Asset or Liability? The power of employee potential!

At the helm or out to sea??... How companies value and utilise their employees..

We have all heard the horror stories, the angry elves complaining about the boss and the company, which are the lead weight on their very souls! We cannot say all complaining is whining but when one complains incessantly, we often think of the quote from William Arthur Ward when he said, "The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails." So we tend to discount the content of the complaint by the employee and move on with a lower opinion of the employee in reality and maybe an undiscovered source of discontent.

It’s all well and dandy if there is no substance to the complaint or a real will to get the best out of one’s team members. However, as leaders, we are obliged to achieve performance levels with our team(s), which is no easy feat if the winds of discontent and subsequent disengagement sweep silently through our team(s). Not only should we address such issues in private with our team members, we should be mindful for such discontent in our teams through close relationship ties with our people whom often offer up information on such issues that we might not otherwise have known about.

When thinking about our team issues, we should widen our thought process and honestly self reflect; thinking about our leadership impact, corporate leadership styles and guidelines (formal/informal), the department workloads and process requirements, company culture and most importantly, how all this merges with how employees are perceived by the company… are they treated as an asset or a liability?

Business case studies.co.uk have a posted article that suggests employees consider their leaders/manager to have a style that is not engaging. A survey analysis concluded that 21% of managers are perceived as autocratic by their employees, 16% are bureaucratic, 7% are innovative, 9% are trusting, and 7% are empowering. These numbers in my opinion contextualise the low level of leadership efficacy out there in the marketplace in terms of employee engagement, which brings us back to the kernel question, does our company value employees as an asset or a liability?

To answer this question, we must think of what role the employee is in the organisation. Is it a value creator role or a fulfilment role? This is a start in assessing what kind of organisation we are leading in and if it’s the right one for us. Referring to my prior article on company culture, we should not underestimate it in determining our leadership efficacy and how we can adjust to increase it whilst retaining our ‘core inner selves’. Bearing the above in mind, we should then ask the following questions:

• ü  What kind of company culture does our organisation have, does it support our leadership style and how does it treat employees (value creator or fulfilment role)?
• ü  Does the company have a prescribed leadership style? If so, are all leaders above and below us practising it or has a sub culture(s) evolved where different leadership styles prevail altering the company culture and operating environment?
• ü  What kind of prevailing practises are affecting one’s leadership ability and are they predominantly positive or negative? Can they be adjusted to allow one room to operate more effectively in engaging with one’s team(s)?
• ü  What actual company culture exists, leadership practice predominates and business practice runs our life as a leader? Is it consistent and does it help engage or disengage our team members with the organisation and with us as their leader?
• ü  What kind of improvements in employee engagement could one make if we altered our approach? Would we compromise core values to be “more effective”?

When thinking about this, one arrives at a picture that defines the organisation and contextualises the value proposition the organisation places on its employees.

In general, one should note that companies, whom are more autocratic by nature and hierarchical in structure, tend to value employees in terms of “doers” and “fulfillers” of roles.  This ‘command and control’ structure leaves little room for two-way communication and other leadership attributes that engages and empowers employees. Successful leaders in such companies inadvertently devalue employees whom are not peers, superiors or revenue generating in sales seeing them as “cost centers” especially at budget time. This “liability” view of employees empowers the few and dis empowers the many especially in large organisation’s where the cumulative effect of employee potential is material when one considers the disengagement of employees from companies whom by design tend to devalue their perceived inputs to that of prescribed service providers.  

Companies with strong hierarchical structures don’t have to be like that. With a little focus and allot of commitment from the top down on cultural and leadership change, autocratic leadership can be augmented with more consultative leadership traits such as mentorship, approachability and controlled two way communication where the rules of upwards communication are seamlessly sewn into a changing company culture and a leadership change management plan. One could with the right plan, support and commitment tap into the unexplored employee potential that is within one’s walls reaping untold rewards for successfully engaging a wider segment of employees whom feed into the operations strategy and direction of the company.

Companies whom value their employees as “assets” by design tend to have thought long and hard about areas like company culture, leadership and business practice as their business is very dependant on engaged and empowered employees thinking like owners in their daily work lives adding value in service quality, new ideas and commitment to the companies vision, work practices and inherent company culture solidifying the company’s sustainable future. The rewards at times can be hard to quantify but are evident in many successful companies in the technology, social media and aviation industries.

Determining a position on what role the employee takes in one’s company is a chance to build something great in a company whom becomes great by the people within its walls each and every day working to a common goal that can be as sustainable as the company wishes it to be. I return to Lao Tzu’s quote where “a journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step”. If everybody takes that first step together, a new journey of creation begins arriving at great stations of success along a long and sustainable path a company can proudly call its history.

