GALT Consulting LLC

To start with, if you haven't read Stephen Covey's classic leadership book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, you need to stop reading this post and get the book.  Go ahead I'll wait...  You can also go to www.lbotm.com and subscribe to Leadership Book of the Month and see this month's review of "7 Habits".

Covey's Habits are incredibly powerful, but even more powerful is the concept that effectiveness comes from a series of good habits.  It is easy to say that a good driver should practice defensive driving, but it is harder to implement.  The single habit that you can pick up that will make you more safe on the road is to move your eyes at least every 3 seconds.  Glance at your mirrors, look over your shoulder, etc...  This one habit will help you avoid several accidents in your lifetime.

So what about your business?  Are there habits that you can form that will help you be more successful?  I guess if the answer was no, this would be a pretty pointless article...  Here are 7 Habits that you can have in your business.

1) Don't do it all Yourself - As the "boss", you might find yourself feeling the responsibility to do everything.  As my friend and financial advisor Michael Vaughn says, "get your mind right".  Allowing your people to run with ideas and special projects is also called "engagement" and it makes you more profitable.  Per the famous Gallup Q12 study, companies with engaged employees have 51% lower turnover.

2) Have a System for Change - Hold a monthly meeting with a cross-functional group of your employees to discuss the state of the organization and ideas of how it can be improved.  Then let them run with some of the ideas.  If you want more information on how to do this, visit the People Centric Planning website.

3) Keep on Learning - The more you learn, the more you know that you don't know.  One of the best parts of my job is that I learn a lot from my clients and it makes me better.  The habit you need to form is to attend seminars, watch webinars, or join a book club.  Here are a couple of "randomly" chosen suggestions (hey... these habits are powerful, so why wouldn't I have ways to help you form them!).  Join the Strategy Mastermind Group for monthly seminars or join Leadership Book of the Month for a great weekly warmup on the best leadership books.

4) Stay Mission Driven - Why are you doing this?  What game are you playing?  What does "winning" look like?  If you don't know the answers to these questions, you need to get them.  Then, as your habit, you need to refer to your mission often.  Want an example?  Here is my Mission and Vision.

5) Focus on Strengths - If you are a naturally disorganized person, taking a class on organization probably won't help you much.  Instead, it is much more effective to focus on developing your strengths.  When you have a team of people, the good news is that you also have a team of strengths.  Your goal as an organization should be to let your people do what they are good at doing every single day.  If you don't know the strengths of your people, you need to visit the website of my friends at Hire Well Now.  It's more than just about hiring the right people... it's about getting them in the right place.

6) Collaborate - Every month, I meet with 4 other business owners for 2 hours.  We each spend 15 minutes talking about our business and what we are currently working on and then the group "spars" for 5 minutes asking tough questions.  This kind of open collaboration with other people like me, but with an outside perspective, has been amazingly valuable.  I've found it so valuable that I am forming more groups in Springfield called Focused Mastermind Groups.  If you are interested in applying for a group, shoot me an email.

7) Have Fun - A company did a productivity study.  They wanted to know the adverse impact that computer games (like minesweeper and solitaire) had on office productivity.  They determined that these games did have an impact on productivity... it INCREASED it!  The only tweak I would make to this kind of fun is to challenge yourself to try to make it more productive.  Take time to play a game and get some exercise.  Do some creative games to help employees learn to problem solve.  Most importantly, have FUN because, as I always say, "PASSION IS PRODUCTIVE"!
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In the past year, our team has been involved with over 75 different improvement projects launched within clients who are implementing People-Centric Planning.  Looking back at those projects, we have seen a pattern emerge that can be helpful insight to any organization.  There are 3 types of projects that companies undertake.

1) Processes - You have processes whether they are defined or not.  If they are not defined, your processes are chaotic and uncontrollable.  If they are defined, you have the opportunity to replicate the process and continuously make improvements on it.  Examples of processes include financial, marketing, product quality, etc.

2) Clarity - It is amazing how many organizations suffer from a lack of clarity.  A good vision and mission will help you and your people know what game you are playing, what the rules are, and what winning looks like.  The business owner and every employee should be aligned with this game and know their role in winning, otherwise other games are played that have nothing to do with the success of the overall organization.  Clarity projects include looking a business transitions, the business model, defining a vision and mission, creating a value ladder, etc.

