Leading People Older Than You

Regardless of how you got to your management position, eventually you will find yourself managing people older than you.

I met one manager last week who is the youngest person in her department. That situation is pretty common these days, and it is a scary one for many leaders, especially those who are not well seasoned.

Here are ten tips that will help you be successful at gaining the necessary respect to lead more senior people effectively.

1. The first few days matter most
Actually, the first few hours or minutes are incredibly important because that is when you plant the seeds of confidence or doubt in your abilities.

Be authentic and do not play head games with people. Show immediate interest in and respect for the people who will be working for you.

Get to know them personally as quickly as you can. Every small gesture of interest in them and their thoughts will transform into credibility for you.

2. Be observant before you try to transform
Many leaders, especially those with little experience, figure they need to impress people with their power or brilliance to get respect. That approach usually backfires.

Before you seek to influence how things should be done in the future, you must first understand and appreciate how things have been done in the past. Do not spout out theories you learned in school in an attempt to snow people into respecting your knowledge.

3. Ask lots of questions
Many new leaders make a lot of statements and expect the workers to listen or take notes.

Instead, ask a lot of questions. The best approach is not knowing the right answers; it is knowing the right questions and using them wisely.


4. Put the age issue out to pasture quickly
People really do not care if their leader is older or younger than them. What they want is competence, compassion, and integrity. When you show those three things and respect people for their knowledge, then they will quickly forget that you are 20-30 years younger than they are.

5. Be genuine
Head games are for losers. Be genuine and real.

Try to figure out what matters and pay attention to those things.

Do not make the mistake of trying to be popular all the time, but also don’t be a jerk.

Think about the behaviors that you respect in a leader and emulate those. Respect people older than you for the experiences they have lived through, and listen to their stories with interest. Avoid doing a “one-up” on an experience that one of your reports conveys to you.

6. Begin to work on the culture
It is the culture of the work group that governs the quality of work life most of all. Work to figure out what is already working well and support that.

Where things need improvement, ask for advice about what people think would work. You do not need to do everything suggested, but you need to let people have a voice.

Work to build higher trust by making it safe for people to tell you what they really feel. In most areas that have morale problems, it is because people are afraid or feel disrespected.

Be approachable and be willing to listen deeply to the opinions of others. Make up your own mind what to do, but only after you have internalized and considered the ideas of others.

7. Be sincere, but not overly lavish, with your praise
People can smell a phony a mile away, and they will have no respect if you just try to butter them up in an effort to gain control.

Make sure that 100% of your reinforcement comes from your heart. People will know by the look in your eyes if you mean it or if you are just saying it. Mean it!

8. Create a positive culture
Motivation comes from within a person. If you try to manipulate the situation by providing perks in order to motivate the workers, you will fall flat on your face.

“Motivate” is not something you can do to another person; rather it is something a person does alone. Work to create the kind of environment where the workers decide this is a better place to work than before. They will motivate themselves in short order.

9. Be humble
People do not warm up to a braggart. Trying to impress them with your Harvard MBA will set you back several years in terms of ability to lead.

People relate to someone who is genuine and willing to learn from them. That attitude is far more effective than trying to win them over with your own prestigious background.

10. Care
There is an old saying that “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” It sounds trite to say it, but that is really the secret to effective leadership of people who are older than you in years and experience.

Once you have built confidence in you as a leader, the issue of age goes away quickly, and you have overcome a stumbling block that trips many bright young leaders.

I grant that it is possible to muscle in and force your way to compliance with an older population. The problem is that compliance is another word for mediocrity. What you need from people is brilliant engagement, and that is what you will get if you follow the ten tips above.
 

Bob Whipple

The Most Undervalued Leadership Traits Of Women

It’s impossible to respect, value and admire great leadership if you can’t identify what makes a leader great.  Because of this, the identity crisis I have written about that exists in today’s workplace is something that women leaders in particular have been facing  for much too long. While the tide is changing and more women are being elevated into leadership roles, there is still much work to do. As of July 2013, there were only 19 female elected presidents and prime ministers in power around the globe.  In the business world, women currently hold only 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEO positions and the same percentage of Fortune 1000 CEO positions.   As women continue their upward trajectory in the business world, they have yet to be fully appreciated for the unique qualities and abilities they bring to the workplace.

Like many who grow up with a Hispanic upbringing, I was surrounded by strong-willed, hardworking and purpose-driven women. It is through their leadership that the traditions, values and legacy of our family have been upheld.  My grandmother, mother, wife, and sister-in-law all possess natural leadership skills and they are masters of opportunity management – seamlessly keeping us all in check while running the family household and at the same time supporting our family businesses.  They have taught me that a woman’s instincts and emotional intelligence can be off the chart. They seamlessly manage crisis and change and are turnaround experts – sensing and neutralizing any signs of danger well before it invades our path. It is because of the women in our family that we are well-organized, full of love, spiritually aligned and well-balanced. We are by no means a perfect family, but we are a modern family who embraces traditions even as we adapt to changing times.

