The challenge of 2nd generation businesses #2

 

Lack of exposure outside of the family business. 

Some 2nd generation business owners started their career in the family business right after graduation. They have never worked for someone else other than family. They have not played the role of just an employee. They have always been the scion, the successor. They have a world view which is different. It gives them different insights, and also comes with limitations and blind spots. 

If this has been your path for the past 20 years, you can't go back to change that. What you can do is to spend time with people who have walked different paths. Not just your employees, but also friends with whom you have no business transactions or business interest. Acknowledge you want to leverage others' experience, and that will save you time and pain.

The challenge of 2nd generation businesses #1

 

Conflict between 2nd generation owners and 1st generation staff. 

If you are the 2nd gen, and these uncles and aunties have known you since you were a kid, it may not be easy for you to ask them to change the way they work. "We have be operating this way for years and we have been fine." It is hard for people who have worked in the same company for 20 years to get out of their comfort zone. Also, some have strong egos. What can a young 2nd gen do? 

Start with the soft approach. Respect the elders. Build relationships and trust. If you have known them for years, it helps with this approach. If you want change, they need time to gain confidence in you. Build your credibility and prove your capability and sincerity before pushing for drastic changes. Let them feel listened to. Despite all the above, you still need to be prepared that some may not be willing to change or may not be capable of change. Then you eventually have to proceed without them. 

Do you have a door mat Whatsapp group?

 

Do you have one or several? I am in some WhatsApp groups which are not particularly important. I don't read all the messages. I get those good morning and generic motivational messages. There are many messages in such groups - a lot of noise. Sometimes there is useful information, but the signal-to-noise ratio is low. There is one particular way I use these unimportant groups which stops me from leaving. They are my door mats. Let me explain. 

I use WhatsApp groups and messages heavily in my work. They are my inbox. My to-do list. When messages come in, usually I can read parts of them from the phone notification system. I don't necessary have to open them. I often don't want to open them yet, because a chat group or a chat with another person with unread messages means a task I need to do. I use the unread status as my to-do list. If I read a message, and there is something I need to do about it, I prefer to get it done immediately. For example simply responding to it. Or sometimes I need to get something else done which may take more time. When I can't complete the task immediately, I get a little anxious because that chat is no longer unread. I might forget that I need to do something because there is no unread status to remind me. 

This is how unimportant groups help me. If I read a message snippet from a notification and I know there is something I need to do, but I don't have time yet, I don't open the message. I stay in one of my unimportant groups. I know it is safe to ignore messages from the unimportant group. It is my door mat I can stand on without "dirtying" my other important chats. I don't want to click into my important chats and lose the unread status. 

Does anyone else do this? Or do you use WhatsApp or messaging apps in your own unusual way? 

Conducting effective meetings tip #6 - pre-reading

 

Read the materials beforehand. For complex issues, handouts should be distributed beforehand, and everyone is responsible to read them before the meeting. Meeting time should not be spent by the presenter reading a document or a set of slides. You should immediately go into the key discussion points or address clarification questions. If no one has questions or concerns about the proposal, the meeting can end in 15 minutes. Or you don't need to have the meeting. 

Conducting effective meetings tip #5 - the plank meeting

OK this might be a bit extreme. A more common one is the stand-up meeting. You meet while standing, so that the meeting won't go too long. You'd be tired standing so long, not to mention look weird. This is a physical way of forcing yourself to be efficient. 

Conducting effective meetings tip #4

 

Document the decisions and action items. Send them to every attendee. They must read and if they disagree with what the minute taker has written, they must raise it for correction. With clear documentation, you don't waste time debating how you remember the last meeting. It must be clear who has responsibility to take which action. A meeting must lead to action, otherwise it is pointless. 

Conducting effective meetings tip #3

 

Be clear on the agenda. What are you trying to achieve in this meeting? What should you have decided before you leave the room? Tell everyone the agenda beforehand. Everyone must come prepared to discuss it. If there is no clear agenda, cancel the meeting. 

The trainer as the messenger

 

One client recently said to me, "I have been telling my people these messages, but as I keep saying the same things, they get numb and the messages don't get through. So I need you as an outside expert to convey these messages."  This is certainly not uncommon. It is the same reason teenagers don't listen to their parents but listen to some uncle they have just met. Playing such a role can be challenging. Changing people and their mindsets is not easy, but when can do that, we impact lives. 

Conducting effective meetings tip #2

 

Albert Einstein said, “A theory should be as simple as possible, but not simpler than that”. 

Similarly, a meeting should be as short as possible, but not shorter. People hate meetings because many of them go much longer than needed. I recently heard of one meeting where the chairperson asked several people to come and told them to expect a 2-hour session. That's not a meeting. That's several people coming together to argue and work at the same time. 

A meeting is for discussing difficult issues and coming to agreements, so that everyone can move forward with their work. Focus on what needs to be decided, and let people go back to their work. 

Conducting effective meetings tip #1

 

Don't have a meeting. Most people hate meetings and find them a waste of time, and indeed often they are. The first thing you should ask before calling for a meeting is whether it is necessary. Sometimes a phone call is enough. Or an email, an announcement in a chat group. Sometimes you don't need to involve that many people. Meetings are for discussion and debate. If your goal is only to inform, it shouldn't be a meeting. If it is to instruct, it shouldn't be a meeting. Don't do unnecessary meetings. Save everyone's time. 

Growth mindset and fixed mindset comes down to just one thing

 

Are you able to or willing to change?

