoke screen cover up.
Small talk can be useful but… – For some people using small talk to lead in to a conversation is normal, easy and very useful, for others however it can be a slippery slide to disaster, with the other person smelling a rat very fast, putting them on the defensive. Know your people, so you can craft your approach to fit to their needs and situation, use small talk for those that do and avoid it for those that don’t use it.
What’s your biggest challenge and why? – Sit and listen carefully after you ask this one, and ask it only when you are sure you have a measure of trust with them. If they ask for clarification about the question “Personal or professional challenges?” then you are getting closer to the real question, it can get more specific after that as well and perhaps you can use that to your advantage to clarify more questions with details.
Feed it back to them – Sometimes you can read info back to people to clarify what was said, any points they disagree with you can modify to suit. This is the best time to clarify things while things are still fresh in both parties heads.
Ask them for answers – “Our chat has identified a bunch of things, if you could solve these challenges, what would you do?” Then sit and listen carefully, you may get some great answers to some big issues, but let them have the chance to respond. Often people will start out by saying “I don’t know…” Then launch into “Well what I would do is…” then take great notes as they unload.

Now you have some solid starting points for your intervention, hopefully you will get some great information to work with, their views, their reasons why or why not and the chance to provide some answers, hopefully all of which was done with minimal hassle and discomfort. Your next step will probably be to act on your findings, that could raise a whole bunch of other issues for us to explore another time.

Has all of this caught your interest? Well it should and to really get a handle on things consider this, what do your staff really want? find out in the next article, what staff want.

Tags: business, business mechanics, business success, communication, HR, hr leadership, Leadership, People!, Risk Management, steve gray

2012 Business, thriven or failing

Jan 13

Posted by Steve Gray in Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

There’s plenty of talk out on the street that people are saving and not buying, therefore business may well take a battering.

There’s lots of other talk too, less Entrepreneurs entering the market place with big ideas. Then there’s people losing jobs left right and centre as businesses close up and walk away, or go offshore to chase cheaper ways to manufacture.

With all this I can sense bitterness in the air, people in business cursing those that don’t buy, (or by online…) cursing the idea of having to set up a business in a down economy, cursing the thought of having to think creatively to overcome challenges and create anew. The list goes on.

Things change, get used to that.

It’s up to you what you end up doing about it, in business there are options, generally the more cash you have the more options you have.

But wait the “bootstrap-ocracy” will tell us you don’t need money, you need ideas, followed by a great pitch to the right people and before you know it a business has emerged from nothing.

I heard a conversation the other day that suggested all business ideas are bootstrapped, even if you put a few Million into the start up phase you then have to pay that back at some stage so you are possibly worse off than if you started with zero $$ it just seems easier.

What will make a business thrive through 2012 and on into the future. Lots of things, the ability to handle change, be creative with their ideas and explore ways to make those ideas become reality so the zero start up can become a heroic organism which can stride forward with confidence. In a word nimble.

Go on get nimble, get creative and make hay before the weather changes and the hay goes sour. The wider community is waiting for the right people to do the right things and keep things moving. “Tag… you’re it!”

Stunning looks but what happened?

Oct 22

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Leadership, People!, The Customer Service Dept | 2 Comments

Have you ever had a friend who looked stunning but over time they ‘faded’, perhaps the look they once had is now ‘not in vogue’ or they have aged and the look does not fit the image, they should have altered to an image which suits their age, level of maturity etc…

I was out shopping today and started to see a few, “not quite Walmart’ people” but some a bit too close for comfort. Then a few who were the opposite, I started to put two and two together and thought… “Isn’t it interesting how the looks convey so much”. What I was now seeing was confidence, poise, pride, conviction, energy, warmth, integrity, strength, trust, beauty… “Guess which group this was!”

While on the other side there was, sloth, lack of care, little confidence, an unruly ‘dis-ease’, coldness etc.

It then struck me, it was a reflection of the shopping experience I had been having recently. Some businesses were, poised and confident while others, uneasy and fragile. Wow what a comparison, on the one hand people and the other hand businesses, yet there was a correlation to the way I felt about them both, a sort of emotional connection, ethereal and subtle but somehow strong at the same time.

Well that’s how I feel sometimes with some businesses I observe. The businesses I love are the ones who are consistently on top of their game. The ones who take care to present well, keep up with the times without following the latest fad. The ones who have pride and professionalism without an air of arrogance.

One quick example, I parked near a shop which sells Chef’s essentials, it’s open to the public so I took the chance to browse (I’m an avid cook so hey it was a great fit). On entering the store, one of the staff (although serving others) nodded and said “hello” I reciprocated and continued to browse.

As I went further into the store another service professional approached and said “It looks to me as though you are happy to browse, unless there is something specific you my like assistance with?” I smiled broadly and said “I’m quite happy thanks you read my interest well!” She smiled back reassuringly.

I wandered some more and selected a few things which took my fancy, on arriving at the counter, I was assisted with some light chatter and some ideas about one of the items I had selected “You can also use that for…” it was welcome info. I felt confident to ask a few silly questions without the store people rolling their eyes and I was met with some great responses which answered my queries well and helped me feel as though they were not silly questions after all.

I left the store pleased with the purchases and information I sought, nice… Mind you I have had the opposite on more than one occasion. Oh and by the way the store was well stocked (range and qty of each item) and beautifully presented, with items clearly labelled with price and other details.

To get back to the original idea of the post, I reflected on a not so good experience in a store earlier in the day, not enough staff, taking too long to serve and trying to find what I wanted in their crowded space was annoying, If I did not want the item so much I would have gone elsewhere. I walked out of there with a sense of disdain and grumpiness. Mind you this store had started out well a few years back but is fading off my radar the more I go back and suffer the little things which annoy me.