It can be difficult for a man to understand how women think, act and innovate unless  he has been closely influenced by  the women in his life.   I’ve learned that women may process things differently and  in their own terms. Fortunately for me, I’ve been influenced by great women who made me appreciate their approach towards leadership. I’ve grown to understand their decision-making processes, the dynamics and subtleties of their personality and style, and other special character qualities that women possess.

The best women leaders I know have circular vision that enables them to be well-rounded people.  For example, they have their finger on the pulse of the culture and can talk to you about the latest pop-culture news – but then easily switch gears to give you their perspective on what is taking place on Wall Street.  Women leaders seeking a chance to be significant see the world through a lens of opportunity; they are especially in search of those opportunities previously unseen (perhaps this is why the women I know enjoy a good treasure hunt).   My experiences have taught me that great women make it a point to teach men about women.

I’ve seen women run the show for years both at home and in the workplace, which has enabled me to recognize behavior patterns and see the value behind their way of doing things.  These women are master multi-taskers and highly collaborative (though not afraid to get territorial to protect their domain).  They enjoy their own space to test themselves and find their own rhythm.  These women leaders are like scientists: many of them want to make new discoveries or solve for problems where others have failed.   The women leaders I’ve been around don’t stop pursuing until the job gets done. This is why I believe they are good collaborative leaders – not afraid of trial and error as long as they continue to build the resource infrastructure around them that gets them closer towards accomplishing their goals.   As one of my women mentors told me, “Without enough of the right resources around me, I will not risk the outcome. I know the resources I need to get the job done right.

I’d rather be patient than foolish.”

The women leaders I know invest in themselves and become knowledge seekers. They are not afraid to ask questions when given a safe platform to express themselves. For example, during my keynote and conference appearances – more often than not – it is the women who ask me the most questions and they are also more inspired to adopt new ideas and ideals.  Though extremely curious, it’s often balanced with a bit of skepticism    – after all, they don’t want to be fooled or taken advantage of.   My experiences have taught me that women leaders need to trust a person before they will endorse what they have to say.   Many just want to know that there is legitimacy behind the opportunity.

As I’ve learned from my women bosses and mentors, they want things to be authentic yet practical. These women leaders enjoy a good challenge – and seek to find meaning and purpose from each circumstance they face and opportunity they are given.  They like to see and understand the connectivity of thoughts and how they work or why they don’t.   They want all the facts and figures before making important decisions.

Competitiveness amongst themselves may really be about looking for validation — an identity that matters and a voice that is heard.  Successful women leaders don’t rely on favors; they earn respect   and truly believe they can influence their own advancement by serving others.  Consummate team players, they also seek to prove their value and self-worth by exceeding performance expectations..  Looking for respect more than recognition, the most successful women leaders don’t seek to become the star of the show — but they enable others to create a great show.  In other words,   being in the spotlight is not what drives them – but rather it’s the ability to influence positive outcomes with maximum impact.

One thing is certain: these women leaders understand survival, renewal and reinvention. They have grit and are not afraid to fight for what they believe in or an opportunity to achieve something of significance. They believe in what they stand for, but that doesn’t mean they won’t put their ideas and ideals to the test.  For them, doing more with less is simply a matter of knowing how to strategically activate those around them.

While women leaders have their productivity secrets, it’s not secret where they come from:  the leadership traits that women leaders naturally possess and – based on my personal and professional experiences  – are the most undervalued.

1.  Opportunity-driven
When confronted with a challenge, the women I know look for the opportunity within. They see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty.  They push the boundaries and, when faced with adverse circumstances, they learn all they can from it.  Optimism is their mindset because they see opportunity in everything.

Estée Lauder, the child of Hungarian immigrant parents, was quite the opportunist in the cosmetics industry. During the postwar consumer boom, women wanted to start sampling cosmetic products before buying them. Lauder noticed and responded to this shifting dynamic by pioneering two marketing techniques that are commonly used today: the free gift and the gift-with-purchase. It’s exactly this type of inventiveness that other women use to pursue the opportunities in front of them.

2.  Strategic
Women see what often times others don’t see.  As one of my women mentors told me, “A woman’s lens of skepticism oftentimes forces them to see well beyond the most obvious details before them.  They enjoy stretching their perspective to broaden their observations.  Many women are not hesitant to peel the onion in order to get to the root of the matter.”

