Category Archives: small business owner

You Ruin Good People By Promoting Them

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Leadership Development, Management, Personal Development, Personality Types, Professional development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, small business owner, Soft-Skills Training, Teacher, Uncategorized

Do automotive technicians make the best service managers or shop foreman? Do great athletes have what it takes to be a successful coach? Just because people are good at what they do – doesn’t mean they’ll be just as good in a management position. You ruin good people by promoting them if you aren’t prepared to help them take on a new role. Not everyone has what it takes to manage and lead others. Managing is about people. If you don’t like being around people and helping them succeed, you will be a lousy manager. Managing and leading others isn’t about what you know – it’s about being able and willing to teach others what you know.

Worth Rememberng … “One of the most important things about being a manager is to rule with a heart. You have to know the business, but you have to know what is at the heart of business, and that’s people.” – Oprah

Hiring a good manager or promoting from within starts with the selection process. What key characteristics should you be looking for in your managers? If you had to create a list of the qualities you believe a good manager or leader must have – what would you put on that list? Honesty, integrity, a great communicator, and listening to others would be a good start. Managers and leaders should be open-minded, flexible, patient and empathetic. Respecting others and being respectful is a 2-way street – You must give it to get it.

Worth Remembering … “We are being judged by a new yardstick; not just how smart we are, or by our training and expertise, but also by how well we handle ourselves and each other.” – Daniel Goleman

I believe we aren’t born knowing how to manage and lead others. I think it is a learned behaviour. We all make certain assumptions based on our own experiences and perceptions about the kind of role we think managers and leaders should play. But we also know from experience that our perceptions may not always be correct and that sometimes we have to change our thinking. Today’s managers and leaders need to change how they manage and lead others to stay in step with these changes. Twentieth-century thinking doesn’t cut it anymore. Just because someone has been there the longest or has the most experience doing what they do – doesn’t mean they’ll be good at managing or leading others. You ruin good people by promoting them if you aren’t prepared to teach them how to manage and lead the 21st century way.

Copyright (c) 2021. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. To find out more about Brian and what he can do for you and your organization visit – https://briansmithpld.com

I’ve Just Been Promoted – What Should I do Next?

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Dealing with Difficult People, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Development, Management, Mentorship, Personal Development, Professional development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, small business owner, Soft-Skills Training, Teacher, Uncategorized

Congratulations on your promotion! Your management team believes you have the potential to take on a management or leadership role in your organization. Making that transition from worker to manager can be a difficult one. It requires a different skill set. It’s no longer about what you know – it’s now about your ability to teach someone else. It’s no longer about you – it’s about them and what you need to do to help them be successful. If your team succeeds, then you succeed. If they fail – it’s because you failed to give them the tools they needed to complete the task and accomplish the goal.

Worth Remembering … “You establish some objectives for them, provide some incentive and try not to direct the detailed way in which they do their work.” – David Packard, HP

I’ve spent over 40 years as a general manager for a major retailer, college professor and independent business owner, so I can tell you from my own experiences that managing and leading others is a learned behaviour.

Here is what I recommend you should do next.

  • Learn to communicate in a style that they like. No one wants to be talked down too.
  • Take the time to listen to what others have to say. You don’t have to agree with them, but you need to respect that they have an opinion and have a right to express it.
  • Be empathetic. See things from their point of view. There may be somethings going on that you aren’t aware of.
  • Be flexible and open minded. It doesn’t have to be just your way to complete the task. Allow others to have input.
  • Be patient. It takes time for people to learn new skills. Be there to offer your support. It would help if you were their biggest cheerleader.
  • Relationships are important. People like to work with people who make them feel that they are wanted and appreciated. Take the time to get to know the people you are working with.

Worth Remembering … “Desire for approval and recognition is a healthy motive but the desire to be acknowledged as better, stronger, or more intelligent easily leads to an excessively egoistic psychological adjustment.” – Albert Einstein

It’s important to know what you know, but I think it’s more important to acknowledge what you don’t know. You don’t have all the answers. How could you? You’ve just been promoted. Managing and leading others is all new to you. Soft skills, your ability to interact more effectively with others, are more critical to your success than your technical knowledge.