3) People - This is the biggest opportunity for most organizations.  Does every single one of your people have the opportunity to do what they are best at doing every single day?  Then you are missing out on untapped talents.  When you can identify the strengths of your people, you can put them in positions where they "hit the ball out of the park" every single time.  People projects include strengths assessments, motivational studies, community outreach, organizational structure, etc.

My clients are deliberately working through a system (People-Centric Planning) where they are identifying, prioritizing, and executing projects that are improving these areas of their business.  They are seeing some amazing results.

Where is your organization? 

I spent a few hours at the pool with my family this weekend and had a funny story that I knew immediately would make a great blog post.  Here is what happened.

My son and I were at one end of the pool shooting baskets.  My wife and daughter were at the other end of the pool playing in the water.  I was standing under the rim catching the ball and throwing it back to my son as he practiced his shooting.  Then I looked across the pool and way on the other end, my wife held both of her hands up in the universal sign of "throw me the ball!".

My wife is not really a sports person and I have never seen her handle a basketball in her life.  I paused wondering why she would want me to throw the ball to her, especially from all the way across the pool.  As I stared at her with the ball in my hand, she again put both hands in the air and made a face like "do it!".  So I launched the ball across the pool...

Now for my wife's side of the story.

She was playing at the end of the pool with my daughter and she was starting to get hungry.  Knowing that I was planning to grill out for dinner that night and that it would take me awhile to get dinner going once we got home, she looked at the clock and determined that it was time for us to leave in 10 minutes.  She caught my attention and raised her hands in the universal sign of "10 more minutes".  Apparently, I looked confused, so she again made the "10 more minutes" sign.  Then, to her great surprise, her husband of almost 15 years launched a basketball across the pool at her.

As my wife flung herself out of the way of the ball, which missed her, but splashed a considerable amount of water in her direction, it occurred to me how interesting communication can be.  Here was a situation where two people see the same things and interpret it two different ways.  Our intentions were both pure, but the outcome was fraught with potential conflict. 

This happens frequently in organizations.  One person makes a comment and another person takes it the wrong way.  It is important to remember how easily miscommunication can occur and to forgive each other from time to time for misunderstandings... especially when it involves launching a basketball at my lovely, lovely wife!
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This is just one a series of TRUE stories told about clients who have implemented People-Centric Management into their organizations and the dramatic results it brings.

The client had a long history of sales growth... slow and steady sales growth.  It was predictable and it was unexciting... just a few percentages a year.  With the shift the economy, this type of growth was no longer acceptable, so the Core Team focused it's attention on sales and a Sales Project was launched.

Immediately, management went to this team and offered to hire a Sales Manager for their sales force.  The team discussed this idea and rejected it.  Instead, over the next 3 months, the team worked on clearly defining their Unique Value Proposition and their sales process.  At the end of the 3 months, they presented their findings, which included a request to hire a Sales Manager.

The team became a part of the hiring process and a Sales Manager was brought on-board.  With the UVP and sales process defined, the Sales Manager hit the ground running with the full support of the sales team.  That was 8 months ago.  This month, they hit their sales target... for the entire year!  In other words, they saw a drastic increase in sales.

Now you might be asking whether or not the company could have seen that sales spike more quickly if they had just hired the Sales Manager when management made the suggestion.  I brought this question to the team.  The answer was resoundingly, "no".  "It wouldn't have been our Sales Manager", one team member responded.  The Sales Manager would have hit immediate resistance and confusion.  The team wouldn't have bought in to the role and it would have taken several months or longer to repair the damage.  They would've been running uphill.

However, with 3 months of engagement and clarity, the Sales Manager entered with complete buy-in and the synergy was amazing.  They were running downhill simply because the key stakeholders were engaged in the decision.

Sometimes "how" decisions are made are even more important than "what" decisions are made!

There is a revolution coming in the world of organizational design.  In recent years, the debate has raged hotter than ever... how do you design a growing organization?  Traditional organizational development has 2 ways to design your organization...

