“When I speak to a manager, I feel they are important. When I speak to a leader, I feel that I am important.” – Simon Sinek
The dangers of Pride, Arrogance, and Complacency, are the three deadly sins for any organization. For this discussion, those three sins are reframed as Humility, Consideration, and Determination.
In my career, I have seen many mistakes and have made more than my share of them. I have also seen dozens of other leaders make mistakes in a wide variety of organizations. You can learn from our mistakes, and I doing so, you can be better than we have been.
Humility
Sometimes as an owner, manager, or as a regular associate, when you are successful, it is easy to believe that you are the reason … there is usually more to it than just you.
- Never tell your associates that they are “lucky” because the organization is doing very well. If the organization is doing well, it is because of them! People working successful organizations take pride in their accomplishments. As a leader, ensure that you give them praise for their efforts. Telling an associate the organizations success is just “luck” destroys morale and makes the owner or manager seem completely ungrateful for the hard work and sacrifices made by the associates.
2. Never shut down a contrary associate opinion during an “open” forum or be upset that your key associates do not “agree” with you.
- Organizations die when fresh ideas are stifled. As a leader, you want people to tell you what they think. You don’t necessarily have to implement every idea they suggest, but you should encourage your associates to share ideas and give them every consideration to contribute.
- Too many owners and managers are guilty of believing that they are the only ones with good ideas. It doesn’t take long for associates to stop making suggestions if they are constantly shut down by their leaders. Some poor owners and managers will compound these errors by taking obvious punitive action against anyone who dares to speak their mind or not agreeing with the “leadership”.
3. Never assume that as the owner or manager that you are smarter than your associates. As a business owner or manager, you deserve credit and praise for operating your business. Embrace any associate who has new ideas and encourage them to take what you have started and make it better.
Good managers and owners KNOW that they do not have a monopoly on good ideas.
4. Learn from everyone and ask people to tell you what they think. You should encourage your associates to speak their mind; you should visit other operations, take notes, imitate or try what they do well, and accept all suggestions when offered.
5. Never assume that you do not make mistakes. Always remember to review your work. Because everyone makes mistakes, even the very best people.
6. Remember no job in the organization is beneath you. Never refuse to do a job because you perceive that job is beneath you as a top associate or manager. I have been very lucky to work with some truly great associates, and every one of the truly great ones, always did their share, and usually more.
Humility is perhaps one of the greatest leadership skills to have. Regardless of their position in an organization, people with humility know that success is a team achievement, not an individual one.
Consideration
When everything has gone your way, it is easy to forget how precarious success can be sometimes. Having consideration for people as a leader will always be noticed by your associates.
7. Never make plans for growth without considering how you will have to change. Always assume that to grow you will have to become better. As a consultant I have seen many companies who expected to grow just because they had in the past, success doesn’t work that way.
- Customers/clients are not loyal to you unless you have the best service, have the best selection, and do the best job – you must have competitive advantages, it is that simple.
8. Never micro-manage associates because you do not trust them to do their jobs. Some owners or managers who are not present every day believe that things only run better when they are present. You will succeed when you give your people the tools and instruction to do their job. Trust your people to do their jobs and give them more responsibility as they get better.
9. As a leader regardless of the position that you hold in an organization, you must always set a good example. Not following your own rules damages your reputation and hurts you in some very subtle ways. Overall morale can plummet as a result; for example, taking excessively long lunch breaks or always leaving early can affect the morale of your associates who are expected to adhere to these simple rules.
10. Beware of focusing on small “little picture” irritants and allowing “big picture” issues to slide. Some owners and managers destroy staff morale because one of their “pet” projects is suffering despite the overwhelming evidence that the organization is doing extremely well overall.
- People stop giving their best efforts and/or associates can get side tracked on petty things instead of being focused on achieving their goals.
11. Always give your “A” game each day. Try to never be guilty of thinking that you can just “coast” and then “turn on the jets” anytime you need to boost your performance.
