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Casual Articles - 10 Ways to Do Less Yourself in Your Business
Unnoticed in the spate of dramatic labor union events of the past week is a sudden acceleration in the "de-unionization" of America.The 111-day-old coal strike ended in a Pyrrhic victory for the miners - another such win will price them out of the energy market once again.The Firestone Rubber Company of Akron announced the closing of its passenger car tire operations there, throwing a thousand workers into the ranks of the unemployed.The White Motor Company closed down its truck plant in Cleveland because of "high labor costs, obsolete plant, and a declining market."Th
6. Give away input. Create permission at certain levels for people to make decisions which you need not know about. Tell people what level a decision/solution is on and get on with it! Like this:-
- I decide on solutions
- You suggest solutions to me
- You tell me your solution and act
- You find a solution and act without telling me
7. Provide an environment of 'no wrongs'. People need to feel that it's OK to make some mistakes, before they can risk getting it wrong a little. There's a famous story of a Ford executive who made a big ($40M) mistake. When he came up for promotion and some criticised his candidacy, his boss said, 'What, and miss out on the guy who's had the m
Commodities are any goods or wares that are up for sale or trade. These things include such things as food, furniture, cars, or anything that is generally manufactured, sold or traded.Commodities are a part of life! We use them all the time! The coffee on your cupboard, the cereals, the soap, the shampoo, the toothpaste – all of these constitute everyday commodities.The word commodity comes from the French word commodit?. This means ‘benefit’ or ‘profit.’ This too comes from the earlier Latin word commoditas which refers to good quality or propriety. The word commodit? is related in
And after a while two things happen.
Firstly - You get exhausted, because everything revolves around you - every piddling decision, people wait for you.
Secondly - Remarkably, your people start to leave - or give poor service - or get grumpy. Or all these, and more! How ungrateful, you've done everything for them...
You see, fixing things, when they aren't working right, is a very natural instinct to use in business, when we're the boss.
This could be a team leader, a manager, a small business owner, or even a senior leader in a bigger organization. Too 'hands-on' happens all over the place.
It's human nature to help people who ask us for help. It makes us feel good on a number of levels. We feel needed. We like to have a purpose for being. We like to go home each night feeling we have succeeded. And feeling fulfilled.
The easy way is to fix things.
But fixing things, especially as our businesses get bigger, means we are stretched really thinly. There is just one small layer that creates solutions and then, not only the best ones, because there is an opinion of only one.
So it gets harder, without getting much better.
The longer it goes on, the more others depend on us and even if we do listen, they know in the end, we will have the only answer that counts.
They do less, depend on us more. They get fed up with a lack of involvement (fulfilment of their own), we get exhausted by doing everything.
What to do about this? Well, it's time to stop yourself doing things.
Take these circumstances into account and deal with them:-
1. Physically stop yourself providing answers to problems. It gets boring with the old 'answer a question with a question', but you can delve a little deeper. So...
2. When faced with one of your people bringing a problem to be solved, try the following:-
a. Ask for more information
b. Follow-up the information with more requests for information following what you've heard
c. Ask for ideas
d. Ask for thoughts that they might have discarded
e. Ask about what they've already tried
f. Find out what's getting in the way of them finding a solution
g. Check-out what worked for them in the past and can it apply here?
3. Respond to ideas they might have with encouragement - if you really feel they're barking up a wrong tree, just ask if it's going to work and how - but nicely!
