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PowerTip: How to Build a Company to Run Without You!

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 by victoria

At a recent Roundtables meeting, several remodeling company owners were drilling deep into the workings of a production department of a fellow member. Their goal was to develop an improvement action plan for this company that would allow them to grow revenue, grow profits, and reduce the chaos and stress in the office.

These business owners were smart because they focused their efforts on developing strong systems for each area of this department. They understood that systems are a tool to provide the owner with freedom and help him or her focus their efforts on tasks that would have a big impact on the company–like bringing in more business!

They understood that the most successful small businesses are built on a repeatable system that others can easily follow. We can’t shoot from the hip every day without consequences. There has to be some consistent way of doing things. If you intend to scale your business and eventually add to the team of people who help you, then effective systems are a requirement.

So, as a first step, the group listed each “system” that was needed to run a production department efficiently with an eye toward these goals: On time, on budget, with a delighted client. Here’s what they came up with:

Production Systems

1.    Sales to Production Handoff
2.    Pre-Construction Conference-Internal
3.    Pre-Construction Conference-External (w/client)
4.    Requesting and Compiling Trade Contractor Bids
5.    Selections System
6.    Change Order System
7.    Draw/Payment System
8.    Job Close Out System
9.    Communication Systems
a.    Weekly Production Meetings
10.    Safety Systems
11.    Training Systems
12.    Construction Standards Development
13.    Client Evaluation System
14.    Jobsite Radius Marketing
15.    Two-Week Look Ahead
16.    Scheduling
17.    Material Ordering
a.    Standard
b.    Special Orders

That’s quite a list! (If we missed one, tell me in the comment section!)

Next, they organized this list to show what systems already existed and which needed to be created. Then they made suggestions as to which needed system should be tackled first, second and third and shared this with their peer.

One smart person said; if you find yourself doing something more than once, develop a system to handle it.

Many think that developing systems is too difficult to tackle but, depending on the system, it can be quite simple. Here are some tips I picked up from Forbes magazine.

1.    Start at the beginning. Running a small-business often means juggling many things and responding to the immediate needs of the day. In this constantly evolving environment it is easy to work intuitively and just get things done. However, thinking about the steps and procedures of a business from the very first day is vital to the ultimate success of the business. Don’t put documenting your process off to another day. Instead, take note of every procedure from the very beginning.
2.    Write it down. As you go through the daily work, take careful notes on the day-to-day processes. Take note on everything from how files are saved to how big decisions are made. If there are other people working in the business with you, have those people also keep close records of how they manage tasks. It is always easier to edit and delete than try to fill in the blanks and remember exactly how certain procedures were handled.
3.    Be proactive. Anticipate problems and methodically create solutions. Identify areas of concern and meticulously develop a response system. Even when certain actions seem obvious, make a note of the steps and approaches. What is intuitive for one person may not occur to another. By keeping close notes of all procedures other members of the team will be able to understand the decision-making process and arrive at the appropriate results.
4.    Get it out of your head. Once all of the operations are recorded, it is useful to have others review the material. Collaborate with your team as you record the various steps. They’ll help you identify the small pieces that you might miss. Include folks from different departments. Someone who is not in the thick of the process may have a clearer ability to convey the important ideas.
5.    Share it. Once the operations manual is created, start sharing it with the members of the company. Make sure that all employees have easy access to the information. Posting the procedures on an intra-company website or distributing hardcopies of the material will encourage people to refer and follow the guidelines. As updates are made to the materials, have alerts sent to the appropriate parties so that everyone is up to date.

Other remodelers have hired temporary workers to follow them around during the day, documenting the systems that are being used throughout the company but which are not documented anywhere. There are many ways to attack this issue. But attack you must!
The morale of this story is this: If you want to grow your business, delegate responsibilities to others in the company, and be able to take long vacations while the business hums along, start developing your systems today.

If you’re ready to systematize your business, be smart and use resources that already exist rather than reinventing the wheel. Remodelers Advantage University includes a huge library of checklists, job descriptions, forms, spreadsheets and more — all tools to help you create workable systems fast! And all for less than $1.50 a day.  It’s the best investment you can make for your business.  Click here to learn more.

