Why Mentors Matter

There has been a lot of press about bringing the US model of having mentors to help with career development in the news lately, I found that interesting, because I can remember organising mentoring programmes in 2005. However, in speaking with some of my colleagues who work in HR, I found that while some Graduates and Interns are often matched with mentors, those with some work experience are not.

My years of experience working alongside senior managers, employees and entrepreneurs, I’ve found one thing to be true ‘No man (or woman) is an island’. Everyone needs support and a listening ear at some point. In order to have a successful business or build a successful team within your business you need to mentor and be mentored.

As an entrepreneur it’s important to have a mentor, sometime more than one! Entrepreneur’s are often driving their business forward, focussed 100% on the tasks in hand.  Focus is a good thing but sometimes this can mean that you focus on the things that you are good at to the detriment of other things that you should be doing or reviewing.

You need someone you respect who can cast a critical eye, keep you accountable and teach you the lessons that they have learnt so that you don’t have to learn the hard way! Mentors can also open doors, introduce to you to their network and potential clients.

A great mentor will help you set your targets and keep you accountable, remind you to invest in yourself, and tell you the truth when others might not.

Within your organisation having a mentoring programme that is outside the traditional line management structure, gives your employees an opportunity to have a relationship that is focussed on developing their career, rather than their immediate objectives and gives them a safe space to explore their aspirations. Employees who are mentored tend to progress quicker, be more motivated and more loyal to the organisation.

Being a mentor is also enriching, you don’t realised how much you know until you start imparting your knowledge to others. So invest some time and reap the benefits of a more motivated, driven workforce and a more balanced you!

Why you should treat your employees like customers

I spend a lot of time deciphering issues between managers and staff, and also colleagues through mediation. Sometimes it’s a breakdown in communication, sometimes its lack of understands and sometimes it’s one person thinking that the other is a mind reader!

We are often surprised at someone’s behaviour or response to things, but to those who know them best, it is virtually impossible that the individual would have reacted in any other way.

While we invest a lot of time in the recruitment process, finding out about the persons experience, management style and even psychometric testing; what do we do after they are employed to understand the way they work and what motivates them, beyond checking they have achieved their targets?

If we treated our staff in the same way that we treat our customers, making sure that we understand as much as we can about them, it makes even the difficult conversations easier as you can adapt your style to your audience and prepare better for the reactions you might receive.

Here are a few tips to help you:

Build relationships

It goes without saying that in order for someone to open up to you they need to have a relationship with you. You have to create a safe environment so that if a staff member has an issues inside or out of work, they fell comfortable talking with you. You can start by really listening to them when you ask what they did at the weekend or how their family are, remembering their favourite band or the ages of their children can go a long way.

Know what makes their faces shine

I once had a HR Assistant who loved working with entry level staff, she really enjoyed getting graduates their first job and supporting them as they navigated their way in the corporate word. Working with them truly made her day. Knowing this made it easy to motivate her and I knew that I never had to worry about my graduate programmes once she was involved. Understanding what makes your staffs face shine is the key to retaining your key employees.

Don’t make promises that you cannot keep

The saying “under promise, over deliver” springs to mind! Be clear about the conditions for promotions, pay rises, working from home, etc. A lot of hurt feelings and resentment can be avoid if we are clear in our communications, with a customer you document what they receive from you in return for a fee. You start in the same way with your employees but do you continue that in your 1-2-1’s and performance review meetings?

Show your appreciation

When you have a great customer, you offer them exclusive deals and keep in touch to ensure that you are front of mind when that need your services. Your staff are the key to your customer’s satisfaction, make sure that they feel that appreciation, it doesn’t have to be a financial reward but something well thought out.

Need help engaging with your staff, our management fundamentals course is a great place to start, find out more here.

Growing Pains are SO Painful!

When I was a teenager I dislocated my knee, not doing anything particularly adventurous! I had a growing complication; my bones and the ligaments supporting them, were not growing at the same rate! I managed to dislocate my knee three times in four years. Every time was painful, I had my leg in plaster from my thigh to my ankle for 6 weeks and then had to have physiotherapy to rebuild the muscles that had wasted away. I hated being on crutches and unable to be as active as I wanted to, but the things I remember most is the first time I was able to be active again.

There are all sorts of changes going on an Eden Mayers HQ – We are changing office location, working with more and more amazing entrepreneurs and our career development offerings (because not everyone wants to run their own business) is really scaling!

It has meant making decisions about where to focus our energies and deprioritising some things I really want to do, to focus fully on other things I really want to do!

