I Must Be On the Right Track… I Have Other Trains Behind Me!
It’s been an amazing summer here at Roundpeg. Allison, Taylor, and Jay are all hitting their stride and constantly coming up with ideas to serve our clients in new and exciting ways, and we’re lucky enough to have four fabulous interns to assist us.
Emily came up with the idea of creating a custom landing page for our Facebook Fan Page (Please Like us!) and Dan and Heather did an awesome job implementing it. Thanks to Kelly, our WordPress pages are filled with unique new plug-ins.
Jay’s been taking the lead on increasing our involvement with AddressTwo, while Allison’s been focused on behind-the-scenes logistics. Taylor’s been driving our successful Business Card Makeover contest.
And me? I’ve been working to support my team and make sure they have all the tools they need to keep up the good work. How do I know it’s good work? We’re starting to see imitators pop up with ideas that are remarkably similar to our own.
And we all know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
What do Your Employees Want?
There was a point in my life, when I managed large teams. I loved the challenge of helping people define a common goal, and move toward it. The job of recruiting the right people, and keeping them motivated was always fun and rewarding.
Today, I run a much smaller organization, but the need to build and motivate my team is still important, so I enjoyed reading an article by Melissa Raffoni about what employees really want. While most of her comments are directed at CEO’s of large companies, many of her comments have equal relvance for the small business owner.
Her list of the Eight Things Your Employees Want From You included:
- Tell me my role, tell me what to do, and give me the rules
- Discipline my coworker who is out of line.
- Get me excited
- Don’t forget to praise me.
- Don’t scare me.
- Impress me.
- Give me some autonomy
- Set me up to win. .
While they are all important, for the small biz owner I would add one more to the list:
Give me a sense of ownership – Help me see how my contributions matter
What would you add to the list?
More than a Few Words Episode 7: Do You Have a ROWE?
Email Ninja, Michael Reynolds
A ROWE has nothing to do with boats, water or even my former employee Amy. It is an alternative operating system for your company.
In a recent conversation with Michael Reynolds, owner of Spin Web I was introduced to the concept of a ROWE environment where employees are not paid by the hour, they are paid by the result.
For small business owners this can be a scary, but structure. But if executed correctly a ROWE environment will move your business forward.
Want to learn more about ROWE? Listen to today’s podcast, check out Michael’s blog, or even one of his seminars about how you can create a ROWE environment in your company.
One Size Does Not Fit All
We created a fun direct mail piece for Roundpeg a few months ago. Featuring a little boy in over sized clothes, the headline read: “When it Comes to Marketing, One Size Does Not Fit All!
I loved the card, because it really captured my attitude toward marketing. While certain elements may transfer from client to client, each situation is different. Great marketing strategies take all the elements into consideration: the needs of the client, the state of the market and the available budget.
Smart business owners recognize this applies to other elements of their business such as their employees.
Employees are not the same size. Some need more direction, others need more challenges. So even in a small company the struggle for the owner is to be fair, but create incentives and an environment in which each employee is motivated and empowered to do their best work. It is easy to say, hard to do. What are your employee management strategies?
Does it seem like I am focused on my organization a bit more these days? With 3 interns, and 1 new employee, along with the rest of my team, I am spending a lot more time managing, and less time doing. It isn’t easy!
Small Biz is Often All in the Family
This week we made a new change at Roundpeg, as my daughter, Michelle, joined our team. A recent grad, she has worked at TechPoint for several years and has local industry contacts to match her mother’s. She has good skills, my employees like her, and many of my clients have known her for years, so it seems like the perfect fit – right?
The question is – can we work together. Can I stop being her mom, and be her boss? Can I judge her performance the way I would any other new employee, or will I let the 25 year relationship we have get in the way. At the same time, will she really take this seriously? Will she take feedback from me as her boss, and not her mom? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions, but I would love to hear from other small business owners who have done this successfully or unsuccessfully. I would really like to make it work.