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Business Growth, Business Management, Leadership | No Comments »

PowerTips: Who Are Your Organizations Entrepreneurs?

Monday, March 19th, 2012 by victoria

For nearly 15 years, we’ve worked with the nation’s top personality assessment company. The tools that this company, Target Training International, provide are wonderful resources for small business owners who want to build strong teams but need additional expertise to do it.  In addition to the personality assessments, the employee surveys, coaching and mentoring tools, and their hiring program, Talent Management Plus, they publish reams of great articles and other information. Here’s an article that really spoke to me, found on the Harvard Business Review blog.  I’ve reprinted it below.

How useful would it be to identify the problem-solvers within your business? They’re called entrepreneurs, and not all of them are created the same. The ability to identify entrepreneurs empowers organizations to effectively manage their workforce. Through research, we’re beginning to learn more about spotting star performers who would otherwise become disengaged and flee — taking their new ideas with them.

Identifying these individuals is possible long before they enter the workplace. In fact, 42 percent of entrepreneurs have determined they want to own their own business before the age of 12, according to an ongoing study run by our company, Target Training International, of engineering students from 18 major U.S. universities.

Early findings from this research describe two types of entrepreneurs emerging:

Entrepreneurial-Minded People (EMPs): They tend to work well in teams, have an organized workplace and enjoy consistency. These individuals are happier within organizations or within a group of people working together to achieve a goal.

Serial Entrepreneurs (SEs): The second group is made up of potential serial entrepreneurs who have a desire to own their own business. Serial entrepreneurs tend to be more individualistic, have a greater sense of urgency and a desire to control. They have demonstrated an ability to sustain a business past the first year, into the higher growth job production years of a young firm.

Both entrepreneurial types are identified by a distinct challenge-orientation and improvement-focused mindset. But they differ in their attitudes towards control. EMPs are less concerned with the amount of control they can exert. They are happiest when they work collaboratively on a task, in a team, striving for solutions to complex or recurring problems.

The SE wishes to have ultimate control over her life and business. While happy to set direction for a company or team, serial entrepreneurs need to feel that their employer is not limiting their destiny.

Once you identify certain performers as SEs or EMPs, it’s your job as a manager to retain them.

Make sure they have a forum where their ideas can be heard. When an SE shares his vision and is met with rejection, he will become disengaged and will likely resent the organization. He is also likely to not only plot his exit, but how to redress the rejection he experienced. That can translate into taking their ideas to a competitor or becoming a competitor himself. Similarly if an EMP is not allowed to engage in the problem-solving process or is asked to work independently, the same is likely to occur.

But how do managers identify entrepreneurial types? It’s often helpful to put these questions to use, especially during the hiring process or a performance review.

  1. Describe your career goals. The EMP’s answer would more likely indicate he could care less about being in management and is happy where he is or where he is applying for. The SE will tend to say she is looking for advancement.
  2. Describe your professional strengths. An EMP will focus on strengths directly related to the job in question. An SE will talk more about leadership and personal identity.
  3. Describe things you’re not good at. Honesty is important for both. Listen closely: If she claims to not have any weaknesses, she is likely more SE-driven. The more weaknesses he confesses to having, the more EM-driven he is.
  4. What activities do you do to keep current in your profession? The EMP is interested in keeping up within his profession and industry. The SE is more focused on keeping up on broader scope, going beyond just her career and may discuss things she is reading, experiencing or sharing.

Entrepreneurs — whether EMPs or serial — already possess the behaviors, attitudes, and values to build successful businesses. Finding out whom within the workforce possesses the traits of an entrepreneur — and which type they are — will allow business leaders to work with their unique approach to business. Recruiting and retaining entrepreneurs will pay big dividends not just for individual companies, but also for the economy as a whole.

For more information on how we can help you hire and build strong teams, packed with problem solvers, click here or give us a call today. We’ll show you how the TTI Tools have enabled our clients to save hours of time and thousands of dollars by hiring right in the first place, and allowing superstars to develop and grow within the company. Call today 301-490-5620.

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Employee Retention, Leadership | No Comments »

Are Your Employees Secretly Planning to Quit?

