The Chief Culture Officer Academy is pleased to announce the launching of its online course Living and Working with Mexicans. The Mexican culture is rich in customs, traditions, and intriguing behavioral patterns; and this one-of-its-kind short course offers you the opportunity to dive into the very roots of the Mexican way of life.The curriculum and practical activities are carefully designed for:
Expats (retirees, executives, diplomats)
Foreign students
Foreign investors and import/export professionals
Travelers
Mexican culture enthusiasts
The program content includes the following topics:
Culture and human behavior fundamentals
The roots of the Mexican cultural identity
Values and attitudes in the Mexican society
Mexicans behavior in the workplace and business
Other key features:
Completely online. You can access the modules from anywhere: the living room, your office, the cafe; and using the device that best suits your needs, your smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc.
Your schedules, your pace. The estimated time to complete all the modules is 3 hours, which you can organize at your convenience as it is available 24/7.
Natural voice and closed captions. Our video lessons are English spoken and created with a native speaker’s natural voice. They also include closed captions to enhance your learning experience.
Certificate of completion. Get your digital training certificate when all the lessons are completed.
Course instructor: Francisco J. Santana
Francisco Santana
Francisco Santana is a cross-cultural expert who conducts training sessions for business professionals who are involved in intercultural duties. He specializes in cross-cultural communication, negotiation, and business etiquette; virtual team management, as well as in culture shock.
For more information and enroll in this course please click on this link:
Today I’d like to chat about the different types of support staff you need and what makes them so important.
There are essentially three key roles that need to be filled to set your business up for success:
The Technician
The Manager
The Entrepreneur
All of these roles need to be played simultaneously by different people with the right talents. It’s all about balance.
The Technician
This person represents the present and all that needs to be done for the physical aspects of the business-building process. They are the “doer”. This is usually the most visible person in the entire operation.
The Manager
This person represents the past and works to fix problems through learning from past mistakes. They are on the practical side of the business and is in charge of putting together the business and overseeing the planning.
The Entrepreneur
This person represents the future and the vision for the business. They are responsible for the creative side of the business and are always considering ways to enhance products/services, business image, branding, and more.
All three of these characters are essential in the success of any business and to build a solid foundation from the start, you need to work harder to find the right people to put in these roles. Obviously, you need to be one of these key people, but ensure you find the role that fits your skills and talents, not necessarily what you THINK you should be doing.
This may be a hard process for you as you will need to relinquish some control over the business and instill trust in people to allow them to do their jobs.
After all, change is HARD. A business coach becomes not only your mentor but your accountability partner during this process.
Michael Gerber, in his book “The E-Myth”, explores this concept deeply. For more information, or to set up a discussion with a coach devoted to helping you grow a profitable business, visit http://www.salesmarketingresults.com/
Helping businesses isn’t one thing we do. . . It’s all we do!
Adrian Sasine
Adrian Sasine is a Business Coach and a Marketing & Sales expert! From Start-up to Sale – Adrian delivers customized, results-based coaching for every business owner! With over 20 years of hands-on experience, Adrian offers a proven ability to increase profits and drive business growth. His clients receive invaluable business knowledge and insight from his own successes, failures, and thirst for business knowledge. What began as a hobby consulting with entrepreneurs, has turned into an undeniable passion to help serious business owners generate more clients, close more sales and increase their overall revenue and profits >> quickly and inexpensively. His expertise is as diverse as his resume, which includes having owned and exited several small businesses and leading the marketing division of a Fortune 500 company.
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I began 2020 with a great sense of optimism. However, within weeks of my New Year’s post, the world was in lockdown. Was I ever surprised! I did not anticipate the Covid-19 Pandemic. Honestly, we were all surprised. Sure, we knew it was a possibility. The concept had been discussed in the culture, complete with dire warnings mostly ignored.
I had just completed a COO search when the lockdown began. My placement’s start date was March 16. I was sure that my client would rescind their offer. But I was wrong. The new COO became an integral part of their organization, helping them navigate through the challenges created by the pandemic.
