Time for Teamwork with Leaders and Employees

This month I read Paul Sarvadi’s “Take Care of Your People.” This book focused on many HR centered topics, including leadership and culture. It was interesting to read about these topics from someone who spent 30 years working on different aspects of HR and has been able to help many companies better connect with, manage and support their people as a result.

One of the connections this book made was the relationship between creating a culture, having a healthy culture, and employees being confident in knowing what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. In business circles we often talk about the importance of culture, but usually it gets tied in with things like smoothie bars or lots of vacation time. But it makes a lot of sense that if your business has a healthy culture, not only will people feel comfortable working at the business, they’ll understand it better too, which makes for happier and more effective employees.

Another of the important insights shared in the book has to do with training. I’m a big supporter of giving employees the tools and resources they need, but especially the education they need to do their job well. But the question the book raises is whether or not the issue is really one that can be resolved through education, or if there’s a different issue at the heart of the problem like expectations that don’t line up, they don’t agree with the direction the company is going, there aren’t sufficient resources provided, or there’s a performance issue. None of those issues can be resolved through more education, in fact, at that point the education is a waste of resources. So should we invest more in education for employees? Yes, but not when we’re trying to use it as a replacement for doing the hard work, asking the hard questions or asking the right questions.

Finally, one of the most important things the book talked about is how business is really a cyclical relationship. Yes, the leaders must lead and must be present for their employees, but also the employees have to be willing to give and communicate as well for the relationship (and company) to be healthy and successful. And it must be a regular thing, that the leaders and employees are connecting with each other so that everyone is on the same page and everyone has a chance (even anonymously) to give feedback and work on challenges, issues, questions and sticking points not when things are burning down, but before they become an issue.

How have your leaders and employees grown, developed and worked together over these last two years of change? What have you found to be the most important or effective things and what have you changed as a result?

Stepping Stones to Success

Lately I’ve been thinking again about one of my favorite topics: hope. Maybe it’s because I’ve connected with some new clients. Maybe it’s because my partner has lost weight he’s been wanting to lose for a while. Maybe it’s because of all the bravery and unity that has been present in and for Ukraine over the past month. Maybe it’s because spring is really trying hard to be here and hopefully will arrive in more areas of the US by April (March weather can be so fickle). Maybe it’s because families are reconnecting after being separated for one reason or another. Maybe it’s because stories of people who have lived incredible lives have been popping up in conversations and emails and on the TV recently. Maybe it’s because there’s been an intriguing mix of new and different with some aspects of life returning to how they had been before the pandemic started. Or maybe it’s just because we’re heading towards Easter and Earth Day.

I know there’s a lot of uncertainty in the world, in my life and probably in yours as well. I know that when change is happening it’s harder to feel confident in the steps you’re taking to be successful because you don’t even really know what success might look like in the future. But in the stories I’ve been hearing, some again and some for the first time, there have been reminders of exactly what kinds of odds some of those people faced, and how they chose to keep trying. And maybe they weren’t successful, but the work they did laid the groundwork to allow success to be reached by someone else.

I know it’s hard to be on the groundwork team. I’ve been there and it’s hard to know that you’re a stepping stone and not going to be part of the team that brings it home. But success isn’t just about the end result, it’s about all the work that it takes to get there. Sometimes there’s a short distance between Point A and Point B, and other times it takes generations to get there. Sometimes all you can do is keep hope, keep the faith, and keep pushing forward contributing the best you can, even if it seems impossible, because you never know when all the efforts finally turn a corner.

“It seems impossible until it’s done.” Nelson Mandela

All Hands on Deck

I was thinking about hands this week. I know, that sounds random. But when you have kids or work with kids you’re frequently reminded how different your hands are from their hands. Most of us are blessed with hands, but each of our hands are different. We can all hold pens and pencils, but only some of us can get our hands to do with an artist can do (the rest of us just make doodles and color in pictures). Some of us are good at cooking with our hands. Some of us are good at cleaning with our hands. Some of us are good at playing a musical instrument. Some of us are able to get our hands to put people back together. Some of us have hands that are really good at wiping away tears or being a comforting presence. And it all starts when we’re kids.

