Effective Delegation

          One of the keys to stretching your day and growing your staff is delegation.  Delegation is when you give responsibility and authority to your staff to complete a task.  You give your staff loose guidelines, and they can choose how to accomplish the task.  In this way, your staff is more fulfilled and productive, and you are freed up to work on more strategic issues.
          Delegation is often very difficult at first.  Some of the reasoning is that it takes longer to train the staff that it would to simply complete the task; or that the staff wouldn't make the same (right) decisions; or that the staff will fail, wasting time and company resources.
          On the other hand, delegation fosters staff involvement and empowerment.  You will have to take time to plan your delegation, especially at first.  But once you and your staff get comfortable with the process, you will find it goes quickly and you will be pleased with the results.  Below are some simple steps to follow in the delegation process:

Employee - Select and appropriate employee, with the right level of experience and time.  If you select an employee who will need training, be sure to account for this in your plan.

Big Picture - Give the person a whole task to do.  If you can't give them the whole task, be sure they understand the overall purpose, and connect them to the big picture result you are looking for.


Expectations - Make sure the person understands exactly what you want them to do and when you want it completed.  If possible, give them an example of the finished work.  Throughout the project, ask questions, watch the work performed, provide examples, and have the employee give you feedback to ensure they understand.


Authority - Give the person authority to match the level of responsibility.  Be sure to let the employee know when they can make decisions and when they need to consult you.


Checkpoints - Identify the key points of the project or dates when you want feedback about progress.  This is the critical path that provides you with the feedback you need without causing you to micromanage.  This will give you assurance that the delegated task or project is on task; at the same time it will give you the opportunity to influence the project's direction or the person's decisions.


Closure - After the task or project is completed, meet with the employee and ask the following questions:

• Did you select the right employee?
• Did the employee have enough authority to keep the project moving?
• Were the timelines realistic?
• Did the employee have access to the tools and training necessary?
• Were the instructions clear and concise?

Organizational Culture

          Every business has a culture - whether or not it is intentional.  Savvy companies know their culture, and actively manage it.  Quantifying or identifying a culture can be difficult.  Often, the culture implied in the mission or values statement is not what is perceived by customers and employees.
          Just as there are many, many personality tests and ways to categorize people's response, there are many different culture types.  A lot of research exists in an attempt to simplify the mechanism of culture.  One elegant tool is the Competing Values Framework.

          The Framework provides a structure to identify the various harmonies and tensions within a company.  It also provides terminology and values to develop the overall company strategy and to identify leadership types.  While there are four culture types identified, they are actually a result of two different continuum.  The first is a line from flexibility / adaptability to stability / control.  The second is a line from efficient internal processes to competitive external positioning.
          These concepts should sound familiar:  internal vs. external and stable vs. flexible are concepts that frequently come up in personality and behavior tests.  What's intriguing is not the framework, or the specifics of each culture, it is the application of the framework.  In a business, there are layers of functions, and not each one has the same culture or behavior.  These layers are the company as a whole, individual departments (or teams), functions within the departments, and leaders.
          Take a consulting business, for example.  In general, the consulting business should be externally focused.  The business can range somewhere along the line from stable to flexible, depending on their business platform.  Within the consulting business is the Accounting Department, which should be internally focused and stable, with specific procedures followed.  The CFO should balance between and external focus and a flexible approach to solutions, and the Accounting Clerk should be pretty internal with a stable approach.  The Sales Department may have the opposite culture, one that is highly flexible with an external focus.  Innately, the Accounting Clerk's role is going to have conflict with the Sales Representative's role.
          The business imperatives for each layer may shift to support the appropriate framework identified.  Each one will support the layer above, in such a way as to provide a structure for the company to operate and refer to during decision-making events.  The Framework can also provide terminology to use when defining culture, and broaden the understanding of multiple cultures within a company.  Finally, the Framework is a way for companies to understand and manage the innate friction that arises between cultures.

Are You Ready to Try To Take Over the World?

          Before you hire a business coach, you've got to be able to answer one question: 
Are you ready to make a change?
          If you want to leave a legacy, you have to be prepared to answer the tough questions.  Maybe you already own a business, maybe you are just getting one started, or maybe you have an idea for a business cradled in your thoughts.  The first thing I ask when I look at a business plan, or hear an elevator speech, or talk to an owner about their business is:  

"What are you going to do that's different from what you are doing right now?"

          You have a choice, my friend.   You can continue to run your business the same way, with the same tools, and the same people.  Do not make the mistake of expecting different results.  This can be a very comfortable business, with adequate returns and satisfaction with a job well done at the end of each day.  You may even excel at Steady Eddy, and win all sorts of Steady Eddy awards (Best Place to Work, e.g.).    

