by Beth | Dec 11, 2019 | Company Culture, Leadership, Lifestyle
A few weeks ago, I had lunch with a retired consultant who had been a big wig at Sears in the 1980’s. Back then, Sears was in its hey-day and was worth about 6 billion as a company. I asked this gentleman what he thought made them so successful back then. His response really surprised me. “The CEO had a full time ‘Atta-Boy’ Girl.’
Ummm… what?
The CEO at the time instructed his personal assistant to start looking for people in the company who had done good work, because he wanted to promote great customer service in Sears. She began soliciting the stores to communicate with her stories of people who had gone above and beyond the standard to provide great customer service. Then, the CEO would write a personalized, hand-written thank you note. Eventually her job as the ‘Atta-Boy Girl’ became a full-time job. She would hear about these stories, type up the note, and every day at 4:30, she would take these letters to the CEO, he would read them, sign his name to them, and she would send them out.
Can you imagine what commitment it took for him to do that? Can you imagine what impact that made? Sears ultimately replaced that CEO with another who was not committed to the thank you letter writing campaign and look at their current status. Coincidence?
During the holiday season, during the time of gratitude and gratefulness, If you want to improve your company culture, start with a simple thank you, and grow it to needing a full-time ‘Atta Boy Girl’/ ‘Atta Girl Boy’/whatever.
There is quite simply no better use of your time.
by Beth | Oct 2, 2019 | Good Management, Hiring Managers, Leadership
I am excited to be featured on a very important podcast today on the Future of Leadership. Please check it out by clicking the links below:
by Beth | Sep 11, 2019 | Employee Hiring, Leadership, Selecting Good Candidates, Uncategorized
One of the most common problems that my clients have when they are interviewing people for a job is that they “feel sorry” for the candidates. “I just want to offer the job to all of them!”
I often ask, “Do you know why you want to offer the job to all the people?”
Most people have no idea why they struggle, but the answer is simple: we are biologically wired to include others. We are biologically wired for connection. So, when someone comes in for an interview, and they are nervous, anxious, worried and scared, we want to make it better. We want to help them feel better, and help them succeed in the interview
Here is the disconnect. When you have 300 applicants and 1 job, you will reject at least 299 of your candidates. You may reject all 300, re-post the ad, and keep going. And it is difficult, because we aren’t wired to reject people. You have to be exclusionary when you are hiring, which goes against our humanity and our most basic instincts as humans.
So next time that you are hiring someone, remind yourself of this: instead of “rejecting” someone, you are releasing them into the universe so that they can find their dream job and you can find your dream candidate. It’s a win/win.
Everyone deserves to be happy, especially you. Don’t forget that next time you endeavor to hire someone.
by Beth | Aug 14, 2019 | Good Management, Leadership, Lifestyle
This year, I’m taking two weeks off work to move my daughter to college. While this brings about a mix of emotions for my family, I know how important it is for me to be there with her to start her journey as a college student. It brings up an important topic that I preach to my clients often – everyone needs time away from work, whether it be for important milestones in their personal lives, or for a vacation that allows them time to rejuvenate, recuperate, and come back to work in a better place!
The fact remains that people need time away from work, even when you own the company, like me. Some of my clients get really excited when a candidate will tell us in an interview that they NEVER take vacations. I actually think that this is a negative. Inspiration rarely comes to someone sitting in their office answering emails. Inspiration comes from experiences and usually those come after office hours.
As a nation, we are not good at taking vacation anyway. We feel that we can’t get away, we can’t unplug or we might miss something. I think we miss things when we DON’T take time off.
So, when your employees want to take vacation time, praise them for it. Say thank you. Then ask them what you can do to help facilitate their vacation time so they are not performing work while away. Not only will they think that you are the greatest boss ever, but they will come back recharged, renewed and inspired. Your business will benefit, and therefore, so will you. Maybe then you can take some time off too.
I will be back in the saddle soon enough, grateful I took the time to be with my daughter on her journey to college, and ready to tackle work with renewed energy and vision. And, with any luck, I will have that killer tan!
by Beth | Apr 11, 2019 | Company Culture, Leadership
I love Mexican food. I mean, I really LOVE Mexican food! The spicier the food, the better I like it! The beans and rice with jalapeños, the cheese with green chilis, the sizzling beef with peppers on my plate of fajitas… yum. It makes my heart sing!
So, whenever there is a new Mexican food restaurant, I am the first to run out and try it. I soak in all the spicy goodness as fast as I can because, like many Mexican food restaurants, the food profile is going to change…dang it!
During the first year in business, most restaurants embark with recipes of authentic Mexican flavor and spiciness. Over the course of time, they begin to make the food less spicy after receiving complaints from people who do not like spicy food. (No complaints from Texans, mind you!) The restaurant appeases this small handful of people rather than to stand firm in their original offerings, and the spice profile becomes less. Sigh…
Don’t get me wrong: adapting to the market is vitally important for a business to succeed. Except when the business changes so much that they have forgotten why the entered the market in the first place. Take care of your clients. Just don’t take care of them so much that you lose your uniqueness as a business. In other words, keep the spice! Please and thank you!
by Beth | Feb 28, 2019 | Leadership, Recruiting
About ten years ago, I had a chance to meet with a very successful venture capitalist to discuss my business. I had an idea that someone in the v.c. world might be a great referral partner for me, as great staff increases value in a company.
The kind gentleman who I connected and scheduled with thought that I had come to make a pitch for money, which I wasn’t interested in at the time. So, to be fair, our agendas weren’t in alignment from the beginning.
I walked into the office, and he had a speed chess timer set for 15:00 minutes. He started the timer rolling and waited for me to begin.
When I was about 3 minutes into my spiel, he stopped me and said, “Staffing professionals are all the same. They drop the same statistics and do not talk about how to solve the problem of hiring the wrong people.” With this statement, he rose. Our interaction was clearly over. I left at 6 ½ minutes.
That 6 ½ minutes changed my life.
I realized that my “pitch” was totally wrong even if my intention at the time was not about raising funds. It occurred to me that focusing on the fear around the issue of hiring did not inspire anyone, from venture capitalist to employer to my client. Everyone knows that the hiring process is broken; my repeating that fact helps no one.
Since then, I have changed my pitch completely to EXCLUDE any fear-based language, and to INCLUDE my story (the bad hiring mistake that made national news) and educational language. I talk about how I can help my potential clients find the right people so that they can grow their businesses and meet their missions.
If you are really struggling to find the right people, if you cannot seem to get the outcome that you want, change your messaging. Change the wording on your job advertisement. Describe the position differently. Talk about WHO you want, not what skills you want. In other words, transform your pitch.
And to the Venture Capitalist that I met so many years ago, thank you for the 6 ½ minutes of your time that completely change the trajectory of my business and my life. I am deeply indebted.
