Are you scared to say that you're not busy?   

We seem to live in a world that has become addicted to being busy. The symptoms are everywhere around us. We're often made to feel guilty when we can't say that we've been "crazy busy". Apparently "crazy busy" can also be something to take pride in. We don't feel productive when we aren't rushing between tasks. We're told that time is money.  Everything in our lives has to be booked in.

Well, Change Agents, trick or treat?

Trick! There is a whole heap of good stuff that we're missing out on because we're so busy being busy, worrying about being busy, and trying to ensure we are seen to be busy.

Some of us genuinely are busy. All the time. There's little time for treats, and even the fun of halloween is either an addition to an already busy schedule, or an annoying disruption to it.

Let's step back from the busy-addiction just for a moment and look at why this might not be all that good for us - or our businesses.

WHY THE BUSY SPIRIT SHOULD BE EXORCISED

1. Bus-y-ness is actually bad for bus-i-ness. When we're so busy attending to the tasks in our business, we forget to make time for planning, we continue along the path of the status quo, and we don't make the time or space for innovation and creativity. The problem is that growing a business is a creative process so having time and personal space for planning, creativity, and innovation, is really important.
2. Time is actually not money. Shock and horror. Your customers don't actually pay you for your time, they pay you for the outcomes you deliver for them. If you bill by the hour, you might want to think about that, and see 3 below, because if you need to always be busy keeping the meter running in order to earn a living, then perhaps your hourly rate is too low, or the market doesn't genuinely value the outcomes that you produce. 
3. Busyness often hides your scary poor profit margins. We know of so many businesses that would be far better - and more profitable - if they did less work at a higher price. Instead, they are addicted to reaching for sales targets and keeping the machine running, even if it means that the return on their busyness doesn't really make good business sense.
4. When being busy becomes the most important measure of success, then we sacrifice the time and energy for building genuine relationships with people. This is really scary, because relationships are a critical part of our mental health and well-being. We are in an epidemic of mental illness so it's more important that we drop being busy, put the kettle on, and just make connections with others. No matter how much time it takes, it saves lives!
5. The sprit of being busy keeps us distracted from what is really important. When we sacrifice ourselves at the alter of the busy spirit then we lose the time for self reflection, contemplation, recuperation, spontaneity and, ultimately, fulfilment.

Again, Change Agents, trick or treat?

Treat! We can change how this is! Instead of encouraging a culture of busyness, let's encourage a culture of productivity. That is, instead of running around doing stuff, let's plan for the stuff that needs doing. Let's go from being frantic, to being organised.

At The H Factor, "the stuff that needs doing" is a technical term. It means identifying all the important things that need to be done in the business and then organising around them to ensure they can be given the right priority at any point in time.

Yes, it is OK to be busy some of the time. However, if your business is dependent on everyone being busy all of the time, then it's time to call for the exorcist.

​Happy Halloween!

Leading a business culture is about managing humans.  

Business culture is 'the way things are done around here'. It is the unwritten rules and protocols that establish why, when - and especially if - people do things in a group, team, business, or organisation.

Whenever more than one person is involved in something, a culture will be established. Often that culture develops without even the conscious awareness of the people involved. It's often not logical, sometimes it isn't even rational, but it is very human.

Effective leaders are the ones that can navigate the often illogical, irrational, and emotional way that humans work. However, many managers find dealing with the illogical, irrational, and emotional nature of people very frustrating, especially if they come from technical backgrounds where they are used to managing 'things'.

In managing 'things', a manager can usually identify a formulaic approach to problems or challenges that can be applied, and it will work consistently. Then they try the same approach with managing people, and when it doesn't work, it doesn't make sense to them.

Accountants, engineers, and computer programmers, a special hello to you.

'Things' are managed, but people (and therefore culture) are led.  

To be effective leaders, we first need to change the way we see ourselves. Too often, we see ourselves as thinking beings that just happen to feel things. We like to see ourselves as a person who will always think rationally and logically first, and be able to deal with the emotions as a secondary and less important thing. That's not how it really is.

As humans, we are emotional beings that think. In that order! So, instead of being surprised that we get emotional about some things, perhaps we should expect it. Instead of trying to suppress our emotions about some things, we really should try to understand them.

When we then lead others, instead of expecting agreement, we should expect difference; it's not threatening if we seek to understand the emotion behind it. 

From being children we learn to 'fit in' to groups by adapting our behaviour by observing and following those we perceive as having authority. In different situations, that could be our parents, our siblings, a teacher, or a friend. As we mature we continually enhance and adapt the nuances of our behaviour. At every stage, we identify those with 'cultural authority'. We look to (and for) those who know the unwritten rules and protocols, that make up the 'way things are done around here'.

Great leaders know how to be the 'cultural authority'. They influence, through their leadership, the behaviours, actions, and interactions that are appropriate in their team.  A common feature in teams that consistently perform at the highest levels, is that the leader has established their 'cultural authority' through creating a highly established way of doing things.  Every person seems to 'fit in', even despite varying personalities, experience levels, and backgrounds.

