Are You Ready to Hire Your First Office Manager pt. II

Save Yourself a Lot of Headaches, by Putting the Correct Foundations in Place!

The next best practice for managing managers is:

1. Know them.  Find out what keeps them with you and your company, and in this position, as well as what would cause them to want to leave.

2. Regularly take time with them.  The best way is to have a weekly meeting to keep your pulse on what’s going on with them, and to discover who’s doing what.

3. Take the time to find out what motivates them, looking for ways to communicate special thanks and encouragement.  Give them a short survey and include a list of items they can choose from. i.e.

• Time off

• Gift card to ________________

• A spa treatment

• What’s their favorite candy or drink

• Do they like public praise, or would they prefer a sincere note of thanks.

• Tickets to a ball game

Then when you notice exceptional behavior, remember to reward them with one of the items they chose.  Positive reinforcement goes a long way.  Also, you’re modeling how to treat their employees.  This is influencing up!  Just go into any Starbucks and watch the level of confidence their employees display.

“I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun.”  asserted John D. Rockefeller

The next important leadership item is the performance review.  I admire the Starbucks standards and systems.  With two grown children who have been shift managers with an accumulated 14yrs of experience with Starbucks, I have had a rare opportunity to study them from the inside.  They are a model organization regarding encouraging their employees and managers to “feel” like company partners.  I interviewed our city’s District Managers a few years ago, and they described a practice I have implemented with every company I consulted with since.  They not only have exception training with high standards, and detailed manuals for everything, but they do what is called “Skip Level Performance Reviews.”  For instance, they will skip the store manager and interview the shift managers (who are directly under the Store Managers) in order to ascertain just how well the Store Managers are fulfilling their responsibilities, and how they are being treated by the Store Manager.  This kind of accountability keeps the Store Managers on their toes.  Then the Store Manager will skip the shifts and speak with the employees about the Shift Manager.  This also gives one the opportunity to learn if the employees are thriving or struggling under this manager.  If you wait for them to come to you, it’s probably already out of hand, and will need time and intervention, which costs money.  If you do discover there is a problem, corroborate the truth of it by interviewing the other employees to discern if this is an isolated case between the manager and employee, or if it is necessary to either correct the manager, or possibly provide more training. Either way, take care of it, or it will grow exponentially and sabotage the culture of the office, and you will loose credibility and influence.   The Starbucks system of performance reviews works ingeniously, measuring how well they are fulfilling the expectations of being a manager!  As well, if the managers are responsible for certain levels of sales, the numbers never lie.  As well, how they’re creating raving fans can be measured by providing customer surveys.  Feedback, feedback, feedback provides concrete evidence! With the right systems in place, you’ll be able to keep the pulse of a place, knowing when you need to provide extra training and possibly need take a more hands on approach for a time.  Whether you have one or many employees, with the Starbucks systems in place, a company can run efficiently with scheduled, regular performance reviews.

BOOKS TO HELP YOU:

“Developing the Leader Within You” Dr. John C. Maxwell

“Developing the Leaders Around You” Dr. John C. Maxwell

“Love “Em or Lose “Em” by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans

“The Boss’s Survival Guide” by Bob Rosner, Allan Halcrow, Alan Levins

Are You Ready to Hire Your First Office Manager pt. I

Save Yourself a Lot of Headaches, by Putting the Correct Foundations in Place!

When you hire your first office Manager, you can avoid a lot of problems by putting the correct foundations in place.  First off, the manager MUST be rightly positioned.  Making sure their behavioral style matches the needs of the position, and that the skills, knowledge, and training of the person fits their responsibilities.  A lot of headaches can be avoided right here!  Then, they must have a clearly written, and understood job description which includes:

• Their specific responsibilities

• Attitudes expected of them

• Compensation the company will be providing

• Holidays and/or days, and sick leave

• When performance reviews will be given to them

Continuing education should be provided so that they are continually upgrading their leadership skills.  This should include how much the company is willing to invest in their training and/or materials.  You can’t manage poorly communicated expectations.  Every time I go into a company to consult, or provide executive coaching, and the manager is frustrated with the owners, it is invariably these items which were loosely agreed upon, and not put in writing. If this is the case, you will eventually experience conflict over what the Office Manager expected and was told, as opposed to what the owner remembers he/she said.  They need to be given the company handbook detailing the

• Mission

• Vision

• Values

along with the job descriptions of the employees they will be managing.  They must have a crystal clear understanding of how to support, train, monitor and encourage their employees.  Problems can be averted by setting the correct foundations at the beginning.  Having a clear understanding of their responsibilities, will avoid any need to micro manage as well!