The term "growth mindset" sometimes sounds rather cliche. After hearing so many different people talk about it, we conveniently lump everything good to a growth mindset, and everything bad to a fixed mindset. We start to lose grasp of what these two terms actually mean. By framing the growth mindset as a simple question - "are you able to change?", we understand these are what it means. We can be wrong, and we are ready to learn. We can continue to improve and do better. We may not have the answer to a problem now, but we can work on finding a solution. When you are ready to change, you are ready to grow. 

Managing team morale through hardship

As a business leader, how do you maintain team morale when the going is tough?  

Tell your team they always have the option to quit the job and look for something else. People are demoralised when they feel they have no choice. However, at work we always have a choice, just that sometimes we don’t realise it. Or that choice is uncomfortable. When you realise you have a choice, you are more empowered and you want to make your choice work. If you consciously choose to stay at a tough job, you put things into perspective. You know your why. If you choose to leave, that’s a liberation too. 

In tough times, choose to do what you can, instead of just being a victim of circumstances. There is always something to be gained. At worst you learn how to survive a bad situation. 

As a leader, don’t be afraid to be candid with your people.

How to get old timers to change?

 

Many leaders struggle with this. An old-timer can be someone you recruited and has been with the company for 10 years. It can be someone your predecessor recruited and has been around for longer than you. Some old-timers are resistant to change. Some are unable to change. There is no one-size-fit-all answer, but here are some considerations. 

1. Gain enough trust before trying to convince old-timers to change. Do not undervalue their experience or skills. Have candid discussions about the need for change and seek their input. 

2. Can you change the organisation without changing these old-timers? Sometimes the effort of changing people's minds is higher than building new alternatives. Work on something you have control over. 

3. Take a clear stance, communicate it, and follow though. Many changes fail because we fear upsetting the harmony and we end up going with the flow. When change is necessary for an organisation to survive, those who can change will grow with the organisation. Those who can't or won't will eventually exit. 

Why many companies fail at defining their core values

 

Imagine those core value posters, with keywords like Integrity, Respect, and Customer First. Not that they are wrong, but when core values are defined as such, they are not helpful. No company aspires to NOT have integrity. When defining core values, we must test them against dilemmas our employees will face on a day to day basis. It is when they are guided to resolve everyday dilemmas that we build our organisation culture. 

Imagine you work at a creative company. You have started work on a piece of art. Do you show it to your supervisors and colleagues now, so that you can get their feedback and course-correct early if necessary? Or is this going to take up everyone's time unnecessarily since your work is still early-stage? At Pixar, they have one clear principle - show your unfinished work. If you work for Pixar, you know clearly what to do. 

Frame your core values through dilemmas, and you will build your organisation culture more effectively. 

The employee's dilemma - why work so hard to make money for other people?

 

One important thing we need to realise as employees is we are NOT working for other people. We are working for ourselves. We work not only for the salary. If we think the salary is the only thing we work for, then of course we would feel any extra effort we put in is only further enriching the shareholders and we don't get anything more. We work for ourselves, because what we learn, and who we become, belong to us. No one can take that away from us. By doing our job well, we increase our value, and that's something we own, not our bosses. 

If you are a boss, this above seems like the perfect motivational speech to give your employees to get them to work harder for you. By all means share this with your staff. Just remember to appreciate the value of your people, and reward them fairly. When employees can grow professionally and are appreciated, they will work harder WITH you. 

The power of taking negative feedback well

 

This is something I learned from designing games, and not just from training feedback forms. Positive and negative feedback are both important. Positive feedback is important because it tells you what are important to your audience, and moving forward you want to retain and enhance those aspects of your product or service. Negative feedback is important because that's when you realise your weaknesses and shortfalls. That's when you improve. 

In the past when I received negative feedback on my game designs, one impulse I often had was to explain why the game worked that way. I later learned that the best way to take negative feedback is to simply accept them. Don't be defensive. Encourage the person to share their feelings, experience and suggestions. It is important to understand them and why your product doesn't meet their expectations. It is not just about your product. It is also about your audience. Accepting feedback does not mean you will follow every suggestion. Your product cannot make everyone happy, but you do want to delight your most important customers. 

Negative feedback is often more valuable than the transaction itself. Treasure it. 

Don't make people feel stupid

 

I once got very close to losing an important deal because I neglected this principle. I was in negotiation with a larger organisation. The person assigned to work with me had errors in his work. He also made late requests, which was difficult for me to fulfil. I tried to be patient and polite in pointing out the problems and risks, but I might have come across as somewhat condescending. My counterpart wanted to call off the deal. It took some effort to get back to the negotiation table and to eventually work something out. Sometimes whether or not you are right and how competent you are are not the most important things. If you are not sensitive about the other party's feelings and perspectives, you damage relationships unnecessarily. Everyone wants to be respected and heard. Be helpful. Be supportive. Be someone people enjoy working with, and you will get a lot done and save much heartache.

How Well Do You Handle Conflicts?

 

Interpersonal conflicts are something that can drain our energy and bring our productivity to a standstill. We sometimes wonder, why are people so difficult? There are techniques and methods to help us resolve conflicts. Some require a change in habit or a change in mindset. If we are able to handle conflicts well, we will be much happier in our work. And in life too. https://www.simplifypeople.com/articles/handling-conflicts .

How to build effective working relationships in a virtual workplace.

Do you apply all of these methods?

https://www.simplifypeople.com/articles/how-to-build-effective-working-relationships-in-a-virtual-workplace

Don't strategise based on data. Strategise based on imagination.

 

This seems counter intuitive. Why would we not make decisions based on data? On facts? The problem is we only have detailed and measurable data on what we are already doing and what everyone already knows. If we need every strategy to be backed by existing data, we will not be able to innovate. When we strategise, think what needs to be true for this to work. Then think how do we create these conditions, or how we can verify these assumptions. If you want to create new value, don't search only in old data.