These much respected leaders understand and apply 8 leadership dimensions.  They are conscious of the inter-relationships between them, and apply them consistently in their communication, their own behaviour, and the example they set for others to follow.

​THE 8 LEADERSHIP DIMENSIONS

As they apply these 8 dimensions, the leaders establish the unwritten rules and protocols that guide the decisions, behaviour, and interactions of their colleagues. 

The 8 dimensions provide a framework for the leader to work with when navigating the emotional aspects of working with others, while also remaining grounded in the outcomes that need to be achieved.  The leader can genuinely engage with their team to build on the established way of doing things.

Some people refer to people management as a 'soft skill', but actually it is one of the biggest causes of frustration, poor performance, and employee turnover in nearly every business. We reckon that makes it brutally hard!

​Perhaps it's time to manage for humans, rather than managing for things, and then getting frustrated. 

We really enjoy working with business founders, and one of our favourite things to do is to ask them why they founded their business in the first place.   There are a few responses that are quite common, such as:

• "I am an expert in my field, I was really disappointed at the quality of the existing services, and I just knew I could create something so much better", or
• "I had a great idea and I couldn't believe that there wasn't something out there already, so I decided to jump in and do it", or our favourite
• "I really wanted to be my own boss".

​The responses we are given, are totally consistent with research of business owners conducted over many years.  From that research, the 3 most common reasons why people decide to start a business are excellence (that's the first answer above), entrepreneurship (the second answer above), and autonomy ("I really wanted to be my own boss").   Interestingly, "to make money" is not in the top 3 reasons - in fact, it is not even in the top 5!

Actually, "I really wanted to be my own boss", is the number 1 reason people give for deciding to start their own business.  If this is you, then we have a follow-up question for you to contemplate:

So, how is that working out for your people?

Usually, this question is met with a long pause, and then a long face.

The reason we ask it is that many people have that desire for autonomy, and they start their business all inspired and excited about being in control of their own destiny.   They then slowly go about re-creating the working environment they have been used to, and for their own people, they end up creating that environment where they want to be their own boss.  We know why this happens, and we can help you avoid it.

THE 4 HUMAN DRIVERS

As humans, these are the 4 drivers to achieving fulfilment from the work that we do:

• Having a reason, or a purpose - knowing why something is important is a critical part of making doing that work fulfilling;
• Being a part of a community working towards the same thing is motivating and, when we achieve things together, it so much more fulfilling than achieving things alone;
• Having autonomy is having the freedom to do things we want to, when we want to, and how we want to, and that is so much more fulfilling than doing things because we're told to do them; and of course,
• When we feel a sense of achievement, usually because the reason for doing it is meaningful, or because the task itself was challenging, then that is also fulfilling.

Fulfilment is important, because it is the most powerful motivator.  Conversely the thought of having to do regular, sustained work for a period of time, knowing that there will be no way of attaining any fulfilment from it, causes us to seek other work.  It is just a question of time.
It doesn't mean that everyone has to have a high powered job.  Sometimes just mowing the lawn provides these 4 elements of fulfilment, as does painting a wall, or even doing data entry.

It's not hard to see how these 4 drivers are a fundamental part of being a business founder, but the red circle above is the key here.  Even if you're giving people the opportunity to feel fulfilment from the other 3 areas, without autonomy, some people will crave the desire to be their own boss.  They too will eventually want the autonomy of being a business owner, just like you did.

Corporate environments are really bad at giving people autonomy. They create really detailed and prescriptive job descriptions, have rating based performance assessment, and rigid processes for everyone to follow religiously.  There's little opportunity for people in these situations but to just do the tasks that are given to them, as they are prescribed for them, when they are required to do them, and without knowing the meaningful reason why they do them.

Your small business can be different.  As a business founder, you can:

• Tell your personal story about why you founded your business in the first place, and why that matters;
• Create a community of your people and customers, who get what you are trying to build, and advocate for your success;
• Give people the opportunity to say how they are willing to help you and what accountabilities they are meeting to deliver your business objectives; and
• Provide everyone involved with a sense of achievement as your business grows, and give them a sense of ownership in that growth.

This is why we created The H Factor system.  Business owners can build their pathway to being their own boss - in a way that others will want to stay and play, because you and your business are providing them - and yourself - the opportunity to experience the 4 human drivers.

We spare a thought for those devastated by actions driven by the toxic culture in the financial services industry.

We now know that, while some of Australia's biggest companies were promoting themselves as reliable and trustworthy, they were actually gripped by a culture of greed and self interest.  The stories coming from the the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation, and Financial Services Industry have been shocking.

Financial service brands, some of them iconic, that have been promoted over many years as reliable and trustworthy, have now been shown to have been greedy and manipulative.  How could this be?