Change is hard, but I’ve learnt through years of supporting others through change, that there are a few things you need to help it go smoothly:

Detail the Rationale – Be clear about why the change is necessary.

Detail the steps – Have a clear plan, with steps for part of your change project.

Celebrate each milestone – Don’t wait until the end to celebrate, each achievement is worth celebrating and having some fun will energise you for the next step.

Take a break – Change can be all consuming, it’s good to do some tasks that are unrelated to it. Also, taking time to step away, can give you more perspective.

Try these tips and growing pain won’t be such a pain.

Learning to Love Resignation

My clients are often hugely proud of their high retention rates and low turnover. They see it as a badge of honor and take it personally when one of their work 'family' resigns.

I always find it interesting as my clients entrepreneurs who all had successful careers where they honed their skills before they started their own enterprises, and it took a considerable amount of bravery for them to leave a secure job and branch out on their own.

It got me thinking about the way that organisations deal with resignations from effective productive employees and how a resignation from an awesome member of your team can be seen as a positive thing:

Development Opportunities –

Increasingly organisations have flatter structures and so less of a career path for employees, so a resignation means you can provide employees with an opportunity to develop within the organisation, rather than outside of it.

Innovation –

A resignation is an opportunity for you to review that person’s role, amend job descriptions and add additional skills that you may need in a changing marketplace.

Fresh Blood –

New employees come with new ideas and viewpoints, which is always useful in keeping your business fresh and relevant.

Identifying Single Points of Failure –

If an employee’s resignation means a vital task within your organisation will not get done, and no one else has the skills, knowledge or qualifications to carry them out, you have a problem and that needs to be addressed.

New Business Opportunities –

An ex-employee could become or bring you your next significant customer. Remember people buy people, often people use their network when they are looking for services or products.

Alumni Hiring –

Employees do return, sometimes as contractors rather than employees, but you do get someone who knows your business, has great skills and can hit the ground running on a project or piece of work.

If you’d like some support with talent management and succession planning for your organisation, get in touch here.

The Art of saying ‘No’

I believe that most people have a default “Yes” switch (although we all know someone who’s default is “No”). We are by nature people please'rs.

We like to help out or make someone happy. I’m a mum, I like to see my children with smiles on their faces, however for their sake and my sanity “No” at times is the correct answer. When you are working with and for others, saying “No” can feel like breaking an unspoken rule.

Below are a few tips to help you …

• Ask questions – Get the full picture of what you are being asked to do.
• Don’t answer right away – It’s easy to feel pressured to respond (some cries for help require immediate action), but if you can, take some time to assess the situation and formulate your response.
• Respect your time and talent – Remember you need time to deliver to a high quality, have a proper plan for your delivery (Hint: not sleeping to deliver on time isn’t the answer).
• Offer an alternative –  It may be a different time or person, it could also be directing them to a website or organisation where information can be accessed.
• Own it your decision – Be polite in your response, but don’t get into a circular conversation about why you can’t help. A simple “sorry, I can’t help right now, but if you can wait until next week, I can spend some time with you and help then”.

Your “No” can also be a more finite one, “No, I don’t want that job” or “I don’t think we’d work well together” or “No I don’t agree”, but follow the tips above and be clear and your “No” will be respected.

Do you or your team need to work on your management skills? Doors open on our Management Fundamentals Self Study course on November 1st. Find out more about the course and join the waiting list here before it closes tomorrow and get access to an exclusive offer.

From Running to People Management

You don’t have to speak with me for long to know that I LOVE to run. It’s my favourite way to start my day, my ‘Me’ time, a place to reset, take in Gods handiwork and prepare for my day.

While I was running this morning mentally responding to a client’s employee issue (it’s where I do some of my best work!), I thought about how there are three key similarities between Running and People Management:

1.       Preparation

The night before I run, I get all my of my things ready for my run; clothes, trainers, playlist, charge my phone, watch and headphones. It is easy to be distracted from my run if I’m racing around trying to get my things together.

The same applies to People Management, you need to know; Who are you managing? What motivates them? What you want to communicate? How are you going to take them on your journey?

2.       Have Objectives

I always know how far I’m planning to run, which route I’m going to take, what pace I want to achieve and what time I need to be home, so I’m on schedule the rest of my day.

You should set focused measurable objectives, not just “Bring in more clients” but “Increase our client base by 10% in the next 60 days” and review and measure them regularly, not just on the objective due date.

