Full Transparency

Many organizations do well when they are small, tight-nit groups. When this is the case, the owner typically has a small group of people that are trusted and will go above and beyond their duties that they are monetarily compensated for. In return for the additional work, time, and overall effort that is put in by the employees, the employer rewards them with anything from cash bonuses to fancy titles. But the most important reward that the owner can give their employees is full disclosure.

This may seem trite, but the power of full transparency within organizations can often times keep one together where others would fall apart at the seams. Let’s assume that Company A and Company B come across the same melt-down and drastic measures need to be taken. The companies have both made a huge mistake and over-ordered product, leaving them cash-poor. Although the situation is not good by a long shot, it’s not doomed either. The company needs to save money and elongate the time it can stay open in order to fix the situation.

  • Company A: Only informs employees of what they need to know and nothing more.
  • Company B: Open and honest with it’s people about its intentions, crisis, financials, and mile-stones.

The Owner of Company A emails his team and says that there need to be some changes made and he’s cutting wages. He cites a lack of productivity and attempts to inspire his team through a temporary setback to see who responds the best to earn their keep. He alludes to the fact that they should be lucky to have jobs in a down economy and that someone might be fired if they do not respond as he wants. The workers have no choice but to accept and continue working, polishing up their resumes in the evening hours.

The Owner of Company B immediately brings her team together with a face to face ‘town hall’ style meeting to explain the situation. She tells her team that there has been some major setbacks and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but that they’ll not be able to reach it unless they come together. She explains that if they continue to pay everyone their current salaries the company would close in 2 months, but if everyone took an 8% pay cut that was temporary, the company could last 2 additional months and give them time to pull out of the hole. The workers are not thrilled about the pay-cut, however they are grateful to have jobs and not be let go.

full transparencyAs we can imagine, Company B responds much better than Company A. They band together to get themselves out of the hole, staying additional hours to finish projects and setting their goal to keep the company open, working each day like their backs are against the wall. Morale is at an all-time high and this crisis has given the team a newly found sense of purpose.

While on the other hand, Company A is demoralized and does not understand the situation they have been thrust into. Company morale sinks and people begin to polish up their resumes, assuming the worst is coming for them without hope. Tempers flare as rumors of closing set in and the organization is closed within 45 days of the decree for pay-cuts.

We can hold the values of Company A Owner, or we can follow the path of Company B Owner in our daily work lives. We do not have to be in the position of power to operate with full transparency, but when we are we set the precedent for the rest of the company to follow suit. People will find out the truth whether we tell them or not, so we might as well save the headache for everyone and put all the cards on the table so that we can make the best decisions for all parties.

Overcompensating

As I was watching football on Saturday as CSU beat Coastal Carolina University, I couldn’t help but draw parallels to the work world. The team played well as a unit and there was no overcompensating for each other, allowing each individual to their jobs to the best of their abilities.

The CSU defensive coordinator was making bold moves to stifle the highly touted CCU offense they were playing. In football as with anything in life, when faced with a tough opponent a bland game plan won’t cut it. And CSU did not have a bland game plan. Often times they would blitz everyone on the field with the exception of their Cornerbacks, leaving them in what is known as “Cover Zero” meaning they have no help from a safety. Typically, there are more defensive backs or linebackers to help the Cornerbacks, but not when they are all blitzing. The Cornerbacks would match up with the wide receivers on the outside of the field and everyone else would rush the Quarterback. This is very effective at putting pressure on the offense, however it can be quite risky if the Cornerback doesn’t make a play when the ball is thrown his way. He is one-on-one with the Receiver and if the ball is thrown in his direction, he only has to beat that single Cornerback if he wants to get a touchdown. I loved this play calling because it made everyone on defense even more accountable for their play.

OvercompensatingThe key for this to work is to have excellent Cornerbacks that play at a high level and do not let the Wide Receivers make any catches. CSU’s Cornerbacks came to play and had multiple pass-breakups in these situations. They did their job and forced Coastal Carolina to play 9 versus 9, eliminating the play of the receivers in those situations. When this happened, the other 9 defensive players could hone in on a fewer number of potential ball carriers and make plays faster. The defense could make decisions faster by eliminating the potential threat of the receivers. And the great part was that the other 9 players on defense didn’t try to do the Cornerbacks’ jobs for them, they did their own job during the play and then came together to talk about what worked and what didn’t work in between series.