Stunning looks, but what happened? Take the time to figure out what’s happening in your business so you can prevent this from happening and keep on top of your game.

Protests, get over it…

Oct 16

Posted by Steve Gray in Leadership, People! | No Comments

I watch the news today and there are people protesting all sorts of things, inequality, rich getting richer the poor getting poorer, governments tightening the screws and people not wanting that…

Interesting times folks.

So one of the people interviewed started to go on about big corporations having big profits. Almost like ‘how dare they!”

My thought for this guy, don’t like it, start a cooperative.

I noticed in the background of the rally there were a bunch of flags and banners for various groups some of which prefer a stance of ‘by the people, for the people’ but these seem to come from a more political base than a doing or business base.

With just five people a cooperative can be set up, sure it’s not as easy as having one or two directors, but nonetheless it can be done. And with a good core set of values and guidelines these trusty five can do great things, if they want…

The person protesting went on about corporate greed, and most of the businesses he mentioned started out as nothing more than an idea, then things grew, and grew!

I suggest these people get over themselves, get into a cooperative and turn the margins they make into great things for the people. Want to change things, then take action, stop blabbing on about how unjust they think things are and asking the government to change things.

Also, these people need to look at the number of businesses that don’t have ‘corporate greed’ but run backwards trying to make a living, and many of them go bust fast. But no, the protesters only seem to see the small percentage of ‘big guns’ rather than the big percentage of ‘corporate battlers’.

Tags: my view, protests

Step in early or wait for the problem to arise.

Sep 14

Posted by Steve Gray in Leadership, People!, Risk Management | 1 Comment

It’s a dilemma many Supervisors, Managers and Leaders face. You have a team who waiver from the path occasionally, do you let it go until it becomes a problem, or do you step in early and keep things on track.

I figure if you take a Leaders view you provide the guidelines so the team can follow the lead, therefore you don’t wait for a challenge to arise, you provide a great set of guidelines to ensure things stay on track. If things stray from the path, you then get to put on your ‘coaching hat’ and provide support to ensure the team are aware of the guidelines and assist them to explore how they might have ‘strayed from the path’.

This is one of the reasons I often suggest a great set of Values – Mission and Vision be in place as a foundation to always work from. It allows the Leader to have back up, to allow the team to explore if they are holding true to the values of the organisation.

I guess it becomes a case of ‘see something, do something’ before things become an issue. In a decent situation it can be more of a chat which takes place asking questions about how things are going, and what sorts of examples the team may have about how things are going and if they match to the values etc.

This can be a more powerful position to work from as it works more on the teams internal motivation and thought processes rather than having things imposed or pushed on them when challenges arise. It’s as if they have come up with the solution or drive to solve the challenge, rather than being told the answer.

The real trick to all of this is getting things to fit to the way people communicate – If people are not used to being asked questions relating to ‘values and beliefs’ then they might find it hard to respond, let alone act on the information. However the Leader who is a more flexible communicator will find ways to weave these into normal conversation and start the ball rolling, perhaps using examples of how things might fit in certain situations.

Be flexible in your approach, get in early and lead the team then tweak the details to suit, I’m sure you will find leadership can become a whole lot easier if you try this out.

Tags: communication, Leadership, training

Business culture – Some more points

Jul 14

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People! | 3 Comments

Your team fits to the culture of the organisation, some because they have to (mortgages and other commitments), some because they want to (they love the job no matter what their commitments are).

Your aim as a business person should be to make the workplace culture brilliant so the team WANT to be there and readily go the extra mile because it’s the right thing to do, not because things are a have to…

It’s a lot about creating an environment where people get things to feel right, where they get a ‘sense’ that things are good. Let’s start with that.

Your team has a sense of…

Belonging – In the work you do and the team you are part of, if you belong you will feel a greater sense of esteem, people like to be with people they like and if they readily fit because they were chosen not just for their skills and abilities but also for their team fit then all the better.
Connectedness – To the people they work with, to the culture of the organisation, to the customers and the overall service and product the organisation provides. It can also take in the broader community with support for groups who do broader works in the community to assist others (Good corporate citizenship).
Achievement – A sense of achievement can be a great boost to all. In your organisation what gets measured and how do the staff know ‘where they are at’ in the scheme of things, are they meeting quotas? Are they being valued for input? Do they feel like they are part of a team who wants to achieve more… All of these are vital and it’s up to you to see that the team can have a sense of achievement. Stuck for ways to measure this? Just ask the team you will soon get a bunch of ideas for things to measure.
Contribution and value adding – Do you or your organisation value the contributions of your team? Do the team readily put ideas forward for your consideration? What do you have in place to get the ideas going in your workplace… a suggestion box might seem like a great start but really you might have to ‘kick start’ a few idea development sessions to brainstorm options… but don’t let it stop there!
Purpose – What is the purpose of your organisation? Those mission and vision statements along with value statements and the like can be a great bonus to people fitting to the purpose of your organisation – It’s probably a great interview question to ask “What do you know about our organisational purpose?”
Being valued by others – Do others value the people in the team, their contribution, their personality fit, their communication style? If not why not and what can be done to alter that?
Organisational integrity – The structural integrity of the organisation is a big factor to people feeling secure and stable in the business. If the business is stable then the team will feel it too and before you know it they will ‘go deeper’ and look at other internal organisational issues (often subconsciously) from the processes to cause things to flow in the organisation to the robustness of systems and hierarchies and connections. It’s a big area to explore… Just like you should not build a business on a poor physical foundation so to the psychological and philosophical foundations they have to work with.
Leadership – No lead, no direction, from the people to the plans and strategies they have in place to achieve more and create even greater security for all in the team.
Safety – Last but certainly not least. If the above points add to a sense of safety that’s great, but the physical side of safety is VITAL and will assist the above points to come together, esp these days with a greater focus on softer issues, such as workplace bullying and its prevention.
Security – The organisation provides a profitable income for itself and the team are aware they are part of a sustainable and solid organisation which is able to ‘improvise, adapt and overcome’ various challenges it may face along the way. Physical security is clearly an issue as well so the team can feel comfortable in the knowledge harm is either eliminated or minimised.

