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 | Jan 25, 2023 | Leadership
For the past several weeks, I have had a really cranky client. When he snapped at an employee in front of me, I followed him into his office to gently confront him.
“What is going on with you?” I asked him.
After a while, he finally confessed to me the issue… “I am afraid of the recession.”
Who can blame him? Every news outlet for months has been hitting us over the head with the looming recession, and it is freaking people out. No wonder people are panicking!
So, let’s shift the conversation by changing the “r” word to something more proactive… like “re-set” or “re-fresh”. What a slow-down in business does is give us a minute to “re-organize” and “re-direct.” Let’s be proactive, not reactive! Here are 3 tips:
1. Perform an audit of your current staff. Who is great? Who needs more training? Who needs to go?
2. Look at your processes for sales, inventory, and production. Where are the holes? Where are the issues? What are your clients reporting?
3. Finally, look at your leadership style. Are you negative? Are you snapping at employees? If so, you may also need a re-set.
Whatever you are going through, you can do this. I’ve got your back.
POWER THOUGHT: The “r” word doesn’t have to be repulsive. It can be rejuvenating!
by Beth | Jan 11, 2023 | Leadership
As most of you know, I am a DIE HARD University of Texas Longhorn fan. I am such a fan that my Oklahoma-loving neighbor and I have agreed that we just won’t speak to each other from September 1st to December 1st. We have a very amicable relationship the other 9 months of the year.
When the Longhorns played Kansas, several of the Texas players were interviewed along with the coach Steve Sarkisian, and the mantra was to “Mow Your Lawn.” Each player had a different description to what that phrase meant, because they all have a different job to do on the field. Each player is responsible for their part of the field, and without every individual doing their part, the team won’t perform well.
I have so much respect for this type of leadership! Each person on the team knows what their job is and most importantly, how their job connects to the overall team success. AND, they know all of this with a 3 word phrase: Mow your lawn.
I am happy to say that Texas beat Kansas. After year two, Steve Sarkisian will end this season with an 8-5 record. Better than last year, and with this type of leadership, I have lots of hope for our future seasons.
POWER THOUGHT: Mow your lawn. And Hook’em Horns!
by Beth | Dec 7, 2022 | Employee Retention, Leadership
I have a client who is really worried about “quiet quitting”, and he called me to discuss his concerns. I said, “do you know what quiet quitting is?” He said “Yes! It’s when employees quit working but are still on your payroll!” It’s easy to see why he is worried.
Quiet quitting is a very confusing term because it doesn’t involve employees actually leaving the company. According to this article, the more accurate term is “acting your wage” or doing nothing more than your job.
https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-engagement/why-we-cant-quit-talking-about-quiet-quitting?TRK=orgsocial-quiet-quitting-facebook-9-14-22&fbclid=IwAR2a7LCyRaP_NcRBDXBDifLGpCJJgVSnWN0_t4QnmlHD7sUHVzj3Pz6popA
I really hate terms like this because it makes my clients super nervous. When the business leader in an organization is nervous, then everyone on staff gets nervous. And that makes “quiet quitting” a self-fulling prophecy.
Instead of fearing this trend, let’s re-frame it: What if quiet quitting is simply employees having better boundaries around work? What if employees stop killing themselves at work, and engage in more self-care? What if instead of focusing on ‘quitting” we focused on training and retention?
At the end of the day, whatever term you use, I want you to focus on being proactive and not reactive. When you as the leader are proactive, you are calmer, and that feeling eases the tension for your staff.
POWER THOUGHT: Quiet quitting is quite the trend. Just maybe not the trend that you thought.
by Beth | Sep 9, 2020 | Leadership, Lifestyle
I have a friend/colleague named Beth Boen, who is the owner of SHE Leads Group, a business networking group for women business owners. A few weeks ago, Beth called me out of the blue. She does this approximately once a year. She picks up the phone, dials my number and asks one simple question:
“How are you?”
She has no other agenda than that. I always love our conversations: we talk about business, we talk about our families, what is going on with our kids… And every time I get off the phone with her, I think to myself “I am going to do more of this. I am going to reach out to others like Beth does to me.”
As it turns out, “water cooler” talk helps make employees feel more connected to their co-workers and executives. According to this article in the Denver Business Journal, https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2020/06/missing-office-small-talk-researchers-say-it-impa.html these conversations to connect with each other really do affect your well-being at work. “Water cooler” talk can bridge the gap, so that controversial topics are easier to work through. Think about it: when you have a connection to someone, the hard conversation can be easier and the outcomes more innovative. The folks that are more successful at work are ones that engage and connect with each other.
If I am honest with myself, I know that Beth and I have a strong connection, because she reaches out to me every year. And let’s be clear: she is the one that has reached out to me, and it always makes me have a better day.
Let’s all make a commitment to engage in more meaningful conversation like Beth Boen, starting now. Make 2 calls a day for the next 4 days and see how you feel about the state of the world.
I’ll start.
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.
