Leadership | 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.

15 Feb 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Attitude Permalink

HOW TO GROW YOUR WILLPOWER

Sticky Post By overseer On February 15, 2016

At the 2009 U.S. Open, Serena Williams lashed out at a lineswoman in a profanity laced tirade that not only cost her the match, but also $82,500 in fines. Serena, a former No.1 ranked tennis player in the world and holder of 27 grand slam titles, had a lapse in self-control.? Our ability to self-regulate has tremendous impact on our lives.? The lack of self-control by many politicians and celebrities has led to public displays of the disastrous results (e.g. Rep. Anthony Wiener, Gov. Mark Sanford, Charlie Sheen, etc.).? A study published in 2010, tracked one thousand children from birth to age thirty two and found that the greatest predictor of ?success? in life was the trait of self-control.? Interestingly, in a study with over one million survey responses, participants were asked to list their personal strengths, and self-control was dead last. We seem to know our own limitations when it comes to our willpower. ??Unfortunately, the challenge of self-control has led to alarming rates for crime, divorce and sexually transmitted diseases in our modern times.? In fact, social psychologist Dr. Roy Baumeister in his 1994 book ?Losing Control? argued that, ?Self-regulation failure is the major social pathology of our time.?

For entrepreneurs and business leaders, the ability to exercise self-control is extremely important.

In today?s business environment, we have constant distractions competing for our focus and energy.? We have the vast array of information of the internet readily available ? just tempting us to explore.? We can watch our favorite movies and television shows any time on portable devices we carry around with us.? Even going to the grocery store presents us with a dizzying array of choices as local groceries have now grown into megastores.? Author and performance coach Tony Schwartz noted, ?Self-control is the ability to say no, in the face of temptation, and to take sustained action, despite the difficulty of a given challenge.?? I have the good fortune to interview leaders on a regular basis. One of the common themes I hear is that it is critical for leaders to separate ?the great from the good? by learning to say no.? By saying ?no? to very good things, we are able to ?yes? to the truly great opportunities. Leaders have to make difficult decisions and lead by example.? Nobody wants to follow people who routinely exhibit poor self-control.

Schwartz also emphasized, ?Over the years, we?ve learned that nearly everything people tend to believe about self-control is wrong. Most of us assume the only way to resist our impulses, or persevere under pressure, is to grit our teeth, furrow our brows, steel our nerves, and tough it out. Precisely the opposite is true.?? In his recently published book entitled ?Willpower,? Baumeister shares the results of over two decades of rigorous scientific study on this topic which I believe will reframe how think about self-control.? Baumeister and his co-author John Tierney share that ?willpower is a form of energy in the brain. It?s like a muscle that can be strengthened with use, but that it also gets fatigued.?

What the authors found was that our energy is the key to our self-control.? We all have a pool of energy to complete our physical and mental tasks each day.? Each time we exercise self-control in an important or even trivial matter, we draw down on this available energy.? The energy source in our bodies is glucose, the simple sugar produced in our body from the foods we eat.? Researchers found that there was a direct correlation between glucose levels and self-control.? In fact, they found that, ?As the body uses glucose during self-control, it starts to crave sweet things to eat . . .?? I know when I skip a meal that I become ravenous and my own willpower to eat healthy tends to go out the door ? just give me a piece of pizza!

As we learn more about how our brains and bodies work, we can put this information to use in our daily lives. By learning to improve our willpower, we can create a huge competitive advantage in work and life.? To have more self-regulated lives, we have to learn how to manage our energy.? Below are some of the core concepts from this emerging of field of research that we can start to apply today.

