She’s Got Systems

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Archives for February 2012

Reevaluate Your Evolving Team

Team & Support by Leave a Comment

When I worked in a traditional, corporate environment I made a point of keeping my resume constantly up to date with my accomplishments and results. What began as an effort to fight my non-existent short term memory turned into a powerful tool to ensure that I was always improving and evolving as an employee.

I’ve since recognized that this is an incredible trait of the entrepreneur: to never sit happily on one’s laurels but to consistently grow and evolve, sharing our on-going successes as we do so.

It only makes sense to me to continue that process within my own business and with my team, asking them on occasion to record everything they’re doing in the business which may include tasks I’d forgotten about or had deemed unimportant.

By asking your team to record their accomplishments and tasks you’ll get a few direct benefits. First, seeing if there are any tasks which should be eliminated as no longer necessary, freeing up their time to focus on other areas and saving you money. Similarly, you may find ways to automate tasks that take a lot of time but serve an important purpose.

Second, when you see how someone defines their job you can understand and align your perceptions. Imagine that your VA has omitted all of her contributions to your graphics which have brought incredible value to your sales pages and programs. This is a great opportunity to help your VA uplevel her self-image and show an updated skill set. Or, if you have a new team member in a support role who lists that he is managing launches (which is at best a stretch) then you can help him redefine his role and see the value in it.

Third, you can see gaps that need to be filled, redundancies to eliminate and reorganize the team. It’s hard to get a comprehensive view when you’re looking at people, roles and tasks piecemeal. By viewing it all at once you can keep the pulse of your business as an entity.

After reviewing how your team currently functions it’s time to make some changes.

Identify weaknesses that you’d like to turn into strengths. This may be the contractor who doesn’t respond to your emails, or the assistant who is always late for phone meetings. Once you know the behaviors you’d like to change directly address those in private with the person in question. Take it one step further and create general policies for all employees.

Example: Elmer is consistently 10 minutes late for the team call each week leaving him out of the loop and you often stop the flow of the call as you try to catch him up. Action: Speak directly to Elmer about the importance of being at each meeting on time beginning this week. Use “I expect” instead of “you should” to make your expectations clear. Take it a step further: Email all team members to let them know you’ll no longer be recapping mid-call if someone is late and everyone is expected to show up on time for all calls. And in your ‘welcome to the team’ packet give the details of the team call and explain the importance of punctuality.

Praise publicly the people who are dedicated to your vision. Thank them via Twitter, send them an unexpected gift and say “thank you” verbally. Few things are as powerful as gratitude and you may find that a phone call simply to express your thanks can create deeper loyalty and dedication. In addition to saying thanks, consider adjusting the pay of any contractor who has earned a rate increase.

Be sure to document new pay structures and if you have out of date agreements or are lacking contracts, now is the time to get those in place.

Set new expectations by describing and embodying the behaviors you’d like to see in your business. This subject can be an entire post on its own so I’ll just say: be the change. Elmer is not going to show up on time if you’re consistently late to meetings yourself.

Celebrate. This can all seem like a lot of, well, work, but take some time to celebrate the accomplishments here. This is your business and it’s growing and evolving and serving clients! Your team is also growing to meet those changing needs and you’re committed to creating a business that lasts.

Enjoy this time because when you view systems with a spirit of gratitude it fills you with a sense of purpose and motivation to keep growing.

The Danger of Competition Before Cooperation

Personal Development by Leave a Comment

Last week I shared the first of my ‘lessons from collegiate debate’ about understanding that one superstar alone cannot do more than a team that works together toward their goals. It was true in my debate community and even truer for the entrepreneur who has big goals and ideas who is attempting to do it all alone.

Today I want to share more about why being real, real nice, and authentic is more important than the win. Let me illustrate with an embarrassing story from my first tournament. I’ll set the stage with the truth about how much I “knew” going into this first tournament: not much. In the beginning you know a few things but understand little so the winners usually have a combination of luck and maybe a slight edge in understanding what’s going on.

That can be a scary place to stand, especially when you’re convinced everyone else knows more, has more experience and is out to crush your win record and spirit.

So despite all the prep and encouragement I found myself going into Round 6 having won 3, lost 2 and a lot riding on this last round. If we won we’d go to elimination debates, if not we’d be crushed. Well, we got crushed. And, in the moment of frustration (we’d forgotten a single word in the debate plan causing our loss) and anger I slipped into the smart alack Kelly and made a comment which caused my competitor to stumble. And cry.

