Getting the Most from Your Employees

One day she could not take it anymore and her mind shut down. Laura slowly had had the life sapped out of her. She could not let go of any detail. Everything was important and had to be reviewed by her. Her loyal employees tried to help but were never given the opportunity.

There are many Lauras out there. They are inadvertently draining their life strength and limiting their horizons. They need to delegate.

The right way to delegate.

The right way to delegate is to define a task and to define what success is for the task. Then you need to provide a way to measure the success. This does not have to be a huge manual. A few lines, a page is often enough.

For instance, we work with telemarketers. We have a defined script, a minimum number of calls per hour, which varies with the size company being called based on past experience and a minimum number of appointments to be set which also varies with the size company being called.

The marketer can vary from the script but must write down what they are doing and must continue to track dials and appointments. This way if they find an improvement it is captured. If they have worse results they quickly can see it and go back to the original script.

One final thought, many people are never going to make it as your employee. Once you sense that let them go. The quicker the better.

The keys to delegating are:

1. Define the job.
2. Define how it is to be done (the system).
3. Define how it will be measured.
4. Measure at a reasonable interval. Make sure you do this step.
5. Track test changes in procedure and implement improvements.
6. Recognize that some people are not going to work in your system and let them go.

Use this system to start delegating today and find the time to improve your business and enjoy your life.  For more see the article, 7 Principles to Improve You Business Sales Price

Personal Efficiency

You don't have enough time in the day to do everything on your list. You run from one item to the next. And like a machine that does not have clean oil you slowly heat up and become less and less efficient. Are you running more and accomplishing less? Most of us are.

Just like the mechanic needs to turn the machine off and change the oil occasionally you need to stop and change your oil. How does one stop and change their oil?

Human Oil Changes

1. Make a habit to take a 30 minute walk. During the walk take the time to actually look at the beauty around you. Look at the sky, the beautiful clouds, the sunset etc. Look at the trees and their unusual shapes. Listen to the sounds. Smell the air.

2. Spend 15 to 30 minutes in quite reflection each day. The morning usually works best for this before the rush of the day. Just sit still (even learning to do that is a chore at first) and let your mind wonder. In time try to still your mind for a few seconds at a time.

3. Read the Bible, the Koran, other book that helps your spirit and allows you to clear your mind. Again 30 minutes a day can begin to change your world.

You are saying, "How does jamming one more thing into my day help clear it?"

Like the machine that runs more efficiently with fresh oil, you will run more efficiently with a fresh mind. It just is.

Often after reflecting the first thing you might want to do is make a list of priorities for the day. Periodically list how you can make things more efficient by combining tasks or eliminating ones that are just habits and no longer needed. While this is an important benefit of quite, try not to spend all your quite time reflecting on these obligations.

Do not become frustrated is you have setbacks and days where you still shut down. Life is full of ups and downs. Remember it is the journey not the destination.

Leadership

Leadership is not friendship. Leadership is showing people how to do more than they would or could on their own. It is showing them how to stretch and increase their strengths and reduce and bypass their weaknesses.

Leadership is not making people feel good all the time. People like to be pushed to improve themselves. A good leader helps people get out of their boxes and grow. This often takes a good kick in the butt. You only have to look at great sports coaches to see what properly placed disappointment and anger can do.

A good leader knows when it is time to celebrate. For a group to develop real heart and real stick-to-it-ness when the pressure is on there needs to be celebration of victories. People must know the feeling joy and experience winning in order to keep the passion when times are hard.

Leadership is providing a framework where people with different talents can come together to create more than they would alone. Napoleon Hill's mastermind is a proven concept. Multiple minds will create much more effective solutions than one. Shared responsibility for implementation allows the most effective person to perform each task.

Pushing, rewarding, and finding the right mix of talent are the true talents of a leader.

Find Your Magic Bus

Everyone wants a magic bus. A magic bus is a wonderful vehicle where the riders are constantly happy. A magic bus may be a little worn and even tired but it is loved by all. Riders always return to the magic bus and when they do they bring more of their friends.

Is your business a Magic Bus?

Probably not. Magic Buses can exist in any industry but they always have certain traits in common.

Magic Busses have personality
Systemization has been allowed to take the personality out of people and businesses. People, that means your customers are looking for personality. They want to feel they know you. They want to get a piece of you when they do business with you. The best way to give it to them is to provide personality. Be different. Big hair. In your face copywriting. Quirky decorating. There are many ways to create and maintain personality. Seek it out and find it, and once you find it, keep it no matter how much you grow.


Magic Busses celebrate their riders

Being on the bus is about the experience. The experience is enhanced by the celebration of the riders or customers. On a magic bus riders feel encouraged to be themselves. Customers are encouraged to communicate with one another to create a spirit of unity and a zone of protection allowing further celebration and further self definition.

While there are a few examples of magic busses that become hugely mass market most are niche players and all started that way. One of the keys to celebrating customers is to allow them to be unique. The more this common uniqueness comes out the stronger the loyalty and the better the bus.


Magic Busses are not all things to all people.

The opposite side of providing a specific experience is that you will not satisfy all people. Get over it. As P. T. Barnum said, "You can't please everyone all the time."


Magic Busses provide consistency

While always maintaining and celebrating the quirky feel that makes you unique you must develop and maintain systems to provide a consistent experience. Humans are creatures of habit and you like everyone else want to know what to expect.


Magic Busses are highly profitable

A Magic Bus put in the hands of an organized businessperson will be highly profitable. Combine a unique market niche with a system that produces consistent experiences and results and you have built the better mousetrap.


Build a Magic Bus

When building your business look at how you can build a Magic Bus. It can be done. When you start thinking about your business, or your business plan think about how to make it into a magic bus. A little magic works well for all of us.