Freedom FROM Your Business

Fourth of July is a great time to reflect on your future with your business. July begins the third quarter and second half of the year.  

•  Maybe you see yourself as a major competitor in your industry and going public or being acquired?
•  Or are you just going to create a great retirement plan to keep your mind active and your wallet happy?
•  Maybe you see your business as something to provide for change in your community. 

To activate any of these ideas, you will have to start working ON your business not IN your business. Ask yourself what a future will look like with a plan, then WORK your plan!

Copyright 2011 Linda Lucas Fayerweather
www.ChangingLanes.biz
419-897-0528
Send Linda an email to start the activation of your next adventure in business. Coach Linda

Businesses: Made in America
My old home has a copy of the Declaration of Independence hanging over the mantle. The mantle is from the estate of William Floyd's who signed the Declaration from New York state. The copy was originally hanging in Robert E. Griffin's office when he was General Manager of the Oldsmobile Plant in Lansing, Michigan. It then hung in my dad's offices when he was a school principal, my mom's office when she became director of a senior center and now in my historic home. Mr. Griffin would always talk about how in the USA anyone can be come anything!

Happy birthday America! Let's celebrate the week ahead by saluting some of the country's most tried-and-true products:

• Louisville Slugger - Made in Kentucky since 1884.
• Wonder Bread - Founded in 1921 and still going strong - 130+ million loaves are sold a year.
• Harley-Davidson - Two friends William Harley and Arthur Davidson made their first motorcycle in 1903. 2006 sales: 350,000 bikes.
• Ivory Soap - has been keeping Americans clean for 128 years.
• Crayola - Founded in 1903, nearly 3 billion crayons are produced annually.
• Woolrich Blankets - kept Civil War soldiers dry and warm and today they're still in use 177 years after Woolrich's founding.
• Jack Daniel's - has been distilled in Lynchburg Tenn. since 1866, but you can't drink whiskey there - the town has been dry since Prohibition!
• DuPont - Incorporated in Delaware in 1802 and was the major supplier of black powder for the War of 1812 - most known now for the inventions of nylon, corian and kevlar.
• Seth Thomas - clockmakers since 1813 - check it out in NYC Grand Central Station.
• Libbey, Inc. - glassmakers since 1888 and still in Toledo, Ohio.
• Both Hires and Vernors claim to be the oldest continuously made soft drinks in the United Sates - 1876 is the year they both claim and they are currently both owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
• Levi Strauss - 1873 is considered the birth of blue jeans when U.S.Patent No.139,121 was received for the still popular Levi's - for all shapes and sizes - still privately held by relatives of Levi Strauss.

Hope you have a wonderful Fourth of July. Celebrate your local businesses as small business is one of the unique strengths of this country! Here are a few quotes from the Founding Fathers:

"No one was either Tory or Whig; it was either dependence or independence." --Caesar Rodney

"In politics the middle way is none at all." --John Adams

"The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and to influence their actions." --John Hancock

"Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper." --Thomas Jefferson

Summer IS Vacation Season

It is vacation season and I am ready. I've got my backyard in shape so that daily I can take a mini vacation watching the birds and feeding my koi. And my plans are set for the annual family trek "Up North."

Most businesses will have employees going on vacation or just taking time off between July 1st and Labor day weekend. Dealing with vacation on a regular basis requires everyone in your firm to think about more than jumping in the car and heading out to the woods.

Here are some vacation tips so that employees will return from vacation relaxed and rejuvenated and those holding down the fort will not feel burdened.
1. Have a policy on vacation which will include how to request, time frame for request and how much is available.
2. Create a vacation planner - A calendar that all have access to is best.
3. Prior to vacations, rearrange work so that no one returns to "too much" work.
4. Encourage vacation coordination between your employees.
5. Do ask for destination contact information for emergencies and only use it for that! Even with cell phones, sometimes people go places without coverage.
6. Schedule time after the vacation to "see the pictures".
7. Announce job or corporate changes after the vacation season, not before.

