HOW TO LEAD PEOPLE SUCCESSFULLY 

Adapted From Many Sources And A Boat Load Of Common Sense

A Small Business Is Not A Little Big Business. It’s a lot different. Home Town Bank is not a little Wells Fargo. Mike’s Corner Store is not a little Safeway. Coffee Shop Cute is not a little Starbucks. There are huge differences between small businesses and big businesses.

In a big business management and leadership are very different animals. In the realm of big business, leadership is about formulating the vision, defining where the enterprise is going and how it will get there. While management is about taking raw talent (the employees) and turning it into performance aligned with the vision as set forth by the leader. 

In the realm of small business, leadership and management is one in the same. The small business owner does it all. He leads and manages at the same time. There’s no choice about it.

If you run a Small Business, you must IMMEDIATELY rid your mind of the word “manager” and replace it with the word “leader.” Now let’s look at LEADERSHIP and get a new understanding of what that’s all about.

I define leadership by talking about what a leader does. 

A LEADER GETS PEOPLE TO WILLINGLY AND SUCCESSFULLY—AND WITH A MINIMAL AMOUNT OF SUPERVISION—START AND COMPLETE THINGS THE LEADER WANTS DONE.

WHAT KIND OF THINGS? THINGS THE LEADER'S PEOPLE MAY ALREADY BE DOING, THINGS THEY MAY NEVER HAVE THOUGHT OF, THINGS THEY DON’T THINK ARE POSSIBLE, THINGS THEY THINK OTHERS CAN DO BUT THAT THEY CANNOT, THINGS THEY’RE AFRAID OF, THINGS THAT WILL MAKE THEM FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE, THINGS THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO, THINGS THEY FEEL MIGHT RESULT IN THEIR HUMILIATION OR EMBARRASSMENT, THINGS THEY MAY FEEL ARE UNETHICAL, IMMORAL, OR ILLEGAL, THINGS THAT THEY FEEL ARE TOO DIFFICULT OR TOO DANGEROUS, OR THINGS THEY JUST PLAIN DO NOT WANT TO DO AT ALL. A LEADER GETS PEOPLE TO WILLING AND SUCCESSFULLY START AND COMPLETE ALL THESE KINDS OF THINGS. [Note: Hopefully when you lead, you will not ask or insist that your people do things that will actually result in their humiliation or embarrassment or that are indeed unethical, immoral or illegal.]

ONE OF THE HALLMARKS OF A WELL RUN BUSINESS IS THAT THE LEADER CAN LEAVE HIS ENTERPRISE IN THE HANDS OF HIS EMPLOYEES FOR HOURS, EVEN DAYS OR WEEKS AT A TIME…WITHOUT WORRY.

IMPORTANT QUESTION: IF YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT, AND CANNOT AT PRESENT, DO YOU AT LEAST KNOW HOW TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN? YES OR NO.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO LEAD SUCCESSFULLY? IT TAKES ACCURATE PRODUCTIVITY-MONITORING SYSTEMS. SKILLED EMPLOYEES YOU CAN TRUST. AND CONSISTENT COMPETENT EXECUTION OF WELL-CRAFTED GAME PLANS WITH AUTOMATIC COURSE CORRECTION PROCEDURES IN PLACE.

TAKEN TOGETHER AS A UNIT THESE KEY THINGS CREATE A NO-WORRY-WALL BETWEEN THOSE WORKING ON YOUR BEHALF AND YOU, WHILE YOU ARE OUT FISHING OR DOING ALL SORTS OF OTHER THINGS OF YOUR CHOOSING WHATEVER THEY MIGHT BE. WE CALL THAT NIRVANA.

So let’s look into the HOW a bit more.

Leading is about Motivation: When you are leading people you must find all sorts of ways to get your people to become motivated and stay motivated so they can to do their jobs well and with pride. This means you must inspire, encourage and coach with words and show the way by personal example.

You must have a Clear Plan of what must be done…and Identify Your Goals: What are your specific measurable goals? Do you have hourly, daily or weekly targets your team must meet? What about your new goals such as reviewing productivity? Write down everything you want done and post this list prominently so there can be no doubt in anyone’s mind about what you want. This will be your checklist. Of course this list will change over time, it is a living document. Some things may stay the same, but others may change depending on a whole lot of things. Review your list frequently, with a critical eye, and revise it when necessary.

Communicate your Expectations Verbally but also in Writing: Little memo forms are great for doing this, each individual on  your team gets a copy and so do you, do you can keep track. Solicit feedback from the people you’re leading. Know what they expect from you too. Address any discrepancies immediately and clearly. And should you discover that you have a disruptive personality or person who fails to perform up to your expectations and who cannot be rehabilitated, you must take all steps to get rid of him or her as quickly and as painlessly as possible. Don’t fall in love with your team members.

Know your team: You need to know individual strengths and weaknesses for each team member. John works extremely fast but occasionally misses some of the details. Jane is incredibly thorough but has issues with the volume of work processed. Bill has spectacular customer relationships but can never say “no” to people whereas Mary has excellent technical skills but falls short in people skills. You really need to know all this very, very well. You will use this knowledge to balance the productivity of your team.

Meet with your team members: YOU MUST TALK TO YOUR PEOPLE. This takes time but it a MUST DO. Regularly occurring one-on-one meetings are critical to good business performance and profitable growth. Your meetings provide you with opportunities to:

• Give feedback on job performance: Discuss the previous week’s objectives including what went well, what areas might improve for next time and how that improvement might be obtained.
• Outline the goals for the next meeting: These are typically referred to as “action items” and will form the basis for the next weekly production review.
• Learn about staff issues: Once in a while you’re going to be a bit out of touch. And you absolutely must realize that. The only way to keep track of issues that affect the performance of your team is to meet and talk with your team.
• Ask for ideas: Your staff wants to feel engaged. Without exception, the number one motivating factor behind people leaving a job is poor leadership–and that very often stems from people feeling ignored.
• And conduct a regular Monday Morning Huddle with everyone who reports to you.

Document team activities: The performance of your business will be determined by your team’s performance, so make sure you keep a written record of issues and accomplishments. This will be especially important if there are significant issues that arise. Problems are expected. How you and your team handle those problems must be a focus of your efforts.

Show up in their workspace: Employees expect you to stay in your seat. Don’t. Once a day, get up and walk over to the desk of someone you haven’t spoken to recently. Take two minutes to ask her what she’s working on. Once she’s done answering, respond “What do you need from me to make that project/transaction successful?” Message to employee: I know who you are, I’ve got high expectations—and I’ve got your back.

Look for the Pirate: The Pirate in the room questions the status quo and provides ideas on doing things differently. The Pirate has a loud and bold voice that unflinchingly challenges authority, and every time he opens his mouth you can count on at least one third of the people in the room rolling their eyes. It sometimes seems like the Pirate brings every single issue up for debate (whether it needs to be debated or not) and takes personal joy in being on the opposite side—simply to champion an alternate point of view. He enjoys rocking the boat because he feels he’s doing the company a favor by not letting everyone get too comfortable and complacent. A ship might be safe in the harbor, but that’s not why ships are built. The Pirate can be an invaluable source of insight and information for you. Pay attention to your Pirate.

Reward Performance: This doesn't always mean money. Money is nice, but it’s not a primary motivator for on-the-job performance. Recognition is much more effective. If you can, grant performance leave (an extra day off for doing something exceptional). Make the rewards regular and make them attainable but not overly difficult to achieve. When you give a reward, make it well known. Smile and say “thanks a lot,” a lot.

Be Decisive: When asked for your opinion, you should have it well thought out and present it persuasively. Waffling and stalling is no good. For big decisions, set a deadline and meet it. If someone offers an argument that convinces you to change a decision, acknowledge it and embrace the new idea completely.

Be Consistent and Flexible: As a leader your actions and reactions must be consistent. You don’t want to be the type of leader that everyone asks what kind of mood you are in before they approach you with an issue. Being flexible is important too and it does not conflict with being consistent. You must remain flexible to change directions, change rules, and change resources to remain competitive.

Job Descriptions Matched To The Work To Be Actually Performed: Jim Collins, author of “Good To Great,” tells us that our people come before assignments, that we must get the right people on the bus before we start the journey. Therefore, you will need crystal clear descriptions and clarifications of what you want done, specifying the talents, attitudes, experience and education you require from your employees to make that happen. These descriptions must be precise, pristine, accurate and kept up to date. Remember, a positive attitude with poor skills is more likely to help your success than great skills with a poor attitude. Get this right. Then hire slowly, take all the time you need. Go for good quality people. Never offer a job to anyone until you do a thorough background check, both criminal and credit. Never settle for less than what you truly require or you will be disappointed.

AND, have as much fun as possible all the time. Work is work but everyone ought to have as much fun as possible.