How to Get People To Do What They Say

Most of the time when I write for Inc., I feel I have useful tools I can impart to help other small businesses. 

When it comes to accountability, I could use some help myself.

At BerylHealth, I've built a great culture rooted in employee engagement and loyalty.  I'd describe it as a family atmosphere where people love to get up every morning and come to work. But I've found one of the risks of this warm company culture is that it might not always have the type of structure and processes that other businesses have. As a result, we haven't always held people as accountable as we should.

Recently I had to have a "talk" with my senior leadership team.  I felt frustrated with deadlines being missed and lack of communication about projects, and I knew that the team was likely being even less diligent with peers and direct reports (than it was with me).  I have a real pet peeve about this.  Do what you say you're going to do.  But more importantly, communicate your progress if you're not going to hit your deadline. I'm 100% flexible if you renegotiate in advance, but have no tolerance when someone lets a date slip and tries to explain afterward.

Here are some examples of practices that are working for us as a company as we learn how to tighten the reigns without negatively impacting our culture:

Make accountability a core value.
A couple of years ago, many on staff were starting to complain about the lack of accountability for co-workers.  How could they succeed if others didn't meet commitments?  It became such a big issue that we added accountability as a fifth core value of the company.  We called it "commitment to accountability."  We hadn't added a core value in 15 years.

Put a system in place.
There are lots of books, articles, and systems out there to help improve accountability.  We settled on the Oz Principle, which focuses on simple models of "see it, own it, solve it, and do it," and designs a way to communicate either "above the line" or "below the line."  We are now well on our way to institutionalizing this system.

Measure accountabiility in multiple ways.
Just last week, I had my senior team take a self-assessment test on personal accountability.  After all, accountability starts with me, right?  We're also two years into a customer survey through which we measure the accountability and responsiveness of all our departments.  We have found a healthy competition between departments that want to make it to the top of that list or improve scores from the previous year.

Institute consequences for non-compliance. 
What good are deadlines if it doesn't matter if you meet them or not?  Why be at the meeting on time if no one does anything about it?  Everyone has to have skin in the game and be held responsible when they don't comply.

As we've begun to get better, I've found that when people are accountable to themselves and each other, trust improves, and walls fall down.

http://www.inc.com/paul-spiegelman/management-create-a-culture-of-accountability.html

Where does trust come from?

Where does trust come from?

Hint: it never comes from the good times and from the easy projects.
We trust people because they showed up when it wasn't convenient, because they told the truth when it was easier to lie and because they kept a promise when they could have gotten away with breaking it.
Every tough time and every pressured project is another opportunity to earn the trust of someone you care about.

sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/06/where-does-trust-come-from.html

Positive Thinking: 7 Easy Ways to Improve a Bad Day

Don't let a bad morning ruin your entire day. Use these mental tricks to change your momentum.

Had a lousy morning? Things looking grim?
Not to worry. The rest of your day need not be a disaster. It can in fact become one of your best, providing you take these simple steps:

1. Remember that the past does not equal the future.
There is no such thing as a "run of bad luck." The reason people believe such nonsense is that the human brain creates patterns out of random events and remembers the events that fit the pattern.

2. Refuse to make self-fulfilling prophesies. 
If you believe the rest of your day will be as challenging as what's already happened, then rest assured: You'll end up doing something (or saying) something that will make sure that your prediction comes true.

3. Get a sense of proportion.
Think about the big picture: Unless something life-changing has happened (like the death of a loved one), chances are that in two weeks, you'll have forgotten completely about whatever it was that has your shorts in a twist today.

4. Change your threshold for "good" and "bad."
Decide that a good day is any day that you're above ground. Similarly, decide that a bad day is when somebody steals your car and drives it into the ocean. Those types of definitions make it easy to be happy–and difficult to be sad.

5. Improve your body chemistry.
Your body and brain are in a feedback loop: A bad mood makes you tired, which makes your mood worse, and so forth. Interrupt the pattern by getting up and moving around.  Take a walk or eat something healthy.

6. Focus on what's going well.
The primary reason you're convinced it's a bad day is that you're focusing on whatever went wrong. However, for everything going badly, there are probably dozens of things going well.  Make list, and post it where it's visible.

7. Expect something wondrous.
Just as an attitude of doom and gloom makes you see more problems, facing the future with a sense of wonder makes you alive to all sorts of wonderful things that are going on, right now, everywhere around you.

Is This Your Employees' Idea of Service?

When an employee flipped off a key customer, this CEO realized his company had a culture problem. Here's how he fixed it.

Many years ago, I received a call from an irate customer. "Your driver," she yelled, "dropped off our fruit and then gave me the finger!"

After calming her down and assuring her that we would correct the situation, I caught up with the delivery driver. "What happened?" I asked.

"Traffic was bad," he said, "and I was running 15 minutes behind. On top of that when I got to the office my normal contact wasn't there. This woman came out of nowhere and started yelling at me that I was late and to put the fruit in her conference room and not in the kitchen where I normally do. So I put the fruit on the table like I do every week and threw up my hands and left."

"That woman," I said, "was your normal contact's boss." I paused. "Why would you do something like that and not try to figure out how you could make the situation better and help her?"

The driver looked at me skeptically and said: "My dad taught me a long time ago that if someone disrepects you then you have to disrespect them right back."

It was at that moment that I realized not everyone had the same definition of customer service that I did.
How do you communicate your customer service values to people who may have never had a good service experience or models of positive ways to treat people? You need to go past just defining what you do and explain why you do it. And this explanation--your philosophy of business--needs to permeate the entire culture and find its way into all of your processes in order to be truly impactful.

The FruitGuys 5Rs©
I spent a good year after that delivery driver experience thinking about how to articulate the company's values to my staff and embed them in everything we do at our fruit delivery business. I realized that those values weren't just about treating our customers in a certain way, they were about the way we treated each other, our peers, our suppliers, our customers, and even the world at large. I needed a system, a philosophy, that allowed for self-reflection, so that when people came up against a challenge in their workday they had a tool to assess themselves as to how they did and how they could improve.

