May 3, 2014 – Saturday’s Smile
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219 Your Business Bench Strength: How Critical Is It To Your Success?
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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.
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218 – Free Form Friday, April 25, 2014
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Today is the last Friday of the month…so it’s time for Free Form Friday!
Here are today’s talking points:
- Are you willing to help me rebrand this podcast? If so, I’d greatly appreciate your input. Just go here to help: BulaNetwork.com/helpme
- Podcasting talk (it doesn’t have to be expensive or done like I do it, using a broadcast workflow)
- Audio Technica ATR2100 or ATR2005
- I talked about my own gear and workflow in podcasting in episode 205
- TV talk (other than sports, there are some reality shows I enjoy – and I’ll tell you why)
- All of my podcasts are now unique, which is why I need your help rebranding this one
- Leaning Toward Wisdom is where I riff on about anything pertaining to the general subject of wisdom.
- Remarkable Retail is going to be relaunched this coming fall, Lord willing.
- Jon Buscall interviewed me last year about creativity and storytelling
I originally used a Google HOA to record today’s show, but as you can tell…the audio isn’t up to snuff. HOA’s don’t always play nicely with my audio console. So if you want to endure the video with poor audio, here it is. But I did a new audio only recording to go down the RSS feed. The audio is MUCH BETTER.
218 – Free Form Friday, April 25, 2014 Read More »
217 – What Matters Is What Happens Every Day
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Daily habits can seem ridiculously simple and insignificant. Like brushing your teeth. Stop doing it and you’ll soon realize it’s not so insignificant. There’s high value in daily brushing. The cost of a toothbrush and toothpaste is a fraction of what dental work might cost.
Back in the 80’s I developed an awful, but delightful daily habit. A Twix bar and a Dr. Pepper as an afternoon snack. Every day.
The 2 cookie Twix is 250 calories, 12 grams of fat and 24 grams of sugar. A can of Dr. Pepper is also about 250 calories. That’s 500 calories! Every single day. I wasn’t working out or doing any exercise. You do the math. It didn’t take long before my weight was getting out of control, along with my waistline. This one little daily habit was killing me!
So I had to stop it.
About a decade ago I committed to my health by enrolling at a gym. Okay, enrolling is easy. The real commitment was in going 5 or 6 days a week. I’ve remained true to that commitment. Now, instead of snacking on 500 calories within a few minutes I can invest an hour and burn 500 calories.
These aren’t remarkable daily habits. They don’t seem to be. But, if you examine a daily habit based on the results produced, they’re beyond remarkable.
We all want to do some BIG thing.
During my consulting and coaching I’ve often witnessed the spectacle of people who ignore small daily habits because they think they must do something bigger than life. As a quantum leap guy I’m fond of really big ideas and big execution, but I’m practical enough to know that big progress happens because of the little things we do.
Save 5% of your income with strong discipline (don’t miss a single month) and even if you’re earning $40,000 a year you’ll be saving $2000 every year. Flip it around and blow just 5% of your income with reckless abandon and you’ll lose $2000 every year. It’s a bit like my weight gain and my renewed zeal to get fit. I made a 1000 calorie swing by going from consuming 500 calories in a snack every day to burning 500 calories in the gym everyday. The person who saves 5% can make a $4000 annual swing by changing their habit from spending to saving. And it’s being done monthly at a rate of just $167. Small steps can result in making up big ground.
It’s a compounding effect of sorts. That’s what our daily habits do for us, or against us. Those are the habits that cause us to put on weight, or take it off. Let’s talk about a few areas where we can help ourselves improve our daily habits.
Electronic / Online Habits
Most of these habits aren’t daily. They’re hourly, or minute-by-minute. They can be destructive to our productivity, our relationships and our health (emotional, mental and physical).
Coca-Cola launched a brilliant campaign with social media guards. It went viral and garnered Coke lots of attention.
The campaign also spoke a truth that we all realize. We’re all on our cell phones too much. Whether we’re texting, checking Facebook or email or playing games. Few things besides Starbucks’ coffee (for the coffee drinkers) are as addictive as the smallest screens in our lives.
I’m not a social scientist capable of discerning why people are addicted to their smart phones, but I am observant. The evidence is all around us. Our family members. Friends. Strangers. There’s a reason we’re seeing TV campaigns warning teens about texting and driving. Here in Dallas/Ft. Worth I regularly see people texting and driving.
I never see people eating a meal together, even in my own home, without having a smartphone in one hand at some point. Some keep their phone in hand, or within reach on top of the table.
Fitness Habits
Okay, maybe I should say LACK of fitness habits. These include our eating habits, too.