Thursday, March 8th, 2012 by victoria

I was reading an interesting report by the temp employee people, Robert Half, when a statistic stopped me. They say that, 45 percent of workers say they plan to change employees, careers or industry’s when the economy improves. Wow!

If that’s true, our small businesses could really be left in the lurch.   We all know that turnover really takes a toll on productivity, morale, resources, and client satisfaction.  And we also know that the impact  of wonderful employees who have been with you for years, who understands your systems, and who knows how to deliver great service to your clients, is huge! So let’s not just sit back waiting for the shoe to fall! Instead, take action to keep your top employees with you. Here are some tips that Half shares:

  • Re-recruit your top players. Ask them what they like about their job, what new skills they’d like to acquire and, if they could change anything about their job, what would it be? Afterward, review their answers and take action to show the employee that you were listening and you want them to be happy.
  • Give them room to grow. To help them develop skills and groom them for new responsibilities, start a cross training program for your best people. Shadow co workers who’s roles relate. For example, you might allow an ambitious Lead Carpenter to shadow the Production Manager for a few hours a week, allowing the Lead to learn about management, delegation, scheduling and more.
  • Share your vision and ask for input. Employees want to feel that they impact the future and have a stake in the success of the firm. So let your employees know where you see the company going and involve them in making that vision a reality.
  • Lastly, recognize their efforts.  Recognition is one of the most effective tools you have at your disposal — and also one of the most affordable! Create a program to recognize successes, both large and small. In fact, build in the chance for peers to show appreciation for each other.

The moral of the story is, don’t take your employees for granted. There will soon be plenty of new opportunities for talented folks. . .so take steps now to hold on  to this huge company asset.

If you’re looking for tools to help you improve communication between employees, coach a middling employee into greatness, or hire the best people you can for every position, call Remodelers Advantage today. We offer a complete array of state-of-the-art tools and strategies that will transform your team–leading to increased efficiency, improved employee happiness, and superior bottom line results. 301-490-5620 or click here. We’re ready to help!

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Business Coaching, Employee Retention, Leadership | No Comments »

PowerTip: You want better results? Top Performers are A Key!

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012 by victoria

When you think of your company and how it’s doing today, you have a picture in your mind of what you want it to look like tomorrow. Whether that picture shows additional employees, a bigger building or more efficient systems, one thing is constant; it is something better than what exists today. Making that progression towards bigger and better things can be easier and happen faster if your employees are efficient and engaged with the vision. When you see a winning team, most, if not all members are A players.

While many people know what the NBA All-Stars are, many don’t know that there is something called an All-NBA team. There are no bench-warmers on the All-NBA teams. If you are unfamiliar, the All-NBA league is made up of three teams, each having five members. Two forwards, one center and two guards that are the top players in the NBA. The theory is if these teams played they would win against any other combination of five players based on their individual talents. What does this mean in relation to your organization? The best way to progress to the top of the business food chain is with the highest performing employees available.

Top performers, or A players, have so much to offer that it’s a wonder how countless organizations settle for Bs or even Cs. Because of the ability for an A player to self manage and problem solve, top performers relieve you from having to micro-manage, allowing you to spend your time on activities that will drive business in the door.

Top performers are also more efficient at their job, requiring fewer resources for maximum output. This high level of efficiency allows funds to be freed up and spent elsewhere. The immediate benefits associated with high performing employees alone are enough reason to begin making the transition away from C players.

One way to ensure your organization is hiring top performers is to use pre-employment assessments as part of a job matching system to establish whether or not the potential employee is a good fit with the job. A good fit generally leads to high performance!

Employees who are already a part of the team will continue to grow with your organization and develop new skills which may progress them into matching a different job. As a result of this, it is important to create a line of succession and prepare your employees with a career path. Not only will they have a promotion to work towards, but they can also begin to cultivate their leadership skills. This starts to pave a secure path for the organization’s future, allowing all staff to feel confident about the progression planned by management. And if you ever hope to sell your business — or be able to work limited hours– get started on building this internal bench strength now!