The culture of the entire industry has declined as its leaders instilled in their employees that the need to sell was greater than the desire to serve, fuelled on by replacing once stable salaries with commissions and bonuses.  As a consequence loyalty has become less important than growth and, in many cases, profit has become more important than integrity.

OUR MESSAGE TO BUSINESS LEADERS

Why did these iconic institutions go into business at all?   We doubt it was to charge dead people insurance premiums, or to push vulnerable people into financial destruction. It was probably because, actually, their founders wanted to change the world, such as creating financial security and independence for their customers.

If only your Boards had focused on that purpose.

If only your customers could have confidence that purpose was reflected in the the actions, interactions, and decisions of everyone in your organisation.

The brand of your business is not just what your advertising says. It's not the logo, the tag-line, or the corporate colours.  Ultimately, especially in a service industry, your brand is driven by how people feel when they interact with your company and the people in it.  Good, bad, or ugly that's just the cold truth of it.   And in this case, it has been ugly.

Giving moral clarity is the leader's obligation to their team.  It is not enough to say the purpose for which the organisation exists.  People within the organisation must have confidence that they can approach their leader for clarity of the rules for achieving it, and that those rules will be applied - at any cost.  This is the importance of having clear value statements. 

When you can describe your values in a manner that guides a positive culture and becomes the test for every decision, communication, and interaction in the organisation, then you have the means to apply governance and ensure that bad behaviour, such as has now been exposed, doesn't happen.  

If only you had value statements that said "honour the trust given to us by our clients", and "exercise moral leadership in all that we do", and those had become your non-negotiable rules of engagement, then you would have given clarity for your people to genuinely build your brand.

It's the Boards responsibility to ensure your business model is moral and profitable, then to give the executive and staff the tools that they need to turn that business model into a valuable brand.  That entails being able to articulate the answer to this question: How do we want people to feel when they interact with us?

If only there was clarity amongst everyone in your organisations of the value statements that guide their behaviour, and that they were building a brand based on customers interacting with them feeling:

• That their best interests are forefront to our actions;
• That their needs have been truly understood; and
• Confident that if circumstances change, they will be treated fairly.

It's hard to imagine such shocking outcomes for customers taking place.  

​If only!

As managers, we employ others to help us get things done.

That might seem like stating the bleeding obvious, but it does surprise us how often we see managers putting up barriers to getting things done.  One such barrier is the idea that your work colleagues can't be your friends. 

Especially when we first become a manager, we may feel the need to distance ourselves from our former colleagues.  Now that we're the boss, we have to put our responsibilities ahead of our mates, don't we?

Change Agents, let's take that on!

We all spend a big chunk of our life at work so it's worthwhile to consider the quality of that experience.  For ourselves, and those with whom we share our work-space.

WHY WE SHOULD ENCOURAGE FRIENDSHIPS AT WORK

1. Friends don't gossip!  Gossip flourishes when people feel no friendship between themselves and the person they are gossiping about.  Otherwise, instead of gossiping about another person we would actually be expressing concern for them, happiness for them, or expressing our desire to improve things for them.   It's so easy to gossip about a distant person.  It is much harder to gossip about a person when we know they are our friend, or the friend of those with whom we are gossiping.  Ooh, that's embarrassing.
2. Friends like to solve problems together.  When we're with friends we can be open about challenges and opportunities.  We can openly engage with them to explore, discover, share, and collaborate.  It's enjoyable to share our curiosity with friends.  It's safe to banter and explore even the wildest of ideas.
3. People are social beings that think. Let that sink in.  Embrace it. Social connections are really important to us.  When we prioritise tasks ahead of the social connection, we create negative stress, anxiety, tension, and mistrust.  Those are, most often, the very things that become barriers to productivity, rather than enablers of it.
4. Friends look after, and out for, each other.  At the end of the party, your closest friends stay behind and help to clean up (or, they at least offer to!).  They like to help you out.  Conversely, when things go wrong, it is so much easier to go looking for someone to blame when there is no friendship to burn or connection to lose.
5.  People know when to be serious.  Being friends at work doesn't mean that people will just be mucking around.  When necessary, friends can - and will - intervene to create the focus that's needed.  Friendships at work do not have to be at the expense of performance.  People want to take pride in their work, and it is even more fulfilling to share success with your mates, and to celebrate with them.
6. Friends know how to disagree with each other.  We don't always agree with our friends.  We respect that our friends have different points of view, and because we put the friendship first, we are able to carry on and celebrate the things that we do agree on, rather than focus on the things we don't agree on.

Do you have other points to add to this list?  Why not discuss your ideas with your friends?  

If you're the manager of a team, then we ask, "what are you doing to build the friendships between the members of your team?"  

If you're serious about productivity, then it is a lot easier to get things done through people who are friends with you and each other than it is to get things done through people who are defensive, wary, unwilling to share, or who feel unsafe to collaborate.

​Building friendships is a far more powerful contributor to productivity than creating fear; and it is a much more natural, engaging, and enjoyable way to work.