What came out of that year was the 5Rs©--a series of five questions that are deeply aligned with our ethics at The FruitGuys and drive our pursuit of greater meaning through decisions we make every day at work.

Be Respectful:
"Have we been respectful at all times?" This first question in our 5Rs© process is key. To us, respect comes from a place of equality rather than status or forced authority. This means that we should be respectful of people not because (like a police officer) they have power over us, but because they are human just like us.

Be Responsive: 
"Have we been responsive to people's needs?" We talk about the difference between reacting (which tends to be emotional and often without thought) and responding. You need to observe, listen, and understand the problem and think about what solutions will produce positive outcomes in a timely manner.

Be Realistic:
"Have we been realistic about what we can and/or can't do?" This is one that is often overlooked but it's deeply important to admit when you can't do something. This is not to say that you can't strive or push to accomplish goals, but setting realistic expectations with clients, vendors, and other business partners is really the base from which success or failure will flow. We want to clearly assess potential roadblocks and be realistic about what it will take to be successful in our delivery of service.

Be Responsible:
"Have we all taken personal responsibility for outcomes?"  Running a business that is growing is like running a lengthening relay race in which you keep adding runners. The points at which you pass the baton will become greater and greater and you need to make sure that everyone in the organization takes personal responsibility for not just his or her leg of the race, but the handoff, the approach, and the departure of that baton. If everyone in the chain does this--takes the kind of responsibility that touches their work and the work of others--then you have a much stronger system in which everyone constantly communicates.

Be Remembered Positively: 
"Will our actions allow us to be remembered positively?" If, in your analysis of how you solved or didn't solve a problem, the first four Rs don't give you insight, then this last one acts as a catch-all. If you can't walk away from an interaction, scenario, project, or experience and feel that you will be remembered positively, then something went wrong and you need to figure out what that was. This last R truly drives more than just our philosophy of customer service at The FruitGuys, it drives our mission and desire to do good and create positive environments. It reinforces what I think is an inherent cultural value at our company--being humanists as business people who care about positive outcomes and healthy lives.

How to Thank Your Employees in Only 8 Words

Genuine appreciation goes a long way. Here's a guide to get the most out of a brief note, no matter who you're thanking.

The other day I was given the challenge to recognize 30 people by writing each one of them a note, which got me thinking about the amazing implications of recognizing employee's contributions. It shows you are paying attention. It shows you care. It makes people feel valued. And as business guru Tom Peters notes, "People don't forget kindness."

The analytical readers among you are already thinking this article is entirely too touchy-feely, so let me add that there is also a self-serving aspect of thanking people. When you recognize the contributions of others, you reinforce the kind of behavior you want to see again. People who feel their efforts are noticed, and their work makes a difference, are more likely to go the extra mile in the future. Leadership is about empowering others to realize their own abilities. Communicate your belief in your people, and watch them rise to meet your expectations.

Some of you are now thinking, 'How am I supposed to find the time to write personal notes when I have [insert important obligations]?' Well, I can show you how to thank someone appropriately in eight words or fewer. You can do that. Also, you don't want to be that boss who has her assistant order flowers once a year on each employee's birthday. Save your money. Everybody knows someone else did it for you.

When you thank your employees, be prompt. Recognize the kind of effort you want to see again soon. And be spontaneous. Don't wait for a holiday or company-wide event to thank your employees. Of course, be specific, too.

Our research at Emergenetics indicates that most employees would enjoy a personal thank-you note, but they want it customized to them. For example, to say, 'You're doing a good job,' is fine for a "social" thinker, but a "structural" thinker doesn't trust you unless you add a specific task he has accomplished.

So how can you most effectively thank and recognize your employees, based on their individual personalities and traits?

Here are 10 tips, according to brain research:
1. People who are at the gregarious end of the "expressiveness" spectrum use their gift of gab as a work asset. You might write to them: 'I celebrate how you share your enthusiasm,' or 'Thanks for keeping the lines of communication open.'

2. People who are on the quieter end of the "expressiveness" spectrum appreciate one-on-one contact with you. You could say: 'Mary, I prize your well-considered solutions,' or 'I appreciate your respectful attitude toward everyone.'

3. Those employees who are forceful in terms of "assertiveness" especially appreciate the prompt response from you. You could let them know: 'Thank you for keeping the momentum going!' or 'I appreciate your decisive action.'

4. But those who are more easygoing when it comes to "assertiveness" want everyone to get along. You might say: 'Thank you for helping to keep the peace,' or, 'I appreciate your amiability more than you know.'

5. When it comes to "flexibility," staffers who are change-seekers don't get flustered easily. You might write:
'I recognize your easy resilience' or 'Thanks for how you handled [difficult client].'

6. On the other end of the "flexibility" spectrum is people who are focused and have strong opinions. You might jot down: 'I depend on your support,' or 'I honor you for your convictions.'

7. Analytical thinkers value intelligence and individual, rather than team, recognition. To them, you might note: 'I appreciate your penetrating questions,' or 'I respect the depth of your knowledge.'

8. Structural-minded folks want to hear details. You could let them know: 'Thank you for transferring all that data perfectly,' or 'You always meet your deadlines--impressive!'

9. Since social thinkers want to please you, you ought to write them: 'I am so grateful for your teambuilding skills,' or, 'I couldn't have done it without you.'

10. Those on your team who are conceptual by nature want to feel unique. You could let them know: 'Your solution to the XYZ problem was stunning,' or 'I treasure your creative long-term views.'

The power of sincere thanks cannot be overestimated. And when you become a master of employee recognition, you can start thanking your clients, too!

 http://www.inc.com/geil-browning/how-to-thank-your-employees.html

The Problem with Perfection

If you're not familiar with the law of diminishing returns, it states that at a certain point adding more effort will not produce significantly more gains. The challenge is knowing when you've reached that point. For many managers this is an important question: How far do I keep going on a project before I declare that it's "good enough" — and that further effort will not significantly change the outcome?

