Entrepreneurship | Martin Willoughby

29 Mar 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Entrepreneurship Permalink

ARE YOU A LEGALLY SAVVY ENTREPRENEUR?

Sticky Post By overseer On March 29, 2016

Unless you are a devout Apple follower, you likely a Microsoft product somewhere on your computer.? However, there were numerous situations that could have altered the trajectory of Microsoft that would have led to a different company dominating the software market over the last 30+ years.? I would argue that one of the reasons that Microsoft survived to become a dominant global brand is because of the legal savviness of its co-founder Bill Gates.

While Gates? passion, drive, and intellect helped him become one of the world?s richest people, what many people don?t know is how legally savvy he was in building his business. For example, when 19 year old Gates and Paul Allen read about the Altair computer in the 1975 issue of Popular Mechanics, they knew they could create some software to make it more useful for hobbyists so they contacted its manufacturer (MITS) and pitched them on the idea of building this software.? They persuaded MITS to enter into a 10 year deal transferring the exclusive rights to their first software product (BASIC) to the company.

Gates had a provision in the contract that said that MITS had to use ?best efforts? to market the software.? MITS was purchased by another company and they sent Micro-soft (as it used to be know back then) a letter saying that they would never sell to a competitor.? Well, that proved to be the ?smoking gun? in an arbitration suit that allowed Gates and team to have full rights back to BASIC which they went on to license to many other people.? The rest, as they say, is history.

When it comes to successful entrepreneurs, we often hear them described as visionaries, innovators, or creative geniuses, but I believe there is another quality that is available for anyone who wants to invest the time and effort.

?That quality is to be a legally savvy entrepreneur.?? I don?t mean that you have to have a law degree to be successful.? However, I do believe that it is important to take responsibility for the legal aspects of your business, understand the legal terrain of your business and industry, and make informed decisions on legal matters.

To help you consider whether you are a legally savvy entrepreneur, I have summarized below a series of questions to consider:

(1) Do you delegate all things legal in nature to counsel or are you actively engaged?

(2) Do you read the documents you sign?

(3) Do you understand the key provisions of the contracts your company enters into?

(4) Do you know the key legal issues in your industry? Your business?

(5) Do you view your legal counsel as ?necessary evil? or a strategic resource?

(6) Do you understand the key tools at your disposal?

(7) Do you understand basic legal terms and language?

As an entrepreneur, there are numerous issues to consider such as your product/service, competition, staffing, CASH FLOW, and managing risk.? Ultimately, you are trying to build a great business and increase the value of your enterprise.? Whether you like it or not, the law and legal matters are interwoven with all aspects of your compamy.? The question is whether you are addressing them in a proactive way.

Put simply, when you as the leader of your business sit down to negotiate your next deal, if you are not the more legally savvy entrepreneur at the table then prepare for trouble.?? In my next post, I will discuss some proactive steps you can take to be a more legally savvy entrepreneur.

14 Mar 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Uncategorized Permalink

HOW TO HIRE FOR SUCCESS

Sticky Post By overseer On March 14, 2016

In this column, I am addressing ways to hire for success.

“I am looking for a new manager for my practice. Do you have any suggestions on how to hire the right person?”

A critical hire is the administrator or manager of the practice. I have seen great managers help grow the revenues and prestige of a practice, and I have unfortunately seen mediocre leaders create a toxic culture that negatively impacted profitability.? Companies that attract and retain great talent know that hiring is important and that it should be done with great care.? I subscribe to the theory ?hire slow, and fire fast.?? Great hiring is a process, not a one-time event.? I will summarize below some of the best practices in creating a first class hiring program.

Clarify Your Needs

The first step is to know what you want.? Do you have a job description in mind?? What are the specific duties that you want the manager to handle?? What could this person do to free you up more?? ?You want to write this description down. There are standard formats to follow, but feel free to improvise and be creative. This is your roadmap for the new employee, not a boilerplate document.?? Besides just the tasks and responsibilities of the new hire, it?s also important to consider the skills and abilities that you what the employee to possess.?? I consider technical proficiencies such as using Microsoft Excel as well as soft skills such as leadership and communication.? What?s interesting is that successful employers know that the real key is to hire for attitude.? You can teach technical skills and even soft skills, but I have found that trying to get people to improve their attitude is virtually impossible.

In addition to knowing what you want, you need to consider the compensation you want to pay for the position, including any bonus incentives.? I like to consider third party comparable data as well as local market knowledge to find the proper pay grade.? I also consider the impact on the budget as well as think through creating the proper financial incentives to align the employer with the employee.