What’s worse is that despite losing and not advancing to elimination rounds, I was proud that I ‘won’ by making this very nice girl cry because we’d caught her strategy in a double-bind.

It was an amazing opportunity to recognize that it did not matter if I won the round if I lost myself, my reputation, and goodwill in the process.

Thankfully the story has a happy ending as I repaired the relationship, continued debating against and alongside this woman for 2 more years and are still in touch today. It wasn’t about adopting a fake persona and “tricking” anyone – it was truly a shift into a new way of accepting that whether I had great success (like winning a national tournament) or great loss (going 1-7 ouch) that the people stayed much longer than the record.

I share this embarrassing story because I know that the competitive, gotta-win-at-any-cost attitude is one that will cost entrepreneurs in the long run.

We view competitors as enemies, instead of needed service providers who cater to the niche markets we do not.

We view clients as commodities to be won or lost instead of relationships to cultivate as we work together.

We may see canceling or complaining clients as problems to solve instead of understanding how we can grow and evolve our businesses.

We can judge colleagues in other industries as competitors for scarce dollars instead of partners providing essential services that create more wealth and opportunities.

There are a lot of businesses in the world who embody this mentality, to win at any cost, enemies be damned and profits above all else.

I don’t work with those businesses.

I choose to work alongside conscious entrepreneurs who work with integrity and honesty in all they do, who earnestly serve the clients in their practice and strive to have the business they desire. Even ideal clients can fall back into the competition trap because it is so engrained in all of us that it’s easy to get caught up.

It can be hard to step outside of the competition trap in business when we feel unprepared or insecure. Unlike competitive debate where teams are segmented by their experience and skill level, entrepreneurs can feel as if they’re fighting as David versus Goliath.

Recognizing that attitude, of competition before cooperation and transforming it is not easy. It can’t be completed with a checklist or system – this is an ongoing process and takes diligence to shift.

I wish I could tell you that after that first tournament I was a changed person but alas, it took a second tournament and making a second debate competitor cry that woke me up. Today I’m thankful that I was able to learn that lesson, repair relationships and spend 3 more years in the activity without causing overt emotional distress. Because at the end of the day I don’t remember the people because of who won or lost tournaments, what matters is the relationships and friendships that reach far beyond competition. And it’s the same in my business, it’s not about who gets an interview or writing gig, an invitation to join a group or speak at an event that matters. It’s serving my amazing clients and the relationships with colleagues, competitors, clients and mentors that makes a real difference.

The Fears Inherent in Systems Creation

Personal Development by Leave a Comment

It may seem odd to be reading about the downside of creating systems in your business, as I believe it is the single greatest practice that can grow your business consistently. Such a logical, clear cut process like organizing, systematizing and executing the tasks of your business shouldn’t involve fear but whenever you involve people in the mix it is a risk.

I’ve shared my story about the boss who told me I was “too efficient” and although I’d created amazingly effective systems, I had my hours cut by 20% to save money. And in reading the E-Myth by Michael Gerber, I was struck by this passage about creating systems to drive down payroll costs:

The model will be operated by people with the lowest possible level of skill. Yes, I said the lowest possible level of skill. Because if your model depends on highly skilled people, it’s going to be impossible to replicate. Such people are at a premium in the marketplace. They’re also expensive, thus raising the price you will have to charge for your product or service. By lowest possible level of skill I mean the lowest possible level necessary to fulfill the functions for which each is intended.

Whenever you create systems that make your employees replaceable there exists fear and insecurity within the team.

This may not be your goal, obviously, but simply to ensure the continuity of your business should one or more team members leave. But from the perspective of the employee, it’s easy to think that ‘as soon as I document what I do I’ll get replaced by cheap labor overseas.’

As owner, your focus is on the growth and future of your business, not the job security of all the people you employ. However, by not addressing this fear and insecurity you risk creating a negative culture that can thwart your efforts. This may show up in a few ways:

  • outright refusing or delays in creating systems for a particular job
  • intentionally giving incomplete information on a process
  • bad mouthing the process, insisting it’s not necessary or helpful
  • challenging indirectly, claiming there is too much unique in each process to systematize
  • sabotaging the recording process or tampering with the software used to store files

Obviously these run the gamut but I’ve seen this all happen in different businesses, both online and brick and mortar. One of the fabulous VAs I work with even had an employer who asked her to complete a comprehensive training manual and then train her replacement.

I don’t disagree with Gerber’s philosophy as he goes on to explain the why behind this shift in mindset:

if yours is a legal firm, you must hire attorneys. If yours is a medical firm, you must hire physicians. But you don’t need to hire brilliant attorneys or brilliant physicians. You need to create the very best system through which good attorneys and good physicians can be leveraged to produce exquisite results.