Did you think that business culture was not important? Hope fully now you realise how it’s EVERYTHING in your organisation, without it you may as well throw money out the window, it’s quicker than watching a business fail a long slow death simply because your team had a sense of things not going quite how they should…

Tags: business, business culture, business success, communication, culture, HR, hr leadership, lateral thinking, Leadership, People!, Risk Management, training, your business culture

Your business culture needs work

Jun 5

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management | 3 Comments

When you want a new staff member to ‘fit in’ you generally go for a good culture fit when you interview them. Usually this means the recruits actions and thoughts fit well with the rest of the team and the way they do things, their patterns of behaviour. It makes sense to do that, however what if you want things to change in your organisation… perhaps more growth, explore new markets, push some boundaries. Then things might be different.

Consider the role of a senior member of staff, perhaps a person in a strategic planning or Human Resource Development role. Your aim may well be to push some boundaries and open the playing field up to new ideas and options. In that case you may want a person with a different approach or cultural fit to the rest. This then raises questions about the type of cultural differences and skill sets you might want to have with this type of recruit.

How will you decide what culture and skill sets you require? That depends on the role and how much of a ‘shift’ you want to create in the system. Clearly if you go for a person who is totally different in their interests, values and beliefs to the rest of the team, you may end up with a situation where the gap between your current culture and your ‘imposed’ one is too great to sustain for any length of time. I liken it to a bridge trying to span a distance which is too great for the structure to hold for long, eventually it fails.

Your new cultural direction should consider the following points.

The change should be different enough from the existing situation but still maintain structural integrity.
Creative approaches or not? – if the existing culture requires stimulus to get it moving then a more creative skill set can do just that.
If the growth pattern of the enterprise is stagnant then a more profit driven or sales oriented person can add value.
Managing the change might need extra effort on the part of the HR dept, supervisors and team leaders to oversee the new direction.
Is this culture re-shuffle a part of an ongoing strategic plan? – If so it will probably fit with a core value of innovation. With that underpinning the new approach, the team should see the benefits this will bring for the longer term.
Although a different cultural fit might be the main aim it doesn’t mean the core organisational values need to be ignored, in fact they are probably going to be strengthened by this new approach as terms such as respect – innovation and service get a bigger airing and may be explored at a deeper level.

Like anything changes to a business need to take into consideration various factors before being implemented but the above cultural development points might be a good starting point to consider.

Inspire the Team

May 27

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People! | 1 Comment

Are you inspiring your people?

Are they waiting for you to inspire them? Did you aim to inspire before they even started with your company…

Imagine a new employee getting a letter and a gift before starting with a new company… This way you can set up a positive position with that person before they start. The gift? A simple congratulations gift, flowers, a congratulation helium balloon etc, delivered to their home.

Then when they start, how will you wow them then… A great office environment, a well set up workspace, a warm welcome, allocating their start day in 12 months time as an anniversary “day off” for them (then every year after that)

What about existing workers, how do you inspire them so they feel truly valued? Random morning teas, small gift vouchers to mark great project milestones and completions.

Think about other ways you can do things to keep them interested, motivated and productive. The worker retention and greater morale these few activities can create is generally very profitable and well worth the investment of time and effort. Of course you need to make sure this kind of activity can be kept up – if your organisation is big enough to have a HR Dept, put them in charge of it. Either way inspiring your team should be a task which you make a top priority in good times and bad.

New Leadership Book – Leadership Excellence

May 3

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People! | 2 Comments

Released recently on Amazon here’s an e book with a leadership twist, it’s a how to manual so you can develop the skills of an excellent leader.

Ok I wrote it, so lets get that out of the way… (awkward moment) but hey If I don’t tell people how will they know? Here’s the link

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XTTUMS

Or for those without a kIndle to view it on, you can also get it here in a variety of formats to suit your needs from Smashwords, great for ipad and iphone users.

I hope you enjoy it…

Tags: business, business mechanics, business success, communication, hr leadership, Leadership, leadership excellence, People!, recruitment, steve gray, success, training

Three Persuasive Business Points

Jan 29

Posted by Steve Gray in Leadership, Planning, Starting out in business | 2 Comments

Here are three points I think you will find make a persuasive business argument, take one of these factors out and you will be out of business fast. Let me know what you think in the comments…

1. Have something to sell.

2. Sell it.

3. Make a profit.

To do so you need to market the offerings, have a process to sell with, manage the money.

To do that you need to have a handle on the HR, finances, marketing, overheads and it then starts to get more in depth from there. However you probably should be thinking in the terms of the basic 3 things to do, then see what’s happening from there.

May I suggest, you make a BIG poster or three with those key points on it.

Then consider breaking things down from there, so at any given moment you can know how each area is going, which one to tweak next and set a plan for the next one.

On your breakdown you will probably have a list of finer points relating to each area, then you can ask yourself, “which smaller area works well and which needs adjusting?”

Lets face it, business is not easy, in fact very challenging at times! But if these simple steps can make it easier for you then that’s got to be a good thing.

