Leadership | GROW GREAT

222 You Don’t Have To Go Undercover To Become A Better Boss

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Undercover Boss is a CBS TV show. The storyline is always the same. A senior executive (CEO, COO, etc.) goes undercover inside their own company with a disguise. For a week they pretend to be contestants in a reality TV show where they’re competing for a job. Each day they do a different job in the company. For example, last week the CEO of The Larry H. Miller Group Of Companies, owners of the Utah Jazz NBA team, Greg Miller (his dad was Larry H.) went undercover. He helped put down the basketball flooring in the arena, he worked the concession stands, he worked as part of the half-time dunk team and he also worked in the crowd with the folks who help give fans in the upper deck a great fan experience. That’s the sort of thing that happens in each episode.

Along the way, the boss interacts up close and personal with whoever is training him and showing him the ropes. These workers share their insights about the work, the company and their own personal lives. The bosses all quickly discover that by being in the trenches they see things that need improvement. They also find employees who are battling adversity at work and at home. It’s part human interest story, part business lesson and part entertainment.

In the end, the undercover boss reveals his true identity and rewards the employees with recognition and some personal help (last week, Greg Miller paid off some medical bills, a car loan and gave some money to employees for college funds). I find every episode heart warming as you hear the stories of courage, commitment and dedication – and as you see the boss connect with front line people in a very meaningful way!

How To Grow As A Boss Without Going Undercover

Do you have to put on a disguise and fool your employees in order to become a better boss? Maybe it helps get some firsthand stories and information, but there are other things every boss can do to learn the same things we see the Undercover Boss learn.

1. Become a student, not a teacher.

The first thing you see every Undercover Boss do is take on a job they don’t know how to do. They introduce themselves (as their alias) to an employee, usually a relatively low level person doing the actual job, not a supervisor. The employee shows them the work, teaches them, then lets them give it a try. Almost always the boss stumbles. Sometimes they stumble badly.

Over the course of doing this lower level work the boss always comes to understand the job is much tougher than they thought. By doing this work they have a new appreciation for the commitment of the employees doing thankless work. The benefit of the disguise is that it forces the boss to remain incognito. That forces the boss to be a student and stay a student without pulling the “boss card.”

As a boss, can you devote yourself to being a student of lower level employees? Can you commit yourself to “stay in character” as a student? Well, the more you can do that…and the longer you can sustain it without thinking you’re too good for this, the better. You’ll quickly learn to appreciate the work and the worker! Additionally, you’ll be in a position to serve better because you’ll be armed with better information to remove the constraints that may be hindering improved performance. That’s the beauty of the boss doing this tough work – the boss has the authority to affect real change!

Lower yourself. Be willing to go to the factory floor, the sales floor, the accounting clerk’s cubicle, or any other place where the work is happening. No job is too low. Or too high (obviously). Become the student and behave like a student. Lose yourself in the moment and stay there for as long as it takes to learn all you can.

2. Get personal by being personable.

In the course of being vulnerable enough to become a student, the Undercover Boss always finds out more about the person teaching them. If not during the work, then on a break, the boss will ask about the employee’s family. It’s during these conversations that the human element of the work comes to the forefront. Employees often talk of family medical woes, children who need special attention, a recent death or some other challenge that burdens them away from work. Naturally, the employee, not knowing it’s the big cheese sitting across from them, will ask the Undercover Boss about their family, too. It’s what we all do if we have an ounce of empathy, we reciprocate.

These are often the conversations that hit the boss the hardest. Hearing these stories of hardship seem to always make the boss realize how exceptional many employees are because they’re often very good as masking their problems. For example, a young lady at the Utah Jazz basketball games is all smiles and bubbly with fans during the game. Privately, the Undercover Boss finds out her heart is heavy because her mom is under tremendous financial strain as the result of unpaid medical bills. Had the boss not asked about her personal life, he couldn’t have possibly known because she was so good at her job of making sure fans had a great time!

As you’re being taught, be interested in the person teaching you. Engage them just the way any peer would. Ask about their family. Get to really know them. Avoid making it a one-way street. Be vulnerable by sharing your story with them. I don’t mean your corporate accolades, but your family struggles. Don’t make it a one-upsmanship contest, but make them feel like they know you better in the same way you’re trying to get to know them better.

3. Thank and recognize employees for their work.

The Undercover Boss eventually reveals himself to the employees one at a time. Right away, the boss compliments the employee with personal recognition. “I was so impressed with how you went about doing your job of making sure the fans were having a great time. Your energy and personality are a true gift to our fans and I appreciate your work very much.” Any employee’s heart would soar if a boss told them that.

So why don’t more bosses do that?

Because they don’t understand leadership.
Because they see themselves as more important than the employees.
Because they think it’s soft and may lead to complacency.
Because they’re so used to facing problems they’ve forgotten (or never learned) how to celebrate wins.
Because they genuinely don’t care about their employees.

Why don’t YOU thank and recognize employees and their work more (and better)?

I’m thinking of all the times we’ve seen professional athletes perform well in the face of great adversity. As I record this episode we’re in the throws of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the National Hockey League. The New York Rangers are currently doing battle against the Montreal Canadiens. The Rangers began their playoff run in pretty lackluster fashion until some adversity struck their locker room. Martin St. Louis, a player who just entered their locker room at the trade deadline mere months ago, lost his mom just days before Mother’s Day. Her death was unexpected and naturally his teammates felt badly for him. After spending a brief time with his family, he returned the team because he said it’s what his mom would have wanted. He played in the very next game refusing to leave his teammates. It had a profound impact on the locker room. His teammates pulled together like never before. The team went on a winning spree and advanced to the next round. During the break between rounds, his mother’s funeral was attended by the entire team and coaching staff. Martin St. Louis played extremely well during all of this. We applaud such valiant effort…when we see it in athletes.

But we don’t do that at work. Why not?

