Tag Archives: managing

September 25, 2012 · 10:38 am

I’m Sick

This may be a bit more incoherent than usual today.

Common cold

Common cold (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have a foggy brain, a stuffy nose, and body aches.  That’s right – a common cold.  Not unusual, you think, but it really is for me.  Since I stopped commuting to work and flying all over the place, I’ve been sick exactly one other time.  That’s right – one cold in five years (until now).

I’m not sure where I got it although I was in a lot more large crowds over the last week than normal.  Maybe the guy with whom I slapped palms at the Springsteen show last week had a cold.  Maybe it was someone I greeted at the wedding we attended.  Maybe it was someone I was near at the market.  Who knows?  However, it’s good business point.

You can’t (and don’t want to) avoid interacting with other people.  I’m not sure how you do business without doing so.  However, it turns out about 80% of contagious diseases are transmitted by touch.  That’s right – the best protection from the common cold and flu is frequent hand washing.

Our businesses run the risk of infection – something that disrupts their normal functioning – if we don’t take the time to make sure they’re “clean” – that we’re not off-track, that the team is all in sync, and that the contact with outsiders hasn’t done something to disrupt that.  Think of staff meetings or check-ins with your team as a good hand scrubbing.  That sort of communication can prevent a lot of  what ails many businesses.

Now I’m going back to bed.  After I wash my hands….

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September 17, 2012 · 8:27 am

Shana Tova!

A shofar made from a ram's horn is traditional...

A shofar made from a ram’s horn is traditionally blown in observance of Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish civic year. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Happy New Year!  I know I don’t often repeat content but as I was thinking about what to write as Jews around the world celebrate Rosh Hashanah, I went back and checked out another post I wrote on the topic.  It seems to cover it pretty well, so I’m posting it again (in case it seems at all familiar as you read!).

Last night marked the start of the Jewish New Year.  I didn’t go down to Times Square to see if they were dropping a giant knish at the stroke of sundown – probably not.  L’Shana Tova – a happy and healthy New Year to all of you.

One of the things Jews do over the next 10 days (or at least are supposed to do) is to reflect on the year gone by and think about where it took you on life’s journey.  It’s not really as much about looking back in my mind as it is about looking forward.  Oh sure, one is supposed to think about where one strayed from life’s path in terms of dealing with other humans and human codes of conduct.  We get a day of fasting next week to get that sorted out.  But it’s also a time to think about a fresh start.  Which, of course, promoted a business thought.

When do businesses stop and enter a period of reflection?  It’s obvious when they’re changing – witness Facebook last week – but I, for one, certainly wonder sometimes if those changes happen due to the momentum of previous (maybe not so good) decisions or if they’re the result of a pause, some reflection, and a willful thought by the entire organization as to the direction.  Often, I fear, it’s the former.

Jews are to use the next ten days for reflection and repentance.  I like to think of them as ten days of self-improvement.  I’d also suggest that it would do many businesses a lot of good to build the same sort of period into their corporate calendars.  Some do – they call it the budget process – but I think that’s too selective in terms of participants and goals to do much good.  Some smart CEO needs to declare it New Year’s Day for the company once a year and get everyone to do the same sort of professional reflection that many of us do on the personal side.  Identify your sins (figuratively speaking) and atone.  Faulty customer service, weak brand identity, bad employee relations, products that aren’t optimal, fostering an atmosphere of fear – these are all good places to start.

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September 7, 2012 · 8:14 am

Doing Something

I had breakfast the other morning

Eggs

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

with a friend I’ve known and worked with for 20 years.  No, breakfast isn’t out Foodie Friday theme but something he said while we ate is.  We were talking about our work – what he does, what I do – and he was discussing a rather large deal of which he had been a part.  After describing his role he summed it up by saying “I didn’t really DO anything – I just helped things along and brought people together.”  My immediate reaction was that he sounded like a chef.

Chefs don’t create the raw materials of their work.  They don’t grow vegetables, catch fish, raise cattle, or mill flour.  Many of them don’t even cook any more once they’re figured out the recipes to be used in their kitchens.  They hire cooks to do that and after teaching them how they want things done they step back.  Once in a while they taste what’s leaving the kitchen for quality control but mostly they do what my friend did – they make connections.

I’ve been a facilitator for a few brainstorming sessions.  We’re always supposed to be content-neutral.  The idea is to help the group reach their goals without imposing our own positions on the ideas being discussed.  We help with structure and process but the participants do the heavy lifting.  It’s important that the group knows that the facilitator is in charge, but that authority is never supposed to be the focus of anything.  Frankly, it takes a bit of effort to get one’s ego out of the room, especially when you believe you can solve the problem.

The point is that my friend behaved like a great facilitator.  He brought people together around an idea and helped them bring that idea to fruition.  I think that’s doing quite a lot, just as it’s the big-name chefs who get the credit for the food, not the line cooks.  It’s what great managing is all about and it’s absolutely doing something!

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