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 [...] [...more]
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 -
10. You enjoy being screamed at by everyone.
9. You liked the idea of dealing with “people issues” (we’re out of toilet paper, you parked in the wrong slot, and supervisors asking you – what do you mean I have to evaluate their performance?)
8. You want to be perceived as a “miracle worker.” Recruit the best, keep [...] [...more]
10. You enjoy being screamed at by everyone.
9. You liked the idea of dealing with “people issues” (we’re out of toilet paper, you parked in the wrong slot, and supervisors asking you – what do you mean I have to evaluate their performance?)
8. You want to be perceived as a “miracle worker.” Recruit the best, keep them forever, and pay them peanuts – works well since all of the applicants are monkeys.
7. You thought that by being responsible for “Compensation and Benefits” that you’d have some input into “Compensation and Benefits.” Especially your own.
6. You love the idea of being able to inform employees that they now have a new source of income – it’s called unemployment.
5. By the time you got to the front of the career selection line – all the good careers were already taken.
4. You felt if you were in the department that did all the “Hiring and Firing” you’d have job security.
3. You absolutely love stress.
2. You wanted to learn how to resolve conflict between supervisors and employees – without getting them involved.
1. Someone told you that in HR you always have a seat at the table and you thought they were talking about food.
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Published By admin on Jan 29 -
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How many stereotypes are there about HR professionals?
They are touchy feely – what does that mean anyway? Are we all supposed to go around touching and feeling everyone? I don’t think so! Or does it refer to our vast understanding of the soft skills? Yeah right! This also brings into play the “I’m a people [...] [...more]
How many stereotypes are there about HR professionals?
- They are touchy feely – what does that mean anyway? Are we all supposed to go around touching and feeling everyone? I don’t think so! Or does it refer to our vast understanding of the soft skills? Yeah right! This also brings into play the “I’m a people person,” but that is the subject for another blog.
- They aren’t very good with numbers. I don’t know about anyone else – but I love numbers. Especially when they are big ones and they are in my paycheck. I got straight A’s in math and would much rather use a spreadsheet than a word processor.
- It’s a women’s profession – this probably stems from another stereotype that women are more touchy feely than men.
- I was recently at a social gathering with some HR practitioners as well as some other folks. (I was about to say normal folk) Then the jokes started. The non HR person looked at one of the HR people and said I probably shouldn’t be telling these in mixed company (sexual jokes). The HR person without asking blurted out – oh no – we are HR people we can take it.
My point is stereotypes may be a way for humans to simplify complex things by grouping similar people into the same mold. However, if there is one thing all HR people should know is that this can be a very dangerous practice.
I believe we need to continue to work on developing the positive image of the Human Resource profession and start eliminating some of these stereotypes. We also need to be cognizant of this bad habit when we refer to other professions or groups of people.
Fill in the blanks – all engineers are____________, all computer people are ___________, all accountants are____________, all lawyers are___________, or all bosses are____________. This may make for funny jokes or laughs in conversations – but are at the expense of a person. It certainly doesn’t take a great leap to go to all Blacks are_________, all Hispanics are__________, and all Blondes are__________. Not!!!!!
We really need to be careful with that thought combination All (fill in the blank)___________ are__________.
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Published By admin on Jan 22 -
Just as moths are attracted to a light bulb, employees are equally attracted to the management style that best suits them.
I frequently find managers who lament that their employees show no initiative, do not pay attention to details, or won’t solve problems. Sadly, in almost every case, the manager has caused this problem. Peter Drucker [...] [...more]
Just as moths are attracted to a light bulb, employees are equally attracted to the management style that best suits them.
I frequently find managers who lament that their employees show no initiative, do not pay attention to details, or won’t solve problems. Sadly, in almost every case, the manager has caused this problem. Peter Drucker said: “The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager.”
Here are several ways managers often cause their own problems.
They recruit them:
I had a conversation today with a manager (it was this conversation that prompted me to write this) and I asked her what her greatest joy was as a manager. She told me she really enjoyed finding people she could help grow and develop. On the surface this sounds okay. However, I happen to know that the last four people she hired left the company within four months. She is a fixer. She sees opportunities in candidates to help them turn their lives around, and although this is admirable, it is also time consuming and has a low success rate. Because of the low success rate, successes are that much sweeter, yet we still complain about how much time it took to get there. There are numerous variations on this theme. Here’s another one: I need someone right now, and I don’t have time to go through an extensive selection process, so I end up with a candidate that wastes more of my time. I think you get the picture.
They do it for them:
I have watched too many managers do this. An employee comes to the manager with a problem, any problem. The manager then solves the problem for the employee. Then the manager complains that the employees are not able to solve problems. Can you see the self-defeating cycle here? Instead of taking the time to coach the employees and instruct them to come up with potential solutions to problems, it is quicker and easier to provide the solution. (It also allows the managers to show how smart they are!)
Managers have to learn how to let go. Delegation is always a struggle – we all believe no one can do it as well as we can do it ourselves. However, the reason the manager has a job managing others is that the job is now too big for just one person to handle. As a manager, you need to let your employees learn to do for themselves, and in some cases they will make mistakes, which are also learning experiences. If you want employees to show initiative, give them the opportunity to take the lead and in some cases fail.
They Micromanage them:
This is closely linked to the previous subject – a primary reason manager’s micromanage is they do not trust their employees to do it right. Unfortunately, managers who micromanage will attract employees who like to be micromanaged – those are the employees who need close supervision and interaction to complete tasks. Some employees like this because they are told exactly what to do and when to do it and do not have to accept any responsibility. Successful managers train, coach and put systems in place so that employees learn how to do it right, and then trust their employees and let go.
Summary
If you are having problems with the employees you manage, you might want to see if your management style is attracting a certain type of employee. The flip side of this is looking at what type of employee you might be pushing away. I do a lot of exit interviews and a large percentage of employees cite their manager as their reason for leaving. I can often evaluate a company’s health by reviewing the caliber of employees that have left in the past six months. The good employees are the ones leaving – they have the skills, confidence, and résumé to find work elsewhere.
And so if you find you are attracting moths, don’t look at the moths, check out the light bulb.
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Published By admin on Jan 15 -