3.       Be Adaptable

The weather can be one of the most challenging elements to runners. Some mornings, I need to grab my waterproofs and change my route from the trail to the road, other mornings I need my sunglasses, sunscreen and hat.

Do not be blinkered, there may be ideas that your staff have that you haven’t thought of or risks that need be addressed and mitigated. Always keep an open mind.

Need assistance managing your team or training your managers? We are launching our Management Fundamentals workshop as a self study course on the 1 November 2017,  join our waiting list here to get an exclusive bonus offer from us prior to formal launch. You can find out more about the Management Fundamentals self study course here.

Distracted from Action?

I keep receiving emails about business planning, the most interesting that I read, stated “Don’t let your life get in the way of your business” and it made me think, I’ve spent years in the corporate world facilitating and talking about work/life balance, why can I not balance it all? That’s one of the reasons why we started Eden Mayers!

Obviously, life happens and your business still needs to function and be profitable.  I have to say that I write this while my 4 year old is curled up asleep on the sofa, having been sick the past few days, so the article probably hit a nerve! I think I’ve got a pretty good balance, I work when my children are in school/childcare during the day and then if needed again when they are asleep.

I do find that some days I achieve a lot more than others, so here are some strategies that I have implemented to ensure my days are as productive as possible:

Have an Organised Work Space

I work both from home and my office space. I used to find that when I worked from home, I ended up working more on the house than the business, as I cannot walk past mess and the same applies to my office. Now I make sure that before I leave the office or before bed, my working space is organised and my to-do list for the next day is completed, that way I don’t get distracted with tidying or doing things that aren’t a priority.

90 Minute Madness

I work in 90 minute blocks, where I shut down my email, turn my phone to airplane mode and focus on a task or theme for 90 minutes. I find that I am able to achieve a lot in a small space of time and it prevents my mind from wandering off task.

Schedule Email and Social Media Interactions

It’s really easy to spend your day reacting to situations, especially in HR! I find that checking and responding to my emails and social media at 9am, 1pm and 5pm, helps me to avoid being distracted.

Take a Break

It is difficult to focus 100% effectively for long lengths of time. Take 5 minutes for some fresh air and to rest your eyes. Take time to eat lunch away from your laptop and phone.

Celebrate Small Successes

It’s hard to keep focused if you feel you aren’t achieving much. Remember to celebrate the small things and give yourself a pat on the back.

It takes a while to make changes become routine, but stick at it and you’ll see the benefits before you know it!

Trying to find some extra hours in the day?

Have you heard this amazing statistic?

Small business CEO’s spend an average of 20% of their day on HR tasks

That's a day a week!

A lot of clients that I speak with cite being too busy as a reason why some essential HR things don’t get done, and the reason why they need Eden Mayers HR to whip them into shape!

The majority of their battles can be put down to one thing …

DELEGATING

Now HR is my business so I spend a lot of time on and with it, however I can relate when it comes to other elements of my business. I like numbers and data analysis but it’s the job of Daniel in my team! I do have a tendency to start some analysis and take a bunch of time working on it, then get frustrated and get shown how it’s really done (sometimes in moments) with fancy excel formulae and macros. The same applies to making changes to the website!

My business is my baby so I sometimes struggle to hand things over and then complain about a lack of time. Delegating is always a big thing in our Management and Leadership coaching programmes, so I thought I’d share a few tips to help you find those extra 4 hours in the day:

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, now you have the ability to buy in support either though outsourced providers (accountants, VA, social media, contractors) or employees. Get the right support in and give them the autonomy to deliver.

Take the time to train

“By the time I tell them how to do it, I could have done it myself!” You have to invest time to free up time, this is the same thing I say to clients who are too busy to find time the hire the staff they need – chicken and egg! A full trained empowered employee, means freedom for you.

Block out your time

It is really easy to get distracted by the admin needed to run a business. Block your time, unless there is an emergency (or holiday) I do my admin on Fridays. I schedule in time to write blogs, call clients, record vlogs, do Facebook lives, as well as delivering to clients. It means my team know when I’m available and I know what I need to achieve during the day.

Change your location

People can’t asking you things if they can’t find you. I have a few local coffee shops and restaurants that I can escape to, put my phone on airplane mode and hook onto their wifi! I can get a days work completed in half the time, when I have no interruptions. I’m on a train for 3 hours tomorrow and I already have a work plan.

Try these time saving hacks and see if you find some extra time in your day to focus on the things that really matter.

