Planning to Grow Your Small Business in 2015?

Mission matters: What’s your why?  Employees need to know why your company does what it does in order to engage effectively. Do you have a mission statement and do your employees know what it is? The mission should be prominently posted, (multi-lingual, if necessary), simply stated, and easy to memorize, like this one from Starbucks: 

To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.

People need to feel connected to the bigger picture of why they come to work each day. They need to feel like their individual contribution matters. 

Technology matters: Don’t take things for granted. What's been working for years may not work anymore.Technology is a game-changer. If you don’t progress, you are regressing. If another company can do it better and faster for less, you will be out of business. Make sure you have the most current system you can afford.

Productivity matters: Most companies hire too quickly and fire too slowly. Which employees would you hire again today knowing what you know now? Mediocre employees make everyone else’s job more difficult and, as a result, may actually drive your top producers away. Your best employees will actually be relieved when ineffective employees are let go, and those on the borderline will take notice.

Networking matters: Networking is not like speed-dating. It's about carefully building solid relationships. Identify a half-dozen relationships you need to nurture in 2015 in order to grow your business.  The conversation should begin with what you can do for them. It can be as simple as making an introduction for them. If you take action to help someone grow their business, most likely, they will return the favor.  

What to do When the Boss is a Bully

A Harvard University study shows that 15% of the reason a person gets a job, keeps a job, or advances in a job is related to technical skills and job knowledge -  85% has to do with people skills. Even the most congenial among us can find ourselves facing a workplace bully. If that bully is our boss, things become even more complicated. Seeing oneself as a victim is never empowering . It’s important to remember that bullies can only bully those who allow themselves to be bullied.

From the very beginning of a situation like this, it’s important for an employee to take charge. Document everything. First, have a conversation with the manager to get clear about the nature of her problem with you. Is it about  job performance? attitude? something else? The employee should ask for whatever she needs to correct the situation: more training, better tools, coaching. 

If the manager continues to berate the employee, the employee needs to go through the proper channels to report the manager. If that does not produce a change in the manager’s behavior, the employee is left with a decision: do I allow myself to continue to be treated this way, do I put even more time/energy into seeking justice, or do I look for another job? It’s important to get out before the situation takes a toll on one’s physical and mental health.

There will be many feelings to sort through, including the horrible feeling that the manager, and others involved, have gotten away with the mistreatment. Working through this with a competent therapist, or clergy member, will help the employee understand why he allowed himself to be treated this way, and offer an opportunity to explore alternative ways of handling mistreatment in the future. Most importantly, it will help the individual heal.

Mother's Day Story (as published in Newsday, May 10, 2014)

“Joey got an earring, Mom. Can I get one, too?” my firstborn asked at age 6.

 

Trying not to sound judgmental, I said, “That’s a pretty grown-up thing for a first-grader. Do you know how they do that?”

Jason shook his head.

“They take a needle,” I said, gesturing with my two index fingers about eight inches apart.

“Ohhh,” Jason said, his wide eyes on my extended fingers. “Maybe I’ll wait until middle-school.”

“OK,” I said, glad it was that easy.

“Mom, do you promise I can have an earring in when I get to middle-school?”

“Absolutely,” I said, and didn’t give it another thought.

That was 1995. Five years later, Jason and I were having our “day together.” Each year, I would spend one entire day with each of the kids and let them choose what they wanted to do. The year before, Jason and I went to Yankee Stadium. We wore Yankees jerseys and baseball caps. We sat in the sunshine, inhaling the delectable smell of stadium hot dogs while eating Carvel ice cream out of miniature baseball helmets. I couldn’t wait to hear what he wanted to do this year.

“Let’s go to the Broadway Mall,” he said.

“OK,” I said, trying not to show my disappointment. I’d rather get my teeth cleaned than go shopping.

My loquacious son was unusually quiet. Would this be the new normal now that he was in middle school? The thought put a lump in my throat.

After visiting the mall in Hicksville, we stopped at Carvel. I watched my 11-year-old as he held the cone and licked the vanilla ice cream, amazed at how much one can love a child.

I felt, as I had all day, something wedged between us. I couldn’t identify what it was. I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to risk making him uncomfortable and perhaps even more distant. I blinked away the tears.

“Mom, can I tell you something?”

“Of course, Love,” I said, turning toward him.

“Remember when you promised I could get my ear pierced when I got to middle school?”

“Of course, I remember,” I said.

“I really wanted to get my ear pierced today.”

Relieved this was what had caused his silence, I said, “Why didn’t you say something?”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t remember.”

“Do you want to go back to the mall now?”

“You would take me back to get my ear pierced?” he asked incredulously.

“A promise is a promise,” I said.

And off we went. Afterward, we took pictures in a photo booth with him grinning broadly, pointing to the cubic zirconium stud in his ear, and me looking shocked in the background.

I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of my sixth-grader having a pierced ear. I knew some people would view it as trashy, but demonstrating to my son that I would always keep my word was what was most important to me.

The earring had to be removed for baseball and ice hockey, league rules. Jason soon tired of putting it in and taking it out, and cleaning the piercing with alcohol and bacitracin  ointment.

He eventually stopped wearing the earring, but I hope his memory of the promise kept will last a lifetime.

-Rita Maniscalco

My Wishes for You

I wish you a healthy body and a sharp mind. 

I wish you the courage to love fully, deeply, fearlessly. It’s the only way that one can experience the true scope of loving and being loved.

I wish you the courage to give of your time, talent and treasure - beyond what feels comfortable.

I wish you the courage to hope even when things seem hopeless.

I wish you the courage to dream big: No one has ever achieved anything they didn’t first imagine.

I wish you the courage to stretch beyond your comfort zone: That’s where growth happens.

I wish you the courage to release anything that no longer serves so that you may create space for something exciting and new.

I wish you the courage to take that first, small step…