The thing I was noticing about hands this week is that as much as we adults say that our fingers are too big, sometimes it’s not about the size but about the experience. Some people are really good at typing on a computer because they do it for so many hours each day. Some people are really good at typing on a phone because they do it hours each day. It’s very possible that those two people’s hands are similar sizes, but the difference is in the muscle memory that has been built up and allows fingers and hands to work together in certain ways.

Sometimes we need our big hands to hold onto the dog better during the walk or have the strength to move the wrench to change the tire. But other times we need the little hands and little fingers to reach into a small space to get something that dropped or to put the perfect sized fingerprint into thumbprint cookies, and of course finger paint artwork usually looks better with little fingers to.

So the next time you question your large adult fingers and hands, maybe it’s not a question of size, but a question of practice. Think of it like the homework that the kids have to do each day for school as well as the work they have to do if they play an instrument or sport: practice makes perfect. But maybe you’re right, and your hands are too big, which means it’s an opportunity to welcome in a child to work together on something and give them some experience too.

Growth, Change, Marketing and Consistency

When it comes to marketing (and running a business) there are several topics that I come back to time and again, and this week the topic is consistency. I know how hard it is to consistently market and grow a business, especially when it’s just you or just a couple of you and there are so many other things that are in need of your attention. It seems like what’s more important is putting out whatever that day’s fire is like getting in necessary products or supplies for your products and services, answering customer questions, going on sales calls, or managing employees. And yes, all of those and probably everything else on your to-do list are very important. When it comes down to it, everything has to be in motion and accomplished if you really want to be successful in business (which makes it pretty amazing that anyone is successful in business, and especially making a significant, sustained profit). Recently I’ve experienced two situations that brought the topic of consistency back to mind to talk about today.

In the first situation, I had an individual reach out and ask how they could make additional profit from their business that they primarily run through a social media channel, and after some back and forth I established that they were looking for ways to increase their income without having essentially any time to give to the efforts. Of course that raises a red flag for me, because unless you’re ready to add team members, able to hire freelancers, ready to invest in more marketing, or willing to change something about how you do business or what you’re offering, the options on ways to grow are incredibly few and far between. With the way the world changes, how can you expect to have consistent and sustained growth if you’re not willing or able to change or add anything?

In the other situation I’ve been getting emails this week for the first time in quite a few months from a business letting me know about a promotion they’re running. Email marketing is one of my favorite options for marketing, and studies have shown time and again that it’s one of the most reliable expenditures for your budget. One of the reasons I love email marketing is because of the way that it can help you build a relationship and build trust with your potential clients and customers. But the only way you build that relationship and gain that trust is if you consistently market so that you show up in your customer’s inbox on at least a weekly basis. Now, I’m not saying this business didn’t get any sales from the emails they sent this week, I’m saying that when a business sends 5 emails every 6 months and they’re all in one week and all promoting an offer, it’s a great recipe to get people to unsubscribe because it feels pushy and they may have even forgotten about you at that point in time.

What reminders have you experienced this week about the importance of consistency in your business?

Wisdom In and Out for Success

Something that’s necessary if you want sustained success is something that I’m struggling with a bit recently. If you really want sustained success you have to merge your wisdom inputs and outputs. What does that mean? Success can’t happen without actions, but it also can’t happen unless the actions you’re taking are inspired or planned. Which means that not only do you need to make sure that you’re “doing stuff,” you need to make sure that you’re making the right choices about what stuff you do. The only way you can know if you’re making the right choices is if you’re hearing about or learning about or bringing in new ideas, new feedback, new perspectives, new stories and new information.