Build Your Candidate Pool

Now that you have clarity on what you want, the next step is to solicit potential candidates. This can be done in a variety of ways including traditional newspaper advertising, internet search tools such as CareerBuilder or Monster, third party recruiters, and word of mouth. I often receive emails from colleagues looking for recommendations for hires. Another avenue is to get your employees to submit referrals.? Some companies even have bonus programs for employee referrals.? You have to be careful about hiring ?buddies,? but it?s helpful to get referrals from employees whom you trust and that actually know the candidates.? In this solicitation phase, you are creating your pipeline of candidates.? You want to make sure that you have a clear timeline and process for intaking and following up with people.

Narrow the Field

Once you have built a good pipeline of prospects, you want to narrow the field through resume review and phone screening.? Does the candidate appear to have the background and training that you are seeking?? Can the candidate communicate clearly? Are they articulate? If you don?t have a good first impression on the phone, then your staff, patients, and vendors probably won?t either.? This process should whittle your prospect group down significantly to a handful of candidates to bring in for an initial interview. If possible, have someone interview the candidate with you.? It?s helpful to get two perspectives on the interview.? If the candidates pass through the ?gate? of a first interview then I recommend a potential 2nd and 3rd interview as well as the opportunity for your staff to interview them.? It?s amazing how empowering it is to have your staff participate in the hiring process.

For candidates in critical roles such as being an administrator, I also recommend interviewing them in a social setting such as a lunch or dinner where you can see if the person behaves any differently than in the formal interview settings.? This can reveal a lot about someone that does not always come out in an office interview.? All along the way, you should be respectful of those candidates you are not going to continue with and let them know accordingly. You also want to always be clear with people about next steps and follow up expectations.? This shows respect for people as well as demonstrates the professionalism of your practice.

Trust, But Verify

Finally, you want to check references.? So many people don?t actually check references, but I have seen it help employers avoid huge mistakes by actually taking the time to check them.? Besides the best practices described herein, you also want to make sure that you are following the proper applicable legal requirements in your hiring process.? Hopefully, the fruit of your effort in this process will culminate in a formal offer letter which is accepted by your new hire!

29 Feb 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Business Development, Decision Making, Entrepreneurship, Managing Your Business, Uncategorized Permalink

HOW TO VETT A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Sticky Post By overseer On February 29, 2016

Like other high-income earners, physicians are often sought after sources of angel investment funds for start-up or growing businesses. I am often asked to review and analyze these business opportunities for physician clients.? In this article, I am summarizing the key considerations for evaluating potential investment business opportunities in startups or growth companies.

Vision, Values, and Strategy

Can the company?s management articulate a clear vision and strategy for the company? In other words, do they know what they stand for, and do they have a plan for where they are going?? Many companies suffer from a lack of focus.? Research supports that companies with a narrowly focused strategy will generally outperform the competition.? I am wary of any company that can?t clearly articulate their value proposition in the marketplace in 30 seconds or less.? I also look for whether management and employees are all in sync on the company?s vision and strategy.? Many companies overlook the creation of a value statement.? I prefer companies that know what they stand for.? Difficult times will face every organization.? Value statements that have real meaning and adoption provide anchors during turbulent times.

Execution

This is one of the hardest things to actually find out in due diligence, but probably the most important.? Here, I am trying to determine whether the management team can actually execute the company?s strategy.? Many people confuse effort and activity with execution.? Successful companies have high functioning teams that execute with purpose and passion to get things done.? I ask questions about how management creates accountability in the organization or look for examples of past execution to try and determine whether the management is execution-oriented.? Other clues to whether a management team can execute is the level of organization, timeliness, and if they are goal oriented.? I like to see clear written goals and action plans.

Products/Markets

People raising money for a company should have a clear command of the marketplace they are competing in and how their products and services stack up against the competition.? Is the company swimming in the ?red ocean? of a very competitive market or the ?blue ocean? of new and untapped markets??? If they are in a very competitive market, then can they clearly articulate why their product/service is differentiated from the competition?? In a new market, how are they pricing their products and gauging the overall market opportunity?? Many companies venture out and find that their market is actually much smaller than they thought. It is helpful if the company?s industry has solid data on size and growth.? High growth companies need large and growing markets to thrive.? I look closely at the price sensitivity of the products/services and the barrier to entry of other people to compete.?? I also prefer recurring revenue companies versus companies that only have one-time sales.? Is the company a one trick pony or is there a pipeline of other products/services?

Management

No matter how good the products and services a company may offer, ultimately the success of a business depends on the quality of the people. ??When you invest in a company, you are really investing in the management team.? Most companies in early funding stages lack a complete management team. I try to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the management group, and I want to understand how they will shore up the deficiencies in the short term and what their long-term plans are for fully staffing the management team. ??Does the management group complement each other or is there too much overlap?? Are any of the founders part of the management that may soon have to be replaced?? Replacing a management team member can be a time consuming distraction for a company.? I prefer managers who have experienced both success and failure.? We all know we learn more from our mistakes than our successes.? I would prefer that a management team not learn their failure lessons with my investment.? Great managers are great leaders.?? They are high performers and can attract top talent.? I have found that the best leaders are great coaches and know how to get the most from their employees.?? You want to avoid know-it-all?s and micro-managers because they will ultimately prove to be poor leaders and will run off talented employees.