At times they “play the part” to test the intentions of others and to assure that they are solidly grounded and reliable. Successful women leaders know how to play the game when they have to – and can anticipate the unexpected.    They know what cards to play and keenly calculate the timing of each move they make.

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn a woman leader made the word “organic” a business term.   I learned that women who enjoy the ebbs and flows of business activity also know that the best things are accomplished when they are done naturally – and unforced.  When things are happening organically, this means that they are functioning within a natural rhythm and speed – that is safer and risk adverse.

This is not to say that women are uncomfortable with risk – in fact,  they will often tackle risk head-on in order to get to the root cause of  a problem and to solve for it (they value time and money).  Women leaders who don’t allow their egos to stand in the way of good business are in the mindset of getting things done for the betterment of a healthier whole.

3.  Passionate 
While women in general were historically viewed and stereotyped as emotional leaders by men, I believe they are just passionate explorers in pursuit of excellence.   When women leaders are not satisfied with the status quo, they will want to make things better.  These women leaders get things done and avoid procrastination. As another one of my women mentors said, “They enjoy order and stability and a genuine sense of control. Many women have learned not to depend upon others for their advancement and thus have a tendency to be too independent.  A woman’s independent nature is her way of finding her focus and dialing up her pursuits.”

When these women leaders are locked into what they are searching for – move out of the way.  Their passionate pursuits allow them to become potent pioneers of new possibilities.  No wonder minority women represent the largest growing segment of entrepreneurs.

 According to a report by the Center for Women’s Business Research, U.S. Hispanic and African American women entrepreneurs  grew at rates of 133.3% and 191.4% respectively from 1997 to 2007.

4.  Entrepreneurial 

Entrepreneurship is just a way of life for many women.   They can be extremely resourceful, connect the dots of opportunity and become expert in developing the relationships they need to get the job done.   Many women leaders also see through an entrepreneurial lens to best enable the opportunities before them.    They know that to create and sustain momentum requires 100% focus on the objective   – and so they don’t enjoy being disrupted by unnecessary noise and distractions.

As one of my former women bosses told me, “Women can play into the politics of the workplace, and do so if it means adding value to the momentum they are attempting to create.”

Many women leaders find excitement and motivation by being extremely creative and resourceful when completing tasks and other duties and responsibilities –. They avoid falling too far behind on projects – knowing that if they do it will disrupt their focus and momentum.   That is why I learned never to disrupt a woman’s focus and concentration if I can avoid it.

My former female boss continued by saying, “This is why women like control.  Not necessarily to be in charge, but to not lose the rhythm or compromise the momentum they need to accomplish their goals.”

5.  Purposeful and Meaningful

I have found that many women leaders enjoy inspiring others to achieve. They know what it’s like to be the underdog and work hard not to disappoint themselves and others.  Women leaders in particular often have high standards and their attention to detail makes it difficult for others to cut corners or abuse any special privileges.

Women leaders with a nurturing nature are good listeners and excellent networkers/connecters. They enjoy creating ecosystems and support a collaborative leadership style that melds the thinking and ideas of others; this is what multiplies the size of an opportunity and/or its speed in execution in order to create a larger sphere of influence and overall impact.  Women who don’t have to be right all the time make good consensus builders and will more likely enjoy participating in a team environment.

6.  Traditions and Family
Whether at home or at work, women are often the glue that keeps things together and that is why they represent great leadership for America’s future.  When they sense growing tensions that can lead to potential problems or inefficiencies, the most successful women leaders enjoy taking charge before circumstances force their hand.   Women are usually the ones to secure the foundational roots of the family and to protect family and cultural traditions from wavering. They provide the leadership within the home and in the workplace to assure that legacies remain strong by being fed with the right nutrients and ingredients.

The most successful women leaders are big believers in team building and the enforcement of mission, goals and values to assure that everyone is on the same page with like intentions.  This secures a sense of continuity making it easier for everyone to have each other’s backs.  No wonder women are assuming more management and leadership roles in family owned businesses.

To the great women in my personal and professional life, thank you for the opportunity to be inspired and mentored by your leadership (you know who you are).  I’ve read many things about women in the workplace and their lack of advancement into senior executive roles and in the boardroom.  Rarely have I read something from a man who has been inspired and influenced by the wisdom of a woman’s leadership.  Hopefully this perspective helps awaken more of us to the opportunity of learning about leadership from the women in our lives, whether in the home or at work.

Glenn Llopis, 

Negotiating Successful Business Deals

Few issues have more impact on the long-term success of your business than your ability to cut successful deals with customers, vendors, bankers and other key constituencies

 Yet, most CEOs leave too much money on the table during their most important business deals. Why? Because they usually take the wrong approach to the negotiating process.