Mostly because we haven’t a clue what adversity others are facing. And we don’t care. We tell ourselves that it’s none of our business. We convince ourselves that work is work and the work must be done.

It’s a mistake that leaders make every single day. Drive your employees hard. Demand high performance. But you’ve got to take the time – make the time – to thank and recognize employees for their work.

Let me appeal to your business sensibilities.

How much does thanks and recognition cost? NOTHING other than a bit of time. NOTHING other a bit of awareness and effort on your part. The capital investment is NOTHING. Well, it can be nothing. Sure, you can give people awards or rewards. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, just remain focused on thanking and recognizing.

What’s the ROI on thanks and recognition? IMMEASURABLE. Maybe somebody smarter than me can quantify it, but in all my years of leading people and managing processes I’ve never been able to. However, I do know it’s a bit like those MasterCard commercials. It’s priceless. How can you measure the power of feeling good…or having high morale?

Athletes talk about being “in the zone.” It can happen with your employees, too. As the boss you can impact helping people find the zone. The most effective way you can do that is by thanking them and recognizing them for the work they do.

If you want your sales team to sell more, thank and recognize them. Then sit back and watch them sell more.

If you want your accounting staff to process paperwork more efficiently, thank and recognize them. Then stand back and watch them find ways to be more efficient.

If you want your engineering staff to solve problems faster, thank them and recognize them. Then sit back and watch them find a faster gear.

Every boss I’ve ever worked with knows and understands that you get what you reward, but few of them make that part of their daily work habit. Most bosses are given to the stick and carrot business model except they gravitate toward using the stick and forgetting about the carrot. If employees never get to taste the carrot, but they’re constantly being beaten with the stick…in time they’ll quickly learn the carrot is fictional. Nothing will move them toward higher performance. Eventually, you’ll leave your people beaten to death by the side of the road. And it’s YOUR fault as the boss.

Catch people doing good work. Look for it. Search it out. Do that every day. Do it every hour.

Make it your business to lead the cheers to celebrate victories by merely thanking people and letting them know how genuinely appreciative you are of their work. Will it take effort? Yes, especially if you’ve never been used to doing it (and that includes far too many bosses). But keep doing it. Make it a trademark of your leadership and you’ll be rewarded more than you ever imagined by people who will run through a wall for you – because we all want to be recognized and feel special. It’s your job as the boss to make employees feel special. Don’t neglect it.

4. Reward good work with a gift.

The Undercover Boss will dole out rewards to the employees at the end of each show. It may be a contribution to a father for his children’s college fund. Maybe it’s a paid trip to Disneyland. This past week the owner of the Utah Jazz paid off the car loan of an employee and bought him a second car because he and his wife both worked 2 jobs each, all with one car between them.

I’m not saying you’ve got to buy new cars or give away expensive trips, but I am saying you can’t neglect investing rewards in your employees. Yes, that means spending some money. How much? That’s up to you.

Don’t be fooled into the stupid idea that because you can’t do it for everybody, then you won’t do it for anybody. Rewards are democratic. Nor are they always systematic or automatic. In fact, the kind of rewards I’m talking about have nothing to do with compensation. So don’t think about commissions or bonuses here because that’s not what I’m talking about. The Undercover Boss doesn’t dole out extra commissions or bonuses. The boss recognizes the work and the employee and gives them a gift.

Husbands, do you give your wife a gift on your wedding anniversary? Why do you do that?

Moms, do you give your kids a gift on their birthday? Why?

Just because another year has passed? That warrants a gift?

No, it’s not merely the passing of another year. It’s the fact that this person is important to you. You love them. You want to show them. The gift is an expression (not the only expression) of that love and concern.

When you – the boss – give an employee a gift as a reward and recognition for good work you’re letting them know how important they are to you and the organization. The difference between these gifts and those anniversary or birthday gifts is they’re completely random based on the extraordinary work of an employee. On Undercover Boss the employees never expect what the boss does for them. That’s how it should be in your organization. Your gifts of recognition shouldn’t be expected. Employees expect commissions and bonuses, provided they know the rules going in and they’ve met the standard. That’s not the same thing. That’s compensation, not a gift.

A gift is surprise that says, “I appreciate all you do.” Don’t ruin it by making it some standard, systematized practice. Keep it random. Keep it fresh and surprising.

Be gracious. These are gifts and they can be whatever you want, given however you want. Don’t sweat keeping score. Don’t try to make things equal. If once a year you want to give an employee an all expenses paid trip to Disneyland, do it. Don’t avoid it because you can’t give that to every employee. If six times a year you want to give an employee an Apple iPad or some other cool toy, do it. Remember, make it unexpected and surprising. Make it genuine and show employees that you’re doing it because you know how hard they work, how well they work and that they make a difference in your company!

Conclusion

Today is Memorial Day in America. It’s a day when our country celebrates the ultimate sacrifice made by members of the armed forces throughout history. Many people are off work today. Families spend time outside together enjoying a day off – a 3-day weekend. If you’re a boss, do yourself a favor. Take a bit of time to consider all the benefits of becoming a better boss by embracing the strategies of Undercover Boss. Make the lives of your employees memorable by showing them how important they are to your success as a leader, and how meaningful they are to the work of your organization. You want your employees to be better, don’t you? Then why don’t you show them how determined you are to show them how willing you are to be better, too?

Have a safe, happy Memorial Day. Then tomorrow, get busy making this week memorable for your employees.

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“I Taught You Everything You Know!”

Communication, Leadership / By Randy Cantrell

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Today’s “quick hit” is 10:49 minutes long.

A student ends up competing with the teacher. The teacher is sore about it, but he shouldn’t be.

Consider the real estate business. A rookie agent goes to work for a broker. Fresh from getting her license she’s got to hang her shingle somewhere to get started. She finds a broker who agrees to take her on, give her a home base from which to operate and some ongoing learning in a hands on environment. Both the agent and the broker are thrilled…at the beginning.