How does this work in businesses? It plays out like this when we don’t need to cover for each other. A great sales team can cover up a flawed product for a while, but not if the company wishes to build a good reputation for quality products. And a great manager can put in overtime and work themselves to death with a sub-par team, but only for a short time before burnout sets in. There will always be a need for collaboration in the workplace, however when we start to do each other’s jobs because we don’t trust each other we begin to take a step backwards. That football team could never have won the game if the Linebackers and Safeties were overcompensating for the Cornerbacks by trying to help out. The best help they could give was to do their jobs to the best of their abilities and trust that their teammates do theirs.

Be the kind of co-worker/partner/contractor that does not need to be overcompensated for. As we do our jobs to the best of our abilities we become more valuable to our organizations, we build confidence, and we begin to take on more responsibility.

Unplug

We are obsessed with technology. We love to hear the ping of emails, we can’t wait for push notifications to pop up, and we do everything in our power to keep ourselves distracted by it all. We have an overabundance of distractions in today’s world from everything that it’s hard to focus. When driving we’re barraged with billboards, when listening to the radio we are interrupted by commercials, and push notifications from every single app that we download will keep our phones ringing 24 hours a day if we let it. Everything craves our attention, but why do we give in to these things that we know are time wasters? We crave the distraction.

Distractions are a way for us to weasel out of what’s important: our work and our relationships. It’s hard to focus, it’s taken me almost an hour to write this because of distractions. And it’s hard to say no to outside distractions and be present with the people we spend time with. It’s easy to check Facebook. It’s easy to scroll through Twitter. It’s fun to watch YouTube for hours. But what’s more important is how we spend our time focusing on our work and on our relationships, giving our full attention to them.

unplugI stay present by turning off the push notifications on my email so I only receive them when I choose; at 2-3 times throughout the day and once on Saturdays and Sundays. If anyone needs to get a hold of me and it’s an emergency, the last thing they’re going to do is email me. So if 99.99% of the time my emails are not urgent, why am I pulling my attention from dinner with friends, experiencing a historic win over Coastal Carolina University, and not allowing myself to be present and engaged wherever I am? A half thought out response is disrespectful to the person that writes me that email, so why not do them a solid and respond in full when I’m fully engaged with their email in front of me?

I also unplug by not checking any email or social media after 8 PM to allow myself to wind down at the end of the day. This helps slow my mind before bed so it’s not racing and I can get the rest I need to make the next day productive. Poor sleep isn’t always about needing a new mattress or the noise outside, is the noise in between our ears that is the most detrimental to sleep. This takes some effort, but it’s most important to pull away from the technology at certain times so we don’t become addicted to it (yes, it’s real and people talk and affects many of us).

And finally, I don’t take my phone to meals if I’m eating with someone else. My phone stays in the car or goes on silent and in another room if I’m at the house. Thirty minutes to an hour each day without my phone is not going to kill me, and it’s my way of showing whomever I’m eating with (Katie most of the time) that I care about our time together and don’t want to be distracted from our conversation. How can I fully engage when I’m checking an email or re-tweeting what Tucker Max just said?

There are all kinds of ways to unplug from technology, I’d love to hear more on how YOU unplug so leave me a comment, tweet me, even send me an email with your thoughts. I probably wont’ get right back to you, but when I do it will be purposeful and engaged!

Leave it all on the field

Most sales people have quotas and goals that must be met.

A quota for X amount of sales and a goal of X + Y amount of sales. The quotas are often requirement, meaning if that particular sales person doesn’t make their mark for a succession of two or three periods their job is in jeopardy.

However, at the opposite end of those quotas are goals.

In most cases goals are set for each period and have an exact cutoff date: end of the month, quarter, year, etc. This practice is good on paper, but sales people see what they have to do to not get fired (quota) and what they need to do to make more money (goal) and they just reach above that mark without striving further.

Case Study

I had a friend that sold copiers for a large company and they structured her quotas and goals on a monthly basis. She was excellent at this job so when she had a goal set at the beginning of the month, she’d go out immediately and achieve her goal within 10 days of receiving her objective.

Good for her!

She got the rest of the month to do whatever she wanted to. But what if that company would have incentivised her to work the entire 30 days of the month?

I’m not criticizing her, I’m pointing out that the company has flawed bonus structures. THEY ARE ONLY GETTING 33% PRODUCTION OUT OF THIS PERSON THAT WAS EXCELLENT AT SELLING COPIERS.

In any other industry, if a person or machine is only doing their job at 33% efficiency they are going to be replaced, quickly.

What if they could have structured her commission to continue rising each month with no cap or final goal? What if they would have structured her bonus plan to have tiers that were easily attainable and unlimited so she could continue to push herself even after small achievements had been made? What if they wouldn’t have given her any quotas or bonuses and asked to her to sell as many as she could?