In your pursuit to create a replicable business that does not depend on superstar talent, there are several steps to take to mitigate the natural fear reaction.

1. Emphasize how systems and process will support your team in their daily work. No longer running to you for every answer, empowered to make decisions and secure in the rhythm of doing business. This is especially helpful if you pay a base rate with incentives as you can show that systems allow your team to produce better results in less time. For the hourly employee, this can be a threat to their income so supplement the workload with more challenging projects to replace the busywork which is now unnecessary.

2. Promote from within and encourage growth. Instead of seeing mastery in a set of tasks as a reason to hire cheaper support, work with your team to understand where they’d like to grow. You’ll retain the experience of your most talented team members while simultaneously bringing in lower cost support for the lower level work. Averages exist because, well, most people are truly average. With your systems in place you’ll be able to eliminate the truly terrible workers, attract average talent and get great results and identify and promote your true superstars.

3. Work with integrity. Your reputation is just one intangible that can influence the business you build. Honor the people who support your goals in business and enable you to accomplish the life you desire. Begin treating them like replaceable clogs in the machine and you’ll find it more difficult to reach those goals with high turnover. Most of us are working as entrepreneurs because, at one time, we got tired of being just another cog and set out to make a change.

By understanding and addressing the fears associated with systems creation you can resolve concerns early and create a culture that works with you to take your business to the next level.

The Lasting Value of a Team

Team & Support by 1 Comment

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of returning to my high school as a featured speaker to their newly formed debate team. After 3 years in collegiate debate and achieving top 5 national rankings, I could be considered to have some level of expertise on the activity. Instead of coaching the students on how to win, I chose to address some of the many skills that debate teaches which I’ve applied to my own business.  Many of the lessons I learned through debate are applicable to the challenges we face as entrepreneurs.

Today I want to share the first of 5 lessons from a moderately successful debate student turned part time coach and full time entrepreneur.

1. As intelligent, insightful and brilliant as you may be, no team can succeed on the back of one debater.

If you’re unfamiliar with the ranking structure in debate, here’s a brief breakdown. Each school forms teams of two individuals who must speak equal amounts of time in each debate round.  Schools may have one team or fifty teams and the organizations that rank schools take into account the top two scoring teams in a given division from your top 6 or 8 tournaments.

In the case where one student is exceedingly talented, he or she must still work cooperatively with a partner in order to win. And, even one highly successful debate team cannot earn enough points throughout a season to win national championships if the remainder of the team is weak.  So even if you have the best Varsity team in the country, another school with a good Varsity, great Junior Varsity and fantastic Novice program can still win on points.

(And that’s precisely how my university swept three National Championships, becoming the first school to do so in history and then the first school to do so in a single season.)

When it came to evidence research, for example, our coaches divided the assignments amongst the debaters and often had one person managing the same updates throughout the season, becoming the expert on politics or economics.  Such a practice allowed the entire team (which was quite large) to benefit from the work of others, making the entire unit stronger.

It makes sense then to develop a team both in breadth (number of students) and depth (skill of students) to ensure championship rankings.

How does that experience inform you as an entrepreneur?

Quite simply, even if you are brilliant, if you work alone it will be harder to build a successful practice that serves hundreds of clients. An objectively less brilliant competitor with a wisely chosen team can provide more value to more people making more money with that support in place.

I often watched as new and stubborn debate students ran ragged, researching across hundreds of cases and arguments over the season, documenting, experimenting and testing what works in round trying to do it all themselves instead of working with the coaching staff and mentors for help.  I see entrepreneurs who do the same thing, spending an hour here looking at Google + then 20 minutes over there looking up backlink builders.  The next day it’s a seminar on graphics before a free call on closing the sale and reading an email about running teleseminars.

You know there are so many things to do and learn that it can feel like a treadmill you can’t get off.  The strength of a team is in its breadth of experience and depth of knowledge, something that even the most energetic, intelligent individual can’t recreate alone.

If you’re a fan of Michael Gerber’s work you’ll understand that it is not advantageous to be the sole expert, the linchpin of the company, even if you’re the owner.  Because, in that situation, you can never leave, never take a vacation or scale back your involvement or sell the business. You’ve effectively trapped yourself and limited your reach because everything rests on your shoulders.

Recently I’ve heard from several colleagues who say they never want a team. The stress, the details, the act of being a boss is just too intimidating.  It can be a challenge to build a team that works individually to accomplish the goals of the collective but the alternative, to shoulder every responsibility yourself, will leave you burdened and tied to a business that cannot survive without you.