During the first year Susan earned her stripes. She hustled and put forth extraordinary effort. It was clear she was in it for the long haul. Unlike so many other rookies who quit within the first year, she was determined that her career in real estate will be successful right now, and in the future, too.

Lots of hustling on her part and some terrific tutoring from the broker result in first year commissions in excess of $150,000. Yes, it was a year of 7 day work weeks without taking a single day off except when she got the flu for about 3 days. Sundays, weekends, evenings – all hot times for real estate showings meant devotion to her career over her personal life. But that was okay because she knew what she’d have to do to soar as high as possible in year one. The broker, her boss, was very impressed.

She sustained this for the next year and ended up topping out commissions for year two at just over $200,000. Not bad considering that the median income for real estate agents is just over $39,000. In her first two years she figured she had put in almost 6,500 hours (a full time job is 2080 hours a year and includes 2 weeks of vacation). Her 2-year total didn’t include the time she spent reading, studying and doing her best to jump the learning curve.

As she enters year three she’s given a killer opportunity with another broker who specializes in higher end properties. It’s a great opportunity brought about because her hustle has become well known in real estate circles. There’s a reason this other broker is wanting to add her to his team. She decides to make the leap and who could blame her?

Her first boss, that’s who!

He’s so angry he can’t see straight. Like too many bosses he takes it as a personal insult, even though he’d be doing the very same thing if he were in her shoes. But he’s not. He’s in his own shoes and he’s a self-centered, arrogant bully. After she has told him of her decision – which she did face to face in the most respectful way she could – he blew up at her by reminding her of how he took her in when she was a rookie. It was during that rant that he said what too many bosses have said to an employee, “I taught you everything you know!”

For starters, it’s not true. She learned by working her tail off. He taught her so she could earn him the broker’s portion of the commission. She became a rainmaker and earned him lots of money. More money than any other rookie in year one. And more than any other second year agent. Well, to be fair to her work – she earned him more than all the other rookie agents combined because more than half of them didn’t make it a full year before they quit. In year two, she blew away the remaining agents who started when she did. Her boss got his cut. She earned her keep, but he’s working hard to lay as much guilt on her as possible.

It works. She leaves torn up, feeling like a traitor. It wasn’t personal for her, it was simply a professional opportunity she wasn’t going to get by staying put. For her boss, he made it personal and viewed it as a betrayal.

Fortunately, her new boss isn’t like her old one. He’s a terrific mentor with a thriving agency that caters to the rich and famous. He assures her that his relationship with her is professional and that her hard work is why he’s bringing her into his firm. Without saying a word about her old boss, he tells her how excited he is to have her start because he knows she’ll excel. She leaves his office feeling much better. She’s no longer feeling like a traitor, now she’s angry at her old boss because she knows he’s a bully. She also knows he’s wrong.

He didn’t teach her everything. He did teach her some things, but he was also rewarded by her productivity. He only began to teach her some things after she stood head and shoulders above her rookie peers. Her performance caught his attention and garnered more tutoring. Bully or no, he was smart enough to know where he needed to invest some teaching and training.

It’s the classic case of an executive arguing with another executive about the training budget for employees.

Executive 1: “What happens if we invest more in developing our people and then they leave us?”

Executive 2: “What happens if we don’t invest more in developing our people and they stay?”

As they say in New Orleans, “True dat!”

Don’t Be That Guy

If you’re a boss, or any kind of authority figure, do not be insulted when people leave. You must avoid taking it or making it personal. It’s immature, childish and unprofessional.

If you’re not the boss and you find yourself confronted with this type of reaction…well, let’s back up a bit. First, make sure you handle your departure with professionalism and grace. That means you don’t just walk away. Give an appropriate notice. I don’t know your situation, but you know what’s right. Maybe it’s 2 weeks. Maybe it’s longer. Don’t make it shorter. Be aware that you may be asked to leave immediately. Be prepared for that. Financially and emotionally.

Okay, you’ve done the right thing by giving proper notice. Now, the bully hits you with “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me!” Perhaps followed by, “I taught you everything you know.”

Don’t respond with a defensive posture. It won’t help. Zig during the bully’s zag. The more animated and angry he/she gets, the calmer and cooler you should be.

Thank your boss for the opportunity. Don’t be bullied into revealing more than you’d like. Part of the bully tactic may be to find out all they can about where you’re going, especially if you’re staying in the same industry. Resist and pretend you’re a prisoner of war who refuses to give any sensitive information to the enemy. Remain politically correct (it irks me to even write that, but it’s the wise course). Repeat your thanks for the opportunity and express, if you’d like, how disappointed you are that they see this as a personal betrayal because it’s not. It’s simply a professional decision that better suits you right now.

Leave on the best terms possible. Be gracious in your exit. The hard part is protecting your feelings. Don’t be hurt by the bully’s harshness. It’s likely he’d be just as harsh with anybody else sitting there. He takes everything personally when he’s on the receiving end. However, when he’s on the delivering end – perhaps firing an employee – it’s strictly business. Trust me when I tell you, he’s self-centered and has no concerns for you. He’s only thinking of himself in all matters. It’s how he’s made up his mind he’s going to view the world and you’re not going to change that. Do not try!

Walk away as peacefully and quietly as possible. Avoid getting sucked into long, laborious dialogue with the bully. He’ll likely go for that, especially if he doesn’t want you to leave. His goal will be to guilt you into staying, or guilt you into feeling horrible. Keep the conversation brief, on point and cordial (at least on your part).

Be firm that your decision is made (if indeed it is). Be clear that it’s not a ploy to gain any advantage from him. Thank him for the opportunity (do this more than once, but don’t over do it). If you’re allowed to remain throughout the notice period, assure him you’re going to do everything in your power to tie up whatever loose ends remain because you want to leave on the highest note possible.