Several years ago I worked with a project team charged with increasing sales to its large corporate customers. At the first meeting the team brainstormed ways to drive up sales, but before moving ahead decided to collect data about current sales and survey sales managers and customers. Since it wasn't clear which ideas might work, this seemed like a logical next step — until the data analysis work dragged on for months as the team tried to reach the perfect answer.

I've seen this pattern in many organizations where, instead of moving into action, managers insist on doing more analysis. In some cases this is part of a company-wide "paralysis by analysis" culture, while in others it is a personal tendency of the manager or team involved. Either way this oft-repeated pattern results not only in wasted effort, but significant delays in moving forward.

From my experience, there are two often-unconscious reasons for this unproductive quest for perfection. The first is the fear of failing. In many organizations, coming up with a recommendation that doesn't ultimately succeed can be career limiting. So to avoid this fate, managers put in extra effort to get the "right" answer, and back it up with as much data and justification as possible. Then, if it doesn't work, nobody can say that they didn't do their homework.

The second driver of unproductive perfection is the anxiety about taking action. Studying problems and coming up with recommendations is safe territory; while changing processes, procedures, incentives, systems, or anything else is much higher risk. Action forces managers and teams out of their comfort zones, driving them to sell ideas, deal with resistance, orchestrate work plans, and potentially disrupt work processes for colleagues and even customers. So one way to avoid dealing with these messy issues is to keep the study going as long as possible, thus delaying any action.

Because of these psychological dynamics, breaking free of unproductive perfection is not easy. But if you are a project sponsor, leader, or team member, and want to move into action more quickly, here's an approach you can try: Instead of viewing "action" as something that follows research, think about how action can occur parallel to research. In other words, rather than coming up with perfect recommendations and then flipping the switch months later, start by testing some of your initial ideas on a small scale immediately — while collecting more data. Then you can feed the lessons from these experiments into the research process, while continuing to implement and scale additional ideas.

For example, in the sales case described above, the team shifted its patterns by selecting three corporate customers where they could quickly test some of their ideas, in a low-risk way, in collaboration with the sales teams. With one customer, the sales leader experimented with selling products and services together, rather than having services as an after-sell. A second sales leader added a paid advisory service to his offering. The third worked on building relationships higher up in the C-suite. The lessons from these experiments were then incorporated into the team's recommendations, which were then tested with several more customers and so on. Within a year, most of the corporate sales teams were working differently and increasing their overall sales.

Clearly the ideas that first emerge through this iterative approach are not going to be perfect, but by sharpening them through field-testing rather than theoretical analysis they will eventually become good enough to deliver results. Working in this way also reduces the risk of recommending the "wrong" ideas and the anxiety about managing change, since small-scale tests provide rapid feedback and engage others in the organization right from the beginning.

Perfection certainly makes sense when designing an airplane or an office building. But if the search for perfection is leading you to diminishing returns and an avoidance of action, it might be worth taking a different path.

Does your organization have a problem with perfection?

http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2011/08/the-problem-with-perfection.html

Learned Helplessness in Organizations

Here’s a cautionary tale of cultural disempowerment: A number of years ago, one of my colleagues was asked to help reduce bureaucracy and speed up decision-making in GE’s former nuclear business — but was told that nothing could be done because every procedure was based on government regulations. “We’re talking about nuclear reactors here,” the managers said, “If we change the way we do things, something could blow up!”

Undaunted by their response, my colleague asked the managers to simply list all of their reports, approval procedures, reviews, audits, metrics, decision forums, standing meetings, and other management processes. He then had them identify which ones the government required, and which had been created internally. Much to the managers’ amazement, the vast majority of these management processes were self-generated — which meant that they could streamline much more than they had thought.

In the past year I’ve heard variations on this same theme across completely different industries: Pharmaceutical and financial services managers say that their hands are tied because of regulations or new legislation. Managers in a defense-related firm are constrained because of cuts to the Federal budget. Leaders in a professional services firm can’t take actions because of long-standing partner agreements. And the list goes on. Everyone can blame some kind of external circumstance for his or her inability to act.

Of course all of these explanations are at least partially true. However, around these kernels of truth, managers build concentric circles of excuses that absolve them of accountability for change or improvement. So instead of finding creative ways to deal with regulations or budget cuts, they accept the status quo and blame external conditions for the problems that exist.

This phenomenon — which one of my clients has dubbed “learned helplessness” — has the power to permeate the culture of an organization. Like a spreading infection, managers pass on learned helplessness from group to group and level to level. Eventually the standard response to any initiative is some variation of, “We’d love to do that, but we really can’t.”

From the outside, this kind of culture doesn’t make any sense. As my colleague pointed out to GE’s nuclear managers, many of the constraints are self-generated. But you’ll find most managers are unwilling to courageously challenge their beliefs about taking risks. To fight this resistance and start down this path, here are two steps that you can take:

First, shine a spotlight on the pattern. The first lever for changing a recurring cultural behavior is to make people aware of it. To do this, make an inventory of initiatives that people say they want, but haven’t carried out. Ask why these kinds of initiatives die on the vine. Put together a list of the ten most common excuses for not taking action. The more dialogue you can create around these issues, the more your colleagues will become aware of their largely unconscious behaviors.

Second, prove your organizational power to act. Find one initiative that can demonstrate, even on a small scale, that taking action will not result in catastrophic failure. In one company for example, managers in the field were asked to identify requests from the head office that they thought were silly or redundant. Field managers had always complained about these requests, but never pushed back. Once they were given permission to challenge these “requests” and actually won a few victories, they began to develop the confidence to tackle more ambitious changes.

All managers face real constraints. Effective managers differentiate between those that must be accepted and those that can be challenged.