Maximize Your Energy

Based on the research, we could draw the wrong conclusion that we need to have Snickers? bars with us all the time to fuel our glucose so we can exhibit better self-control.? This is obviously not the way to go. However, the key is to maintain healthy glucose levels throughout the day.? Nutritionists would tell us to accomplish that by eating more frequently throughout the day (5-6 times a day).? My own research on this topic has convinced me to be a ?grazer? throughout the day and avoid large meals.? This research also validates the advice your mother gave you to ?eat a healthy breakfast!?? Starting your work day without having a good breakfast puts you at a competitive disadvantage from the beginning of the day.? We also know that we should eat low-glycemic foods which provide sustainable sources of energy throughout the day.? When our bodies crave the afternoon snack, we need to refuel with good sources of glucose and not the cookie or Coke.? ?In addition, the research is clear that regular exercise and sleep all help us maintain the right levels of energy.? The average American only gets six hours of sleep, but performance expert Dr. Anders Ericcson has shown peak performers sleep eight or more hours a night on average. ?The bottom line is that we can be intentional about improving our willpower by better managing our energy levels.

Make Your To Do List

Baumeister and Tierney also found that one the keys to improving our willpower is have a good ?to do? list.? However, this does not mean creating pages of things that we need to get done.? Instead, they noted, ?an executive?s daily to-do list for Monday often contains more work than could be done the entire week.? We tend to have too many goals and to-do?s which diffuses our focus and energy.? Baumeister and Tierney shared a best practice for team members to weekly share up to three goals that they plan to focus on for the following week and to create a weekly accountability loop on those goals.? It is also important to pre-plan your reward for achieving your goal. ?I enjoy the great feeling of scratching an item off my to-do list. It is a simple act but brings me joy!

Clean Your Room

Research has also found that having a messy workspace leads to less self-control.? Unfortunately, those stacks of paper piled up on our desks actually are hurting our ability to exhibit willpower and achieve our goals. By ordering our workspace, we create positive momentum and don?t deplete our willpower resources. ?In fact, a clean workspace is an integral part of the Japanese 5S system of workplace organization used by many companies.

Conclusion

One of the interesting findings from research on willpower is that people with more self-control are more altruistic.? They give more to charity, volunteer more, and are more likely to be concerned about others in society.? ?It is also encouraging to me to learn that I am not a slave to my weaknesses, but that I can actually learn to have better willpower to accomplish positive things in my life.? Through implementing some of the findings described in this article and others from this emerging field of research, we have the ability to improve not only our own lives, but also those around us.? For entrepreneurs and business leaders, reclaiming this character trait of willpower and learning how to grow it could be the most important element of future success.

29 Jan 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Uncategorized Permalink

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

Sticky Post By overseer On January 29, 2016

Leadership is such a commonly used term that its meaning has become quite nebulous.? I can identify with the quote about leadership, ?I can?t define it, but I know it when I see it.?? During the recent economic downtown, I have seen first hand how important real leadership actually is.? When times are tough, it is easy for morale to slip which only compounds problems in an organization. It takes real leadership to keep management and employees focused, aligned, and working hard to succeed.

According to an extensive study conducted by Hay Group, a global management consultancy, trust and confidence in top leadership was the single most reliable predictor of employee satisfaction in an organization.? When you read military histories, there are countless examples of soldiers continually risking their lives to follow leaders they trusted.? Even when times are tough, great leaders will have people that will follow them into ?battle? because of the trust and confidence that they have in their leadership.? This kind of trust and loyalty does not happen accidently.? It is the result of leaders who continually invest themselves in their people. One of the most impactful ways to develop this type of employee commitment is to lead by example.? As any parent knows, the old saying ?do as I say and not as I do? is a recipe for poor performance.

Don Primos is a 3rd generation entrepreneur and restaurant owner in the Metro Jackson area.? His grandfather Angelo ?Pop? Primos founded Primos Bakery in 1929 and the Primos restaurants have been a part of the community ever since.? When 60% of restaurants close within five years of opening, it is worth noting the long-term success of the Primos restaurants. ??While there are several factors that have contributed to the success of the Primos restaurants, one of the key reasons is the ?hands on? leadership style of the Primos family in their restaurants.?? While the days of always having a Primos at the cash register are gone, you will still find Don Primos most days working side by side with his staff. As Don describes, ?I don?t ask my employees to do anything I would not do myself.? Don grew up in the family restaurant business and learned first-hand this type of leadership style.