What is the Exit?

Most investors eventually want their money back out of the company in a reasonable amount of time.? A typical time horizon is 5-7 years.? What are the long terms plans of the company?? Are the founders creating a lifestyle business or a high growth company??? Typically, lifestyle companies will have slower growth but greater profitability.? High growth companies, often referred to as gazelles, usually focus on top line revenue growth.? These companies will typically lose money at first.? I look carefully at the ?burn rate? of these type companies and want to understand when profitability will occur.? It is critically important that the owners and management all be in sync on the trajectory of the company and the goals for exit.

The Deal

Ultimately, the opportunity to own part of the company must be for the right price tag. ?All pro-formas tend to look alike with slow growth in the early years and then the proverbial ?hockey-stick?? high growth in the later years.? The investment and corresponding ownership should be reasonable based on very conservative financial projections. There are also a number of ways to creatively structure a deal to provide additional risk mitigation for investors.? In addition, the legal terms and conditions of the corporate documents you will be signing are a major factor to consider.? Structuring the financial deal and key terms and conditions will be explored in more detail in a future column.

While this is an abbreviated list of due diligence considerations when vetting investment opportunities, hopefully it will provide you a framework to begin to consider future investment deals.? For an easy checklist summarizing these points and others, feel free to email me, and I will send you a copy.?? Good luck in your investment future!

22 Feb 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Business, Business Development, Managing Your Business, Motivation and Encouragement Permalink

GETTING THE EDGE

Sticky Post By overseer On February 22, 2016

Did you get skip that workout you planned to do today or indulge a little extra at that meal last night?

Did you opt to put off that important customer feedback project that you had been planning to launch?

These are just a few of the many minor decisions we make everyday in our lives and business, and they usually don?t have immediate consequences.? If I choose to skip my exercise today, there probably is not a significant effect on my health.? If I skip the entire week, I am probably just fine. In fact, if I skip a whole month of exercise, there is probably not a consequence except that my pants may fit a little tighter. However, in time, the daily decision to not exercise will catch up with me.? It may be years down the road, but my decisions regarding my health habits will have a compounding effect on my life ? either for better or worse.? My point is not to create guilt or motivate exercise fanatics, but to simply point out an important concept that relates directly to our success in business: we are the sum of decisions.

It has been said that if you want to understand where you are today, then you should examine your daily habits in the past.

If you want to understand your future, then you should examine what your daily habits are today.

These principles apply in our businesses as well as in our personal lives. We are always trying to get a leg up on our competition.? We read books, go to seminars, learn knew skills, work harder and faster ? all to try and inch out our competition in an ultra-competitive global marketplace.?? These are all important parts of building a successful business. ?For entrepreneurs desiring to build successful companies, there is another key ingredient that is often overlooked ? the ?Slight Edge.” ?Jeff Olson, in his book The Slight Edge, points out that the keys to your personal and business success are the things you do every single day, the things that don?t look dramatic or like they matter.? He argues that the little daily decisions not only make a difference ? they make all the difference.? The Slight Edge is simply a commitment to making the right choices day in and day out in your life and business.? It is a philosophy that helps us understand that we make decisions knowing that the results are long term.? We know that in time, if we make the right choices, our lives and businesses will be better off.

Most of us have seen the chart that shows us that if we start investing a few dollars in our early twenties and stick with it, then we will retire with lots of money.? These charts, which are often used by financial planners, illustrate the powerful principle of compound interest. When you look at the chart, it appears that you are making great progress for a number of years, but over time, the true power of compounding becomes evident.? For entrepreneurs, the key is to begin making good daily choices with your time and priorities early. Don?t let everyday distractions deter you away from doing the rights things for your business.? I often see companies ignore basic corporate housekeeping and other similar non-revenue producing activities in order to deal with urgent, but usually unimportant, issues.? While there is no immediate consequence to your business for skipping over these often seemingly mundane details, they can have long term consequences.? Often, when a company gets ready to sell or raise money and the microscope is turned on their business through due diligence, the compounding effect of poor habits in these areas truly come to light.

Most ?overnight? success stories are actually the result of years of hard work and effort.