Done right, you will have more time to do the things you love doing, which is why you became a business owner in the first place!

End of pt. 1

 

Managing to Succeed as a Boss and Leader!

What Great Managers Do With their Employees, To Add Value to Their Company

Here’s where the rubber meets the road in successful businesses where people feel valued for their contributions! Managing people is all about developing other people to bring out their unique:

• talents
• gifts
• personality
• knowledge, and education
• skills

to meet the needs of their position at work.  Great managers develop and release their employees by assisting them through training, coaching, directing, supporting, encouraging, and delegating.  Lee Iaccoca managed to lift Chrysler Motors back from varying challenging issues including labor disputes and bankruptcy.  Through it all he managed to maintain his value of “succeeding at the people level”.  What this meant was that he insisted, and I quote:  “In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words,

“PEOPLE – PRODUCT & PROFITS.
PEOPLE come first.”

If fact one of my very favorite quotes states that to be a superb leader, or manager:

“You need to develop the skill of:
MAKING OTHER PEOPLE FEEL IMPORTANT.”
Dr. John C. Maxwell

In fact,

“No man will make a great leader who wants to
do it ALL himself,
or to get the credit for doing it!”
Andrew Carnegie

Again, management isn’t about you.  It’s about what you can do with and through others to build and develop them, while simultaneously meeting the mission, vision, and strategic plan of the company. J. Paul Getty, the wealthy oil mogul, when asked what was the most important quality of a successful executive replied:

“It doesn’t make much difference how much other knowledge
or experience an executive possesses.  If he is unable to achieve results
through people, he is worthless as an executive!”

Are you hearing a similar theme?  As a leader, it’s about extracting from your people, their very best on behalf of the company, in ways that honor, value, and build them. You get to make a difference in someone else’s life.  Because of you, they can gain a new skill, learn a new competency, or even be directed toward their dream position and ultimately live a fulfilling work life.  You have the opportunity to “be” the difference in each and every employee who calls you their boss. So, it’s important that you get the right perspective on your position, and learn what great leaders/managers say and do to create great employees.  A great leader says, as they work with their employees, “How can I make those around me more successful?” In fact, one of the very best questions you can ask yourself to evaluate why you are a leader, to discern what your motive is in carrying the title leader/manager/supervisor while you support, coach, direct, and lead the people under you is:

“Am I building people?
Or, am I building my dream
and using people to do it.”
Fred Smith of Federal Express

This question goes to the heart of why you are in this role, what your motivation is.  In fact, when you correctly understand what your “Job Description” is, you will begin to understand that everyone you work with is hungry. Yes, that’s right.  They’re hungry to be understood, to feel worthwhile, important, and ultimately in their own way, to be recognized as valuable . . . valuable to you and to the organization you both work for.  And you know you’ve reached this level of leadership when instead of feeling like you’re going to throw-up when you’re reading or hearing something like this, that speaks to the soft side of business, – like I myself use to feel;  instead, hearing this now resonates with you, motivating you to work toward finding out how you can genuinely meet the unspoken needs of those who are a part of your tribe, who call you boss.

IS FAILURE A PREREQUISITE TO SUCCESS?

How You Can Expedite Success as a Leader by Learning From,and being Mentored by, the Mistakes of Others.

We all experience failure. In fact, the most successful people fail hundreds, if not thousands of times, before they succeed.  One of my favorite books, “Failing Forward” by Dr. John C. Maxwell , teaches you how to handle failure maturely, and to grow through it.  In fact,

”Success is failure turned inside out ”

Although, this is not what this blog is about.  Instead, my question to you is; do you have to make all the failures yourself, to learn the necessary lessons to be a successful owner/leader/manager, or,

Is there a better way to expedite the process

and skip certain mistakes and failures altogether?

Although there are inevitable instances where “You just don’t know WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW’. Therefore, you have to experience it for yourself to “get it”.  Could there be another way to beat the learning curve here?  Unequivocally, I believe there is.  We all possess blind spots which are obvious to others, while simultaneously hidden from our view.  The good news is:

These blind spots CAN BE uncovered, exposed,

and eliminated before impending disaster.

This, along with the amalgamation of education and training, you can expedite the learning process of a leader, circumventing problems and crisis altogether!

So again, I believe failure does not have to be

the prerequisite to your leadership success!

