Business Lessons I Learned From Dieting: Part I


Posted Under Dieting, Human Resource Professionals, Management, Measuring - Tags: , , , , , , ;

Last August, my wife and I took our oldest two granddaughters on a vacation to Aruba; the trip was immediately after my annual visit to my cardiologist.  Feeling like a beached whale and knowing I was going to die sooner if I didn’t lose weight, I was suddenly motivated.  I had a sense of urgency to change my course and ensure future vacations with my grandchildren.  Therefore, on August 23, 2009, I started on a journey.  At 5’7” and 246 lbs, my vision was to get down to 180, a weight I hadn’t seen since before I retired from the US Air Force over 25 years ago.

During this journey I have discovered a process that directly applies to running a business.  Here is what I have learned.

(Official disclaimer: I am not a professional dietician or nutritionist, so my diet plan may not be the path you should take, but it is working for me.)

First, create a vision.  My vision is to weigh 180 pounds.  I wanted my vision to be a challenge – something I really needed to strive to achieve. 

Tell others about your vision. 

Frequently, business owners have a vision of where they want to take the business, but fail to share it with the people who can help them make it happen, such as employees or clients.  By telling others, this solidifies your commitment to do what it takes to make your vision a reality. 

However, it’s important to recognize that telling others about your vision does not make them responsible for its accomplishment.  You might expect support and encouragement from them, but don’t expect others to take responsibility for your success.  They should not become your spending or sales conscience – or your food police. You must take overall responsibility for your actions, which then allows you to take full credit for your successes.

Define success and reward yourself. 

Success can be ambiguous and different for every individual.  You have established your vision but you should also have milestones along the way to celebrate and keep you motivated.  For some businesses it may take years or even decades to accomplish their vision.  On a diet, remember that it took you a long time to put on the weight.  You cannot expect overnight results.  For me, I celebrate every 10 pounds I lose with a new article of clothing, or an indulgent meal or dessert.  For your business, you could celebrate certain revenue levels or sales targets on the path to achieving your vision.

Expect incremental improvement. 

Growing your business – and dieting – is not the lottery, there are no overnight winners.  It takes time and hard work.  All too often we want it now, and if we don’t get instant gratification we quit.  Not many things in life that are worth accomplishing come without effort.  And if they do, we generally don’t appreciate them.  Remember the tortoise and the hare?   The slow steady progress in the right direction will get us to the finish line.

Monitor and measure regularly. 

I weigh in every day or at least every other day, which allows me to make corrections if I’m going off course.  Measuring is an area that has several things you must keep in mind.  First, measuring should be easy.  If it is not part of your daily routine, and you have to take inordinate steps to obtain the measurements, there is a good chance you’ll stop measuring.  Second, measure consistently.  I get on the scale first thing in the morning.  This allows me to compare apples to apples.  In business, the way we measure often has us comparing apples and oranges.  We measure at different times of the day, or different shifts, or different times of the year.  Adding variables to the mix can make comparisons faulty or impossible.  Third, when you measure, make sure you take into account all of the other things that could be impacted.  For example, if you measure punctuality but not attendance, you could see punctuality improve because that is what you are focused on, but attendance could get worse because it is not being measured.

The journey will continue next blog post, stay tuned to see if I reached my goal and get more insight on the similarities between business and dieting.

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Published By admin on Mar 22 - Comments (0)

10 HR Lessons we can learn from the Olympics


Posted Under Employers, Human Resources, Leadership - Tags: , , , , , ;

While watching the Winter Olympics, it occurred to me that there are several parallels between the Olympics and the workplace.

 

1.      Coaching – Most of the competitors at the Olympics have at least one coach.  Someone to monitor their performance and give them feedback on how they might improve, or to provide suggestions on how they might change their style or approach.  I believe everyone in the workforce could use a coach who is dedicated to giving feedback on how to improve performance.  Further, great performers often become coaches.  Do you have a coach or are you coaching a future star?

 

2.      Perseverance and persistence – If you fall down, get up and keep trying.  In the figure skating competition, many of the competitors fell down, but got up and completed their routine and received a score.  In other events – snowboarding, for example – if you fall, you receive no score for that event.  However, there are several examples in these Olympic games where competitors fell down four years ago, but came back this time to win a medal.   If you make a mistake, learn from it and move on.

