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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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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