Growing Your Business From the Inside Out

Turning fear into action and weakness into strength, learning how to say no, building multiplex ties, and beware of perfectionism.

Transforming fear into growth

Fear of rejection can become a serious block to success for anyone who needs to ask someone else to take an action, like buying a product or even agreeing to a meeting. Facing this fear and seeing it as the signal for a worthwhile risk can help you transform fear that paralyzes you into action that advances your goals.  "If you’re here for growth and transformation, fear will come up over and over again -- a sign that you’re doing just what you set out to do."  Learn how fear can be your guide using a 5 step plan to embrace it.

It's a strength to know your weakness

According to this article, it's easier to identify your strengths than it is to identify your weaknesses.  With strengths, you can often point to concrete evidence of how your strength created success.  Weaknesses are more difficult to see.  They are more likely to be demonstrated by missed opportunities, which may not be as apparent.  While mild weaknesses may not have much impact on effectiveness, strong weaknesses can act as a fatal flaw that seriously hampers an organization and a career.  Read this article to learn how you can identify your weaknesses and take action to prevent a fatal flaw from limiting your success. 

Yes means yes and no means no

In a growing, thriving company, new ideas abound.  Entrepreneurial owners and employees are excited to experiment and discover. In early start-up mode, saying yes to all ideas leads to success.  As complexity grows, too many ideas, too many directions will swamp a growing business.  Saying no or at least not yet to new exciting ideas will ensure that business growth can continue in an organized and intentional manner.  In this article, HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan shares how he learned how, when, and why to say no as HubSpot grew from start-up to scale and provides guidance on how you can learn to say no too.

Networking Advice:  Beyond Asking "What Do You Do"

When meeting new people in a networking situation, our first instinct is to ask "What do you do?"  The authors of this article contend that this immediately narrows the contact to a focus on work and may not be the best way to develop the stronger connections that will best serve you in multiple arenas of life, including work.  "Research findings from the world of network science and psychology suggests that we tend to prefer and seek out relationships where there is more than one context for connecting with the other person. Sociologists refer to these as multiplex ties, connections where there is an overlap of roles or affiliations from a different social context."  Read this article to learn some new and interesting open-ended questions to try at your next networking event to make better connections. 

Perfection is a trap to avoid

Perfection is an impossible goal.  Yet, a recent study confirmed that many young people are trying to achieve perfection based upon unrealistic expectations about their career, the things they own, and how they look.  The focus on perfection is leading to an increase in depression, anxiety, shame, and guilt. Specifically, the authors found that between 1989 and 2016, college students’ levels of self-oriented, socially prescribed, and other-oriented perfectionism all increased by statistically significant amounts. Recent generations of young people are more demanding of themselves, perceive that others are more demanding of them, and are more demanding of others.  Coupled with research demonstrating the destructive effects of perfectionism on mental health, the findings are potentially a forewarning for schools, universities, and employers who may find managing the welfare of young people becomes increasingly important.This article includes tips for teachers, lecturers, and managers that might help create a culture to alleviate the impact of perfectionism.

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For Success, Start with People

Also included: creating peak moments, double loop learning, the banana principle, and more; click through to check out my latest collection of interesting business and technology links.  I hope they spark new insights for you!

Seven Lessons for Start-up Success and Beyond

Innovation, experimentation, and problem solving; customers, culture, and connection; examining bias, creating peak moments, and falling in love.  Seven lessons for Start-up Success has it all.  Even if you are not in start-up mode, these lessons apply.  

Go Deeper with Double Loop Learning

Effective retrospectives are sufficiently deep to challenge existing mental models, examine habitual thinking, and expand possibilities. Single loop learning asks “how can we do what we are doing better” while double loop learning asks” Why do we think this is the right thing to do?”  It involves scrutinizing values, thinking, and assumptions. It's the hardest work and the most important.  Learn the questions that can lead you and your team to this deeper level of understanding.

Human-Centered Company Culture Drives Operational Excellence

Moving your culture from command and control to one of collaboration is a major step on the road to an innovative and lasting business!  Using the GM/Toyota NUMMI joint venture as a case study, this article outlines three important tips for creating a company culture of partnership to drive excellence.  When leadership sees employees as partners, they cultivate a cultural obligation to actively improve the business.

In Meetings: Be Present and Listen Well

These two articles demonstrate the importance of being fully engaged during your interactions with others, providing tips to help you be more engaged.

If You Aspire to Be a Great Leader, Be Present

The first article demonstrates the importance of being present, both physically and mentally. According to the author, “research suggests that there’s a direct correlation between leaders’ mindfulness and the well-being and performance of their people. In other words, the more a leader is present with their people, the better they will perform.”  Learn how to be here now and other ways of being present.