Rather than approaching negotiations as a mutual issue-solving process, they see it as a kind of mental and verbal sparring session, where the side with the sharpest minds, toughest resolve and most aggressive tactics emerges as the victor. Such an approach invariably leads to win-lose or, worse, lose-lose outcomes, and their companies suffer in the long run. 

Adopting a more productive negotiating mindset requires getting rid of some outdated notions about how to negotiate effectively. In particular, four common negotiating myths make it difficult, if not impossible, to create successful deals:

Negotiating myth - 1: Negotiating involves competition.
Reality: Negotiations involve exchanging information and resources in order to satisfy the different and sometimes conflicting needs of two or more parties.

Negotiating myth - 2: Negotiating involves bargaining.
Reality: Bargaining is competitive; negotiating is co-operative. Bargaining focuses on whom is right; negotiating focuses on what is right. Negotiating creates long-term deals and relationships. Bargaining agreements never last because the losing party always insists on the chance to come back and get even.

Negotiating myth - 3: Negotiating always involves compromise.
Reality: Nobody wins in compromise because both sides end up getting less than they want or need.

Negotiating myth - 4: Effective negotiations involve the use of tactics, trickery and manipulation.
Reality: Honest, ethical negotiators never try to manipulate or deceive the other side. Tactics should only be used in self-defence.

The bottom line is that negotiating business deals has nothing to do with bargaining, compromise and competition. To create win-win outcomes, both sides must:

• Strive to understand the other person's wants and needs

• Attempt to solve the other person's problems/issues as well as their own

• Adopt a mindset of flexibility rather than rigidity

• Focus on "enlarging the pie" rather than dividing it up

Always aim for win-win outcomes.
This approach may sound "soft" to those who enjoy going toe-to-toe with the other side during a negotiation. However, I emphatically agree that following these principles will dramatically increase your chances of creating deals that benefit both sides and lead to positive long-term relationships. 

Six Steps to a Successful Deal

• Understand the other side. To solve the other person's issue, you need to gather as much information as possible about their situation. Specifically, you need to know:

• Any existing time, industry and/or financial pressures

• Their corporate goals and objectives

• Their specific goals for the negotiation

• Their options if they don't make the deal with you

• The personal goals of the negotiator

Who makes the final decision on the deal?
Smart negotiators spend far more time on research and discovery than they do on the actual negotiations. The more information you have the greater your ability to solve the other person's problem to your advantage.

I also recommend finding out who you're negotiating with. One of the first things in any business negotiation is to establish the honesty and ethics of the person sitting across from you. A lot of people say they want a win-win outcome, but their negotiating style and strategy often prove otherwise.


Plan your approach. A planned approach starts with having a crystal-clear understanding of your own position. To clarify your position, I recommend identifying three different deal scenarios:

• Best possible outcome

• Worst acceptable outcome

• Expected outcome

These outcomes establish the ballpark you will play in. Without them, you have no realistic starting point. In addition, the best successful dealmakers always prepare two other key elements:

• Walk-away point. This sets an absolute limit on the least favourable outcome you will accept. Anything less and you walk away from the deal.

• BATNA. Your "best alternative to a negotiated agreement" identifies what will you do if you can't reach agreement on this deal.

As long as you have these two elements in place, you cannot cut a bad deal.


I also recommend the use of role-play as an additional planning element. The more you know about how the other side might respond during the negotiation, the greater your chances of creating the outcome you want.

Build the relationship. If you want to cut a good deal, take the time to build the relationship before getting into the specifics of the deal. Most CEOs focus on price, terms and conditions because that's what they know best. Plus, those areas are easy to quantify. But the key to most negotiations is building communication, relationship and trust because those elements most often determine the outcome.

How do you build communication, relationship and trust? By exchanging information, active listening, and acknowledging the other person's needs.

People have a pressure and a need to tell you what they want. If you do not hear them out, you will not get past their perception that your company cannot meet their needs. If they do not feel that your company can meet their needs, they'll give the business to someone who will.

People make decisions for their reasons, not yours or anybody else's. Unless you address their reasons and needs, you're wasting you're time and theirs. You discover those needs by asking questions and building trust so that they feel comfortable disclosing information to you.

Solve their issue. To create a true successful deal, solve the other person's issue as well as your own. Doing so, requires learning three things during the discovery phase, what the other side values, what they are looking for in the deal, and their "never agains.
In order to solve the other person's issue; identify their items of value by asking open-ended questions. To determine their desired outcome, ask, "What exactly are you looking for in this deal?"

"Never-agains" are negative situations that have happened to the other person in the past and guide all their future negotiations. For example: Never again will we pay cash up front. Never again will we have partners in the deal. Never again will we reveal confidential information. It pays to get these out in the open early on because some people base their entire decision on them.

