Coach Advisors

JURY AWARDS EMPLOYEE 3.5 MILLION JUDGMENT FOR HARASSMENT

This 3rd of february 2009, Hewlett Packard Caribe was hit  with a  $ 3.5 million judgment in a sexual hostile environment and harassment civil suit  filed by a female employee. There were alleged breach of federal and Puerto Rico laws.

STOP TRYING TO BE EVERYTHING TO EVERYBODY

As small businesses owners find it increasingly difficult to compete in a crowded marketplace, they try to market to everyone.  Unfortunately you cannot be all things to every customer. If you are that kind of business there is another way. It’s about focusing on your uniqueness. By differentiating yourself from the competition, you are creating valuable space in a very crowded marketplace. More importantly, you may begin to stop competing based on price.

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There is a physician I used to visit. He practices sports medicine.  He did not accept medical plans,  credit cards or ATMs.    Thousands of dollars in cash flowed weekly through that prosperous medical practice.  By differentiating   himself from other doctors, he could charge higher fees, demand cash and avoid slow paying discounted medical plans.

Competing on price is the worst thing you can do.  Avoid it like the plague. When you lure customers based on discounts, you are cornering your business into tight profits. Your customers will begin demanding low price and that is what you will be known for. To give you an idea, if your product has a profit margin of 30% and you give a 10% discount, you’re losing one-third of the available profit. Lowering your profit margins means you have to sell more and work harder for the same net income.  That does not make sense, if you are in business to make money, you should be doing it with the least amount of effort possible. After all it’s never about the money.

It’s time for you to start selling by following a more focused approach; one that will yield the customers you want based on your uniqueness. It’s about finding your niche. This requires two steps. First examine both your business and the competition.  Follow by identifying your ideal client.    Then you can begin to market your business and give them what they want.

Some businesses talk about image development.  I had a client that was approached by ad agency suggesting that he spend thousands of advertising dollars developing the business’s image.  This included a radio and print campaign and sponsorships on mayor events. The theory was that by letting the world know that he existed, many would come knocking his door. Marketing without knowledge of who wants your products – is like following Alice in Wonderland. 

Your marketing dollars must be an investment not an expense. Unless you are a large enterprise, spending money to enhance your image in the community is probably the biggest waste of advertising dollars. The simple uncomplicated strategy is to lead a focused marketing message to your prospects that you are a specialist in what your targeted clients want.

CONFRONTING BAD WORKER ATTITUDE WITH RESULTS AND WITHOUT STRESS

If you are a boss that relies on disciplinary memos to improve employees’ attitudes or performance you should know by now, it rarely works.  Written warnings are often perceived by workers as the untold beginning of their discharge process. It’s not surprising that they are counter-productive.  On the surface, the employee may appear as if he will correct the situation.  Wrong.  He is just playing the same game you are.

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If disciplinary memos are ineffective to improve performance, why do you and other employers keep using them? It’s simply the fall back position after repeatedly avoiding to deal with the issue.  Rather than immediately confronting the employee with the unwanted behavior, you  avoid  and evade  taking action.

You dislike confronting bad behavior or performance for two reasons. First, it is generally an uncomfortable thing to do.  Secondly, hardly anyone is properly trained to do so.  

The longer you wait to resolve the situation, the further complicated it gets. What usually happens is that unwanted conduct will progressively worsen until it bothers you so much that you decide it’s time for the employee to go.

Fearing legal issues, you begin crafting memos to reprimand the employee on every possible violation. You go from no confrontation to mayor confrontation.  At this point the corrective nature of the memo is probably a farce.  You simply want to document every possible deficiency until the file is thick enough to boot the guy.

What if instead you corrected the situation long before you began thinking about memos or legal issues? Instead of waiting until that point of no return, you decided to confront unwanted behavior.  Think of all the hassle and money you could have saved.  

Nothing is stopping you except your will and skill.  Perhaps you may have wanted to take earlier action but were afraid to do so for fear of escalating the situation or getting involved in a shouting match. Not anymore, here are some solutions.

Decide what to confront.  What is really important here? There may be several things to confront. Decide on the bigger issue.  Do you want the employee to improve or is it about teaching her a lesson.  Do you want to prove you are right or reach a mutually beneficial solution?

