Is it weak to ask for help?

When you have a business challenge is your first thought, ‘How can I fix it?’ or ‘Who can help me fix it?’

I’ll bet you generally go into the solve-it mode, I used to do that too…and being totally transparent sometimes I still do!

As an entrepreneur, it can be difficult to release the reins and allow others to work on your ‘business baby’. You’ve put so much into building up your business you want everything to be perfect.

Both in my corporate and entrepreneurial life, I have struggled with delegating the time consuming administrative and technical tasks to others, as I was SURE they couldn’t do it as well and/or as quickly as me, and if I was going to have to teach them and then check it afterwards, I may as well have done it myself!

But I wasn’t doing myself any favours, I was busy being busy, my business wasn’t growing as quickly as it should have been because I was trying to do ALL THE THINGS, and my team wasn’t learning or developing.

The whole idea of recruiting and building a team is to free you up to do the high-value stuff, like speaking with potential clients and delivering excellence to your paying clients, it should also mean that you can go on holiday WITHOUT your laptop, iPad and iPhone, take the afternoon off to relax in the spa, or go to your children’s school play without worrying about what’s happening in the office.

When I’ve broken down the reason why most business owners lack trust in their team, it’s because they fear they’ll get things wrong, that they’ll change the winning formula that has gotten them this far.

Like my client Alice, who was struggling to focus on building her business because she was caught up trying to get the day-to-day things completed.

Her company mobile phone would not stop ringing, as her managers referred any difficult customers to her rather than dealing with them themselves.

This meant that the majority of her customers had her number and would just call, rather than talk to the manager for the relevant store (even though they’d be seeing them face to face regularly). The head office line hardly rang, so Alice’s assistant wasn’t inundated with calls. Alice felt trapped.

After spending some time with Alice it became apparent that her caring and maternal nature had meant that her managers didn’t even attempt to solve tricky problems, they just called Alice for the answer.

My first suggestion was to change her mobile number and remove it from all the business literature. Each store and store manager had a telephone number and there was a number for head office too.

We delivered our signature management training programme to the managers and their deputies, created a peer coaching group and created a crib sheet for the managers to be sure they understood the policies and processes so that they took ownership for managing issues and didn’t need to disrupt Alice, except for emergencies.

A month after the phone was disconnected Alice said “I feel like a weight has been lifted, I don’t know why I didn’t do that sooner, thank you”

Delegating is always a major subject in our Management and Leadership Coaching Programmes, so I thought I’d share a few tips to help:

Play to your strengths

Know what you are good at and stick to it. When you started your business you were a team of one and had to get everything done (sales, products, accounts, marketing, logistics). Now you can buy in support, either through outsourced providers (accountants, VA, social media, contractors) or employees.

Get the right support in and give them the autonomy to deliver. Getting support doesn’t mean that you have to lock yourself into a full-time permanent contract. If you are concerned that your business might experience a downturn (or you know the support you need is seasonal), you can hire casual staff or offer a contract on a fixed-term and/or part-time basis.

Take the time to train your team

Have you ever said, “By the time I teach them how to do it, I could have done it myself!” Ten years ago this would have definitely been me, but by the time I’d had to complete that task three or four times, I was wishing that I had trained someone, ANYONE else in my team to do it.

As annoying as it sounds, you have to invest time to free up time, whether it is setting up a system, process or training an individual and this is the same thing I say to clients who are too busy to find time the hire the staff they need – it’s chicken and egg! A fully trained and empowered employee means more freedom for you.

Train your team and have them document the process and keep it up to date, then whenever you have a new joiner or promote a team member you have a process manual ready!

Block out your time

It is really easy to get distracted by the admin needed to run a business even with an administrator or VA on staff, so block your time for specific tasks.

I do write down my Must-Dos for each day and the time that I am dedicating to them. Then at the allocated time I close down my emails and put my phone on airplane mode so that I keep focused.

I use a variation of the Pomodoro method. Instead of working for 25-minute sprints with a 5-minute break, I work for an hour or 90 minutes and then take a longer break.