Oh wait I forgot! there’s a fourth point, oh silly me… Notice how you are looking at the business as the owner (from the perspective I have written it), note also how you are looking at the business, as a whole. Therefore you are taking a leaders view, a coaches view if you like.

Therefore you can be the coach and suggest strategies, work with your people to develop tactics, involve them in the game, many of them will know their parts in the process and know you have a chance to direct things that bit further. Go on be the leader, check out the strategies and concepts you need to put in place, then bring it all together like a great symphony, all orchestrated and conducted by you the business leader.

Tags: business, business mechanics, business success, hr leadership, Planning, Risk Management

Elegant service communication

Sep 10

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

I love it when I meet people who chat about things of instant interest to me. Recently I got chatting with a person about service, particularly the first few delicate moments when you connect with people in that all important exchange where you aim to connect and attain an idea of what they want from your business.

The chat started with the difference between “May I and Can I…” May I assist you, or Can I assist you, what happened next was a BFO, (Blinding Flash of the Obvious).

You see it was so simple when he explained it. “Imagine you are at the top of a cliff and your task is to push someone off, would you say “Can I push you off or may I push you off…” ” Can I”, relates to skill and “May I” relates to permission to do a thing.” I was engaged in the conversation now, what a great hook! Yes he clearly knew his English and the lesson was simple but so good. Actually on thinking about it none of the above would get you far in the pushing stakes but it makes a point also about service being more about offering, rather than demanding. Chances are you would not ask a person if they wanted to be pushed!

I asked him for a view on my old favourite, “help and Assist” he agreed, Help is needed when you are in dire straits, assistance is softer and more readily taken up unconsciously. So many people will say “Just looking thanks” when you offer help, but more people take up an offer of assistance “May I assist you…”

It could go further you could say “May I assist you to find what you are after today?” That way you are being specific about what you are offering. Without the specifics it is so open you might get in a bit of a bind, like this… ‘May I assist you?” asks the store attendant… “Oh yes, you can give me a million dollars, that would be great assistance…” replies the customer.

Take the time out to consider the small things like this which may impact on people you deal with so the service you offer is as elegant and correct as possible. We also chatted briefly about G’day as a greeting, I will leave that one for another article.

Well time got the better of our conversation too quickly and circumstances meant we had to part ways, all I can hope is that I said goodbye in an elegant manner!

On providing great service, “I don’t know if you can but you may…”

Tags: business, business success, creativity, have fun in business, innovation, lateral thinking, sales skills, The Customer Service Dept

How To Make Employees More Productive

Aug 27

Posted by Michael Crooks in Human Resource Management, Leadership, Planning, The Board Room, The Sales Dept | 2 Comments

Most companies are extremely aware of their external markets such as clients, customers, distributor networks and even vendors. But many fail to realize that employees make up an internal market. There are plenty of organizations that bend over backwards to get feedback and input from customers and clients. Far fewer work as hard to get feedback and input from employees. I sincerely believe that any organization that doesn’t view its employees as an internal market is shortsighted. And if you think the majority of your employees are happy campers – I’ve got news for you.

In a report released January 5, 2010 by The Conference Board based on a survey of 5000 U.S. households, only 45 percent of those surveyed said they are satisfied with their jobs. 55 percent are not satisfied with their jobs! According to Lynn Franco, director of the Consumer Research Center of The Conference Board, “The downward trend in job satisfaction could spell trouble for the overall engagement of U.S. employees and ultimately employee productivity.”

What the report doesn’t tell us is WHY 55 percent of employees are dissatisfied. And while specific reasons for dissatisfaction vary by company, job and employee, I believe it can pretty much be summed up as a disconnect between those in the ivory tower and those in the trenches.

One of the best books I ever read on management and problem-solving is an 80 page book called, “I Know It When I See It” by John Guaspari. In the book, the Boss demoralized his employees by telling them that the key to increasing the quality of their product is to, “Try Harder! Do Better!” It had the same effect as unfunded government mandates – no one was given the information, tools or ability to accomplish the edict. What followed was employee frustration, job dissatisfaction and further loss of market share.

If your company is large enough, consider an undercover operation to include the top echelon. In disguise either shop your company or get a job with your company. See first-hand what affect your policies and directives are having on those who must deliver your product or service. In smaller companies, I encourage bosses and managers to get out of the back room. Run the cash register. Load some trucks. Ride and work the route. Stock some shelves.

The easiest dollar made is from a happy, repeat customer. But that’s a lot harder to achieve when employees’ are hampered by decisions based solely on numbers made by people sitting behind desks who are out of touch with reality.

Tags: employee happiness, employee satisfaction, Michael Crooks

Great profits…

Jul 31

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Leadership, Planning | No Comments

‘

“Great profits come from great products and services…”

Seems like a simple enough statement, but what makes a great company??

Simple…

Great people.

Therefore great people make great companies, so it stands to reason if great companies recognise this they will do their utmost to make sure they make greater people out of the ones they already have.

It also stands to reason a great company will be passionate about people because of this knowledge and provide a “loving environment.”

“What’s a loving environment…?” Lets brainstorm for a minute. (Go ahead I’ll wait…) Enough of the waiting here’s a list to contemplate.

Elegant systems people love to use.
Great training which works with the team to provide relevant skills and information for each level they are at.
Great support, especially if you want your people to succeed to the max.
Elegant communication, your people talk, and not just about the weekend sport or other activities, they talk work and they do so with great interest.
The chance to put in, to give, to be an active part of the organisation. Why because they like to achieve, they want to achieve they CRAVE achievement. Why? because it gives them a greater sense of purpose.
Great service. Your people go all out to be exceptional, and new recruits get to model the exceptional behaviour of your best people, if they don’t do it or get it they are out and you search for better people.
Great examples. Your best people are champions and the rest of the team aspire to be like them, yeah? Of course, if not…. keep training them.

