From profitguide.com, Greig Clark shares his discovery: there are five fundamentals of running a successful business, and they live where the rubber meets the road. None of them are earth-shattering, but they can be tricky to apply.
What do you get when you spend 40 years in and around entrepreneurship? In my case, 10 black, three-ring binders are an important part of the answer.
Let me explain. I lived my first 20 years of self-employment as an entrepreneur, building College Pro Painters. I spent the next 15 as a venture capitalist, with a few of those years at the helm of Arxx Building Products, one of the investments in our VC fund. Since stepping down as CEO of Arxx five years ago, I’ve worked as (or, at least, evolved into) a “trusted advisor” to entrepreneurial businesses. And for each of the companies I’ve worked with, I’ve compiled a synopsis of each business in a black, three-ring binder.
I recently leafed through those binders in search of the best business lessons of my past 40 years. My discovery: there are five fundamentals of running a successful business, and they live where the rubber meets the road. None of them are earth-shattering, but they can be tricky to apply.
1. Focus, focus, focus
It’s easy to say, yet so hard to do. I recently read a book on the Facebook story, and this principle leaps out above all else. Facebook placed relentless focus on building a user base, campus by campus, and continually making the program friendlier. As wild as I feel for saying this, Mark Zuckerberg was right not to put short-term focus on raising revenue.
To put the importance of focus into greater relief, consider Paul Martin: a superb finance minister but a weak prime minister. In the former role, Martin focused like a laser beam on reducing the deficit and building surpluses. As prime minister, he dared not disappoint any people, so he ended up disappointing most people.
A CEO I’ve known for a long time told me that his biggest job is to be Dr. No. Only by turning things down does he let people know what really is important.
My brother Paul, a longtime entrepreneur who is now a consultant in Vancouver, tells me that the biggest problem he sees in business is that people start many things but finish few. “I’ll get to that next week,” they say. Next week never comes. His advice? “Complete something.”
2. Time management
It’s the kissing cousin of #1. We have two finite resources in any business: time and money. We budget the heck out of money. Time is even scarcer, but we treat it more shabbily.
How a CEO spends his or her time is the biggest signal to staff of what is really important to the company. A good technique for aligning your actions with your priorities is colour-coding your time planner with those priorities in mind. One of the CEOs I work with, Jeremy Behar of Cirrus Consulting Group in Toronto, knows good people are the key to the growth of his business. So, he shades hours in his day planner green to denote the time he will spend recruiting people or developing his existing employees. That way the task stands out visually to him.
Another trick is to be proactive, applying Steven Covey’s “put the big rocks in first” principle. Go through your calendar months ahead and mark some “green space” in every week to block off time to tackle your most important priority.
3. Horses for courses
Or, as Jim Collins wrote in Good to Great: “Get the right people in the right seats on the bus.” But how can you tell when you have the “right people?” It’s never easy. My first boss, Scott MacDiarmid at General Foods, used to tell me the thing he liked about me was that when he asked me for “A,” he got A or A-plus, and on time; he never got a B or C with an explanation. In business, table stakes is understanding what is asked for and delivering it. Greatness is taking it one step beyond that, being proactive and what I call a “life force” in the business. Someone who is an “energy multiplier,” not a drain. It is so great for entrepreneurs when they feel that they are “not alone” in trying to grow the business or push the envelope.
On the other hand, when the person is not right, you will know. But, like most entrepreneurs, you might be “slow to fire.” Don’t be.
4. Clarify roles
This is all about getting the right seats on the bus. Everyone needs to know what they, and they alone, are responsible for. The “one throat to choke” philosophy is still a good one, although perhaps a bit graphic. At Cirrus, a little box appears under each person’s name on the org chart, containing that person’s top three deliverables and metrics. This allows strategies and plans to be quickly checked against principles #1 and #2: do the tasks reflect the focus of the business, who will perform those tasks and how will anyone know those tasks are being performed?
5. Measure, measure, measure
Make those top three deliverables the key performance indicators for each manager. Put them on a one-page “dashboard” and review it regularly and relentlessly. An example is the weekly RAG (results at a glance) at College Pro, which remains that company’s most read report. When my stepson Jon was a star manager there, he used to check the RAG every day to compare his performance to his targets and that of his peers. When you get the numbers right, the numbers don’t lie—and everyone knows it. Good people will self-manage to make their numbers.