I shared so many lessons with the debate team that I will be writing more about soon including:

Why being real, real nice, and authentic is more important than the win.

How to work cooperatively when your partner is a pain in the ass.

The systems and techniques that guaranteed success.

And, how I found my passion and purpose lying dormant under the thrill of a tournament win, hiding in a supply closet.

One last thought on this point and that’s the issue of time. A university doesn’t make the decision to develop a debate program today and win the national championships tomorrow. It’s a process of developing talent, attracting students and building a solid team, doing the right things, executed well, week after week at tournaments.

Your business is no different. While you may have no team today it doesn’t mean that you cannot build the team you need in time – take the long view. Students are only allocated four years before they become ineligible and must relive the experience as a coach but you, your business, have time to mature.

Great Customer Service is not Punitive

Customer Service by Leave a Comment

Good customer service has the needs of the business in balance with the expectations of the customer.  It’s fairly understood by most rational, reasonable people that if something goes wrong, then a company with good customer service policies will make things right.

Making things right by punishing people is not the only way to make things right.

This type of punitive-damages policy assumes that if something is wrong, then someone in the business must be scolded, fired or otherwise punished in order to make things right.  Such a way of working does not address the first and most fundamental goal of customer service, which is to take care of the customer’s needs and reset expectations.

You have heard this before, “I can’t do anything unless I know who did (it),” which is a huge cop out.  So, let’s get into solutions and how your business can implement the right foundations in your customer service.

Prepare to hear and ask for feedback. I’m not a huge fan of the section of my paper receipts that asks for a 20 minute survey in exchange for a chance to win some prize – but – the attitude is right. It doesn’t matter what business you’re in, how big or small time. You must be open to feedback (both positive and negative) and demonstrate it by asking.

When you are approached, seek to hear and understand the concern first.  No one likes to be ignored, especially as a paying customer.  Expressing your concerns takes a degree of bravery, particularly when it comes to anticipating future service.  So ensure that your team is giving their full attention to the situation by listening and really comprehending what concerns are being shared.  A complaining client is not great but a complaining client who won’t complain to you is worse.

After hearing the complaint, apologize. And be sincere. This doesn’t mean you have to admit fault but you should certainly find some way to empathize with the client.  You may end up saying “I’m sorry we’ve misunderstood each other,” or “I’m sorry; this situation must be very frustrating for you.”

Make small gestures to ensure the client is comfortable while you work out the situation.  Even the smallest acts of goodwill go a long way when it comes to hearing a concern. In person, this could be a cup of hot coffee and comfortable seat and if distanced, it could be calling at a time convenient to the client and noting their call back number while assuring that, if disconnected, you’ll call them back to continue the discussion.

Find common ground in the conversation, whether that is an outcome that you both want or a change to the relationship.  As you might tell, these are very general suggestions which you can tailor to your business.  Often times, you’re going to disagree on the course of action or the specific steps but by agreeing on the outcome, both parties will have an incentive to find a path to the right solution.

Solve the complaint and let the client know what to expect. Depending on the size and scope of your business you’ll need specific directives for your team who handle customer complaints in regards to what they are allowed to authorize on behalf of your business.

It’s very important that this is a two way conversation as the team who stands on the front line between you, the policy maker, and the customer, the policy perceiver, is an incredible asset.  Listen to what your clients are telling you and how they reach to your customer service and make appropriate changes.

Most customers don’t expect things to go perfectly all the time, but the decision point when it comes to alienating or winning over the individual happens at the customer service interaction.

Allow me to illustrate this process with an example from my recent experience.

One of my favorite airlines to fly is JetBlue;  their flights are typically on time, affordable, direct without extended layovers, I get Directv in my seat, and they have yummy terra chips. However, on a recent flight my luggage was MIA at the return carousal and when I finally made my way to the missing baggage claim, my experience went downhill fast. Far from being greeted and welcomed, as is customary at the JetBlue ticket counter and gate, I was ignored (there was no other customer in the office of 4 people) for 5 minutes.

Once someone agreed to hear my request (do you see how this is already violating the first few principles?) I stood in front of a desk, awkwardly, while the agent looked at the computer blankly for awhile.  In my less than subtle way I pulled a chair over and sat commenting, “sure, it’s been a long day and I am tired, I will take a seat while you look into this for me.”