When your Path is Rocky

We offer Career Coaching to both businesses and individuals – normally with our corporate clients we are working with their graduates or interns as they embark on their career, or experienced staff going through the uncertainty of a restructure. However, the individuals that we work with can be at any stage in their career, just starting, returning to the workforce after a career break, looking to change career or winding down to retirement.

I find these sessions really interesting and fulfilling as often the individual has a burning passion for something that they do (or used to do) in their spare time and never imagine that they could forge a career or start up a business in that area.

For example, I met with a lady who had an established career, she was on the management track, having gone through a management training programme with a large retailer. She then moved into local government management and had worked her way up to senior management. However, she had reached a ceiling, there was nowhere further of interest for her to go in local government and central government didn’t appeal.

When I reviewed her pre meeting questionnaire, I was amazed to see that she’d never pursued what she studied at university, even though I could see that she was volunteering in that sector. When I asked her about it, she said she would love to get paid for delivering that service, but when she graduated it was so hard to get into it, that she applied for the trainee management program at the retailer where she had a part time job during her studies and the rest was history. I could see her eyes light up at the idea of having a fulfilling career in an area that she was passionate in.

We looked at her ideal role and dream employers, we also looked a freelance options and created tailored CV’s, covering letters and prospecting messages. My lovely client was able to secure her ideal role, make a good living and get the work life balance she wanted by pursuing her passion. A year on, she is loving her role and mentoring others.

My coach always says “All of the things you have experienced, positive and negative, come together to make your life’s work”.

Here are a few tips to help you find your dream role or business:

• What do you LOVE to do?
• What do you DISLIKE doing?
• What do people often ask for your HELP with?
• What QUALIFICATIONS do you have?
• What SKILLS do you have?
• What does that little VOICE keep directing you towards?

Your ideal role is a combination of all of these elements. Take some time to sit and reflect, and you will find it!

Watch the Video on this subject here.

For help with your career planning you can find more details on our programme here.

When the team dynamic is tragic!

This week’s case study looks at resolving conflict using mediation.

I always say that the interesting thing about HR is working with people, it’s the interaction with individuals, learning about them and building relationships, then using that knowledge to influence, motivate, develop and exit them where necessary.

One of our clients contacted us, as they had a manager whose relationship with one of their team members had broken down to the point where they could not sit in the same room together. They asked us to come in and mediate with the pair as an outcome of a grievance, and see if their working relationship could be repaired, as they didn’t want to lose either person as they both had unique and hard to source skills.

We arranged a time to meet, laid down the ground rules for the discussion and began. It was soon established that some of their issues was due to cultural differences. The manager came from a country where disagreeing with your manager was not deemed as acceptable behaviour,  you were expected follow commands without questioning. The other individual came from a country where speaking your mind was expected and respected – Can you guess the countries?

The manager kept speaking over their staff member during the mediation process, every time they expressed their feelings, to the point that we had to adjourn the meeting to calm the staff member and reiterate the ground rules to the manager. After an hour and a half of clearing the air, we established the foundation for their working relationship going forward. We followed up with each individual at 1, 4 and 8 weeks post the mediation session and the relationship was much improved. They would never be friends, but had found some common ground and a language to communicate in.

Here are some tips for mediation:

• Both parties must be open to the process.
• Set ground rules.
• Remember you are there to facilitate only.
• Do not take sides.
• Compromise is the key.
• Listen actively – without interruption.
• You can adjourn if the meeting is getting heated.
• It may take more than one meeting to find a resolution.
• Not every situation can be solved by mediation.

Watch our managing directors Facebook live on the mediation here.

While mediation is not a guaranteed solution for conflict and can be time consuming. It gives you an insight into individuals and may help highlight some action that needs to be taken within your organisation to build better working relationships both internally and externally with clients. For details on how we can support you, click here.

How many version of the truth are there?

One of the joys that I get from working with entrepreneurs and small businesses is that we get to be a part of their organisation. Often their lean organisational structures mean that we get involved in second or final stages of grievance or disciplinary hearings as part of the process.

One client of mine contacted me when they received a report from a whistle-blower (Def: a person who informs on a person or organisation regarded as engaging in an unlawful or immoral activity – Oxford Dictionary). The nature of the accusation was very serious as it related to safeguarding (Def: To safeguard something or someone means to protect them from being harmed, lost, or badly treated – Collins Dictionary) and as the founder and director would need to hear the case and some of their direct reports were potential witnesses, we agreed to come in and investigate the case.

We had to speak with 12 different parties who were a combination of colleagues, managers and client of the accused individual, as well as keep the individual (who was suspended on full pay) updated with our progress.