How can your organization overcome learned helplessness?

http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2012/06/learned-helplessness-in-organi.html

The Value of Your Attention

Most of our attention is stretched across a bunch of ideas at once and it’s increasingly difficult to stop and pay attention to the world around us. However, our attention span is limited and many of us undervalue its importance.
It’s no secret that in order to form a memory you first have to pay attention to an event, but it’s easy to forget as you’re rushing to work or jogging through the park. As a digital trend, this is prevalent in the idea of the attention economy where attention is a limiting factor in how we process and consume information. It’s one of the essential reasons why notifications are evil as well: we consistently break focus and stop paying attention to a task at hand.
As The Information Diet author Clay Johnson points out, it’s not just about extending your focus so you can pay attention longer, it’s about choosing when it really matters:

As we continue to improve our critical thinking skills, we also need to be more selective about the information we put in our bodies. We need to think critically about the source before we think critically about the content. And we need to think critically about the type of information we’re consuming.

Johnson’s example is with news sources, but the idea is the same for everything you pay attention to. Attention, much like willpower, depletes over time so it’s important to concentrate on what really matters.
One way to practice focusing your attention is to try and memorize a situation and think critically about it. Scientific American sums this up when they address the idea of memorizing a block of text:

Memorization, it seems, is another way of forcing our mind to pay attention-to really pay attention. And it can serve to stop us, to force us to think and reconsider, in a more basic fashion that we would were we to choose the stopping (or reflection) points ourselves-because instead, our brain has oddly enough chosen for us in the way it is storing, processing, and recalling information.

The example in Scientific American is about memorizing and understanding text, but the idea is that when you’re memorizing something you force your brain to pay attention to it because you value that information.
In a recent article in TIME Magazine, researchers suggest a similar idea as a means to increase your power of observation, an idea not too far off from attention. Their suggestion is to keep a field notebook that trains your brain to learn to look for new details:

One of the best ways to do this is through the old-fashioned practice of taking field notes: writing descriptions and drawing pictures of what you see. “When you’re sketching something, you have to choose which marks to make on the page,” says Michael Canfield, a Harvard University entomologist and editor of the recent book Field Notes on Science and Nature. “It forces you to make decisions about what’s important and what’s not.”

TIME suggests that when you force yourself to look for these smaller details by drawing out a scene you teach yourself to differentiate between seeing and observing. Doing so can help you decide where and what is worth your attention.
We tend to put more value on increasing focus and forget to invest in our ability to pay attention. To retrain your brain you could implement the training techniques employed by scientists and start keeping a field journal. You could take the extra time to sit and memorize a scene. The point is that you’re stopping and thinking critically about what you see throughout the day instead of just running past it. It’s a reminder of the importance of being mindful of what you spend your time consuming and digesting.


http://lifehacker.com/5915794/the-value-of-your-attention

The Making of a CEO: Getting Superior Performance from Ordinary People

We'd all like to have a team of superstars, but that's just wishful thinking. What you need is extraordinary performance from ordinary people.

As leaders, we all want a team of superstars. But by definition, there are more ordinary performers in the world than there are extraordinary, and Murphy’s Law ensures that they always wind up on your team. The result: You’ve got a group of average, normal people that must take on formidable challenges.

How do you get an average team to produce extraordinary results?  It is possible. The key isn’t in getting folks to work harder, although that can help. The key is getting them to work smarter, first by making better decisions. Once the decision-making is improved, it makes more sense for people to work harder. Incremental improvement on good ideas can produce a step change in terms of performance. To improve your decisions:

Educate. Helping your group understand the difference between an average decision and a superior one. When a member of your team makes a decision, show them how it can be improved. Make everyone stretch. Eliminate the propensity of average employees to do what has always been done in the past, using the same tools and approaches as before.

Set expectations. Create a culture that instructs and enlightens individuals to consistently make better decisions. At the beginning, it may feel like you are the only one making any good decisions at all. You need to encourage everyone to buy into the bigger mission and to make better decisions.

Empower. As you begin to see that the team is on the right path, empower the folks who have leadership potential to continually improve upon the plan and keep it on the right course. Impress upon each of them their specific role, and celebrate both individual and team results. Don’t let anyone slip back into their comfort zone of the status quo.

Stay the course. Take a page from Peter Schultz, the CEO of Porsche. He turned his company around in the mid-80s, and wrote a book about it. He is famous for saying that one should “plan democratically and implement like a dictator.”

Achieving superior results will always get you noticed, but doing so with an ordinary team forces you to show your mettle a lot faster.

http://www.inc.com/don-rainey/the-making-of-a-ceo-getting-superior-performance-from-ordinary-people.html

Accessing remote file shares with BES 5

One new feature made possible with the release of version 5 of the BlackBerry device software (when used in conjunction with a BES 5 server), is the ability to access and search remote file systems: both Windows and Samba-based.

To add the file share to the BES, log into the BlackBerry Web Administration Console (remember that if using the BAS' internal authentication mechanism, the default username is 'admin' rather than 'besadmin').

Browse to Servers and Components --> BlackBerry Domain --> Component View --> MDS Connection Service. Click on the File tab and select the option to Edit Component:

Enter a name for the share, this can be anything to identify the share to the administrator, as well as the UNC path to the file share [in the form \\(server)\file_share]

This share must be available to the BES, ideally on the same local network.

Enter the details of a domain user account to be used to access the share. This user account must naturally have permission to access the share.

Click Save All.

Click on the Configuration Sets tab:

Enter a name for the Configuration Set and add the file share created earlier.

Now browse to the specific MDS Connection Service instance you want to assign the component to and click on the Component Configuration Sets tab:

 
Add the Configuration Set you created earlier and click Save All.

Now click on the Instance Information tab and select the option to Restart Instance.

The file share has now been configured. To access the share from the handheld device, open the Applications folder and select the Files icon:

Select All Documents and enter in the name of the file if you know it, or a partial match to search for:

http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/accessing-remote-file-shares-bes-5

5 Things to Un-Learn From School

You spent a lot of time getting an education. But if you want to make it as an entrepreneur, it's time to forget some of what you learned.

You spent a lot of years in school. You learned a lot.

Some of what you learned you need to un-learn as soon as possible. Here are five key attitudes you should adopt instead:

1. If you only do what you're told, you'll excel.


I know. School was hard.

But not that hard.

If you did what you were told--go to class, do the reading, turn in assignments on time, etc.--you could get As. Initiative was not required and, in fact, was often frowned on.