I’ve already admitted to my past Twix and Dr. Pepper habit. It’s been many years since I had that habit. Good thing or I’d be gargantuan.
After visiting a elderly gentlemen in the hospital some years ago I got in the car with my wife to leave and told her, “I don’t think I can do that to you.” Of course, it wasn’t entirely a fair comment because it supposed that the gentleman in question had “done that” to his wife. He hadn’t. He simply suffered ill health. But that wasn’t my point. My point was that I knew I needed to take my health more seriously, if not for my sake, then for her sake. So I joined a gym and began going faithfully. That was over a decade ago. I still go 6 days a week!
I’m still a carboholic hooked on crackers and bread. I need to curb it. Old habits are hard to break, but I really should try harder.
Reading Habits
I’ve always read a lot, but am the only person who finds myself reading fewer books because of the ebook revolution? I’ve got hoards of Kindle books that I haven’t read. Yes, you can carry along tons of books. Yes, it’s easy. Yes, the format is very readable. No, I don’t enjoy it as much as I enjoy holding a physical book. No, I no longer order physical books. A mistake? Maybe.
Everything in me knows the electronic publishing revolution is here to stay…and it’s a high efficiency delivery system, too. But, it has had a negative impact on my daily reading habits. How? Time spent reading. I could grab a physical book and read as long as my interest held, or until I ran out of time and had to close the book to do something else. Now, I find myself unable to read more than a handful of pages at a time. And these are short pages, Kindle versions on my iPad.
I’m not sure if it’s negatively affected my attention span, or if I just haven’t devoted myself enough to develop the habit of reading from my iPad. Maybe I’m more tactile than I imagined.
Home Habits
There are tons of these and I won’t attempt to catalog them, but I’m thinking of some that are important, especially if home involves a husband, wife and children. Consider your own list.
- Communicate – share, interact, be real, be honest, don’t hold back, say “I love you” (and mean it)
- Affection – kiss, hold hands, hug, be intimate
- Serve – help out, contribute, be considerate, be surprising (sometimes)
- Resolve – conflicts, to love each other through thick and thin, to hold each other accountable, to help each other, to exhibit kindness, to be financially responsible, to build a secure home
- Train (your children) – to respect authority, to be responsible, to give good effort, to be tenacious, to read, to write, to play outside, to think for themselves, to speak clearly, to be persuasive, to be sober-minded
The list could be so much longer, but you get the idea. Our daily habits in our home make our home what it is. If you’re unhappy with your home, then get busy making it what it should be. Stop looking for monumental leaps. That’s not what makes a home successful. It’s the daily habits of kissing your wife in the morning, saying “I love you” and helping her clean the kitchen. It’s reading to the kids. It’s hanging up your own clothes. All those million things we do without thinking every single day. Those are the things that create our home. For good, or bad.
Work Habits
No matter what industry you occupy there are some universally poor habits recognized in every workplace.
- Showing up late, or just in the nick of time
- Taking 30 minutes to drink coffee, visit with co-workers and other time wasters before starting the day
- Failing to get back to people promptly
- Working too slow
- Calling in sick too often
- Bringing family drama to work
- Always bumming money for lunch (snacks, etc.)
- And many, many more!
Rarely do you see people change their daily work habits. The people who suffer the things on that list never disappoint you by doing something different. They’re as predictable in their poor habits as those high achievers are in their good habits. You know who the “go-to” people are at work. And you know why they’re the “go-to” people.
Somewhere in their life the slugs developed their bad habits. Without some dramatic catalyst to influence change, slugs remain slugs.
Conversely, high achievers developed their habits for success. Over time they can lean toward complacency if they’re not watchful, but high achievers do things every day that set them apart from the slugs.
Conclusion
It’s not the BIG things that make us who we are. Big things don’t build our personal habits, our home habits or our work habits.
Yes, big things happen to us. We fall in love. We marry. We have children. We get a job. We get a better job. We buy a house. We get a new car. All big events, but our lives are mostly defined by the many little things we do every single day.
We’re who we are because of the things we consistently do. So instead of concentrating on big things we’d likely be much better served by more closely examining all our little daily habits. Not an easy task since many of these things happen on auto-pilot. It’s hard to notice things that are mostly unnoticeable. Well, others might notice them, but it’s much tougher for us to see them in ourselves.
So let me close by giving you a few tips that may help:
1. Start with the things you already know you’d like to change.
Most people will readily admit that they’d like to stop something, or start something. Make a list. What are those things?
Maybe it’s something as simple (but important) as kissing your wife good-bye when you leave for work each morning. Or it could be something more difficult like walking 10,000 steps every day.