When creating ways to progress a company, developing top performers might have been on the top of your list – and if it wasn’t, it should be now. What most likely has not come to mind is the happiness of employees. It is essential to keep your employees pleased with your business and each other. Having an employee relations committee that coordinates a once a month luncheon, event or health and wellness initiative can help employees connect on another level other than business.

The more pleased your employees are with your company, the more that reflects on your brand, and the more positive publicity is generated.   Plus, happy and engaged A players attract other A players!

What’s not to like??

If you’d like to learn how pre-employment assessments, or our hiring service Talent Management Plus, can help you find your A players, give us a call today at 301-490-5620 or visit our web site at www.RemodelersAdvantage.com. This could be just what your company needs to drive you to a higher level of success!

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Business Growth, Business Management, Employee Retention, Leadership | No Comments »

Employment Myths Busted

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 by victoria

In case you haven’t noticed, a lot of what we used to know even two years ago isn’t necessarily true in today’s changed business climate. How many outdated ideas do you have about the employment world? Read each question in bold to decide if you think it’s true or false before reading the answer below.

  1. Employees always leave managers, not jobs. Wrong. Employees leave jobs even when they like and respect their manager because the fit between their talents, interests and skills isn’t good enough to give them quality of life on the job. In fact, struggling in a job where you spend Sunday night dreading going to work on Monday morning is a dead giveaway of a poor job fit. All jobs have a unique profile of distinct skills, attitudes and behaviors that are required for best performance, just as people have their own unique profile, too. When a person is matched to a job that requires the combination of behaviors, skills and attitudes that come naturally to them, achieving superior performance isn’t a struggle, it’s a challenge they can win.
  2. Our superior performing employees may secretly be waiting for the economy to open up more jobs, so they can find another job with more money and opportunity than we can offer them right now. In the present economy with budgets so tight that raises and incentives have been cut almost across the board, employee surveys show that this is absolutely true. But it doesn’t mean you can’t deepen your superior performers’ bond to your company. Savvy employers are investing in professional development that helps them develop talent from within. By doing this, they help current employees improve their performance now, while preparing them for upcoming leadership roles. People understand that budgets are tight right now, but when they see their company’s willingness to develop their skills, they recognize it as a vote of confidence in their potential and their value to the organization. Nothing says “We’ll give you a raise when we can” like investing in an employee’s career development now.
  3. If my company asks me to take an assessment, it must mean they think I’m not good enough to do my job and they want an excuse to fire me. If you said that nothing could be further from the truth, you’re right. Just as employees are slow to leave a good job right now, employers are realizing that it’s much more cost effective to mine the talent they already have rather than to start from scratch with someone new. Using assessment reports is a strategy that smart companies are using to build bench strength so they are ready when business picks up. If your employer has asked you to take an assessment, congratulations! You’ve been identified as an employee with high potential to become a superior performer or next-generation manager.
  4. Behavioral and values assessments are NOT like personality tests. If you agree with this statement, you’re right. Behavior and values assessments are statistically validated ways to see what a person’s natural style is for communicating on the job, how they like to manage their workflow, how they respond to a changing work environment, and what aspects of the job can make it deeply satisfying beyond the paycheck. Using assessment reports to identify a person’s strengths is a great way to make sure the company is deploying an employee in the right job to play to their strengths and develop more.
  5. Managing other people to achieve peak performance is only possible if you’re a really accomplished, experienced manager with a long track record of success, or a manager with too much time on your hands. If you recognized this thought as so outdated that it’s last millennium, you’re right. In the age of research validated job benchmarks and assessments, it’s possible to pinpoint exactly what a person’s workplace strengths and weaknesses are. Smart companies are using the latest technology, available online, to not only generate an assessment they can review with the employee, but to ‘prescribe’ professional development modules that the employee can use anywhere they have access to the internet. Managers can review performance goals and contribute suggestions online, too, without having to micromanage either performance or professional development.

Contact your Remodelers Advantage for help streamlining performance management and improvement on any budget.