Brian Tracy says:

“You can have anything you want in life if you can first decide exactly what it is, and then do the things that others have done to achieve the same results.”

As the “Accidental Leader”, my passion is to help you eliminate the very mistakes and poor judgment which owners/executives/leaders commonly make.  This is done through a process of assisting you in:

1. Self discovery; while
2. Setting up processes and systems that put the needed accountability and ongoing training in place to lead a well run company or organization.

Through the use of a:

• “Needs Analysis” to assess where the gaps are in your training, skills, education and processes
• A Behavioral Style Profile – “DISC” to understand yourself and others.  So you will be able to inspire, motivate, and lead your team effectively.
• 360 Degree Profile to acquire a complete view of how you’re doing all around, by measuring where you are according to what makes people successful and . . .
• Personal interviews to get to the heart of the issues

Together we can uncover and discern the blind spots that could sabotage you and eventually implode your company, while at the same time, strategise and putting systems and processes in place for success.  Assessing and training are some of the best skills I bring to the table as an Executive Coach, and why I’m in this profession in the first place.  Because I personally lacked these when I first landed my leadership role, it is:

My mission and passion is to assist leaders

in avoiding the mistakes, failures, and pain

I could have averted myself with the above system

and a good mentor!

Along with reading the numerous excellent:

• books,
• blogs, and
• articles on leadership and business

and a strong compatible mentor, you can circumvent a tremendous amount of:

• mistakes,
• failure, and
• pain.

Besides, I’m sure there will be enough of your own mistakes you will make.  You might as well skip mine, and those of great leaders found in the books and blogs.

Is it too late for me? No, it’s never too late to learn from your mistakes and start all over again.  In fact, it’s the perfect time to take stock, learn what you need to do differently next time, and change.  However to work with me I require that you be:

• willing (willing to try things that are suggested)
• teachable, and
  
• have a positive attitude, or are working on growing with positive outlook.

Through the support, encouragement, direction, and powerful suggestions given to you in coaching, I believe you can leap ahead of the normal leadership success curve!

Napoleon Hill once said:

“When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.”

YOUR COACHING CONNECTION: Write out three mistakes you’ve made.  Second, write next to them what lessons you learned.  Third, find one other person to share them with.  Someone that you can see would benefit from your knowledge and understanding, so they could hopefully avoid the same mistake.

Two Simple Questions That Will Help You Retain Your Best and Brightest Employees

How to Make Absolutely Sure Your Employees Aren’t Harboring Any Ill Will That Would Eventually Cause Them to Quit

In numerous ways, and in different forms, ask your employees these two pivotal questions, to ensure they’re not harboring some form of ill will toward you or the company.  And by all means, use appropriate body language and words that show you genuinely want to know! Ask:

1. What would keep you here, at this company, and in this position? and . . .

2. What would cause you to leave?

That’s it!  Drill down until you’re sure you’ve got the real story.  If you haven’t already had this conversation, don’t assume everything is “all right” just because they aren’t saying anything and you thought you covered this last year.  Do you know what they’re thinking or feeling today?  Do you, really?  You’re always, and I mean unequivocally ALWAYS, the last one to know if there are offenses, frustrations, issues, or pervading problems.  You have to inquire, with authentic interest and100% attention.  If they feel safe, they’ll disclose the real deal, maybe.  If they hesitate, you’re onto something.  Don’t let them blow you off, or downplay their concern.  Not sure if you’ll get the real scoop?  Send someone to do the job, your Administrative Assistant, another manager someone who naturally displays good people skills, who people already confide it.  Not sure who this is, just ask around, they exist.  I find them in every organization I work with.

Your Coaching Connection:  It’s simple, really, keep in touch with how your most appreciable asset in your business is, your employees, and you’ll be able to spend more time doing what you really love, while at the same time keeping the best of the best.  Do it with your key players this week. I guarantee, you’ll find out all kinds of pertinent information that will be invaluable to you!

WOULD SIMON COWELL APPROVE OF YOUR HIRING PRACTICES?

Is it time to be a leader and say: “Employee Be Gone!”

Whether you have 3 or 300 employees, some may be challenging to you and your staff by creating continual nightmare situations that are just driving you crazy! In fact, do they:

• Perform incompetently exhibiting immature behaviors?

• Expect greater compensation and benefits from you, without doing competent work?

• Act entitled?

• Have to appear in court, leaving work due to poor life decisions?

• Live in a continual state of crisis?

• Blow off work and deadlines?

• Come in late, leave early, and take long lunches thinking no one knows?