Now, I’m not an airline customer service expert nor do I play one on TV but lets re-imagine this scenario: I’m tired and worried that I’ll be in New York without my carefully packed luggage all week. I walk into the lost baggage claim and experienced a warm smile and hello, an agent showing me at seat and asking “How can I assist you this evening?” Once I explained my concern, a sympathetic and genuine response such as, “I’m so sorry that you haven’t received your luggage yet.  Let me check into this while you relax for a few minutes.” This could be followed by some information on what would be happening with my request, “Would you like a bottle of water while I check your ticket for notes and contact the ground crew? I’m sure we’ll be able to locate your luggage and if not we’ll take care of you until we can deliver it to your local hotel.”

That would leave me not just feeling understood and supported, but with a clear understanding of what I could expect. These simple changes would re-frame the entire conversation (and this would be a different article and maybe more like this rave of Enterprise Rent a Car) and give me an amazing experience.  As the business owner, you have this chance to set my expectation for the rest of the interaction.

Eventually my luggage was located and retrieved but throughout the experience I was frustrated, worried and concerned – all feelings that could have been avoided with proper customer service.

Before your customers are experiencing negative emotions associated with your products or service and are complaining, either publicly or in private company, spend some time ensuring that you have the right foundations for customer service.  Because what your clients really want is to be understood, hear empathic responses, be comforted and know what to expect. Simply punishing someone who screwed up is not enough nor should it be the focus of your interaction.

With the right foundation to your customer service experience you may find that complaining customers handled with respect become raving fans!

How Systems Solve “Urgent” Requests

Systems by Leave a Comment

You may not be aware that in college I participated in my university debate team for 3 years, competing nationally against Harvard, Dartmouth, US Naval Academy, Georgetown, Berkeley, Stanford… all the big schools and many of the smaller ones as well.  It was fun and challenging and thrilling, especially when my win rates during the first 2 years placed me in the top 5 teams nationally in my divisions.

My sophomore year I debated with Josh, who has since gone on to practice law, and our partnership was unique in a few aspects. In strategizing with another female debater who had a male partner, I learned an important lesson. Here’s what she told me:

I learned that he has selective hearing in debate rounds; it’s not intentional but if he’s focused on something else I could talk and he doesn’t hear a word.  So I learned to use the “urgent voice” that catches his attention every time.  It’s the “house is on fire” or “you don’t do this and we’ll lose” voice and it was pretty effective. But then he started to block out the “urgent voice” so I had to use it less frequently. It seems to work, I trust him to cover the debate and only insist on his full, immediate attention if something is truly urgent.

Now, if you’re a parent and reading this I’m sure you know that voice. The one that says “I’m not playing around, you do this right now or you will be forever sorry!”

It’s the voice we use when someone is about to run into the street in front of a speeding car or is reaching for the hot stove. Yes, sometimes it’s also the voice when the dog has his nose an inch from the plate of cookies that you just pulled out of the oven.

If you use the “urgent voice” all the time then others will become desensitized to its effect and you’ll need to become more and more shrill to get your point across.

I share this because I see too many entrepreneurs who run every day of their business with the “urgent voice” and their teams are suffering because of it.

When everything becomes an emergency, we will tune out and fail to recognize true urgency through the noise. Are you making this mistake in your business? If you find yourself always in emergency mode then systems are going to save your sanity.

It’s easier to consult the launch checklist and assign tasks than it is to realize you had the wrong pricing listed on the order form and try to fix it later. It’s simpler to get clarity with your whole team about deliverables and due dates before an event than when you’re trying to figure out what went wrong afterwards.

So, how do you avoid constant “urgent voice” in your business and get your team working on an even keel so you can recognize the true emergencies? The answer: develop systems that train your team about what needs to be done and when it should be completed.

Instead of rushing around screeching “oh my the sales page needs to reflect the new pricing! Ahhh! Who can do that?!” All the while giving your team more stress than needed, you need a complete launch map that gives the entire process.

Let’s demystify the word system for a moment, okay? It’s not that complicated!  Just like the hiring system I shared here, you can take any process and break it down into chunks. For the hiring system it would be:

Making a decision to hire and thinking about who you need
Asking for applications
Making a decision, hiring for the position

This system has a bunch of little steps which just need to be assigned with deadlines. Who makes the decision about hiring and when do you need to decide? Who emails the candidates who don’t get hired? When do you send the contract to be signed?

Each of these questions becomes a task within the system, which can be organized in a list, a spreadsheet or project management software.

Now, instead of getting overwhelmed and going into “urgent voice” you can simply check the system, see what has been completed, who is responsible for what and ensure everything is on track. Of course if something is not on track, you’ll know that as well and can make adjustments before it’s too late.