Ways to reduce stress and grow your organization.
Leaders of organizations are special people.
You could own your small or medium-sized business, you could be a senior manager, board member, or president of any kind of organization, or you might even be the Executive Director of a charity or a non-profit. You have done things few other people have done.
Some of you are entrepreneurs who built your organizations from nothing. Some have assumed ownership or leadership of existing organizations. All of you are special because you live and breathe life into your organization, other people might help, but the success or failure of what you do can make or break your organization and consequentially your own success or failure.
You likely work more than the standard hours, you are available for emergency calls, you have knowledge that other people don’t even know exists, you never completely ever “turn it off, “and you will always shoulder a disproportionate amount of stress and anxiety because of all of these things. You are personally responsible.
This is a good thing. This can be a great thing if you take action to manage and reduce some of the stress in your life. I have worked with some truly incredible entrepreneurs and leaders. I have seen some who have managed this balance successfully, and some who have not, what follows are their lessons, as well as a few learned through trial and error myself as a senior manager.
Systems and processes. The very best entrepreneurs always understand that everything starts and ends when you have the right information. One of the most important is understanding your financial statements and how much and where your money is at any given time. In addition, getting timely and accurate monthly statements “makes the machine work” for any kind of organization, for-profit or charity. The ability to know your decisions are based on accurate information reduces stress.
Meeting Payroll. Entrepreneurs and effective leaders care about their people. Especially in the early days of an organization’s life, cash flow can be very tight this can be very stressful. This further reinforces the need for accurate financial records and keeping sufficient resources “liquid” for unexpected downturns.
Trust and Control. You need help. You need someone you can trust. Someone who will listen to you. Someone with a brain, who can think and someone with skills that are complementary to yours. Do not hire someone exactly like you, for all your skills having people with different skills makes your team stronger. If your stress is causing you simply to try to survive each day, your business or organization is not growing, it has gone as far as you can push it. Having someone to share the load will allow you to start to “drive” your organization again.
Initially, nobody will be able to do things as well as you, but with training, they may become even better than you are at this point. Remember you didn’t become a leader just to have a job; you did this to make a difference and a better life for yourself. Having a key associate who will support, ask questions, and even sometimes tell you things you don’t want to hear is important in reducing your stress load.
Dealing with family. For entrepreneurs family involvement in your organization is both a joy and a curse. As an entrepreneur you are unique in your organization, the struggles and tests that you overcame to reach this point are not a birthright, many organizations struggle because family members can believe that their “last name” somehow gives them special rights.
All organizational success is built on earning respect and knowledge, it doesn’t come from a last name. Realizing this truism early can help an organization from being destroyed by nepotism and the subsequent contractions that can easily occur as a result of nepotism. Having family members in your organization is great, start them at the bottom as new hires and treat them exactly like everyone else who is new to your team. Your organization will grow stronger as will they, with far less stress for you.
People to support you. For any leader, having good people to support you is one of the most important keys to managing stress. A good accountant is necessary, someone who will deliver your monthly numbers within 3 weeks of the end of the preceding month, and an accountant who will make fact-based recommendations. In addition, having an advisor, confidant, or a senior person who you trust and who is a good sounding board. As well, as have an audit program to double-check everything.
Work/life balance. As an owner or senior leader, you will never work less than forty hours a week, but you shouldn’t be working over 60 hours a week either. If you are, you need to fix this, you will burn out, and your organization will suffer. Not only does your stress become unbearable, but your people will also feel increasingly stifled and held back, ultimately the good ones will leave which only increases your stress.
Vacations and time off also help to reduce the stress that can dominate your life. Train your people, be patient with their mistakes, and your reward will be less stress.
Customers and client management. To reduce your stress, empower your people and give them the trust and training to solve problems. Think of customers in terms of decades instead of “standalone” transactions. A satisfied customer or client will return many times, an upset person who feels betrayed will never come back and will tell everyone they know. This doesn’t mean being held for ransom by every upset person. Be fair, be better than your competition, and reduce stress by taking a longer view of each situation. Choose when to go to war and when to compromise.