We received differing versions of the same incident and other concerns were brought to light. To get to the bottom of things some witnesses were spoken with on three separate occasions.

In the final report we recommended that the individual involved be removed from the location that they were working in as their professionalism with those particular types of clients was in question and the individual admitted to not enjoying working with that client group. Subsequently the individual resigned and started a new vocation.

This was a complicated case, I wanted share some learnings that will help you when you have a case to investigate:

• Act as soon as possible – memory fade and the ability of individuals to conspire increases over time.
• Understand the policy you are working with – make sure you are clear on the process you are following and your obligations as a manager.
• No such things as too much communication – Keep updating those involved.
• Seek help – If you aren’t sure ask for help.
• Remain objective - do not make assumptions based on your previous experiences.
• Gather all the evidence – don’t disregard the small details.
• Be detailed in your recommendations – see it as preparation for an appeal of the outcome.

Bear these tips in mind and your investigations will be successful. For details of how we can support you, click here.

The day my professional mask slipped

A lot of the time when I meet someone new and tell them that I keep entrepreneurs out of HR trouble. I get told a dodgy or embarrassing story about an incident that an individual had to deal with. Everyone loves a bit of drama!

I like to think I’ve seen most things and am pretty difficult to shock. I am often told that I have a great poker face, but I do remember the last time a client only had to look at the look shock on my face to realise that something was very wrong!

I have a client that told me they had some outstanding issues that needed addressing when they signed up to receive our advice and support on a retained basis. I remember in our initial meeting they had probed pretty hard on our experience of dealing with staff relationships and even went as far as asking if we could create policies that banned them!

About two weeks into working with them, they contacted me because they had received an ET1 – the notification you receive from the Employment Tribunal Service when a claim has been submitted. So I went in to see them to gather evidence and see whether the case had legs.

It transpired that an employee had raised a grievance against her manager (whom it was rumoured she’d been in a relationship with) and when the grievance wasn’t upheld, she went off sick. The claim was for discrimination and also stated that she had not been paid.

When I asked for details regarding her sickness and pay. I was told we stopped her pay when she didn’t come into work and we haven’t heard from her and she hasn’t returned our calls. I asked for documents to substantiate that they had made contact and copies of the sick certificates; I was given one sick certificate!

At this point I could see that the look on my face made my client distinctly uncomfortable! I really wasn’t sure where to start cataloguing the mistakes that had been made, amongst other things they had NOT:

• Followed their grievance process and given the option of appealing the outcome of the grievance.
• Paid sick pay according to their policy.
• Documented the attempts they had made to contact the individual.
• Written to the individual after failing to contact her by phone.
• Demonstrated carrying out their duty of care to the individual

Now, in their defence they are American and this was their first experience of UK employment law, so they had made some assumption based on their U.S. experience.

I was able to speak with the individual and negotiate a settlement agreement with her (as she didn’t want to return to work), pay her was she was owed and her notice pay; for less than what it would have cost to prepare an Employment Tribunal case.

The lessons that my client (and I hope you) learnt from this experience were:

• Ensure you have comprehensive up to date HR policies in place.
• Follow your HR policies.
• Document what you have done.
• Don’t make assumptions, employment law can be complicated.
• Take advice before you act.

You can find the vlog on this subject here.

If you need HR advice and support to keep you out of HR trouble contact us to find out how we can help you here.

Delegate or Drown

As an entrepreneur it can be difficult to release the reins and allow others to work on your ‘business baby’!

Both in my corporate and entrepreneur 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 as quickly as me and if I was going 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, and my team wasn’t learning or developing.

The whole idea of delegation is to free you up to do the high value stuff, like speaking with potential clients and delivering 100% to your pay clients, it should also mean that you can go on holiday WITHOUT your laptop, iPad and iPhone or go to your children’s school play without worrying about what’s happening in the office. After all you became an entrepreneur to have freedom and flexibility.

I’ve had many clients say they are so busy, they need help but they have no time to find someone or they just can’t find someone who they can trust to do thing just how they want it done! Fact is, it doesn’t matter how it’s done, if the end result is want you want.

So with this in mind, here are a few signs that it’s time to start delegating:

• Its 3pm, you’ve been working all day, but haven’t completed any of the MUST DO tasks on your list.
• You’ve just spend the last 3 hours trying to make ONE SIMPLE CHANGE to your website.
• You can’t remember the last time you switched your laptop before 10pm.
• You can’t remember the last time you had a no technology day. (email/mobile/facebook/twitter/instagram).
• Some days you get to the end of the day, have been ridiculously busy but can’t name a thing you’ve done and so have no sense of accomplishment.
• Your only solution (on a regular basis) is to just work through the night, so you can get everything done.