My first blog post of the year is meant to establish a theme for the New Year. It is somewhat different this year. It seems appropriate to put 2021 into greater context, given our experience in 2020. As we begin 2021, we are into the second flair-up of Covid-19, tracking the normal influenza cycle. The residual effects of 2020 will be with us for a while, certainly through 2021. Companies are still looking for a handle on the situation. They have learned much but need more time to adapt and thrive.
My ‘beginning of the year message’ of 2020 was a typical opener, The setup spoke to the importance of planning and goal setting. I wrote that companies are more likely to achieve their objectives, whereas individuals abandon their New Year’s Resolutions within a few short months. I observed that the difference might be due to a lack of systems. Goal attainment requires a system that incorporates learning. Creating virtuous habits is the key to success. That was my thinking at the beginning of 2020.
A chronological review of the topics for my 2020 posts is revealing. In the first quarter, I was writing about making a productive start to the new year. Pre-pandemic thinking. In the second quarter, I was writing about situation awareness. I wanted to understand the effects of the pandemic and assess the needs of our clients. By the third quarter, I was writing about developing strategies to reconnect with customers. The fourth quarter was the setup for 2021. I wrote about the need for a clear positioning statement, supported by a communications program.
My 2020 Blog Themes by Quarter
!st Quarter Planning and Strategy -Typical Start of New Year Message
2nd Quarter – Understanding/Responding to the needs of clients – Communications.
A catalog of my 2020 articles is listed at the end of this post.
The lockdown made it clear that business models need to adapt to a new paradigm. Many trends already working their way through the economy accelerated. Remote working and internet shopping are obvious examples. Other changes were not expected, especially health protocols surrounding Covid-19 mitigation. There was a noticeable impact on the supply chain due to bottlenecks at the manufacturing/production node. The service sector was hard hit as ‘high touch’ retail concepts collided with social distancing, PPE, and sanitation protocols. Our clients struggled to adapt. My goal was to help them understand, adapt, and reposition themselves for success. This is still my focus. Find a defensible niche, organize around that strategy, and market your brand (communicate) accordingly.
My take-away from 2020 is that most companies are not investing in strategic threat assessments or developing contingency plans. This leads me to believe that their planning systems are not generating information to protect their flanks. Actionable information is the foundation for planning. A robust strategic analysis discipline will validate strengths, mitigate weaknesses, identify opportunities, and surface threats. This approach to planning creates a learning culture. An effective planning system is a learning system. Good companies employ a planning system. Great companies create a learning culture that guides their planning.
Beginning a new year is still exhilarating. Maybe even more so this year. We face a fluid situation as the second phase of the Covid-19 Pandemic takes its toll. And a new Political Administration will soon be in place. We know that further change is coming, but its size and scope is unclear. The challenge is to gain clarity to ensure our continued survival. This requires more experience and solid analysis.
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How many hours are spent every year in meetings conducting strategic planning sessions only to find the plan ignored? Or, in today’s Agile approach to business, the confusion reigning with a lack of effective and timely communications of shifting priorities. The human element cost can be tremendous with employees left confused with engagement levels constantly fluctuating, impacting output.
Two very successful entrepreneurs have combined forces providing your organization with access to a fresh and effective approach to strategic planning and execution:
Dr. Stephen Dawson is a strategic internal or external consultant who provides exceptional-business building outcomes in the United States and Southeast Asia by utilizing his visionary abilities to design and deliver the next generation business productivity tools to assist regulators in accomplishing economic development. He has maximized his postdoctoral work in ways to blend his exceptional education with his outgoing personality and strong communication skills. He is also an Adjunct Professor with Regent University, serving with the Department of Business, Leadership, & Management.
Dave Daniels (BA/MA) is an accomplished senior business, human resource, and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) executive. Having held leadership positions throughout the country, Dave’s business approach is intended to exceed financial objectives by inspiring exceptional capabilities on the part of all team members. He is an accomplished facilitator and leader of results-oriented cross-functional teams. Additionally, Dave is a Certified Coach of the IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory) process, the most respected Diversity and Inclusion (D & I) assessment in the world. While he brings a wide range of experience, Dave’s expertise in the D & I space provides for full integration of this critical piece in our approach.
