YOU CAN’T ALWAYS DANCE WITH THE ONE THAT BRUNG YA (1)

One of the most difficult aspects of small business growth is the day you realize you’ve outgrown a long-term employee. Maybe he has not kept up his skill sets. Perhaps the rate of change has left him bewildered, causing him to long for the good ole days, “when this place used to run right.” I have one consulting client, who has asked to remain anonymous, who has a real problem between the old guard and the newbies. This year, that company will hire more new people than they had total employees three years ago. Some of the old guard embrace this rapid rate of growth and change, while othersblock change at every turn. You can never anticipate who will grow with you and who will fight change. All you can do is continually monitor the situation for potential trouble.

GE popularized the approach of continually evaluating all employees, ranking them, and then getting rid of the bottom performers in each business unit. Some have called the strategy cruel and inflexible, while others have hailed it as the greatest idea in the history of human resources and adopted the process wholesale. I would suggest that a middle ground is probably appropriate for most private business owners. If the entire sales department is giving 110 percent and everyone is pulling his or her weight, it is ridiculous to apply some ranking that forces someone in that group to be penalized. If the whole shipping department missed their goals by 50 percent and everyone there is equally at fault, there’s no point in rewarding the best of the bad. It is probably time to bring in a whole new team.

The honest truth is that some people don’t want to be challenged.They don’t want to be part of a company that demands peak performance and is constantly changing. They would rather work in a predictable job for a predictable company and collect a predictable paycheck. Some companies may need people like that, but you don’t. If you really want to grow and grow successfully, you can’t keep people who want to stand still or who are pining for “the good ole days.” They simply don’t belong in a growth organization.

If your revenues are half a million dollars a year and you grow by 20 percent, you’ve added $100,000 in revenue. In my former companies, that would mean one or possibly two new hires. But what about when you’re at $10 million in revenue and you experience 20 percent growth, which means adding $2 million in revenue? This probably means 20 new employees and probably a new senior manager or two to boot. It’s asad but true fact that the employee who can withstand 20 percent growth in your early stages is not necessarily equipped to handle 20 percent or more growth on down the line.

Taken From:The 7 Irrefutable rules of Small Businnes Growth

. . .QUICK TO FIRE (2)

Ladies and gentlemen, let me be clear about this. Just as you have to be slow to hire, you need to adopt a philosophy of “quick o fire.” Allowing a bad seed to germinate in your orchard can destroy your entire crop. Tolerating poor performers reinforces an idea that you accept mediocrity. That’s a sure way to scare off your superstars. The best and brightest want to win, and they want to work in a place filled with people like themselves. If you don’t foster that environment, they’ll find a place that does.

Once you have identified that you have made a hiring mistake, it is imperative that you act quickly and decisively. Youowe it to yourself and to the dedicated staff you have worked so hard to attract.You even owe it to this new hire. If someone is not right for your organization, you are doing that person no favor by keeping him or her in the fold. The quicker you let such people go, the quicker they can move on with the rest of their lives and the easier it will be for them to explain the situation in subsequent interviews. If you need to give them a generous severance to make the transition easier, then so be it. I’m not so Machiavellian as to suggest you don’t owe the person something for your mistake.What I am suggesting is that you can’t let emotion play any role in this action. Just get it done.

This may sound heartless, but doing otherwise is a sure way to stall growth. If you want to build a growing business, you can’t do it alone.You also can’t do it on the backs of a few stars who have to carry everyone else. You cannot afford average, much less poor, performance. If you’re going to win, you need winners. In the end, I would rather you err on the side of action than take a wait-and-see attitude. If you know in your gut you’ve got a problem, then you do. I’m simply suggesting you take care of it sooner rather than later.

Taken From:The 7 Irrefutable rules of Small Businnes Growth

. . .QUICK TO FIRE (1)

Let’s say you’ve now done everything right in the hiring process. You’ve kissed a lot of frogs.You’ve run all the tests, checked all the references, and finally pulled the trigger. The offer hasbeen tendered and accepted. veryone is happy, the birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and all is right with the world.

Sometimes, however, despite our best efforts, we come to realize we’ve made a mistake. Maybe it’s just a little mistake. Maybe it’s a huge mistake. Either way, I know I’ve made a mistake within the new hire’s first two weeks.When I suggest this two-week notion to any group of business owners, it always elicits a hearty chuckle. Then I drop the real punch line: “If we know we have made a mistake in the first two weeks, why do we let the situation fester for two years?” That’s what draws the biggest laugh, because everyone has been in those shoes.

Why do we take so long to rectify the situation? There are undoubtedly countless reasons. One, we can’t face running another marathon after having just finished one. Perhaps we feel guilty to have brought someone in from out of town or because we had that person quit another job to join our organization. We hope against hope that we can improve the situation over time and that the problem will eventually take care of itself through behavior modification efforts or attrition. But really, the primary reason we wait so long to take action is that it is difficult to admit to ourselves and to the rest of the organization we have made a mistake. Too often, we let our ego get in the way, and that’s an even bigger mistake.