Now--whether you work for someone else or run your own business--doing what you're told makes you average. Not superior, not excellent... just average.

To be above average, or to achieve better than average results, you must do two things:

1. Do what others are willing to do, and do it better, and
2. Do what others aren't willing to do

Otherwise, you're just average.

2. Being micro-managed is to be expected.

Sure, you felt overly-controlled in school: Dates, timelines, rules... not to mention the seemingly arbitrary policies and nonsensical assignments. You saw graduation as the day you would finally have more freedom.

Nope.

In school you paid people to criticize, direct, and at times micro-manage you. Now you're the one getting paid... yet you somehow don't feel it's fair that investors, partners, or customers can dictate what you do, sometimes down to the smallest detail?

Don't expect someone to trust you to perform a task or service–and give you money to perform that service–until you've proven you can be trusted to perform that service.

Then, once you've proven your skills, if you still feel micro-managed it's your responsibility to change the situation. Communicate before you are communicated to. Answer questions before questions are asked. Demonstrate your value before you are asked to prove your value.

No one wants to micro-manage you. They have better things to do with their time.

If you're being micro-managed it's probably because you need to be.

3. Your time off is the highlight of the year.

You may have forgotten your mom's birthday, but I'll bet you knew the exact day every semester ended and the start and end of Spring Break. And you lived for snow days.

So it only makes sense to see weekends and vacations as the highlight of your working year, right?

Actually, no: If you feel you endure the workweek just to get to the payoff of the weekend, you're in the wrong business. Find work you enjoy; then you won't see time off as a chance to finally do something fun but as a chance to do something else fun.

While you'll never love everything you do in your professional life, you should enjoy the majority of it.

Otherwise you're not living–you're just working.

4. Getting criticized means you failed.
Here's another pay/paid dichotomy. In college you paid professors to critique your work.

So now that you are the one getting paid, why is it unfair for someone--like a customer, investor, or key partner–to critique your work?

It's not.

When you get negative feedback, see it as an opportunity. Think, "Wow, I didn't realize I wasn't doing that right. I didn't realize I wasn't doing that as well as I could."

Criticism is a chance to learn--and this time you're getting paid to learn.

Never complain when someone pays you to learn.

5. Success is based on toeing the line.

Say you disagreed with a professor's point of view on a particular point. You may even have been right... but the only way to get an A in the class was to parrot the professor's take on the subject. Except in rare cases, confirming and following the rules was everything.

In business, conforming only ensures that you will achieve the same results as other people.
If you want to achieve different results you'll have to think and act differently. Do your homework, think critically, and don't be afraid to create your own path.

But don't be different just for the sake of being different. Be different because it's who you are and what you believe... and because it will get you where you want to go, with your integrity and your sense of self intact.

http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/entrepreneurs-5-things-to-un-learn-from-school.html

How to Build Customer Trust: 9 Rules

No one is going to buy from a person they don't trust. Here's how to build a better client relationships.

Customers don't buy from people they don't trust. Unfortunately, most sales gurus (including some that are quite famous) define selling as "convincing," "persuading," and "winning"–presumably with the customer being the convinced, persuaded loser.

No wonder so many people put up a barrier the minute somebody tries to sell them something!
Fortunately, it's easy to build trust in a business relationship. Here are the rules, based on a conversation with a true expert in trust-building Jerry Acuff, author of The Relationship Edge: The Key to Strategic Influence and Selling Success.

1. Be yourself.
Everybody on the planet has had unpleasant experiences with salespeople, and many have walked away from a sales situation feeling manipulated. So, rather than acting or sounding like a salesperson, simply act the way you would when meeting with a colleague.

2. Value the relationship.
If you want people around you to value having a relationship with you, you must truly believe that relationship building is important. You must also believe that you honestly have something of value to offer to the relationship.

3. Be curious about people.
People are drawn to those who show true interest in them. Curiosity about people is thus a crucial element of relationship building. Having an abiding fascination in others give you the opportunity to learn new things and make new connections.

4. Be consistent.
A customer's ability to trust you is dependent upon showing the customer that your behavior is consistent and persistent over time. When a customer can predict your behavior, that customer is more likely to trust you.

5. Seek the truth.
Trust emerges when you approach selling as a way of helping the customer–so make it your quest to discover the real areas where the you can work together. Never be afraid to point out that your product or company may not be the right fit.

6. Keep an open mind.
If you're absolutely convinced the customer needs your product, the customer will sense you're close-minded and become close-minded in return. Instead, be open to the idea that the customer might be better served elsewhere. In turn, customers will sense that you've got their best interests at heart.

7. Have a real dialog.
Every meeting should be a conversation, not a sales pitch. Spend at least half of every customer meeting listening. And make certain the conversation is substantive and about real business issues, not just office patter or sports chit-chat.

8. Be a professional.
Customers tend to trust individuals who are serious about what they do, and willing to take the time to achieve a deep understanding of their craft. Take the time every day to learn more about your customers, their industry and their challenges.

9. Show real integrity.
Be willing to take a stand, even when it's unpopular with your customer or your company. You don't need to be adversarial, but have the ability to make decisions based upon what you know is right. And on a related note: Never promise what you can't deliver.

Needless to say, gaining trust is only part of the equation. You must also have a product that customers want and need, and the ability to show how you're adding value, solving problems, and so forth.

However, if you don't earn the customer's trust, they'll probably buy from someone else whom they do trust–even if the offering isn't as good.

 http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/how-to-build-customer-trust-9-rules.html

How to Motivate Employees? The Best Answer Ever

Effective motivation comes down to one surprising word... which might be why so many leaders fail to do it right.

No business is better than its employees, which is why engaging and motivating employees is so important.

Too bad it's rarely done well.

Maybe that's because all the theorists and strategists and experts make motivating people seem much more complicated than it needs to be. Is it possible there's a simple and straightforward answer to the question, "How can I motivate my employees?"

It turns out there is, and Dick Cross, an eight-time turnaround CEO, founder of The Cross Partnership, founding partner of Alston Capital Partners, and the author of Just Run It!: Running an Exceptional Business is Easier Than You Think, has it.