What we do:
Troubleshoot (assess) current plans and levels of communications and results
Create “real” alignment and commitment to the best actions
Become a trusted advisor to the CEO and the Executive Leadership Team (ELT)
Define/refine desired outputs and impact
How are we different:
Identify and solve key pain points, immediately
Provide a strong and relevant D & I lens to every aspect of your organization
Access to the IDI process, as a value, add
Flexible and Agile customization
Contact Information: Stephen and Dave may be reached via phone or email:
Do Mentor programs really work? How do they differ from Sponsor programs? How do you select candidates? And how does an organization introduce these programs? These critical questions need to be answered proactively and thoughtfully before embarking on this part of the Diversity and Inclusion (D & I) strategy. Like any good business decision, there needs to be a predetermined Return on Investment (ROI = measurable results).
First, let us dive into the first question posed, because if your answer is “NO,” then usually you won’t pursue it. Here is my challenge to you, the CEO. How many times in your career have you witnessed a really good idea die on the vein due to several possible reasons? If you are like me, you file these ideas away to be utilized at another time when you can directly impact the outcome of the initiative. Examples of those failures could harken back to poor leadership, inadequate planning and/or funding, conflicting communications, or lack of commitment, to name a few reasons.
Allow me to explore the difference briefly and simply between Mentor and Sponsor programs. A standard Mentor/Mentee approach effectively establishes roles with the Mentee driving the process within well-defined parameters. A Sponsorship program should be reserved for the best of the best high potential employees, as identified by the organization’s Succession Planning process. This process is designed to be far more formal and structured with key checkpoints along the way. Unwavering commitment, communications, and accountability is a must to optimize success. While the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) member is key, I strongly recommend a central point of contact that both parties can draw on when needed.
These two powerful concepts can drive real change in your organization if you commit to the following steps:
1- Have the right person leading these processes. Competency and respect are paramount.
2- Use Succession Planning to identify the right high potentials pared with the right ELT.
3- Clearly define each program and the desired outcomes.
4- CEO commitment, follow-up, and regular involvement are a must.
5- Strive for continuous improvement with both processes. Learn from the past.
Determining the correct level of transparency will be critical to success. I work closely with CEO’s to determine what’s right for their culture. You guard current proprietary info closely. I believe that the Succession Planning process should follow this template. As a key part of this process, Mentor and Sponsor programs should follow this line of thinking.
Should you decide to implement and/or enhance Succession Planning in your company, I am available to guide you through the nuances. Next up: Diversity Councils and Resource Groups.
David Daniels, Daniels Consulting
David Daniels, Daniels Consulting
Dave Daniels is an accomplished Senior Business and Human Resource executive with a proven track record of developing, implementing, and delivering upon both short and long-term results. He has held management and executive-level positions with companies large and small throughout the United States. Dave has managed his career in a way that provides him with an exceptional breadth of experience and capacity to contribute to improving brand and financial results for his employer in every capacity he has served.
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Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.
From the mind of Don Turner – “Creating Clarity in a World of Complexity”
In Part 2, we discussed the underlying factors of the New Normal that will force a more intense way of looking at “fixing” companies that have been broken by this global calamity. Building off of “Restructuring” and “Turnaround” approaches, we identified the increased difficulty and complexity associated with the New Normal and introduced the concept of “Restoration.” Restoration efforts will require fixing distressed businesses in an environment where not only they themselves but their entire marketplace – Customers, Suppliers, Lenders, etc – are distressed also.
We suggested this will require an evolution of traditional “Restructuring/Turnaround” perspectives and approaches to successfully restore a troubled business back to prosperity.
With this third part of our series, we introduce the first three of five activity topics we suggest should be addressed when “restoring” business in the New Normal. These topics – Cash, Customers, and Culture – are shown in the following exhibit:
5 C Restoration Strategy
Before we go into further detail for each of these topics, a couple of important thoughts: First and foremost, these activities don’t happen in isolation – there are strong interrelationships and interactions between them.