To do all this takes time and expertise, you have to make sure you get the expertise and share it. You know what, I don’t care if you have to do courses after hours, work on your systems on weekends, tweak policies or procedures at 2am, do it.

Do it because you have to make sure your business is the best and will stand the test of time and tough business environments (like a recession and or depression.)

Do it because to live in utopia we need utopian thinking and we need it to start somewhere. If you are not thinking utopia, what are you thinking? Mediocre? or something less than great… why?

Okay it requires effort, but if you already have a team put up this list (add to it if you want) and have them provide ways to get the list into action. Then act on the information as soon as possible.

Now look for the gaps, gaps in the attitudes, gaps in the systems, gaps in the budgets, profits, processes, service provision… Then fill the gaps fast, before long your company will be exceptional and not just great.

Your business, your image, so who’s in charge of it?

Jul 15

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Leadership, People! | 3 Comments

Many smaller businesses get to the point of understanding that to be a business owner and not just a business operator you need a team of people to run the business and you are now reaping the rewards from doing just that.

While you have been busy doing it and aiming to do it well, is there anything you may have forgotten? For instance the image of the business?

It could be the display space in the window, or the signage which has slowly faded, or the vehicles your delivery people charge about in. No matter what it is, it represents your business image which in turn reflects what people (customers!) think of the business.

Who’s in charge of the image is an important and often overlooked area. Simply put most organisations say it’s the job of the Marketing Dept, while others will shove the responsibility to a junior to “set up the window display”.

Think about the situation and consider having a person (perhaps with a back up person) to ensure each week the “professional image” of the business is run through a checklist. It can be simple to begin with and build from there to become a fully blown in depth process, but please make sure it is a top priority as customers can be quick to judge and long to forget.

Here are some key areas to consider:

How well is the cleaning done in all areas, the slightest thing can put people off.
Are delivery drivers forbidden from smoking in a vehicle at ALL times?
Do vehicles with the business name on them present really well, or do they need to be cleaned and checked more often?
Display areas for stock, how good are they, and what are you comparing them too?
Signage, fading or in need of a clean?
Your uniforms… up to standard or?

Start a checklist up and ensure the person in charge of the overall image of the business uses it regularly to effectively assess the business image.

Tags: business, business success, HR, innovation, Leadership, mums in business, People!, Planning, small business marketing

What are your people doing, working… or?

Jul 12

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Leadership, People!, Planning | No Comments

Everyone seems busy right… But things are not moving very well, the people are all busy? Should I put another staff member on…

These and a whole bunch of other questions could be bothering you if your business is a bit bigger than a few employees.

You think back to the early days of doing everything yourself, you worked 12 hour days and then some, finally getting some breathing space when you took on some staff. You trained them and you could see great progress but now things seem different. What’s happening?

Perhaps your people have found a comfortable place for themselves and are keeping themselves busy (it makes the day go faster…) and not overly concerned about the effectiveness of things.

You have a meeting with your key people “Blah, Blah Blah!!!” you go on about how the key guys should lead the team, how they should get up noses, rattle the cage so to speak, and for a short while you see some “scared rabbits” run about and things pick up and then fade, now they are all back to busy but not overly effective.

Your method of getting people to do things seemed great at the time, but knowing it failed after a few weeks was disappointing, you feel like you have to watch the team the WHOLE time, and that’s not what you want to do.

The answer…

Take a look, wander about, listen, observe start making mental notes. What’s working, what’s not… and what are they doing to look so busy yet be so ineffective!

Ask yourself…

Are they doing “administrivia” and dragging it out to fill time.
Are they calling suppliers to get useless info for customers who probably won’t buy anyway, or only want a small quantity of a low priced item.
Chatting about ‘garbage’, or doing silly rubbish, which is personal, rather than getting to the tasks, which really need to happen.
Are your management team, managing too much and not leading enough? Are they not in a position to connect with staff due to too much paper work, or other garbage which is really just a waste of time.

Any of these can take the wind out of the sails of your business, but before you call one of those “rant and rave” meetings to put the wind up people (which will just buy you more enemies anyway). Consider a different approach.

(And yes here’s the answer/s…)

Check out if the team has great technology to support them and make the tasks easy to achieve.
Make sure your systems are easy to learn, follow and implement.
Use multitasking to keep them mentally stimulated and able to do various new tasks from time to time.
Chat to them about what works from their point of view, become a “one on one focus group leader” with each person and get REAL information, not the sort that filters up through the ranks and becomes watered down as a result.
Ask what keeps them coming to work, and not just money and holidays.
Coach your management team to do the same, train them to build rapport, not build ramshackle bridges to nowhere.

In all honesty if you set up a great business to begin with, you will probably find it can remain that way, but it may need some of your original passion for the business to shine through, so the results you want to achieve can be very tangible, you just need to have the right things happening in the right way… Now go out there and make YOUR business highly effective and get the people doing more of the right things in the right way. Then and ONLY THEN will you really profit from the business you started out with so passionately.

Tags: business, business women, HR, hr leadership, Leadership, mums in business, People!

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…

Tags: bullying, HR, Leadership, Planning, Risk Management, workplace safety

Basics are basics…

Jun 1

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Growth, Leadership, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

It’s June 2009 the global financial crisis is still happening. Watched a documentary on Chinese businesses going under, huge factories closed down, lots of out of region migrant workers now displaced. Sure this was one province (Guangdong) and particularly one city Dong Guan, so probably not a big cross section to measure by. The show was on SBS Australia’s Dateline (May 31) and showed a range of businesses closed and gutted out.