Then, move on with your life and excel in your new position. Don’t look back. Remember Lot’s wife (she turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back – Gen. 19:26).

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What Words Do You Use In Serving Your Customers?

Communication, Leadership / By Randy Cantrell

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It’s been years since you studied the parts of speech.

Verbs express actions. That’s why great business leaders love verbs. Like the Ben Franklin quote, they put the emphasis and value on action. By the way, I agree with Ben’s quote, but only partly. I think how we say things matters. It matters for two fundamental reasons: a) it conveys the proper mission to our team members and b) it conveys our intentions toward our customers.

Most of us lean toward using the terms and phrases we regularly hear. It’s why business speak is so common place. Sit in a conversation with a group of business executives and you’ll be hard pressed to distinguish between them because they’ll all tend to sound the same. No wonder…they all have a similar vocabulary.

A few verbs have always driven me nuts. For instance, walk into any retail store and you’ll be greeted with, “Can I help you?”

Somebody, somewhere came up with that and very few companies devote themselves to coming up with something better. Truth is, just about anything would be better because it would at least make you unique if you didn’t follow the herd. No creativity. No effort. Just blindly uttering the same thing time after time, day after day. Never thinking about how negatively it’s impacting their business.

A classic case of this insanity is told by Jeffrey Gitomer, famed sales trainer. For more than 20 years I’ve been a Gitomer fan and customer. I’ve given away more copies of his book, “Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless” than any other book. Hands down!

He tells of a time when he checked into a hotel after traveling all day, with boxes of books and materials for his presentation the next day. It was raining and it had been a long day. He stood in line to check in and the desk clerk never looked up, but said, “Next.” Jeffrey stepped to the counter and was greeted with the ever creative question, “Checking in?”

In his usual snarky way (which is likely why I’m a fan), he’s telling the audience this story to prove the point. “No, I’m here for my hair transplant.” He goes on to say, “Wouldn’t we all just drop dead if we were greeted with something far better like, ‘You look like you could use a room and I’ve got just the thing?'” Indeed we would. And he correctly argues that the same time and effort it took to use the boring greeting could have easily given way to a far better one if only people (and companies) would pre-think with some creativity.

But they don’t!

Do you?

I’m a fan of words because I’m a communicator. Words convey our thoughts, feelings and ideas. We should give them more attention.

I’ll give you a short list of the words I love (and have used for years):

dazzle
happy
remarkable
quantum-leap
extraordinary
world-class
innovative
creative
think
notice
speed
unique
weird
integrity
truthful

That’ll give you an idea. Just look at my happiness guarantee on the Hire Me page and you’ll get an even better glimpse. I never want a client to be satisfied. That’s not good enough. I want them to be happy! Elated, even.

Sit down today and examine how you answer the phones, how you greet prospects, how you talk with customers and all the other moments of truth that exist in your organization. Rework them. Get creative. Be unique. Stand apart from the crowd by using words that properly (you can’t say one thing and do something different) convey how you strive to serve people.

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219 Your Business Bench Strength: How Critical Is It To Your Success?

Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

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A deep bench isn’t always necessary, but a strong one is.

When I’m commissioned to coach teams, helping organizations develop bench strength is often a major driver. Organizations have a variety of bench strength concerns. Some worry about succession. Others about just getting the work done. Still others worry about gaps in knowledge, competence or leadership. Not all teams are created with equal needs.

What’s Your Game? What If You Lose A Player?

It’s important for you to look at your company or organization when you’re thinking about bench strength.

Very small businesses don’t even have a bench. They’ve got a few chairs. Many small business owners don’t think much about bench strength because they’re the star player. As long as they’ve got enough support people to play the role of grunts, things are fine. Until they’re not. Suddenly, the person who was doing an important, but perhaps unappreciated job quits. Now, the owner feels betrayed, let down and realizes he’s got a bench problem.

I’m always puzzled when I see bosses react to an employee’s resignation. Too often the boss instantly goes to a place of personal betrayal. “I’m disappointed that you’d do this to me,” he may say. The other day some 2008 episodes of Million Dollar Listing L.A. were on TV. One of the brokers had an assistant who turned in her 2 week notice. She explained that the hours as a single mother just were too taxing on her and she’d found more suitable work for her lifestyle. Her boss, one of the brokers on the show, immediately told her how disappointed he was in her. And the funny thing is this year he had an almost identical situation with a different assistant. He hasn’t learned much in the last 5 years or so because he handled the recent resignation of an assistant almost identically as he had in 2008.

It brings up a universal question of any organization consisting of 2 or more people. What if one leaves?

The real estate broker acknowledged that his life was complete chaos when his assistant left. He quickly scrambled to find a replacement because his workload skyrocketed without an assistant. Many service professionals (like real estate brokers) are very small teams, but that often makes them susceptible to greater dangers if an employee leaves. For this broker, one employee represented 50% of his team. That’s gonna hurt, but shame on him for a) being personal when it should have remained professional and b) for failing to see how a 65-hour workweek was affecting his assistant who was a single mom. He should have done a better job of hiring a team member whose life was more suitable to the work and the schedule. Part of bench strength is knowing the game you’re playing and the needs you’ve got.

Contingency plans are vital for every organization.

You never know. If you’ve been a leader for any length of time at all you’ve been blind-sided before with an unexpected resignation, or worse. Worse would be some event that created a gap in your organization. It could be a death, an arrest or some unforeseen event.

You need a short-term plan and a longer-term plan.

What will you do if in the next hour you suddenly lose a player? Any player? Even non-key players fill a place that leaves a gap when they’re not present. Who else knows how to fulfill that role? Is there any documentation of the role? Are there step-by-step systems in place so anybody with reasonable skills can fill the role, at least temporarily?