Guarantee that last one would yield the highest results of all.

Leave it all on the field

Too often we settle for the low-hanging fruit.

During my time playing football we went through a season that pinned our backs against the wall and we had to play every game as if it were our last.

We could “leave it all on the field” because if we didn’t win the game today, the game next week wouldn’t matter in the chase for a championship. When we realized this and we put ourselves in that “no tomorrow” mentality, we knew we couldn’t save some sales for next period, we had to get them all in this period or there wouldn’t be a next.

We needed 100% efficiency in each game, and we needed to get better at the same time. We won 5 games in a row and won a conference championship when we finally decided that “there is no tomorrow.”

Learn to finish each month, period, game, contest as if it’s our last and great things will happen.

If we’re in the position of structuring incentives for our company, don’t look to have a good plan “on paper.” Instead look to build a good plan that our sales people will respect and chase after at all levels, not just enough to keep their jobs.

Leave it all on the field today!

Please everyone

Many early leaders of this country had strong religious views and convictions that drove them in their daily lives. Men like George Washington were described as deeply pious. And they had to be. They were creating a new country from scratch and they needed to stand firm in their views to gain support for the cause. Had they been wavering in their opinions, they would not have been able to build this country we are fortunate enough to live in.

please everyone

I witnessed this for the first time in politics yesterday at the Charleston Leadership Prayer Breakfast. This was a gathering of community leaders organized to pray for the city of Charleston and the Mayor of Charleston, Joseph P. Riley was there in full support. He spoke at the breakfast and although I’m sure he rubbed some elbows while he was there, his presence showed that he has taken his stance and showed the world what his views are. Although this is the bible belt, I am sure that there were people who told Mayor Riley he should not go “in case he offended someone.”

I was overwhelmingly proud to be a citizen of Charleston when I was able to wrap my mind around this idea. The mayor of the city I live in has enough conviction to show up to Christian Prayer Breakfast with pastors, religious leaders, and a keynote speaker that is openly Christian man named Phil Cooke (excellent speaker as well). Mayor Joe Riley is a man of conviction and is not afraid to take a stand for what he believes in. He was not afraid that he might have alienated some people who didn’t share his viewpoint, he was unapologetic about being present.

How many leaders do you know that are willing to stand up for their beliefs? How many of them have beliefs strong enough to stand up for? How many of them waver in the face of adversity and change their opinion to please everyone? If we cannot answer those questions in an instant, we’re following the wrong people.
More importantly, what about our own convictions. What are we willing to stand up for? What cause are we willing to put our names on the line for? Can we say that we’re willing to be scrutinized for? What are we willing to defend? Are we attempting to please everyone? If we cannot answer these questions we need to work on ourselves before guiding others.

Wavering leaders do not know where to go and don’t take their tribe anywhere. A leader with strength and strong stances knows their direction and will not falter when the going gets tough, just as our forefathers did.

Actions Speak Louder than Words – How culture can make or break a company

One of the hardest things to ‘get’ today in business is a great culture. Culture is something that can be incredibly powerful & pull a business through rough times even when good processes or even people aren’t in the right positions. When a great culture is present, we can feel it in the walls and we can smell it in the air. People stay additional hours to help on projects that they’re not tied into, they just want to help. People volunteer for projects that require sacrifice of them, instead of being asked by management to do something. And most of all, there is a momentum that cannot be described and all that anyone can do is just hang on like a roller coaster and ride the wave of positive action that is happening.

On the flip side of that coin, culture can be detrimental to the growth or even sustainability of an organization. When the culture shifts, everyone can feel it but nobody can pin point what is going on… we just know something is different. People are asked to stay long hours to do projects they aren’t interested in, lame attempts to “get things back to the way there were” are thrown out, and forced interaction makes for a lot of awkward situations around the water cooler. Leadership is what defines culture and it starts at the top.

If we, as leaders, don’t know what we want with our organizations, we can’t expect others to know either. If we don’t set forth and constantly beat that drum of OUR culture for OUR tribe (because that’s what we will grow if we’re entrepreneurs whether we like it or not) than we’re going to have a bunch of lost souls out there who are trying to find their own way. When people don’t have direction and a common goal, people become wanderers, and not all of those wanderers are passers-by. Some are leaders themselves, they just don’t have that ‘title’ yet. So when they see that there is no direction, and it’s chaos, they begin to take a machete and chop through the jungle to create culture, to create a clear path, to find direction. Actions Speak Louder than WordsIf we, as the leaders, are not prepared for that sort of initiative from someone else, we’re going to have a mutiny on our hands and it’s going to be us vs. them. Not where we want to be as a business owner who is attempting to grow a company.