According to Dick, motivating employees—or anyone—is based on one word.

Patience.

Say you want to instill a sense of urgency. The best way to get people to go fast is to let them know why there's a need to go fast, and then be encouraging and patient with their progress.

How many times has a boss or coach ranted and raved about what needs to happen by when, "Or else!" Probably more often than you like to remember.

And how often did the ranting and raving achieve the intended result? Probably less often than the ranters and ravers like to remember.

That shouldn't come as a surprise, because it's a pattern we learned to follow as children. People, including kids, don't like to be threatened. Threaten me and I'll resist. Spank me, ground me, reprimand me, put a letter in my file, demote me, and you'll fail to change my attitude. In fact, you'll increase my resolve not to comply.

Physically you might overpower me, but you'll never get me to do any more than the minimum required to get by.

And that's a huge problem, because minimum compliance efforts never produce great organizational accomplishments.

But if employees like how you treat them, know you believe in them, understand what needs to get accomplished and understand why it's so important... they'll generally accomplish great things.

The key lies in getting them to want to help you, which is only possible when you 1) exhibit an understanding of what is possible, 2) care about them, and 3) are willing to accept the absolute best they can deliver.

Under those conditions, most people will give you their all.

Do the opposite and they won't. There are few things more de-motivating than feeling you are trying your best but still letting someone down. You've been there. No matter what you did, it wasn't good enough. Eventually you decide hard work isn't worth it.  That's why there is little more motivating than the prospect of amazing a person who genuinely cares about us.

Who do we generally care about the most? The people we feel believe in us the most, which makes them the people we least want to disappoint: Moms, favorite teachers, best friends... and remarkable bosses.

Those are the people to whom we give our all; they believe in us... and we don't want to let them down.

And that's why motivation ultimately comes down to patience. Showing patience is an extraordinary way to let people know you care about them. By showing patience and expressing genuine confidence in them, your employees naturally will be motivated to find ways to do things that will amaze everyone—including themselves.

And how do you make motivation last?

The key is to understand that sometimes your employees must go slow in order to go fast.

A burst of speed that drains physical and emotional energy is not worth the effort because it's not sustainable. Speed that builds gradually, that forgives mistakes along the way, and that allows people to figure out for themselves how to maximize their potential—that kind of speed, and patience, creates a feeling of motivation that lasts forever.

Motivation? It's all about patience.

 http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/how-to-motivate-employees-the-best-answer-ever.html

The quickest way to get things done and make change

Not the easiest, but the quickest:
Don't demand authority.
Eagerly take responsibility.
Relentlessly give credit.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/05/the-quickest-way-to-get-things-done-and-make-change-and.html

Accountability and Integrity: The Golden Rules of Business

Deciding to do the right thing seems like a simple rule of business but often it gets lost in the day-to-day grind.

Say what you do and do what you say. Do the right things, and the right things will happen. It sounds as simple as the Golden Rule, but there is a surprising lack of accountability and integrity in the business world today.

These two attributes are central to OtterBox and our ability to continue to grow at a rate that's landed us on the Inc. 500|5000 four times. Integrity and accountability are, in fact, two of our core values.

I think most of us know what the right thing is, but being able to execute on it is another matter. Doing what's right isn't always easy. People frequently default to the simplest option as an automatic response, which often means integrity is not upheld and accountability is at stake.

An extreme example of lack of integrity and accountability can be seen in today's political landscape. No matter where they land on the spectrum, politicians are consistently promising to do the right things if elected. Lower taxes, save the environment, stimulate the economy - every election season the American public is inundated with promises.

To be fair, these politicians might actually think they can follow through on their vows, but the lack of results from any single one of them or any party as a whole has become an epidemic in and of itself.  That's where accountability comes in - you must do what you say.

Much like the American public, customers are quickly fed up with a lack of accountability. However, unlike the American public will quickly respond and take their business elsewhere.  Like Howard Beale said in the 1976 film Network, they'll be "mad as hell" and surely are "not going to take this anymore!"

Also unlike politicians, businesses can and must admit when they have fallen through on promises. Not all decisions made will be the right ones, but open and honest communication about those situations maintains integrity and accountability.

Integrity and accountability are daily decisions, not one-offs reserved for top level decisions by the CEO. Every employee must adhere to these values in all the tasks and operations they do. If a business doesn't have integrity in the small things, no one will believe it has integrity in the big things.

http://www.inc.com/curt-richardson/accountability-and-integrity-the-golden-rules-of-business.html

How to Build Customer Trust: 9 Rules

No one is going to buy from a person they don't trust. Here's how to build a better client relationships.

Customers don't buy from people they don't trust. Unfortunately, most sales gurus (including some that are quite famous) define selling as "convincing," "persuading," and "winning"–presumably with the customer being the convinced, persuaded loser.

No wonder so many people put up a barrier the minute somebody tries to sell them something!
Fortunately, it's easy to build trust in a business relationship. Here are the rules, based on a conversation with a true expert in trust-building Jerry Acuff, author of The Relationship Edge: The Key to Strategic Influence and Selling Success.

1. Be yourself.
Everybody on the planet has had unpleasant experiences with salespeople, and many have walked away from a sales situation feeling manipulated. So, rather than acting or sounding like a salesperson, simply act the way you would when meeting with a colleague.

2. Value the relationship.
If you want people around you to value having a relationship with you, you must truly believe that relationship building is important. You must also believe that you honestly have something of value to offer to the relationship.

3. Be curious about people.
People are drawn to those who show true interest in them. Curiosity about people is thus a crucial element of relationship building. Having an abiding fascination in others give you the opportunity to learn new things and make new connections.

4. Be consistent.

A customer's ability to trust you is dependent upon showing the customer that your behavior is consistent and persistent over time. When a customer can predict your behavior, that customer is more likely to trust you.

5. Seek the truth.
Trust emerges when you approach selling as a way of helping the customer–so make it your quest to discover the real areas where the you can work together. Never be afraid to point out that your product or company may not be the right fit.