We became spoiled in the dot-com era of companies starting up and then selling out for millions.? We need to be reminded that companies such as Starbucks, which has over 13,000+ stores in 39 countries, only had 165 stores after being in business 21 years.? The Slight Edge is no ?get-rich-quick? scheme. It is an invaluable philosophy to apply in your business to develop positive daily habits which will help maximize its potential to become a fast growth venture.

17 Feb 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Business Development, Entrepreneurship, Lean Startup Permalink

BUILDING A FAST GROWTH COMPANY

Sticky Post By overseer On February 17, 2016

Recent research funded by the Kauffman Foundation tells us that over 440,000 Americans are starting businesses every month.

Most of these businesses are sole proprietorships or small firm ventures ? the type of companies that make up the backbone of our economy.? However, some of these new businesses have the potential to experience rapid expansion and become breakout growth companies.? These types of fast growth companies, often called gazelles, certainly succeed against the odds. Verne Harnish, author of the book Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, notes that there are 23 million firms in the United States and that only about 4 percent ever get above $1 million in revenue.? Of those, only 10 percent ever make it to $10 million revenue (0.4 percent of the total).

These stats lead me to ask the question ? what does it take to become a successful fast growth venture?

Uncovering the Principles of Success

I am fascinated with the art and science of how companies with dreams and desires to become fast growth ventures can successfully achieve their goals. For years, venture capital firms have struggled to locate the next big thing; however, we know that out of any portfolio there will likely be far more losers than winners. While that success rate may ultimately work out for the VC firms and their investors, those failures are not good outcomes for the dedicated men and women working in those businesses. Thankfully, recent research is starting to shed more light on how to increase the odds of success for fast growth enterprises. While there is no silver bullet, there are principles that can be applied to help businesses increase their chances of success.

Thinking ?On? Your Business

In this article, I will focus on one of the core principles for turning businesses into gazelles ? methodically sizing up your business. Management teams need to periodically and methodically stop and honestly size up their business. For most leaders, the path from startup to creating a stable business is a whirlwind of activity. I rarely see owners/management in this stage that routinely take stock of where they are in their business. Most business plans, if there ever were any, are usually collecting dust on shelves.? When you are in survival mode, it is understandable that taking time for seemingly theoretical concepts such as planning, analysis, and goal setting seem like a luxury. However, to help take the business to the next level, leaders need to begin the disciplined habit of critical analysis and planning.

Clarity

While the type of analysis will vary depending on the business and industry, the benefit of this principle is the same ? management should come away with a clear vision of the company?s strengths, weaknesses, market position, and where opportunities for growth may be available. For the owner, this is often also a chance to reflect and make sure the business is meeting his or her personal goals for being an entrepreneur. The key is to come away from the process with clarity.? This clarity will help focus the efforts of the team to propel the company forward. Without this clarity, the sheer volume of decisions, challenges, and opportunities can be overwhelming.

Planning For Success

In the late 1990?s, I had a unique opportunity to participate in a venture backed dot.com in Silicon Valley. While the dot.com ultimately failed, like many others at that time, the experience was memorable and invaluable training for working with fast growth entrepreneurs.

I was fortunate to meet many successful entrepreneurs during this period and was struck by their focused vision and execution. Almost every one of these individuals had a disciplined practice of methodically evaluating their business. In addition to these anecdotal observations, this principle of planning is backed by leading research which tells us that it plays an integral role in helping businesses achieve their full potential.

08 Feb 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Business Development, Entrepreneurship, Lean Startup, Managing Your Business Permalink

HOW TO VETT YOUR NEXT BUSINESS IDEA

Sticky Post By overseer On February 8, 2016

Entrepreneurs are people with big dreams and ambitious goals. They pour their time, energy, and resources into their business ventures in hopes of success. Unfortunately, the odds are stacked against most of them reaching their destination. Statistically, we know that most will fail within the first five years.? However, there are some people who defy the odds and somehow achieve success as serial entrepreneurs.?? Are some people just born with the Midas touch?? What is it that people like Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, Ltd, have that gives them the ability to repeatedly strike gold in the cut-throat marketplace?

While there is no one magic bullet, there do appear to be some consistent themes.? One quality worth noting is the ability to critically vet business ideas to make sure the new venture has a fighting chance.? This takes rigorous analysis and the ability to honestly and objectively review the idea and the entrepreneur?s own ability to execute.

Clark Love, a native Mississippian, has achieved the goal that most entrepreneurs only dream about ? he has successfully started a business, grown it, and sold out to a larger company. Love, a graduate of Ole Miss and Northwestern?s Kellogg School of Management, started Forest One, Inc. (later renamed Lanworth, Inc.) in 2000 at the age of 28.? Lanworth is an information technology company providing consulting services, applications development, and software to the forest products, environmental, and land management industries.? Love originally founded Lanworth with his college friend Dr. Henry Jones and grew the company to be a multi-million dollar enterprise with the main offices being in Jackson and Chicago.? In 2007, The Westervelt Company acquired Lanworth.