Disaster preparation is mostly top-of-mind after a disaster. As I record today’s show the deep south here in America has experienced some violent storms. Some strong tornados have taken almost 40 lives. Entire communities have been devastated. Some people had storm shelters. Many did not. Some people thought they had more time. They were wrong.

I’ve lived most of my life here in Tornado Alley. If you don’t know exactly where you’ll go and what you’ll do when the sirens sound, then you’re potentially in big trouble. So it is if you don’t know exactly what you’ll do if a person – any person – suddenly leaves your bench. Or goes down with an injury. Have you ever had an employee suffer a health issue that knocked them out of the game for awhile?

Don’t start working on the systems after the disaster. Do it beforehand. Document, document, document. Every role in your organization should have documentation of what they do, how they do it, and when they do it. Those systems need constant revision and improvement (and updating). Just because you did the work years ago doesn’t mean the work is still up-to-date enough to do the job if the needs arises today. I’ve got a closet in my house where my wife should hide if a tornado warning sounds. The closet had sufficient room for us a few years ago, but over time more and more stuff has been crammed into it. Today, I went and looked at it. I’d have to spend precious seconds tossing stuff out to make room for us. Those seconds could be the difference in living and dying. I need to go clear out that closet a bit today! You may need to do the same with your documented systems.

Role players are considered people who fill a specific need, but they may also be people with diverse abilities capable of bridging a gap. Usually they’re very comfortable in whatever role they’re given as long as it’s congruent with their view of themselves and their strengths. For instance, the role player who is ideally suited for detail work isn’t likely going to excel if you put him in a sales role, even if it’s only temporary.

Don’t mistake role players for “lesser” players. They’re not. Quite often they’re the guy in the second chair because they’re perfectly suited for it, and they love it. Not all “A” players want to be first chair musicians. Some are quite satisfied to play Ed McMahon to your Johnny Carson (or Paul Schaffer to your David Letterman). The Lone Ranger had Tonto so don’t discount a Tonto in your life.

If Tonto rides away, the Lone Ranger needs to find a suitable replacement. It’s not likely going to be a new acquaintance. Lone Ranger has somebody in mind. Somebody he already knows and trusts. And somebody he feels is capable. The list may have only existed in his head, but at least he had a list just in case. You need a list, too. Just in case.

Relationships are the cornerstone of bench building. Your relationships with your team are paramount, but you must develop relationships with others who may be suitable for your team if the opportunity arises.

Bench Development Hinges On Development, Acquisition And Placement

DAP it. Fail at any of these areas and you’ll suffer bench issues at some point.

Development is easy to overlook and undervalue. Too often I see organizations that put a priority on hiring the right people and trusting they’ll just work out. Little things like “on boarding” can be overlooked. They can also make or break talent acquisition, but they negatively impact developing existing team members, too. Don’t dismiss these things as being soft things that make no difference. These cultural things determine the daily practices of a company or organization.

Hop over to Linkedin or Monster and check out the job listings. Go look at higher end jobs. Look at the laundry list of skills and requirements. Now look at what they offer! See how few of them even mention any support, training or development. Well, no wonder. They don’t even focus on attracting people with compelling offers. They scream, “Look, I’ve posted a job. You should jump at the chance to work for us.” And they wonder why they have bench weaknesses.

Development and acquisition are joined at the hip. You can’t separate them. And placement means what Jim Collins (author of “Good To Great”) called “putting the right people in the right seats on the bus.” It’s matching the right people with the right job and situation. Don’t ruin an “A” player with misplacement or you’ll quickly feel you’ve got a “B” or “C” player. It’s not the player, it’s the situation.

It’s Stanley Cup Playoffs in the National Hockey League. When one team goes on the power play and the other goes on the penalty kill, you’ll see the importance of placement. A star player can find himself sitting on the bench because the coach knows his skills aren’t ideally suited for either of these situations – the penalty kill or the power play (one side is playing with fewer players than the other due to penalties assessed). Sometimes the best “specialty teams” players aren’t the marque players, but rather role players who shine under these special pressure situations. Great coaches know when to put specific players on the ice.

Devote time and energy to develop your team. It takes commitment. Make up your mind that helping your team members become stronger is important. Then get busy doing everything you can to help your people succeed.

Acquire the very best talent available. Skimp on talent and you’ll weaken your team. Go cheap and you’ll end up going home with lackluster performance. I know you’re tempted to think you’re spectacular leadership and coaching will make all the difference, but you’re wrong. Winning is done by great players. Great coaches allow the team to win more, and to win bigger. Poor coaches manage to lose, even with good talent. Never diminish the value of great team members.

Placement isn’t just where people are, but it’s also who is coupled with whom. Bring in a “B” player and see how your “A” players react. It won’t be pretty. And you’ll erode your winning culture with poor placement – either by putting an inferior talent in their midst or by putting the wrong person in a position unsuited for them. This is where your leadership can shine. Do great work in this area and it’ll be clear how strong you are.

Conclusion

Maybe it’s about having somebody in place who can take over your role when you leave.

Maybe it’s about having somebody in place who can accept more responsibility.

Maybe it’s about filling a new position with an existing team member.

Maybe it’s about having a short list of potential candidates to fill unexpected vacancies.

Maybe it’s moving people around so they’re in situations better suited for their talents.

Your game may determine these things. Your company culture and mission will impact them, too. These can be very challenging waters to navigate, especially if you’re trying to do it without proper planning and competent execution. Before you can focus on the work, you have to focus on your bench of players who will perform the work. Your work requires people who can perform at high levels. In your organization it may just be you and one other person, or it may be you leading a small team. But it might be you leading a team of hundreds.

Ignore your bench at your own peril. Don’t disregard the power of the individual people who make up your team because your bench is filled with individuals. Make sure your team members know their proper place on the team because their contribution to the whole is what makes your organization win.