4. Notice when people are uncertain about their own solutions and offer them a touching-base point for further discussion
5. Be prepared to prevaricate. This is a really good tactic. By asking for some time (try overnight) to 'think about things', you will be surprised to find out how often solutions turn up for them
6. Give away input. Create permission at certain levels for people to make decisions which you need not know about. Tell people what level a decision/solution is on and get on with it! Like this:-
- I decide on solutions
- You suggest solutions to me
- You tell me your solution and act
- You find a solution and act without telling me
7. Provide an environment of 'no wrongs'. People need to feel that it's OK to make some mistakes, before they can risk getting it wrong a little. There's a famous story of a Ford executive who made a big ($40M) mistake. When he came up for promotion and some criticised his candidacy, his boss said, 'What, and miss out on the guy who's had the m
1. Tell me about yourself.2. What is your greatest success and why?3. What is your greatest mistake and what did you learn from it?4. What value can you bring to this company?5. Where do you expect to be in five years time?6. What did you find particularly difficult about working with your last boss?7. What are the key skills to managing your boss?8. How do you set about prioritising your work?9. What aspects of your last position did you like the least?10. What aspects of your last position did you like the most?11. Having und
It's human nature to help people who ask us for help. It makes us feel good on a number of levels. We feel needed. We like to have a purpose for being. We like to go home each night feeling we have succeeded. And feeling fulfilled.
The easy way is to fix things.
But fixing things, especially as our businesses get bigger, means we are stretched really thinly. There is just one small layer that creates solutions and then, not only the best ones, because there is an opinion of only one.
So it gets harder, without getting much better.
The longer it goes on, the more others depend on us and even if we do listen, they know in the end, we will have the only answer that counts.
They do less, depend on us more. They get fed up with a lack of involvement (fulfilment of their own), we get exhausted by doing everything.
What to do about this? Well, it's time to stop yourself doing things.
Take these circumstances into account and deal with them:-
1. Physically stop yourself providing answers to problems. It gets boring with the old 'answer a question with a question', but you can delve a little deeper. So...
2. When faced with one of your people bringing a problem to be solved, try the following:-
a. Ask for more information
b. Follow-up the information with more requests for information following what you've heard
c. Ask for ideas
d. Ask for thoughts that they might have discarded
e. Ask about what they've already tried
f. Find out what's getting in the way of them finding a solution
g. Check-out what worked for them in the past and can it apply here?
3. Respond to ideas they might have with encouragement - if you really feel they're barking up a wrong tree, just ask if it's going to work and how - but nicely!
4. Notice when people are uncertain about their own solutions and offer them a touching-base point for further discussion
5. Be prepared to prevaricate. This is a really good tactic. By asking for some time (try overnight) to 'think about things', you will be surprised to find out how often solutions turn up for them
6. Give away input. Create permission at certain levels for people to make decisions which you need not know about. Tell people what level a decision/solution is on and get on with it! Like this:-
- I decide on solutions
- You suggest solutions to me
- You tell me your solution and act
- You find a solution and act without telling me
7. Provide an environment of 'no wrongs'. People need to feel that it's OK to make some mistakes, before they can risk getting it wrong a little. There's a famous story of a Ford executive who made a big ($40M) mistake. When he came up for promotion and some criticised his candidacy, his boss said, 'What, and miss out on the guy who's had the m
“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man, healthy, wealthy and wise.” – 15th Century quote, author, unknownAt least, that was the theory. I suppose it carried forward to the pre-industrial era where, as an agrarian society, one had to plant, cultivate, and harvest to survive. Early rising as the cock crowed, was the picture painted by many writers. Back then, one worked in the fields until sundown, only to repeat the process the following day. Except for the Sabbath, one could continue to work in this manner from the time one was able. That meant the relatively young and elderly, as we
They do less, depend on us more. They get fed up with a lack of involvement (fulfilment of their own), we get exhausted by doing everything.
What to do about this? Well, it's time to stop yourself doing things.
Take these circumstances into account and deal with them:-
1. Physically stop yourself providing answers to problems. It gets boring with the old 'answer a question with a question', but you can delve a little deeper. So...
2. When faced with one of your people bringing a problem to be solved, try the following:-
a. Ask for more information
b. Follow-up the information with more requests for information following what you've heard
c. Ask for ideas
d. Ask for thoughts that they might have discarded
e. Ask about what they've already tried
f. Find out what's getting in the way of them finding a solution
g. Check-out what worked for them in the past and can it apply here?
3. Respond to ideas they might have with encouragement - if you really feel they're barking up a wrong tree, just ask if it's going to work and how - but nicely!