Meetings Would Go Faster If People Took the Time to Listen

In the second article, the author’s tells how her experience coaching a client who is deaf sharpened her understanding of the importance of listening well in one-on-one meetings.  You can learn how to listen slowly and carefully using her four-step process and become a great listener to your employees, colleagues, and clients.

Lessons Learned From Oranges and Bananas

Groups of people offered a choice between a banana and an orange, are much more likely to go for the banana simply because bananas are easier to peel.  Learn how you can apply the banana principle to bring people together and keep people focused. Also, find out why teenagers will scatter when exposed to pink lighting.

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Changing strategies? Make sure you've learned the new capabilities you'll need for success!

Also, networking, taking care of yourself, and Scrum at home; check out my latest collection of interesting business and technology links.  I hope they spark new insights for you!

New change strategy requires new capabilities

Successfully implementing critical strategic changes requires building the skills, knowledge, and processes needed to carry out and sustain them. These capabilities lie at the heart an organization’s ability to achieve results.  Yet some businesses miss this important step in change management by either assuming that if the strategy is logical, then people will figure out what to do or being so prescriptive about what to do that employees give up and revert old behavior.  Developing capabilities requires experimentation, trial and error, and iterative learning to figure out what will work in each organization’s unique culture, functional structure, and environment. This article includes valuable tips and stories that will help you learn more about how to successfully build new capabilities to support the changes you want to see.

How to connect with the right people, even if you don't know them now

The old adage "who you may be more important than what you know" still applies today. Networking to meet business contacts is a critical skill for success.  Whether you are starting your network, adding to it, or trying to take it in a different direction, this article provides insight into three proven strategies. The first focuses on how to get specific about the type of people you’d like to meet in order to guide your existing network in identifying connections they can help you make.  The second focuses on how to work your way towards connections that may seem unattainable at the outset. The third focuses on connecting far and wide through content generation.  Learn how the author built a successful business using all three techniques.

Working through a Personal Crisis

Continuing to perform at work can seem insurmountably difficult when we are experiencing a stressful life event or personal crisis. Fortunately, there are many useful strategies that can help you maintain your balance and your work performance during difficult times.  The key is determining what you need to make it through and then communicating your needs to those at work who can support you, like your manager and co-workers.  Knowing how to do this in a way that protects your privacy and your boundaries will further help you comfortably navigate relationships during this sensitive time.  This article details the steps you can take, principles to remember, and case studies that show how it all can work.

Turning off work at the end of the day

There are many reasons why turning off work is a good thing to do each day.  We all know that it's getting harder to do as electronic devices have made us available 24/7.  This article outlines a five-step disconnection strategy requiring only 10 -15 minutes per day. According to the authors, "While some of the tips and techniques may not seem new, we’ve found that they can be highly effective when used in sequence and combination, greatly reducing feelings of stress and improving work-life balance.'.  Read more and try it out.  Let us know how it works for you.  

Love work so much you want to bring it home? Every household could use some Scrum!

This author's family has been using Scrum to manage their housework for the past year and a half. Is their house cleaner as a result?  Find out more about how Scrum can work at home and learn lessons that can improve your Scrum in the workplace.

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For Continuous Improvement, Mind the Connections Too

My bi-weekly link collection, including: building your purpose, managing stress, and tactical vs. adaptive performance

Finding Improvement in the Margins

With continuous improvement, we look everywhere for processes that lead to waste and inefficiency.  While we most often focus on core processes, connections between core processes must be attended to as well.  For example, the process for entering an order may be very efficient as may be the process for filling an order.  Now, consider the connection between receiving an order and fulfilling the order.  Are the interconnections flowing well?  How do the people who are fulfilling the order find out about the order?  Are people re-entering information?  Are orders missed sometimes because people are too busy? Learn more about how to find opportunities to improve inter-process connections.

Tactical vs Adaptive Performance

Many companies are good at doing what they say they are going to do, in the way they say they are going to do it.  This is called tactical performance. However, in a study of assembly line performance, Ethan Bernstein found that requiring employees to always do things exactly as designed can actually work against improvements in performance.  Building a culture where front line employees are encouraged to adhere to best practices and also find better ways to work - which is called adaptive performance - improves both overall performance and overall employee satisfaction. When employees have clear work procedures and the freedom to seek improvements they become more dedicated to their roles, more invested in their job, and better performing overall!