 

3.      Play to the strengths – There are numerous Olympic events with similarities.  For example, in skiing you have alpine, freestyle moguls, cross country, jumping, etc.  Based on skills, competencies and passion, athletes compete in the event that takes best advantage of their strengths, and doesn’t promote areas of weakness.  How can we design jobs in the workplace that allow employees to focus on their strengths?  Too frequently, we spend too much time trying to turn an employee’s weaknesses into strengths rather than playing up the strengths and designing the job to allow the employee to be successful.

4.      Everyone has a story to tell – NBC has done a commendable job trying to highlight the human element of these incredible athletes.  The boy who was abandoned on the streets as a baby, the young man raised by a single immigrant father, or the figure skater who lost her mother that week and still went on to compete.  Too often we try to keep the personal element out of the workplace.  It’s just a job, get it done.  We have very diverse workplaces, with people of different backgrounds and cultures, which all comes together to create a variety of expectations and values.  Treat everyone fairly, but treat them as individuals.  Do not paint everyone with the same brush.  Frequently, when an employer has an employee who is a poor performer, or who shows up late or not at all, the employer may create a blanket policy dictating, for example, that any employee who shows up late will be terminated.  You owe it to yourself and your employees to hear their stories.

 5.      Sometimes the difference between winning and losing is very small – There are several Olympic events that the difference between a medal and no medal is a hundredth of a second or fraction of a point.  Not everyone can win a medal.  However, this does not diminish the effort, skills or abilities of those who tried and came up short.  In addition, there are numerous examples of athletes who came up short in the last Olympics, only to win a medal this year.  Often employers create a narrow definition of what it means to successfully complete a job, with no allowance for a bad day or a mishap.  I will be the first to tell you that many employers wait too long to terminate a problem employee.  However, what do we do to help those who are close to succeed in the future?  We need to be sure we have a positive performance appraisal process in place, with plans for improvement by the next appraisal.  Or create a mentorship program to help those who want to reach the next level. 

 

6.      Potential for an award inspires performance – Much has been written on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.  However, the potential for an Olympic medal can certainly cause the competitors to go beyond their personal best.  Do we create opportunities for our employees to want to perform beyond their personal best?  Do we know what motivates our employees?  Do we reward performance?

7.      Where you start does not determine where you end – I watched competitors in several events come from last place only to win in the end.  In fact, it seemed some athletes used it as a strategy.  They allowed their competitors to set the pace, only to cruise by them in the final lap or stretch.  Just because an employee starts his or her career on the loading dock, he or she is not precluded from someday becoming the CEO.  Do we have systems that allow and even encourage our employees to grow within our organizations?  I’ve seen too many organizations with barriers or roadblocks that prevent and even discourage employees from growing.

 

8.      Competition makes us try harder – Many athletes achieved beyond what they thought was possible because a competitor earned a higher score or set a faster pace.  Competition at work can be good, but it can also be destructive.  If you pit employees against each other it will certainly eliminate any potential teamwork.  Focus their competitiveness against the company’s competition: it is us against XYZ Company, we need to have better quality, products, customer service, or price than they have.

 

9.      Alliances can change quickly – In men’s hockey, teammates on the same NHL teams are now competitors in the Olympics.  The teammate an athlete would normally assist and celebrate with in scoring will now do everything in his power to prevent that goal.  Check this out: Sabres coach Lindy Ruff is on the coaching staff for the Canadian Olympic team, and Sabres goalie Ryan Miller is starting goalie for the US team.  Most commentators believe Ruff would provide insight to the Canadian players regarding Miller’s weaknesses to help them beat Team USA, even though it could be detrimental when those same players go back to their NHL team and play against Miller.  Likewise, if an employee goes to our competitor, he or she will quickly become part of that new organization, and will do what it takes to help the new employer succeed, even if it is detrimental to your company.

10.    Vision and Focus – Just about every medal winner has talked about vision.  I often describe vision as a dream with an action plan.  Are we providing an organizational vision for our employees?  Are we helping employees create and successfully accomplish their personal vision?  How do we help them stay focused on shared goals?