219 Your Business Bench Strength: How Critical Is It To Your Success? Read More »

216 – People, Performance & Purpose: Making Your Business Relevant

Entrepreneurship, Leadership / By Randy Cantrell

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Yellow-Pages-Irrelevant — No longer relevant – avoid this with your business

The Yellow Pages and the hard copy phone book are no longer relevant. Neither is TV Guide. What does relevancy mean? How did these (and countless other businesses) lose theirs?

What Relevancy Means

In a word, it means “useful.” Maybe a better word is “valuable.”

Some enterprises never quite reach a high state of relevancy. That is, they’re never very valuable. If you live in a suburban area like I do, just look at the strip centers (shopping centers) in your area. They likely have one or two businesses that are pretty constant. Maybe a restaurant or grocery store. But most of the store fronts are likely occupied with smaller, locally owned businesses. There’s the dry cleaner, the donut shop, the nail salon, the locally owned sandwich shop and so on. Some of these businesses last for a few years, but many of them come and go because they simply couldn’t gain traction. They never established enough value to build a customer base…so they died. Falling into the abyss of irrelevancy.

Some enterprises can’t adjust when disruptions come. The manufacturers of horse drawn buggies don’t exist any more. They went from prominence to irrelevance when the automobile arrived and gained widespread acceptance. But an enterprise loses relevance before it reaches extinction. Xanga was once a social media rockstar. Not today. Groupon was the fastest growing company. Today they’re on the fast track toward becoming irrelevant. So it goes when leaders don’t maintain the vigilance to stay relevant.

Three Strategies Of Relevancy (you need all of them)

1. You must have a market.

Ideally, marketing experts will tell you that you need “a hungry market.” Markets can vary wildly from mild to famished. It’s all gauged by sales success. No sales, no relevancy.

To be fair, a sale doesn’t have to be an exchange of products or services for money. It can be patronage, support or some other variation of an exchange in value. For example, acts of philanthropy happen for many reasons. A person may have a personal connection to a specific non-profit. A person may want to contribute to a specific enterprise expecting nothing in return other than knowing they’re supporting a cause they believe in. Maybe a person simply needs a bit more of a tax deduction.

Businesses, non-profits, researchers, governments and all other organizations need supporters. Getting those supporters is what I mean when I say, “Making the sale.” That’s the only way of getting a market. You must make a sale. The more sales you make, the more relevant you are.

2. You must hold onto a market.

You’ve got get repeat business, or have ongoing support. Retailers know they’ll experience a degree of customer attrition. A certain percentage of their customers will move away. Another percentage may die. Still others will find a more suitable solution based on price, selection, quality, convenience or a host of other reasons. Great retailers work hard to eliminate losing customers by continuing to elevate their performance and offerings. You’ve got to hang onto your current supporters. It’s not enough to get them once. You need to keep them faithful.

3. You must grow your market.

Because retaining supporters isn’t a perfectly achieved objectives (how can a retailer prevent customers from dying?), you’re going to have to bring in new supporters to replace those who go away. You also need to grow your enterprise.

You can grow your enterprise by increasing the number of supporters, by increasing the level of support you’re getting from current supporters or by doing both of those things. The last one is the best strategy!

Three Components Of Relevancy

How can you achieve relevancy for your enterprise? That’s the real issue today. And our headline provides the answer. Three of them actually…but you need all three if you’re going to sustain relevancy.

1. People

You can’t establish relevancy without people. You need people to help you provide it. You need people who appreciate it enough to support it. You even need people willing to partner with you along the way.

Undervalue people and you’ll undermine your ability to achieve relevance.

Make false assumptions about people and you’ll lose. Many enterprises assumed people wanted something only to find out too late, nobody wanted it.

Enterprises often assume they can grind through people (employees, volunteers or other internal people) and it won’t impact their progress in the market…until people reach the point where they won’t take it any more. Citizens revolt against oppressive governments. Workers rebel against tyrannical employers. Patrons abandon the poorly run charity.

People matter. Don’t forget it.

2. Performance

Just because yesterday’s performance gained you a market doesn’t mean the market will stick with you if you let your performance slip. You can’t assume that what got you here will get you there.

Markets are constantly changing. That includes yours. Keep pushing your performance to serve your market better. Listen to your market. Pay close attention to what they buy, what they want and what they hate.

It reminds me of a guy I heard about who was doing some coaching for a mid-sized organization. Every month he’d come in and deliver a presentation that was open to all the employees. He’d hold forth like most gurus do. At first, the room would be packed. After awhile, the room began to have some empty chairs. This went on month after month until the room was more empty than full. Eventually, the organization felt they’d received all the value they were ever going to get from him so they parted ways.

I wondered what he must have been thinking as he saw the attendance dwindle month after month. Why didn’t he ask the organization what they needed or wanted? Why didn’t he adjust some things? Maybe his content, maybe his approach, or something else that may have helped him engage the employees more?

I don’t know why he didn’t. Any more than I know why a person holds onto a broken business model. But I’ve seen it happen frequently. People let performance erode because they don’t see it even though it seems to be staring them squarely in the face.

High performance demands high awareness. It demands humility. Be ready to ask, “What can I do better? What can I do differently that will be more valuable to you?” Then get busy doing it.

You’ve got to stay ahead of the curve of customer satisfaction by aiming for customer delight – customer happiness!

Another part of performance is leading and managing. Leading involves people. Managing involves the process, or the work. And since people do the work, you’ve got to hold people accountable by demanding their very best. Sure, there’s proper selection (hiring), training and support. Support should be ongoing for all your people. You’ve can’t support them if you refuse to hold them responsible for the outcome. And the outcome is always going to be the result of the process. That means you’ve got to give the proper time and attention to systems, work flows and the documentation on how things must be done so you can deliver predictable success every single time!