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Business Management, Employee Retention | No Comments »

PowerTip: Your #1 Tool for Maximizing Profits

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 by victoria

Judith Miller is known as the industry’s “numbers” expert.  She uses her in-depth knowledge of remodeling company operations and financial statements to help remodeling company owners “own” the numbers of their businesses and make improvements from what they find.  Judith believes that a deep understanding of company financials is the foundation for consistent, long term success. We agree.  Below, Judith shares her thoughts on how to identify priority areas for your continual improvement efforts.

Over the years of working with remodeling contractors, some simple patterns have become apparent.  One remodeler’s strong interest in people leads to success in sales.  Another’s love for design produces award-winning projects.  Both companies can enjoy a certain level of success and stability over time.

But to develop a larger company complete with beautiful office space, internal staff and consistent profitability sufficient to develop a nest egg for retirement demands an owner with another attribute – a love of numbers.

Only by digging through job cost reports, understanding financial statements and developing trend-lines for current concerns can an owner truly understand, protect and forecast company profitability. Your financial statements are truly your #1 tool for maximizing profits.

Embracing this role is not a task for the faint-hearted;  neither can it be delegated in the early stages of company development.  The owner must understand certain vital components of the business and measure them continually.

To many whose interests lie elsewhere, the task seems overwhelming.  But long-term success rests on determining not just what to measure, but when.  Some indicators, such as cash flow, merit weekly tracking, others, such as gross profit margin, are job dependent so are measured throughout the course of a project.   Monthly and quarterly tracking suffice for still others, such as accounts receivable and payable turnover ratios.

Certain problems quickly point out where you should put your focus:

  • If vendors and subs continue to hound you for payment, then maximizing cash flow should be your number one priority.
  • If your produced gross profit margin is always more than 2 or 3 points different from what was estimated (either way), then an in-depth look at estimating and production jumps to the top spot on the priority list.
  • When sales are erratic and you complete one job only to wait for the next, marketing–including the analysis of lead flow and closing ratios– bears scrutiny.

Just as the emergency room crew determines which patient to handle first, you must learn to use your financials and other performance metrics to  identify which problem should have top priority and then perform ‘triage’ on that area quickly.  Triage looks at the current situation, establishes relative importance and operates ‘first on the worst’, then moves on to the next. It’s a never ending cycle that continues the life of your business – just as one variable is stabilized, another takes on greater importance.

The result of this focus on continual improvement is company performance that improves and improves, delivering greater stability, greater profits, and greater results overall.  Treat this process with the importance it deserves and you will earn the life you deserve.

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Business Management, Financial Management, Leadership | No Comments »

PowerTips: Words of Wisdom from an Industry Guru

Thursday, August 11th, 2011 by victoria

I’ve worked with one of the most knowledgeable people in the industry. Linda Case, for over 20 years and it’s been an unbelievable pleasure.   You’ve been reading her column in Remodeling magazine for even longer and if the notes that we receive from readers are true, Linda’s changed many lives with her words of wisdom. Well, Linda is retiring from the remodeling industry at the end of this year and she’ll be sorely missed. However, you’ll still have a bit of her business savvy to help you build strong, profitable remodeling companies. That’s because she’s compiled a fabulous selection of essays on the topics you need most, and this valuable information will soon be available in her new book, Business Straight to the Heart: The Remodelers Guide to Leadership, Management and Success. Here’s a taste of what promised to be another best seller . . .

Are you wondering what you will do “when you grow up”? Are you feeling blah about your business and where you are in life? Do you wonder if there is more (satisfaction? money? free time? balance? fun?) than you are currently experiencing?

No, this is not a commercial for hair implants, little blue pills, or a singles dating service. It is not uncommon for me to work with remodelers who question the direction they have taken in their business lives. So what do I do? I ask them more questions.

This may sound like a fortune cookie, but I’ve learned over the years that the right answers come from asking the right questions. And the right answers come from reaching back to the bedrock in your life (what you love, what you believe, what is really important to you) and then working forward.

Here are some tried-and-true questions that I use to help elicit answers from clients that can point the way to the company that best suits their abilities and lifestyle. You can use them, too. Just be sure to write down your answers so you can adjust and edit them and return to them in order to mine the information they hold for you. To give you some idea of how your answer might look, I’ve provided a few of the answers recently given by a remodeler in his quest for a better fit with his company.