OK, sounds reasonable, right? Yes, but the first challenge comes in when you have to go from bringing in to putting out. It can be very easy to get stuck looking at a proverbial white board full of ideas and information and have so many directions that you could go in or ways you could follow through that you don’t know which to pick or where to start. This is the challenge that I’m stuck on, that lately I’ve been doing good with inviting in lots of information, ideas, perspectives, and stories and now I have to figure out if any of it is worth sharing about or if it’s stuff to tuck away for some time in the future.

That being said, you may be experiencing the other challenge in this scenario, and that’s stopping the currently (fully or mostly) successful actions to welcome in new perspectives, feedback, ideas and information. It used to be that we could just keep going and there was a really good chance that you’d still be successful for a ton of years without having to change anything really. But in the past few decades, and especially in the last few years we’ve seen so many reminders that you simply can’t just “rinse and repeat,” but rather you have to adapt and adjust and sometimes outright change based on how the world has changed, how you’ve changed and how others who matter to you have changed. Change isn’t optional, which is why I include it with the famous saying about death and taxes: there are 3 things guaranteed in the world: change, death and taxes.

So how well do you manage to have both inputs and outputs throughout your success journey? Because as important as having input before your journey begins is, it’s also important to make sure you’re getting information in throughout the journey so you can course correct sooner rather than later if necessary. If you haven’t taken any action recently or done anything with the information you’ve taken in, this week I encourage you to get moving. And if you haven’t gotten any new information or feedback in recently, stop moving for a moment or two and get some perspective so that your efforts aren’t wasted or fruitless.

One Generation, One Question, at a Time

This pandemic has taught us all so much and given us so many different experiences. I know that some of them were scary and some of them have hurt the youngest generations (in part because of our inability as adults in general to have our acts together and to have a plan for something like this happening), and of course I hope that they learn from our mistakes and struggles so they can do a better job when it’s their turn to be in charge.

I think back to how some of us grew up in the shadow of the Civil Rights movement, some of us grew up in the shadow of the Vietnam War, some of us grew up in the shadow of 9/11, some will grow up in the shadow of this pandemic, and others will grow up with other big events that will change and shape their generation (and our world) in various ways. Every generation has those defining moments, moments that they’ll never forget and moments that will change not only their present but what the future could have been as well.

While I know that some of the experiences we’ve faced recently were challenging (and since we’re not done with the pandemic, there are probably more challenges yet to come), some recent interactions with kids have encouraged me that we haven’t totally messed things (or them) up and that if we are really committed to doing our best to help them grow into well-rounded adults, they’ll be OK. While kids may not have all the answers and aren’t able to understand things to the depth that someone with years of experience and interactions with others can (not to mention access to research), they’re still really perceptive individuals. As much as they love to ask us questions, one of the best things we can do is to ask questions back to them. Find out what the other kids have said about homework or projects or specific kids in classes, or situations their families may be going through, or their thoughts about wearing masks or going places and doing things again. When we open ourselves up to really hearing how others (including kids) see things, are experiencing things and even their opinions, not only does it give them an emotional boost to know that they’re included and heard, it may give us the answers we’ve been looking for or help shine light on a situation in a way that we haven’t seen before.

Sometimes kids don’t have answers to why they’re feeling the way they are, and that’s OK because they’re not at the age they need to have all those answers. But giving them the space to be themselves, to share how they’re feeling and what they’re seeing with us (as both families and adults) and the world, and encouraging them to be accepting of those feelings can actually help us find the courage, strength, energy, and patience to make the hard decisions, be the support and guidance they need, and do the right thing for ourselves and the world, so that they’ve got a place to call home in the years to come. If we love them enough, love ourselves enough, and love our world enough, we’ll start doing a better job with listening to our kids and each other.