          Or, you can brace yourself for opportunity, and follow in the footsteps of the Brain, from the cartoon series Pinky and the Brain.  Given the opportunity, the Brain will take a chance, risk everything, and go for broke.  The Brain's entire business model is simple:  Try To Take Over The World.
          If finding yourself in the same place, doing the same thing year after year is not what you want, then be prepared to get hurt, be prepared to be ridiculed, be prepared to give it everything you've got and then, you guessed it, Fail.  
          If you truly want to Try To Take Over The World, you will have to change what you are doing.  You may have to change everything you are doing.  You may have to fire your best employee.  You may have to fire yourself.  You might fire your best employee, then yourself, then discover that the two of you were the only ones keeping your business afloat.  You may have to discontinue production of your favorite, best-selling product.  
          Are you ready to do that?  You might not just lose money, you might run your business right into the ground.  But you will have learned some things.  You will know what not to do next time.  Because you have to want this bad enough to give this answer after failure:  

          The first step is to find someone who is business-savvy, and willing to take the gloves off in evaluating your business.  Face it, the business world is brutal, and mean, and it doesn't care if you tried your best.  Excuses don't feed to the bottom line, results do.  When you find that person, let them in to your business, show them everything, then have them write a Management Letter.  I'm not talking about the letter the auditors give you once a year that kindly mentions "deficiencies" and suggests areas for improvement.  I'm talking about an in-your-face, brutally honest evaluation of your business strengths and weaknesses.
          After you've read the letter, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, wipe the blood off your face; and ask yourself again, are you ready to make a change?  What is your capacity for change?  Are you prepared to get beat up, knocked down, and laughed at?  Are you prepared to sacrifice the very things that you think make you successful (such as your position as leader of your business)?  If your answer is yes - emphatically "yes!"  Then you are ready to transform your business into something more than a living.

"The Brain: Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering? 

Pinky: I think so, Brain, but this time, you put the trousers on the chimp."

I volunteered to be a DECA judge this year, for the Entrepreneurship Written Event.  I am having so much fun reading business plans written by intelligent and motivated high school students.  Because it's so much fun, I am offering to read and review your business plan, for free.  Just email it to me and I will return it with commentary.

UnCoachable in 4 Easy Steps

          You're ready to invite someone in to help you find your way to your dream success.  Whether you are just starting your business, or you've been at it for years, you have finally reached the point where you are ready to pay someone to guide you through the next phase.
          There are lots of business coaches out there, with expertise in a variety of backgrounds and many different approaches.  There's sure to be one that fits you.  If you love seeing your coach and you want your coaching to drag on, keep reading.  If you have no tolerance for change, but you heard that having a coach makes great conversation at parties, keep reading.  If you stubbornly insist on hiring a coach, but not to improve your business, here are a few things to do:

1. Argue.  When your coach offers direction, argue.  Bring up articles you've read, point out all of the ways that you cannot take the action suggested, and tell the coach how hard it is to follow through.  After all, this is your business, you know what you are doing, and who are they, anyways?  
2. Don't do it.  You can accomplish this many ways.  You can discuss the direction at length, you can simply ignore it, or you can even nod vigorously and do nothing.  Whatever you choose, do not move in the direction the coach has suggested.  Everyone knows that change is dangerous, you're just preserving your business.
3. Redirect.  Coaches love it when you share what you learned from someone else, especially if it is out of context and completely contradicts what you've learned from your current coach.  It is your responsibility to be a well-informed participant, and to look at all sides.  Magazine articles and blogs are an excellent, in-depth source of knowledge.  You can use this information to coach your coach (they really love that).  Taking action on this new learning is the way to go, the more it differs from the coaching you've received, the better.
4. Cry.  If you have a coach who actually cares about your success, there will be times when the coach will put a lot of pressure on you.  The coach may launch into locker room language and say things like, "Do you want to be the best?"  The coach may refer to this as "tough love."  Do not be fooled, this is badgering, plain and simple.  That approach to motivation and team spirit only works in commercials.  When the coach gets in your face, break down in tears.  If you have tried the other steps, this should completely derail the coaching program.

One final thing to note:  to keep your coach invested in you, you will have to contact them after completing one of these steps.  Wait until the action is irrevocable, then pepper your conversation with apologies and justification.     

Advisers & Mentors & Coaches (Oh My!)

          Dorothy's journey through Oz was guided by a well-defined path and several types of people.  Alongside the villainous witches, there were friendly advisers and imperfect coaches.  Without each of these types stepping in and playing out their roles during Dorothy's struggle, she may never have made it home to Kansas.  What is the difference between an adviser, a mentor, and a coach; and why do we need all three?
          Advisers are people along the journey who have in-depth knowledge about our conflict at hand.  An adviser would look at our situation, listen to our goals, and offer a solution.  In Dorothy's case, her first encounter was with a group of advisers - the Lollipop Gang.  Their advice was clear and easy to perform, "Follow the Yellow Brick Road."  The Gang did not then join Dorothy on her mission, or check back in with her to see how she was doing.  The Gang was not invested in Dorothy's success.  
          A mentor is someone who can offer guidance, who has connections to smooth the way, and who has already traveled the path.  Dorothy's mentor was the Good Witch, Glinda.  Glinda popped in to check on Dorothy's progress, introduced Dorothy to the right people, offered insight into Dorothy's path and conflicts, and generally wanted Dorothy to succeed.
          Dorothy had three coaches on her journey home, the Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man.  These people traveled alongside Dorothy, experiencing her setbacks and successes.  All three were fully invested in her journey.  A coach knows the individual, primarily in the setting of the challenge, but also to some degree personally.  The coach's role is to help Dorothy along the path to her goal, through training, encouragement, cajoling, pushing, and sometimes tough love.  A good coach is not a quitter, and the joy of success is shared.

Courtesy of Creative Commons

          In Dorothy's story, the appropriate person seemed to show up at the right time.  In real life, how do you know when to invoke which person?

• Adviser:  when you have a technical question, or you want to know the best course of action for a specific circumstance.  Contact your lawyer and your CPA when you are wondering what type of business entity you want to use.
• Mentor:  when you want to know how to get further down the path, or to make connections with others.  Take your mentor out to lunch at least once a month to check in on things like getting more education, or networking with others in your business, or how to handle a tough employee.
• Coach:  when you want someone to hold you accountable to your dream, or when you want a collaborator on your goals.  Contact your coach daily during times of growth and change, even just to check in on progress.  Once a new plan is under way, fewer sessions will help you to maintain perspective, stay focused, and celebrate success.

Do you know of someone who can fill each of these roles for you?  How do you fill these roles for others?

4 Steps to Hiring New Employees

          Guest post from Kelly Stanton (bio is at the end):
Being a hiring manager comes with great responsibility. You won’t hear much about it when you make good hires, people just enjoy having another good team member. But boy howdy will you hear about it  if you make a bad hire! Generally you won’t be alone in those decisions, even at my 18 person company, at least 3 of the management team interviews a candidate, but you’re still somewhat responsible for bringing in good quality candidates. 
          I've been involved in the hiring process for several organizations through the course of my career, and am currently heavily responsible for bringing in candidates at my small consulting firm. Here are some tips from my trial by fire experience.  One would think in this economy with millions of unemployed out there, hiring would be easy. Boy has that not been the case!

• 1)  Have clearly defined job descriptions and skill sets required. Prioritize those skill sets!

I recently had the experience of trying to hire another field service technician for my
organization. I pulled an old job description and sent it to my colleague, to whom this position reports. He replied that it looked fine, so I posted it. I began filtering resumes with experience that matched the technical details of the position, and had what I felt were some very good candidates. 
          He would phone screen, and none of them were passing. I finally pushed him one day after about a month of this on why none of these seemingly qualified people were meeting his needs. He replied “I need someone who has actually done field service work, not just done calibration for one organization as a direct employee. They don’t have the customer
service experience to keep our customers happy.” Ohhh…interesting. That was listed on the
job description down near the bottom in a “nice to have” sort of way. It wasn’t an actual
requirement, nor was it communicated that it was actually more important than technical
experience.

• 2) Be willing to train some, or be willing to wait a long time on the perfect candidate.

It happens. Occasionally the perfect fit to your team falls into your lap, or someone you trust knows someone who might be open to considering your position. It happens. But let’s face reality, most of the time, you’re going to have to pick and choose what is most critical about
the position and look for just those traits, knowing that you’ll have to train the rest. (see above about prioritize!). 
          Unless you’re willing to up the game by increasing salary, paying a recruiter tens of thousands, or waiting several long months with an open position, the perfect candidate who has every skill you’re looking for and is the perfect fit to your team isn't going to just fall into your lap. If you’re a small organization, the waiting game is painful! You've decided you need the help, and in a small company that usually comes well after you’re overwhelmed with work and are ready to staff up a bit. If you’re in a large organization, you have to weigh the risks of burning out your very good team members left behind by the vacancy as they pick up the slack. Either of these scenarios is tough on existing team retention.

• 3) Realize that hiring is going to take a good chunk of your time.

There are literally millions of unemployed people out there. There are also thousands of those who are currently employed and perhaps unhappy where they are and want to make a change. Be prepared to get bombarded with emails, especially if you post on sites like CraigsList. Set up a generic email address like jobs@yourcompany.com to catch all the fray. Set aside time each day to filter applicants, and keep track of the ones you’d like to contact. Come up with a system that works for you to filter those candidates. 
          In my world (FDA and ISO regulated industries), attention to detail is critical. So one of my very first checks is just that, are there type-o’s and obvious grammatical errors in their cover letter or resume? Written communication is still very important even in this electronic age. Can they write a cover letter/email and not sound like a 3rd grader? Harsh? Perhaps. But remember, we are a consulting firm. We can’t have technicians dealing with customers and sounding like they barely made it through high school English. I’m amazed at how often someone tells me in their description of themselves that they have great attention to detail, and yet I find several misspellings on their resume! 

"Can they write a cover letter/email and not sound like a 3rd grader?  Harsh?  Perhaps."

          My second filter criteria is to scan the cover letter and resume for keywords/phrases that tell me they actually read my posted job description. I will even consider a candidate who comes right out and says something like “while I do not have specific experience with a Siebel database, I am familiar with other databases such as…” This tells me they understand I need someone who can find their way around a database, and that they are willing to learn.
          My third filter can be in the initial letter from them or the phone screen: “Have you visited our website?” This speaks volumes to whether they are just blasting their resume out there trying to get lucky, or are genuinely interested in joining your organization. This may not be so important to an organization like McDonald's, but in our industry it’s pretty important. Motivated individuals will take the time to understand what you do, and will have some intelligent questions prepared to ask you during the interview process.

• 4) Finally you get to the face to face interview

If you’ve followed the tips up until now, face to face should be pretty easy. You already know from this person’s resume and preliminary interactions they are qualified for the job. The face to face interview should be more about determining how this person will fit the team.
          The other big thing I look for in an interview is actual experience – tell me about a time when you were at ABC company and XYZ scenario happened. How did you handle it? I find these interactions tell the rest of the story. Did they actually do the work on their resume? Or are they just padding with catch phrases that talk the talk because they read a book, but don’t necessarily translate into real experience? Do they have problem solving skills? Do they take initiative? All these traits will come out in the stories they tell. You’ll also get a good idea about personality and professionalism. Are they bitter and bad mouthing their last boss? Are they a constant victim, or are they positive and view challenges as learning opportunities?


All in all, hiring is one of the most difficult, yet most critical activities that go on in a business.  A new hire can make or break a team, and it’s up to you as the hiring manager to be  organized in your approach and make the best decisions you can for your organization. No pressure of course.

About the writer:  Kelly (Brown) Stanton is the Director of Validation Services at Anacor Compliance, a Pharmaceuticals company in the Greater Denver Area.  She provides validation solutions to customers across the US and Canada in the areas of Equipment, Facility, Laboratory, and Analytical Instrumentation.

KPI's for Your Business (and QuickBooks' Company Snapshot)

Running a small business is all about the details.  So much that you can lose sight of the direction your business is taking.  Key Performance Indices (KPI) are a great way for you to see the big picture.  
          Although there are standard KPI's out there for you to use, they can be just about anything, customized to your business.  The trick to making the KPI's significant to you is easy, just follow these steps in making your choice:

1. Use your vision or business plan to focus.  Is customer service your mission?  Choose KPI's that relate to responsiveness, timeliness, and quality of service.
2. Choose 5 or less KPI's to keep an eye on.  Make sure you have one for revenue, one for profitability, and one for cash. 
3. Look at these first, before you look at the rest of your financial statements.  The summary will give you a direction for your review, and you can find answers to your questions.

Quickbooks' Company Snapshot is a ready-made tool that does just that.  Unfortunately, your choices are limited, but there are some good ones in there.  You can program the Snapshot to open on your desktop when you open Quickbooks, which is a good way to get in the habit of checking your company's big picture.

• Open the Company Snapshot (in the bar next to your Home button).  To add content, click the "Add Content" link on the upper left hand side.  You can scroll through the Quickbooks options to select five that work best for you.  
•  I recommend that you use the Income/Expense chart, the A/R Aging report, the Account Balances list, the Vendors to Pay list, and either the Top Customers by Sales or Top Product Sales.  You can arrange these on your desktop by dragging.
• To remove graphs or reports, click the upper right hand "X" and Quickbooks will delete it from your desktop.
• To program Quickbooks to open this report every time you start Quickbooks, with the Company Snapshot open (and no other windows), go to Edit/Preferences/Desktop View and select the Save Current Desktop option.  Click the Save button and you are done!
• There's also a Payments tab at the top of the Snapshot that will take you to another summary screen that is oriented towards receiving customer payments and making vendor payments.  This can be customized similar to the Company page.

There are three other KPI's that I would highly recommend you include at least in your monthly reporting:  Cash Gap, Expenses Per $ Revenue, and Product Margins.