Enlarge the pie. There are two kinds of negotiations -- "fixed-resource" and "expanded-resource." Fixed-resource negotiations (i.e., buying a car or a house) involve win-lose propositions because one side gets more and the other gets less. Expanded-resource negotiations involve finding ways to exchange things of varying value so that each side walks away with a positive outcome.

"Bargainers and compromisers ask, 'How do we divide up the pie fairly and equitably?'" "Skilled deal-makers ask, 'How do we create a bigger pie so that we both get what we need?' Fixed-resource negotiations create win-lose outcomes, which lead to short-term relationships. Expanded-resource negotiations create win-win outcomes, which lead to long-term relationships.

To enlarge the pie:

• Gather as much information as possible about both sides before starting the negotiations.

• Identify items of value for both sides and list them in order of priority.

During the negotiations, avoid giving in to the temptation to bargain and compromise. Instead, get creative about ways to introduce and exchange items of value so that both sides get their needs met.

Stay focused on the desired outcome for the deal.

Make the numbers work. Most CEOs love to quantify things and reduce them to numbers because they are easy to work with. They also love to have precise formulas for the numbers. But the rationale behind the numbers always counts more than the actual numbers. The more you know about the method the other side uses to reach their conclusions, the better your chances of reaching a successful deal.

When trying to arrive at the final numbers:

• Clarify the rules for how the deal will be structured.

• Strive for as much communication as possible.

• Question all assumptions.

• Show how you are different.

Focus on the risks as well as the benefits of doing business with you. 

If you do the first five steps properly, working out the numbers becomes almost a formality. The key to any successful negotiation is to enlarge the pie by changing a fixed-resource negotiation into an expanded-resource negotiation. When you gather information, identify items of value for each side and look for creative ways to exchange them, you will cut deals that work for both sides.

Playing the Negotiating Game
When negotiating deals with your customers and vendors, it helps to know how the game is played. The negotiating playing field consists of four key elements: time, information, power and passion. The party that holds the advantage in these areas will usually prevail.

I believe that the person who controls the tone, tempo and format of the negotiations has a decided advantage. I recommend five principles for tipping the control factor in your favour:

• The person who speaks first sets the tone for the negotiation.

• The person who asks the most questions determines the content and direction of a negotiation.

• Never argue with the other side.

• People do things for their reasons, not yours.

• The party that listens the most will have the greatest effect on the outcome of the negotiations.

Ultimately, reaching an agreement that works for both sides comes down to making sure the other person feels like they got what they needed from the deal. To increase the odds of reaching this outcome, I recommend the following:

• Identify common issues.

• Go hard on the terms and easy on the people.

• Translate the value of the deal to the other side.

• Make it easy for them to win.

The secret to great deals is to let the other person walk away with a win. Don't make it so obvious that they feel like you gave in. But letting them win is essential for keeping the deal in place.

The Art of Making Concessions
Great dealmakers have a knack for making the right concession at just the right time. To improve your ability to make concessions, I recommend the following:

• Do the research. Make a list of "items of value" and use them when the other side asks for concessions. Also make a list of things you want in return.

• Never respond immediately to a request for a concession. Instead, use time to add uncertainty, thereby adding value to the concession when you make it.

• Never make a concession without asking for one in return. If you give without getting anything back, you reinforce the behaviour of asking for the concession.

• Do not make huge concessions, especially on the first go-round. Making a large initial concession undermines your credibility and sends the message that you still have plenty of room to come down.

• Make concessions in decreasing increments. This establishes more credibility for your opening position and signals that you have little room left in which to move
•  
• Beware of "insignificant" concessions. Great negotiators can take you to the cleaners by constantly asking for small concessions. Always wait until you have the whole story before agreeing to a small concession.

• Be prepared to justify every concession. Never make a concession unless you can demonstrate how the acquisition of new information has allowed you to change your position.

• Never try to exploit a concession. When you try to take advantage of a concession, you lose credibility.

• Know your `bottom line`. Never give something away if it doesn't make sense for your business.

In terms of concessions, the biggest mistake people make is going right to their final number, thinking they're getting a compromise. However, great negotiators don't get deals by compromising or focusing on concessions. They create great deals by exchanging items of equal or greater value so that both sides win. 

Avoiding the Deal-Killers
One key to successful business deals is avoiding the major deal-killers while minimising the minor gaffes that don't necessarily prevent an agreement but lead to less than ideal outcomes. These include:

• Going too fast

• Failure to establish your walk-away position

• Assuming the other side looks at the deal the same way you do

• Taking a short-term view

• Proving the other person wrong

• Failure to conduct your internal negotiations

• Negotiating against yourself

• Improper use of concessions

• Not knowing when to stop

• Dealing with Hardball Negotiators

From time to time you will run across negotiators who like to play by their own rules. These people, I refer to as "hardball negotiators," tend to have rigid thinking patterns, are unwilling to compromise and have an overwhelming need to be right. Worse, they tend to pursue win-lose outcomes. Negotiating with these people requires a careful assessment of the situation and a slower, more deliberate approach to the deal.