3. Purpose

I put purpose third, but it really belongs first. I did that because I wanted to end with it and have that be our final thought. So many times I see people who neglect this component of being and staying relevant. Simon Sinek calls it “your why.” In fact, his book title tells you the importance of it, Start With Why. Fail to start with why (or your purpose) and it’ll be tougher to find your way through the maze of organizational or business challenges. If you know your why, then you’ll make decisions that are congruent with that purpose. Without a purpose you may wind up chasing your tail.

“My purpose is to make as much money as I can,” he says.

“How is that going to help you establish, much less maintain relevancy?” I ask.

“I’m going to find a way to get people to buy,” he replies.

“So your purpose is to GET people to buy?” I ask.

“Yeah, sure,” he says.

That’s a poor purpose. It’s manipulative. It’s mercenary. When push comes to shove, this person will likely do whatever is necessary to make a buck. Contrast that with another conversation.

“My purpose is to teach as many people as I can how to play the guitar so they can get the thrill of sitting in a room with their friends playing confidently.”

Is that a world changing purpose? Well, it is for the people he teaches. Yes.

Will that purpose direct whatever actions he takes in his guitar instruction business? Absolutely.

He’ll face future decisions with that purpose in mind and ask, “Does this help me further my purpose or will it distract me?” Can you see how much clarity that will provide him versus the guy who just wants to “make as much money as I can?”

You need a purpose that will provide you that kind of clarity. The guitar instructor will be able to build and maintain relevancy because he knows exactly why he’s doing what he’s doing and he knows exactly what outcome he wants for his students. Every guitar student wants to be able to play confidently in front of their friends. Some want more, but if you can’t accomplish that goal then you can’t advance beyond it. This guitar instructor knows that. And for the advanced student who wants to go beyond the stated purpose, the purpose still helps keep things on track. Fundamentally, it’s all about the thrill of playing confidently in front of people. For some of his students it’s a guy who wants to play a song for his girlfriend (an audience of one). For another, it may be a guy who wants to play with his band in front of thousands. The purpose holds.

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214 – Maybe You Have An Undiagnosed Resistance To Self-Improvement

Leadership, Personal Development, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

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214 - Maybe You Have An Undiagnosed Resistance To Self-Improvement — Sometimes patients don’t agree with a proper diagnosis.

NOTE: Today’s show was recorded live on a Google Hangout On Air that I kept unlisted because it just a test run for me to see how that platform might work during a live podcast. I’m considering doing some live podcasting. I’m not happy with the sound quality, but realized (too late) that there are settings I can use inside Google to improve that. I’m keeping the video unlisted, but you can watch it here if you want.

I’m not a physician, but I am a doctor. Of sorts. I diagnose people and treat people all the time. For a variety of maladies.

Thankfully, none of my patients die. A few are terminal, but it’s strictly because they choose to be. Like any doctor, I hate to lose a patient. Even if it is to their own foolishness and refusal to change.

Executive coaching and business consulting are kind of like two sides of the same coin. Both are rooted in problem solving. Both are focused on accurate diagnosis and proper treatment. And both require one ingredient or the prescription will never work.

Willingness.”

Not my willingness. My willingness is always very high. Just read my Happiness Guarantee at the bottom of the Hire Me page. No, it’s the willingness of the patient, or better said, my client.

I wish I could tell you that every client I’ve ever had was gifted with an extraordinary amount of willingness, but they’re not. They may say they’re willing, but over time I can see their actions (or lack of) and see that they either don’t mean it, they’re deluded or they’re lying. It really doesn’t matter which it is because the net result is always the same. No improvement. No progress.

That’s when I typically diagnose them with a resistance to self-improvement. Some don’t agree with that assessment. Others, resist the diagnosis, proving they’re resistant to self-improvement and being diagnosed. Typically, I continue to work hard to help them past this ailment, but I’m not always successful. Some just can’t get past it. It’s become such a staunch way of life that some of them just don’t know how else to live. Eventually, I have to pull the metaphorical sheet up over their face and pronounce them dead to the prospect of ever conquering whatever constraints exist in their life. And we go our separate ways. It doesn’t happen often. Thankfully.

It’s a terrible, but necessary end because I’ve discovered through the years that the executive who raises through the ranks with undiagnosed resistance to self-improvement is most often incapable of change or improvement. Where there is a clear problem, they often refuse to see it. Like the Black Knight in Monty Python’s Holy Grail, they see a mortal wound as “just a flesh wound.”

Sometimes, it’s understandable.

I purposefully fictionalize case studies because all my work is confidential. I change names, industries and all sorts of things except the fundamentals of the story!

Jim (not his real name) is a 3rd generation owner of the business started by his grandfather. It’s a wholesale/distribution business with a solid reputation and a loyal client base. However, in recent years, there’s been some erosion of the customer base. And the customer complaints, which were once nil, have increased. Most of the complaints are centered around the apathy of the company to meet or exceed the expectations of the customer. Clients report a “sense of complacency.” They don’t feel as valued as they once did. It’s all very vexing to Jim who addresses every problem with brute force.

Jim is a dictator. He’s not your work-toward-consensus kind of a leader. He’s more of a prototypical my-way-or-the-highway kind of a guy.

Right away one issue becomes apparent. Success is going to be difficult to argue with. It always is. If a person has achieved success, even by being a tyrant, good luck affecting change or improvement. Even so, the process of trying pushes forward. I’m never one to give in too quickly.

Even a casual observer of the culture can quickly see this company never celebrates a victory. Ever. In fact, nobody ever does a good job. Jim is never satisfied with anything. Amazingly, he’s also never far from any decision, or would-be decision. I observe in my own personal notes to myself, “Second guesses everything and everybody.”