While Love achieved his goals for Lanworth, he has not remained idle.? His entrepreneurial drive has already rekindled as he in the process of launching several new ventures. Love?s analytical training as an engineer in college, his experience as a consultant with Accenture, and his ?real world? experience with Lanworth and other startups has allowed him to develop a framework for analyzing new business opportunities.? His checklist for a new business venture includes the following requirements:

Have a Cause

The product or service offered by the business should move people. ?Love added, ?It doesn?t need to move everyone, just the segment of customers I plan to go after and the people I will hire.? You want a business people will put their hearts and soul into.?

Know Your First 3 Customer?s By Name

An entrepreneur should know by name the first 3 customers for the product or services the business will offer.?? Many people have ideas about what will work in the marketplace yet they have never actually vetted the idea with a potential customer.? You need to know if anyone will actually buy your product or pay for your service.

Build a Recurring Revenue Model

A large majority of the revenue should be recurring so the business does not have to start from scratch each year.? Having a solid financial base of recurring revenue allows for more growth opportunities.

Be Passionate about Your Industry and Customers

Love noted, ?Starting a company is incredibly hard, harder than most people realize.? Pay and economic reward are not enough ? you really need to have a passion for the business and serve customers that you actually care about.?? This passion serves as the ?pull through? that helps you get through the difficult times as an entrepreneur.

This checklist can serve as a useful tool in analyzing any new business opportunity.?? I believe that serial entrepreneurs like Clark Love will play an integral part in Mississippi?s future in creating jobs and opportunities for Mississippians.? Hopefully, we can collectively make Mississippi, Tennessee, and the Mid-South attractive places for entrepreneurs to invest their passion and energy into creating world class businesses.

25 Jan 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Uncategorized Permalink

THE VALUE OF CULTURE

Sticky Post By overseer On January 25, 2016

I must have looked lost as I was meandering down the food aisle at a Publix Super Market.? As I was unsuccessfully trying to pick up a few items off my ?honey do? list from the grocery store, I heard the words from a friendly Publix employee, ?Can I help you find something??? I was a little caught off guard because I couldn?t remember the last time I was asked in a grocery store if I needed some help with my shopping.? I was prepared for some directions on where I could find the missing item; but instead, the employee insisted on retrieving the product for me while I continued my shopping.? WOW!? I was blown away.? As a business coach and consultant, I take note of great service.?? I was also intrigued.? What kind of organization was this with employees who were so passionate about customer service?? As I was in the checkout line, I shared my positive experience with the checkout clerk (who was also very friendly).? I asked to speak to the manager of the store so I could report this excellent customer service.

I learned a lot in my brief exchange with the store manager.? This young man shared with me that this was normal behavior for their employees.? I learned that he had been with the company for over twenty years and started as a part time employee in high school bagging groceries.? As I pressed in for the secret sauce to the great service, he pointed my attention to their secret – THE CULTURE!? He shared with me how important the company?s culture is and how much attention they pay to cultivating and reinforcing it throughout the organization.? The focus on culture has paid off for Lakeland, Florida based Publix. It is the largest and fastest growing employee owned super market in the country.? With over $27 billion in sales, 1,056 stores, and 157,000 employees, Publix is ranked 106 on the Fortune 500.? What caught my attention though was that the company had been on FORTUNE magazine?s ?100 Best Companies to Work For” for over 16 years.

Publix?s emphasis on its culture dates back to 1930 and the company?s founder George Jenkins. Jenkins held himself to the high standards he expected of others and created a culture of service ?not only to the customer who came into the store to shop, but to every associate as a customer of another associate.? Jenkins and other leaders believed that ?people want to help, and, if given the resources to do so will provide extraordinary service.??? One of the ways they create such loyalty is by promoting from within.? The current CEO and President each started out in Publix as front-service clerks over 25 years ago.? I also took note that, the average tenure at Publix for store managers is 25.1 years, retail hourly workers average about 5.1 years, and hourly support workers average about 9.1 years.

As I have studied companies like Publix, I have become convinced that building a great culture is absolutely one of the keys to building a great company.? It is particularly important for any company that wants to grow and expand with people.? For some, talk about culture may sound ?soft? or of secondary importance.? These type naysayers may believe that having a great culture is a ?nice to have? versus a ?must have.?? Very few companies can afford to ignore their company culture.? If your company involves people interacting with people, then you should be paying attention to your culture.

?For definitional purposes, I describe a company?s culture as the shared values and practices of the people in the organization.? These are the common beliefs and habits of the organization.? Here is the critical part ? your employees represent YOUR BRAND.? They are the living, breathing implementers day to day of what your company stands for.? In other words, they are the front line in creating your brand in the marketplace.? Companies can spend millions on positive advertising but one bad interaction with a representative can destroy the customer?s feelings about the company.