 I’m certain there are many more parallels between the Olympics and the workplace, and would enjoy hearing your observations.

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Published By admin on Feb 24 - Comments (0)

What if Leadership could be more like twitter?


Posted Under Human Resource Professionals, Human Resources, Leadership, Social Media - Tags: , , , , , , , ;

Hello there – I’m following you. 

Hi back at you – thanks for following me. 

I have been a student of leadership for decades, and I’m still learning.  I teach graduate leadership courses at Daemen College and Medaille College.  I can be very opinionated when it comes to leadership and my opinions don’t always follow the mainstream opinion.  For example, I generally believe there is no difference between Leaders and Managers, but I’ll discuss this more in a future blog.

Back to my point.  I find it very interesting that on twitter there is no hierarchy – no one is designated as a leader of someone else.  Most organizations tend to have defined hierarchy: We are the “Leadership Team” and you must follow us.  Or I’m a leader and you are a follower.  Or I’m the boss and you are the subordinate.  Organizations often don’t find ways or even encourage people throughout the organization to step up to a leadership role.

On twitter, no one is designated as a leader, you are either following or being followed (hopefully not the same as being stalked).  You can choose to follow anyone you think might benefit you in some way.  That person can choose to allow you to follow them, or block you, or follow you back.  It kind of works this way in the real world.  I can choose to follow any boss, manager, or supervisor, or I can move on and find a different boss, supervisor or manager to follow.  This point is made frequently in surveys, that employees frequently leave their organization because of the relationship (or lack of) with their supervisor.  Ultimately in a work environment the follower has a choice.  Do I want to continue to follow this person, or block them and follow someone else?

The bottom line is that everyone is following someone and being followed by someone else.  I think it would take a lot of pressure off people in a work world if we eliminated the use of the term “leader.”  Instead we might say, “I have 10 employees who choose to follow me, and I choose to follow Mary.”  This changes the perspective entirely – who am I following (and why) and who is following me (and why)?  I certainly realize that this isn’t very practical in most organizations, but it sure is an interesting idea.  Instead of having someone anointed as a leader, we get to choose to follow.

So I would be honored if you choose to follow me at HRBuffaloBob.  I may even choose to follow you in return.  Happy following!

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Published By admin on Feb 15 - Comments (0)

How will you compete for employees?


Posted Under Employees, Employers, Human Resources - Tags: , , , , , ;

EmployeesBenefits are a primary tool employers use to attract and retain employees.  However, current legislation passing through congress may take some of that competitive advantage away.  If this happens, what will employers do and how will they compete?

The first concern is health care reform

The various versions of the bills (as they are currently written) will mandate to some degree that all employers provide health insurance and dictates how much employers must contribute toward that health insurance.  Another bill being considered is seven days of mandatory sick leave per year for all employees.

I’m not making a judgment about either of these bills, and we certainly don’t know what the final language will look like.  I do think that employers should be considering what their compensation and benefit strategy will be if they lose the ability to use these benefits as recruiting and retention tools.

On first blush it would seem this would put more pressure on using wages to compete, likely resulting in bidding wars.  So what other things can an employer use to gain competitive advantage with recruiting and retaining employees?

Reputation

The employer’s reputation is probably the biggest tool to consider.  Reputations are rarely ever in sync with reality, and it takes a long time and a lot of effort to turn around a bad reputation.  Boost your reputation by treating your employees, applicants and candidates better than the competition.  Strive to become recognized as one of the best places to work.

Another opportunity to improve your competitiveness is to have career development plans for all employees, including a formal mentorship program.

Finally, something that is mandatory, especially for retention of employees, is the development of your supervisory/management team.  Surveys continually indicate that one of the primary reasons employees’ leave an organization is because of their supervisor.  So if we want to retain more employees, we need to get our supervisors and managers involved in the solution.

Summary

All of these would be good things to do regardless of what happens in congress with the mandating of benefits.  These are also great strategies to employ if you are currently non-union and want to stay that way.  Once the final version of the Employee Free Choice Act (otherwise known as the Card Check Act) passes, you can be assured there will a lot of union organizing activity.  What is your strategy to deal with that?

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Published By admin on Jan 08 - Comments (0)