26. July 2010 by Noel Guilford.

Volume 1: Employee’s

All employers will at some instance experience their fair share of the typical issues when dealing with employees. Undoubtedly some employers’ will have more issues than others. These issues can range from a constant ache to an unmanageable thorn in one’s side. I’m sure that many of you are eagerly nodding in agreement. On that note let me say the white unicorn does exist. Yes, there are employers that presently experience very few issues if any. Rest assured that it is by no coincidence, or random happenstance, but a result of someone’s diligence. For the rest, it’s time to treat the cause of the problem, and not the symptoms.
Any of these sound familiar

High Absenteeism

High Turnover

Low Productivity

Increased Employee Injuries

Customer Dissatisfaction/Retention

Low Employee Referral

Research organizations and corporations have sought to find the correlating factor since the 1980’s. Interestingly, in a report by The Corporate Executive Board in 2003, all paths lead to employee satisfaction and employee commitment. The important thing to understand is what “employee satisfaction and employee commitment” mean to you and your organization. I encourage those readers that are business owners or leaders in business that now need this answer to begin a journal if you do not already do so. Bulldog rule #5 says “Every business is a people business” and the journal will log your progress as you become an employee driven business.

“You don’t even know me!”

Do you? Have your leaders, if you have them, and yourself list each person that they are responsible for managing. Now for each person list those things that do and do not motivate that employee. This should be enough to show most that they have no idea how to help each employee reach their full potential. Have a human resources department, great, but what do you do if you don’t. Creating and using an employee poll and survey to determine the cultural health of your business costs you time and effort and earns loyalty and commitment.

“Managing is managing and leading is leading”

You will get one or the other. A manager is only going to go so far as to make sure that the requirements of their position are met, if that. If you want someone innovative with self initiative and drive, then you want a leader. Expect a manager to direct your workforce and a leader to develop your workforce. Not all cases call for a leader and it’s up to the vision of the business to determine that. To place the responsibility of employee satisfaction and employee commitment into the hands of a manager is a vital mistake for everyone involved.

“You can’t kill weeds with a lawn mower”

Good luck at getting rid of your employee issues by punishing or threatening to punish those that break the rules. My personal favorites are memo postings that are clearly meant to cause compliance through intimidation. If employees possess some sense of investment then anything that brings harm to the business also brings harm to them.
To simplify, connect with your employees find out who they are. Provide collected information to someone that can support that connection. Address issues proactively and preventatively that result in the employee’s desire to integrate themselves because it is mutually beneficial.

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28. March 2010 by Noel Guilford.

If you ever wanna know what it feels like to be Chicken Little then just spend some time talking with a room full of business owners. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the blame is totally human nature. We struggle with planning what we are going to get when we go to the grocery store, so it’s no wonder how the day to day of a small business owner can consume all reason. This type of “business on the fly” can pass for common place until you realize that the lack of sleep has warped your sense of reality just a little bit.

Those few businesses outside this crazy world seem like an oasis but let me tell you that it was no accident.  You wonder how so and so is still doing so well, or what the big secret is right? Here it is, how to fortify your business.

Quality Product and/or Service

If you have something to sell make sure its worth you selling it, and make sure it’s worth buying. As tempting as it may be to tap the well of the latest fad you will find that well dries up very quickly. Stick with the oldies but goodies, give customers what they want, when they want it and how they like it.

*NOTE* address this area for difficulty with generating leads or traffic into the business 

Build a Reputation of Consistency - Earn consumers trust

Consumers/customers expect, no they “demand” that if they are required to pay a specific cost, that they will receive quality that matches, and most times exceeds their expectation. If  customers are provided with consistency, they will respond with consistency and that goes both ways.

*NOTE* address this area when dealing with the frequency of repeat business 

Customer Service/ Interaction that is remarkable

With any luck your customers are talking about you to someone who is a potential customer. The question is what are they saying as your spokesperson. If your business is strong in this area many customers will forgive your slips in consistency as people spend money at businesses they like. Equally if they are unimpressed or unsatisfied with your personnel and the service they provide, be sure they feel the same about the business and it’s owners.