6. Keep an open mind.
If you're absolutely convinced the customer needs your product, the customer will sense you're close-minded and become close-minded in return. Instead, be open to the idea that the customer might be better served elsewhere. In turn, customers will sense that you've got their best interests at heart.

7. Have a real dialog.
Every meeting should be a conversation, not a sales pitch. Spend at least half of every customer meeting listening. And make certain the conversation is substantive and about real business issues, not just office patter or sports chit-chat.

8. Be a professional.
Customers tend to trust individuals who are serious about what they do, and willing to take the time to achieve a deep understanding of their craft. Take the time every day to learn more about your customers, their industry and their challenges.

9. Show real integrity.
Be willing to take a stand, even when it's unpopular with your customer or your company. You don't need to be adversarial, but have the ability to make decisions based upon what you know is right. And on a related note: Never promise what you can't deliver.

Needless to say, gaining trust is only part of the equation. You must also have a product that customers want and need, and the ability to show how you're adding value, solving problems, and so forth.
However, if you don't earn the customer's trust, they'll probably buy from someone else whom they do trust–even if the offering isn't as good.

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/how-to-build-customer-trust-9-rules.html

Are Your Employees Waving Away Customers?

As a business owner, you go above and beyond to keep customers happy. But your employees might not feel the same.

I recently visited a local small business (a pet food store) because I wanted to get my doggie, Dwight, some kibble. It wasn't a highly trafficked joint and in a remote area, and I only wanted a small bag of food. So I got out of the car and went up to the door only to find they had just closed.

Turns out I had arrived three minutes after closing time and the person who was manning the store was still behind the register with a customer. I waved to see if he would open the place up just to get one more sale, but this employee gave me the cut-across-the-throat gesture and waved me off.
What did that tell me? That he clearly wasn't the business owner.

All of you business owners are out there clutching your proverbial pearls, right? If you were there, you would have opened the doors to get one more sale for the day. But in this case, it was an employee who wanted out after eight hours of looking at the clock and not giving a damn about poor Dwight and his lack of delicious dry food.

How do you make sure your employees aren't waving off customers and potential sales? Here are four ideas:

1. Go above and beyond.
Your employees want to feel part of a family, so make it so! Hang out with them, get to know them, do fun things like happy hours and picnics with them. Everyone wants to love where they work and who they work for, so give it to them!

2. Make them feel invested in the company.
Why not try giving them a part of your company so they feel invested? At my company, VerticalResponse, we give all of our employees stock options to let them know that if the company is successful, they will be, too. You might also try giving them a piece of the profits at the end of the year so they know that the more the cash registers ring, the more they'll get.

3. Be transparent.
Let them know what your growth is and what it needs to be. Even if it takes the old thermometer sketch to illustrate where you are in the month, it's worth it. I give my entire company a monthly update on where we are, where we need to be and what we need to do to get there.

4. Give them incentives.
Tracking their daily sales could get them more of a bonus at the end of the month. Ever have someone ask you at the register, "Who helped you with that?" They're tracking the effectiveness of their employees who make an impression.

Here's a story I love to share. Since VerticalResponse is an online company, there's not really a reason for customers to physically visit us. At the very beginning of our existence, a woman came to our offices and sat on our couch for 20 minutes (we didn't have a receptionist at the time) until an employee (there were four of us total) came out into the open area on his way to the restroom and saw her. She was there to give us $20 in cash so she could send an e-mail campaign to her list.
Instead of pushing her out the door and directing her to our website, the employee took the cash, printed out an invoice for the amount she gave us, and even gave her extra e-mail credits. She took the time to come to us, so we felt we needed to return the favor.

The bottom line is that you need to have your employees be as passionate as possible about your business. Including them on various parts of your business, even the down and dirty, and incentivizing them to do what you as the business owner would do, might work wonders. Have you tried?

Intelligence Is Overrated: What You Really Need To Succeed

Albert Einstein’s was estimated at 160, Madonna’s is 140, and John F. Kennedy’s was only 119, but as it turns out, your IQ score pales in comparison with your EQ, MQ, and BQ scores when it comes to predicting your success and professional achievement.

IQ tests are used as an indicator of logical reasoning ability and technical intelligence. A high IQ is often a prerequisite for rising to the top ranks of business today. It is necessary, but it is not adequate to predict executive competence and corporate success. By itself, a high IQ does not guarantee that you will stand out and rise above everyone else.

Research carried out by the Carnegie Institute of Technology shows that 85 percent of your financial success is due to skills in “human engineering,” your personality and ability to communicate, negotiate, and lead. Shockingly, only 15 percent is due to technical knowledge. Additionally, Nobel Prize winning Israeli-American psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, found that people would rather do business with a person they like and trust rather than someone they don’t, even if the likeable person is offering a lower quality product or service at a higher price.

With this in mind, instead of exclusively focusing on your conventional intelligence quotient, you should make an investment in strengthening your EQ (Emotional Intelligence), MQ (Moral Intelligence), and BQ (Body Intelligence). These concepts may be elusive and difficult to measure, but their significance is far greater than IQ.

Emotional Intelligence
EQ is the most well known of the three, and in brief it is about: being aware of your own feelings and those of others, regulating these feelings in yourself and others, using emotions that are appropriate to the situation, self-motivation, and building relationships.

Top Tip for Improvement: First, become aware of your inner dialogue. It helps to keep a journal of what thoughts fill your mind during the day. Stress can be a huge killer of emotional intelligence, so you also need to develop healthy coping techniques that can effectively and quickly reduce stress in a volatile situation.

Moral Intelligence
MQ directly follows EQ as it deals with your integrity, responsibility, sympathy, and forgiveness. The way you treat yourself is the way other people will treat you. Keeping commitments, maintaining your integrity, and being honest are crucial to moral intelligence.

Top Tip for Improvement: Make fewer excuses and take responsibility for your actions. Avoid little white lies. Show sympathy and communicate respect to others. Practice acceptance and show tolerance of other people’s shortcomings. Forgiveness is not just about how we relate to others; it’s also how you relate to and feel about yourself.