Taken From:The 7 Irrefutable rules of Small Businnes Growth

Best Partner in Finding Mobile Phone

Cell phone makes the world seems borderless and unlimited. Time and distance feel like extinct when we hold the cell phone. Friends at million miles away can get in touch and have a conversation without barriers. Updating the Facebook status can be done just like sending an sms. All this easiness and comfort make us have great dependency to cell phone. In everyone’s pocket or bag there will be a cell phone. From people in city to village, everybody would have got to be having cell phone. This phenomenon is somehow surprising yet amazing, how a little gadget called cell phone can change the face of the world today. No doubt about it.

Little gadget, big effect, that’s probably can describe a thing called mobile phone. Since many years ago, people would still count on home telephone to communicate to each other. But today, wherever you are at anytime, people would try to reach to others by sending short messages or make a call. With cell phone, people can have access to the latest news just like reading newspaper. So we can guarantee that people are getting smarter than previous years. This can be said to be the benefit. The disadvantage is somehow, we have greater and greater feeling of dependency toward cell phone. We might think that we cannot live without cell phone and may lose contact of our friends, colleagues, or relatives. Aside from advantages and disadvantages, many manufacturers now in tight competition in developing and innovating the cell phone under the circumstance of “making your life easier”. We might feel the confusion when we are going to buy cell phone thanks to the massive electronic or printed advertisement. Do not be afraid to do some researches before you buy. See what you really need because you don’t want to waste hundreds of dollars for cell phone that you don’t really need. But if you are really sure that someday you will need the certain feature inside the cell phone, then it is okay to buy it. Phone-shops.co uk allows you to learn and compare many products.

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YOU CAN’T TRAIN FOR BRAIN, BUT YOU CAN TEST FOR THE BEST (2)

The company quickly became the undisputed growth leader in its call center software niche. Turnover was unusually low. Job advertisements were rarely run because most newhires were employee referrals. After a decade of continuous growth, a larger technology partner purchased the company for an obscene sum.

In an earlier chapter, I emphasized the importance of training—the right training. If people don’t know what the company’s core reason for being is and what the organization is trying to accomplish, they are not going to be able to do their best. However, this assumes that you have the right people in the right positions. All the training in the world isn’t going to turn a lousy people person into your best customer service rep. Someone who is terrible at math is not going to make a good financial manager, no matter how much training he or she gets.

Part of the reason you should be slow to hire is that you should take the time to test candidates for their proficiency. Testing determines whether you are hiring the right person for the job or taking a chance. Testing tells you if you are putting talented candidates in a position that won’t make the
best use of their talents.

Testing can be formal when a specific skill is involved: technical positions, accounting positions, or IT positions. Certifications may take the place of formal testing, but candidates should still be verbally questioned by someone in the know to make sure that what was covered in the certificate program really sank in. Likewise, 20 years of experience does not automatically mean that people know what you want them to know. By testing their knowledge, you can be sure.

Taken From:The 7 Irrefutable rules of Small Businnes Growth

YOU CAN’T TRAIN FOR BRAIN, BUT YOU CAN TEST FOR THE BEST (1)

I can’t train a person to be smart. Conversely, I can train a smart person to do most anything. When it comes to hiring, innate intelligence, as measured by problem-solving ability, should be your common denominator. Whether you are hiring a third-shift machine operator or high-level financialanalyst, that person should be at the highest range possible in his or her particular job category. Nothing is a better predictor of success in the position than this.

The preceding sentence probably rubbed you the wrong way. You won’t find a statement like this in a feel-good Reader’s Digest human interest story. American mythology is filled with stories of people who overcome apparent deficiencies. So, it’s practically un-American for me to suggest that hard work, experience, and a “can-do attitude” can’t overcome a lack of mental acuity. Believe me, I know. Nothing elicits a more visceral response in my speeches than this very topic. Frankly, I don’t even enjoy telling you this cold, hard truth.No employee can be trained to be intelligent. You cannot make people smart; they simply are or they are not.

I know of one former small business in the technology field that took the “can’t train for brain” attitude to a successful extreme. From the first days of TCS Management’s inception, founder Jim Gordon had only one rule on who could be hired: Each person had to have graduated from a four-year college. All else being equal, the candidate who had graduated with honors would win out over one who hadn’t. For engineering positions, a specialized education or extensive experience was expected. For other positions, however, he didn’t care whether applicants had a degree in Spanish literature, sports medicine, or art history. He just wanted proof that the people could apply themselves, learn, and accomplish something that took a lot of work. The company’s extensive training program ensured that specialized industry knowledge would come in time.

Taken From:The 7 Irrefutable rules of Small Businnes Growth

It’s So Hard to Find Good People These Days! (2)

Those initial out-of-state hires not only brought the PrintingForLess.com operation up to speed but also created thefoundation for a world-class recruitment and training program. Their target is young, bright, and energetic locals who know little to nothing about commercial printing.