*NOTE* address this area when dealing with the decline in customer counts/ lost customers

Business Economics with Priorities

I’m assuming that for those in business ownership, server boredom did not drive them to the decision. So with the objective of making a profit in mind let’s get our priorities strait. First in line is paying for the expense of doing business, next is paying your employee’s. Third is paying the business itself, and lastly you get paid. If you are an employee then you get paid a lot sooner. Lastly if there is very little wiggle room due to an enormous overhead you are in a losing battle and need to reformat your business model or call it quits as soon as possible.

*NOTE* address this area when there are problems showing a profit in spite of acceptable numbers in sales and customer counts.

Can you still run a business without building a foundation of these four things? I’m sure its possible. I’m also sure that its possible for a mule to win a horse race, but its not likely that I will see that either.

Posted in Being the Boss | Print | 1 Comment »

10. January 2010 by Noel Guilford.

OK, so now you’ve found your way down that long path to business ownership. First, congratulations! You have done something that many only dream of and even fewer have the courage to pursue that dream. Over that rise, past your opening day, lies a expansive land full of responsibilities and challenges…many of them daily. For those people with enough foresight and vision it gets easier over time. The reality is that most business owners have no experience and often feel lost even after many years of running their first or even second business. If any business owner should find themselves in this position there is no shortage of assistance out there for those that look.

Of all the obstacles faced, nothing compares to how difficult people-management can be, especially in today’s work force.  You can go absolutely mad trying. The most commonly used tactic is to find someone else to deal with it. Sounds easy right, well who is going to manage that person? If anyone needs sound and consistent leadership it’s the middle management. To manage a strong leader takes an even stronger leader. This is all considering that the right person can be found, hired, trained, compensated, and retained. I wont take the time here to discuss the possibility of doing that when there is a more effective and rewarding option available.

Unfortunately the “no wait, right now” society that we have become totally conflicts with the time and effort needed to effectively mentor anyone. Yes I said it! That person with the extensive resume and years of experience didn’t crash land in your lobby.  They were made just like me, just like you. Someone molded and honed the well qualified professional aspirant looking to fill a position in your business. Good thing you found them and they you. If you haven’t yet found a gem of a worker for yourself then make one.

Take the hand of an employee with the determination and drive to excel and push them. Some of my most rewarding experiences has been laboring over the spark of potential and watching it grow. The biggest benefit to hatching your own egg is you get the desired experience necessary to fit your needs and the needs of your business with the added factor of the earned loyalty.

This is the real world and these eggs hatch and sometime move on to bigger and better opportunities. What I will leave you with is this - If a protege of yours needs to grow beyond you and your organization and has the chance to do so consider it the highest compliment to your ability to lead that you will ever receive. So find an employee worth the effort and sit on them.

Posted in Hiring Process, Creating the Culture, Being the Boss, Training | Print | 2 Comments »

16. December 2009 by Noel Guilford.

It is obviously difficult to live in a society that is permeated with the idea that only total and absolute disaster can be the catalyst of necessary and long over due change. That may be the case for most of us, but we have the choice to be a fish that slips through the net or canned tuna. Many, many businesses and organizations find themselves too far along to take any type of corrective action that will make a difference. They flop around on the deck in vain protesting to be thrown back into the sea. The sad part is, that as the net of this recent economical environment sweeps up more and more businesses…I mean fish, how many will really be missed in the commotion?

So a show of hands for everyone that would prefer to sabotage their own business by being reactive rather than proactive…anyone? Great!

Now, lets not make this complicated shall we? It takes more courage than anything to put ourselves underneath the microscope. I’ll give you 7 easy steps to giving your business a self diagnostic and we know that checkups should be done regularly so your first time should not be your last.

• Step 1: Why am I in business for myself?

Never stop asking this question as the answer can change over time. The current answer will be the direction that you drive your business in and the ultimate goal of all your work. If you don’t clearly know, you will be like a ship lost at sea with no bearings. Totally subject to the forces around you and utterly powerless to determine your own destiny.

• Step 2: What is my role in the business?

There are no right or wrong answers here just honest realizations.  Are your a front-line type of leader or more of a hands-off delegate type? Perhaps you don’t need to lead your business at all and it would be best lead by another person accountable to you.  It could simply be that you best serve the business by managing the financial aspects rather than the day to day. Decide and stick with that decision.

• Step 3: How do I rate my business?