In 1977, at the age of 22, Don formally entered the family business with his father Kenneth and his brothers Will and Ken to operate the Northgate Primos which was a popular restaurant and meeting place for many years until its closure in 2001.? While his brothers and father eventually exited the business, Don has continued the family enterprise.?? According to Don, ?As my family left the business, I knew I needed to surround myself with a loyal management team to help me meet the demands of the restaurant.?? Don?s leadership by example and personal interest in his employees has led to the creation of a family atmosphere amongst his staff.? Building a loyal team allowed Primos to successfully open a new concept restaurant, Primos Cafe, on Lakeland Drive in 2001 and a similar style restaurant on Lake Harbour Drive in 2006.

Don?s leadership by example sets a great model for his staff and encourages a team atmosphere which he emphasizes.? A good leader helps set the pace and tone of the organization.? I continue to be amazed at how much employee?s gear their performance around the expectations and example of their leaders.? Noted leadership guru John Maxwell aptly stated, ? A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.??? I am sure that Don Primos will be showing the way for his team with his hand-on approach for many years to come and continuing to build upon the Primos entrepreneurial legacy.

27 Jan 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Business Development, Leadership, Managing Your Business Permalink

ARE YOU CONTINUALLY IMPROVING YOUR BUSINESS?

Sticky Post By overseer On January 27, 2016

Is your organization getting better all the time??

Most business owners would like to think that their business is always improving; however, very few people are willing to actually do the heavy lifting to create an enterprise that is systematically improving on a regular basis. In the world of manufacturing, these concepts have been around for awhile.? American consultant Edward Deming was a pioneer in? quality improvement with Japanese industry post World War II. The Japanese term kaizen has become synonymous with continues improvement and this method was popularized by Masaaki Imai in ?Kaizen: The Key to Japan?s Competitive Success.? In his book which was first published in 1986, Imai introduced the ?LEAN? philosophy to the world and shared the secrets behind the success of Toyota and other Japanese companies.

The core principle of continuous improvement is the ?self reflection? process.? This is essentially a feedback loop that requires a willingness to be brutally honest about your organization. The purpose of this process is the identification, reduction, and elimination of poor processes. Using a commonsense approach, minor improvements are continually made in small, incremental ways in the organization with a strong emphasis on the customer.

As a company successfully embraces continuous improvement then it moves from being a best practice to becoming part of the fabric of the organization. While these concepts may have originated in the manufacturing sector, they are rapidly being adopted by service businesses, particularly in health care and technology.? There is a tremendous opportunity to gain a competitive advantage by committing your company to a path of continuous improvement.

Mississippi entrepreneur Jill Beneke formed Pileum Corporation in 2002, and she has successfully built a management consulting firm by relentlessly focusing on improving her organization. Beneke worked for over twenty years in financial services, and she was Senior Vice President of the Capital Management Group for AmSouth prior to forming Pileum.? Her father was an entrepreneur as well as her husband, so it was a natural shift for Beneke to launch her own venture when the timing was right. Pileum acts as a trusted partner to companies in multiple industries to help with their information technology and their most important asset ? their data management.? Because of this critical role the company plays for its customers, Beneke and her team have to stay ahead of the constant evolution of technology and meet the real time needs of their customers.

While Pileum may not use phrases like kaizen or LEAN to describe their internal process, they are very much committed to the path of continuous improvement.? The management team and staff continually ask the question ?How can we do things better?? According to Beneke, ?our management team gets together frequently, and we are open and honest about trying to improve.? This means that we can?t be afraid to be self-critical.?? Pileum also provides a significant amount of in-house training for its employees and pays for its employees? external training and industry certifications.? Their goal as a company is to be getting better all of the time.? For Pileum, this commitment to continuous improvement has helped separate it in the marketplace and establish the company as a leading technology consulting business.? The company now has over 30 employees and services a large number of clients in the Mid-South.