If this is you, it’s time to consider what tasks you can delegate and then train, coach and mentor your team or find a service that you can outsource some tasks to.

To find out more, check out how we can support you here.

Sure you want to be called a Leader?

In the beginning of this month’s focus on Leadership, I said that to be an entrepreneur you had to be a leader. To be successful you’ve got to do a great job of influencing and motivating your team, clients and most importantly yourself – especially when no one else sees your amazing vision!

It’s a tough life being an innovator, taking risks and daring to be different, the very definition of an entrepreneur is: ‘A person who sets up business or businesses taking on financial risk in the hope of profit’ or  ‘One who organises, manages and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise’.

So, how do you build the mind-set needed to be a risk taker who bucks the trend and goes with their gut - with the right planning and research of course!

And the answer is RESILIENCE!

The definition of Resilience is ‘the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness’

Resilience is all about how you deal with the challenges and obstacles that come your way. We all know that being an entrepreneur isn’t all blue sky thinking, ah-ha moments and sweet sales! The question is how you bounce back when you feel stuck or get feedback that makes you question yourself.

A little while ago, as part of a training programme I was asked to ask friends, family, colleagues and clients for 3-5 words that they would use to describe me and almost all of them said resilient. I was surprised, I didn’t write that down about myself, but as I thought about it I realised that I’d been building my resilience all my life and love proving naysayers wrong. I loved it when I passed my driving test before my ‘friend’ who said they’d get there’s before me or when I decided to go back to university to do my Masters and people told me it would be too hard as a newly-wed with a demanding full time job. I’ve never let doubt or worry prevent me for going for what I really wanted!

So, below are a few tips to help you remain focused when the only cheerleader you have is yourself:

Start your day right

I find that the tone with which I start my day has a big effect on my mood and productivity. I try to make sure that I start the day right by either going for a run or exercising most mornings. I also read a daily devotional and pray to set up my morning before the rest of my family wakes up. I find that the exercise wakes my brain up and the prayer puts my heart and mind in the right place.

Keep a Positive Attitude

I remember when I worked in customer services during my summer holidays, I realised that if angry customers shouted at me and I remained positive, I was able to calm them, sort out their issue and not feel so stressed myself. Always try to see the positive in every situation, sounds corny but there really is always a silver lining.

Don’t take things personally

Your business is your ‘baby’, as an entrepreneur it’s difficult not to take things personally as you have put all your passion into achieving your dream and taken the associated risks. I used to get very emotional when things didn’t turn out the way I planned, even when others gave me positive feedback, all I could see were the errors. You have to learn to separate your individual self-worth from the success of your business because everyone will have an opinion on your business but that doesn’t mean it’s how that think or feel about you. I’ve learnt to say “That’s an interesting idea, thank you” and let it go.

Remember you can’t please everyone

As a business owner you try to please your clients or product users and keep your team motivated. It is good that this is your focus, however remember that “You can please some of the people all of the time or all of the people some of the time”. You can lose focus and begin to doubt yourself and doubt and fear have killed more dreams than failure.

Try these tips this week to build your resilience and you will feel more focused and less stressed. You can find the vlog on this subject here.

Want to build your People Management resilience? Check out our online training programme here.

You're not a Coach!

A big part of developing your leadership skills, is learning how to coach, mentor and influence individuals. So I guess your question is what’s the difference and why is it important?

Well …

Coaching is … generally task or objective related, helping an individual to do something specific and once that has been completed the relationship normally ends.

Mentoring is … generally long term and future driven. They work best when the mentor isn’t directly responsible for the mentee.

Influencing is … the ability to effect the character, development or behaviour of an individual.

Now I believe that the key skills that links all of these together are LISTENING and EMPATHY.

To influence, coach and mentor you need to understand the other persons, likes, dislikes, aspirations, hopes, fears and learning style. Then package your advice and instruction accordingly.

You have to ask questions and then really listen and engage, then respond in an authentic way. It’s pointless saying “I’ve been there” when you haven’t. The idea is to use questions to help the other person come up with the solution, rather than just telling them. It takes time to build your skill at having this type of conversation without getting frustrated.