The purpose of a vacation is to de-stress, relax and get rejuvenated. Helping your employees achieve that will help your company achieve its annual goals with less stress.

Don't' forget to plan your own vacation and try to have a few days where you unplug!

Copyright 2011 Linda Lucas Fayerweather
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
419-897-0528

Living in a Multi Generational World

Last week my webmaster got engaged and invited me and my husband to the engagement party. I knew it would be fun (it was), unique (it was) and I would be one of the more mature (read that oldest) at the event. When I got engaged years ago, we hadn't even heard about engagement parties. So, what does all this have to do with Multi Generational Worlds? Well, unless you are Royalty for life or an Old Dictator, most of us will be working with and for those that are younger or older than ourselves.


In my travels, I have meet the very young banker that really does understand business cash flow beyond credit score. I've also worked with elders that cause me to feel like a newcomer to my fields of study. Realizing that we all have talents and strengths, in the workplace we all need to figure out how to work together.

If you are leading or managing older employees without the years of "war stories to tell", take heart, it can be done even if you have a baby-face. Whether you are the owner of your business (do you really think that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook has only younger employees?), or have been given the authority by your boss, here are some tips to help you grow in your authority.

1. Express Confidence. Not just self-confidence, but also sharing where the company is going. Assume your ideas and directions are well founded. Don't undermine yourself with qualifiers like "I haven't done this, but . . ." Or "You many not all agree. . ." Or "This might not be right, but. . ." Your own statements that express doubt in yourself, will only cause you to not be taken seriously.

2. Embrace an Open-minded stance. You are responsible for setting the agenda and leading the charge, asking for input is different than asking for guidance. Be ready to listen - that is the genius of innovation.

3. Ask for Feedback. Feedback is asking people for their view of what the company is actually doing - "Why is this not working" or "Why is it working so well". We want to learn the root cause of on-going problems.

4. Acknowledge and Reward those that make you shine. Humility is a characteristic that allows a great leader to share stellar performance. The statement often joked about in Dilbert "Hire people smarter than you" really means hiring smart to meet your Vision and Company's Vision. Telling the world of your staff's successes helps solidify a team while the company is seen as unified.

Last week, I talked about Standard Operating Procedures and the sister document is the Policy Manual or Employee Handbook. If you really want to spend your time as a leader, these documents give staff the guidance they need for the simple stuff!

Do You Have SOP?

Do You have SOP?

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are a set of clearly written instructions outlining the specific activities needed to complete a task. This task may be simply closing the office at night or it could be to install the thingamajig in the whatyamacallit. These instructions or directions are written in simple language often with pictures so that all operations and employees required to perform this task are able to understand and do it. Simply put: procedures create standardized work with repeatable results.

Standard Operating procedures usually have the following characteristics:
• Idenitify where will this task be done
• Assign who has this task in their job description
• Idenitfy who will be responsible for the successful completion of this task
• The time needed to complete this task
• Define how this task contributes to the customer's satisfaction or profitability of the company
• Timeframe of when this task is done (many times per day, daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally)
• Actual procedures will be in simple language and often have pictures

Before you throw up your hands and say "I don't have time to do that", here are some of the basic reasons for doing SOP.
• Identify the flow of work from the beginning to the end.
• Error elimination or reduction.
• Provide a training manual for new employees/workers.
• Assists when solving production problems.
• Provide evidence of quality standards are in place.
• Provide evidence for excellence in the workforce.
• The MOST important tool when selling your business - you are selling a provable system with directions!

Businesses that implement procedures have also found that:
1) Creativity is increased because staff doesn't have to keep reinventing how to do something -- especially those tasks that are seasonal or not done frequently.
2) Stress levels are reduced on both management and labor because each knows what needs to be done and how; no more guess work.

If you are looking at your business and saying, how can I do this, start with the area of your business that has the most headaches. Putting standards there first will give you great feedback and results.

Copyright 2011 Linda Lucas Fayerweather
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
419-897-0528