If your company is not embracing the principles of continuous improvement then time is of the essence because your competition probably will be soon.? As a leader, you can demonstrate a commitment to continual improvement and set the direction of the organization.? In order to be successful, you also need buy-in of the members of your team and for them to embrace this kaizen mindset.? While dramatic changes may not occur overnight, your team will daily be embracing a way of thinking conducive for long term success.

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. ?

20 Jan 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Leadership, Motivation and Encouragement Permalink

UNDERSTANDING YOUR MOTIVATIONAL DRIVERS

Sticky Post By overseer On January 20, 2016

I have made my fair share of mistakes as a manager of people.? In my first business out of college, I co-owned a company that managed private and public tennis complexes.? One of our key staff members was the head tennis professional who was a leading tennis teacher in the area.? He had students lined up to take lessons from him which was great for our business.? In my brilliance, I went out and hired another tennis professional without consulting our long time head pro.? Within a few months, my long employee left and went to work for a competitor taking all of his students with him.? In his exit interview, I learned that he enjoyed being the sole head professional and that he did not get along well with the person I hired.? Ouch! This was a painful lesson in managing people and learning to communicate better.

Later in my career, I was apparently not much wiser.? I personally don?t like much oversight or micro-management when someone is managing me. Just point me in the right direction and let me go.? Therefore, my default is to manage that way as well.? Unfortunately, that style does not work for everyone.? I had a very talented law clerk that I hired to assist me with my law firm.? I would share some big picture ideas with him and turn him loose to work his magic.? Unfortunately, when we would reconvene, I would be very disappointed in the work product.? After several failed attempts, he finally said, ?Could you please just tell me exactly what you are looking for, and I will be glad to do it!?? I needed to hear that as a good reminder that many people need clear direction and want more detail in how to accomplish a project.

I have had my occasional good moments as a manager.? In one work setting, I shared an assistant with another co-worker. ?She was a very nice young lady who worked very hard.? The colleague I was working with had a very different management style than me. My colleague had a very stern approach and would become very upset if the work product was anything less than perfect.?? I watched my assistant leave this person?s office many times in tears.? I personally believe you ?catch more flies with honey than vinegar?, and I tried to be an encourager and challenge my assistant in a positive way to be her best.? What I learned from that experience is that my assistant would expend extra effort to get projects done for me, but would do the bare minimum not to get in trouble with my colleague.? In other words, she cared enough to give me her discretionary effort.? That lesson has stuck with me.

How we lead and inspire others in the workplace matters.? Gallup has some very interesting research on our workforce in the United States and the impact of employee engagement versus disengagement. ?They have been tracking employee engagement since the late 1990?s, and they have administered over 25 million employee surveys to measure employee engagement.? In a?recent report, they found that only 30% of the U.S. workforce is engaged in their work, and the ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees is roughly 2-to-1.? For work groups with engaged employees, the results are phenomenal ? ?higher productivity, profitability, and customer ratings, less turnover and absenteeism, and fewer safety incidents than those in the bottom 25%.? ?In addition Gallup found that, ?Organizations with an average of 9.3 engaged employees for every actively disengaged employee in 2010-2011 experienced 147% higher earnings per share (EPS) compared with their competition in 2011-2012.?

However, in contrast those with an average of only 2.6 engaged employees for every actively disengaged employee experienced 2% lower EPS compared with their competition during that same time period. ?Gallup also estimates that active disengagement costs the U.S. $450 billion to $550 billion per year.? These disengaged employees are more likely to steal from their companies, negatively influence their coworkers, miss workdays, and drive customers away.