Here’s a quote from the show “In Guangdong province alone, 60,000 factories have now closed down and millions of migrant workers are searching for work.”

My first thought was what were they making? well it’s interesting the businesses included a printing plant, toy factories, and jewelry manufacturing… My second thought was do they make for the local market or export, export… third question, is the product a need or a want, mainly want.

So it comes down to the basics if the majority of what is produced is not for needs when a downturn comes the wants are dropped first. When an external order from overseas is pulled then the whole thing can collapse quickly. as the local economy is hanging on wants, the failure of one is felt across all.

Learn from this huge scale disaster and make sure you have a balance of income from needs based sources as well as wants based sources. If you have shares in a grocery company Co for example it seems logical that they supply the needs of people, then take your own business think about how you can supply to the needs based customers. Think carefully about this as a form of insurance to ensure you can balance your wants and needs to ensure sustainability.

Happiness – workplace style…

May 19

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People! | No Comments

Just for a moment think about your life, do you do things better when you are happy or grumpy/sad? Now think about business, do you prefer to deal with people who are grumpy/sad or happy?

It’s a no brainer really, however there are many people looking to change jobs, move on, move up, move out! Why generally because they are unhappy. As an employer it’s part of your unwritten “duty of care” to provide an environment where staff are happy.

A small family business might seem like a great thing and how you treat family can be quite different from general staff. You might be happy to work at an old desk loaded with irrelevant papers and bits and pieces, but an employee probably will be put off by that.

I guess the moral of this is think about it. Take time to evaluate, if a new employee is due to start next week, make it a major priority to make their starting off in your business fantastic.

Here’s a few reasons why:

Change can be difficult for people, new surrounds new names, new everything! It can take a while to get used to.
Moving jobs means altering routines, wake up times, transport changes, family routines alter.
A new job with different systems can take quite a while to adapt to.
A new role may mean there are changes to who is leading who, this can cause challenges.

So imagine starting them off in the ideal situation…

Start them with half a day’s work, late in a week, so there is little monday rush and weekend panic.
Be their “work buddy” show them where everything is and how things are done.
Check in with them regularly to see what stands out as issue, then aim to resolve them fast.
Make sure all the “paperwork” is sorted for their superannuation and so on, early…
Advise all other staff to wear their name tags more often in that start up phase so the new person does not stress about things like names.

We could make a really long list here (please do!) and I hope you get the idea. Happiness even in a recession is vital to ensure your staff perform to their best ability, perhaps not in the short term but later on when they are up to speed.

Make time to be there for the new recruit and ensure as many things as possible go right for them so they feel at ease.

Change, innovation and pure survival…

Oct 29

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | 1 Comment

In the tumultuous financial crisis and the uncertainty it causes, there is one thing for certain, Change is happening. Sure it’s not a change that organisations implemented, and for many it’s a change they did not have a contingency plan for but it’s happening and if your organisation needs to do something about it, then your training in innovation will put you in good stead… What’s that you have no training in innovation… ooh.

Well lets get one thing straight the ability to handle change is important, the attitude, the planning, the stance the leadership skills, they are all important in an age where Improvise, adapt, overcome becomes the hallmark of a survivor.

If you need to be able to think about new strategies and brainstorm with others, then petty office politics and ineffective interpersonal communication needs to be put aside. In a crisis it can be “every man for himself” or “Lets get the team together and nut out the best way forward NOW…”

Either way it probably comes down to you the leader to find a way forward, to make the right moves (or at least have a go) sure you might make mistakes, sure the road might be tough, sure there can be unexpected thing pop up, but if you don’t face reality then you might be wondering what’s happening next.

Wonder no longer, and be the one that sets the team up to thrive, if they fall short of that they survive, so the high goal needs to be there to ensure things go on. It’s up to the senior people in the organisation to provide the leadership, to use innovative and creative techniques.

In sot if you are not providing the right environment, skills, attitudes and mindset to make it through then folks the end is nigh, but if you are putting you best feet forwad, then if the grim hand of failure comes your way you will have known you put in a top effort to weather the storm. I guess the decision to act and make a stand is up to you, or not…

On the edge…

Oct 27

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

When tough times strike my heart goes out to those businesses on the edge, and of course instead of talking about daily things that can trip up a marginal business, we are now talking about bigger fundamental global meltdown type trip ups.

So when the going gets tough how many of the businesses on the edge have a debt reserve fund, or a plan b, or an innovative structure, system, marketing plan etc to get them out of the jam? probably too few. Then on the business front, if they are a “want” type of business do they have their fingers in the pie of a “needs based” business to be able to handle the changing spend patterns of consumers… probably not.

Here’s 8 quick points to give you the edge in tough times.

Have a plan A, then have a plan B, just in case!
Have some reserves, stuff happens so be ready for downturns.
Needs based V’s Want based, if you sell gifts for example, you might want to look at developing a needs based business to complement it, this way you cover your butt when customers walk away from the niceties. Consider diversifying into an online business of some kind that is easy to manage from your want based business, get busy while it’s quiet.
Keep marketing, but make sure it’s making you money, don’t throw money out and get NOTHING back, measure it carefully, get smart about how it works.
Keep the team informed, fear can run deep and fast, let them know what you are doing or plan to do to weather the storm. Batten down the hatches but make sure they know where the exits are…
Lead, now more than ever the team needs you, teach them GREAT customer service, if people get picky you need to have the BEST people upfront, with the BEST service, now more than ever. Get out on the floor and look for gaps, are they smiling, are they happy, do they know the products and or services inside and out? No? train them…
Be nimble, change is a given so learn to love it, zig when the others lag or zag. This way you can be there when the others have fallen by the wayside.
Improve your systems, now is a great time to tighten up on how things tick over, ask hard questions like “Are we doing things the best way?” “How can I jump start and or utilise my peoples collective intelligence to give us a lasting edge?”