When faced with a hardball negotiator, I recommend the following:

• Take a hard look at all the implications of the deal and what you stand to gain from it.

• Hold fast to your walk-away point.

• Do not get caught up in an auction mentality.

• Watch out for individuals who just want to win.

Successfully negotiating with hardballers requires a three-pronged approach:

• Step aside. Never go head-to-head with a hardball negotiator because you will always lose. Instead, strive to defuse the conflict they're looking for by acknowledging their concerns and focusing on building communication and trust.

• Attract their interest. Give the hardballer plenty of airtime to talk about what they value, what they are looking for, and any "hot" items the company has to have. To keep them talking about their interests, ask plenty of open-ended questions.

• Close the deal. Find a way to make the hardballer look good to their boss so they will champion your position within their company. In order to cut a deal, they have to feel like they got a better outcome than they would have received from your competitors.

If these steps do not work, you may have to walk away from the deal. However, in today's environment the business that you do not take will affect your bottom line more than any business that you do take. Knowing when to say 'no' so that you can maintain margins is the sign of a good negotiator.

Improving Your Negotiating Skills
To advance your skills as a negotiator, I offer the following techniques:

• Make it a habit to critique your performance after every business deal, identifying areas that went well and those that could stand improvement.

• Role-play before every negotiation. Especially include reverse role-play, where you try to determine how the other side will approach the negotiation.

• Understand the real meaning of "win-win." "win-win" does not mean equal win. One party may gain more than the other, but as long as you both gain more by negotiating, you come away with a win-win deal.

• Avoid using tactics. Never introduce anything into the negotiating process that smacks of underhandedness, manipulation or deceit. Tactics should only be used to defend yourself from unscrupulous negotiators.

• Focus on turning fixed-resource into expanded-resource negotiations. Great negotiators focus on bringing more into the deal and adding more value to each side.

• Listen twice as much as you speak. To remember this important rule of thumb, simply look at the person across the table. They have two ears and one mouth.

• Practice, practice, practice. Provide training and practice to your staff, especially your sales team. In addition, practice your own negotiating skills where it doesn't count -- at hotel check-ins, rental car counters and other places where the stakes are small.

• Never want anything so badly that you won't accept something else. Never go into a negotiation feeling like you have to make the deal.

Think, research and plan to be successful. 

Now go on your journey for success.

Written by

Colin Thompson

Successful Companies Don't Have Mediocre Employees

There's a reason it's tough to get hired by the most successful companies. Can you name a top-rated company or organization with nothing but mediocre employees? Successful companies consistently hire, develop, and retain superior performers. The best advice successful leaders, CEOs, and business experts have ever given is: hire the right people for every job in your company, develop them to the fullest, and keep them on board as long as possible.

Author Jim Collins says in Good to Great, "People are not your most important asset, the RIGHT people are." I'd take that a step further; not only do you need the RIGHT people, you need them in the RIGHT positions -- jobs that fit their personal motivational needs, behavioral patterns, and core-skills as determined by a validated assessment.

Here are seven areas an organization may want to consider to consistently hire the right people for every position in the company, develop them to their fullest, and reduce turnover by retaining those employees. These steps can take employee engagement from an art to a science. 

Identify key job accountabilities

A Key Job Accountability is a task or activity the person on the job must do on a daily basis for the position to exist. You need to know the Key Accountabilities for each job and rank them according to their importance in getting the job right as part of the Job Benchmarking process.

What are the Key Accountabilities required *by the job?* What does the job itself require - not what the manager or the people doing the job think it requires or even what they prefer. Examine the “unspoken” part of the job description and address it, quantify it, and decide to include or exclude it from a position’s key accountabilities. 

Job behaviors

What specific behaviors are required for superior performance on the job? If the job could talk, what would it say? "I need [X] to be done this specific way to be done right." Not the way it's being done now or how the employee would like to do the job or how it’s always been done before or how someone else does it or even how certain people wish it were done - but how it should be done for maximum performance and success. 

Job motivators

What attitudes and motivators does a job require for superior performance? What values does the job reward? For example, if the job calls for someone with a strong social/humanitarian attitude - someone who puts other's needs above their own - then a person with that value will be happy on the job and naturally do it the way it should be done. If a job requires continual learning and study to be successful, then someone who values learning will be happy in that position and do it well.