What are your strengths and weaknesses as a person?

What are your strengths and weaknesses in business?

“I tend to take on too much. I over-commit. I fail to follow through….I am sometimes almost visionary. I am particularly creative, resourceful, and a great problem solver. And I have always been exceptional at bringing in business…but not so good at handling it once I’ve brought it in.”

What do you love to do in your personal life?

What do you love to do at work?

What do you dislike doing at work?

“I hate being disorganized or not on top of my details. I also dislike being hectic, particularly because I tend to lose focus when I am hectic and then I can miss important things. I get tired and bored when doing repetitive tasks….”

If you had just the company you want 3 years from now, what would it look like?

How do you like managing others in your business? Are you good at hiring? At coaching? “I like managing. I can be a good coach, and I can tell people hard things, too, when necessary, usually in a productive way. I do, however, need a good structure to make sure I follow through on all of the details….”

What kind and size of projects please you the most?

What kind of clients (including education level, finances) do you prefer working with?

Do you read business books? How many in a year? If so which have been your favorites?

Do you read trade magazines, trade books, etc.?

How do you view the importance of finances in your company? How do you judge if you are doing well or poorly financially?

“It’s as if I have had blinders on these last 6 years. All I paid attention to was the checkbook balance, my billables, and what I was able to draw out as take-home pay….I understand that to move forward I must discipline myself to pay close and regular attention to the P&L and the balance sheet….”

Each of us can design a company that complements our goals and talents. It takes stepping back, analyzing what is working and what is not, assessing our strengths and weaknesses, and then building a company where our strengths are maximized to their highest impact and value—and one where we love what we do and what we deliver!

And More Questions….

The following is the quickest quiz you’ll ever take. It will take you approximately 10 seconds. If you can answer “yes” to the following three questions, you don’t need to read any further. Pat yourself on the back, for you are a success in business. However, if some of your answers are “no,” keep reading.

1. Do you make a good salary and a net profit that compensates you for the risks you take as owner?

2. Do you work 50 hours a week or less in your business?

3. Are you generally happy in your business?

The last question is undoubtedly the most important but is usually dependent on the first two. So let’s start with money.

1. Can a remodeler make both a good salary and a healthy net profit of 5 to 10%? Absolutely. Is it easy? Not particularly. But it’s not easy to be financially successful in any field. After working with thousands of remodelers, I have learned that turning this critical area around starts with convincing the owner that there is no use staying in their business if they can’t make adequate money (the “stick”) and showing them that others no brighter or more talented than they have conquered this problem (the “carrot”).

This is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Business Straight to the Heart: The Remodelers Guide to Leadership, Managment and Success.  The book is in production and will begin shipping in mid-September.

To tap into more of this knowledge and insight,  join the community of successful remodelers and array of industry experts who are all a  part of Remodelers Advantage. Over 300 remodeling company owners and staff have experienced the difference Remodelers Advantage can make.  Click here to contact us today and see your life improve tomorrow!

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Business Coaching, Business Growth, Business Management, Leadership | No Comments »

PowerTip: A Key To Accountability — Company Meetings

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 by victoria
You probably know that industry guru and long-time Remodeling columnist, Linda Case, is the founder of Remodelers Advantage. We were recently talking about the importance of company meetings and below, she shares some thoughts with you.

Meetings.  Are they time-wasters, money-squanderers, gripe sessions, and ill-planned interruptions to actually getting work done?  That’s what many remodelers think.  Consequently, they don’t hold formal meetings even in multi-million dollar companies.

I disagree.  Well-run meetings harness your team to achieve goals and to be accountable for results in their day-to-day roles.  They allow an owner to communicate a uniform message efficiently and build future leaders for the company.

Picture such a meeting.  It’s the weekly Key Management Team Meeting. It is always held Tuesday’s at 8am.  It includes the company owner, the office manager, the sales manager, and the production manager.  Everyone has learned to be there on time because they know the meeting will start right at 8 and they will be embarrassed to walk in late.  They know that it will end by 9:30 and have scheduled their day accordingly.  There are no interruptions for answering phone calls, etc. unless it is a true emergency.  The meeting is facilitated by the company owner working from a written agenda.  But if the company owner is on vacation, the meeting is run by one of the key team.