You get the idea, make a difference, a poisitive difference so your business can take on the challenges tough times provide and see it through successfully. So jump up to the whiteboard and make a start NOW!

Think Globally, Act Locally

Sep 21

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | 1 Comment

I have just been to see WALL•E the animated film, it was fantastic, the graphics, the story, the whole concept was exceptional. So the environmental message? Yep there was one, and as such I figure on a local basis we can be doing things to prevent a “Wall – E – World” from happening… (hey that’s not new is it…)

I know our “Local Authorities” have a long term plan, is it all about growth or does it take into account looking after things, being the guardians of the planet at a local level. If “all hell broke loose” Could our region survive? Would we have enough of the “right resources” to keep going?

Chances are the long term plan is laced with “Innovation” and “Leadership”, “growth” and the such like, yet down on the ground realistic local action that I can tangibly say “Yep they’re doing something…” is not visible.

Lets take it to our businesses, do we have the ability to diversify in a way that gives us a support base if things go bad? A Debt Reserve Fund of some kind? A range of other “business interests” that allow us to fully serve the wider community? Mostly… No.

I figure that if I went to the local “Planning guide for the next 50 years” created by local authorities and searched in there for business “goals” or “ideals” to assist my business I might go away a bit befuddled by the academic language, the jargon and the rhetoric, however I probably should be silent until I see the “beast” and let it prove me wrong, (or right…)

I urge all business people to act responsibly and find ways they can make positive impacts at all levels of “stake holder interaction” (there’s my chunk of jargon for the day… ) so our future can stand the test of time.

The sprung leader…

Sep 12

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Excellence!, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

Following on from the spring cleaning theme… is your leader leading the charge? did they “twig” to the change of season? did they come in the door with a renewed spring in their step? Well if the answer is no, maybe you should take the lead and remind them.

Get them focused – ask them to be flexible – give them support and watch them flourish (if not just run the show yourself and do your bit to make the Biz better.)

You see, often it’s the small stuff which happens that makes a difference, and people notice. In a retail setting, pull things off shelves and give the place a great wipe down. In the office, get in a tad earlier and clear out the “crusty” bits from around your area, in the lunch room, in the client areas… make a difference, do it for you and of course you are doing it for “them” the customers.

Reframing, renewing, refreshing it’s all good, so make the most of it.

Wisdom comes in many forms…

Aug 28

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Negotiation, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

Fast thinking and wisdom can work wonders, I saw this today and thought it’s well worth reproducing here, enjoy!

A wealthy old lady decides to go on a photo safari in Africa, taking her faithful aged poodle named Cuddles, along for the company.

One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long, Cuddles discovers that he’s lost. Wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.

The old poodle thinks, ‘Oh, oh! I’m in deep doo-doo now!’ Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap the old poodle exclaims loudly, ‘Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here?’

Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. ‘Whew!’ says the leopard, ‘That was close! That old poodle nearly had me!’

Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes, but the old poodle sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.

The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, ‘Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what’s going to happen to that conniving canine!

Now, the old poodle sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, ‘What am I going to do now?’, but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn’t seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old poodle says ‘Where’s that damn monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!

The moral of this story….

Don’t mess with the old .. age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill! Knowledge and wisdom only come with age and experience.

I am in no way insinuating that any of you are old, perhaps some are just youthfully challenged!

Over time I have come to respect the wisdom of the more “mature” around us, and as I get older I hope I can benefit more from my own wisdom and have the good sense to draw more on the wisdom of others.

In business it can seem like we know it all, (or we think we do) but the reality can be different. I guess the point being to know the difference and profit from it.

Their vision v’s your vision…

Aug 22

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

How about this, an organisation has the following core values as part of it’s vision.

Responsibility and Leadership
Achievement and Excellence
Citizenship and Community
Initiative and Commitment

Sounds great, things to aspire to… one problem they don’t do it, well not all of it, here are some points…

Staff are failing to take responsibility, citing they do not have the resources to do their jobs fully.
Leadership is lacking, no one sure as to who they should follow or what they should do… whose roles is who’s and where do the ‘borders’ stop.
Excellence… again resources or the lack of them are cited as an issue… Systemic issues are cited… not enough time… not enough support…
Initiative and commitment… A stakeholder took initiative and they basically shunned it, the same stakeholder is working with another stakeholder to build commitment… guess what shunned again.

Not much left except for the third point and they probably have issues with that too…

The vision statement goes on to make a lot of claims about excellence in the provision of service etc… It’s all interesting but they are failing at it. My view, they are failing to hold up the core values and use them as a solid foundation to work from, instead it has become a blame game.

Here’s the irony if you like, this organisation is a school.

A bit deeper look will show that it’s not a simple organisation as there are various stakeholders, parents and students, teachers and admin/managerial staff, so the connections between each, if tenuous, can create a nightmare approach to communication, who said what, when, why, how and so on.

I would love to share the details but the story still has depth despite names and specific issues, but basically a parent supporting their child to achieve, have a commitment, and be accountable has come across some barriers in being able to make this happen.

The big point here is that a symbol has been created (the vision statement with core values) but not followed or fully utilised. I suggest the school (or any organisation for that matter) could alter this disasterous set of situations simply by making sure at every step that the foundation is used to build on, not to branch out from with tenuous connections.