What I have realized in my journey is that most businesses today are PEOPLE businesses.? We either win or lose based on how well we have engaged employees working together to accomplish organizational goals. That is how you build a great brand and create loyal customers.? As we continue to distance ourselves from the industrial age into the knowledge economy, it is paramount that we as leaders understand that our employees are not cogs in a machine but living, breathing people who have hopes, desires, dreams, and NEEDS.? If we are going to unleash the greatness in our organizations then we have to unleash the greatness of our people.??

In my work with organizations, I frequently use personality tests like DISC? or Myers Briggs?; however, my favorite tool is the Birkman? assessment because it helps you understand your ?needs? as well.? If a person?s needs are not being met then they are unlikely to be a productive employee in an organization. The challenge is that people don?t walk around with their ?needs? spelled out on their resumes.? They may not even be clearly known by the individual.? As a leader, we can learn how to inspire and motivate our team members by understanding what truly motivates them.

In my search for an efficient way to practically apply these principles, I discovered a tool to help streamline this process.? Dr. Carl Hicks, a native Mississippian, co-developed with Birkman International a new tool called Understanding My Motivational Drivers.? This assessment combines the objective statistical input from millions of people who have taken the Birkman with Dr. Hicks? practical experience in working as a business consultant for several decades.

The assessment produces a short report which addresses five key topics for individuals:

(1) How to work with me

(2) How to talk to me.

(3) The biggest mistakes you can make with me.

(4) How to incentivize me.

(5) What motivates me.

I asked Dr. Hicks about this tool and he shared, ?I believe that being your best requires that others treat you as you want to be treated. This report can serve as the vehicle that permits you to review, confirm, share and discuss your expectations in an objective manner.?

I believe that tools like the ones that Dr. Hicks created are extremely important because they help individuals increase their self-awareness and leaders better understand how to unlock the greatness in their employees.? I encouraged leaders to follow the Platinum Rule which means that we treat people in the way that they want and deserve to be treated. The harsh reality in life is that the only person you can truly change is yourself.? Therefore, one of the ways that YOU can change is to make sure that you are seeking to understand what motivates your teammates and seeking to be a positive example of how to lead by helping people meet their needs. You may just be the catalyst for helping to take your organization to the next level!

18 Jan 2016

Sticky Post By overseer Posted in Uncategorized Permalink

THE POWER OF TRUST

Sticky Post By overseer On January 18, 2016

I admit that I?m a nervous online shopper.??

Several years ago, a credit card number of mine was ?stolen? online, and I had to sort through quite a mess to clean it up. Since then, I?ve been careful about doing business on the web.?? If you?ve ever shopped online, you?ve probably noticed the checkmark logo from VeriSign that appears on web commerce sites utilizing their SSL encryptions services.

A recent case study demonstrated just how powerful this little logo can be. With more than 500,000 online and local stores responsible for more than 400 million products sold, TheFind is the world’s largest online shopping center. This virtual shopping mall has more than 17 million unique monthly shoppers. TheFind?s analysis showed that companies displaying the VeriSign seal received 18.5% more click-throughs than similar companies that did not display the VeriSign seal. Interestingly, Symantec, a software company known for its security products, and VeriSign recently announced a deal for Symantec to purchase VeriSign’s identity and authentication business, which includes SSL Certificate and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) services, for $1.28 billion in cash. One of the key drivers in this transaction is the brand recognition of the VeriSign seal being acquired by Symantec.

What does that VeriSign seal really seal stand for? Trust! The web commerce sites using the VeriSign seal benefit from consumers like me, who trust that if I provide my credit card information, then I don?t have to worry about someone going on a spending spree of plasma TVs in a third-world country on my dime. This is just one example of the power of trust in business.

Upon reflection, you see how truly important trust is, both in the business world and life in general. If I don?t trust my wife, then I will make our lives miserable by always wondering what she?s doing.? If I don?t trust my employees, then I will micro-manage their efforts and keep them in a state of dependence and little self-confidence. If my business partners and I don?t trust each other, then we?ll waste valuable time and resources looking over our shoulders.? If my clients don?t trust me, then they won?t be willing to pay me for my services.