1) Hierarchical - This is the traditional organizational structure with supervisors overseeing several employees.  As the organization gets bigger, managers oversee several supervisors, and then directors oversee managers.  The advantage of this structure is that it provides clearly defined positions, roles, and even career paths.  The disadvantage of this design is that it doesn't always put people in areas where their strengths are best and that it isn't handle a dynamic world very well. 

2) Flat - This is the "new" organizational structure where networked teams of workers all solve problems together with very little hierarchy.  As the organization gets bigger, the teams are organized into groups with minimal levels.  The strength of this approach is that it allows the best ideas to be heard and vetted regardless of position.  It is also very dynamic and allows for creative solutions to problems presented by an ever changing world.  The disadvantage of this structure is that it is confusing to the employees and prone to chaos.  There is no clear job path or even clear responsibilities.  There is high potential to allow details to slip through the organization.

So what is the right solution?  I say do BOTH.  It's called People-Centric Planning and here is how it works.

Imagine an organization with a traditional structure.  It has clean job descriptions and everyone in the organization has clear responsibilities.  As you move up in the organization, your responsibilities require more oversight and vision.  This is the traditional model and it DOES work.

Now imagine taking that same organization and pulling out a cross-functional team that represents the centers of influence within the company.  This team would contain a variety of roles, levels, experience and knowledge.  Now task this team with looking at opportunities and problems within the organization.  The team brainstorms around these opportunities and launches projects where people within the organization solve problems or take advantage of opportunities.  In essence, this team becomes the change agent for the organization.  Meanwhile, the organization itself manages the day to day operations efficiently.

This seems simple, but does it work?

Just saying "yes" is an understatement.  This continuous system takes advantage of clear roles and responsibilities while moving quickly and nimbly to take advantage of opportunities.  The best part of People-Centric Planning is that it utilizes the resource that Edwards Deming once said was most wasted in American industry... people. 

People, not just Management, become engaged in driving change in the organization.  This not only creates an organization that is smarter than any one person, it also creates automatic buy-in because the people have a voice and a roll in creating the change.

For my next few articles, I will start sharing stories about companies that have implemented this approach in their business and the DRAMATIC impact it has made.

You say you want a revolution?  People-Centric Planning is here.

I was talking to a long-time business owner today about hiring and he was telling me that it is the most important thing that his company does.  He said that a company could have a poor business model, hire the right people to execute that model, and STILL be successful. 

I think he is right... but how do you know who the "right" people are? 

As I have already said a few articles ago, the definition of "right" depends on 2 things... the person and the position.  A rock star in one job becomes a dud in another.  It's a matching game. 

Wouldn't it be cool if people came with an instruction manual that detailed the jobs that would be a good (or bad) fit for them?  Well...  we have the tools...  we have the technology.

I have a proven tool, that I have utilized for many of my clients, that measures the key personality traits of an employee or an applicant.  It also contains "standard" profiles for many common job positions.  From this tool, you can print off a "manual" for each person talking about how that person thinks and how to train and supervise them.  It has a tool where you can mix and match people in teams and print a report on how that team will (or won't) work together. 

If you want to learn more about this tool, just let me know. 

I'm going to let you in on a little secret of my profession...

Companies hire consultants to come in and help them find direction on where they need to go.  They often value the perspectives that an outsider gives regarding their company.  I couldn't agree more.  Bringing in an outsider helps bring a different perspective to your business.  However, consultants get a lot of their insightful information for a source that you already have access to...  your people.

If you don't regularly engage your people in discussions about the future of the company, you essentially have a group of "outsiders" right under your own roof.  Engaging your people and really listening to what they say can be amazingly valuable.  Your employees will bring you fantastic ideas.

Working for one client, I had one of the employees come to me and ask if I just consulted within their industry.  I asked him why I thought I only focused on his industry.  He replied, "Well, you really seem to know a lot about what we do here.".  I smiled and said, "Actually, I am not an expert in your industry, but you guys are, and I

It's pretty well an unchallenged practice in business.  You need to hire an employee so you create a job description outlining the position you need.  You then hire a person and tell them to perform the job in the job description.  If they struggle with the job, you review their performance periodically and provide them with copies of the job description so they know what is expected of them.