94% Belongs to the System

Recently, I participated in a lively discussion that focused on exploring the cause of human error.  As we discussed different scenarios, my fellow attendees posited that perhaps errors were caused by unclear instructions, insufficient training, management pressure to expedite something which resulted in important steps being skipped, or a culture that did not allow workers to sound the alarm when something was not right. We were clearly centered on how the system and circumstances surrounding a mistake contribute to that mistake. The group instinctively saw that a problem is rarely caused by the action by an individual person.  Our instincts were right. In fact, by some estimates, direct action by people accounts for only about 6% of the causes of issues.  Read about how to address the other 94% in this article.

How do you Find your Purpose?  You Build It!

We often think in terms of the Hollywood version of purpose in which the universe reveals its grand plans to the hero or heroine.  We know that this rarely happens in real life.  Instead, we must build our own grand plan or higher purpose, remembering that purpose is multi-faceted and ever changing. The challenge is to endow everything we do with purpose, to allow for the multiple sources of meaning that will naturally develop in our lives, and to be comfortable with those changing over time. Read more about finding purpose over a lifetime.

Managing Work Stress

High-pressure jobs or jobs that just aren't the right match for you can create psychological stress that is severe enough to have undesirable physical effects, such as chronic headaches, nausea, or insomnia. Even more alarming, high work stress can even lead to serious health events like strokes. If you find yourself in that kind of job and are feeling those negative health effects, it is essential to take intentional steps to ease your body and mind.  Find out how to identify the source of your stress and learn key strategies that will help you manage it better. Remember, if none of these things seem to work, it may be time for a change.  Your life could depend on it.

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Creating a System to Grow your Business

This article was jointly written by Alex Meyer of Renaissance Information Systems and Eric Hart of NPI Technology Management.  We share the view that strategic planning is the best approach to managing business growth.

Not every business wants to grow in size.  Vermont statistics bear this out.  Of the nearly 22,000 firms in the state, 80% employ fewer than 10 employees, regardless of how long they have been operating.  However, there are many small businesses that want to expand.  If expansion is your goal, we recommend creating and following a roadmap and process for managing the business’s growth in conjunction with the technology that will help to drive it.

A focused, intentional and flexible approach to planning is key.  For fast-growing companies, it may seem that the business changes faster than plans can be made.  Keeping a continual focus on a forward and backward view creates a smoother path for growth.  The desire for smooth growth highlights the need for growing companies to adopt a flexible and adaptable approach to planning and incorporating it into your everyday workflow.

The Agile Retrospective approach is a simple yet powerful method of incorporating regular planning throughout an organization, the retrospective is intentionally incorporated into your regular meetings and focuses your attention on what is going well in your business, what could be going better, and what changes you want to make.  These meetings can be used at any level of your business and on any timeline.  For example, production staff might meet every other week to improve their processes while the executive team might meet monthly to review the status of the business and/or quarterly to review strategic plans.

Systematize your business to support the increased size and complexity that comes with growth.  Systemization covers every part of your business—how you communicate internally and externally; how you acquire, maintain, and update technology; and how you make decisions.  As your business grows, technology plays a larger and larger role in your success and planning your technology usage becomes vital.  Below are a few of our recommendations for planning your use of technology.

Maintain access to your core data.  Whether you use a custom system, an off the shelf software package, or a Cloud-based software platform, be sure that you can access your data how and when you need to.  This is particularly important if you decide to change software systems and need to migrate your data.

Choose technology (hardware and software) that can grow with you.  When your company first starts, a loose collection of laptops and cloud applications works to keep costs low.  As your business grows, migrating to business-grade computer and networking equipment becomes a must for reliability and maintainability.  The same goes for Cloud services such as Microsoft Office 365, which has more features and is more secure than Google Docs.  Finally, your information systems must also be robust enough to capture the increased complexity in your business as you grow.  Some applications that served you well as your business started may no longer be up to the task and you will need to migrate to new systems or build your own.

Ensure there is oversight of all of your technology.  As you grow, maintaining and managing your technology will become a full-time job on its own.  You will either need someone internal who is dedicated to the task or an external partner with deep technology experience that can maintain your systems and guide you through making, updating, and executing on your technology plans.

About Renaissance Information Systems

RIS guides businesses through growth by helping them build a culture of continuous improvement and systematization; selecting, implementing, and integrating the right software; and uncovering insights about their business through business intelligence.

As Vice President of RIS, Alex Meyer works closely with business leaders to translate goals into action, strengthen and streamline business processes, and make smart investments in technology that will support their long-term growth.

About NPI Technology Management

NPI Technology Management is a technology partner, strategic advisor, and problem-preventer. We make sure our clients have the right system and network, and, as these evolve, we help them stay ahead of the curve.

As the CEO of NPI, Eric Hart works with business leaders throughout the Northeast with their technology planning and execution.