Show that you truly care and respect the employee. We all need to feel respected at all times. It’s human nature.  Be firm but always respectful.  Confronting the person in private in a normal tone and never ever get personal. One thing is to be late.  Another is to be called lazy.  Don’t fall on this trap. It’s the easiest way to divert an issue.  If you disrespect someone be the first to admit it. Apologize; make sure the person gets the apology and quickly return to the issue at hand.

Make sure the worker gets  that you care, and have the best interest at heart.  He/she will be more receptive to whatever you have to say.  Look for mutually beneficial points of view rather than ‘you versus me’ issues.

Stick to the facts.  Don’t let your own filters, personal issues and stories get in the way of the truth.  Too often we pre-judge and point out character flaws based on our prejudice and misconceptions.  Learn how to distinguish between the facts and your story.  

Give the benefit of the Doubt. Before reaching conclusions ask the other person for her side of the story.  How can you help the person overcome his/her issues? Explore what are the possible barriers. Is the employees lacking of skills or motivation?

Obtain a new commitment.  Once the issue is handled, ask for a new commitment.  Clarify expectations and provide a framework for follow up and accountability.

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GROW BY WORKING 'ON' RATHER THAN 'IN' YOUR BUSINESS

Fear and other considerations dissuade those who wish a business of their own.  The few who step to the challenge follow the allure of freedom; the ability to set their own hours and income level. Mix this commanding vision with enough current dissatisfaction and it only takes a little bit of support and courage to become a business owner, right? Not really. Just because you went on your own does not mean that you now have a business.  Perhaps you simply own a job and that is not much different from being employed; only now you carry all the responsibilities associated with that job.   To call it a business, your enterprise- must- besides being profitable- run without your continuous intervention.  That is true freedom and the factor that will allow you to grow and have a lifestyle. Unless you can make your business run without you, you will remain self-employed, underpaid and eventually will experience burnout; it’s the employed-self-employed- back to a job cycle.

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Self-employed people quickly learn that there are other things that need to be handled besides the technical aspect. But they don’t do much about it. Time is a big issue. So if you are in the plumbing business, besides plumbing you need to market and sell your services, deal with suppliers, do payroll, pay taxes,   manage your accounting, survive competition, among many other activities. It is the same for all businesses.

When I graduated from law in 1986, I was clueless as to the business side of the profession.  I noticed other lawyers who I thought were less capable, building a great legal practice. While I was honing my legal skills, others were developing competencies in marketing and sales. As a result, they were getting new clients.  As I immersed myself in legal work, others were taking time to manage their business, doing networking, creating alliances and recruiting other lawyers for their growing business.  While I kept myself busy as a lawyer (and eventually ended looking for a job) others were building a legal business for longevity.  I later learned that like in the plumbing business, being an excellent lawyer had nothing to do with the business of law.

If you are self-employed and want to grow, you should take your nose out of the technical side of the business.  Even if you are the only employee, start paying close attention to the business aspect of whatever it is that you do. We live in a capitalist society and to survive our business must be profitable.

Businesses that enjoy a steady stream of revenue have answered key questions like: Where are we leading the business? How do we intend to get there? What resources are needed? Who are our ideal clients and how can we best service them to increase retention?

As a business owner there is so much you can do in a day.  You cannot create more time. So the more you spend on the production side, the less time you have to plan and administer. You react to events rather than plan and execute proactively.  Instead of controlling your business it controls you. Meanwhile who is running the business?

You might argue that if you don’t do the job, it will not get done. It may be true for now, so what needs to happen for you to start hiring others to do the job (partially or totally) for you? What successful company do you know that the CEO is the one doing the technical part?

I am not suggesting for you to forget the technical side.  Rather it’s about creating processes that will allow you to train, delegate duties and monitor performance. How do you think the big fast-food chains deal with a 200-300% annual employee turnover?  Perhaps you think you cannot afford hiring help.  Well, that is one challenge you need to crack open.  Yet, you will not solve it if you keep focusing on the operational side.

Break-away from the enslaving self-employed predicament by shifting your focus from an operations point of view to a managerial/ entrepreneurial frame of mind.  Clever ideas to build your business will begin to flow. Soon, you will find ways to grow as you hire others and lead a powerful team. 

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