Let me introduce a paradigm shift in the world of the job description.  People are naturally inclined to work well within their strengths and to work poorly outside their strengths.  You can't ask someone with a low imagination to be visionary and you can't ask someone with very high energy to sit at a desk all day.  At least... you can't ask for it and expect good results. 

I am in favor of creating job descriptions for your company.  It will help you define the roles that you feel are missing in your organization.  However, don't expect to bring in ANYBODY to fill that role just because you took the time to write it down.  Your job in effective hiring is to find a person whose strengths match that job description.  Then, once you bring in the person, tweak it so that it REALLY matches the person. 

Am I condoning creating custom jobs for all of your people?  You bet!  We are all uniquely hardwired, so why not take full advantage of all of the things a person brings to the table.  If you think this sounds like a lot of work think about all of the energy your people spend trying to overcome the areas where they are required to do things they aren't good at doing as part of their job.  This is a huge drain on your organization's human resources.

So remember... job descriptions are easy to change.  People are not...

The thing to know about pursuing that “great idea” is that you don’t know what you don’t know.  The maker of the first sliced bread machine had no idea that it would catch on fire soon after it was built (true story…  I wonder if he also invented toast…).  You don’t really know who your customer will be or why they will ultimately use your service.  You don’t know how your product will be perceived and you certainly don’t know what your competition will do.  There is always uncertainty in business, but in the beginning of a new venture, your judgment lacks it’s most valuable asset… experience.

Let me be blunt.  The day you decide to launch your business is the day you know the least about what you are doing.  You will never again know less about what you are doing.  You are green.  Do you remember starting your first job and all of things you had to work through just to function?  You’ve seen these same “green” employees come into the company and struggle to do anything.  Yeah… that’s you.  Again, even if you are experienced in business, you are not experienced in this “new idea” because it is a NEW idea. 

Therefore, having established that you, the “new idea” greenhorn, are about to enter into the unknown on a quest that will take you 3-5 years to get up to full speed IF you are successful, I propose some logic to you.  Does it make sense that it is probably a bad idea to spend a lot of money while you know next to nothing about your business?  I’m not saying not to spend money or even not to borrow money.  I’m just saying that you should be aware that you know NOTHING and, if possible, it just might be a good idea to wait until you know SOMETHING.

OK… I’m being a little dramatic here, but I have seen more than a few businesses fail because they spent too much money on things they didn’t need or execute well on.  A friend started a business out of his house and quickly got a few clients (not up to full speed mind you).  Then he heard about a small business loan program and immediately borrowed several thousand dollars.  He hired some employees, bought some equipment, invested in a nice website, and leased an office.  Within 6 months, the website did nothing for him, especially after a trademark issue forced him to change the name of his company.  The office turned out to be a burden and he didn’t really bring in the right people to help him grow his business.  He went out of business with a significant debt.  Would his “great idea” work?  Maybe, but he will never know.  That’s not a great position to be in.

I was having lunch with a prominant attorney who specializes in employment law last week and he gave me a secret on how to reduce your liability by 95%.  You see, he deals with employers who are getting sued by current or former employees and he wants to see good companies protect themselves.  I do too.  So what was his suggestion?

You might be thinking... "I know!  Companies need to have an Employee Manual!".  That is true, but it isn't the golden key to reducing your liability.  Insurance?  No.  Documentation?  No. 

If you want to reduce your liability, simply treat your employees well. 

We not just talking about pay and benefits here.  We (and keep in mind that "we" means the lawyer and I) are talking about treating your employees with respect.  We want you to be fair to your people.  We want you to be nice. 

Of course, I don't think my lawyer friend was talking about kissing your employee's shoes every time they walk by.  In fact, this can have the opposite of the intended effect.  We are talking about forming a professional, fair, honest, and open relationship with your people.  People generally don't sue people they respect. 

So there you are... you now know the secret.  Treating your employees with respect will reduce your liability.  It will also increase your profits, productivity, and passion... but those are for other articles. 

Oh yeah... and you should go ahead and get that Employee Manual as well!