photo by Jerry

A lot of thought over the years has gone into what makes a business great. In the business classic “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, 5 years of painstaking research led to a lot of interesting conclusions about what separated great companies from good companies (and all the rest).

Some of the key drivers included things like great leadership, and disciplined focus but one of the fundamental keys to a great business is that they have great people. In other words, using Collins terminology you have to get the right people on the bus if you want to succeed.

But what are the Right People?  How do you evaluate them?  Let’s hear from Jim Collins first:

Read More…

photo by woodleywonderworks

As a small business owner there are probably a lot of times when you feel like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders.

The reality is that you can’t do it all – at least not for the long run, and if you ever want to take your business to the next level, you are going to have to go out on that limb and get some help.

I’ve had a lot of conversation this week (several of them in BANG! Sessions) with business owners that are struggling with finding help.

In several cases, they’ve been burned previously by hiring someone that over promised and under delivered.  In other cases, they were struggling with the right kind of person to bring on board – the low level assistant that can get the grunt work out of the way?  Or should they bring on the sales lead that can take a real leadership position and really get some responsibilities off their plate? Read More…

Monty Python’s Spamalot was in Kansas City’s Music Hall this past week and I was fortunate to see it last night.  For those that don’t know, Spamalot is “lovingly ripped off” from Monty Python and The Holy Grail.  (their description, not mine).

“Always look on the Bright Side of Life” is one of the big numbers in the show (although it’s actually from the Life of Brian).

Anyway, the point is that the show was very good, lots of spoofs on Broadway in general and they managed to keep almost all of the best parts of the movie intact.  There were some extremely funny moments, definitely two thumbs up!

But probably the biggest reason for their success last night at least was because of how much fun the cast was having.  I have never  been in a major off-Broadway production, but I’ve seen a lot of them and this cast just appeared to be having more fun than others I’ve seen.  And it made the audience enjoy the whole thing even more…

FUN…

Children laugh an average of 400 times a day and that number drops to only 15 times a day by the time people reach age 35. Preschoolers must know something we don?t. Laughter releases endorphins (a chemical 10 times more powerful than the pain-relieving drug morphine) into the body with the same exhilarating effect as doing strenuous exercise. Laughing increases oxygen intake, thereby replenishing and invigorating cells. It also increases the pain threshold, boosts immunity, and relieves stress.

For those that have been corporate cube dwellers, the word fun is almost forbidden (at least in 95% of the corporate environments that I’ve seen).

Which by the way is one of the reasons that most corporate environments are broken.

There’s a great ad running on CNBC for CNBC in the “I am American Business” series.  (See writeup and video clip here)

Herb Kelleher, the former CEO for Southwest Airlines is explaining his philosophy on business as (I’m paraphrasing here):  Employees first, Customers second and Shareholders third.  If the employees are relaxed, having fun while they do their jobs, the customers will enjoy themselves and come back, which makes the shareholders happy.

Herb Kelleher and Southwest Airlines are a legendary success story, especially in a difficult and competitive industry.

And the focus at Southwest is on having fun…

In 1998, a film was created by John Christensen at the Seattle Pike Place Market entitled FISH!

What John captured and translated into film was that even in a workplace where fishmongers spent stinky, grueling 12-hour shifts stocking, selling and packing fish, remarkable results can occur when people accept the invitation to: 1) Be There for their coworkers and customers; 2) Play; 3) Make someone’s day, and; 4) Choose their attitude about how they show up for work.

The success of this story has gone on to create a thriving educational and training company centered around the philosophy that not only is it okay to have fun at work, it’s required if you want to get the best out of your people.

Here are a few reasons why this idea works and is so important:

1. More Productive:  Your employees (and you…) will do their best work in a relaxed, supportive environment.
2. Better Customer Experience:  Your customers will notice and appreciate the festive atmosphere.  *Note – this must be in addition to professionally providing good service, it can’t be just about having a good time.
3. Improved Employee Retention:  Your employee retention rate will be much higher than average.  There’s another post I could write on this, but suffice it to say that employees in 2007, especially the younger generation are not willing to put up with a bad environment just to keep a job.
4. Improved Hiring response:  If you’ve got a positive workplace, people will be clamoring to work for you even if the pay is just average.  Having fun could save you money!

So how does your business stack up on the fun meter?  And I’m not talking about forced fun like awkward team-building exercises or the occasional Pot Luck lunch.

What do you do to genuinely generate fun for and with your employees?

If you’re not sure, perhaps it’s time to schedule an all hands with your staff and ask them what would be fun…and productive.

Always look on the Bright Side of Life

words and music by Eric Idle

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best…

And…always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life…

If life seems jolly rotten
There’s something you’ve forgotten
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you’re feeling in the dumps
Don’t be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle – that’s the thing.

And…always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life…

Share any fun ideas you might have here – I’d love to hear them!

Shawn Kinkade www.aspirekc.com

I’m back from vacation.  We had a great time, but anytime you’re 24×7 with a couple of 8 year olds (our kids), it’s anything but relaxing.  We did see a lot of great scenery (Rocky Mountain National Park) and I got at least a few good pictures and the kids had fun, so all in all it was a success.

So…on to some thoughts about the difficulties of hiring.  This came to mind because I pulled together some specific ideas on how using Extended DISC assessments (Extended DISC) could be extremely beneficial to making good hiring decisions for a contact of mine that’s looking to solve a hiring problem.

This particular challenge is to build up a business almost from scratch…they currently have 6 employees, but they’re going to be ramping to 3 or 4 times that number in a fairly short period of time.  They will likely have some unique issues, but the essence of it is the importance of hiring good people.  (good for you, good for them, win-win all the way around).

The hiring concept that I’ve used successfully and seen preached by experts (the most common example is Southwest Airlines) is “Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill”.  There’s an old (but still relevant Article from Fast Company that highlights this idea:  “What people know is less important than who they are.”

That’s where Extended DISC comes in, it’s a fantastic assessment tool that clearly and concisely outlines the behaviors of prospective candidates.  The process is quick (online), inexpensive and has been proven to a high degree of accuracy across a very wide user base.

So how could you use this tool to solve a hiring dilemma? 

One idea would be to use an assessment with a model employee and use those results as a template for prospective hires.  

Another approach would be to build a customized Job Analysis using the Extended DISC tools and process which would give you a customized assessment that prioritizes the results based on your particular job needs.  This takes a little more up front work, but it’s a thought process you probably needed to go through anyway if you’re creating a new position.

Obviously these are some simplistic examples, but the beauty of the tool is all of the different things you can do with it, quickly, easily and cheaply.

How do you approach hiring?  Do you agree or disagree with hiring for attitude versus experience?  Share your thoughts and let me know what you’re thinking.

Shawn Kinkade – Aspire Business Development