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 Thu, Jul 23, 2009 @ 12:53 PM
By Christine Sommer, Collaboration Certified Consultant
Structure, processes and accountability. Fun? Not always, but they are a necessary evil for the survival of a business. Unfortunately, we often see the artistic and creative entrepreneur struggle with this skill set.
Creative entrepreneurs have such a passion for the masterpieces they create, but the business structure is often lacking. All too often the creative-preneurs come to us with big visions of business concepts with hundreds of possibilities but just can't seem to implement the actions to make it happen. The key ingredients that are usually missing include: structure, processes and accountability. Entrepreneurs who do develop these skills can take their company to a whole new level. So how can you make these happen?
Structure:
Treat yourself like a client. Set up a time to meet with your staff or just yourself each week to plan out what needs to get accomplished. Set up yearly, monthly and weekly goals. Get the ideas out of your head and put them down on paper. You now have a place to go to start prioritizing the ideas you want to implement.
Sign up for a Free Hour Business Consultation that can be done in person or over the phone and let one of our Collaboration Certified Consultants help you determine the right path and structure for your business.
Processes:
Create processes for the work that you do on a repeated basis. Utilize technology to streamline your work. Managing your time is critical in building a business, and when the process gets created, time spent in certain areas can often be cut in half. Not only that, but when you hire and employee to do that job they will thank you for having the system in place.
Our Business Assesment Consulting here at Collaboration-LLCis geared for established organizations that need to fine-tune current business practices. This interactive assessment will evaluate your business in 4 key areas using our proven business model, benchmark your business within your industry and then, provide you with a Game Plan to grow your business and sustain profitability.
Accountability:
How do you hold someone accountable to make sure things get done? Set out an action plan with the task that needs completion. Assign a date it was created, write out the task at hand, who it was assigned to and, most important, the due date. If you are having a hard time holding yourself accountable, join a mentoring group. There are several groups in the business community designed to hold business owners accountable to the goals they create for themselves. Get support from outside of your company and let them help you stay on track.
Here is more information on our Management Training Program that will help you strengthen your management team and increase productivity in your business.
The Bottom Line:
Developing these skills when they are not your natural talent will enhance your leadership skills and help you become a profitable and sustainable business.
If you have any questions or would like to receive more information please feel free to Contact Us!
Posted by Eric Hubbs on Thu, Apr 30, 2009 @ 10:30 AM
By Michael Gunther, President of Collaboration, Business Growth
Specialists
Move over public speaking. Business planning, or lack thereof,
seems to be aggressively fighting for a spot on the coveted list of top fears. Referred to by some as planning phobia, its cause, like any fear, is overwhelmingly emotion-based. If not dealt with head-on by a business owner in denial, planning phobia
could prove fatal to any business. However, the good news is that the cure lies completely within the business owner's control and their chances of recovery are exponential.
Why not develop a plan for a business? Excuses from business owners everywhere range from lack of time to "we've been successful so far - why bother?" are given all the time.
Whatever the excuse, the underlying reason is fear - fear of failure, fear of the unknown and in some cases, fear of success.
So, what can be done to help business owners overcome planning phobia? Well,awareness is the first step. Then, the cure lies within the willingness of the business owner.
By choosing to create and implement a business plan, they have made the decision to potentially own a successful business. Think about it like a trip across the country. You
determine where you are starting from, where you are going, your timeline to reach your destination and the most efficient route(s) to get there. Then you multiply this effort for each
department in your business.
"As business owners, we wear ‘many hats,' comments Kim Conti, Broker-Principal of Kimberly's Global Real Estate Corporation. "As a result, you can easily and often lose your
business focus, both short- and long-term. I have disciplined myself to reference my business plan when I am feeling overwhelmed and it is amazing how this document can
pull it all back in perspective for me."
So what can you do to cure yourself of planning phobia? Try this...
Just do it! It is natural to fear doing something that you have never done before. By
planning however, you mitigate the fear. One has to begin somewhere so just discipline
oneself to sit down and create your roadmap.
Make an annual commitment to revisit your plan. Every business plan is a working
document. That means that at the end of each year, use it as a tool to measure where your
business has been over the past year and what changes need to be made going forward.
Your business plan will be your greatest ally when you need to make crucial decisions for
your business.
Share your plan with your internal team. Business plans are the roadmap for everyone
in your organization to follow so that you are all headed to the same destination. Include
them in the initial planning stages. The routes that each of you may take will be different
depending on the goals of each department therefore it is important to discuss the big
picture, 12-month plan and goals and then break the journey down into shorter goals along
the way so that each of your team reaches their destinations on time.
Give yourself permission to alter the plan when appropriate. As with any road trip,
unexpected circumstances arise that may cause reason to change direction. It is vital to
allow yourself and your business the flexibility to redirect your strategy when appropriate.
Use it. In order to keep on track, you should refer to your business plan often throughout
the year. By doing this, you will identify when you are traveling in the right direction and
when you need to take an alternate route.
When developing your business plan, make sure that a succession plan or an exit strategy
are also clarified. Although it is not always easy to confront the fact that one day you will be
passing your business on to someone else or that it no longer is a sustainable business,
the repercussions of not addressing such decisions will prove far more costly in both time
and money than if these decisions were not made.
Planning phobia does not have to ruin a business trip. The cure is as simple as a roadmap.