Cotton & Company

Coffee with Cotton – November 8, 2010

Last week I mentioned “Words of Wisdom” from an article in Inc. Magazine.  Here are the remaining ideas from some key entrepreneurs (and I quote):

• Systems run the company; people run the systems.
• It will take four times as much work as you expect but be 10 times more rewarding than you can imagine.
• There is always a solution.
• You cannot do everything yourself.
• Without knowing where you are at all times financially, you are destined to fail.
• Never confuse a consultant with a partner.
• At its founding, a business is victim to what you don’t know; at adolescence, it’s victim to what you think you know; and as it matures, it’s victim to how willing you are to hand the reins to those more qualified.
• You don’t lose until you give up.

Coffee with Cotton – October 18, 2010

Inc. Magazine annually ranks the 40 top small company workplaces.  Some of the characteristics of these companies is that they have a good working environment where people have opportunities to learn and advance.  They also recognize that employees have a “life outside work”.   Here are some statistics about the winners:

• 75% offer educational assistance
• 83% practice “open-book” management
• 28% pay for their employees’ health insurance
• 95% offer flexible work arrangements
• All provide more than the average two weeks of vacation.  Some provided 4 weeks.

If these are not characteristics of your company or division, you may want to think about how to implement some of these ideas.  It costs a whole lot more to hire and train new people than keep the ones you have!

Coffee with Cotton – October 11, 2010

I have been discussing key points in building a strong team.  One of the most valuable benefits a company can provide is assistance with the relationship between their professional and their personal lives. 

• Consider flexible hours.  Staggering starting and ending times can not only be helpful to the employee, it allows for the company to have “live” people there at some of the more “off hours”.  Someone might want to come in at 7 and leave at 3.  Someone else might want to come in at 10 and work until 6.
• Allow telecommuting.  Many companies now allow their employees to work from home most of the time, but even if that is not possible, consider the idea of telecommuting periodically.
• Parental or spousal assistance.  Many of  your employees may have children or aging parents and  this can present problems when there are school holidays, when their children are sick, or when a spouse or parent needs doctor appointments or special care.  If you have many employees who have young children, you might even consider setting up some “after-school care”.

Respecting your employees’ personal lives and challenges they face, is an important part of building a good team and a strong company.

Coffee with Cotton – October 4, 2010

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I have worked at some really good companies and some that were not so good.  Today I want to focus on how you treat a new employee.  I remember a radio sales job I took in Miami, having just moved there from San Francisco.  I had only been in the area for a couple of weeks, and actually lived about 30 miles north of the radio station so was not even familiar with what was near the station.

On my first day, the manager said hello and then disappeared.  I was given no instructions other than “here’s our media kit – why don’t you familiarize yourself with it?”  At lunch time, the other sales people all left for lunch.  I had no idea about where to eat and didn’t know the area at all.  It was not a great start.  I did not feel that I was a valued addition to the company.  Now I can understand how busy we all are, but here are the things I have always done for a new employee, particularly on their first day and even in their first week:

• I am there to greet them and to show them their desk or office and where things are.
• I show them things like how to use the phone, set up voice mail, etc.
• I give them a list of other employees, what they do and where they are located.  I generally set up brief meetings with the team members and managers so they can give an overview as to what their job functions are.
• I have them “shadow” other team members.  For example, if  they are in sales, I arrange for them to go on calls with each of the other sales people.
• I take them to lunch.  I also try to arrange an “after hours” get together with some of the other team members.

Now if you are not in a position to do this yourself, I’d suggest you find someone who will do these things.  It gets the new employee off “on the right foot”.

Cotton with Cotton – September 27, 2010

I’ve worked at some very good companies and some not so good ones.  In reviewing what made some of them so good, I have found several principles they all had in common:

• They had open communication.  They shared information – the good, the bad, the ugly.  When people see “closed-door meeting” or hear rumors, it quickly destroys a team. Secrets cause backstabbing and power plays.
• They allowed all or most to participate in making decisions.  Often an owner or a couple of managers get together and make decisions that affect much of the group.  Then it makes it hard for a “buy in” by the rest, so if at all possible, let your team make decisions with you.
• They build their company on service, but not just customer service to their clients, but to each other.  And even more importantly, they provided service to each other without a thought of a return.  Sometimes sales people provide customer service and it is done to make the sale or keep the sale, not simply because they feel it is the right thing to do.  If one of your team members finished his/her project, would they think “what can I do to help someone else on my team?”
• Along with the previous idea, they managers or owners treated everyone equally as if they were also owners alongside them.  When people have that kind of respect, they are much more likely to be creative and innovative and want t0 make the company better.

You can probably think of other key ideas, but let this get you started thinking how you can build a better team and a better company!

Coffee with Cotton – September 17, 2010

Yesterday I commented on what to do when goals don’t work out.  Here is another strategy you can use to break through challenges (and it’s actually good to use in many situations).  It’s the concept of the ” Power of Threes”.  Our brains tend to grasp concepts best when they are organized in groups of threes.  This is also a key to memory.  If you are trying to memorize a long list of items or numbers, memory experts always tell you to break the list into groups of three items or numbers.  Think of your phone number – it is grouped in three sections.  How about your Social Security Number?  The Trinity.  You can probably think of lots of places where things are grouped like that.

So you can use this principle to help you find your way out of challenging situations.  If you are not motivated – take a few seconds and think “what are three things I could do right now to get motivated?”   If a goal is overwhelming – take a few seconds and think, “what are three things I could do to break this goal down or three things that could move me forward on this goal?” This works for all kinds of things.  Let’s say your desk or office is a mess – “what three things can I do right now to get more organized?”    If your house is a mess – “what three things can I do right now to start cleaning up my house?” 

It is interesting that a tool as simple as this can make a big difference!