Servant Leadership

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Servant leader- what is it?  In a business movement introduced in the early 70’s is the idea of servant leader.  These leaders put their company or organization before themselves.  They don’t view employees as the means to the end but rather the employee’s satisfaction is the end.  This can be a big shift in thinking for an entrepreneur.  Some points on leaders adopting this style.

  • Treat employees like customers, and where reasonable do their bidding
  • Ask the question “how can I help you?”
  • Fill in for an employee and do their job to lift a burden from the employee’s colleagues
  • Lead like you are leading a group of volunteers and ask, “what problems do you have?”  Volunteers don’t have to listen to autocratic leaders.

Servant leadership does not necessarily say you are a great boss, but rather its realizing that being a boss and leading are not the same.

Here’s to adopting servant leadership traits to build a better company!

Mike

The Top 5 Fears That Haunt CEOs

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What keeps you up at night as a CEO or business owner?

I recently read an article by Tim Fulton, the founder of Small Business Matters, that outlined some common fears that a business owner or CEO worries over. 

Here are the Top 5:

  1. Losing a Key Employee
    Businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to find employees with the right fit for their organization.  Our population is aging and the number of workers coming up to fill slots for from retiring employees is getting difficult.  When a key employee leaves a company, they are usually not leaving for just the money, but more intrinsic issues.

    How do you avoid this possibility?  Tim recommends holding a meeting 30 days after hiring an employee and asking a simple question: “What does it take for you to stay?”  Research has shown that after about 30 days an employee may be considering leaving because they don’t see the company as a “fit.”
     
  2. Losing a Key Customer 
    It is difficult enough to acquire a customer, so when we lose one, especially an important one, it is both a financial and a psychological hit to the company.  Tim notes that too many companies devote resources to attracting new customers versus keeping existing ones. 

    One way to avoid this that Tim recommends is by using the Net Promoter Score (NPS).  I have actually used this in my business and it is always informative.  You ask one simple question to your customers: “On a scale of 1 – 10, what is the likelihood that you would refer a colleague to do business with us”?  If the answer is a 9 or 10, great!  If it’s less than 7, you may have a customer service and value proposition issue.
     
  3. Experiencing a Cyber Attack
    “Cybersecurity is a silent killer. It can shut you down like nothing else.” – Joe Galvin, Chief Research Officer, Vistage International

    Cyberattack is a relatively new fear for small business operators. In a recent Vistage survey, 62% of CEOs do not currently have an active cybersecurity strategy in place. Every day, small businesses hit by cyberattacks are losing data, cash, customer records, employee information, and employee/customer trust. 

    How to prevent this?  Tim recommends implementing a three-layered defense against cyberattacks including working with your IT services provider to implement cybersecurity, enforcing proper employee policies and procedures, and buying cyber insurance.
     
  4. Running Out of Cash
    When you run out of cash it’s game over!  One of my favorite quotes is by Hemingway when asked how he went bankrupt:  “Slowly, then all of the sudden.”  This can happen when you are not paying attention and monitoring your finances with forecasts to look forward.

    Tim recommends making sure to calculate your “working capital requirement” number.  This is a number that tells you how much cash you need on hand to run your business effectively.  In our Numbers NavigatorTMsoftware our clients get to know this number each month and why it’s so important to monitor.
     
  5. Lack of an Exit Strategy
    We all exit our business, it’s just a matter of how we want to go out:  Gracefully or with a big bang that could hurt your family, employees, and other stakeholders.  Every business should plan for succession and exit on a regular basis.  The decisions you make today will impact how you can exit down the road.

    Tim recommends a book authored by Patrick Ungashick titled “Dancing in the End Zone.”  I have read the book and also highly recommend it.  Ungashick has outlined some key questions that you need to ask yourself and the book goes on to help you outline what could be the options for you and your team.

These are just a few fears that can keep a CEO and business owner up at night with worry.  However, by putting the recommended strategies into place, you can alleviate some of these fears.

Cheers to a good night’s rest after you implement these strategies!

Mike

It’s Decision Time

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The average adult makes about 35,000 decisions a day. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?

According to Psychology Today it’s not. And if you think about it, it makes sense: people make many decisions without thinking of them as decisions. (Which pen do I take out of the pen holder? Do I have time to review the report before the meeting?) With all of these opportunities to change the course of our day, our career, our life, it’s a good idea to explore ways to improve decision-making.

The results of a study published in the journal Cognition indicate that not all times of day are created equal when it comes to making decisions. The study tracked 184 chess players who made about 40 “complex human thinking decisions” during a 3- to 15-minute chess game. The results are interesting.

To summarize, study subjects made the decisions most favorable to their game when they were playing between the hours of 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. After 1 p.m., players made decisions more quickly (presumably they were in a post-lunch slump or tiring as the day was progressing), and their decisions were less favorable to their game.

Bottom line: make important decisions in the morning. Sort of. When you sleep and when you get up matters too. If you are a morning person—you know, the early to bed, early to rise type—then your best decision-making time is the morning. But if you’re a night person, then your “morning” is during the five hours after you rise for the day. So, relax: if you don’t get out of bed until 9 or 10 a.m. , then you haven’t missed your prime decision-making hours.

A lifehacker.com article by Adam Dachis also supports the morning person/night owl concept, recommending that people identify when they’re most able to make good decisions and then resolve to make important decisions during that span only. Creativity coach Mark McGuinness advises people not to worry too much about little decisions, because they generally don’t have a long-term impact on your life.  For example, what clothes you wear on a particular day or what you eat for dinner doesn’t change the direction of your life. (Although, should you wear neon orange cowboy boots with your suit and purple fedora to the office, the boss may question your judgment.)

McGuinness also recommends weighing the pros and cons before making big decisions. And don’t ignore your gut. He says it’s best to take more time (if possible) to land on a decision when your logical side disagrees with your instincts. In other words, intuition matters.

Should you follow this advice? Determine the best time, and then think it over. It’s your decision.