If you like technology or have had to buy it for your business, you know there are two camps. Camp one: pay for a license to use the software and have the priviledge to leverage it for business gain. Camp 2: the world of open source software. There are pros and cons to both. Software choices can also be applied as a metaphor for styles of leadership.
There are those that “license” leadership. They keep information close and use it as a source of power and ultimately control. These leaders believe in traditional social mores in business. They see teaching as a job for a trainer, not a leader. Learning and knowledge are not “free” nor encouraged, unless it helps the employee make more widgets. Structure and process trump organizational speed and creativity. For a license leader things like salary, bonus, and other perks act as strings to be yanked to demand and expect high levels of performance. For the employee, performing for the license leader often requires a compromise on who they are and who they want to be. I have often heard they are corportate actors expected to perform in scripted corporate ways.
Now contrast this with my concept of “open source leadership”. The great thing about open source software is that the masses make it better – all that contribute own it. In most cases it is very equal for users and contributors. You can pay to use it or simply make it better. Innovation and problem solving can excel here. For an open source leader this means that you can have the “source code” as an employee. There are no secrets and information is always available; control and responsibility are given out to all. It means that as a leader you embrace that business is complex and the way to manage it is by getting all to be an equal part of the business. You really have the most control when you hand it out to your employees. When you give up contol, will the end result be exactly what you wanted? Probably not – which is most likely a good thing. New thinking, more folks involved, more eyes and ears paying attention are a benefit to everyone.
Now let’s lay out the truth – It is really, really hard to be an open source leader. It is hard to change just for the sake of change. There most be a compelling business reason, such as better results, more profit, more of something. Guess what – it will happen for you. Just not right away. And not every day. All Leaders have bumps in the road. It is how you smooth them out that really matters. And open source leadership is not for all. It is a challenge to trust and hand it out all of the time. It is amazingly hard to get the company communication thing “just right”.
It probably would not suprise you that my company utilizes open source software products. I was an early adopter as they say. I can tell you it is not perfect. Far from it. Just like any chosen leadership style. Yet for me it is the tool of choice. Fast, fair value, transparent, adaptive. Things I want to be as a leader everyday…
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Every organization that I come across today – whether they are partners, vendors, clients or prospects – all rank driving new revenues and raising their top line as a top goal of their organization. Today’s organizations have lost more than 6 years. What do I mean? Most business are operating with top line revenue numbers in line with their 2004 reporting and staff levels on par with where we were in 2000. The toll of the recession has been six years of economic penalty and taken us back almost 10 years in terms of staff growth.
What do I do as a small business owner? Rethink sales? Make more commitments to marketing? Maybe add new services or kill non-performing offerings? All of us are in need of more and new customers.
Most simply increase their sales activity. We tell sales staff to make more calls. To see more customers. To send more emails. It is just a numbers game, right? The more you do the more you have in potential sales pipeline. Not!
I propose that we need to rethink the notion that more effort will get you more result, as there is a point of diminishing returns. Most importantly, is your sales process as customer friendly as the rest of your company; do you treat sales like you treat paying customers? Are you “earning the right” to build new relationships?
Earning the right involves building relationships. Earning the right means you must focus and shift to consultative sales. Earning the right is about learning about your new customer’s business. Earning the right is about being authentic. It is being credible by doing what you say.
Earning the right is NOT just about doing more.
If you are thinking about how you go to market and how you differentiate your business in the early stages of your companies relationships than perhaps you should do an “earning the right” audit.
Go sit next to your sales force. Are they earning the right or simply doing more of the same?
Popularity: 9% [?]
Poker is considered by many to be a game of chance. Chance implies an outcome without an observable cause. Perhaps poker is really about knowing the odds and statistics. Less about luck and more about having experience and knowing what plays to make. Experience helps you do things on autopilot and anticipate what cards the other players probably have and whether your hand is better than your competition. The truth is, it takes a lot of repetition to get good at Poker. Bluffing your opponents could be considered an art form all to itself. You may have heard that we all have a “tell” when we have a good hand. You might smile or touch your ear. Great Players work hard at knowing the “tell” of their competition. See where this might be heading?
I propose that running a business these days might be compared to a high stakes game of poker. The other players are your competition. Business should not be a game of chance. Rather, it should be played by knowing the rules, having the right information, and surrounding yourself with talent that can help you make the right moves in the game. Our current economy? Imagine that it is like a poker game that has gone on a little too long. The players are tired. They are beat up. They may have needed to be really conservative with their chips to not fall out of the game. As a business leader or small business owner it is entirely possible that you feel might feel like that poker player at the end of a 12 hour game!
So like the game when do you know you have a good hand? Is this the time that things are going to improve? Do you push all in because you sense the market is ripening? Do you continue to play the game conservatively and wait for the straight flush? Or do you play the hand you are dealt? All of this in the business world equates to making decisions about when the recession is over for you. Do you have the desire to grow again? Maybe you prefer the conservative style that you developed, out of necessity, over the last few quarters?
As a leader and coach I know this issue is on the mind of my customers and my network. When is it over? Do we make major investments now? Or small pilots to test the market? What are the other players in the game doing? Are they being conservative or aggressive?
So you are back at the card table and you are staring at your opponents – are you all in or waiting for the next hand? Or have you already tipped your hand?
As always your emails and comments are terrific – keep them coming. Poker anyone?
Popularity: 16% [?]
Open book companies see value in sharing the results of the business with everyone. The “financials” are reviewed, KPI’s discussed. Generally speaking everything about the business and its performance is shared with everyone. The first time I tried this I think I expected an explosion of energy and enthusiasm. Frankly, I found that most were intimidated and had little exposure to finance. I even had my administrative assistant close my door and ask when she was being let go. She figured that I was telling everyone about the results of the business to setup some sort of management plan of action. So muchg for instant success with this plan.