The interview process is arduous. “You end up investing 8 or 10 hours of your life trying to get a job here,” Field explains. “We interview extensively and are trying to determine customer service ability, whether the person is a good fit for our culture, and whether the candidate has future management potential.” Apart from the actual interviews, the company administers extensive personality and problem-solving tests. “We hand candidates a project to complete, using an off-the-shelf software product that’s unrelated to the printing industry. We watch how quickly they figure it out. Is the technical challenge intuitive for them, or are they struggling?”

PrintingForLess.com now has more than 100 well-trained, motivated, and loyal employees. It’s the critical component of their growth. Other well-funded attempts at online commercial printing have proven unsuccessful over the years because they forgot that people matter most. Sure, PrintingForLess.com’s web-based customer interface was a stroke of genius, and certainly their customer-driven internal processes would be the envy of any world-class operation. But founder Field and his management team never lose sight of what really brings success. As Field explains, “The key thing is that no matter how badly you need to get people hired, you can’t afford to get lax in your standards. Great people bring our business growth.”

By the way, PrintingForLess.com’s operations are so unique, they now prefer to hire people with no experience. “We have a bias against industry experience now,” Field explains. “We do things so differently here,we find that people with printing experience have to unlearn what they knew before.”

Taken From:The 7 Irrefutable rules of Small Businnes Growth

It’s So Hard to Find Good People These Days! (1)

I was recently sitting in a hotel lobby in a growing city of more than 1 million people. I couldn’t help but overhear a conversation between two business owners who were both obviously struggling in general. Everything was wrong for these guys—the economy, the government, pricing pressures, and so on. You name it, these guys had a problem with it. But without question, their biggest problem of all was their inability, in their minds, to find “people who want to work.” Both agreed it was their number one issue. Given their pessimistic tone, I have no doubt it will stay that way.

Contrast these perceived problems with the experience of my friends at PrintingForLess.com, based in Livingston, Montana, with a population of just over 7,000. Montana is in the nation’s fourth-largest state by area, but 48th in terms of population. You would have to drive hundreds of miles to reach a city where the population even approaches 200,000.

When PrintingForLess.com began, founder and president Andrew Field and a staff of five key employees knew they could grow only with highly skilled people. Initially, the fledgling organization looked outside its geography for expertise and experience. Electronic prepress managers and technicians and experienced press operators were recruited from as close as Seattle (700 miles) and as far away as upstate New York (2,000 miles). “We didn’t have the time or infrastructure to train people at first, so we needed to hire people with industry experience who could hit the ground running,” founder Field explains. “But we always knew that eventually we would have to train the local workforce if we wanted to grow.”

Taken From:The 7 Irrefutable rules of Small Businnes Growth

SLOW TO HIRE . . . (2)

References are checked. Past claims are verified. If the top candidate was a referral from an employee, that source is also tapped for information. Once a candidate is chosen, someone extends an offer, reiterates the company’s core values, and sends out a formal employment offer. This process may take a couple of weeks. Growing companies may be in dire need of bodies, but they should not sacrifice quality for expediency. They are slow to hire.

This doesn’t mean that if a superstar is suddenly available, the company will twiddle their thumbs and hold multiple interviews. If top managers have been actively recruiting, the “checking out the candidate” phase will already be done. They are still slow to hire, but the evaluation is already finished. In the ideal situation, there is some kind of superstar file somewhere, with background information enclosed for each potential recruit.

In any case, the interview is the ideal time to introduce your core values or sense of purpose. The candidate will benefit because he or she will be able to determine whether the company is a good fit. The company will benefit because the interviewer can see how the candidate reacts to those values and be sure the person knows what he or she is getting into. Try to frame questions in a way that can measure your mutual compatibility.

Taken From:The 7 Irrefutable rules of Small Businnes Growth

SLOW TO HIRE . . . (1)

In too many privately held companies, hiring is a sprint. There’s a loud and abrupt start, a flurry of activity, and lots of heavy breathing at the finish line. If you blink, you miss it.My advice is that you think of hiring more like a marathon. Your starting position is ill defined and has little effect on the eventual outcome. A slow and steady rhythm is the winning technique. I’ve never seen a winning marathoner who sprints for a mile and then rests to catch his breath before sprinting again. Have you ever noticed that, be it track and field, bicycling, or swimming, it’s the long-distance athletes that appear less out of breath than the sprinters? When you are doing it right, your hiring practices should look like an endurance event: a slow, steady, rhythmic effort.

Most growth companies look at hiring as one of their highest priorities, if not the highest.A group of top managers interviews the candidates in shifts, in detail. Everyone asks probing questions and takes notes. The managers frame questions that address the company’s core values or sense of purpose. The group meets at a set time to compare impressions (based on substance, not clothing and hairstyles) and discuss results.

The best performers are asking the questions because the company wants more people like them, not more people like the average. Average managers hire average employees, probably ones who are not too threatening and will do what they are told. Peak performers strive to hire more people like themselves— superstars who can grow the business.

Taken From:The 7 Irrefutable rules of Small Businnes Growth