Posted by Kaitlin King on Mon, Aug 02, 2010 @ 07:10 PM
By Jennifer Porcher, Vice President of Educational Services
“Is your team in conflict?” would be better stated, “Are you creating an environment of healthy debates?”
So often we find companies are more concerned with keeping their team in harmony than challenging one another’s decisions. It sounds right to not have people in disagreement, and it seems like the perfect situation to have constant harmony in the workplace. Isn’t that what we work towards, having a compatible team? We hire different personalities to balance out our strengths and weaknesses, but we don’t always take the time to listen to all perspectives or create an environment where people feel valued and heard.
As Dee W. Hock of Fast Company says, “Never hire or promote in your own image. It is foolish to replicate your strength and idiotic to replicate your weakness. It is essential to employ, trust, and reward those whose perspective, ability, and judgment are radically different from yours. It is rare, for it requires uncommon humility, tolerance, and wisdom.” The point is that we need to see different perspectives to be successful.
Then there are the companies who hire right, but don’t know how to maximize their resources by allowing discord. Why work so hard to create a diverse team if you are not allowing them to voice their individual views? Leaders can break this pattern, and encourage an environment of healthy debate by understanding and applying the following:
- First, know your people. You should have a good idea of how each member of your team makes decisions. You should know each member’s motivation and what drives them to succeed. The better you know your people, the more effectively you can manage the debate.
- Second, develop trust amongst your team. People will not expose themselves if they do not feel they can trust those around them. The best way to gain trust in any situation is to start by exposing vulnerabilities, to encourage team members to let down their guard. This is the most important action a leader can take, but they must lead by example and demonstrate their own vulnerability first. This takes time and consistency to establish, and once it is in place teammates must be given a safe place to reveal their true opinion and feel heard.
- Third, invest in a tool that helps team members understand one another. A personality profile like Myers-Briggs, DISC, or Worktraits™ is an excellent exercise to help with the process of understanding personalities and temperaments. Knowing these differences helps to honor individual uniqueness rather than allowing differences to be a source of irritation. It is not only important for you to know your people, but for your people to know one another.
- Finally, be a leader who is not afraid to “put it out there.” This process requires courage to look at an issue with a genuine desire to work through it. Willingness to hear everyone’s opinion and proof that the opinion is truly heard are vital. Leaders must demonstrate patience, and not take things personally. It’s not always about getting everyone to agree—the process of agreeing to disagree can even be a solution. It’s about hearing all perspectives.
Most people aren’t willing to challenge a thought process because they don’t have all the answers. However, creating a safe environment for healthy debate can encourage your team to express their opinions. By engaging in productive conflict and revealing individual perspectives and opinions, a team can increase a company’s capabilities.
Take the time to know your people, encourage your team members to share their vulnerabilities, invite them to build a strong level of trust with one another, and invest in a resource that provides further understanding of personality differences. Ultimately, allowing your team to feel heard by engaging in healthy debate will inspire a united front of individuals who are determined to see their group succeed. Their determination to collaborate for the greater good will sustain accountability and become your most powerful source of profitability.
Posted by Kaitlin King on Wed, Jun 16, 2010 @ 06:01 PM
By Michael Gunther
Entitlement. It's an interesting concept that seems to have worked its way into every corner of the workplace. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, entitlement is a belief that one deserves certain privileges. In the workplace, many employees feel that they are entitled to raises, days off, promotions, and other benefits, and don't necessarily think they should have to work for them. I know this because I regularly hear about this issue from business owners.
No Entitlements in Life
Entitlement is an interesting concept to me; growing up in a household of 17 kids made it hard to ever feel entitled. My parents did an exceptional job providing for our needs, but our ‘wants' had to be earned. We learned from an early age that if we wanted something, we had to take responsibility, work hard, and go get it; consequently, we all had various jobs ranging from babysitting and cleaning houses to mowing yards and managing paper routes. Eventually, we became very good at turning true wants into goals. In essence, my parents created a household of entrepreneurs.
Although there were numerous situations where I had to work for my wants, one in particular stands out. My parents initially enrolled their children in a private high school; however, they eventually stopped because of the cost. The younger siblings (myself included) would have to go to public high school. When it was my turn to go to high school, I had a strong desire to attend a private school like some of my siblings did. My parents made me a deal: they would pay for my tuition my first year (I would pay for my books and incidentals), I would be responsible for half the tuition my junior year and all of the tuition my senior year. I took the deal.
Once we made the agreement, I realized I not only had the desire to attend the private school, I had the drive. I worked various jobs - from McDonald's to babysitting to valet parking - and took the responsibility to make sure I could pay my way. And I am so thankful that my parents taught me this lesson early in life. Successfully meeting this goal gave me the confidence to know that I can create whatever I want, if I am willing to take the responsibility and make the effort. This is contrary to the entitlement attitude we hear of so often from employees in the workplace.
No Entitlements in Business
As business owners, our employees tend to rely on us to lead the charge in providing them with the opportunities to learn, expand their responsibility, and provide them with a living; however, what we business owners need to realize is that we have the opportunity to teach our employees to earn what they want, and not to expect that it be handed to them. Just recently, one of my team members, Eric Hubbs, wanted to hire a personal coach to enhance his skills and asked if Collaboration would pay for it. I told him that the company would pay for half of it only if we as a company achieved our quarterly revenue goals. This allowed Eric the opportunity to take responsibility and earn what he wanted. And he did just that!
Do your employees act as though they're entitled to that annual bonus, new sales training, or birthday lunch? You can change that by teaching your employees that they can have increased benefits, pay, and responsibilities, but that they will need to assist in creating additional revenue and opportunities to support those goals. I try to never say "no" to an employee's request. Instead, I ask "how can we make that happen within our current budget and structure?" This methodology takes the ‘entitlement' attitude and turns it into a ‘you can create what you want' attitude. It helps the employee, the business owner, and the company to grow. Bye-bye, entitlement. Hello, goal setting.
The Bottom Line
Employees need incentives and growth opportunities. Shift the entitlement attitude by offering them the opportunity to create what they want through their own hard work and focus. This approach creates an opportunity for innovation, teaches employees about goal-setting, and gives them a chance to experience the success of reaching their goals - all of which help propel an organization forward.
This is the fifth in a series of articles on Michael's entrepreneurial story and how being raised in a large family has influenced his career. To read the previous articles in this series, visit his blog at www.Collaboration-llc.com.
Michael Gunther is Founder and President of Collaboration LLC, a team of highly skilled business professionals who are dedicated to assisting proactive business owners to build profitable, sustainable businesses through results-oriented education, coaching, and consulting services. Learn more at www.Collaboration-llc.com.
Posted by Michael Gunther on Fri, Apr 09, 2010 @ 12:48 PM
Over the past few years, it has become common for businesses to promote their core values and their ethical practices as part of their marketing strategies. They may be promoted directly to employees in mission statements, in training manuals, or in employee newsletters; they may also be promoted to clients in websites, in industry publications, or in printed marketing materials.
But when the rubber hits the road and it comes time to make business decisions and set company direction, are these values and ethics reviewed and utilized? Is staff expected to uphold these values and ethics in their code of conduct even if the leaders of the company neglect them?
Sadly, we can just turn to the news to see many examples of companies that are neglecting their own code of conduct. Most recently, Toyota has stepped away from their core values. For years they had built a culture around quality, safety, and service; yet when it came time to decide how to handle their issue of faulty gas pedals they seemingly didn't review their own core values. They chose to be secretive, withhold information, and react slowly. Now they have damaged their reputation - perhaps irreparably.
By contrast, Johnson & Johnson has a strong set of core values that they live and operate by - that their first responsibility is to provide the highest quality products to their clients. When the Tylenol poisonings occurred back in the early 1980s, Johnson & Johnson took one look at their core values and reacted within them. With their number one concern being consumer safety, they pulled all of their products off the shelves across the world (not just in the impacted areas) at the cost of millions of dollars. Their quick response in recalling the product and their swift action in reaching out to the victims' families were part of their core values and ethics. By doing the right thing, they saved their brand reputation and in the long run saved millions of dollars.
This question of values and ethics brings to my mind the old adage, "The way you do anything is the way you do everything"; meaning if you are willing to cheat, lie, or take advantage of people in one area, why would anyone believe that you would do any different in another? Business owners or leaders who are dishonest about defects in their product or service even when they know they exist; who expect their employees to take ownership for their actions and mistakes yet do not do the same for their own actions or mistakes; or who talk negatively about customers, employees, past employees, etc. yet expect others to treat them or their customers with respect, create a lack of confidence in their integrity and in their leadership ability.
To be a truly credible business leader, you must live by your core values or code of ethics within your business; you must walk your talk. Your employees and clients will know when you don't. If you want your employees to operate within the values you put in place for your business, you need to lead by example and live by those values.
The Bottom Line
Walk your talk. If you operate from a set of core values and ethics and want your employees to as well, keep yourself in check to make sure you are truly living by them. Values and ethics are not optional. "The way you do anything is the way you do everything."
Is there a topic that you would like Michael to discuss? If so, email him at MGunther@collaboration-llc.com or call (805) 541-9040 to let him know.
Michael Gunther is Founder and President of Collaboration LLC, a team of highly skilled business professionals who are dedicated to assisting proactive business owners to build profitable, sustainable businesses through results-oriented education, coaching, and consulting services. Learn more at www.collaboration-llc.com.
Posted by Michael Gunther on Tue, Jun 09, 2009 @ 05:11 PM
By Michael Gunther, President of Collaboration, Business Growth
Specialists
Over the last 14 years of consulting small businesses, I have had the privilege of working with many partnerships. In fact, over 60% of our consulting clients have been partnerships - whether they were family partnerships, married partners or friends. Almost 100% of the time the company has come to us because the partnership was now hindering the growth and the success of the business.
These partnerships could have prevented the pain, lost opportunity and profit if they would have defined some clear partnership parameters at the beginning of their working relationship. Often these partners who were once good friends or had strong family bonds, are now operating their business without speaking to one another, or working with a veil of suspicion and with no clear direction or purpose other than to protect themselves.
Here are some key areas that typically are missing from these organizations:
No Clear Communication Structures
What is required for partners in terms of meetings and types of communications that need to be shared with partners?
What are the steps to resolve conflicts?
No Methodology for Business Decisions
How compensation is determined for each partner's role verses their level of ownership?
How are financial decisions made within the organization?
Are roles & responsibilities clearly defined for partners? What are the consequences for non-performance?
No Clear Legal/Financial Documents
What legal documents exist to support the partnership?
What is the financial commitment of each partner?
What happens if one partner does not want to participant in a financial outlay?
No Exit Strategies Clearly Identified
How can the termination of the partnership happen?
What behaviors or actions constitute a mandatory leave or termination?
What does each partner want from this business besides a financial gain?
Partnerships can be highly successful. They can also be a huge impediment to the success of the company if the partners have different agendas and are headed in different directions.
By sitting down with your potential partner or current partner and answering the questions above, you will begin the necessary communication process and structures to build a solid partnership and thus, a solid business. To download an expanded version of these tips, please click here.
Posted by Michael Gunther on Thu, Jun 04, 2009 @ 02:36 PM
By Michael Gunther
As originally published in The Tolosa Press
Let's face it: some days it's hard for employees to be productive. This is true even in the best of times. Their coworker just got engaged, they had a fight with their significant other, someone in their family lost their job, maybe they just can't find the motivation to start (or finish) a project.
Add the stress of wondering whether the company they work for is financially stable, if they are next on the chopping block, or if their benefits and payroll will be decreased, and it's not hard to see why this Great Recession is taking a toll on workplace productivity.
So, how can businesses maintain productivity? The best place to start is with manager and employee relationships followed by a little inspiration and a lot of communication. Next thing you know, you'll see productivity on the rise.
BUILD POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS
As stated by Marcus Buckingham in First, Break all the Rules, one of the key factors behind productive work environments is the manager/employee relationship. Managers who recognize and praise employees for their good work, every seven days at a minimum, create much more productive work environments. Now, think back to the last time you recognized each of your employees. If it's been more than seven days (and statistics show that it probably has), put down this article and go praise them for their good work.
INSPIRE
The other role you have as a business leader is to inspire, and with inspiration comes innovation.
While it's common knowledge that more millionaires were made during The Great Depression than at any other time in history, it's not so common to reflect on the reason behind those gains: innovation. The Great Depression Millionaires weren't focusing on their own woes or the negative possibilities - they were focusing on innovation and creating positive solutions.
One way to create inspiration in the workplace is to bring in guest speakers: a money manager, a creative facilitator, a finance manager, an expert on health and wellness. You'll not only be addressing your employees' concerns that are distracting them from working productively, you'll be helping promote other professionals in your community. Now that is innovation!
COMMUNICATE
Communication is a skill that has faded in some of our organizations. But as we know, people tend to assume the worst, and that includes our employees. As business owners and managers, it is up to us to step out of our comfort zone and communicate the happenings of our business: the good, the bad, and the ugly, and then focus on what the company is doing to get out of the bad and the ugly. Focus on innovation and inspiration to transition from stress mode to productivity mode.
In the early 1990's, the business model shifted from "don't tell them about the bad news" to one that created support groups for employees. And that's because people return to productive levels more quickly if they can talk about what's going on.
One way to communicate to employees is to provide ongoing, consistently scheduled updates that inform employees on the status of business and its initiatives. Another option is to determine key measures such as sales goals or target clients and report consistently on the achievement of these measurements.
Bottom line: Have the employees become part of the solution. The more employees understand the business and their role in making business happen, the more likely you will see increased productivity. And remember to celebrate the successes, even the small ones!