Secondly, given the interrelationships, they must all be executed simultaneously with an eye to integrating and balancing focus and resources
Thirdly, are there other activities to execute? Certainly, however, I believe they can all be covered under one of these 5 C’s
Let’s take a look at the first three:
CASH
Cash combined with courage in a time of crisis is priceless ~ Warren Buffet
The proverbial “Cash is King” saying is never more relevant than it is today. For a company to “restore” itself and survive they must determine how much liquidity runway they have at the current burn rate – most likely under various pessimistic to optimistic scenarios.
These scenarios take into account your entire value chain – from Suppliers to Customers – and are based on the multitude of creative cash optimization tactics one can employ.
Not Enough Runway
Not enough runway? Then obviously some hard decisions must be made. The point is that as we enter the first phase of the New Normal, we need to determine how much runway the company has. The length of the liquidity runway dictates both the urgency and types of decisions to be made.
Anybody who has done turnarounds knows the endless variety of decisions that can be made to improve liquidity. We won’t go through all of them here but suffice it to say yourinitial Restoration decisions will almost always involve prioritization and retraction. You must prioritize those activities and resources that are MUST HAVE to restore the business. Based on that prioritization you need to identify where retraction makes sense – at least in the short-term. As mentioned in Part 2 of our discussion, this retraction might include determining what Customers you can’t serve, what products or services you can’t offer, what delivery channels are superfluous, what resources – both in personnel and facilities – are not absolutely necessary.
Remember this retraction requires focus and that focus is on the “Delivery Cycle” – those activities directly associated with selling, delivering, and servicing your offering. These activities are all Customer-facing and have a direct and immediate impact on your revenue. Longer-term activities like identifying and creating new offerings associated with the “Development Cycle” can wait.
Development – Delivery Cycles
A final thought on Cash is that it is also important to identify creative ways of extending or even using non-cash transactions. Again, mentioned in a previous part of our discussion, some of the obvious ways are bartering and consignment. However, I also expect to see in the early stages of the New Normal businesses negotiating concurrently with both the Supplier and Customer side of their business to ensure optimal cash flow. Remember, EVERYONE is in the same boat and has a common objective of survival! If there ever was a time to conduct creative transactions now would be the time.
CUSTOMERS
Without Customers, there is no business to restore.
In the New Normal, you will find yourself engaging with your Customers more honestly, period. Restoring your business concurrently with your Customer restoring their business will require a new level of transparency and openness in your discussions.
In the New Normal, Customer communication will take on an entirely new level of importance. Embrace it, this is a good thing in the long run!
My personal and professional hero has always been my Grandfather. He started me off in the world of business by reading Horatio Alger to me as a child sitting on his lap (ED: while listening to Eddie Cantor records, I remember the time fondly and well). He had me work in his real estate and construction office before I was ten, driving our supply truck to deliver material to the crews as soon as my feet could reach the gas pedal, clutch, and most importantly, the brake. My fundamental view of business, hard work, and dealing with people, in general, all came from him. Ahhh, but that is another story.
I remember one of the most profound things he ever said – and Grandpa had a lot of them. After meeting with someone in his office where I was allowed to sit in the corner, keep my mouth shut, listen, and watch, he once said, “You know Donny, 95% of all the problems you could ever have with a Customer are based on poor communication. The other 5% is a rounding error.” As I said, Grandpa was a wise man.
In the early stage of Restoration, you cannot over-communicate with your Customers. Yet, in the New Normal, you should do be doing more than just communicating. You should be interacting, engaging, finding new ways of working together, new definitions of mutual benefit. In the New Normal, your Customers will exhibit a level of vulnerability that you’ve never seen before. Use this time to strengthen your relationship with them.
Value Proposition
Evolve the value proposition between the two of you. How can delivery costs be reduced? Can packaging be done differently? Can services be bundled? These and many questions should be asked in an attempt to creatively increase the real value between you and your Customer.
Of course, in the New Normal if your business offering is not as important to your Customer as it was before, or worse yet, no longer relevant to them than you have a fundamental “going-concern” problem. Remember, without a clear value proposition you simply aren’t relevant to your Customer – they are restoring their own business with the same intense concentration on prioritization and retraction.