I was attending a conference at the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans recently, and as I was leaving a member of the housekeeping staff stopped me on my way to the elevator and wanted to make sure I had enjoyed a great stay at the hotel and wished me safe travels on my journey home.? She did not have to do that.? It was probably not part of her job description.?? However, with a smile and genuine sincerity she made a point to wish me well on my way.? I have shared with dozens of people about this simple exchange and how that positively reflects on the brand of The Ritz Carlton.

Gregg Lederman, founder of Brand!ntegrity and author of the book entitled Engaged! Outbehave Your Competition to Create Customers for Life, travels the country helping companies realize the value of culture and how important it is in developing their brands.? He notes, ?Branding is not part of the business, it is the business. Every interaction with an employee, with a coworker or a customer has the power to strengthen or hinder the brand image of your company.?? Lederman emphasizes that branding is about experiences and not logos and taglines. ?He teaches companies that the little things that they do daily are more important than the big things they may say about themselves.? I believe and share with my clients that every day their doors are open is ?Game Day,? and they should treat it with the opportunity for greatness.? Unfortunately, for too many companies it becomes like ?Groundhog Day,? and mediocrity can creep in.

I recently discovered Lederman?s company and work, and I have been impressed.? In addition to his thought leadership on this subject, his company has come up with something truly unique in my opinion.? They have created a proprietary software system that actually allows companies to better manage their brand by tracking and measuring customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and financial results. What they have accomplished is the linking together of these critical aspects of the business in a quantifiable way that encourages the right behaviors.? This use of metrics and creative ways to reinforce positive behaviors strengthens and builds the culture, and it is all tied back to the company?s profitability.?? I believe in the future we will see more and more organizations focused on building powerful brands, and I think we should all start to consider what is our R.O.C. ? Return on Culture. ?

11 Jan 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Business Development, Leadership, Operational Excellence Permalink

ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH

Sticky Post By overseer On January 11, 2016

Rich Roll is one of the fittest men on the planet. He has been interviewed by CNN and featured in numerous fitness magazines. Roll has been a top finisher in the Ultraman World Championships which is a three-day/320-mile double ironman distance triathlon. The event is invitation only for 35 select participants from around the world.? The first day is a 6.2 mile ocean swim followed by a 90-mile cross country cycling race.? The second day is a 170-mile cycling race, and the third day finishes up with a 52-mile double marathon. I am exhausted just thinking about that type of incredible endurance feat.? While he had been a competitive swimmer in college, this attorney and father of four had hung up his ?Speedo?s? after college and was almost fifty pounds overweight by his 40th birthday.? Roll overhauled his diet and got back on track with his fitness program, and within two years, he was competing at an international level for endurance athletes.? What he has done through intentional planning and hard work is to achieve a level of optimum health that is allowing him to compete internationally well into his 40?s.

Similarly, organizations of different types and sizes can achieve a level of optimum health. This does not mean that we need organizations full of ultra-athletes.? Rather, we want organizations that operate in a healthy, complete, and consistent way. Best-selling author Patrick Lencioni emphatically stated in his book The Advantage, ?The single greatest advantage any company can achieve is organizational health. Yet it is ignored by most leaders even though it is simple, free, and available to anyone who wants it.?? Most organizations fail to embrace organizational health, and the typical reasons include that it is too ?touchy feely,? the concepts are too simple, or the tyranny of the urgent feeds our adrenaline addiction. Lencioni describes a healthy organization as one with minimum ?politics? and confusion, employees with high morale and productivity, and low employee turnover.? Wouldn?t that be a great place to work?? As obvious and important as that is, we tend to spend all of our time and energy on the technical aspects of the organization (e.g. strategy, marketing, etc.) and very little time in making sure that we have a healthy company.? I have summarized below a few of the ways to help make the transformation from being a ?couch potato? organization to one that has optimum organizational health.

Establish Trust

You don?t need to go to the ropes courses to build trust (although team building exercises can be helpful); instead, there are some simple things you can do to increase the trust in your organization.? One of the major symptoms of unhealthy organizations is that the management group does not feel free to share their opinions.? When managers are simply ?yes men and women,? the organization is not benefitting from the collective wisdom of the group. Teams that always have complete consensus are potentially toxic because people are certainly withholding their true opinions.? The intelligence of the organization is hindered as employees all try to CYA (cover their assets) instead of contributing their best thoughts and ideas. The leader of the organization sets the tone here and should insist on candid discussion and promote vigorous debate. Remember healthy conflict is to be encouraged, not discouraged.? Team members need to understand the boundaries for conflict and be willing to commit to the path ultimately decided by the leader.?? Another way to help strengthen the trust in the team is to utilize personality tests like DISC?, Myers Briggs Type Indicator? or The Birkman?.? These allow team members to better understand both themselves and their colleagues.? Many misunderstandings can be avoided once communication and personality styles are better understood.