Learning opportunity, if you have a foundation to work from, your role as a business operator, principal, teacher, owner operator, director or whatever. Do your best to work with that foundation, in this case the foundation extols excellence as a hallmark and so it should, but to have a range of stakeholders pointing at each other blaming and shaming, then the end result is far from excellent. By the way, you can “rest assured” the parent is sticking to their guns and will be holding the school accountable to their foundation or core values and hopefully the end results will be worth the rigour and affront.

Things to do to avoid just the title of leader…

Aug 7

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development | No Comments

Think in symbolic terms, if you were a warrior or a goddess, then the title of leader can become more, much more. If you imbue your role with this kind of title (perhaps even just internally) you can then develop a model to work with.

Lets go deeper. I have used the terms Goddess and Warrior, male and female counter rankings. Note I didn’t call the guy a god (that would be a bit much) yet it seems the title of “goddess” is one our culture is comfortable with.

Each of these would share traits in common, so lets put some key traits to the title of leader in here first and then we can start to build a deeper profile from there…

- Strong
- Ethical
- Wise
- Flexible
- Empowering
- Forthright
- Strategic
- Humble
- Hunter – Gatherer
- Spiritual – Inner knowing – Outer reflective
- Commitment
- Powerful
- Focus
- Patient
- Trusting
- Service
- Positive, beliefs and values

So there are “Some” traits a leader might have… and note they can be applied to either the Warrior or the Goddess… so then lets now split hairs and find the things that could shoe the differences between the Goddess and the Warrior.

The following are “loose lists” of possible traits that we can use as starting points for discovery (feel free to add your own to personalise the list for yourself).

Goddess
- Beauty
- Mystery
- Symoblic
- Imagination
- Radiance
- Healer
- Divine
- Evoke/invoke wisdom
- Inner glow

Warrior
- Awareness
- Discipline
- Athletic
- Bold
- Brave
- Openness
- Diplomacy
- Clarity
- Lead by example

Using these lists of “possible traits” our role as leader can now take on a fresh dimensionality. We can now explore what traits we want to build up and those we may like to regress. Some may want to use both the male and female traits and explore them as natural guideposts for the development of our leadership skills.

Think beyond basic leadership skills and open your hearts to the ideas of being a leader that can explore a higher state, a spiritual state if you will, so that the depth of integrity you exude as a leader can include heightened depths of excellence, both for you and for those you lead.

Tags: Leadership

Why do I need to lead?

Jul 29

Posted by Steve Gray in Leadership, Personal Development, Starting out in business | No Comments

“Leadership, why do I need leadership skills?” This is a question I get asked often. So in quick response to that I often come out with… “Oh you need this for lots of reasons…” and then stumble through some of them… sometimes I even forget some of the gems.

Leadership why you need it.

If you are in business.

Who provides the direction for the team to follow?
You get asked to supervise or “manage” a team?
Who ensures the team have the resources they need to do their tasks well?
You want more from your current role and need to find a way forward.
Who gets and keeps the team focussed?
You can see things can be done more effectively but no one is “stepping up to the plate.”
Who keeps the red tape to a minimum for the team so they can do what they need to do?
An emergency situation arises and time is crucial, you either jump in and lead or sit back and wonder what might have happened.
Who goes into “bat” for a team member?
You are recognised as being great at what you do, and you are asked your opinion on issues, you can shy away or…
Who gets in and gives a hand?
You want to start a business and have the “skills” to do the tasks well, but you lack the drive to go the next step.
The boss is off sick with the flu, you could sit back and slack it out… or?
The value of businesses is shown to be higher when decent leadership is in place. (According to the Institute for Strategic Change, the “stock price of ‘well-led’ companies grew by over 900% over 10 years, compared with 74% for poorly led companies”.)
You deal with customers in a service capacity and not just as an order taker, and you want to deliver sterling results.
Who knows how to do all these things and more…

In general life

What if you get asked to be part of a committee for a club you are part of?
Who provides direction when you go out to dinner and decisions need to be made (which restaurant, which food style, which menu options…)
Who makes sure things happen in their right order for special events…
You want to get more out of the people you deal with on a daily basis and not end up repelling them with nagging in a bid to get results.
Who provides the direction for daily living to make it a great experience day in day out…
Who sits back and watches their children explore creative play options and steps in to provide direction when needed?
You want to boost your confidence and forge new ways forward in life.
You want to seek out fresh opportunities in the way you live your life.

Discovering you are living in a world loaded with challenges is sometimes difficult, and over time I have learnt there are some things you can do to make the challenges less of a hassle. I hope the 7 Steps to Leadership Excellence program is able to give you the edge in this challenging world.

“In life there are opportunities to excel, or not… you get to choose.” Steve Gray

Motivated or driven?

Jul 7

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development | 1 Comment

In business you deal with people and as such they are an important aspect to the business (in fact read that as VITAL to your business!) so vital that without them things don’t get purchased, sold, manufactured etc… So in the scheme of things you need them, and as such the big question is do you DRIVE them or MOTIVATE them

Firstly the difference as I see it.

DRIVE – Push, bully, manipulate, rush, yell at, demean…

MOTIVATE – Influence, encourage, coach, mentor, support, work with them, respect them…

This goes for internal and external customers, (the staff and the paying customers) if you want the paying customers to stay and buy more of what you have, treat them right, and if you want to keep staff turnover to a minimum, the same TREAT THEM RIGHT!

Simply put figure out what you do, and what other people in your organisation do and see if it is MOTIVATING, because if it’s driving them, it will be driving them away.

Go on, take a REAL look at what’s happening, and if changes need to happen, make them and make them NOW!

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