Business Without the Bullsh*t

by Geoffrey James

  6. CHANGE EQUALS GROWTH, NOT PAIN.

  Average bosses see change as both complicated and threatening, something to be endured only when a firm is in desperate shape. They subconsciously torpedo change… until it’s too late.

  Great bosses see change as an inevitable part of life. While they don’t value change for its own sake, they know that success is possible only if employees and organizations embrace new ideas and new ways of doing business.

  7. TECHNOLOGY OFFERS EMPOWERMENT, NOT AUTOMATION.

  Average bosses adhere to the old IT-centric view that technology is primarily a means of strengthening management control and increasing predictability. They install centralized computer systems that remove decision-making power from the employees.

  Great bosses see technology as a means of freeing people to be more creative and to build better and stronger relationships. When working with the IT group, they adapt back-office systems to the tools, such as smartphones and tablets, that people actually want to use.

  8. WORK SHOULD BE FUN, NOT MERE TOIL.

  Average bosses buy into the notion that work is, at best, a necessary evil. They fully expect employees to resent having to work, and therefore tend to subconsciously define themselves as oppressors and their employees as victims. Everyone then behaves accordingly.

  Great bosses see work as something that should be inherently enjoyable, and therefore believe one of the most important jobs of a manager is to, as far as possible, put people in jobs that make them happy, so more work gets done.

  SHORTCUT

  BELIEVING AS GREAT MANAGERS DO

  BUSINESS is an ecosystem so cooperate, don’t fight.

  COMPANIES are communities so treat people as individuals.

  MANAGEMENT is service so make others successful first.

  EMPLOYEES are your peers so treat them like adults.

  MOTIVATE with vision because fear only paralyzes.

  CHANGE is growth so welcome rather than shun it.

  TECHNOLOGY eliminates busywork and frees creativity.

  WORK is fun so don’t turn it into a chore.

  SECRET 16

  How to Be a Better Boss

  Over the years I’ve worked with dozens of managers and interviewed hundreds more. As I consider how they approach their jobs and how they characterize their successes, I’ve noticed they tend to adhere to the following rules:

  1. MANAGE INDIVIDUALS, NOT NUMBERS.

  Conventional business thinking is that what’s important is slicing and dicing the numbers, putting the numbers into graphs, and talking about where the numbers are and where they ought to be.

  However, numbers are the result of how well you manage people, not how well you manage numbers. The only way to get better numbers (regardless of your measurements scheme) is to improve the performance of the individuals who work for you.

  2. ADAPT YOUR STYLE TO THE INDIVIDUAL.

  Despite the popularity of the phrase, in fact it’s impossible to “manage people.” You can only manage individuals. Since everyone is unique, there is no one-size-fits-all management style.

  Therefore, as you explain exactly what you want from each employee, actively solicit the employee’s suggestions and ideas about how you can get the best possible work from that person.

  3. ADOPT SIMPLE AND RELEVANT METRICS.

  While your main focus needs to be individuals rather than numbers, you still need a way to measure how well those individuals are doing. Complex measurement schemes, with multiple metrics, inevitably create confusion among employees and managers alike.

  Ideally what’s being measured should be simple enough for every employee to understand at a glance, and relate as closely as possible to the behaviors that you’re trying to encourage. If the work doesn’t affect the metrics, metrics are a waste of time.

  4. SET ONE PRIORITY PER INDIVIDUAL.

  I recently received an e-mail from someone whose boss assigned multiple tasks and insisted that each was a “huge priority.” That boss was an idiot, because if everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority.

  The entire concept of a priority is that one thing is more important than everything else. Giving your employees multiple priorities is foisting on them the responsibility of deciding what’s really important. That’s your job.

  5. KEEP YOUR TEMPER.

  When you explode at an employee, or make a cutting or hurtful remark, it creates a wound that never heals completely and that festers with secret resentment. You don’t have to be perfect, but your employees are not your punching bags.

  Employees despise bosses who are so emotionally weak they have to dump their anger and frustration onto others. By contrast, employees deeply appreciate a boss who remains calm in a crisis.

  6. MEASURE YOURSELF BY YOUR WEAKEST EMPLOYEE.

  Managers use their top performers as a measure of how successful they are as leaders. However, while you may have a top performer on your team, that success is more likely to reflect his or her drive and ability rather than anything you brought to the table.

  Measure your management ability based on how you handle your worst performers. It’s those employees who define the lowest level of performance you’re willing to tolerate, and how much you expect the other employees to compensate for your low standards.

  7. BE GENEROUS.

  Being generous is not just about money; it’s about how you treat people. Smart bosses know their real job is to (1) fix the failures before they happen, (2) publicize the wins employees achieve, and (3) take the heat when things go wrong.