Create Clarity

Healthy organizations have clarity and alignment around the main things and know how to ?keep the main things the main thing.?? This is easier said than done and requires asking some simple but challenging questions. I recommend having the organization?s management team periodically independently respond to the following questions:? (1) What is our reason for being as an organization ? why do we exist? (2) What are our true core values that guide our behavior? (3) What business are we in? (4) Where are we going as a company ? what is our strategy for success? (5) What are the most important things that need to be done in the organization in the next 30-90 days?? (6) Who needs to do what to accomplish the most important things? (7) What are the key metrics for measuring the success of the organization?? Answering these questions independently will ensure that ?group think? does not set in and that everyone does original thinking about the answers. The team can then gather and debate their answers and synergize their responses.? I am an advocate for having a concise 1-2 page summary of the results of this process which serves as the guide for the organization and an accountability tool for team meetings.? Answering these types of questions requires time and a change of perspective from ?thinking in the business to thinking on the business.? In our world of constant emailing and texting, it is important to unplug and get away to periodically think on our organizations to create clarity.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

Healthy organizations know how to communicate well. Their leaders repeatedly communicate key themes. They know that repetition counts and that they need to communicate with clarity what is really important.? I have found that whether coaching sports, raising kids, or leading in an organization, the key is to keep the messages simple and repeat them often.? Effective leaders use different mediums and tools to constantly reinforce messages.? Ambiguity and confusion are the hallmarks of dysfunctional organizations.? The anti-dote is communication!? Too often leaders fail to communicate enough because they are too busy or incorrectly believe that they are being too repetitive. Healthy organizations not only have effective top down communication that cascades through the organization, but they also have effective lateral and bottom up communication.? Smart organizations know that the information gathered by front line employees is invaluable and needs to circulate within the company.? Innovative companies will create regular opportunities to make sure upper management is spending time with front line employees to foster open communication.? Leaders can also promote good communication by being accessible and utilize techniques like ?management by walking around.?? There is nothing worse for leaders than to get stuck behind their computer all day.? Focus and alignment occur when organizations have clarity on what matters most and communicate effectively throughout the organization.

Conclusion

While being an Ultra athlete is not in the cards for me, I do know that I can be a part of making sure that organizations I am part of achieve optimal health. There is no reason to settle for working in dysfunctional situations. By recognizing the important of being ?healthy? in our business and utilizing some of the simple ways to become healthier, we are on our way to building healthy organizations!

08 Jan 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Health Care Permalink

THE CRITICAL NEED FOR TEAMWORK

Sticky Post By overseer On January 8, 2016

Teamwork has been a buzzword around the business culture for some time.? Leading businesses know that well performing teams are the key to profits in a business.? However, teamwork takes on a whole new level of importance in life or death situations such as military combat, airline travel, and healthcare. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, which was a revealing review of the U.S. medical care system and the inadequacy of safety practices used in the treatment of patients. The IOM report estimated that medical errors result in 44,000 to 98,000 deaths annually?more than automobile accidents (43,458), breast cancer (42,297), or AIDS (16,516). Since then, there have been a number of initiatives and task forces to address this problem, including the development and research of team based training to improve patient safety.

While the focus on teamwork in healthcare has brought improvement, there is still work to be done. The study, “Medical Errors Involving Trainees: A Study of Closed Malpractice Claims from 5 Insurers,” appeared in the October 22, 2007, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. The lead author, Hardeep Singh, M.D., M.P.H., noted, “Our study confirms the relationship of poor teamwork to preventable errors and quality of care.”? The Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. stated about this study, “This study reminds us that we have a lot to do to ensure that hospitals are providing appropriate supervision to trainees and implementing team-training programs, both in the inpatient and outpatient setting.”

In addition to the obvious importance of teamwork for patient safety, there is also a critical need for effective teamwork to create the efficiencies needed to deal with increased patient volumes and decreasing reimbursements. Physicians today need to make sure they have expert teams, not just teams of experts.? Expert teams aren?t created overnight.? It?s a process and takes purposefulness and commitment.? Teams typically begin in the formation stage where people are learning, leaders are directing, and people are getting to know one another. Unfortunately, this is usually followed by the storming stage where clicks can development, a great deal of supervision is required, and disagreements can ensue.? While many teams get permanently bogged down in the storming stage, better performing teams will enter a norming stage.? In this stage, the team starts to actually work together as a team, goals and directions become clear, and the overall performance improves. Truly high performing teams will enter a performing stage where team members all exhibit leadership, self-motivation is high, and the team members all have strong skills and knowledge.? The reality is that most teams will move up and down this spectrum as they progress and decline in their teamwork.