Body Intelligence
Lastly, there is your BQ, or body intelligence, which reflects what you know about your body, how you feel about it, and take care of it. Your body is constantly telling you things; are you listening to the signals or ignoring them? Are you eating energy-giving or energy-draining foods on a daily basis? Are you getting enough rest? Do you exercise and take care of your body? It may seem like these matters are unrelated to business performance, but your body intelligence absolutely affects your work because it largely determines your feelings, thoughts, self-confidence, state of mind, and energy level.

Top Tip For Improvement: At least once a day, listen to the messages your body is sending you about your health. Actively monitor these signals instead of going on autopilot. Good nutrition, regular exercise, and adequate rest are all key aspects of having a high BQ. Monitoring your weight, practicing moderation with alcohol, and making sure you have down time can dramatically benefit the functioning of your brain and the way you perform at work.

What You Really Need To Succeed
It doesn’t matter if you did not receive the best academic training from a top university. A person with less education who has fully developed their EQ, MQ, and BQ can be far more successful than a person with an impressive education who falls short in these other categories.

Yes, it is certainly good to be an intelligent, rational thinker and have a high IQ; this is an important asset. But you must realize that it is not enough. Your IQ will help you personally, but EQ, MQ, and BQ will benefit everyone around you as well. If you can master the complexities of these unique and often under-rated forms of intelligence, research tells us you will achieve greater success and be regarded as more professionally competent and capable.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/keldjensen/2012/04/12/intelligence-is-overrated-what-you-really-need-to-succeed

Secret Trait of Every Successful Entrepreneur

Conrad Hilton lost his hotel business during the Great Depression but was able to buy it back and build one of the world's most successful corporations. What's his secret?

One of the qualities that is most helpful in an aspiring entrepreneur is optimism.  Without it you would be foolish to attempt risk. Consider those before us who against the greatest odds managed to start and build successful businesses. What was their secret?

Conrad Hilton and I went to the same high school, N.M.M.I. He started his hotel business prior to the Great Depression and as a result found himself over extended when the depression hit. He lost his hotels but was retained as manager. By 1946 he had bought them back and formed Hilton Hotel Corporation. He was an optimist.

There is an old saying in the Army, "There's no atheist in a foxhole." That's easy to figure out and pretty self-explanatory. I'll give you a new one, "There is no pessimist in a successful start-up or turnaround."

How many people do you know that have a great idea for a business, talk about it but never do anything about it? What stops them? Is it the risk of failure? Based on my years in business I would say it isn't the risk of failure but a lack of optimism for success. Now you may think I'm splitting hairs but let me make this distinction.

You have to be a realist to recognize whether something has the potential to be a success or not. Does the product, goods or services offered in my new venture have value? Can I take this model to market and create enough distinction that differentiates me from the competition? Or if its something completely new, is there a market for it? If you are being realistic, and the answer is yes, then you have to ask yourself am I going to put myself out there? Now comes the optimism. According to Webster, the definition of optimism is an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome. By looking at that definition, I cannot see how anyone could start a business or attempt a turnaround without being optimistic!

I have heard from many readers that they want to start their own business but just aren't ready. For many that may be true. For those that fit this description, ask yourself will you ever be ready? There probably will be no better time than right now to start one. I say this because the macro aspects of the market have hit the bottom and are coming back up. Not because the government is doing anything but because business people are. The ability to rebuild the economy rests with you and me. Our voice, optimism and ultimately the power of small business will adapt and overcome.

The cost of money is lower now than before. With interest rates so low, the risk reward parameters have shifted. Based on today's rates; something slightly better than break even will return more money than conventional savings, money market or CD rates.

So, what are you waiting for?

3 Ways to Build Trust In Your Managers

Trust is an essential part of strong leadership. Developing it requires time, patience--and coaching.

Do you trust the people who report to you?

While every leader faces this question, too often the question is framed within the context of right vs. wrong. That is, do you trust your employees to make honest and ethical decisions? In my experience the question of trust should more often be about managerial competence than personal morality.

The trust issue is even more important these days as organizations strive to grow with leaner staffs and fewer resources. The margin for error is slim to none.

Here's an example of what I mean. You notice that a team that reports to one of our direct reports is having difficulty getting a project done on time and on budget. You speak to your direct report--the team's boss--but he seems unable to spot the problem. He is too trusting of his team and lets the members do whatever they want to do. Because the team has always performed well in the past he assumes they will figure out how to get their project back on track. The boss has become too trusting, while you as his boss are losing trust in his leadership as well as the capability of the team.

There is no right and wrong in a moral sense here. It is an issue of managerial poor-performance. Too often I have seen managers let such issues slide because they do not want to confront their people or because they "trust" they will get the job done.

Neither is a good solution. A better alternative is a coaching session, and here are some recommendations for how to conduct one.

Get the whole story. Invite your direct report to tell you his side of the story. This is especially true when things go wrong. Sometimes the manager is clueless; he may be so wrapped up in details that he has lost the bigger picture. For example, he may think he is shepherding the project when it reality he is juggling details and not completing the whole task.

Make suggestions. Ask what the manager will do to rectify the situation. One executive I know makes it a point to teach his people how to ask the right questions at the right time. Such questions are those that challenge assumptions, not in a hostile manner, but in ways that encourage open and honest discussion. Such questions open the mind to alternate ways of thinking.

Gain agreement. Insist on a plan of action. Make certain that it includes specific assignments as well as metrics and milestones, where appropriate. Specificity is essential when it comes to performance improvement.

These action steps, as long as they are backed with strong follow-up, will work but your job as manager is not over. You need to remain vigilant about how your direct report is managing his team. Importantly, you need to find a way to engage this team in ways that enable them to succeed without intense supervision. This means building a value system in which people hold one another accountable for results. When teammates do this, they keep each other engaged. They reinforce their sense of purpose by getting the job done right.

Trust is a bond between individuals or between teams and their supervisors. It can never be expected, nor imposed. It is earned through example and reinforced through success as well as recognition. Vigilance to trust is an essential component of leadership.