by Beth | Aug 7, 2024 | Leadership
As many of you know, I owned a restaurant back in the day, and I had the largest ground floor outdoor patio in Boulder. I drove up to the building on a random 70 degree day in January where the sky was blue and the clouds were puffy and white. I also encountered a line out the door and around the building for people wanting to bask in the sun and drink margaritas.
I was woefully unprepared! I didn’t have enough staff, or enough pre-made margaritas! I called some people in to help, then I went back in the kitchen to make our house margaritas by the big buckets.
What is wrong with this picture, you might ask?
While my staff was thrilled to have me help them get our customers served as quickly as possible, it was a short-term fix to a much larger issue. When we would get hit with a rush of people, as the owner of the company, my time was NOT best served by helping out my staff in the moment… my time was best served by getting more staff on the floor in order to help the customers get their orders. In other words, I needed to focus on the bigger picture… why we were short staffed at all in that moment.
I see this all the time with my clients, and this article does a great job of explaining when leaders need to delegate tasks, and when they don’t. https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/mentoring-matters/2024/07/ask-marcia-duties-leader.html?utm_source=st&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=nch&ana=e_n_bizwomen_tease
You as the leader of your business, or the leader of your department, need to make sure that you stay focused on the business/department as a whole. Instead of making the margaritas, I needed to make sure that the margaritas got made. Then, everyone was much happier, and the shifts ran more smoothly.
POWER THOUGHT: Instead of making the margaritas, make sure that the margaritas are made and made right.
by Beth | Jul 24, 2024 | Employee Retention
I have a killer tan. I really do. It comes from several long days at the pool this summer and some very strategic lunch hours in the sun. But my goal is to have the “killer-est” tan of them all, and I am going to get that on my upcoming 2-week vacation in Florida.
I am going to be a complete slug in the sun. Lay there, and do nothing but wiggle my toes in the sand. When I am tired of that, I am going to swing through the kitchen to grab a snack, then head to the pool for more slug time. I. Can’t. WAIT!
What I am not going to do is work while I am on vacation like 40% of Americans are doing this summer. There is even a term for it: quiet vacationing. Read here for more: https://www.newsweek.com/millennials-quiet-vacationing-work-1903454
What is an alarming trend among all generations is the fear of asking for time off. This must change.
What we know to be true is that inspiration does not come from being behind a desk. What we know to be true is that people are more energetic when they come back to work after a vacation. And what we also know to be true is that people are tired and burnt out.
So what can you do as a hiring manager? Here are some tips:
- Set the tone. Take your own vacation and don’t work while you are gone.
- Tell your employees that they must take time off and not work on their vacation.
- Make sure that the employees’ work is covered while they are gone.
- Ask your employee how you can support them being able to un-plug on vacation, and then do it.
If you don’t support vacation time, people will take it anyway and not be rested and rejuvenated. And you need that.
You also need the killer-est of tans.
POWER THOUGHT: Make a vacation goal to not work. And remember to wear your sunscreen!
by Beth | Jul 10, 2024 | Uncategorized
I go to the gym 6 days a week, otherwise, the stress monger will eat up my insides. I ride a stationary bike that I have named Mike.
I have a love/hate relationship with Mike. There are days when I walk into the gym feeling great, and I have a horrible ride with Mike! There are days that I feel like crap when I walk into the gym, I walk out feeling like I won the Tour de France. I keep track of food, sleep, water intake, step count, supplements, stretching, and I literally can’t predict how it is going to go with Mike.
Welcome to the world of interviewing.
There are days when you interview several candidates, and you end up with no one to move forward. There are days when you end up with numerous people moving forward, but you can’t tell which kind of day you are going to get. You can keep track of applicants, ads, postings, certifications, and resumes, and you can’t tell what kind of applicant will show up to the interview.
So, what is a person to do?
Here’s the bottom line: what really counts is showing up. Get on the bike and start pedaling. Schedule interviews and conduct them. Have a set time to have interviews every week and keep that time slot on your calendar, just like you keep your gym appointment. Work through your applicant pool one by one, and eventually, your candidate will show up- usually when you least expect it.
And, Mike and I will continue to love/hate each other.
POWER THOUGHT: Mike the Bike has taught me how to manage my expectations…especially on the days that I hate him.
by Beth | Jun 24, 2024 | Uncategorized
When I was in college, I lived with my brother and cousin in a condo right north of campus in Austin, Texas. (Hook ‘em Horns!) Anyhoo, when it came time to study for finals, the boys would suddenly get the cleaning bug. They would scrub cabinets, carpets, toilets, grout, windows, trash cans, seats in their cars, baseboards, the fridge, microwave and particularly, the oven. Seemingly until finals, they had zero interest in cleaning.
Fast forward to today, I am working on book number 5. Actually, I am working on NOT working on book #5. I am doing everything that I possibly can to avoid sitting down to write the damn thing.
Recently, I have scrubbed every cabinet, every drawer, cleaned out every closet, and changed every filter on every major appliance in my house. All under the guise of WORKING. Do these things need to be done? Yes. Do they have to be done NOW? No. Do they have to be done by me? Also no.
To be fair to myself, there are times when doing menial labor can actually spur on the creative process. I have written many a blog while doing dishes, but this is not one of those times. I simply need to sit down and write, or this book will never get finished.
I am Procrasta-working.
Usually, I am pretty good about getting the things done that need to get done. I usually have a list of the top three things that I HAVE to do that day, and I work hard on getting those done first thing in the morning when I am at my best. Not this time.
You didn’t know this, my dear reader, but you just became my accountability partner in getting this book written.
Congratulations.
Cleaning my oven is just going to have to wait.
POWER THOUGHT: Procrasta-working is doing all the things without doing the thing.
by Beth | Jun 18, 2024 | Employee Retention
I was sitting in a client’s office a few weeks back when my client offered me some coffee. We went to the kitchen and there was the most beautiful coffee machine I have ever seen. I made the yummiest, most foamy cup of coffee out of this work of art, and the angels sang.
As I ooh’ed and ahh’ed over this cup of magic, there were 2 other employees in the room. I gushed to them: “Are you just in heaven every morning with this coffee machine?” And one of them replied, “Oh no. I drink coffee out of an old pot,” she announced proudly. The other woman nodded and beamed at me. I looked at her like she had grown a third head and said, “What?? WHY?”. Her answer shocked me: “The CFO makes our coffee every morning out of a pot in his office.”
Several years ago, in their old building, the finance department was in the basement, far away from the kitchen. So, the CFO who came in really early, would make the coffee every morning. The habit stuck.
She continued her story with, “He goes to Target once a week to buy a small bag of this coffee. I don’t know why he doesn’t just buy a big bag.” (“Because it gets stale faster”, the CFO informed me.)
Each of these women have worked for this CFO for 5 and 6 years respectively, and neither has any plans of ever leaving.
Maybe it is the love that goes into each cup of coffee – something a fancy machine can never do.
POWER THOUGHT: The best part of waking up is going to a job where you feel valued and cared for.