“Love who you are, embrace who you are. Love yourself.” Lilly Singh

Leading Together

I was sharing on one of my newsletters this month a bit about Helen Keller. She was foundational in helping those who are blind and/or deaf be more independent, feel and be seen by the rest of the world, and she advocated for rights for those with disabilities. A big part of her story is her introduction to Anne Sullivan who helped her find her confidence and independence and not just waste away frustrated and angry. Helen Keller was born in 1880, and if you were born with a disability back then there was very little support, most people were put in homes or even given up to orphanages and made “the state’s problem.” If Anne Sullivan hadn’t become part of her life, Helen Keller’s life would have been just as meaningless as way too many other people who were neglected or abused because they had one or more disabilities. Thankfully today, in part due to Helen Keller’s work, the world is wide open for anyone and everyone regardless of physical disabilities or limitations.

I think it’s a shame that Helen Keller doesn’t come up in more leadership books and conversations, and I think one of the reasons is because we often focus on individual leaders, and their individual ability to impact a generation or make a significant change. But Helen Keller would never have been able to transform the world for those with disabilities if Anne Sullivan hadn’t come along. I know we talk about how leadership is as much about the people you’re leading as it is about the person who gets the “leader” title written on their name tag (you have to be leading others to be a leader), but very few of the leaders that are well known or have made a big impact did it all on their own. So many were blessed with mentors or partners who supported the leader in such a way that they were able to use their unique gifts and talents to make an impact. Without those mentors or partners, like Anne Sullivan, who step in to guide a future leader or give them the support and encouragement they need, we would be without many of our leaders, probably even a higher percentage than we would imagine.

So thank you to Anne Sullivan and all the other men and women who saw the potential in someone and encouraged them to become the leader we know and celebrate. Not everyone has the ability to be that star, that leader, that political leader, the hero, the one who comes up with the big win who will be remembered for generations, but everyone has the ability to give their support and encouragement to others. You may not be remembered and honored as Anne Sullivan is, but being a leader isn’t really about you anyway, it’s about the people you’re able to help, bless, support and guide. So pay attention in your business and your life for people who have potential and passion and make the effort to invest in them and give them the support that hopefully you received or the support that you wish you had received.

Choices of Success

Who doesn’t love choices, right?! We go to fast food restaurants, or any restaurant for that matter, and there are dozens of items on the menu for us to choose from. Why? Because unlike what some businesses want us to believe, there is no “one size fits all” and no one product or company that everyone can agree on or can truly support everyone to the degree they deserve. And let’s not get started on clothing sizes and how what fits my body or my feet probably won’t fit yours or your cousin’s or your best friend because we’re all different.

But the thing is, as anyone who has ever done an internet search to find something knows, there are literally thousands of choices out there. No, they won’t all work for you or be applicable to you, but even once you’ve narrowed things down to what would work for you, there’s a really good chance that there’s still several hundred if not over a thousand options to wade through.

Sometimes our success journey can get bogged down because we’re considering too many choices. I know, it sounds hard to believe, but sometimes there are too many options and we just can’t pick one. It kind of relates to the “to do list” dilemma, wherein people get stuck on their to-do list and nothing ever gets done because they look at the list and there’s just so much on it that they get overwhelmed and decide they can’t possibly ever tackle it all, so they won’t try on any of it.

Do I fully support knowing some of your options and being able to know what your next steps can be if one doesn’t pan out? Absolutely. But you also have to be strong enough and committed enough to your success to make decisions and take action at some point in time, sooner rather than later. I also strongly advocate for being able to think on your feet, being able to be creative and dream up new possibilities, and being willing to explore new things and perspectives, which means that I don’t think you should try to come up with “all the options” because you never know what new and better options you’ll come up with in the future.

Options and choices can be powerful tools for your success if you use them that way rather than letting them hold you back. So go ahead, try some different choices on for size this week when it comes to your success, whether it’s making decisions and taking actions faster than you usually do, or trying new things that you haven’t tried before.