These are things already top-of-mind. Write them all down until you can’t think of anything else. These should be things that leap to your mind without much mental gymnastics.
2. Next, move to the things that others will value most.
I’m not suggesting you surrender your entire life to do what everybody else wants you to do. Focus on the people who matter. For starters, the people you love. Then, the people vital to your career. Maybe there are others, too. These are people who really matter to you. Important people.
What can you do to increase your value to them? How can you better serve them?
For instance, a wife may suggest to her husband that she could use some help with house-keeping. If he’d vacuum and pick up after himself, it’d really help her. Is that YOU? Then, will you do it? You should.
Commit yourself to the people. Don’t fret about the daily habits. Think of the people you’ll be serving and how your actions will positively impact their lives.
3. Now, dig deep and think about the things you need to change and the things you want to change.
This is where the heavy lifting happens. Up to this point, you’ve been using relatively light weights. You’re now ready to add more plates to the bar. It’s going to tax your muscles, but I promise it’ll be worth it.
If you aren’t who you most want to be…now it’s time to get busy becoming that person. Aim for your ideal. Why not?
Daily habits are the process to get you where you want to go. Sometimes the tough part is to not get wrapped up in the outcome, or the final result because it’s going to take time. Your patience is going to wear thin if you obsess too much about the destination. For instance, if you want to reduce your waist size from 40 to 36, it’s not going to happen quickly. It’ll be the result of daily habits repeated over time. A quarter of an inch at a time.
You’ll be tempted to defeat yourself before you ever start. Resist. “I’ll never be able to do this,” is the self-talk of defeatists. You’re not going to join their ranks. Instead, I want you to say, “It won’t be easy, but I know I can do it.”
Make your list. Spend time with it. Put it in order of importance. Work it, then re-work it. Do your best to go from most important to least important.
You’re now armed with your list, which is actually 3 lists that you’ve compiled into a single master list. It’s in order of what matters to you most.
a) You’ve taken into account the things you want to change that are top-of-mind.
b) You then migrated to the things you know will help you serve those you love and those who are important to you.
c) Lastly, you dug deep to incorporate the things you realize you need to change and the things you want to change.
Then, go through the list and make only 2 distinctions between all the items. Use any designation you want. I prefer terms that depict the item. Like “sprint” and “marathon.” Sprints are fast. Quick. Marathons take time. My “sprint” items are ones that I know I can implement and execute right now. I don’t need any training or real preparation. I just have to get busy on them. “Marathon” items are ones I can begin, but I’ve got to plan, prepare and train. A marathon is 26 miles and 385 yards long, run in a single event. I’ve never run one, but I know you can’t just enter one and run it without working toward it. That’s how those “marathon” items are. You can start on them today, but you realize it’s a process that’s going to take some time. However, if you stay with it and keep working on it…before long you’ll be ready to run the marathon.
Use whatever terms work for you.
4. Okay, it’s GO TIME! It’s time to create your strategies.
I’ll warn you what will go wrong in this step. You’ll think you have to do every single item on your list. The result? You won’t get off of the starting blocks. Like a rocket trying to escape the gravitational pull of the earth, you’re going to feel the urge to return to your old norm. Give in to the urge and you’ll crash. Resist it with determination and you’ll soar to new heights. Crash or soar. Those are your two choices.
Your “sprint” items shouldn’t demand sophisticated strategies. You can dive right in and take off running at full speed to incorporate them into your life. Your two biggest challenges to “sprint” items is getting started and sticking with them. Commit to both of those and you’ll have conquered those items.
The “marathon” items will require some planning and strategy. Some more than others. Be careful with very heavy items. For instance, I’ve known people who had a marathon goal of losing 100 pounds who tried to go it alone without any doctor supervision. Big mistake. Don’t tackle something that significant without proper guidance!
A key to marathon items is to not get ahead of yourself. It’s not important that you map out every single step. Get started by devising your first few steps. Just a couple. You’ll add steps as you go, in advance of getting to them. A beginner who want to run a marathon likely runs 1 mile before they run 5. They run 5 miles in a stretch before they run 10. By consistently adding miles they build up their endurance. Eventually, they’re running over 26 miles. They know they can run a marathon because they’ve done it in training. Your marathon items will work the same way. Just run your first mile sooner than later so you can get going.
Wait a minute…this sure sounds like a lot of hard work.
It is. That’s why only extraordinary people do this kind of work. Only the high-achievers are willing to invest this kind of effort into their own lives.
If it were easy, everybody would do it. YOU are not everybody.
And I’m sure not!!
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