4. Notice when people are uncertain about their own solutions and offer them a touching-base point for further discussion
5. Be prepared to prevaricate. This is a really good tactic. By asking for some time (try overnight) to 'think about things', you will be surprised to find out how often solutions turn up for them
6. Give away input. Create permission at certain levels for people to make decisions which you need not know about. Tell people what level a decision/solution is on and get on with it! Like this:-
- I decide on solutions
- You suggest solutions to me
- You tell me your solution and act
- You find a solution and act without telling me
7. Provide an environment of 'no wrongs'. People need to feel that it's OK to make some mistakes, before they can risk getting it wrong a little. There's a famous story of a Ford executive who made a big ($40M) mistake. When he came up for promotion and some criticised his candidacy, his boss said, 'What, and miss out on the guy who's had the m
Several states have small business government grants. These are not offered by the federal government but a number of state-run development agencies provide free government grants. The states that offer these are Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Utah. Other states provide financing through loans with incentives to those who want to start a small business rather than free government grants.Instead of money the government will give free advice and training to those who want to make their business grow. The United States Government's Small Business Administration (SBA) is wher
c. Ask for ideas
d. Ask for thoughts that they might have discarded
e. Ask about what they've already tried
f. Find out what's getting in the way of them finding a solution
g. Check-out what worked for them in the past and can it apply here?
3. Respond to ideas they might have with encouragement - if you really feel they're barking up a wrong tree, just ask if it's going to work and how - but nicely!
4. Notice when people are uncertain about their own solutions and offer them a touching-base point for further discussion
5. Be prepared to prevaricate. This is a really good tactic. By asking for some time (try overnight) to 'think about things', you will be surprised to find out how often solutions turn up for them
6. Give away input. Create permission at certain levels for people to make decisions which you need not know about. Tell people what level a decision/solution is on and get on with it! Like this:-
- I decide on solutions
- You suggest solutions to me
- You tell me your solution and act
- You find a solution and act without telling me
7. Provide an environment of 'no wrongs'. People need to feel that it's OK to make some mistakes, before they can risk getting it wrong a little. There's a famous story of a Ford executive who made a big ($40M) mistake. When he came up for promotion and some criticised his candidacy, his boss said, 'What, and miss out on the guy who's had the m
You’ve worked hard on this great idea you’ve had and at last you are ready to start showing the world your brand new, unique product and maybe selling it in the large shops. So what are your next steps?1) Very important - get the design patented. That is very important – you are going to have to tell lots of people about your new idea. Some of them may think, in the future, that it was there idea, others may just blatantly copy you.2) Set up your company and decide upon a great name for it. When you describe your company, ensure that you company can expand it into other products
6. Give away input. Create permission at certain levels for people to make decisions which you need not know about. Tell people what level a decision/solution is on and get on with it! Like this:-
- I decide on solutions
- You suggest solutions to me
- You tell me your solution and act
- You find a solution and act without telling me
7. Provide an environment of 'no wrongs'. People need to feel that it's OK to make some mistakes, before they can risk getting it wrong a little. There's a famous story of a Ford executive who made a big ($40M) mistake. When he came up for promotion and some criticised his candidacy, his boss said, 'What, and miss out on the guy who's had the most expensive training experience!'
8. Use better people than you for making decisions at your weak point. If you aren't a detail person, get help from someone who is, when it comes to making critical detail decisions
9. Recognise successes in your people's decision making and solution finding - stretch them to make more and bigger ones. Develop them on your succession plan - they are the people you need - by taking the weight off you. Shift their decision-making level as described in 6 above
10. Finally. Chill! Focus on where you can take your own role and stop worrying about how many pencils one of your team is ordering. With good decision-making parameters and your trust, you won't be getting the truck load you fear
Your people will thrill to being given some responsibility; they will truly thrive and expand their capabilities.
You will relax a little, safe in the knowledge that not everything is down to you. You are building good people, as well as a great business.
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