Copyright (c) 2021. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. To find out more about Brian and what he can do for you and your organization visit: https://briansmithpld.com

PLOCers Make The Best Managers and Leaders

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Development, Management, Mentorship, Personal Development, Planning, Professional development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, small business owner, Soft-Skills Training, Teacher, Uncategorized

I can still see Ron Knowles standing up on his desk, plocking like a chicken and flapping his arms as if they were wings. Ron Knowles, professor extraordinaire, mentor and colleague, always tried to come up with interesting and unconventional ways to make learning fun. PLOCers make the best managers and leaders; he would tell me. If they can’t PLOC Smitty, they will have a difficult time trying manage and lead others. If you want to be a more effective manager or leader, take a page out of Ron’s book and learn to PLOC. Trust me – you’ll be glad you did and the people you work with will be better for it.

Planning: – Managing and leading others is a planned event. What gets planned and executed gets done. A great plan always starts with the end in mind. It would be best if you had a clear understanding of what it is you want to accomplish. Once you decide your goal, put a plan together to get there, outlining each step you need to take.

Leading: – Great managers and leaders lead by example. Be the kind of leader that you would follow. Honesty, integrity, empathy, open-mindedness and trustworthiness should mean more than fancy platitudes. Having the ability to manage and lead others is a learned behaviour. Decide what new skills you need to learn and take the time to learn them.

Organizing: – Great managers and leaders excel at managing their time and their teams time. In a standard 40 hour work week, you have 200 hours to accomplish what must be completed that week. It’s crucial to prioritize what needs to be done and when. Remember, you can’t do it by yourself so delegate, delegate and delegate some more.

Controlling: – There are several ways you can control without mirco-managing the outcomes. You control the purse strings. You control promotions. You control who gets to do what. You control the perks. You control who gets hired and who gets fired. Forcing others to do what needs to be done by bullying or intimidating them no longer works. The key is to find out what they want and help them get theirs, and you’ll get yours. Use the carrot, not the stick.

PLOCers make the best managers and leaders. Are you ready to PLOC?

Copyright (c) 2020. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. To find out more about Brian and what he can do for you and your organization visit https\;//briansmithpld.com or contact him directly at: brian@briansmithpld.com

Why Delegation Fails and What You Can Do About It.

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Development, Management, Mentorship, Personal Development, Professional development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, small business owner, Soft-Skills Training, Teacher, Uncategorized

Some managers and business leaders still believe that they must be involved in all things to control things. The truth of the matter is – it’s bigger than you are. You can’t be in all places at the same time. You physically can’t be looking over everyone’s shoulder all of the time. The key to managing and leading in today’s world is about inclusion, not exclusion – the more you give up control, the more you’ll have control.

Worth Remembering … “In the digital age, you need to make knowledge workers out of every employee possible.” – Bill Gates

Delegation fails when we fail to give up some of our control. Delegation fails when we fail to allow others to decide on a course of action. Delegation fails when we hold them accountable for the results but we failed to give them the tools they’ll need to accomplish the task. When you fail to delegate, you are robbing others of their opportunity to grow. What is it about sharing some of your responsibilities with others that scares you?

Worth Remembering … “You establish some objectives for them, provide some incentive, and try not to direct the detailed way in which they do their work.” – David Packard

Think of all the tasks that you do and list them on a piece of paper. Look over your list and circle the ones that only you can do. (Promotions, salary reviews, disciplinary actions, etc.) – If you are honest with yourself, there must be some items on your list that you didn’t circle. Those are the tasks that you can delegate. Think about who on your team is capable of completing those tasks.

Eight Easy Steps to Effective Delegation

1 – Decide what you want to delegate.

2 – Decide who is capable and, most importantly, who is willing to take on more responsibility.

3 – Create a teachable moment. Teach them how to perform the task.

4 – Ask questions, so you know they understand what needs to be done.

5 – Monitor their performance. People do what you inspect not what you expect.

6 – Keep the lines of communication open. You need to make yourself available to answer any questions or concerns they have.

7 – Hold them accountable for the results but be sure you have given them all the tools they need to complete the task.

8 – Praise performance. Recognize what has been accomplished and be quick to praise for a job well done.

Delegation fails when you fail to allow others to grow. What are you going to do about it?

Copyright (c) 2020. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. To find out more about Brian and what he can do for you and your organization visit: https://briansmithpld.com