Are these principles simple? Yes. Easy to stick to? Maybe not. Tack this page on your wall, and consult it frequently. If you can’t follow this diet, find a coach or advisor who can help you. It works.
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People too often make feedback about the other person. "You need to be a better communicator." "You need to improve your ability to coach your staff."
It much more powerful to make the feedback about you rather than the other person. "I really like to be kept in the loop. My preference is to be updated weekly on this project. Will that work for you?". "People management is really important to me. I would like you to make sure that you complete all of your performance reviews in person and on schedule. Can you commit to that?"
Sound better? Of course it does. It is not that the first examples are wrong they are just not as effective as the second examples above. If you want people to listen, make it about you most of the time.
We all hate getting advice. Even if it is good advice. It is somehow condescending. Is it because parents tend to dole out advice about 100 times a day? Does it make us feel like children? Probably.
Given this, it is interesting and somewhat ironic that there is so much free advice around—blogs, articles, Oprah. This decade will certainly be remembered as one of free advice. Somehow getting advice from people we don’t know is OK. These people seem more like experts—somehow smarter than us.
I am frankly tired of reading and listening to all the free advice, even from people I don’t know. So, I pick my spots. In order for me to take your free advice, you need to really be an expert and a recognized expert. How do I know? I don’t always. I look for people who have extensive education or experience and highly successful track records. They must know more than me about a subject.
If you successfully ran a large company for many years or if you did your Ph d in business and are a member of an esteemed faculty, I am interested in your advice. Quite simply you must know more than I do. I am not interested in advice from people who are merely good at marketing themselves (unless I want advice about marketing myself).
As I discussed in my last blog, great leaders show an unwavering commitment to a clear set of values. It is relatively easy to have a set of values. We all do. The trick is to be clear on those values and to use those values as a means to mobilize others.
I hope you tried the exercise that I suggested to better clarify your own values or "leadership voice". If you didn’t click through to my last blog and try it.
Here is the next step--another short exercise that will help you determine if you are making your values stick. If you do this exercise you will be making your values exceptionally clear to all around you. Before the exercise, you’ll need a little background.
A client canceled a meeting today with me today. You are no doubt thinking, "So what? Happens all the time."
It happens all the time with some people. A few people never cancel. Everyone is busy.
I started to work with this client because he wanted help with his team. He felt that his team wasn't as cohesive as it could be. We started our work by talking to all the team members. It seems that there were trust issues with the team but that most of the trust issues were centered around the leader. Could these trust issues be related to this client's dependability (or lack of it)? Seems obvious doesn't it? If it is so obvious, why is meeting cancellation such an epidemic?
Let's examine dependability for a minute. Dependability is about keeping your commitments and doing what you say you are going to do. Or did I just describe trust? The point is the two concepts are so tightly linked, they can't easily be separated.
Think about the message you send when you cancel a meeting, neglect to return a phone call or are late on a commitment.
Let me make the message clear to you. You are telling the person that you are interacting with that they are less important than whatever else you are doing. You are telling them that your needs take precedence over theirs. You are eroding trust.
Here's my challenge: turn your mind to your upcoming week. How often will you cancel meetings? How often will you be running late? How often will you take more than a day to return a call?
If the answers to all of these questions is never, congratulations. You are building trust. If the answer is sometimes or often or "I have a really busy week.". You need to rethink your priorities. There is no shortcut to trust. Everyone is busy.
I have two stories to tell, one from my personal experience and one from a client meeting I had yesterday. Both stories are about staying grounded and staying connected to what really matters at work. Both stories are about maintaining energy and confidence. This is tough to do sometimes particularly when we are busy and working on issues we don't love. I'll start with my story.
When I first started working, I worked in labor relations for an aircraft manufacturer. Relations with the union were terrible. Our department spent most of each day researching how to say "no" to the various grievances filed on a daily basis. We spent two days a week in grievance meetings with union representatives arguing the most pressing grievances. We had file cabinets full of grievances that we never even got to. I'm sure you are thinking, "How discouraging!" and indeed it was. I didn't work there long but while I was there, I got some good advice from a colleague. I still think about and take this advice regularly. He said,
"When you really need to remember why you are doing this and what really matters, do what I do and walk the plant floor."