Dealing with Moments of Relationship Friction

Do you have points in your day that cause more friction between you and your partner than you would like? I realized the other day that one of the reasons I tend to be both excited and stressed out when my partner gets home from work is because I tend to live and work on a level 5 activity level (with 1 being lazy and no activity and 10 being hyper or high energy) and he tends to move on a 10 (at least until he stops long enough to realize how tired he is). So it’s a big shock to my system and the more relaxed pace of living and thinking I’ve been involved in before he comes home, and unfortunately since I didn’t realize what the issue was I was crankier and more frustrated with both him and myself until he settles down. You may be familiar with this type of stress because it’s how you feel about how your kids act when they get home from school. They’re not usually that crazy, but for an hour or so after school they’re more energetic (to be polite) than they typically are.

Back to my situation with my partner, could I ask him to tone it down and slow down a bit? Sure, but I understand how hard it is sometimes to slow down from when you’ve been pushing or working really hard, because I sometimes get into “go” mode too when it’s necessary, but that’s not my normal. And a big part of the reason this is even an issue is because I’m getting stressed, and I don’t want to be stressed by what should be a good and happy moment each day. So now that I’ve recognized the issue, I can better mentally prepare myself for the fast 180 that happens when he gets home, which will help make it less stressful for both of us. And rather than increasing friction for him when he’s working to slow down, it’s easier if I make some small adjustments (especially to my expectations!) so that it more peaceful and enjoyable for both of us when he gets home.

Even if I don’t ask him to make changes, will we have a conversation about it? Yes, because it’s important to share stuff like this when you’re in a relationship with someone. But sometimes you just have to do what’s best for you, and in this situation it’s me making some changes so that I can better support both of us and help our relationship have less stressed. The next time you get stressed about something with your partner, maybe the first thing you should do is stop and think about why you’re feeling the way you do and if there are some small changes you can make or suggest to help alleviate the situation, before getting all aggressive and frustrated with them and the situation.

Building Wise Business Relationships

This week in my business newsletter I shared a reminder about one of the lessons we can learn from the sanctions and businesses choosing to not do business with Russia (at least temporarily), as well as all the countries and people working to support the Ukraine in various ways, and no, it’s not a political or military one. The lesson? Know who you’re doing business with. This means that you’re not just shopping based on price or how well-known they are, but to consider other factors and several businesses before making a decision on who to work with. You can take it a step further to mean being part of a network of businesses and business owners who can and do support each other’s activities, events, marketing, or even customers, be there to support through a challenge or emergency, and being part of a leadership group that gives leaders a safe place to share their challenges or learn from those with more experience. And even a step beyond working with quality providers and being part of a quality network, to also be vocal about the relationships we have and stand behind them or admit we were wrong and make changes.

Why? Because more and more customers are paying attention to how we do business, not just what we sell. So it makes sense to do what you can to build good relationships in the first place, rather than have to backtrack and play catch-up when a business you work with turns out to be not a good choice, especially if there were always some red flags that existed but you may have chosen to ignore or not look for when you started working with them.

I’ve always been a big supporter of website About pages and About sections on social media because not only is that where you show how you’re different from the other companies who sell similar stuff, it’s also where you can show how much you care and what your values are and how you deliver on those values. And I’m not talking about those old-school businesses who said stuff but no one really knew about it, nothing was followed through on, or it was more of a joke around the water cooler than anything serious. These are real values, real respect for customers and employees, honest care about the product or service from concept to delivery, real customer service, and real testimonials that show knowledge about your offerings and excellence from start to finish.

Finally, I know this seems like one of those “yea, I’ll get to it someday” type conversations, but over the last 26 months we’ve really learned how essential it is to be prepared because you don’t know when something “normally” bad, pandemic bad, or war bad might happen that might change your business overnight. So don’t wait until “someday” shows up to make these changes because then it might be too late for you, and both you and your customers will suffer as a result. What important ethics and quality based decisions have you made or are you making in your business?