The office manager has e-mailed the agenda to everyone before the meeting.  She compiles it by checking with each attendee as to whether they have an issue they want to discuss, how much time should be allotted to that issue and how high a priority it is (just in case there is too much on the agenda.)  She arranges the agenda with departmental reports first, ongoing project reports next (they are working on streamlining the handoff from sales to production and each attendee has some “homework” they’ve agreed to bring to the next meeting), and new issues last.

She also makes sure the Flash Report – a concise one page report with key data – has been compiled and copied for each attendee.  It includes leads taken in, sales made, jobs closed, client evaluation scores received, and much more.  The Key Team finds that having this information pre-packaged for the meeting saves considerable time and keeps them focused on the important numbers they want to track.

Once a month, analyzing the latest P & L and Balance Sheet is on the agenda as well as reviewing the company Budget to Actual report.  This meeting is two hours long because the Key Team’s goal for the year is to get better educated about how to read financials and use the information they provide to manage better.  To train themselves, they read and discuss a chapter in a book on financial management for non-financial people and their friendly neighborhood accountant comes in to answer questions and teach a short lesson.

As the meeting progresses, the office manager takes minutes of what has been agreed upon, who will do what by when.  These minutes will be e-mailed to all attendees and the agreements of what will be done by the next meeting are rolled forward into that new agenda.

The facilitator keeps the meeting on task and time and will ask participants who might have gotten off track to work on that later outside the meeting.  Everyone leaves the meeting updated on the state of the entire company, and with a sense of accomplishment that they are invested in the company’s success and that the company is continuously improving.

Yes, this is the picture of the perfect meeting!  But the point is that great meetings don’t just happen – they are the result of organization and planning.  So if your meetings are floundering, make them productive with these seven tools:

  • A clear purpose
  • Guidelines for behavior
  • Written agenda
  • Defined time frame
  • Facilitator
  • Minutes
  • Flash Report – Pre-meeting information gathering

And don’t forget to throw in some fun, celebration and recognition.  They will make good meetings even better.

Thanks, Linda.  We know that regular meetings are one of the best ways to save time. In fact, since we started following the techniques shared in Death by Meeting by Patrick Lincioni, it’s made a dramatic difference in our efficiency and productivity. It will do the same for you. Try it for at least three months. I guarantee you won’t go back.

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Business Growth, Business Management, Leadership | No Comments »

Ten Steps for Creating a Culture of Commitment and Accountability

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 by victoria

We all say that we want our people to be accountable and responsible for their actions, but are we doing what it takes to achieve these results? Here are my suggestions for building this culture within your remodeling company.

1.) Communicate to everyone that accountability and commitment are important! Then model it! If you’ve made a commitment, do it! Your actions will set the tone for all.

2.) Align every job description to your company’s strategy and goals for the coming year. Ask everyone to commit to a shared vision of results. Then talk about it at every company meeting.

3.) Make accountabilities clear for everyone by using a benchmark for their job. This is a document that lists key accountabilities, results that equal employee success and more. Use it to start a discussion about how each individual contribution matters.

4.) When you onboard new employees, have job-related professional development resources already in place to help them reach their full potential. If you don’t have a list now, work with your new employee to develop one. What skills do they want to improve over time? What resources do they need to help them achieve this goal?

5.) Build accountability into your company culture using “what & by when” goal and task planning. Project management can be very sophisticated, but the bottom line is “who, what, and by when?”

6.) Offer ways for employees to communicate obstacles and request the help or resources they need to achieve their goals. When you listen to them, recognize that what you’re listening to is someone who is committed to producing results. Regular meetings are a key to this sort of communication.

7.) Involve employees in an ongoing dialogue about how they can identify process improvements or otherwise increase the quality of their work and the team’s productivity. Your employees are a wealth of information. Remember to keep an open mind to the ideas they bring to the table. There may be a better way.