Can you imagine putting people into positions that actually matched their natural behaviors and internal motivations? What would that look like long term at your organization? 

Employee behavioral styles

Next, identify the behavioral styles of those currently in the job to determine if each matches the behavior required by the job. Those who match the job's behavioral requirements will do the job as it should be done and have a higher level of job satisfaction and employee morale.

Some jobs require a supportive behavioral style, some require caution, some require an outgoing, persuasive style, some require a strong results orientation. All positions may require a bit of each of those but each position will have one or two styles that mesh best with what the job requires. 

Employee attitude and motivators

Do you know what motivates your employees ... really? When employers know, really know, an employee’s motivators, it’s easy to match them to the job primary motivators. When a job rewards certain values and motivations, the people who have those values will fit the job, be energized by their work, and perform at a much higher level than those who have to force themselves to be motivated to do what the job requires. Employers must know each employee’s motivators in order to increase employee satisfaction and reduce employee conflict and disengagement. 

Job applicant’s behaviors and motivators

What are your applicants' behavioral styles and attitudes? Have you matched them to what the job requires? There's no better way to know for sure that people will be superior performers in a particular position before hiring them than to hire only those whose behavioral styles and motivators match those of the job itself. This is the one of the most powerful resources you can employ if hiring top talent is important to you. Additionally, a well structured assessment will give your specific questions to ask a potential employee. 

Motivate your employees

How much easier would it be to retain great employees if your managers had a "people manual" composed of assessments that could tell them exactly how to motivate, manage, and communicate effectively with each individual person reporting to them? NewsFlash: not all employees are the same! Each individual is motivated a little differently, communicates a little differently, and has a different skill set. As a manager, you can learn how to best connect with each employee with the proper (validated) assessment.

A recently validated assessment can take most of the mystery out of hiring and developing top talent and make employee engagement a crucial part of your retention process.

Once you take these seven steps, establishing a performance review process that includes employee evaluations based on the job's Key Accountabilities, Behaviors, Attitudes, and Core Skills is relatively easy. You have an outline of what needs to be done and how.

How do you accomplish these steps? First benchmark the job itself, not the people in the job … even those who are doing it well. Benchmarking a job (rather than an individual) removes the bias, personality contests, and non job-related elements from the hiring and managing process. Once the job benchmark is complete, then assess your employees and future applicants comparing them to the requirements outlined by the job itself.

Image by stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Ron Haynes

Family businesses a ‘good news story’ in the Canadian economy

85 per cent of Canadian family businesses projecting growth over next five years, according to PwC survey.

TORONTO—Family-owned and operated businesses are a “good news story” in the Canadian economy but face challenges attracting and retaining talent, according to a new report.

The 2014 PwC Global Family Business Survey found that family businesses in Canada are growing.

About 67 per cent of respondents achieved top line growth in the last year, and an even larger portion—85 per cent, according to PwC—are projecting growth over the next five years.

The firm said strength and confidence in family business in Canada “is likely a result of expected continued economic recovery, as well as the ability private family companies have to remain agile amidst economic uncertainty.”

“Family businesses are making the most of the economic recovery and are pushing forward in their plans for growth,” Saul Plener, national private company services leader with PwC Canada, said in a statement.

“While they remain cautious about investing in international markets, they continue to have a strong sense of confidence and optimism towards the road ahead.”

However confident family businesses are, they continue to face challenges when it comes to attracting and retaining talent, according to the survey.

Some 71 per cent of business surveyed cited the talent gap as their top concern over the next five years.

“Family-owned companies tend to require sophisticated leadership and a diversity of skill sets, but aren’t always able to provide market-competitive compensation,” the firm said. “These challenges highlight a need for family businesses to professionalize.”

Despite the need, the PwC survey found it is on the radar for only 21 per cent of Canadian respondents over the next five years.

“Furthermore, there is a significant demographic shift occurring in Canada—baby boomers are retiring, creating a skills gap in the workforce and putting a squeeze on family businesses,” PwC said.

“This is particularly challenging for the 27 per cent of respondents looking to sell or float their companies—the aging workforce will create a highly competitive buyer’s market between 2018 and 2025, meaning that succession planning will be particularly crucial for those seeking to exit.”

Despite this, the firm said family businesses bring “considerable benefit” Canada’s workforce and economy that extends beyond compensation and demographics.

“For example, 80 per cent of Canadian respondents state that they measure success beyond just profitability, and that they are committed to retaining staff even in bad times,” PwC said. “They agree their culture and values are stronger (75 per cent), they are more entrepreneurial (71 per cent), make decisions faster (73 per cent) and take a longer term approach to setting strategy (65 per cent) than non-family businesses.”