In leadership, trust is critical.? How inspired are you to follow someone you can?t trust? Conversely, when we trust someone, we?ll go to great lengths to sacrifice personally to support the cause of the leader.? Too often, we betray our trust through self-serving behavior.? Trust, like friendship, is something you have to be willing to give if you want to receive.? As George MacDonald noted, ?To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.?

While trust has always been important in business, I believe that it?s increasingly becoming paramount to success in business. Jim Burke, former CEO of Johnson & Johnson noted, ?You can?t have success without trust.??? Similarly, Robert Eckert, former CEO of Mattel, stated, ?As you go to work, your top responsibility should be to build trust.? There are confluences of factors that have increased the need for trust today in business.? First, we have a more dispersed workforce. Instead of rule-driven factories, we work in an increasingly virtual world.? Many employees work from home today and manage flex time schedules.? As managers, it?s more difficult to micro-manage employees that are 1,000 miles away.? More than ever, companies today have to center their corporate culture on shared values and trust.

We also live in a transparent world.? Companies used to be able to keep secrets.? Today, anyone with a camera phone or a computer can be a whistleblower.? Any customer with a problem can litter blogosphere with negative things about a company.? As Dov Seidman pointed out in his book, How, today it?s more important how companies operate than what they do.? His point is that the greatest strength of a company today is its trustworthiness.? In the wake of the financial collapse, financial institutions are having to go to great lengths to restore the trust with customers.

If, as leadership guru Warren G. Bennis asserted, ?trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work,? then perhaps we should start to consider how to increase our trust individually and organizationally. While trust can be a nebulous concept, it essentially means that I have confidence in you, and I?m willing to put myself at risk to ?do business? with you.

Even though one can employ manipulative tactics to gain another?s trust, I believe we?re much better served by truly becoming trustworthy people. This means we need to act with integrity.? We can?t be saying one thing and acting out another.? We need to be reliable.? When we make promises, big or small, people need to be able to count on us.? We have to be capable. This means that we have to actually be able to deliver on what we say we can do.? Capable people are lifetime learners who are always striving to get better.? We also have to be ?others focused.??? When we are simply out for No. 1, it shows through.? We genuinely have to increase our ability to know and understand the people we work with and desire to serve.

As we hopefully continue to come out of this financial malaise, we all have a level of fear and uncertainty.? As businesspeople, now is the time to truly help others work through their uncertainties and be known as a trusted resource. Becoming trustworthy is a noble journey with substantial long-term dividends. It?s certainly not an easy path, and we?ll all stumble along the way.? However, the bilateral transaction of trust is essential to success in life and business, so hopefully we?ll encourage one another on this journey and learn to trust each other more.

13 Jan 2016

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

THE GAMIFICATION OF WORK

Sticky Post By overseer On January 13, 2016

Picture for a moment yourself on a sunny and cool fall afternoon getting ready to watch your favorite college football team playing their biggest rival.? The stands are packed, and the crowd is ready to cheer their team on victory.? However, right before the game begins the announcer comes over the loudspeaker and says that the teams won?t be keeping score and are just going to play for fun.? How would you feel?? Would you still be as interested?? Do you think the players would give it their all or simply go through the motions?? Have you ever watched a professional All-Star game ? not exactly the highest level of intensity and effort.

It reminds me of when my kids were very young playing youth sports.? I remember coaching baseball and soccer, and I could not get my head around the fact that we were not keeping score.? I know, I know ? five year olds don?t necessarily have to be competitive warriors out there, but still, it is just not very interesting if you don?t keep score.?? You may be asking where I am going with this line of thought.? Good question!? In my 25+ years in the marketplace, I have found that most businesses operate just like my five year old soccer team ? they don?t keep score!

