by Beth | May 20, 2020 | Attitude
When I was a little girl, I attended a summer camp in the backwoods of Texas along the Guadalupe River. I learned how to ride horses at that camp, because that is what good Texas girls do!
During one of my very first times on a horse, I quickly turned around to talk to my friend behind me, and I accidently kicked my horse. (When you gently kick your horse, you are telling the horse to go). He started to move forward, and I fell off the back.
I got up, bruised and dirty, dusted myself off, and started walking toward the gate to leave. My instructor said “Where are you going? You gotta get back in that saddle!”
Oh, no. No way! No how! I had already decided my horseback riding career was over.
It took much convincing and bargaining for my instructor to get me back on that horse. She said “The longer you stay off the horse after a fall, the harder it is to get back up on it. It is scary, you are rattled. Don’t let that prevent you from trying again.”
Lately, we have all been knocked off our horses. The times we live in feel scary, and we are all rattled. So, today, do one thing that gets you closer to getting back on your horse. Call that client. Write that blog. Send a thank you to your favorite vendor. Take that one action that you have been putting off in order to get going again.
I did get back up on that horse, and boy am I glad I did! I won an award in the final summer rodeo, but I also learned a serious life lesson.
Get back in the saddle people! It’s time to ride. YEEHAW!
by Beth | May 6, 2020 | Company Culture, Employee Hiring
When I bought my restaurant, the first problem I had to solve was how to manage workers that worked opposite hours from me. By the time my night staff left the bar at 3:30-4:00 a.m. my janitorial staff was usually arriving to get the place clean for the next day. This meant that I had someone in my building for whom I was responsible almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
So, how do you manage people that you never see? This question is coming at nearly all of us these days, and many people have not faced this issue before.
Here are some tips:
- Start your day with a 15-minute virtual team huddle. Have everyone give you their top 2 priorities for the day and something that they are grateful for. Ask them what they need from you that day, and then provide it. Have a longer meeting once a week to follow up and provide guidance.
- Ask questions. For example, if someone approaches you with a problem, ask them this: What do you think we need to do about that? Or how would YOU solve that problem? Remember: they know more about their job than you do, so solicit their input.
- Focus on WHY not HOW. Give your team the reason why you are working on a particular project instead of directions on how to get it done. Let them take the ball and run with it!
- Give parameters. I used to say to my managers this: “If you can justify your decision based on our core values, then I will back you up 100%.” This gives your team room to expand and innovate. They need to know that you have their back.
- And finally, don’t make excuses for people who aren’t performing. Everyone these days is frazzled and discombobulated and juggling more than usual, but your top performers are still getting the work done. If you have someone who isn’t, make the hard call for the rest of the team.
The biggest break-through that I had about managing a remote team of top performers is that I needed to trust them to do their work and do it well. Maybe they didn’t do it the way that I would have, but if the outcome is the same or better, what difference does it make?
I recently had a Zoom call with several of the people that worked for me back then, and they are all in high-powered jobs and leaders in their organizations. I am convinced that their success beyond working for me lies in the fact that I literally could not micro-manage them. I had to trust and have faith that the job would get done. And you know what? It did.
Happy Leading Remote Teams!
by Beth | Apr 22, 2020 | Attitude, Leadership
I have had a few conversations over the past weeks from clients who really want to do right by their people. They are justifiably stressed and concerned. As one person asked me “How do I lead people through fear when I am afraid too?”
Here is the plan that we created:
Step 1: Breathe like this: take two minutes. Breathe in for a count of four, hold for four and breathe out for six. Do this for two minutes. What this does is get the oxygen all the way through your lungs and when you flood the body with oxygen, you think more clearly. Out with the old and in with the new.
Step 2: Prioritize exercise: Even if you just walk briskly through your neighborhood for 20 minutes, exercise is key to your mental health. By getting some sunshine, pumping some Vitamin D through your veins along with oxygenated blood, your thoughts become are clearer, and you can communicate better with your team.