“Family businesses add a dynamic, robust and often complex layer to the general business community, and their operational models often reflect the agility needed to survive in today’s environment,” said Sharon Duguid, director of PwC’s Center for Entrepreneurs and Family Enterprise.

“Their sense of responsibility and community spirit lends itself well to a harsh and competitive market, and if they can invest in capacity and capability, bringing in the right people with the right skills, they’ll continue to be a key pillar of the Canadian economy.”

When it comes to your business areyou a sprinter or a marathon runner?

Our family business is going through an exciting period of growth. As its new CEO, I am obviously both grateful and energized. After all, assuming the reigns of a company started by someone else, let alone your father, can present interesting challenges in terms of the way things have always been done and how they may need to be done going forward.

I am not suggesting that these kinds of challenges are, in and of themselves, a bad thing. In fact I firmly believe the old saying that if two people in business are always in agreement, then one is redundant.

While my father has incredible faith in me so that my role as company CEO is not just in title, this does not preclude him from offering his opinion. Nor does it prevent me from respectfully disagreeing with him.

However, and rather than looking at differences of opinion in the context of someone being right and someone being wrong, I try to see it from the other person's point of view. In our case, my father's point of view.

What Type of Runner Are You?
In reading Jessica Bruder's Inc. article The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship, I began to truly understand what it took for my father to not only start a business, but to build it to the point of passing it to me as a thriving enterprise.

Bruder talks about the fact that building a business isn't easy. However, she indicates that there is a far greater price that entrepreneurs pay beyond that which everyone sees. This latter point goes a long way towards explaining the determined certainty in which my father embraces his ideas and voices his beliefs.

Like the laser focus of a sprinter that zeros in on a short distance of yards, there is little opportunity to look beyond the immediate steps towards crossing an imminent finish line. There is no pacing oneself, or trying a different stride or for that matter contemplating a win. There is just the sound of the gun and a few fleeting seconds between victory and defeat. All you can do, is stay within your lane and run as hard as you can for a very short period. 

This same kind of myopic urgency is also needed in the early days of a new business. You can't waste hours contemplating what the mid to long-term future will look like when you are in a survive and build mode. You just work as hard as you can on the opportunities and challenges that are immediately in front of you.

It is high stress, and it is tiring, as entrepreneurs deal with what Bruder calls secret demons, which are the inevitable moments of "near-debilitating anxiety and despair--times when it seemed everything might crumble."

Once A Sprinter, Always A Sprinter?
In his Harvard Business Review paper The Founder's Dilemma, Noah Wasserman wrote "At every step in their venture’s life, entrepreneurs face a choice between making money and controlling their businesses. And each choice comes with a trade-off."

He then goes on to write "New research shows that it’s tough to do both," and that if "you don’t figure out which matters more to you, you could end up being neither rich nor king."
I thought Wasserman's words were very insightful, although it isn't necessarily just currency that an entrepreneur wants. Sometimes what matters most is the security of sticking with something that is known and has brought you to this present point. Or to put it another way, we have always done it like this, so why change?

Similar to losing control to acquire funds from outside investors in an effort to make the business better, changing the way things have been done is also a daunting prospect. But often times change, like the infusion of new capital, is what is needed to take the business to the next level.

This is when a new type of runner is needed.

The Long And Winding Marathoner's Road
We have all heard the term fear of failure. For many entrepreneurs who start a new business this is a reality that comes with the territory.

That said, there is also another reality called the fear of success. From my standpoint, the difference between the two is that one requires the courage to begin, while the other requires the courage to change.

When a business finally gains the traction and becomes consistently successful, the intense and narrow focus of surviving in the here and now must be expanded to envision a broader horizon of new possibilities. In other words, the need to survive is replaced by a need to thrive and grow.

This requires a different mindset. One in which there is the willingness to see the future in terms of miles instead of yards. What I am talking about is seeing the business not as a series of short sprints, but as a long marathon in which decisions are not based upon keeping the lights on but adding more lights.

For a founder this is not an easy concept to embrace. Perhaps this is the reason why, as Wasserman points out, keeping founders on board is a challenge once a new CEO has been appointed. The statistics he provides support this.

Choosing power: Founders motivated by control will make decisions that enable them to lead the business at the expense of increasing its value.

Regardless of the size of the enterprise, be it a small family business or a Fortune 500 company, all have or will one day have to make the transition from the sprinter's mindset of the founder, to the marathoners expanded view of the future.

The question for both founders and new CEOs alike is simply this . . . how will you facilitate this necessary change?

From my standpoint it starts with recognizing who is the sprinter and who is the marathon runner, and understanding and respecting both for what they bring to the table. From there you will inevitably figure out how to best run the race going forward.

Written by

Julie Lyons-Wolfe