CULTURE
Collectively, people are your culture and it is the culture that helps drive business success.
Yes, your people are valued individuals. However, even more importantly, as a group, they represent the culture of your organization, and in the New Normal that culture will require a new perspective on how to effectively manage.
It is your collective culture that creates the “Customer Experience” as it defines, creates, and delivers your offering to the marketplace. Better culture, better offerings, better delivery, better Customer loyalty (ED: I have strong opinions of loyalty versus satisfaction, for a GREAT read “Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless” by Jeffrey Gitomer, it will radically change your view of “satisfaction”).
Firstly, let us get the unpleasant stuff out of the way. You may have to downsize – in fact, you most likely already have and will downsize even more as you restore your business. One strong suggestion is to cut as much as you think you need for the foreseeable future. Nothing destroys culture like a Damoclean sword over everyone’s head. Once you conduct a reduction-in-force (“RIF”) you need to start rebuilding the Team culture.
Yes, part of this RIF from the reduced level of your present business. However, it is hoped that during this current isolation phase of the New Normal, you are learning how to “do more with less” via the effective use of technology and processes. This is an unpleasant reality but if you haven’t already figured this out, you haven’t been paying attention.
That brings us to our second point, defining the “New Normal Work Environment.” If your management style hasn’t in the past, I hope it is now evolving to focus on deliverables, not hours.
Yes, there are certain jobs that are fundamentally based on “hours” – e.g., Customer Service Representatives. Yet, there are countless other jobs where the number of hours you put in is not as important as the deliverables you produce. That is a fundamental change in perspective for a lot of Managers who must learn to manage in that environment. The bottom line, I envision remote working to be a seminal change in the New Normal. Do we still need offices? In many cases, the answer is “yes”. However, do we need as much space, and do our employees need to be in there five days a week, eight hours a day? I don’t think so.
Technology will help enable a significant amount of the New Normal. Remote Team Management tools have been around for a while and continue to grow in their adoption. Video Conferencing will evolve. Electronic whiteboards will be the norm for Team brainstorming. Workflow Management solutions will increase the velocity of deliverables through an organization. We will find that the effective use of technology will not only enable business in the New Normal but evolve and enhance it like never before.
One positive of the New Normal is that there will be shorter, more focused interactions – particularly in the use of meetings. I have had several executives tell me of late that what would have been an “in-office” meeting of an hour to an hour and a half was done via a video conference in half an hour – and they felt more was accomplished.
When I worked in major corporations, I always told my Team that independent of “emergency meetings” that are occasionally required, they had my permission to completely ignore any meeting request that did not include an Objective, an Agenda, and an Expected Deliverable twenty-fours in advance of the meeting. It is amazing to see the increased meeting productivity simply having those items identified ahead of time. Maybe even include “prep work” prior to the meeting (ED: it may worth your time research the meeting culture of Amazon via Jeff Bezos – something to be said for it).
By the way, unless it is a general presentation, during a working meeting anybody that hasn’t had anything to say probably shouldn’t have been invited anyway. They can read the meeting summary later – don’t waste their time. Remember, this is “live or die” focus time.
During this same time, you should be looking at how you “re-engineer” your processes – i.e., simplify, streamline, make more efficient, more effective. The best time to reengineer processes is when you have to because that is when the organization puts up the least resistance to change.
The critical question going forward is how to compensate employees when cash is limited. You will likely have to be creative with the employees you retain. Some form of reduced pay with a clear game plan for making them whole sometime in the future through future cash flow or equity. However, no “creative” payroll strategy will work without a new level of transparency into the financial realities of the business. That said, you would be surprised how many employees when given the “naked truth” of a Company status will nod their heads and say, “okay, I understand, let’s make this work.” Who knows, you might build an even stronger, more cohesive, more dedicated, more productive culture as you continue your Restoration.
There is a bond that is created between those who suffer together. Between those who face life-changing events together. Who lay it on the line together. They call it Foxhole Friendships.
At this point, I’m hoping that there are no surprises on what will be required for restoring business in the New Normal. Yes, it will be difficult – most likely excruciatingly so. If there is any consolation in what we all will be facing it is that: a) we will be doing it together; and b) for those of us who successfully restore our businesses and survive we will be undoubtedly stronger for it.
Okay, we looked at Cash, Customers, and Culture. Tomorrow, Community and Commerce.
Don Turner
don@turnerworld.com
678.361.3313
www.turnerworld.com
Thank you for visiting our blog.
Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners
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Bottomline First: Owners don’t really have anyone to talk to about their problems. Reach out to those in your care.
Outside of a preacher in a small church, I don’t know of a more lonely calling than a small business owner.
I will often ask them, “Do you know what your friends think of you?”
They look at me with stunned incredulity since I had only met them a couple of hours earlier and know none of their friends.
I proceed to tell them, “Your friends think they have it made, they think you come and go as you please, hire people to do what you don’t want to do and write it all off on your taxes!! They think you have the Life of Riley!”
Then they say, “You know, you are absolutely right!”
And I assure them if they try to convince their friends just how hard it is owning a business, they think you are pulling their leg!
And THIS is during the GOOD times! The loneliness is only getting worse in the economic environment of the day!
Many times business owners will become overly friendly with their employees to cope with their isolation knowing they get the day-to-day stresses with which the owner is dealing. But that becomes a management problem within the business and makes it almost unthinkable to furlough them when times get tough.
Business owners are seen as “having it all together” not only by their friends and the public at large but also by their families. I can’t tell you how many times I have interviewed a business owner during an analytical survey of their company who was showing a loss on their P&L only to discover he (or she) had not told their spouse. And let’s be honest, men, we are more guilty of this than our sisters-in-business. That stinkin’ EGO of ours gets us in trouble and then cuts off the support we so desperately need!
So to you advisors of these stalwart but hurting heroes of our economy, reach out to them! They need to know there are people and places that can be safe for them to unmask their pain.
Bankers, attorneys, wealth advisors, CPAs, insurance agents, consultants, accounting firms, HR firms – any trusted advisor in their life can just BE THERE for them and let them know it is OK for them to share anything that is bothering them.
If you are in a role they might not feel comfortable due to the business relationship (like their banker), try suggesting they might want to talk to a friend of yours.
As Charles Dickens wrote in the Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of time…” We have been brutally snatched out of “the best of times” and forced into what is arguably “the worst of times.”
As a man of faith, I would that all men and women would seek guidance from the Creator of us all to lean into Him and His wisdom for our individual and corporate deliverance.
Let’s all be there for each other as we walk through the valley of shadows.
Ralph Watson
Ralph Watson has a varied and extensive career spanning 45 years of increasingly responsible positions in both sales and operations in a very diverse mix of industry specialties, including food processing, textile and apparel, financial services, and professional management consulting.
Ralph served as a Senior Executive Analyst with a number of international consulting companies focused on the family-owned, privately held market where he distinguished himself as one of the top analysts in a highly competitive field. In early 2014, he personally coached 10 businesses in Europe.
‘Show me a good crisis manager, and I will show you someone who creates a crisis to manage.’
Warning – Toxic Person
It’s Saturday morning. I just received a text message from my friend Faith. She forwarded a message from a colleague she calls ‘Hair-on-fire.’ The text she received was sent at 4:45 PM yesterday, Friday, surfacing another crisis. ‘Hair-on-fire’ strikes again! Fortunately, Faith was engaged in another activity, so she didn’t see the text and wasn’t drawn into a last-minute waste of time. As I mentioned in my post last week, this colleague has a habit of creating a commotion late on a Friday afternoon. Just imagine, it‘s the end of the workweek and you’re ready to ease into the weekend. You may have plans for the evening, anticipating some well-deserved fun and relaxation. As you’re making the transition to ‘personal time,’ you’re assaulted with an urgent issue that requires you to revert to ‘working mode.’ Instant psychological whiplash. I call foul! This behavior strikes me as manipulative and narcissistic. It appears that “Hair-on-fire” uses this tactic as a control mechanism to manage her matrix team. From my experience, she probably believes that being a good crisis manager will result in recognition by senior management. Early in my career, I learned something about crisis management. My most important takeaway was: ‘Show me a good crisis manager, and I will show you someone who creates a crisis to manage.’ This topic is of great interest to me.
A thesaurus search of “toxic” reveals synonyms related to poison, something to be avoided. As with any poison, exposure to toxic people should be minimized whenever possible. How do you know you are dealing with a toxic person and how does one cope? Exploring this matter further will help us become more productive and effective. It will help you create a healthy workplace. The starting point is to identify toxic people by their behavior.
ATTRIBUTES OF A TOXIC PERSONALITY
Takes no responsibility for their actions – puts the blame on others
Manipulative
Never apologize
Judgmental – highly critical, will negate your self-esteem
Make you defensive
Will not support you
Inconsistent
Narcissistic – Must be the center of attention
Do not listen
Negative outlook – never a positive word, project their emotions on you
Never admit defeat – never wrong
Will not go out of their way for you
Present a victim’s mentality – emotional blackmail
Always have ulterior motives
They are mean – say things to hurt you
If you label someone as a ‘Drama Queen’ you’re dealing with a toxic personality. They don the victim role to manipulate you into doing things for them. You dread being with them as they drain you of your energy, creating mental exhaustion. These encounters make you feel bad or disappointed by your inability to cope. Toxic people are like vampires sucking the life out of you. The best advice I’ve heard is to be empathetic but don’t necessarily hang with them. Set boundaries. Don’t feed the beast by becoming engaged in their drama.
I find it difficult to understand why anyone would let toxic people into their life. I must be blessed as I cannot think of any truly toxic people that are part of my business or social circle. Sure, there are people I know who may exhibit one or more of these traits from time to time, but I cannot say that I have any toxic entanglements. It may be due to my experience, or maybe it’s my filters. However, there are people close to me who frequently deal with these personalities. Fortunately, I can help friends, family members, and associates work through and detach from these people.
Faith, for example, has no choice but to work with ‘Hair-on-fire,’ as they are members of the same team. Faith must adapt and cope with the situation.
Although it’s not the focus of this article, it must be very difficult if the toxic person happens to be a family member. They might not be able to change but you can do things to minimize the stress they create. Limit your time with them or end the relationship.
It is said that you become the average of the people with whom you most frequently associate. This refers to your behavior, your physical condition, professional success, etc. If you understand that toxic people are made, not born, you know their behavior may be contagious. I am fortunate that I attract people like me. I am generally a positive, and optimistic person by nature. Although I don’t have toxic people in my circle, I do interact with them from time to time. My experience is my shield, my intuition is my internal warning device. Toxic behavior is a big red flag. I find that life is too short to become entangled in their pathology. If you recognize any of these attributes in your behavior it might be wise to seek help to nullify them.
For Further Information:
Dr. Karl Albrecht. He has a short diagnostic you can access online which will help you determine if you were in a toxic relationship.
I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox. Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.
Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.
The concept that failure can be okay can be so difficult to absorb. Do we really need to experience a failure to learn and succeed? Maybe not, but tried and true success does come with bumps and bruises and lessons learned from the experience of failure. What is the “entrepreneurial mindset?” According to a common misconception, an entrepreneur is a bold, risk-taking, rule-breaking individual with the reputation of a riverboat gambler. Why would you want that in your company culture? But, in reality, an entrepreneur is confident and decisive, understands risk clearly and knows when to challenge the status quo. Above all, an entrepreneur truly believes “Anything is possible.” An entrepreneur is not just an individual associated with a business startup. It’s common to find them scattered throughout any business or organization, thus the term “corporate entrepreneur.”