Sure, ultimately, all businesses get down to the bottom line.? However, in most organizations employees go through their day as if they are in the Bill Murray classic, Groundhog Day.? It is easy to fall into a rut where you feel like you are on a treadmill with no end point.? There is a recent effort to try and ?gamify? work to make it more meaningful.? While this gamification of work has become a growing trend, you don?t need high tech gadgetry to tap into the power of making work more interesting and meaningful.

Over 40 years ago, business consultant Charles Coonradt had an epiphany that led him to commit his life?s work to helping people make their work more like their recreation. He was watching a group of young men building a house that seemed to be slow and arduous work.? However, he noticed that on their lunch break these same young men engaged in heated competitions of 4 on 4 pickup basketball games.? For him, this was a paradox. ?How could they put that much energy into their recreation but not their work?? He became fascinated with the phenomena that people will work harder and expend more energy in sports and other athletic pursuits than they will at their daily jobs.?? Coonradt has several books out on this topic, but I want to highlight a few key ideas that may revolutionize how you think about your work.

KEEPING SCORE

In my teens and early twenties, I taught a great number of people how to play tennis.? I enjoyed the game and learned how to teach others at a young age.? As I would teach beginners the basics of how to hit the ball and keep a rally going, they all eventually wanted to play.? In order to do that they needed to learn how to keep score.? It was always interesting to watch how people pushed themselves harder and the competitive spirit would come out when we would keep score.? In organizations, we want to find simple and clear ways to keep score of what is important both as an organization and for the individual team members.? I have found over the years that some positions are easier to come up with the 2-3 areas to keep score. Scorekeeping should be objective and the individual employee should ideally know how to track and keep their score.? If you have not defined winning and losing for your team members then you are at risk of mediocrity.

ESTABLISHING GOALS

When a golfer goes out to play a round of golf, they usually have a score in mind they are trying to beat.? While I am a novice runner, I have come to understand a little of the lingo of competitive racers who talk about their PB (Personal Best). ?When the coach gets the basketball team together to discuss the goals for the season they focus on specific goals.? For many programs, the goal is to make it into the ?Big Dance? ? the NCAA basketball championship tournament.? I have experimented with all kinds of goals for organizations and individuals.? I have found that the best are shorter term in nature.? I find that if they are too long term then people wait until the last minute to work on them like cramming for an exam. I like clear and specific goals that ideally can be accomplished in three to six months.

PROVIDE FEEDBACK

I went to a St. Louis Cardinals exhibition game recently against the hometown Memphis Redbirds.? As I looked at the new scoreboard in the stadium, I noted how much data was readily available: the score, balls, strikes, outs, and even the speed of the last pitch.? The players get real time feedback on how they are doing and can adjust their strategy.? Unfortunately, that is often not the case in business.? I have visited with many employees who never get any feedback or maybe only once a year in a perfunctory review.? How can people improve if they don?t get constructive feedback on their performance? As leaders, we should give helpful feedback early and often if we want our team members to develop.

KNOW THE RULES

Along with teaching my tennis students how to keep score, I also taught them the rules of the game.? Without rules, it would be chaos out on the court and constant controversy.? What if you started a game and then halfway through the rules changed midway? ?How frustrating would that be?? Unfortunately, many workplaces feel that way.? The rules are not clear and may change in an instant.? Sure, there may be policies and guidelines in an employee handbook, but I am talking the day to day rules of operation.? What is expected?? What is off limits?? Too many handbooks are more driven by legal than practical considerations.? Employees want clarity and fairness.? As a leader, you have the opportunity to stomp out the ambiguity and create clear a set of rules that you expect everyone to follow.? I promise it will reduce the drama in your organization.

I hope these concepts give you some inspiration and ideas to ?gamify? your organization. ?We don?t have to watch the clock until 5:00 or wait until the weekend to enjoy a little competitive activity in our lives.? Our work can be just as invigorating and challenging if we put our minds to it.? Enjoy!

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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.