  Money is what employees expect from their jobs, not their bosses. Employees want bosses to be generous with information, time, praise, and the coaching that teaches employees how to do their jobs better.

  8. DON’T BE A KNOW-IT-ALL.

  Many bosses wrongly believe their job is to be the expert and know all the answers. However, when managers provide all the answers, they rob their employees of the opportunity to think and grow.

  While experience has value, people can’t learn when wisdom is presented on a platter or forced down their throats. Employees respect bosses who admit they don’t know everything and ask questions that help spark an employee’s own creativity.

  9. DON’T PLAY FAVORITES.

  Since you’re human, you’re going to like some of your employees better than others. Even so, you must not let these personal preferences become an excuse for treating those you like differently from those you don’t.

  Playing a favorite demoralizes the other employees because they know that their best work won’t count as much. In addition, playing a favorite creates a lot of hostility toward the favorite. If you remember from school, the teacher’s pet usually got clobbered on the playground.

  10. GIVE LOYALTY TO GET LOYALTY.

  As a boss, you want your employees to watch out for your interests, help you to be successful, and not leave you in the lurch the second they find a better job. In other words, you want some loyalty.

  Loyalty, however, must be earned. You can only expect employees to be loyal to you if you’re willing to first be loyal to them. That means watching out for their interests, helping them to be successful, and keeping them on board even if you can hire someone else for less.

  11. BE REASONABLY TRANSPARENT.

  Some bosses play their cards close to the chest and never let employees in on the decision-making process. By contrast, smart bosses know that decisions are more successful when those tasked with their implementation are involved from the start.

  A boss who disappears into his or her office, makes a decision, and then emerges with a set of commands leaves the impression that the decision is arbitrary. Even if they don’t like a decision, employees far prefer to understand the workings of the boss’s mind and exactly why that decision was made.

  12. MAKE DECISIONS QUICKLY.

  Some bosses are so risk-averse that they require mountains of information before making any important decision. Smart bosses, on t
he other hand, understand there’s a point (and it usually comes fairly quickly) at which additional information merely muddies the waters.

  Obsessing about (and second-guessing) your decision-making is always a waste of time. You’re better off making a good enough decision than waiting for an imaginary perfect decision to emerge from a real-world situation.

  SHORTCUT

  BEING A BETTER BOSS

  MANAGE individuals, not numbers.

  ADAPT your style to each person.

  MEASURE what’s truly relevant.

  ONLY one priority per person.

  STAY even-tempered.

  TAKE responsibility for your low performers.

  SHARE your thoughts and ideas.

  ASK questions rather than providing answers.

  TREAT everyone as equally as possible.

  DON’T expect more than you’re willing to give.

  EXPLAIN the reasoning behind your decisions.

  DON’T prevaricate, decide now!

  SECRET 17

  How to Hire a Top Performer

  You can’t be a great boss if you don’t hire the right people. You don’t just want people who can do the job—you want people who will excel and whose contributions will help you and your firm be more successful. Here’s how:

  1. HAVE A PARAGON IN MIND.

  Study your best employees to determine the characteristics that differentiate them from the average ones. Find out what drives your best people to be the best. Discover which talents and skills are crucial to success in your unique business environment.

  Then create interview questions that will reveal whether the candidate can be exceptional in your specific organization.

  2. ALWAYS BE INTERVIEWING.

  It’s absurd to expect somebody extraordinary to walk through the door when you want them to. Rather than wait until your moment of greatest need, interview candidates all the time, even if you don’t have any job openings.

  Use a combination of e-mail and social networking to keep in touch with the best applicants. That way you’ll have exceptional candidates ready when you have a spot for them.

  3. ASK QUESTIONS THAT REVEAL CHARACTER.

  You can’t identify somebody extraordinary by asking ordinary interview questions. Rather than something like “What is your greatest achievement?” ask the candidate to write down some achievements—two from grade school, two from high school, two from college, and two post-college—with at least one being business-related.

  Then ask which achievement makes the candidate proudest. This will let you delve into his or her core motivations.

  4. SEEK PEOPLE WHO HAVE OVERCOME DISAPPOINTMENT.

  Extraordinary employees are resilient—a character trait that emerges only from life experience. When you’re interviewing, probe for defining moments when the candidate encountered disappointments and yet managed to move forward.

  Exceptional employees will have personal experiences that illustrate their resilience, which helps employees shrug off the frustrations that are part of any high-performance job.

  5. DON’T CONFUSE SUCCESS WITH MOTIVATION.

  Many people are successful only when somebody else is providing the motivation. For example, many top athletes (even Olympians!) slack off when a coach is not “riding herd.” This is not necessarily a bad thing, but maintaining that level of coaching will take a lot of effort on your part.

