Is that a myth? Why would an employee who is paid a fixed salary and doesn't own any company share behave like an entrepreneur? As business leaders, if we want high performing teams, we must cultivate these mindsets in our people.
Showing posts with label book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book. Show all posts
Sunday, 12 May 2024
Sunday, 12 November 2023
The Laws of Human Nature
Sunday, 6 November 2022
Develop people by confirming, not by correcting
It is easy to see mistakes our people make, point them out, and tell our people not to repeat the same mistakes. What we often neglect are the times they do things right. We forget to praise the right behaviours. When we don't reinforce the right behaviours and actions, these are missed opportunities. Developing people only by correcting creates timid employees who only want to avoid making mistakes. Develop people by confirming. You build their confidence. You constantly remind them what are the right things they should keep doing.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
To be successful, know how to measure success
It's hip to dismiss KPI's (Key Performance Indicators). People make fun of it as an obsolete way of managing organisations. When people don't use KPI's properly, they become slaves of KPI's and reporting and lose sight of the meaning behind KPI's. OKR is the trendy version of KPI's, but an underlying principle remains the same - if you want to be successful, you must be clear what your measure of success is. Organisations pay attention to what they measure. The act of measuring creates focus, and ultimately results.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur:
Thursday, 14 July 2022
Learning from mistakes is a mistake
Some leaders encourage their people to make mistakes, so that they will learn from those mistakes. I think that's wrong and wasteful. When we assign a task to an employee, indeed we should allow or be prepared for mistakes, especially when it is something new or complex. However we should be doing our best to help the employee succeed. We praise what is done right, so that such behaviours will be repeated. This is more effective than picking on mistakes.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur:
Wednesday, 15 June 2022
How often do you talk purpose in your organisation?
Imagine this. Your employee finds himself sitting in his car in a traffic jam on the way to work and questioning himself, "What the heck am I doing this for?". Do you worry about this scenario?
I celebrate this scenario, because I believe everyone in the organisation should always think about and remember their purpose. We should always know why we are doing what we do every day. An organisation which does not communicate and align purpose with employees ends up with people doing things for the sake of doing. Purpose is not only what motivates us. It is also what helps us prioritise our time effectively and make the right decisions.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur:
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Wednesday, 18 May 2022
How to build a winning team
Everyone wants a winning team. Who do you think are people who make a winning team? Competitive people who hunger for victory? Ambitious people who don't settle for less? Ruthless players who go all out to crush the opposition? These may be brilliant superstars, but they don't necessarily make the best team. The true winning team is not so much about defeating opponents. It is more about collaboration and creating value for everyone.
If you have a superb sales team but they are obsessed with doing better and looking better than your other departments, this will become toxic to your company culture. If you have a competent sales team which works closely with other departments, helps them, and gets help from them, you will have a higher performing organisation.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur:
Sunday, 1 May 2022
The Fountains of Paradise
This novel by Arthur C. Clarke was first published in 1979, and won both the Hugo and Nebula awards. It describes the construction of a space elevator. It is a story about hope, human tenacity and daring to dream big. What moves me is how we come to realise how small we are individually, and yet how big a purpose we can be part of, when we learn to see beyond ourselves.
Wednesday, 13 April 2022
Systems - a cure or a curse?
For growing companies, having systems and processes in place is vital to support scaling up and to maintain quality. The growing organisation needs to stay aligned. However systems can also be what holds you down as you try to achieve high performance. Systems can lead to bureaucracy, resistance to change and doing for the sake of doing. To manage an organisation effectively, a leader must understand how to use systems and how to avoid the pitfalls.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur:
Sunday, 20 March 2022
Why team-building activities are annoying
Some leaders see team-building activities as a chore, a task to complete for the sake of letting the "young ones" have some fun. They are done half-heartedly or delegated to someone who is even less enthusiastic. It is no wonder then the rest of the staff sees it as a superficial exercise that wastes time.
Team-building is an important tool to build the right culture for your organisation. It must be done with a clear goal, and planned according to that goal. Whether and how your leaders conduct team-building activities communicates a lot to your people.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur:
Wednesday, 16 February 2022
When do you fire people?
