Building a Lasting and Effective Business

I've been seeing some positive changes at work lately. These changes have all stemmed from a recent leadership change.

So what's the difference between the old leadership and the new? What's keeping our office from returning to business as usual? I've seen the new leadership rise through the ranks over the years as they put into practice a few basic common sense leadership lessons. The very same lessons I learned in business school. Just a few tried and true principles that have proven themselves for years and years.

• It starts with you
  

Who wants to sail on a rudderless ship? If you're in charge, act like it. Be kind yet firm.

How you act will determine how your employees act. Your actions, attitude and even the way you dress will set the expectations for those under you. If you are ethical, they will be ethical. If you act and dress professionally, they will act and dress professionally. If you are on time, they will be on time. If you follow through on your promises, so will they.

I had a senior several years ago who stood out in the crowd: The order came down (from the leadership that's currently being replaced!) that we would all work on Easter to meet a deadline. This senior decided instead that she would work Easter, not her staff. She put in almost twenty hours that day so we wouldn't have to skip Easter with our families.

Today, years later, she needed help meeting a deadline. She didn't need to ask me, I volunteered. I'm writing this post at 9PM. I'm still at work, writing bits and pieces of this while running queries for her report.

Suffice it to say she earned my respect. She did it by going first. Her willing sacrifice led to mine.

If you're upset your employees aren't following, your employees are upset you're not leading.

• Say "Thank you"

Show your employees they're valued and important to you. If you've set the tone in the previous step, you already have their respect. When you respect someone, you want to please that person. Show your appreciation for meeting your expectations, and they will feel the sense of accomplishment from completing the task at hand and receiving acknowledgment from a leader they respect.

There are all kinds of employee reward programs. I believe this is the most effective available. It also costs you nothing. Remember, your employees have already agreed to work for you in exchange for a certain amount of compensation. They've named their price. True, money and perks motivate. However, these are subject to the law of diminishing returns. At some point, it quits being enough. I have yet to see when genuine recognition and gratitude have outworn their welcome.

As Mark Twain put it, "I can live for a month on a good compliment."

• Give people what they need to succeed

I once had a manager that would start every Monday morning by making the rounds, cubicle to cubicle, checking on each and every employee. She would of course ask the status of your projects, but then she would ask if you had everything you needed to do your job that week. Could she get you some staples or paper clips? Was there a phone call she could make to cut through some red tape for you? Were there any conflicts with coworkers she could help you resolve?

This made me feel empowered. I knew I had her support. If I wasn't able to succeed, it would not be because an inept manager had held me back. Success was now mine to choose, not a lofty and unobtainable goal I'd be punished for not meeting.

• Keep people in the loop

Too many times I've worked in top-secret environments. These places were structured this way not out of necessity, but fear. The leader would tell different things to different people, leaving us all in the dark as to the reality of a situation. This showed us we weren't trusted. If we were guilty of not being trustworthy before we were given a chance, why should we act any differently?

Turnover was high and morale was low.

The day we went out of business was a shock to us all, but it shouldn't have been. The tone at the top got us to that point, and continued to the end. We were told only a few hours before closing time that we would be out of jobs by the end of the day. We were also told to lie to any customers who asked why we were moving all our inventory out of the store by saying we were getting new carpet. The owner didn't want the mall staff to seize our inventory as payment for that months' rent. I refused, and was banished to the warehouse.

I still go to church with this lady, and I'll admit it's hard not being surprised every time I see her there.

Remember your employees aren't out to get you. If you succeed, they succeed. If they succeed, you succeed. That's why we call it a team.

Just because you happen to be the quarterback doesn't mean you don't wear the same jersey.

These steps are simple. Just remember that as easy as these principles are to implement, it's also just as easy to get busy and let them fall through the cracks, along with your most trusted and loyal employees...which are the precious resources that make your business weather the hard times and succeed in the long run.