Out on the shop floor, during a management-by-wondering around (as Tom Peters called it), we encounter a young worker who didn’t appear to be out of his teens. The place was fairly frenetic at the time and his area wasn’t all that clean. I had noticed other areas that looked quite similar and they didn’t seem to provoke any wrath, but all of a sudden Jim was filled with rage. I don’t mean displeasure. I mean I-could-knock-you-out kind of rage. It was clear to me that the young man was doing all he could to keep up with the present distress of a hectic workload (turns out it was during their busiest time of the day). Jim began to upbraid the young man, telling him why his area was unacceptable. He ripped and snorted. This went on for quite awhile. I had retreated away from the immediate area, not standing my Jim’s side (as I had), for fear of causing the young man further embarrassment. Even from 10 paces behind, every word was clearly heard.

Finally, it was over. I held my peace. We kept walking around and finally migrated back to the offices. When we sat down Jim asked me what I thought and as is often my custom, I reversed field on him by asking him what he thought. Specifically, I wanted to know what he thought the problem was. “Why are customers unhappy and why are some leaving?”

Because I’ve got too many people who just don’t give a $#@!”

That prompted a conversation about employees who don’t understand what it is to own a business. You likely know that conversation. Lots of business leaders and most business owners have engaged in that kind of talk for as long as I can remember. It’s funny, but after all these years my response is still the same. “Well, they’re not owners,” I said. “They’re employees. But that doesn’t mean they don’t care. I mean, you can hardly expect a teenage worker who is making $10 an hour to understand what you know. How old is he? 18? 19?”

“I think he’s 19,” Jim said.

“Tell me about you at 19?” I asked.

Little did I know that I was opening a can of worms I’d rather have not opened. Too late. For the next 40 minutes I heard about his overbearing mother and never around dad. Now, executive coaching is always part therapy. It just is. Ask anybody who coaches business people and they’ll all tell you it is. Well, if it’s done right it is. And these cans of worms that we sometimes open inadvertently can serve to give us big insight. Sometimes they even provide an epiphany.

Over time the diagnosis was evident to me. Micro-managing every little thing, and going off on random things inconsistently (why dog pile the teenage worker about his area, but not the others whose areas appeared to be similar disarray?) had robbed people of initiative. It had grown worse by all accounts of insiders. Jim’s frustration had increased under the pressure of business growth. Eventually, the success was causing an implosion. Fact was, the very thing that had helped fuel success to a point…had now reached a place of diminishing returns. Now, it was a problem. Like laundry detergent, more isn’t always better. Sometimes you can get too much and destroy your entire laundry room.

I’d like to tell you things really turned around, but they didn’t. For a long time I tried. We were able to repair some things, improve others and stem the blood flow in yet others. But, overall, the basic foundations of culture never changed because Jim refused to accept responsibility for stymying the performance of his people. These people were afraid to move. They were trained to accept that everything they did would be wrong. So, it was just easier to do nothing, or do as little as was necessary — when it came to owning a problem, taking responsibility and trying to fix a problem. Jim was right, they weren’t behaving like owners because he had robbed them of any sense of ownership or pride in their work.

The story isn’t all that rare because this is not a rare disease. Delusion, self-deception, refusal to accept responsibility are all common in many organizations. It’s Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. People only know what they know. But what if what you know is wrong? What if you’ve just got a perspective that isn’t accurate?

I commonly challenge myself and clients to simply consider the possibility…

What if you’re wrong?”

I ask it of myself almost daily. I’m not saying it’s easy, but I am saying that it’s necessary if we’re going to improve or make progress. Especially if we’re leaders!

Back in the 1980’s I began to ask managers who reported to me, “Are you asking your people to improve their performance?” Every manager would answer in the affirmative. “Then why,” I reasoned, “don’t you give more time and attention to your own improvement?”

After all these years of leading, coaching and mentoring you’d think I’d have figured out why some people resist self-improvement, but I’m as stumped as ever these days. Oh, I know part of it is the blame game. Part of it is a person’s unwillingness to admit wrong. Part of it is an arrogant belief that we’re the most important person in the world. But the one that bugs me the most is the flat out refusal to even consider that YOU might be both the problem and the solution. Without fail, I have urged leaders to accept responsibility for the problems because that means they can also be the SOLUTION. I’ve considered that a powerful pitch, but I’ve learned there’s not a pitch strong enough to persuade the unwilling unbeliever. They seem to have a built-in resistance that just can’t be overcome.

Or can it?

Oh, I think it can. But sometimes it requires a drastic event to create enough self-examination. We all tend to change whenever something big enough happens to compel us to consider options. We eat fast food, bust our gut at every meal, never exercise and refuse to live differently until — a heart attack stops us in our tracks. After bypass heart surgery we may begin to think differently. Only then, might we consider the error of our ways.

It shouldn’t take a business or organizational heart attack to get us to look more closely at our habits and behaviors.

Realize there is no harm in considering the possibility that there might be a better way. Embrace the notion that just because things have been “this way” for a long time doesn’t mean it has to always be that way.
Learn and embrace empathy. Consider that sometimes people aren’t performing well because nobody has helped them. Maybe nobody taught them any differently.
Focus on what you can do to help your people improve. What can you teach them? What can you show them? Educate first.
“Reprimand first” won’t work if people don’t understand. You can’t correct a pet, a child or an employee if they don’t understand what they’ve done wrong — and how to do it right.
Be patient. You didn’t get it right the first time. Stop expecting everybody else to. Some may. Most won’t.
Don’t blame yourself, but take responsibility to fix the situation.
Realize the impact you have. For good or bad. Ignore people because you’re preoccupied and they’ll think you’re mad at them. Make some thoughtless off the cuff comment and you may send an employee on a 3-day spree to fix a problem that isn’t a problem. They just took a cue from your comment as a signal that they’d better do something differently.
Remember, it’s unfair to expect people to improve, fix what ails them or elevate their performance if you’re unwilling to do it yourself. You’re a leader. So lead.
Invest in yourself. If you want better results, then you’ve got to focus on the process.

As a leader, you’ve got to show others the way when it comes to the most important ingredient in high performance. Willingness.

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