• Play around on facebook, myspace, second life, or text on company time?

• Create a culture of grumbling, discontent, and back-stabbing?

• Steal from you literally, or in time spent dawdling around?

• Make excuses, blaming others for their problems and mistakes, blame-shifting?

• Refuse to upgrade their skills to meet minimum requirements for the job?

Then Simon would say “You’ve put up with this?” You do know you don’t have to, unless you’re caught in a position, such as a government job where you’re given the position without the authority to enforce anything. I want you to know, you can hire good people, even good minimum wage employees! That is, if you will put the time in up front to:

• Have a thorough system for screening people in place BEFORE you hire anyone
• Work from a detailed “Job Description” for the position. Including a thorough list of key competencies/requirements and skills needed for the position. This must be spelled out, along with the necessary behavioral style traits, personality, that will fit the position, all created and refined before seeking the perfect candidate.
• Follow up on the recommendations they provide before they are hired
• Listen carefully to anyone who has any working knowledge of them
• Do a thorough back ground check – this will tell you a lot
• Put them through appropriate testing to verify their claims
• Become aware of current interviewing/hiring laws, and then follow them

And Most IMPORTANTLY don’t forget to:

• Institute a 90 day probation period wherein YOU LET THEM GO, if you feel they aren’t:

WILLING to do what’s needed

TEACHABLE – willing to learn new things

or DON’T FIT IN with the culture of your office

During the probation period be sure to deal with things the FIRST time they appear, or you will be sabotaging your business and demoralizing your staff. You must conquer the temptation to overlook small things. Remember, the 90 days are the honeymoon. If this is their best behavior, and it’s questionable, I guarantee you’re in trouble?

I know a of a blue collar business owner that I’ve done work with, who shared with me that he may go through six to eight people to find the right match for the position. TIP: Be quick to move on, listen to your gut, and you can create the work environment that draws and keeps optimal candidates for your company.

Remember:

Some will

Some won’t

So what

Next

YOUR COACHING CORNER: Become a strong, confident eader/manager by taking inventory and re-tooling your hiring practices.  Be sure you have in place the processes mentioned above, while survey your employees to see if your hiring practices meet the needs of your company culture.  You can do it, everyone will appreciate you if you tighten the reigns in the beginning of the hiring process, taking all variables into account

Ten Things Your Employees Wish You Knew About Them

WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOUR EMPLOYEES, DO YOU KNOW?

This take on what employees wish you, the leader/manager knew about them, was written by blogger Roberta Matuson with Fast Company .   It’s a good wake up call for you leaders who continue to operate in a fog by thinking that if the employees are showing up, everything’s just fine; or you who take for granted the people working to fulfill your vision.  Below I’ve listed five of the ten titles of the paragraphs Matuson elaborates on, to entice you to read the complete article.  It’s good to take a step back to ponder your employee’s “take” on things.  If you don’t, I guarantee you’ll be blindsided.

1. They are happy to have a job.

2. You’re not the boss of me.

3. Your girls don’t like being called girls.

4. We are no longer going to take one for the team.

5. We are tired of picking up the slack from the non-performers.

My favorite is #1.  It’s true that there’s a huge gap between being happy just to have a job, and being happy in your job.  Matuson says people who are happy in their job not only act differently by going the extra mile with customers, but they’re more engaged. Unfortunately those just happy to possess a job are biding their time, waiting for a better economy in order to move on to greener pastures.  Matuson says, it’s then that they’ll tell you what they really think, and I agree.  But my question is, do you know your staff and employees?  I mean really know them, so that you can discern which of these they are?  If not, I guarantee you’re headed for trouble.

Would you like to find out how you can know?  Contact me, and I’ll be happy to provide you with a complimentary Executive Coaching session.

YOU HEARD BUT ARE YOU LISTENING?

THE ONE SKILL EVERY LEADER NEEDS MORE                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

You as a leader/ manager are so busy these days that complete clear communication sometimes never happens.  Do you know if you’re really hearing what people are really saying?  Is there a way to be sure that you are?  Yes, there is, and it’s amazingly simple I can’t even believe it.  I was recently given a book on conflict resolution that make it such a huge deal.  What I’ve discovered is that 80% of the conflicts tend to be: one person didn’t say what the meant or didn’t use the right words to convey it, so the other person heard the words, but not the intent.  Or, the other person misunderstood completely what the other person was truly communicating and immediately jumped to assumptions and judgment based on what they heard, not what the person meant.  When I can get people together to work through and learn this process, it’s amazing how much clears up.  Don’t believe me, get on this complimentary call yourself and you be the judge!