This helps me to focus on a particular project as I find that it can take a while to get into the zone and once I get there it can be difficult to stop (and I like to complete tasks in one hit if I can).

Change your location

When I first started my business, I worked from home and would spend the first couple of hours in the day, cleaning and tidying before I started working and then would be carrying out other chores too. Have you ever popped into the supermarket to come out two hours later?

It didn’t take long to realise that being at home wasn’t helping my focus and so I found a co-working space to work from. The change of location was just what I needed, there were no dirty dishes or laundry to distract me but lots of businesses to connect with.

Once you have a team (working alongside you or remotely) it can be easy to be constantly distracted with their tasks and challenges. I used to struggle when I overheard a conversation that I wanted to chip in on; my ears would switch on and the focus on my task would go flying out of the window.

If you are constantly being interrupted by your team asking for your help (for outcomes that they are capable of delivering) or you can’t resist ‘offering’ assistance and keeping all the real decision making for yourself, it’s time for you to find somewhere else to work from at least one day a week, to give you and your team some space to be great.

The saying that, what you don’t know can’t hurt you, was definitely true in this circumstance. If there is truly an emergency your team will get in touch, don’t worry it will be fine.

Try these tips and you’ll get the help you need to take your business to the next level.

Need help hiring the help you need or developing the leadership skills you or your team need, schedule a call to see how we can help you.

I nearly gave it all up!

I don’t need to tell you that running a business is hard, I know you get it!

The long days, trying to do all the things, nights with no sleep, worry that you won’t make the money you need... and the rest!

When I sacked my corporate job to work on my business full time, I had more than enough work to keep me busy but when those projects came to an end, I had a heart-stopping few weeks while I looked for my next clients.

And it kept happening again and again. I’d get so caught up with the work on my business that I forgot about working on my pipeline, I’d skip the networking events and neglect my social media.

I’m a certified introvert.

I love working with my clients but working on building my business wasn’t my strong point.

I found the whole sales and marketing process stressful and if I’m honest, I procrastinated.

So when a corporate client offered me a job (for the third time!) I engaged in the negotiation, I thought about how nice it would be to just have one job!

To focus on delivering the best to clients and having a team to deal with all the rest and provide cover when I took a break!

It was looking very appealing.

But I remembered what I’d be leaving behind.

My freedom, taking my girls to school, meeting hubby for lunch and taking on the projects that appeal to me, to name a few...

I decided it was time to build a team to take on the things I wasn’t so good at and so I hired a virtual assistant to tackle my marketing and systematise my sales process.

It changed my life.

My VA’s email folder is called ‘Lifesaver’.

Without feeling the need to constantly work on the sales and marketing elements of my business, I was able to focus on the stuff I liked, this has lead to me writing a book, being featured in publications and podcasts and still delivering bespoke HR solutions.

Are you ready to build a team that frees you up to take you business to the next level?

Grab our FREE guide to hiring your first or next team member.

Are you all in?

“… so is that ok?” or “… are you listening?” are sentences that penetrate my conscious on a regular basis. Ever since I was a child I get tunnel vision when I’m focussed and can miss whole conversations taking place right next to me.

This wasn’t so great when I was growing up, especially at school and when you mother is asking you to do something at home but there are positives when it comes to dealing with clients and my team because my ears and my eyes are open, plus my creative has a chance to roam.

It’s also a sign of respect to give your whole self to the situation that you find yourself in. Active listening isn’t just turning your ear on, it is taking in all of the non-verbal cues too because often they will tell you much more than the words do.

I’ve been watching a series on Amazon Prime with my husband and yesterday as we caught up on the latest episode, I told him what was going to happen or be said next twice and he accused me of already watching the episode! Can you imagine? but it wasn’t that, the previous episodes had let me into the psyche of the characters and they acted accordingly.

Now had I watched the program while scrolling social media or cooking dinner, I’d have missed those small cues. The same applies to your team, if you aren’t giving them your full focus, you will miss the concern, worry or tension. Not everyone is vocal about sharing their concerns or issues, and so it is important that you are observant and ask the right questions, but to do this you have to be ‘all in’.