Entrepreneurship, there's no time like the present!

Entrepreneurs, a story of Innovation and rebirth!!..

Our economic outlook after the epically acclaimed banking crises along with subsequent economic “recessions” is finally looking like it’s changing with a positive growth trajectories ahead in key macroeconomic indicators across the globe. Business wheels of all sizes are starting to move a little easier and positivity is creeping back albeit cautiously given the state of our world today.

Many successful people whom I respect in business for their vision and achievements like Richard

Branson, Jeff Weiner, Warren Buffet et Al are all saying the same thing. Now is the time for entrepreneurs to launch their business ideas. They correctly state the economy is dependant on a rash of new ideas turning into new business success stories. They cite many economic factors, which are undeniably favourable for the successful start-ups with impressive upward trajectories for the right guy/gal with the right idea in the right place at the right time! I agree noting the entrepreneur faces enormous challenges in ‘climbing the mountain’ of business success that if surmounted brings enormous rewards to match the hard work and clever thinking behind that success. If I had an idea worth pursuing as an entrepreneur today, I would think about the following:

• a     Feasibility.  Is my idea, product or service one that is commercially developable in a specific market niche? Is there a market for my end product? Am I a market disruptor? Is my product susceptible to market disruption?
• b     Component parts of success. Is my business idea going to be ‘successful to market’ in the start up phase and if so, how? Will my success be based on what I put in place, or is circumstance affording me a lucky break? The former bodes well for a sustainable success story if predominant in ones conclusions. The latter will always feature in a success story, but if the predominant element, the story may well be short lived if successful changes/timely additions are not made/added to the business.
• c    Internal engine. What will be the business model for my idea? Do I have a business plan detailing the product plan(s), organisational structures and business processes both now and into the future as the business grows? Are my growth projection metrics comparing reasonably to my competitors?
• d     External structure. What will my enterprise look like 5 years from now? On envisioning size, will it be just 10 others, and/or just me or shall it be a national operation or international operation? The reasoning being that if one start’s with the end in mind, they will have chartered a journey that is a vision to be shared with those they bring on board. Early employ’s are critical to the success of a growing business especially when you share your vision.
• e     Risk Management. Is there a clear understanding of internal risks, financial and non-financial along with external risks such as market risks, country risks, political risks, etc? A detailed and comprehensive risk register should be established in the planning stages, which should influence the strategy, internal structures and operational processes of the enterprise.
• f      Values. Will what I am translate into a set of values for my enterprise? Only if one proactively thinks about it and maps it out. What values are kernel/core thus should be inserted as unchangeable into the business. I would also think about values in three areas, firstly the core/kernel ones that will guide the business to success or failure but will never change. The second being values that are not core or challenge core values thus are changeable to facilitate sustainable market success. Finally, one should consider how one imports new values and discards existing ones along the way. The two layers of values along with the process should form part of the enterprise mission statement.
• g     Finance. What financing is best? A kernel question for the entrepreneur who should consider very carefully the above points and drill down into the detail identifying contingencies for funding along the way. In this process, one should think about all the elements (business size, scalability, product demand, market access, market penetration, organisational structure, future plans) and then look at the cost/supply side of the enterprise seeing what finance is needed, how it will be got (loans/overdrafts/government agency backing/ equity from operations/venture capital/private equity/etc.) achieving the best “financial fit” for the organisation. When dealing with finance, be very aware of the trade offs for finance both now and into future on the basis of what will it cost in finance and non finance terms like cost of finance through future growth phases, FX risk, loss of business decision making control, etc. Your conclusions should be compatible with your overall business model, values, strategic plans and approach to market both present and future.

Finally, the entrepreneur has many well-documented hurdles to get over. Recent initiatives in the UK and other countries have made progress in giving a “little security” to start up entrepreneurs which is great.

However, failure comes at a price, and if new entrepreneurs are to be successful, their minds need to focus on the success of their venture, not the absence of the familiar social security net they enjoyed as payroll employees to their decision to ‘go it alone’. I think government can help here with a programme as part of the assistance package that delivers social security benefits to transitioning entrepreneurs for a period of time allowing more and more talented people to float brilliant new business ideas more freely. It’s a brave new world, which for the budding entrepreneur is even truer a saying. They also say an entrepreneur should “prepare to learn from failure in order to succeed” but maybe a more methodological approach could increase the success rate and longevity of the new enterprise in the market place.