As the leader of an organisation, one of the worst things you can do is not to terminate an employee when you know you should. It is unpleasant. It can be messy. Sometimes the person you need to fire is generally a nice guy, just that he can't do the job or he doesn't fit the team. Not firing a person can be damaging to your organisation culture. An underperforming or negative employee spreads toxicity to people around him. Terminations must be handle with dignity and integrity. One aspect many leaders forget or avoid is to explain to the rest of the team why this person was terminated. Handling termination is very much about the people who are staying, not just the person leaving. Explain to your team why the decision was made. It is a reiteration of your organisation's values. This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur:
Sunday, 6 February 2022
To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
I first read the book when I was twelve. Well, I should say I tried reading the book when I was twelve. I never finished it then. I could not appreciate it. I read it again more than 20 years later, and only then the story resonated with me. The message which stays with me the most is how we must stick to our principles, even when the world seems to conspire against us, and even when everything seems futile.
The edition of the book I have is the one pictured here. This is one of my books with the longest gap between buying it and finishing it.
Wednesday, 12 January 2022
Why do you need to create psychological safety?
We all want to recruit competent employees. However sometimes employing lots of smart people results in a culture where people are reluctant to open up, show weakness or ask for help. Everyone feels under pressure to perform. They expect themselves to be superhuman because they think everyone else in the company is superhuman. The culture may even become distrusting and cannibalistic.
If we can't cultivate psychological safety in our teams, we can't get them to work together effectively. We end up with a bunch of snobs trying to outperform one another, instead of a team that brings out the best in one another.
This and other concepts in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur, now available on Shopee and Lazada (Malaysia) and Amazon and Google (worldwide):
Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Be childish
One common weakness in established organisations is they lose the inquisitiveness of the child. They have been successful. They have grown their businesses. They have it all sorted out. They no longer challenge assumptions or ask why. Or why not. They become unable, or unwilling, to learn. When an organisation fails to learn, it will eventually become irrelevant.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur:
Wednesday, 17 November 2021
The Value Mindset
Instilling the value mindset is imperative if you want to help your team achieve high performance. We fall into habits easily ("that's how things are done") and often forget to challenge the value in what we spend our time doing every day. If Harry Beck hadn't challenged the value of how things were done, we might still be using London Underground / LRT / Monorail maps like this.
Pictures featured are the original London Underground map from 1908 vs the current London Underground map.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur:
Sunday, 31 October 2021
天妖記 / Devil Prophecy
One book I highly treasure in my collection is the graphic novel 天妖記 (Tian Yao Ji/ "Devil Prophecy") by Hong Kong artist 李志達 (Li Chi Tak, https://www.lichitak.com/bio). First published in 1996, its messages are still very much relevant today, about class struggle, about what we are born to do vs what we choose to do.
Wednesday, 15 September 2021
Keeping Your Word
Something simple that many leaders neglect - keeping your word. A quick way to lose trust of your people is making a declaration, and then never follow-up on what you have said. When you don't have anyone else holding you accountable for what you have promised, it is crucial that you do so yourself. I have seen leaders who tout share options, only to keep mum afterwards. I have seen leaders who promise staff half of profit, and follow through with no delay. If you want to build a high performance culture, the first person you hold accountable is yourself.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur:
Sunday, 22 August 2021
Learning mindset
When you have a learning mindset, you will find yourself learning from many things, not only when you sit down to attend a class or training. Even when sitting through a marketing lecture where you already know 90% of the content, you can still be learning from observing how the lecturer teaches. Maybe this is a very engaging and inspiring lecturer and you can learn public speaking skills from her. Even when undergoing a bad situation it is a learning opportunity - learning what to avoid in future, learning how to improve.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur:
Wednesday, 14 July 2021
Performance appraisals are a relic
Performance appraisals are a relic.
Or are they? The conventional way of doing it - once a year, with a stack of documentation to fill, and conducted half-heartedly with tired supervisor and unwilling appraisee - is certainly a relic. Appraisals and feedback is communication that should be happening on a day-to-day basis to help people improve and grow. A company should not be relying on an annual appraisal process to remind its people about performance feedback and continuous improvement.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur, available on:
Google Playstore e-book
Amazon Kindle e-book
Wednesday, 16 June 2021
You owe your staff an explanation, always
Yes, as a leader, you are responsible for making that difficult decision. You not only have to make it, you also need to communicate to your team why. Even if not everyone agrees it is the best way, they must understand the reasoning behind the decision. If your staff has no clue how the big decisions are being made, they won't know how to make the small decisions.
This and other tips in my book Every Employee an Entrepreneur:
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