On a scale from one to five, rate exactly how you believe your business performs in four separate areas. Five being excellent, three being fair, and one being poor. Not sure what a five looks like, that’s where step four comes in.  This step is to make sure you calibrate what you believe to be good performance.

• Marketing
• Operations
• Training
• Customer Service

• Step 4: Do I have a second opinion?

If the President needs an adviser then so do you. Some solicit the counsel of other business owners that they may know or have met through an organization of business owners. Others opt to enlist that aid of a consultant, personally this is an instance where the more really is the merrier. Let your adviser or advisers rate your business on the same scale and see what they have to say. At the end of the day the decisions are still yours to make. If others can help you see your situation from every angle would you not be able to make a better informed decision?

• Step 5: Compare/Identify/Plan

Take everything you know and everything that has been said by your adviser or advisers and lay it all out together. Give it all equal amounts of consideration, if it doesn’t work (even if its your idea) then it hits the cutting room floor? It helps at this point to remember step one. Keep what works and what has never been used. From these things create your business plan. This can be an overall business plan or one to tackle an area of your business that needs improvement.

• Step 6: The right players in the right positions

Before you start leading employees out to the gallows lets give this a second look. Everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses, and in order to use an employee to their fullest you must know what those are. As loyalty is hard to come by, before you replace someone determine if there is another position on the team that makes good use of their talents. If not then the decision is clear. Always use a diagram on this step. It helps to make sure that you pair who you have and what they can do, with what you need done.

• Step 7: Commitment and Accountability

Alright coach, now you should know your role, know where you are, have a goal, have what your need done, and who you need to do it. Great! Now it’s time to get everyone on board. This may require one large meeting or several small ones. Lead as many as dictated by the role you play in your business. Just remember that most of all they need to know why they are there (why they work for you ), where they stand in performance (just the facts), what function they have, and what needs to be done next. Lastly give them your reasonable expectations to be accomplished in a reasonable time frame and who will be holding them accountable to these expectations and why.

Wondering who is going to hold you accountable? Each time you perform this seven step check up have your previous one handy. Commitment and accountability should begin and end with you regardless of your role. Even though no business fails in a day, and no business corrects itself in a day, there is only one time to begin change and that time for you can be today.

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15. July 2009 by Noel Guilford.

As a business owner have you ever asked yourself any of these questions? How to I get my employees to go above and beyond my expectations? How do I maintain loyalty and develop my employees potential? How do I control job turnover and create longevity among my staff? Well as that business owner I’m willing to wager that you have all of these answers already. Many business owners have seen a business model that they either believe they can duplicate or improve upon, that’s why they believe they are capable of being successful. Take some time and solve these and other issues that you may be facing with this very simple exercise. Approach this with an open mind and be as detailed in your responses and you can.

Step 1: Take a regular 8×11 sheet of paper and turn it length wise. Now draw one vertical line down the middle and another horizontal line through the middle of the paper creating for quadrants. If all else fails just fold the paper to create the quadrants, this will help you as you complete the exercise.

Step 2: Take a moment to reflect on every thing that you enjoyed about your previous employment experiences that pertain to the organization itself. In the top left quadrant write down as many of these things that you can remember. For example, did they offer an excellent training program that allowed you to easily become comfortable performing  a required task or tasks.

Step 3: Now take another moment and in the top right quadrant list all of those thing that made you or others feel disconnected from an organization. How was the overall morale and why, are easy ways to dig deeper into this quadrant.

Step 4: Each of us at some point or another has had a superior that has inspired us to be greater than we are. Those who are lucky have had many of these leaders guiding them through their professional career. In the bottom left quadrant list all of the characteristics of these leaders whom have earned your respect. Yes this quadrant might be a little more difficult that the others, but the next one should go rather smoothly.

Step 5: Lastly, it shouldn’t be very difficult to think of all the characteristic of those leaders whom no one respected and no one followed for whatever reason. List these qualities in the bottom right quadrant to finish your assessment.

Now here comes the hard part. Just rip the paper right down the middle from top to bottom. You should be holding in your right hand the potential reasons for all of the problems that you possess and in your left hand you hold all of the answers.  Take some time to really look at your business with an objective eye and ask if any of the things in you right hand are festering within your own organization and just how soon can you begin to replace them with more of the things in your right. Take the challenge, go for it!

Posted in Creating the Culture, Being the Boss | Print | 1 Comment »