Finding people and managing staff. Before you can empower, you must find the right people. Anticipate that some people will not be a good fit, some people will only stay for a while, it’s not personal, it happens. Train your people better than anyone else. Be conscious of egos. Remember people are human, not machines. Empower and trust people but always have systems and processes to monitor their performance and the health of your organization. Your people are the key to reducing your stress.
How to deal with mistakes when they happen. Your people are going to make mistakes. Some will be small and inexpensive, and some will be large and expensive. Anticipate mistakes, use mistakes as training and try to help your people from making the same mistake twice. Develop a culture that builds skills and people. Initially, that may not reduce your stress; however, it is proven to work. Encourage and trust your people to learn to look for mistakes in a positive way.
How to deal with people that steal from you. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it is going to. The answer is to build a culture where your people care about their workplace and view theft as abuse that affects everyone in the organization. Build systems and audit processes that are visible as most associate theft happens when people think no one is watching or that nobody cares.
Firing people. Ironically, in many cases, “firing people” will reduce stress for you and your people. Failing to terminate someone can only increase your stress and causes you to lose good people because of your inability or unwillingness. Firing people should never be easy, the impacts are very real and can be devastating and it should only be the final step in a process that includes trying to work with people through performance conversations and an established warning process.
How to retain people. Ironically, it is not always about money. Retaining good people is usually much less expensive than hiring and training new hires. Take care so that retention can be done in a “fair” way that doesn’t destroy your existing payroll structure. Money is a factor, but so can be responsibility, trust, non-monetary benefits, respect, and growth opportunities. Losing good people weakens your team, increases stress, particularly during the training process, and exposes organizational vulnerability.
What to pay your staff. You may not be able to keep everyone happy. One solution to reduce stress is to use a “hi/lo mix.” Your people with difficult-to-replace skills and abilities are the “hi” portion, and other positions are more “entry” or “lo” positions and are designed for two-year turnover. To some people this philosophy seems cold and calculating; however, in a world of finite resources and unlimited stress, it does work and as long as it is clearly communicated, it can work for everyone.
Advertising. Too many leaders follow conventional wisdom when they plan their advertising and this can create excessive stress. The key to successful advertising according to experts is to be different and to communicate what your competitive advantages are. Whatever you do, measure the impacts and appreciate the law of diminishing returns when planning your advertising. Reduce stress by studying your competition, learn what they do well and copy it, learn what they don’t do well, and do it better yourself. Execution is the key, whatever your advertising and marketing ideas are, ensure that you can deliver what you promise.
Government regulations and all of the things that you have to do that don’t have anything to do with operating your business. A major cause of stress for many leaders in all of the government regulations that have to be addressed has nothing to do with your “core” business. Joining business groups like your chamber of commerce are good ways to alleviate this stress. Attend workshops and seminars and find answers to your questions about these topics. Health and Safety, taxation, and employment law are all potential sources of stress; however, most organizations face the same stresses and there are community associations that can you understand and overcome those challenges.
Suppliers, vendors, terms, negotiations, have a plan and list of objectives and deal with your credit first. This could be an entire post all by itself. Dealing with suppliers with shortages, damages, and price discrepancies can be very stressful. The key to reducing stress is to build relationships with each organization and its key people. Additionally, empathy will help considerably and help strengthen these relationships. Strong relationships help reduce stress. This approach doesn’t eliminate problems, but it does give you a connection to get answers and assist you to deal with your customers and/or clients.
In addition, when scheduling vendor meetings, prepare a plan or agenda. Ask what problems they are encountering, then deal with your customer or client problems, followed by credits they owe your organization, and then when satisfied, discuss new orders.
I promise that if you at least consider these lessons, you will be able to start moving from situations where your daily focus is simply on “surviving” each day, to one where you can have a life again, where you can achieve a better work/life balance, and you can “grow” your business or organization.
Good luck,
Paul.
Itís nearly impossible to find educated people for this topic, but you seem like you know what youíre talking about! Thanks