I had worked in the family business Placers, and helped role out this concept across the business. I feel that it was one of the more important elements of our culture. It was wonderful to see people in control of their own destiny like that. Why had my organization not embraced it? I went looking for answers. First off I found that people needed knowledge. Knowledge in numbers yes. But they also needed the knowledge to trust the correlation between what they did each day and the numbers. Staff did not believe that they could impact the business. That there jobs did not have the influence on the bottom line. That there job had less of an impact than I wanted! This had to change.
Why bother with all of this? Culturally led business’s rock- they outperform other companies! And for my business “intra-preneurship” was a key way to give my staff the knowledge, confidence and information to really serve and wow their customers and help their peers. Never heard of Intrapreneurial? I have a simple goal really; I want employees to have an ownership mindset in the business without the financial risk.
I have had mixed success with the concept. Yet I always stick with it. It is something I will never stop believing in. And nothing makes me more disapointed in a leader who won’t share. The reasons? I think I have heard them all. The staff will be afraid. The staff can’t handle it. The team can’t do anything about the results. Their role has no influence! Hogwash. Only if you want it that way.
Here is what I know:
- Staff needs to know the truth. They deserve it. If you create this environment know that if you stop sharing it can reduce trust.
- Some will count paperclips rather than spend. This creates an ownership mentality. All will look to spend a dollr effectively.
- It is confusing at first. Do we focus on top line or bottom line? You need to lead through it.
- Consistency is key.
- This gives people some say. It gives them a voice. Remember to listen.
- Employees want you to make money. It is ok if your business is a success.
- Cash flow is the hardest to grasp.
- Accounts receivable is a great place to begin.
- Knowledge is empowering. The implications on customer pricing, on resolving customer disputes, on the business are powerful.
- Force to staff to collaborate. A Key customer say, ” don’t drill below the water line.” In business this means a little knowledge is dangerous. We still need to know the impact of our decisions. That we are accountable for the decisions we make. Ask for help!
Thinking of roling out open book concepts? Have your own stories to share? I have heard from so many people by email or by phone. Please feel free to post or attach your ideas!
Until the next blog, Happy Thanksgiving to all! Count your blessings. And teach others to do the same.
Popularity: 22% [?]
No excuses is an important part of my belief system as a leader. Employees don’t want to hear them, and deserve better. As leaders we don’t want them, right? We don’t want to hear them from vendors. It is the worst thing to hear when you are on the phone and someone else blames another. I have spent a life time living and learning that excuses sound like defending. And defending it just not useful in any situation. It drives a wedge right down the middle of the situation.
How wonderful is to hear no excuses? The best thing in the world. When my son or daughter actually listens when we ask them to pick up their towel off the bathroom floor without hearing, “it is not mine”, that is a good thing. In business, no excuses is a rare commodity. It requires each of us to be humble. We might need to accept responsibility for something that is not fully ours. We might want to simply say “I can help you”. We need to learn it is ok to be wrong and to admit it. Think of the last time that you saw a press conference on TV and someone made excuses! All we want to say is if they had simply made “no excuses” and took responsibility, the whole thing would go away very quickly and the media would have very little to talk about!
So as a leader make no excuses, and try on the following today in your workplace:
- Don’t campaign for the job you have. Everyone knows you have it. No one wants to hear about how hard things are.
- Try to practice the advice your mother shared. ” If you have nothing nice to say than keep it to yourself”. Employees and customers have enough to think about without our problems.
-Listen to the great words of Dale Carnegie. ”Be thankful for the problems of your job. They provide about half your income. Because of it were not for the things that go wrong, the difficult people you have to deal with and the problems and unpleasantness of your working day, someone could be found to handle your job for half of what you are being paid…”
3xj2dihn54
Popularity: 27% [?]
Some of you may know I have a passion for all things outdoors and I recently was able to tackle something off my “dream list“. Sort of like a bucket list, accept this is about maximizing and thinking through what you would like to do with your time versus checking them off like a “bucket list”. This is all chronicled in the book the Dream Manager, which is a great read for leaders and employees alike.
So one of my recorded dreams was to climb Mt. Washington. This is the White mountains of New Hampshire, home to the worst weather on the planet. Yes cold and windy any day of the year. You just never know what you are going to get when you get to the top at somewhere over 6,000 foot of elevation. Sometimes it gale force winds at 70 mile an hour or below freezing temperatures with late summer snow flakes! So like any sane person you go about making preparations for so many possible outcomes. You pack warm clothing. Some extra food. First aid kits. Sleeping bags in case you can’t make it to the huts. And on and on.
And for two days I hiked and at the end of our second day we had reached the summit! And it was a mild 47 degrees and no wind. Mild for many places. Down right balmy and fairly unlikely in a place that gets a handful of clear, calm days each month. And as I sat exhausted eating everything I could get my hands on in the restaurant of the weather observatory at the top, it dawned on me that leading a company is like preparing for a climb. You can prepare, train, anticipate and plan for every possible outcome. And it still does not happen in a way that you plan for. You just don’t know what you are going to get. Yet in the preparation you proactively avoid problems. Little things do not become big things. Important when facing the uncertainties of mountain weather; doubly important in business. There are problems everyday in business. The real challenge is if you knew about the them or anticipated them in advance. A problem known is more than half the battle in most cases. So are you planned and strategic in your outlook for today and tomorrow? What can you do today to cut off a challenge in your day?
There are added benefits to the planning too. When I walked up that mountain my employees know I am recharging my mind and spirit for what lies ahead while I wear out this old body. No injuries that time will not heal. And in the process I am preparing and planning for whatever my company will face next week and the week after as the economy continues its crazy dance. Are you ready to lead today?
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