Good questions to ask include:

• What could the best outcome be?
• What part of what you just said could be an assumption?
• If I were in your shoes and asked you that question, what would you say?
• What are the positive outcomes of this negative situation?
• What would you try now if you knew you could not fail?
• When will you start?
• What are you waiting for?
• And?

This week, when your team comes to you with issues, try asking questions instead of just giving the answer (where appropriate) and see what happens. Let us know in the comment’s below. You can find our Vlog on Coaching here.

To find out more about the services we offer and book a discovery call, click here.

Happy coaching and mentoring!

Are you a Leader or a Follower?

“Leaders Bring You Along, Managers Push You Along”, have you ever heard that saying?

There are distinct differences between a manager and a leader, even though you do have leaders who manage and managers who are leaders.

Remember when you started your business? You had to motivate yourself, push forward and make things happen. You had to win that business, make the sale and convince your family, friends and funders that your business was a going concern that will be hugely successful?

You led them to understanding your business, to join you on your business journey as a client, investor or cheerleader. That’s what a leader is, someone who takes people with them, using a compelling message.

Sounds easy right?

As an entrepreneur, you need to have the skills of both a leader and a manager. It’s not easy as often influencing others can take more time than just directing them to a task! And time is always short for an entrepreneur!

However the pluses for leading your team, is that by giving them greater autonomy, you get freed up to do the high value tasks that only you have the skills to deliver and who knows what amazing ideas your team may have for improving your business, creating efficiency and increasing your bottom line.

Below are some of the differences in the behavioural characteristics of a leader and manager:

Manager v Leaders Behaviours

Manager Drives employees ... Leader Coaches them

Depends on authority ... On goodwill

Inspires Fear ... Generates enthusiasm

Says “I” ... Says “We”

Places blame for the problem ... Fixes the problem

Knows how it is done ... Shows how it’s done

Uses people ... Develops people

Takes credit ... Give credit

Commands ... Asks

Say “Go” ... Says “Let’s Go”

See my Live Video on the subject here.

Next week we will be looking at how to develop your leadership behaviours.

Are you Flexibly Friendly?

This is the final week of our July focus on Health and Well-Being. This week we are looking at flexible working and family friendly policies.

When I speak with Entrepreneurs about the reasons why they started their companies, flexibility almost always comes up, whether it is to able collect the children from school, watch their favorite teams home and away games or take a holiday 8 times a year!

Obviously if you are the boss, you can make your day work for you, but that may be different for those that work with and for you. Being able to work flexibly is a really great perk to offer your staff and for more and more individuals it is becoming a deal breaker.

All employees has a legal right to ask for flexible working once they have completed 26 weeks of employment. Flexible working can come in many forms including:

• Job Share – Splitting a role between two individuals
• Working from home – Performing all or part of their role from home
• Part time working – Reducing the contractual days or hours a person works
• Compressed hours – Working the same contractual hours in less days
• Flexi-time – Working core hours, but flexing the start and end times

Employers have to reasonably consider the application and make a decision within 3 months.

If the request is agreed, it should be confirmed in writing, with a start date and any contractual amendments made.

You can reject applications for the following reasons:

• Extra costs that will damage the business
• The work can’t be reorganised among other staff
• People can’t be recruited to do the work
• Flexible working will affect quality and performance
• The business won’t be able to meet customer demand
• There’s a lack of work to do during the proposed working times
• The business is planning changes to the workforce

Again, this would need to be communicated to the individual in writing. While there is no obligation to allow an employee to appeal the decision, it would be best practice to do so, as you could be taken to employment tribunal if an individual believed that their applications wasn’t being treated fairly and it would be good to be able to evidence a best practice process.

Giving your staff some flexibility around their working times and location, can reap massive benefits for your organisation from a point of view of motivation, retention and work quality.

What flexible policies do you currently offer to your team members?

The link to the blog on this subject is here.

This is the last blog on health and well-being. Do let us know which subject has been most useful for you this month and what changes you have implemented.

For August we will be looking at building our leadership skills.

Is your working environment inspiring or demotivating you?

The environment in which you and your work is vitally important and it’s not just the colour of the walls, locations of windows or if you have the latest Nespresso machine!

Your work environment consists of your geographical location, physical location and the people around you.

If the mere sight of your working space fills you with dread and overwhelm, it isn’t going to be conductive to creative, effective and efficient working.

When I worked corporately they called me Monica from Friends; stacks of papers, dirty coffee cups and rubbish could not be in my eye line, I often ended up washing up everything in the sink, instead of just my plate and fork at lunchtime!