I’ve been working hard at staying in the moment, especially during the lockdown, when work, life, exercise, self-care and fun all seemed to meld into one.

For both my clients, team and myself having your children and/or partner make cameo appearances during your meetings became the norm. Sometimes I’d have my youngest sat on my lap during calls, but it often meant that I to follow up for additional information later.

Now that things are getting back to normal, let’s stay in the moment during our interactions by:

·       Putting our phones on aeroplane mode

·       Checking our emails and social media at stipulated times

·       Scheduling and keeping our update meetings with our team members

·       Closing the laptop during meetings (unless they are online ones)

·       Not keeping it all business with your team (keep a check on their mental health too)

If you need help in getting your management mojo back, join our FREE Facebook community, where we share hints, tips and training on how to lead and manage your team authentically, while remaining legislatively compliant.

I cried every morning for a week

Have you ever just been frustrated with the situation that you find yourself in?

I couldn’t even put my finger on exactly what was making me wake up crying and desperate to get back under the duvet.

Technically I was in a good place; I was leading an HR Department of 67, implementing a new system and creating efficiencies, bidding to win more work for the team and pregnant with my first child.

I should have been happy but I had spread myself too thin, all the deadlines were looming and I didn’t know where to start.

I kept saying YES when I should have said NO or LATER.

Have you ever been there? You start a project and think I should not be doing this. This is definitely not the best use of my time.

I wasn’t delegating properly because I’d made a fundamental mistake. I believed that if it was my responsibility, I had to do the work – even if it killed me!

I knew that I had to start training others and allowing them to grow, stretch and use their talents to the fullest. I was doing too much of everything and not enough of the important things.

Have you ever been there?

I stopped saying yes to everything and started to take the time to assess what I should be doing and what things could be delegated to others.

I was helped by reading a book called The Best Yes by Lisa TerKeurst, which talks about the 4 questions that you should ask before you say Yes to something:

1. Do I have the capacity physically? Do you have the time? Can you fit it into your workload?

2. Do I have the capacity financially? Is there a cost?, Would it cost you if you didn’t complete it? Can you afford to delegate the task?

3. Do I have the capacity spiritually? Is this something that goes against your core values? Will it cause an inner conflict?

4. Do I have the capacity emotionally? Can your mental health bear the load of another task?

Now when I get asked to do something, I almost always say I need to check my schedule and will get back to you, unless its an easy Yes or No. It gives me time to check myself and reign in my inner people-pleasing tendencies.

In these times where we are more accessible than ever with all the remote working technology, it can feel harder to say I don’t have time or I have other plans. We have to own our No.

If this new normal has you feeling stretched and stressed, take a step back and assess your To-Do list using the questions above and let me know what you are going to delegate or ditch going forward.

Have you got time ?

I was speaking with a client who has been having a problem with a member of their team and as we were discussing the challenges; it was a matter of how they say things, rather than what they said, I asked if that had been communicated to the individual, the manager said no, but it was in their objectives, as it is for all managers.

So I asked what happened when you discussed these objectives as you set them, I was told we were really busy at the time, so I put them on the system but we never had a conversation - “they know they are there though” 

How do your objective setting conversations go with your team? Have you ever formally set objectives?

A wise woman once said “just because you’ve sent me an email doesn’t mean I've read it or actioned it if you want me to do something come and talk to me”

Setting amazing. Motivating, empowering objectives means absolutely nothing if you haven't taken the time to discuss them individually with the members of your team. This is the reason why so many employees believe that annual objectives are not worth the paper they are written on and that any bonus or progression linked to them is worthless.

Have you ever been in that position? You think you have ticked all of the boxes and then some new skill or behaviour is added to the mix?

It’s more important than ever to make sure that you are clearly communicating your objective with your team, individually. Make the time to schedule a meeting (video call) to discuss the objectives, rather than just setting them and saying “come back to me if you have any questions”.