The plant floor was huge. There were many skilled employees and their managers making airplanes. It was fascinating to watch. Most people had great pride in what they were doing and loved to talk about it. Whenever I returned from "walking the plant floor", I had a renewed sense of purpose and clarity around what really mattered -- the people making the airplanes.
Here's story number two. One of my clients has been "walking the plant floor" (figuratively) and she told me about it yesterday. She is a member of a Professional Service Firm. She has had a particularly difficult year. Business in her area of the country is off. There are all the staff issues and political challenges that come with tougher times. Her focus has been internal and been on issues that at times can be quite discouraging (underperforming staff, political infighting,etc.)
She needed to "walk the plant floor" again. Walking the plant floor for her is spending time with her clients and meeting new clients. This women is great with clients, she loves to be out in the market and she loves to help clients solve their issues. She has spent the past month doing that. How has it helped? Here's what she said to me,
"I have some new work. It is a start. I feel more confident and more energy around my work. The staff issues that were weighing me down seem less difficult. I can handle them."
Next time you need a shot of energy and confidence, think about "walking the plant floor." Get out from behind your computer and meet people who are most important to what you do. You'll be surprised at how refreshed you feel from that simple act.
I go to the "Master" for this blog. A client asked me for a book on persuasion a few days ago. I didn't have one. I asked some of my contacts. I got a few ideas but no one raved about any one book. So, I went to the web and "goolged" "persuasion". Who's name should come up? Dale Carnegie. "How to Win Friends and Influence People." First published in 1936.
Carnegie is still the master of advice on influencing people. You certainly won't agree with all of his advice but it is worth reminding yourself of the really great things he taught. Here are some of my favorites.
Don't argue. Ever. You can't win and if you win, you lose. Instead,
"Listen first. Don't interrupt, resist, defend, or debate.
Look for areas of agreement.
Promise to think over your opponents' ideas and study them carefully. Mean it. They may be right. Don't let them have the opportunity to say, "We tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen."
Thank your opponents sincerely for their interest. In taking the time to disagree with you, your opponent is showing that they are interested in the same things you are."
Think about what the other person really wants. Seems obvious. Take the time to do it.
"Why talk about what we want? Of course, you are interested in what you want. You are eternally interested in it. But no one else is. The rest of us are just like you: we are interested in what we want. So the only way on earth to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it."
Don't use "but". I hear it all of the time. People saying "your project was really great, but"...... No one ever remembers the part about the project being great. What comes after the "but" feels like a kick to the head. You can give people criticism and still influence them to do better. Instead of using "but" say, "You did a great job on that project. Your planning was great. The report was excellent. On the next project, I'd like you to also focus on your communication to all of the project sponsors throughout the project." No "but" anywhere.
Say thank-you a lot. Here's the story. Your teenage daughter finally takes out the garbage. You are thinking, "It is about time." "It is her job. I'm not going to acknowledge something she's supposed to do as part of her chores." If you want to influence her to do it again, you don't say these things. You say "thank-you". Appreciation is powerful. It makes people want to do things.
How do you see it? Persuasion or politics? Managing through organizational minefields can cause great angst, frustration and "wasted" energy. "Organizational Politics" is one of the most common topics discussed with my coaching clients.
I have a bias. I see "organizational politics" as persuasion and I encourage all of my clients to see it the same way. Why?
How you view organizational politics will make you more powerful.
Here's a story.
One of my clients has a new boss. This new boss is not her favorite person. She has worked for him before. I know both people well and I think both are talented, well meaning, individuals. They are civil but they do not work well together. People say they have a "personality conflict." Knowing them both, I know that they both have a very different set of values from which they operate.
Let's face it. Organizations are really just a series of relationships. Relationships take effort. Even your most rewarding relationships have gotten that way through effort. In your personal life, you can choose who you form relationships with (most of the time). At work, more often you can't. If you are able to strip the emotion and judgement out of your view of the relationship, you can influence. If you view the relationship as "politics" or a personality conflict you most likely can't influence.
How's my client doing? She is an exceptional influencer (in the most positive sense). She would like a more senior leadership role. She knows leadership comes with some tough choices and some even tougher relationships particularly very senior roles. She is working on trying to understand her new boss and to influence him.
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