Step 3: Focus on gratitude: What are you grateful for? Are you grateful that you found toilet paper at the grocery store? Are you grateful that the Himalayan mountains are being seen for the first time in 30 years? Are you grateful that you get to spend more time with your kids (even when they frustrate you)? Are you grateful that the sun is shining? Whatever it is, focus on that. The body is flooded with feel-good hormones when you focus on gratitude which also helps you think clearly and from a positive place rather than a negative one. Then, lead your team through a gratitude exercise. They need it too.
Step 4: Take one day at a time: For most of my clients who are truly visionary and live in and for the future, this is probably the hardest step. Things are changing so rapidly, and the world feels so uncertain now that making future plans can be very scary. So, focus on today. Do great work today. Take care of your clients today. Then, put it away, and hug your loved ones.
None of us have ever been in this place before. We can and will get through it together. And, if you need more support, please call me. My phone line is open and available to anyone.
You got this.
by Beth | Apr 8, 2020 | Attitude
In 2006, I had just gotten out of the restaurant business, and I took a year off to figure out what I wanted to do next. Katy, my daughter, had just started kindergarten, and I had this “free time”. I was totally stressed out. I needed to make money, I was afraid of the future, I was experiencing a crisis! I watched a lot of Law and Order, I played free cell constantly. And I was so, so bored! Then one day, I woke up in the middle of the night, and I knew that I needed to start A-list.
Last week, I was talking to my speech coach, Margaret Romney, about the COVID-19 crisis, I was discussing with her the fears that my clients have about the future. And then she said to me “Do you know what the criteria are for a crisis?”
My response was “There are criteria for a CRISIS?”
“Yes. There are five criteria for a crisis.”
According to Effective Crisis Communication by Ulmer, Sellnow and Seeger, here they are:
- It is unexpected
- It disrupts routine
- It produces uncertainty
- It is a threat
- It creates opportunity
Check out number five. As soon as I heard that, I thought, no wonder we have such mixed feelings about a crisis! There is opportunity in the middle of this mess!
We are in the middle of a crisis, and I find myself once again watching a lot of Law and Order and playing free cell. But I am also working with my clients, writing my second book, working on my speech writing, AND, I am working on a video series. I am confident that I will come out having created my next business opportunity. I have done it before; I am doing it again.
And, so can you. Focus and create!
by Beth | Mar 25, 2020 | Employee Hiring
Last week, I got a call from a client who said to me “Beth, it seems ridiculous to be hiring during all of this uncertainty, but I still need this position filled, and I need it filled with the right fit. Let’s keep going.” Like some of you, I have owned my businesses during 9/11, during the Recession of 2008-2009, and now through COVID-19. And through all this uncertainty, the same question keeps coming up over and over.
Should I move forward with hiring?
Here are some things you should consider when making a decision.
- Hire what you need today. Many of my clients are true visionaries, and their gift in the world is to think globally rather than immediately. What I mean by that is they are thinking 5 years down the road. For example: “If I hire this Social Media Coordinator, they can become my VP of Marketing in five years.” That may or may not be true, but it doesn’t matter right at this moment. What you need TODAY is a Social Media Coordinator. Focus on that.
- Go back to basics. While you have downtime, focus on where your company isn’t doing well during the good times. Maybe your follow-through with clients isn’t speedy enough. Maybe there is a gap in your sales pipeline. Maybe production is slower than it should be. The economy will come back; it always does. So, when the boom comes, do you have the right people in the right seats on the bus? Is your infrastructure in place? Take a few minutes to really think this through, and it will help you decide if hiring is necessary and prudent right now.
- Trust your gut. Crazy or not, when you need a position filled, you need it filled right. Make sure that your interview process is solid enough to hire the right person the first time. And, if you need this position filled today, then move forward confidently.
There is no doubt that hiring during uncertain times is a leap of faith. It is a step into the unknown, which can be scary and exhilarating at the same time. When you are ready to take the leap, then let’s take it together.