- Everyone sees this lack of consideration negatively and even customers or clients outside your organization will perceive this as well. This kind of self-justification can contribute to the downfall of the individual and the organization because it can spread to everyone.
12. Always be prepared and always be learning. For any organization, knowledge is constantly changing and preparing yourself and your associates is of vital importance. Conversely failing to prepare your people or failing to prepare for a client, customer, and/or a changing environment demonstrates a complete lack of consideration for them and your organization. The knowledge to successful navigate changing marketplaces and environments has never been more widely available.
- Success is very precarious, many people assume their position and organization is secure; however, competition and change affects the unprepared faster than for anyone else.
13. Find ways to eliminate systems or processes that punish your clients or customers. Rules and guidelines are necessary; however, be constantly aware of things that you do to make things more difficult for the people your serve, particularly if competing organizations are not doing those things. Challenge yourself and your associates to find better and easier ways for people to do business with you.
14. Always give a person speaking to you your undivided attention. Whether simply a person asking you’re a question in person or on the phone; or not listening to the speaker in a meeting. As a consultant, I have seen owners who regularly bring “extra” work into their management meetings. Then they only gave partial attention to their managers and supervisors who try to present their ideas and concepts to improve their organization or business.
15. Always have a “go to” manager available to answer questions from your associates. If you are the only manager or supervisor on duty, never close your door or discourage associates when they have a question or a customer or client problem. If you are the only resource for your associates, by closing your door you are telling them: “you are on your own.” These same managers often compound the situation by berating those same associates when they are unhappy with the associate’s solution.
Determination
In the face of constant interruptions and the inevitable daily problems, never forget your competitive advantages or edge lies in the people who work for your organization.
16. Never allow customer service to slide to focus on profits. If you have been successful, particularly if you have been successful for a long time, this can easily happen because owners and managers can forget customer loyalty only exists as long as you are better than your competition. This is true regardless of the sector that your organization exists in; non-profit organizations have budgets and fundraising, taking their focus away for quality service will have as large a negative impact on their service as for a “for profit” organization.
17. Always be aware of not letting your competitive advantages to erode. Many owners and managers can sometimes fail to value the things that make your organization different than the competition thinking they are expensive and unnecessary. Ask yourself, “Why would someone want my products or services?”
18. For readers in retail or service sector organizations: Never ignore customers who are “just looking.” When associates are in their “comfort zone” or if they believe that their work is unappreciated, this can happen.
- Visit any trade shows, retail stores, and many service businesses for examples of this. When customers are allowed to just look and leave without anymore than a “token” approach your organization is in trouble. Each customer, client, or donor is the key to your success, you have to make the effort and discover what they want.
19. Success is rare for owners and managers who only work 35 hours per week. No one expects you to work 60+ hours and 24/7; however more time is likely required. One small way to satisfy this is to arrive consistently early for work. Every single successful person I have ever met is early for work, sometimes even an extra hour a day can make a huge impact.
- People who arrive late and who never call in when running behind are the blamers and the excuse makers. They never make the connection as to why they are not as successful as others are.
20. Know that your smart phone is a distraction. Unless using it for work, turn it off or put it in a drawer. Smart phones are perhaps one of the best inventions of our time; however, cell phones are one of the greatest distractions in the business environment today.
21. Use performance reviews and performance conversations as a “evolving document.” Many organizations and associates make an annual list of things to improve, then they never look at it again.
22. Ask “How do your clients or customers feel after interacting with your organization?” Find ways to measure this important point. People have choices, if the people your organization serves do not get a feeling of satisfaction or don’t feel appreciated by your team, they may not come back.
Determined people don’t like to do difficult things anymore than other people, but they know that to be successful requires it.
Summary
This list is by no means exhaustive. Please take the time to recognize the positive and negative things your organization does, acknowledge the mistakes honestly and take action to correct them. Your associates and clients will notice.