UNDERSTANDING YOUR COMPANY CULTURE
Can you describe your company culture? Are your employees able to articulate it in simple terms to your customers, prospects and the business community? Culture is the personality of your company, which flows from the work environment, mission and vision, values and goals. Some traits are subtle, beneath the surface, while others are
very prominent. Do you see any traits of the entrepreneurial mindset in your culture? Are you comfortable with risk? Do you minimize failure? Do you make decisions quickly? Above all, do you show extreme optimism when developing a new business model, evaluating a new product or considering change against the status quo? By shifting your culture to reward entrepreneurial thinking, you tend to become more creative and innovative. Employee morale, in general, tends to rise with a more positive outlook toward risk, failure, and difficult situations. Stress levels trend downward when you migrate toward “anything is possible” and a “no fear of failure” mentality.
Some cultures in this industry tend to be steeped in conservative and deep traditions of doing it a certain way and not moving toward change as quickly as other industries. That could be attributed to the unique skill set of the gas and welding business. Knowledge is often home-grown and self-taught. There are no classes in the universities or trade schools on selecting the right gas blend for a welding application, creating solutions to manage cylinder inventory,
understanding a customer’s need to go bulk, troubleshooting a frozen liquid cylinder and on and on.
If you’re looking for reasons or justifications your culture might need an adjustment, consider these:
Are you working harder for smaller efficiency gains? How much more cost-saving can you squeeze from your existing business model?
Is our cost to acquire new customers and market share rising per unit? How much more revenue growth can you get from the same business?
When you compare strategies with your closest competitor, is it getting harder to differentiate? If any of these hit home or you just have the intuition that change is needed, read on.
INTRODUCING THE MINDSET INTO YOUR CULTURE
Depending on how deeply you want to embrace entrepreneurial thinking into your culture, here are ideas and levels
of commitment to consider. The flow is in order of go lightly and start small to go big and be bold.
Basic Knowledge and introduction
Introduce the concept throughout your organization in short training workshop(s) and involve employees in feedback with ideas on how to implement and to what level.
“Homegrown” Champion
Is there someone in the organization who exhibits traits of an entrepreneur? Consider them for a special assignment and/or add duties to their existing position where they teach and/or mentor others on thinking the entrepreneurial way. This could also be an opportunity for career advancement.
Recruiting new talent
Is there a vacant position you’re recruiting for? Add heavy emphasis on entrepreneurial thinking to the skill set in the search. Open it up to any position—sales, admin or operations.
“Celebrate failure”
Find an opportunity to make a point of minimizing a failure someone in the organization has made. Reward them for
trying and missing. And then look for the next opportunity to celebrate another failure. Obviously not trying to fail but releasing the tension of trying something new without fear of retribution if it fails.
Create an “Entrepreneurship” Department
Develop a new department tasked with innovation, ideas and new business model opportunities. This is a big one; you’re all in when you go this route. But, why not. The rewards can be significant innovation and creativity are key to driving success. Everyone stands to benefit by adopting one or more traits of an entrepreneur, and when the mindset works its way into your company culture, positive change will follow. Confident and clear decision making, no fear of failure and the belief that anything is possible are characteristics of a winning team. Throughout the company, no matter the skill or position, learning to think like an entrepreneur is bound to lead to a more enriching work environment and ultimately to more success with your business strategy.
Seeing the positive in failure
We began this article with the concept of tolerance of failure, which is central to the philosophy of entrepreneurship. I’ll leave you with a few quotes on failure from well-known individuals who never let it get in the way of their success:
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
Albert Einstein
“I have not failed; I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Thomas Edison
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” Tony Robbins
John Tapley
John Tapley is a business management consultant and entrepreneur with expertise in new business startup, innovative business growth, and marketing strategies and digital/social media marketing. He has significant experience in all facets of the industrial gas industry, both domestic and global. He is also a mentor at the Entrepreneur and Innovation Institute, Georgia State University.
John can be reached at: John.Tapley@itbpartners.com and (404) 314-8106
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Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners
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Technology will help enable a significant amount of the New Normal. Remote Team Management tools have been around for a while and continue to grow in their adoption. Video Conferencing will evolve. Electronic whiteboards will be the norm for Team brainstorming. Workflow Management solutions will increase the velocity of deliverables through an organization. We will find that the effective use of technology will not only enable business in the New Normal but evolve and enhance it like never before.
Outside of a preacher in a small church, I don’t know of a more lonely calling than a small business owner.