During this tele-class you’ll examine, how to increase your leadership influence. You will gain practical tips on how to disagree with people without them ever knowing it, keeping them on your team. You’ll learn how to provide appropriate feedback, while discovering the one thing you should never do when you have to correct an employee.

DATE: August 25th
TIME: 12:00pm until 1:00pm MST
WHERE: Teleclass – on the phone (you will receive the # before the seminar)
GIVEN BY: Sue Porter – “The Accidental Leader”
COST: complimentary introductory rate – you must sign-up to receive the conference call number and materials

Your Leadership Will Stagnate if You Linger at This Stage

THE RELATIONAL STAGE For the New Leader, the Seasoned Leader, or Manager of a Company! (Without relationship, there is NO influence!)

At this stage the leader realizes that “PEOPLE” are the focal point and mission of their leadership. Because this is perceived as the “touchy feely” stage, many would like to avoid or skip it completely, but it will create a litany of problems if they do. It has to be about PEOPLE and PRODUCTIVITY for the leadership equation to work.“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Is the motto of this stage!

In the Relationship Stage:

• The leader has a growing understanding of their personal purpose and influence.

• The leader is growing into a “secure person” who isn’t out to prove anything, or “be” someone. They are comfortable in their own skin, not trying to impress anyone, or feed off of anyone’s approval or affirmation of them.

• The leader, at this stage, has learned that the must develop their most appreciable asset, PEOPLE!

• The influence of the leader is because they have established interdependent relationships.

• People feel the leader cares about them at this stage, their needs and dreams as an individual, as much as they care about the work they do.

• The agenda is to bring out the best in their employees, while assisting them to fulfill their mission and personal aspirations through their position.

• The leader knows the names and faces of their people, while continuing to discovering more about them each day.

• One can tell they’re at this stage because people contribute and participate willingly when it isn’t expected of them.

• There is an open door policy where communication is welcomed rather than squelched or avoided.

• The leader is open to new ideas, is flexible, and willing to change if it is a win-win for everyone.

• The leader knows how to tactfully deal with challenging people. They don’t avoid issues that need to be addressed, correcting problems and people before they escalate.

• The leader listens more than directs. And when he does speak, people listen intently.

• The leader is able to admit mistakes, taking ownership of his responsibility without blame shifting, cave dwelling (avoidance), or attacking.

• At this stage they can become overly confident in their influence, which may lead to egocentricity if they don’t advance to the next level soon enough.

THE CHALLENGE: If a leader stays on this level too long they wear out by trying to impress and please people. They will become frustrated because they are spread too thin. Therefore, they must learn to relinquish control and delegate, or they will burn out.

The Most Overlooked, Necessary Skill to Advance to Level 2 Leadership

The Leadership Skill of Being Approachable and Personable

At a company party, when we were in our early 20′s, the head of my husband’s large firm walked toward us. We revered this man as our industry leader, and looked forward to chatting with him. As he approached us, my husband said “Hi Mark, how are you?” “I’m not good at small talk” he replied, as he walked right past us. I watched my husband go that night from being 6’2″ to being 6 inches tall. I’ll never forget how that made us feel. It’s no wonder this company eventually imploded. I think this was the event that eventually sent me on my quest to understand what “great leadership” is, and isn’t. In fact, most of the great books I’ve read on leadership/management will tell you that great leaders MUST master the art of small talk! It’s small talk that says you’re taking a genuine interest in the other person. By asking questions to understand who they are, and what they’re about, you validate them as people worth taking a moment for. If you want to grow in your leadership skills and influence, then learn to relate with the every individual, by taking the time to learn about them, their interests, their hometown, family or hobbies. Napoleon Bonaparte not only knew the names of most of the men in his ranks, he learned the battles they fought in along with small facts about their family so that when he encountered them he could inquire about how they were doing. It takes on going practice, but it will be more rewarding to you in the end, if you’ll come down from your ivory tower, or out of your cave, and touch people right where they’re at. It’s the first step to moving out of level one of leadership, and I believe is the deal maker, or the deal breaker when it comes to your leadership.

YOUR COACHING ACTION PLAN:Next time you go to a restaurant, practice doing small talk with your waitress. You’ll be surprised how little it takes, and how much you can learn. Then walk through the office doing the same. This is called “walk by leadership”, and will elevate your approachability, especially if you are the business owner or corporate manager.

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