Culture is about what we do as much, if not more, than what we say. We can have lofty goals, well thought out emails, and inspiring talks but at the end of the day our people are going to watch our actions while our words will go in one ear and out the other. Maya Angelou said, “… people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” The is more than applicable when it comes to culture and building our company tribe. 

We need to set the pace and show the people in our organization what we expect of them. If we want a work hard, play hard environment, exemplify that. If we want a culture that rewards problem solvers and thinkers, than choose to praise them instead of the guy who sucks up to the boss. And if we want a nice, happy environment to work in than we need to show our people that we care. Give thank-you notes, tell people they’re appreciated just because, and choose to focus on the positive achievements instead of the things that people don’t get right.

Actions speak louder than words. What message are we conveying?

Continual Learning

continual learningConditioning is a major part in any sport. Some sports condition for precision, like golf, and some for lung capacity, such as swimming. And still others like soccer and football condition for precision as well as stamina. This is because the best coaches know that athletes need to be able to call on their skills not only when they’re rested, but more importantly when they’re tired. A number of people can drive a golf ball 300 yards, once. But how many can do it 40 times in a row? How many can do it under the pressure of game-time performance and the ache of a 3 day tournament? Big difference.

Just as athletes train their bodies, we need to train our minds and our temperaments. We already have to perform tasks that require problem solving and critical analysis at work, it’s highly unlikely that anyone reading this just turns a lever at a factory. That being said, we need to be able to come up with great ideas and great solutions throughout the week. Not just once a week. So how do we condition ourselves to continual learn? Through constant input of good information. Good in – Good out.

As we go through the work-weeks we are forced to have an output (nobody gets paid to just learn all day) of productivity that comes from within. It’s not magical, nor is it never-ending. We run out of creativity, we run out of ideas, we can become drained. We combat this through constantly putting ideas into ourselves through continual learning. Carve out time each day to intake information: read inspiring BOOKS, follow @inc, @fastcompany, and @forbes on twitter for great articles, and listen to audio books when we have down time. All of these will recharge a drained battery, give us something to talk about, and most importantly educate us in some way so we can continue our strives to push ourselves.

I fully believe that we cannot simply take in information, we must regurgitate it in some form whether it’s conversation, our work, or writing thoughts out. It must come out for us to fully comprehend what we’re taking in order to really grow. Just as we need to condition ourselves to continually learn, I am conditioning myself to continually write in order to hone my skills to finish my book. Yes, this is me announcing my book to the world. And although this is a small audience, I will continue blogging and continue to grow my audience so that January 1st, 2016 (my goal) when I am ready to release this book, I have a larger audience and I have years of practice under my belt.

Leave me a comment on your favorite thing to learn from below, I am always looking for ideas!

Indispensable Investment

My brother works with a man that is a Colonel in the U.S. Army and he’s deployed overseas fighting for our country right now. He is a high ranking officer with years of experience, confirmed kills, and multiple tours in battle. He is the ultimate warrior and doesn’t make excuses: exactly what a soldier should strive to be like. When he’s overseas he rarely sees combat and spends a majority of his time planning attacks and working behind the scenes, using his brain rather than his brawn. This isn’t necessarily because he’s a better planner than he is a fighter, it’s because the Army doesn’t want to lose their indispensable investment.

The Army would rather lose 10 Privates in battle than this Colonel, so they do their best to keep him out of the action. They will do everything they can to protect their investment so that he can continue to yield high quality work leveraging his knowledge, experience, and attitude across his Battalion.

What if we approached our people this way in business? What if our most senior people were so indispensable that we would sacrifice multiple newbies in order to keep that tenure within the organization? It sounds intelligent that we would want to keep the people we’ve invested in and do our best to maximize their skills for as long as possible. That is… assuming we have invested in them.

What normally happens is that too many organizations look at their people as liabilities instead of assets. When it’s time for budget cuts, the most tenured people are often on the front lines because they have the largest salaries. And we let them go because we have simply been using them instead of investing in them. If we are investing in our people from the time they join us, we will NEVER want to let them go and in turn they’ll never want to leave! Invest in them through continuing education, through internal classes, book stipends, mentoring programs, and anything that will add value to the life of our team members and they will become indispensable.

The Army has invested millions into this Colonel and they don’t want to lose him, how are we investing in our people to make them an indispensable investment?