8.) Use small “course corrections” on a monthly or as-needed basis to guide employees toward behaviors and practices that are effective for meeting goals. Don’t wait for the annual performance review. You wouldn’t wait until arrival at a destination to notice a wrong turn along the way, would you?

9.) “Catch” people doing something right: Give frequent, honest and positive feedback. As a general rule of thumb, a ratio of five positive interactions to one critical interaction will help managers build an open communication channel with direct reports.

10.) Identify ways to recognize and acknowledge employees company-wide when their actions exemplify an “above and beyond” commitment to company objectives. Success breeds success!

If you’re serious about achieving spectacular results next year, get everyone involved. We can help with job benchmarks, employee coaching tools, recruiting services, onboarding programs and more. These tools can transform the results you’re achieving with your team.

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Employee Retention, Leadership | No Comments »

Getting Your Staff to Think and Act Like Owners by Linda Case

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 by victoria

I am fired-up! I’ve been to Ann Arbor, MI and it’s a neat college town. But the reason I’m fired up is visiting and learning from a fired-up company that’s based there. Called “the coolest small company in America” by Inc. magazine, Zingerman’s Community of Businesses opened up their operations to 90 of our clients and we saw an incredibly strong brand in operation, learned how a truly shared vision can power that brand and support it with passion and excellence in execution and learned how a company can grow through diversification and shared risk.

First a caution and a strong opinion. Some remodelers are very linear in thinking and feel that their business learning only comes directly from other remodelers. They are partially right in that we can learn so much from our peers who have already conquered some of the hurdles we face.

But if you want to propel your company forward, if you want to think beyond the edge, if you want to beat tomorrow’s competitors before they even arrive, you have to be learning from the very best in whatever industry they arise. This takes a higher form of thinking because their challenges will not be exactly the same as yours and their solutions must be adapted to our industry. But the payoff can be grand.

Back to Zingerman’s, a community of 32 businesses doing $35 million in annual sales selling premium food products in Michigan’s doubly recessed economy. They started as a deli and have progressed to mail order, restaurants, a bakehouse, a creamery and a training arm. Here are just a few of my takeaways:

They’ve developed a well-defined philosophical infrastructure that allows them to align all their staff and all their systems and their culture. Their mission, vision and guiding principles elevate their daily work from drudgery to significance. As the stonemason said (and Zingerman’s repeats), “I’m not just laying stone, I’m building a cathedral.” And they’ve made this philosophy very simple and very learnable. This shared philosophy becomes more than critical in aligning 32 businesses, each of which is expected to support the brand.

Training of each employee is paramount. Each carries a paper pocket-sized “passport” with what they need to learn in their job and what they need to learn about Zingerman’s and as they learn it through formal class or mentoring, it gets checked off. This training includes the philosophical differences that support the brand as well as the metrics that support the business plus the learning that each needs in their job.

The original business had two partners and as they add new divisions to their community, it is run under the corporate umbrella by an additional managing partner who might be a long time employee who has proved their mettle or may be someone new like a chef. The starting of a new business goes through rigorous vetting and must fit the company’s mission and vision. The new partner buys into the new business. This is a business that grows through new ventures that are aligned with the original venture.

There is a triple bottom line and all get measured. They aspire to great food, great service and great finance. They are open book but will tolerate the long financial nurturing of individual businesses financially but must hit the mark on food and service.

The monitoring of key activities leading to success in each business has been made very simple and is monitored on a daily basis during the morning huddle and posted on a large white board that every staff person can see. These metrics are not static but are changed as needed.

We visited their bakehouse, creamery, and a restaurant, eating all the way. We questioned lots of staff to see if what we had learned was really in operation and indeed, it was.

I have to end with a personal experience of the Zingerman’s difference. During dinner at one of their restaurants, a waitperson named Sharon came by to ask if I was “finished enjoying.” What a nice subtlety. Then she asked if I wanted coffee. I said I’d love some decaf but only if she gave me her phone number to call at midnight if I was still awake because it’s not unusual to have regular coffee substituted. She laughed. But soon I was laughing because between the coffee cup and the saucer was a napkin with her name and phone number on it. Needless to say, I didn’t need it.

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Business Management, Employee Retention, Leadership | No Comments »

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