I also had the same problem when I started out as an entrepreneur, working from my dining table! I had to tidy the house before I could start working, but also I lost quite a bit of time on the phone and WhatsApp, because being home alone all day is lonely.

Now I work from a lovely co-working space at least twice a week. It’s clean, tidy and well lit. I get to be surrounded by entrepreneurs from across London and feel like part of a community.

How does your current working environment inspire you and your team? Here are some tips to help you improve your working environment so that you and your team will be more productive and creative:

Location

Location isn’t just the street that your office is based on and the shops nearby. Sometimes just moving your desk so you can see out of a window and get some natural light makes a big difference.

Furniture

Being flexible about working space is a great way to improve the environment. Think about a section where you can work standing (I often use a standing desk set-up at home), having non-tradition ergonomic chairs (backless chairs/balls) or having a break out space, with comfy chairs or bean bags.

Working Equipment

There are some basic things that should just BE in a workplace. Safe working machinery, no trailing wires or other trip hazards. Ensure your work area is clean, tidy, with ample storage and the provision of a good coffee machine, fresh fruit, water and snacks will always help.

Noise levels

If you have a department or individual that is loud or spends the majority of time on the phone as part of their role. It’s important to organise your office space in a way that contains the sound and providing a separate area for telephone calls, is a good idea if you have the space for it.

You can find the Vlog for this subject here.

Let us know what improvements you’ll be making to your working environment, in the comments section below.

Are you Managing Your Stress or is Your Stress Managing You?

Everyone has Stress in their lives and while there is no universal definition of Stress. Put simply, Stress is the way that your body physically responds to mental or emotional pressure. Your job, relationships, family life, money and other commitments can all contribute to your levels of Stress.

The challenge isn’t removing instances of stress (that would be impossible!), it’s recognising when there is too much pressure and what we do to address it in ourselves and our teams.

I like to say people can be either problem solvers or problem multipliers. I once had a manager who would always up the pressure, when she had a run in with her boss; it was as if her way of dealing with stress, was to stress everyone she came across! It wasn’t an endearing quality in a manager, so soon grievances and sick notes became a common occurrence!

The most important thing you can do for yourself and your team, is to keep the lines of communication open and think out of the box when it comes to how you can support your team at times of stress.

Signs to look for in yourself and your team include:

• Negative or depressive feeling
• Disappointment with yourself
• Increased emotional reactions - more tearful or sensitive or aggressive
• Loneliness, withdrawn
• Loss of motivation commitment and confidence
• Mood swings
• Confusion, indecision
• Can’t concentrate
• Poor memory
• Changes in eating habits
• Increased smoking, drinking or drug taking 'to cope'
• Mood swings effecting your behaviour
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Twitchy, nervous behaviour
• Changes in attendance such as arriving later or taking more time off.

Techniques of stress management include:

• Developing an understanding of Stressor's
• Time management (including delegation)
• Conflict resolution
• Adopting a more Positive attitude
• Talking to others
• Breathing exercises
• Meditation
• Exercise
• Altering your diet
• Taking more regular and effective rest

You can get more information on stress management, from The Health and Safety Executive here

The Vlog on this subject can be found here.

Health and Well-being

Someone asked me what do when I’m stressed and what I do to de-stress, my response was clean, run or clean and run!

I’m a runner, I often say it keeps me sane and if I haven’t run for few days I feel out of sorts and not as clear of mind.

I am an entrepreneur, wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, godmother, friend and volunteer – my time is always short. My faith keeps me centered and my 5 am runs give me breathing space – I’m not great if I haven’t run at least twice a week! I know what it takes to keep things on an even keel so I can be productive and not burn out. It’s a formula that works for me.

Do you know what you need to do for yourself? And for your team? Beyond ensuring you all actually use you allocated annual leave and do not work while you are on it!

Did you know that you have a duty of care for the stress management of your staff?

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states that organisations must ensure the health safety and welfare at work of their employees. This includes minimising the risk of stress-related illness or injury to employees.

It is your responsibility to:

• Monitor factors that might suggest there is a problem with stress-related illness in the business, for example, high rates of absenteeism, staff turnover, poor performance, conflict between staff
• Ensure there is a health and safety policy that addresses the issue of stress in the workplace, including, if appropriate, a stress management strategy
• Ensure effective risk assessments have been carried out, are monitored regularly and any recommendations are being implemented and adequately funded
• Plan for stress-related risks when embarking on significant organisational change.

Where you aware of this regulation? What are/will you do to ensure you are legislatively compliant?

Our Vlog on this subject can be found here