For some, discussions about teamwork and team building conjures up images of warm and fuzzy games and retreats.? Working on teamwork can be seen as a waste of time and money and not ?real work.?? The reality is quite different.? From 1955-2008 there were over 300 empirical articles on teamwork studying over 10,000 teams. For example, a study by Eduardo Salas, Diana R. Nichols and James E. Driskell Small Group Research 2007; 38; 471 entitled ?Testing Three Team Training Strategies in Intact Teams: A Meta-Analysis? found unequivocally that team training improved performance.

There are a number of training methods that can be used to deliver results including: cross-training, event-based approach to training, scenario-based training, self-correction training, stress exposure training, team adaptation training, and team leader training.?? The reality is that physician team settings vary dramatically from emergency room, to general surgery, to primary care physicians.? The key is adapting your training to your specific environment. For those considering team training, it can be a waste of time and money unless the design and delivery of the training is based on scientific principles, the physicians take ownership, teamwork is rewarded and encouraged, and there is feedback loop to debrief and measure success.? True team development should focus on building the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of your team members and should be an ongoing process.

The handwriting is on the wall.? There is no doubt that quality of care will continue to be scrutinized with greater intensity, particularly with the shift to electronic medical records.? The link between pay and quality of care is only going to get stronger.? Physicians will have to continue to do more with less.? There will be increase pressure to see more patients and be highly efficient. At EMHC, we are continuously striving to stay up-to-date on the quality of our patient care. While more studies need to be done, we have enough data from the commercial airline industry and the military to show us that we need to strive for better teamwork in healthcare to improve safety.? Since many physicians are also entrepreneurs, they must keep an eye on the bottom line and the work of business has shown us undoubtedly that it?s hard to be profitable with a poorly performing team. In the near future developing your healthcare team won?t be a luxury, but a necessity.

30 Dec 2015

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Culture and Worldview, Uncategorized Permalink

LEADERSHIP RESOLUTIONS

Sticky Post By overseer On December 30, 2015

The New Year brings a sense of renewal and change.? Studies show that almost half of Americans make New Year?s resolutions. Unfortunately only about 10% of those will actually achieve their goals. As you might imagine, resolutions to improve health and finances rank at the top of the wish list. ?One of the key ways to achieve resolutions is to let them become a habit.? Psychologist Williams James noted, ?All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits.?? While it is frequently said that it only takes 21 days to make a new habit stick, my review of the scientific literature on the subject indicates that it takes our brains closer to 60 days to actually rewire around a new habit.? As we enter 2015, here are a few leadership ideas to consider making a habit.

Just Say No

It?s tough to say no.? We might offend someone or miss an opportunity.? A friend of mine describes the need to ?chase shiny things? versus staying focused.? However, great leaders know that the ability to say no is critical.? As Gandhi said, ?A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.?? Leadership expert Tony Schwartz similarly emphasized, ?Saying no, thoughtfully, may be the most undervalued capacity of our times.? We have more options than ever and countless opportunities vying for our attention.? It is more important than ever to be purposeful about what we say yes to.? However, this is no easy task.? We often have to say no to many good things.? However, unless we say no to the ?good? then we will never be able to focus our time, talent, and energy on the ?great.?

Show Appreciation

Studies have shown that for knowledge workers, money alone is insufficient to motivate performance.? Dan Pink summarized this research in his book Drive and noted that workers are best incentivized by creating an atmosphere of autonomy, mastery, and purpose. ?In addition, I believe that people need authentic and genuine appreciation.? As I interview employees in organizations, I am amazed at the number of them who have never been shown appreciation in any form.? Appreciation is like a gift.? There is no reason as a leader to be stingy with this gift. ?Whether a subordinate, co-worker, or a boss, I highly encourage people to get in the habit of showing appreciation.

Follow Up

I believe one of the most difficult aspects of leadership today is living by the motto ?say what you are going to do, and do what you say.? ?As I was beginning my career, a wise businessman told me that if I would do good work, return phone calls, and do what I said then I would always have plenty of work to do.? I believe there is great truth in his advice.? As leaders, we need to make a habit of being excellent at follow up and execution.? In addition, if you have people that you are delegating to then you need to be very intentional about follow up.? One of my early mentors kept a legal pad where he wrote down every promise someone gave him regarding delivery on a project or task.? If you missed a deadline, you could expect an immediate phone call from him.? My observation was that his team knew that when they were assigned a task and deadline that he meant it.

I hope these ideas will be an encouragement to you to be the best leader you can be in 2016.