Last Monday I laid out a do-it-yourself plan for mangers to juice growth among their people. Beth Miller asked why I didn’t include coaching; I responded that I believed that line managers needed to take responsibility for professional development, especially in the current economic climate.
Beth asked,“So what holds back managers from coaching?”
My response is what I want to focus on today.
“I think it’s partly language. I know a number of managers who have implemented what I described in the post, do a terrific job developing their people, but don’t consider any of it coaching or even mentoring. One even scoffs …read more

The world is full of acronyms and many are part of corporate culture, but all acronyms are not created equal.
Many are benign, as in executive titles,

CEO – Chief Executive Officer, COO – Chief Operating Officer, CFO – Chief Financial Officer, CTO – Chief Technology Officer;

or defining the legal entity,

DBA – Doing Business As, LLC – Limited Liability Company, LLP – Limited Liability Partnership;

or general business terms,

COB – Close Of Business, COGS – Cost of Goods Sold, PL – Profit and Loss, PO – Purchase Order, QA – Quality Assurance, QC – Quality Control;

or oriented to customers,

CRM – …read more

One of the hardest things that growing companies face is the need to stop shooting from the hip.
I hear the reasons not to all the time, from startups, small biz, entrepreneurs, et al:

It will ruin our culture.
It stifles creativity. It’s for larger companies.
It’s bureaucratic. It’s too time consuming.

“It” refers to the underpinnings of all successful companies. “It” includes the following in order of importance:

Financial controls that include

monthly statements of revenues by product;
discounts;
costs by department;
cost of goods sold;
inventory;
receivables aging;
stock issuance;
cash flow;
manufacturing yields;
hiring by department

Annual operating plan …read more

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As you probably know there are hundreds of ways to mess up a culture and a lack of authenticity is one of the big ones.
There’s a lot about written about authenticity, but are you aware that one of the quickest ways to announce your lack of authenticity is to issue ultimatums?
Thousands of times a day, day after day, bosses in every industry, in companies both large and small, issue “or else” ultimatums, sometimes without even realizing it.
These threats aren’t always direct (Do it or start looking.), more often, they are subtle (“I expect employees who work here to be team …read more

If you read any of the hundreds of how-to books written about good people management and leadership, you’ll find great similarities among them. So, what happens during implementation? Why can the de facto difference between managers be so enormous?
The answer goes back to one of two basic beliefs that are formed and held long before a person becomes a manager.

People are intelligent, motivated, and really care about helping their company achieve its objectives.

People are stupid, don’t care, and will screw up if you don’t watch them every minute. Variations of A are discussed, lauded, and underlay most …read more

I’ve mentioned from time to time that there are the two basic principles that you need to believe in if you want to implement the kind of culture that I and most other pundits describe.
Here’s the first one.
People are intelligent, motivated, and they genuinely want to support their company in achieving its objectives.
Sadly, many managers don’t believe this. They may say they do, but deep down their thoughts run more along the lines of ‘people are stupid, lazy and don’t really give a damn’.
I’ve know managers who would actually say this out loud, while in others it’s buried so deeply …read more

I’ve focused a lot over the last six months on the problems in education and attitudes of the workforce-to-be and it’s been a pretty dismal picture. Obviously, there are plenty of exceptions, but that, too, is problematic.
It’s not just that entrepreneurship attracts the best and brightest, is also attracts a significant percentage of high-initiative students and it’s those with initiative who drive innovation wherever they’re at.
And there lies the problem.
Not because these kids want to solve problems, start businesses and attack the world’s social ills—that’s great. But the MAP that drives these kids is the same MAP that is so …read more

The best cultures satisfiy the intangibles that people crave.
A Hollister poll of 1000 people, employed and unemployed, in Massachusetts last summer asked them what factors contributed the most to their job satisfaction; the majority of responses in order were

Company Culture;
Opportunities for Growth;
Employee Appreciation;
Work/Life Balance; and a
good Benefits Package.

Dead last was competitive salary/pay. As I’ve always said, “The person who joins for money will leave for more money.”
The interesting thing about this is that numbers two through four are all parts of number one, good culture. Even benefits are a function of the culture, since they reflect the company’s attitude towards …read more

Sean Kelly of Franchise Pick, one of the best bloggers I know, sent an email to his Bizzia colleagues suggesting that we might find it interesting to weigh in from our own perspective regarding the couple who just won Sean’s Franchisee From Hell Award. (Don’t miss the Biz Levity and Small Business Boomers take on it.)
In short, Lacey, Washington Pizza Time franchise owner Luke Benjamin kept the thermostat set at 55 degrees with a policy to turn the furnace off at night, but the employees forgot one night. Benjamin’s solution was to shut off the heat completely (in an area …read more