Here are some tips to ensure that your conversation goes well:

• Set a time and date to meet, this isn't an ad hoc conversation. Give the meeting the respect it deserves

• Ensure there are no interruptions, don't be checking your emails or answering your phone (unless there is a specific urgent call that you are waiting for, in that case, make the individual aware)

• Have a Face to Face conversation (virtually at the moment), this isn’t a phone call type of conversation

• Share an agenda (e.g, Business update, Organisational objectives, Discuss previous objectives, Discuss career path, Discuss developmental needs, Discuss new/revised objectives, Confirm next steps)

• Take time to check how the individual is doing outside of work things, that they don't have any external stressors that could be contributing to poor performance

• Have the individual take the notes and send them to you, that way you can check that they fully understand their new objectives.

Get that meeting scheduled, prepare beforehand, share your business vision and get your team to join you on your journey - an effective team needs to be pulling in the same direction.

Need help communicating effectively with your team, schedule a call to discuss how we can help you here

Preparing for Life's Dramas

I spend a lot of time talking to friends and clients about time management and pre-planning; because you never know what can happen and leaving things to last minute can lead to disaster.

Don’t get me wrong sometimes a last minute quick and dirty solution can work, but it’s never the highest quality of work. It’s never the thing you’re most proud of. It’s just a way to get out of a tough situation and this week I found out how important my own preplanning is!

My plan this week was to hit the ground running. I spent a lot of December making plans for all the great things I was going to do come January 2019 and already had a calendar full of meetings and pre-work for training and talks scheduled for the first quarter of the year.

Instead, I am lying in my bed recovering from eye surgery with strict instructions to move from side to side every hour and while I am VERY bored, I’m not panicking because I have a plan.

I set my yearly, quarterly and monthly outcomes, so while I’ve had to move things around a bit, I can still move forward with my business.

To ensure that life’s little challenges don’t put the breaks on your business, here are 5 tips to help you:

1. Set clear objectives for your day, week and month - with milestones dates for each element, so that you don’t leave things to the last minute.

2. Allow extra time to complete your tasks - It’s easy to commit to a quick turnaround, but giving yourself an extra day allows for interruptions (key for me in the HR space where urgencies often pop up).

3. Don’t try to complete tasks in one sitting - planning in time to sit and review your work can be the difference between an A and a C (or a repeat customer rather than a one off).

4. Build your team, it’s important not to be a single point of failure. Work with others so that they can take the reins if you are unable too.

5. Learn from things that don’t go well. It’s always good to review how a project went and work out how it could be done better the next time. I have templates and process flows for some tasks, to help things run smoothly and ensure my knowledge isn’t all contained in my mind.

Using the tips above, I've been able to have a couple of strategy calls today and activate voice recognition on my laptop to write some content, while sticking to my recovery instructions.

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Are you Time Poor ?

I’ve been building my CEO skills, with a course to ensure that I know my business stuff as well as I know my HR stuff; and I’ve found that the biggest challenge that I and my fellow business owners have is time.

Time to create, deliver and do all the things that you need to make sure your business runs smoothly.

Can you relate?

It’s so easy to say I’ll do that when I get the time, but to be honest you don’t find time. You have to make time!

I worked with a Manager that was over-worked, he had the budget to hire some more people into his team, but he didn’t have the time to recruit. I’d find candidates and by the time he’d looked at their applications, and shortlisted, they’d have found other employment. He’d miss telephone interviews for client emergencies. In the end I had to block out time in his calendar and sit with him to shortlist and interview. He was able to get some highly skilled additions to his team and get his life back.

But first he needed to make the time investment!

How do you schedule your time to make sure you have time to be proactive, instead of just reacting? 

I use a weekly planner that I stick above my desk, so that I can schedule in what I’m doing and see my availability and to get my tasks done I use my version of the Pomodoro Technique (instead of 25 minute blocks, I do 90 minute blocks). 

Effectively managing time and resource isn’t exclusively an issue for small businesses owners; when I worked corporately, one of the main reasons we’d get a contractor in was because they could focus 100% on the task they were hired for without all of the distractions and it’s the reason why our clients work with us, we have the experience and knowledge to get the HR work done without added drama.

It’s time to make time for the things you want to do for your business, block out the time and turn off the distractions!

If you need to build or scale your team but are struggling to find the time to even THINK about it? Get our free guide to hiring and outsourcing for Small Business here