  So unless you plan to spend a lot of your time providing motivation, look for employees who haven’t depended on the constant attention of a boss to be successful.

  6. HIRE FOR ATTITUDE RATHER THAN EXPERIENCE.

  Experience can be misleading, especially in a business environment, where things are always changing. As many hiring managers have learned (to their dismay), some “experienced” candidates have just had the same bad experience over and over.

  Rather than focusing on what candidates did in the past, focus on whether they have the attitude and basic skills that will make them extraordinary in the future.

  7. GET A REAL RECOMMENDATION.

  Extraordinary employees are usually likable—but plenty of likable people are particularly good at convincing employers that they have talents they don’t actually possess.

  Never hire a candidate unless you’ve talked to somebody who says you’d be crazy not to hire that person. Ideally you should research and locate the reference yourself, rather than simply calling the ones on the candidate’s résumé.

  SHORTCUT

  HIRING TOP PERFORMERS

  KNOW exactly whom you’re looking for.

  CONSTANTLY seek viable candidates.

  LOOK for character, not experience.

  RESILIENCE is the mark of potential greatness.

  SEEK out the self-motivated.

  ATTITUDE is all-important.

  DON’T settle for canned references.

  SECRET 18

  How to Hold a Productive Meeting

  If you’re the boss, it’s very much in your interest to have short meetings that work toward a goal as quickly as possible, so your employees can get back to doing real work. Here’s how to keep your meetings brief and to the point:

  1. HAVE AN AGENDA.

  Many useless meetings have amorphous goals such as “sharing information.” However, unless you’ve got time to waste, it’s crazy to tie people up in a meeting unless there’s something important to be decided on.

  If you can’t pinpoint why you’re calling a meeting, don’t call it. Once you do know why you’re calling the meeting, create an agenda that explains the goal of the meeting and the steps that are to be taken at the meeting to achieve that goal. For example:

  Meeting goal: Decide how to proceed on the Acme account.

  1. Discuss current status.

  2. Brainstorm how to get back on target.

  3. Reach agreement on recommendations.

  2. PROVIDE BACKGROUND INFORMATION.

  If you want your meetings to go quickly, avoid disseminating information via PowerPoint presentations. In most cases it’s more efficient for people to skim that information than to have it spoon-fed from the podium.

  To avoid unnecessary presentations, create briefing documents that can be scanned quickly either before or during the meeting, and that provide sufficient information that attendees can intelligently discuss the issues on the agenda.

  It may not be practical to completely avoid presentations, but presumably everybody at the meeting knows how to read. Think of it this way: if a meeting is important enough to hold, it’s important enough to have a background document for attendees to read beforehand.

  3. STAY ON TARGET.

  If you’ve followed the first three steps, there’s no reason any meeting should last more than an hour. An hour is about as long as most people can focus on a single subject anyway, which is why most college classes are an hour long.

  If the meeting starts to meander, yank it back to the agenda. Table any new issues that surface for another meeting. If latecomers barge in, don’t waste everyone else’s time catching them up.

  By the way, some people come late to meetings specifically to show that they’re important by making everyone else wait. Refusing to go over material that’s already been discussed squelches this annoying behavior before it gets out of hand.

  4. DISTRIBUTE THE MINUTES.

  If the meeting was important enough to hold, it was important enough to document the results of the meeting. Meeting minutes should therefore be distributed to the attendees while the meeting is still fresh in their minds.

  The minutes should begin with a statement of whether the meeting achieved its goal. The minutes should match the agenda, thereby documenting whether the meeting goal was achieved. Example:

  Meeting goal: Decide how to proceed on the Acme account.

  1. Acme has a temporary freeze on new purchases, which is delaying the sale of our widget inventory.

  2. Two main approaches to breaking the logjam were discussed. The first
approach is a one-time-only discount that might convince Acme to buy now. The second approach is to meet with Acme’s CFO to discuss making an exception.

  3. The consensus at the meeting was that a discount would create a bad precedent. Instead we will have our CFO call Acme’s CFO to discuss the situation and propose a meeting.

  4. We will provide the results of that call via e-mail prior to our next meeting.

  SHORTCUT

  MAKING MEETINGS PRODUCTIVE

  HAVE an agenda before you meet.

  PROVIDE background information.

  DON’T let the meeting meander.

  DOCUMENT what decisions were made.

  SECRET 19

  How to Offer Criticism

  Praising good performance is easy because everyone likes to receive compliments. But what do you do when a kick in the butt is more appropriate than a pat on the back? Here’s how to do this effectively: