The Ten Commandments of Business Failure

The New Marketing & Sales Funnel

How the Best CEOs Get the Important Work Done

HBR STAFF

If you’re a chief executive officer, your job is to execute. It’s written right into your title. But what does it mean, in terms of daily tasks, to be the company’s top “executer?” After all, CEOs don’t actually build factories or sell products.

It’s tempting, therefore, to view the CEO as primarily a thinker; someone who mulls and shapes strategy. That is a part of the CEO’s job, of course. But the best CEOs know that strategy is just theory unless it’s actually translated into frontline routines―unless the rest of the company actually is executing the strategy.

The CEO’s job is to make sure that happens. The best CEOs focus primarily on four things: communication, communication, communication, and overseeing resource allocation to ensure that the priorities they’re communicating are actually the ones getting funded.
The problem with the first three of those tasks: It can be incredibly boring. The same messages must be repeated again and again ad nauseam. But the best CEOs resist the desire to chase the next shiny object. They stick maniacally to their communication role to guarantee that the strategy is baked into frontline routines and behaviors.

And just because it’s repetitive doesn’t mean it’s easy. First-time CEOs often feel like their own company is conspiring to drown out those messages. Based on our research and decades of experience working with CEOs, here are six tips for CEOs who want to get the boring—and most important—stuff done:

Liberate yourself from your own staff. Your time and your energy are your most valuable resources. Focus them on what’s most important and start saying “no” to people—starting with your immediate staff. The average CEO inherits a staff committed to serving the institutional requirements of the office of CEO, not the CEO’s strategic agenda. If you don’t ruthlessly protect your time, you will watch your calendar rapidly fill up with retirement parties, ribbon cuttings and other corporate tasks that have nothing to do with advancing the strategy.

Many CEOs apply a 60/40 rule: They devote 60 per cent of their time to “must-do” tasks like governance and investor relations and the other 40 per cent to personal focus on strategic execution. And they constantly review the 60 percent to decide if really need to do them or can delegate them to others. One pharmacy retail chain CEO who wasn’t particularly good at investor relations simply hired people who were better and entrusted them with that duty.

Disentangle yourself from the Byzantine bickering of the professional managerial class. Most companies have a professional managerial class that absorbs way too much time and energy and distracts CEOs—and others—from focusing on customers and the front line. CEOs can waste a massive amount of time simply tending to the egos and petty squabbles of professional managers―time better spent connecting directly with the front line and solving their needs. I recognize this sounds harsh; it is. Of course, every organization needs professional managers, and many of the great value-creation stories of business can be traced to their efforts. But we have to be honest: If we can point to companies that are under-managed, we must also point the finger at companies that are over-managed, where the professional managerial class appears to spend as much time perpetuating its own agenda as it does supporting the front line.

As part of the ongoing research effort for our book, The Founder’s Mentality, we’ve studied why companies retain or lose the characteristics that help them avoid growth-killing complexity and stay focused on their insurgent mission to serve customers. Our surveys, research and extensive interviews suggest that this sense of mission fades first and fastest at the upper and middle layers of the company as they become diluted with professional managers.

Professional managers tend to worry most about stakeholders somewhere in their own office. They are more likely to tell their family about face time with the CEO than about solving some faceless customer’s problem. Avoid becoming a dinner table boast and instead spend your time maintaining the energy and sense of mission of the frontline employees who devote their day to serving customers or supporting those who do.

Laminate your “strategy on a page” and find joy in talking about it for the thousandth time. The best CEOs create some sort of strategy on a page. I’ve known some who laminate it to survive the 1,000 conversations they initiate. They constantly remind everyone what matters in the simplest terms possible. How a CEO spends his or her own time sends a powerful message about what matters to the business, but that doesn’t let them off the hook on the boring part of the job: They still must repeat that message over and over and over again.

We even argue that CEOs should focus on a “strategy on a hand” (which liberates them from their laminates). The thumb represents a simple, jargon-free description of “why we exist,” and the fingers are the three to four ways the company must excel to make that happen. At Indian consumer products company CavinKare, the thumb is “Whatever a rich man enjoys, the common man should be able to afford, and our job is to find a way to solve this.” At one Brazilian retailer, it’s “To give aspiring lower-class consumers the opportunity to own furniture, ‘white goods’ and consumer electronics by helping them solve their financing needs.” At Google, it would be “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

The best CEOs instinctively distill an often complex strategy into a few clear elements that can easily cascade through the organization, and they revel in making that happen. “The role of a CEO is to simplify the complexity and stick to a few themes that are easy to understand,” the CEO of one luxury goods company told us. Or, as an airline CEO reflected in a recent conversation with us, “In any company I’ve been in, there haven’t been very many people who are capable of standing back and making the complicated things very simple. Yet that’s where the real value is.”

Celebrate the doers. Every company needs thinkers, but CEOs need to fight the natural tendency of corporate hierarchies to glorify them. Instead, they must remind everyone that it is the doers—the key employees who directly support customers—whose actions advance the mission of the company.

“My sales force are the heroes of my business,” the CEO of one consumer goods company told us. “I want them to sell all day, outhustle the competition, get our products onto the right shelves at the right width and height. I’ve told them over and over that they are not the brains of the company, but the arms, legs, ears and eyes.”

He continued: “For example, if the sales reps see new competitive activity or something interesting in-store that worries them or presents an opportunity, they take a photo with their smartphone, write a few lines about the issue and send them off to the heads of sales and trade marketing. Then they go back to selling. The thinkers back at headquarters get about 150 pictures a week, some of which get translated by the marketing staff into new sales initiatives. And every month, the company gives an award for the best new sales initiative―not to the marketing department, but to the sales rep whose photo triggered the new initiative.”

Be the question guy, not the answer guy. Thousands of issues can distract a CEO from what really matters. You don’t need to solve every problem. As the CEO of one food company told us: “I need to know about those issues and I would be cross if I didn’t. But I don’t have to fix them.” If a problem is getting in the way of the doers, you should make sure it gets solved. Otherwise, it can probably be delegated to someone on your team to figure out. Most CEOs start the job believing they need to have all the answers, but over time they realize they need to have good questions, such as “How does this activity help translate our strategy into frontline behaviors and results?” There it is, the boring part again.

Ignore the conventional wisdom of coaches. CEOs hear a lot of bad advice urging them to stay in their box and work through the management structure. Watch out for these phrases:

• “The CEO should look up and out.” This is the notion that the CEO’s job is to manage the board and outside stakeholders, leaving day-to-day operations of the companies to others. This is poppycock. One would hope the CEO attained his or her position by being one of the best operators in the business. Why abandon that strength once they are in the ultimate position to exercise it throughout the company?
• “The CEO should work through the layers and not connect directly with the front line.” Nonsense. Messages must be delivered directly. We’ve all played the game of telephone as kids and know the twaddle that emerges at the end of the chain. A CEO who communicates through layers is a CEO who dooms the organization to drivel. This doesn’t mean you ignore the management layers in between – bring them along, share the stage and debrief and coach them afterwards. But deliver messages directly.
• “The CEO must rise above the details of the business.” Total nonsense. Revenue comes from customers, and customers care massively about the details of the business. Deep customer loyalty is born of the infinite decisions required to get these details right. The CEO must live here.
• “The CEO’s job is to set the strategic direction and then leave the execution to others.” Utter nonsense. Strategy is meaningless without execution. Execution is where strategy turns into results. Do both.

And yes, execution by communication can be boring. Yet you will often find that the messages need repeating—and that each time you do, you learn a lot about what’s working and what isn’t in different parts of your company. In the long run, these simple messages make your job much easier. Performance management gets linked to these simple themes. That, in turn, encourages leaders throughout the organization to absorb and live the same priorities. It shows employees that their own path to success is tightly linked to strategy. And clear, simple themes win over investors and analysts, too.

Here’s the rub. Ultimately, you need to find joy in this. And there is joy. Each conversation is an opportunity for mutual discovery, for mutual insight. You can be successful as a CEO only if you can mobilize the hearts and minds of thousands, so you must love this mobilization and take joy in helping each group and each individual discover what the strategy means for them. CEOs don’t lead companies, they lead a collection of people who all need to move in the same direction. And that demands a thousand conversations.

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James Allen is a partner in Bain & Company’s London office and a co-head of the firm’s global strategy practice. He also leads Bain’s Founder’s Mentality 100 initiative. He is a co-author of a number of bestselling books including Profit from the Core and The Founder’s Mentality: How to Overcome the Predictable Crises of Growth (Harvard Business Review Press, June 2016).

Ships don't sink because of water around them....

How to Manage a Toxic Employee

There’s that one person on your team — the bad apple who has nothing positive to say, riles up other team members, and makes work life miserable. If you can’t fire him, how do you respond to his behavior? What feedback do you give? How do you mitigate the damage he inflicts? 

What the Experts Say
There’s a difference between a difficult employee and a toxic one, says Dylan Minor, an assistant professor at the Kellogg School of Management who studies this topic. “I call them toxic because not only do they cause harm but they also spread their behavior to others,” she explains. “There’s a pattern of de-energizing, frustrating or putting down teammates,” adds Christine Porath, an associate professor at Georgetown and the author of Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace.  “It’s not just that Joe is rude. The whole team suffers because of it.” Of course,  your first step as a manager should be to avoid hiring toxic people in the first place, but once they’re on your team, it can be hard to get rid of them. “Oftentimes the behavior doesn’t run against anything legal so you can’t fire them if others in the organization don’t agree that a line has been crossed,” Porath explains. Here’s what to do instead.

Dig deeper
The first step is to take a closer look at the behavior and what’s causing it. Is the person unhappy in the job? Struggling in their personal life? Frustrated with coworkers? “You might meet with them and ask how they’re doing — at work, at home, and with their career development,” suggests Porath. If you find there’s a reason for why they’re acting the way they are, offer to help. “A manager can use this information to coach the person, or suggest resources to help address the root of the problem.” For example, adds Minor, if the person is going through a divorce or struggling with a mental health issue, you could offer “counseling resources or time off that could potentially alleviate” the underlying issue.

Give them direct feedback
In many cases, toxic people are oblivious to the effect they have on others. “Most of the time people don’t realize that they’re as destructive as they are,” Porath says. “They’re too focused on their own behaviors and needs to be aware of the broader impact.”  That’s why it’s crucial to give direct and honest feedback — so they understand the problem and have an opportunity to change. The standard feedback rules apply:  Objectively explain the behavior and its effects, using specific, concrete examples.  “It’s not helpful to say, ‘You’re annoying us all,’” Porath explains. “You have to ground it in the work.”  Also discuss what kind of behavior you’d like to see instead and develop an improvement plan with the employee. “What do you expect them to change? Strive for clearly defined, measurable goals,” Porath says.  “You’re giving them the chance to have a more positive impact on people.”

Explain the consequences
If the carrot doesn’t work, you can also try the stick. “We all tend to respond more strongly to potential losses than we do to potential gains, so it’s important to show offenders what they stand to lose if they don’t improve,” says Porath. If the person is hesitant to reform, figure out what they care most about — the privilege of working from home, their bonus—and put that at stake. For most people, the possibility of missing out on a promised promotion or suffering other consequences “tied to the pocketbook” will be a strong motivation to behave in a more civil way.

Accept that some people won’t change
Of course, you should always hope that the person can change but not everyone will respond to the tactics listed above. Minor is currently researching toxic doctors and says that early results indicate that some are either unable or unwilling to change. Porath’s research on incivility has meanwhile found that “4% of people engage in this kind of behavior just because it’s fun and they believe they can get away with it.” In those extreme cases, you should recognize that you won’t be able to fix the problem and begin to explore more serious responses.

Document everything
If you conclude that you really need to fire the person, you must first document their offenses and any response you’ve offered so far. “You want to establish a pattern of behavior, the steps you took to address it, the information, warnings or resources provided to the employee, and the failure of the employee to change,” Porath says.  Include “supporting material” too: formal complaints, relevant information from performance evaluations, such as 360-degree or peer reviews. The idea, says Minor, is to protect yourself and the company and to show your employee exactly why they are being let go.

Separate the toxic person from other team members
Even if you can’t get rid of a bad apple, you can isolate it from the rest of the bushel so the rot doesn’t spread. Minor’s research shows that people close to a toxic employee are more likely to become toxic themselves, but the good news is that the risk also subsides quickly,” he says. As soon as you put some physical distance between the offender and the rest of the team – for example, by rearranging desks, reassigning projects, scheduling fewer all-hands meetings, or encouraging more work-from-home days — you’ll see the situation start to improve. Porath calls this “immunizing” the others. “You’re trying to protect people like you would with a disease,” she says. “You will hopefully decrease the number of run-ins and the cognitive loss.” But make sure to do this with discretion. Let employees come to you with their complaints about the toxic colleague and use “one-on-one conversations” to coach them on how they might minimize their interactions.”

Don’t get distracted
Managing a toxic person can eat up your time, energy, and productivity. But “don’t spend so much on one individual that your other priorities fall by the wayside,” says Porath. To counteract the negativity and make sure you’re still thriving, “surround yourself with supportive, positive people” and “look for meaning and purpose in your work,” she says.  Also focus on basic self-care. “If someone is draining you, build yourself up by exercising, eating right, sleeping, and taking breaks, both short-term ones and vacations,” she says. “Being healthy and proactive is the one thing we know that buffers people from the effects of toxic behavior.”

Principles to Remember
Do:

• Talk to the person to try to understand what’s causing the behavior.
• Give concrete, specific feedback and offer the opportunity to change.
• Look for ways to minimize interactions between the toxic employee and the rest of your team.

Don’t:

• Bring the situation up with your other team members. Allow them to mention it first and then provide suggestions.
• Try to fire the person unless you’ve documented the behavior, its impact, and your response.
• Get so wrapped up in handling the issue that you ignore more important work and responsibilities.

Case Study #1: Give direct feedback and support the rest of the team
Christina Del Villar, the director of marketing at the e-commerce operations software firm Webgility, managed a small team at a start-up earlier in her career. One employee, Sharon (not her real name), a senior marketing manager, was making the rest of the group miserable.

“She was an alcoholic, abused drugs, and had a medical condition,” Christina recalls, Her work was “full of mistakes,” her work ethic was poor — ”she was often out of the office, at least one day a week, if not more” — and she frequently took credit for others’ efforts.

Christina made sure to document the behavior but says she couldn’t fire Sharon because the woman “had threatened to sue for a variety of reasons, including her medical condition” should she be let go. Instead, she worked to prevent “the negativity from seeping into everything” by routinely giving Sharon feedback and direction. “Sometimes people don’t realize the impact they’re having so I like to have a blunt conversation with them about their behavior, what they can do to change it, and how they can work better with the team.”  Her approach was “delicate” because, with Sharon “you never really knew who you were going to get on any given day.” But she learned to read her employee’s “state of mind” and “pick days where she would be more accepting of this kind of conversation.”

Christina also supported the rest of the team. “Sometimes it was as easy as saying they were doing a great job or thanking them for stepping up to “fill the void” left by Sharon, she explains. She also encouraged them to focus on themselves and their work, “not on what someone else was or was not be doing.” When they complained about Sharon, she offered advice “while still respecting everyone’s privacy and staying within the law.”

While Christina’s efforts reduced the negative impact Sharon was having, the problem was ultimately solved by circumstance. When their business was acquired by a larger company,  Sharon moved to a different department.

Case Study #2: Help him rebuild his reputation
Daniel Hanson (not his real name) once managed an IT team at a large multinational that suffered every time it had to interact with Bob (also not his real name), a senior internal consultant. “He had a habit of talking down to people and being dismissive and was blissfully unaware that his behaviors  irritated people,” Daniel recalls.

With a little probing, Daniel discovered some of the reasons for Bob’s negativity. “His personal life was a mess between bad relationships and estranged children. Plus he’d realized that he had reached a certain age and hadn’t achieved the professional satisfaction that he wanted and he thought he deserved.”

Still, Daniel made clear to Bob that his behavior needed to change. He recommended a counselor provided by the company and offered up his own time and advice in weekly meetings. “I told him this was his last chance and that the next step was a formal performance management plan and almost inevitably exit from the business,” he says.
Although many managers “hated Bob with a passion,” Daniel encouraged them to stop talking about him behind his back, “to see that he was trying to change and to include him in more senior projects under close observation.” He spoke to people individually and “pointed out that his contribution on numerous projects had been immense.”

“Gradually, as Bob’s behavior changed, their attitudes toward him changed as well,” Daniel says. He’s proud that, when Bob did eventually transfer to another team, it was because he’d wanted to go, not because he’d been forced out.

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Amy Gallo is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review and the author of the HBR Guide to Managing Conflict at Work. She writes and speaks about workplace dynamics. Follow her on Twitter at @amyegallo.

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2016 Canadian Social Media Usage

If You’re Not Outside Your Comfort Zone, You Won’t Learn Anything

You need to speak in public, but your knees buckle even before you reach the podium. You want to expand your network, but you’d rather swallow nails than make small talk with strangers. Speaking up in meetings would further your reputation at work, but you’re afraid of saying the wrong thing. Situations like these — ones that are important professionally, but personally terrifying — are, unfortunately, ubiquitous. An easy response to these situations is avoidance. Who wants to feel anxious when you don’t have to?

But the problem, of course, is that these tasks aren’t just unpleasant; they’re also necessary. As we grow and learn in our jobs and in our careers, we’re constantly faced with situations where we need to adapt our behavior. It’s simply a reality of the world we work in today. And without the skill and courage to take the leap, we can miss out on important opportunities for advancement. How can we as professionals stop building our lives around avoiding these unpleasant, but professionally beneficial, tasks?

First, be honest with yourself. When you turned down that opportunity to speak at a big industry conference, was it really because you didn’t have the time, or were you scared to step on a stage and present? And when you didn’t confront that coworker who had been undermining you, was it really because you felt he would eventually stop, or was it because you were terrified of conflict? Take an inventory of the excuses you tend to make about avoiding situations outside your comfort zone and ask yourself if they are truly legitimate. If someone else offered you those same excuses about their behavior, would you see these as excuses or legitimate reasons to decline? The answer isn’t always clear, but you’ll never be able to overcome inaction without being honest about your motives in the first place.

Then, make the behavior your own. Very few people struggle in every single version of a formidable work situation. You might have a hard time making small talk generally, but find it easier if the topic is something you know a lot about. Or you may have a hard time networking, except when it’s in a really small setting.

Recognize these opportunities and take advantage — don’t chalk this variability up to randomness. For many years, I’ve worked with people struggling to step outside their comfort zones at work and in everyday life, and what I’ve found is that we often have much more leeway than we believe to make these tasks feel less loathsome. We can often find a way to tweak what we have to do to make it palatable enough to perform by sculpting situations in a way that minimizes discomfort. For example, if you’re like me and get queasy talking with big groups during large, noisy settings, find a quiet corner of that setting to talk, or step outside into the hallway or just outside the building. If you hate public speaking and networking events, but feel slightly more comfortable in small groups, look for opportunities to speak with smaller groups or set up intimate coffee meetings with those you want to network with.

Finally, take the plunge. In order to step outside your comfort zone, you have to do it, even if it’s uncomfortable. Put mechanisms in place that will force you to dive in, and you might discover that what you initially feared isn’t as bad as you thought.

For example, I have a history of being uncomfortable with public speaking. In graduate school I took a public speaking class and the professor had us deliver speeches — using notes — every class. Then, after the third or fourth class, we were told to hand over our notes and to speak extemporaneously. I was terrified, as was everyone else in the course, but you know what? It actually worked. I did just fine, and so did everyone else. In fact, speaking without notes ended up being much more effective, making my speaking more natural and authentic. But without this mechanism of forcing me into action, I might never have taken the plunge.

Start with small steps. Instead of jumping right into speaking at an industry event, sign up for a public speaking class. Instead of speaking up in the boardroom, in front of your most senior colleagues, start by speaking up in smaller meetings with peers to see how it feels. And while you’re at it, see if you can recruit a close friend or colleague to offer advice and encouragement in advance of a challenging situation.

You may stumble, but that’s OK. In fact, it’s the only way you’ll learn, especially if you can appreciate that missteps are an inevitable — and in fact essential — part of the learning process. In the end, even though we might feel powerless in situations outside our comfort zone, we have more power than we think. So, give it a go. Be honest with yourself, make the behavior your own, and take the plunge. My guess is you’ll be pleased at having given yourself the opportunity to grow, learn, and expand your professional repertoire.

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Andy Molinsky is a Professor of International Management and Organizational Behavior at the Brandeis International Business School. He is the author of Global Dexterity (HBR Press, 2013) and the forthcoming book Reach: A New Strategy to Help You Step Outside Your Comfort Zone, Rise to the Challenge, and Build Confidence (Penguin, 2017). You can receive his free e-book to master ten key cultural codes from around the world. Follow Andy on Twitter: @andymolinsky.

Millionaires vs broke people

How to Make the Banks Do Your Bidding

Bankrolling your growth doesn’t have to be a hassle. As these PROFIT 500 winners prove, if you learn what lenders are looking for and put in a bit of extra effort, you can secure the cash you need—no grovelling required 

Catherine McIntyre || September 15, 2016

Illustration: Sam Island

More success stories and strategies from Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies »

When husband and wife duo David and Stephanie Ciccarelli were rebranding their young voice talent firm in 2004—then called Interactive Voices—from a physical studio to an online marketplace, they found the perfect domain name: voices.com. The URL carried with it six years of credibility and search power, with an organic influx of traffic that would allow the Ciccarellis to stop paying for online advertising. The cost: $30,000, which the Ciccarellis did not have. 

David, the company’s CEO, prepared a spreadsheet detailing projected equipment expenses, printed out his 50-page business plan and made appointments with nine different banks. All nine rejected his request. One particularly blunt lender called the business “unbankable.”

It was a harsh lesson in the difficulties entrepreneurs often face when pursuing bank financing. It also galvanized the couple. “After that, we wanted to button up and run a real company,” David recalls. They incorporated the business, updated their forecasts, edited the mammoth business plan into something more digestible and finally got the $30,000 loan. Voices.com has since convinced its bank to to loan it $50,000—followed by $100,000, $150,000 and $500,000—and, just this year, $2 million to help fund its expansion. It’s proven a safe bet: The company, which ranks No. 94 on the 2016 PROFIT 500 ranking of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies, has seen sales spike 798% in the past five years. 

The experiences of the Ciccarellis and many of their PROFIT 500 peers show that money can come freely when you learn to work with—not against—your bank. 

Give yourself choice
Family-run food manufacturer Stemmler’s Meats & Cheese (PROFIT 500: No. 485) began a major expansion last year at its Heidelberg, Ont., headquarters, which its startup-focused bank refused to back. Seeking not just a new lender but also the best deal possible, its owners decided to go in prepared, hiring an accountant and a consultant to conduct a feasibility study, detail the capital costs for expansion and calculate its projected profitability. “Banks want to know you’re not some pie-in-the-sky company,” says Terry Stemmler, who co-owns the business with his brothers, Kevin and Shawn. It took months, but that extra effort convinced all four banks the Stemmlers approached to offer loans, putting the company in the enviable position of being able to dictate its terms. In their case, that meant scratching two lenders that wanted personal guarantees and choosing one that put forward 20% more than the original request. 

Ask ambitiously
About that 20% cushion: The Stemmlers have become big believers in getting more money than they need—even if they don’t plan to spend it. “It’s better to ask for more and then not use it,” says Terry Stemmler, adding that he and his brothers have created strict rules about when and how they can expend the extra cash. “It makes banks edgy if you keep going back for more money; it makes them wonder if you have the project under control.” Asking for more at the outset—experts recommend between 20% and 30%—is unlikely to be a deal breaker for an interested lender and will minimize emergency cap-in-hand requests. 

Ask Often
Four years ago, Brendan Howe, CEO of Toronto managed IT services provider Techify (PROFIT 500: No. 340) had what he calls an “oh, shit!” moment. Howe had just bought out his business partner, spurring the company’s bank to cut its credit line in half—just as Techify hit a growth spurt and was desperate for cash to cover operating costs. “Not having the money when we needed it added significant stress,” he says.

Frustrated, Howe pulled the company’s account and moved to a new bank, with a new approach: Every year since, he has met with his banker to discuss Techify’s growth plan and to secure a loan—whether the company needs it or not. This has proven effective in easing the anxieties of both Howe and his banker. “Luckily, since that first incident, we haven’t really needed a big loan,” says Howe. “But I’ve learned that the best time to ask is when you don’t need it.” 

Become buddies
Rounds of golf or lunchtime drinks might seem hopelessly dated, but face time remains a great way to convince your lender you’re a safe bet. Matthew Harding, president and CEO of Ottawa-based IT services provider the KTL Group (PROFIT 500: No. 219), either phones or visits his banking manager almost every day, sharing good news with proof and not-so-good news with a proactive explanation. “I want them to see me,” he explains. “I want them to know when I’m thriving.” 

According to Alma Johns, president of Toronto’s Bench Capital Advisory, which helps small- and mid-sized businesses get financing, banks consider such candid behaviour a mark of good character (read: worthy of investment). “The moment you start hiding, they become suspicious.”

Leadership

by Michele Milan

As the CEO of Rotman Executive Programs, Michele Milan is up-to-date on the latest theories and best practices for being an effective leader. She shares some of her insights on what it takes to be a great leader in the current business landscape. 

Strong Ethical Foundation 
Leadership is more difficult than ever. We are in a period when trust in leaders and our institutions has been eroded.  Society is demanding and deserves leaders who are moral and ethical.  Leaders with character.  Authentic leadership means speaking and doing from a centre of moral conviction.  It is personal integrity that cultivates credibility and trust. I also believe this is key to finding real meaning in one’s work, and enabling employees to do likewise - to find their work meaningful and really believe they are contributing to something worthwhile. This is important not only for individuals, and not only as a driver of productivity, but for society as a whole.  Businesses have a huge impact on the world around them. A strong ethical foundation in an organization means it will contribute to society in a way that sustains and enriches the lives of all. 

Ability to Communicate
It is still true that a good leader has the ability to envision her organization’s future, and to clearly communicate that vision. Clear and straightforward communication allows everyone to understand their individual roles, in making decisions in line with strategy and moving the organization forward. But good communication is two-way and goes beyond formal occasions. In our more collaborative work environments, with rapidly changing demographics, leaders really need to listen and they need to seek to understand what is really going on. I personally meet with everyone in the organization at least once a year and speak with as many clients as possible. Seeking understanding is critical, but can be difficult because the signal-to-noise ratio can be really high. We are all dealing with vast amounts of information. It can be overwhelming. Leaders now need to communicate constantly to translate complexity and to keep people aligned as the pace of change continues to accelerate. Tuning in to and maintaining awareness of informal networks and channels of communication is crucial for a leader since it is these systems that often determine what really goes on in an organization. 

Strategic Agility
Creating and maintaining a path for advancing an organization’s agenda in a rapidly changing environment requires strategic agility on the part of a leader, both to synthesize and assess vast amounts of information, and to readjust as necessary. This means responding to new circumstances, research and technology in real time. The pace of change is incredible. Leaders must constantly fine-tune their strategy to keep their organizations agile. Clear, two-way communication about changing circumstances and strategy allows employees to respond and realign their own initiatives and roles.

Self-awareness
Self-awareness, self-regulation and a habit of self-reflection are essential for a leader’s personal effectiveness; they also determine the tone a leader sets for her organization. A leader must be able to manage her own emotional reactions, and to understand the effect she has on others, both personally and in terms of the organization’s power structure. There are many techniques for developing greater self-awareness and the ability to self-regulate. My personal favourites are journaling and mindfulness meditation.

Good Practices and Habits
Effective leadership occurs not just in grand moments, but in daily hourly habits. In addition to a practice of reflection, habits of learning and self-care are critical.  Habitually seeking learning prepares a leader for rapid change. Leading also takes a tremendous amount of energy and stamina; a good leader must create habits that foster resilience, practices that recharge and replenish her resources in order to maintain health and well-being. Of course, this is true of everyone in the organization as well and supporting the health and wellness of employees makes the whole organization more resilient and productive.

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As the CEO of Rotman Executive Programs, Michele Milan is up-to-date on the latest theories and best practices for being an effective leader. She shares some of her insights on what it takes to be a great leader in the current business landscape. To learn more about Rotman's leadership programs visit: www.rotmanexecutive.com

Ritual Questions Help Inform Effective Leaders

Eric J. McNulty

Eric J. McNulty is the director of research at the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative and writes frequently about leadership and resilience.

High-impact leaders are insatiably curious — about themselves, the people who work for and with them, and the world in which they operate and beyond. Inquisitive leaders are effective because building knowledge and wisdom are essential to professional success.
Naturally curious people ask lots of questions and take time to reflect on the answers. Even if you aren’t naturally curious, you can build this type of reflection into both your agenda and the agendas of your employees by asking so-called ritual questions (example: “What have I learned today?”). Although ritual questions are not widely used in organizational settings, they can be a simple tool for improving your leadership skills and style.

Ritual questions give your brain time to process the torrent of data you encounter every day. According to Colonel Eric Kail, the former course director of military leadership at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, this reflection “is an effort to understand how the events of our life shape the way in which we see the world, ourselves, and others.”

Taking time to reflect can feel uncomfortable, but once you push past the fear of not being busy and realize the benefits of a deeper level of thinking, you can linger longer on these questions. Even taking time out for as little as 10 minutes of quiet thought each day can help you tap into the vast stores of information buried in your subconscious and open yourself to sometimes surprising insights. Using ritual questions such as “When was I at my best today? When was I at my worst?” can help both prompt and guide your thinking.

Ritual questions such as “When was I at my best today? When was I at my worst?” can help guide your thinking.

And although high-powered analytics can generate reams of data, it is easy to fall prey to chasing the usual generic-query suspects, such as conversion rates or viewership rankings, and overlooking anomalies that can provoke deeper inquiry. Instead, a ritual question such as “What do we know today that we didn’t know yesterday?” will push you to probe more intensely. After all, “nothing” is not a satisfying answer — and it likely isn’t accurate, either.

True leaders build capacity and capability in people for tackling tomorrow’s challenges while meeting today’s goals; it is a matter of cultivating performance rather than simply extracting value. Answering ritual questions will help build the self-awareness necessary for growth in both you and your team.

Here are four ritual questions that I have found most useful for leaders to ask themselves:

• “What encounter did I handle particularly well today and why?”
• “What encounter do I believe the other person in the exchange thinks I handled well and why?”
• “What encounter did I handle poorly today and why?”
• “What encounter do I believe the other person in the exchange thinks I handled poorly and why?”

By exploring both positive and negative experiences from multiple perspectives, you develop a more nuanced and dimensional understanding of your strengths, weaknesses, motivations, and fears. Such exploration will also help you navigate the constant pull between being who you are as a leader and who others need you to be.

And while ritual questions are asked regularly, they are not cookie-cutter. Answering them must require thoughtful consideration. The best ritual questions are open-ended in order to promote contemplation and discovery. “How are we progressing against the sales goal?” may be regularly asked, but it does not rise to the level of a ritual question any more than “How’s the weather?”

If daily practice is too much for you, try setting aside time for asking weekly ritual questions — doing it any less frequently will make it harder to detect recurring themes and engage in timely follow-up. If, however, you have standing biweekly or monthly meetings that can’t be made more frequent, weave ritual questions into these, and carve out some time in the meeting intervals to check in with yourself. The important thing is to establish the discipline and experience the benefits.

Integrating ritual questions into team meetings and one-on-one meetings with your direct reports can help everyone become more self-aware and grow.

One-on-one ritual questions inform performance management and alleviate the pain of a once-a-year assessment. Include questions such as “What have you accomplished since we last met?” “What’s challenging you?” and “How can I best help you meet that challenge?” in each meeting. When well-documented, the answers comprise a record of achievement and a roadmap for development. These particular questions frame your relationship as one where success is celebrated and obstacles are openly discussed. It gives you the opportunity to intervene early where necessary and provide needed ideas or other resources. As you continue to ask these questions over time, their ritual nature encourages your subordinates to reflect in preparation for meeting with you.

With your team, ask group-oriented versions of these questions, such as “What can we learn from a collaborative success from the past week?” or “What obstacle can we only overcome together?” These not only spur conversation but emphasize why you are meeting, and working, as a team.

Don’t relegate your leadership development to periodic courses or workshops (as useful as those can be). Expanding your capacity and capability as a leader is an ongoing endeavor. Using ritual questions will create frequent opportunities to hone your skills, deepen your understanding, and increase your impact.

How to Tackle Your Toughest Decisions

• Joseph L. Badaracco

Every manager makes tough calls—it comes with the job. And the toughest calls come in the gray areas—situations where you and your team have worked hard to gather the facts and done the best analysis you can, but you still don’t know what to do. It’s easy to become paralyzed in the face of such challenges. Yet as a leader, you have to make a decision and move forward. Your judgment becomes critical.

Judgment is hard to define. It is a fusion of your thinking, feelings, experience, imagination, and character. But five practical questions can improve your odds of making sound judgments, even when the data is incomplete or unclear, opinions are divided, and the answers are far from obvious.

Where do these questions come from? Over many centuries and across many cultures, they have emerged as men and women with serious responsibilities have struggled with difficult problems. They express the insights of the most penetrating minds and compassionate spirits of human history. I have relied on them for years, in teaching MBA candidates and counseling executives, and I believe that they can help you, your team, and your organization navigate the grayest of gray areas.

This article explains the five questions and illustrates them with a disguised case study involving a manager who must decide what to do about a persistently underperforming employee who has failed to respond to suggestions for improvement. He deserves a bad review, if not dismissal, but higher-ups at the company want to overlook his failings.

How should the manager approach this situation? Not by following her gut instinct. Not by simply falling into line. Instead, she needs to systematically work through the five questions:
What are the net, net consequences of all my options? What are my core obligations? What will work in the world as it is? Who are we? What can I live with?

To grapple with these questions, you must rely on the best information and expertise available. But in the end you have to answer them for yourself. With gray-area decisions, you can never be certain you’ve made the right call. But if you follow this process, you’ll know that you worked on the problem in the right way—not just as a good manager but as a thoughtful human being. 

Net, Net Consequences
The first question asks you to thoroughly and analytically consider every course of action available to you, along with the full, real-world, human consequences of each. Gray-area problems are rarely resolved in a flash of intuitive brilliance from one person; as a very successful CEO told me, “The lonely leader on Olympus is really a bad model.” So your job is to put aside your initial assumption about what you should do, gather a group of trusted advisers and experts, and ask yourself and them, “What could we do? And who will be hurt or helped, short-term and long-term, by each option?”

Don’t confuse this with cost-benefit analysis, or focus solely on what you can count or price. Of course, you should get the best data you can and apply the relevant frameworks. But gray-area problems require you to think more broadly, deeply, concretely, imaginatively, and objectively about the full impact of your choices. In the words of the ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi, “It is the business of the benevolent man to seek to promote what is beneficial to the world and to eliminate what is harmful.”

In today’s complex, fluid, interdependent world, none of us can predict the future with total accuracy. And it’s sometimes hard to think clearly about gray-area issues. What’s important is taking the time to open your mind, assemble the right team, and analyze your options through a humanist lens. You might sketch out a rough decision tree, listing all potential moves and all probable outcomes, or designate certain people to act as devil’s advocates to find holes in your thinking and prevent you from rushing to conclusions or succumbing to groupthink.

It’s sometimes hard to think about gray-area issues.

When you make important, difficult decisions, you affect many people’s lives and livelihoods. The first question asks you to grapple hard with that reality.

Core Obligations

We all have duties—as parents, children, citizens, employees. Managers also have duties to shareholders and other stakeholders. But the second question gets at something deeper: the duties we have to safeguard and respect the lives, rights, and dignity of our fellow men and women.

All the world’s great religions—Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity—emphasize this obligation. The contemporary ethicist Kwame Anthony Appiah has said, “No local loyalty can ever justify forgetting that each human being has responsibilities to every other.”

How can you figure out specifically what these duties oblige you to do in a particular situation? By relying on what philosophers call your “moral imagination.” That involves stepping out of your comfort zone, recognizing your biases and blind spots, and putting yourself in the shoes of all key stakeholders, especially the most vulnerable ones. How would you feel in their place? What would you be most concerned about or afraid of? How would you want to be treated? What would you see as fair? What rights would you believe you had? What would you consider to be hateful? You might speak directly to the people who will be affected by your decision, or ask a member of your team to role-play the outsider or victim as persuasively as he or she can.

Again, you must look past economics and your business school training. Yes, managers have a legal duty to serve the corporation—but that’s a very broad mandate that includes the well-being of workers, customers, and the community in which they operate. You have serious obligations to everyone simply because you are a human being. When you face a gray-area decision, you have to think—long, hard, and personally—about which of these duties stands at the head of the line.

The World as It Is

The third question pushes you to look at your problem in a clear-eyed, pragmatic way—seeing the world not as you would like it to be but as it is. Ultimately you need a plan that will work—one that will move an individual, a team, a department, or an entire organization through a gray area responsibly and successfully.

The phrase “the world as it is” points toward Niccolò Machiavelli’s thinking—a perspective that might seem surprising in an article about making responsible decisions. But his view is important, because it acknowledges that we don’t live in a predictable, calm environment populated with virtuous people. The world Machiavelli described is unpredictable, difficult, and shaped by self-interest. Sound plans can turn out badly, and bad plans sometimes work. Much of what happens is simply beyond our control. Leaders rarely have unlimited freedom and resources, so they must often make painful choices. And a great many individuals and groups will pursue their own agendas, skillfully or clumsily, if not persuaded to do otherwise.
That is why, after considering consequences and duties, you need to think about practicalities: Of the possible solutions to your problem, which is most likely to work? Which is most resilient? And how resilient and flexible are you?

To answer those questions, you need to map the force field of power around you: who wants what and how hard and successfully each person can fight for his aims. You must also ready yourself to be agile and even opportunistic—maneuvering around any roadblocks or surprises—and, when the situation calls for it, to play hardball, asserting your authority and reminding others who is the boss.

It’s easy to misinterpret the third question as an “out”—an excuse to do what’s safe and expedient instead of the right thing. But the question is really about what will work if you bring persistence, dedication, creativity, prudent risk-taking, and political savvy to the task.

Who Are We?

According to an old African adage, “I am because we are.” Put differently, our behavior and identities are shaped by the groups in which we work and live. As Aristotle said (and as a vast body of scientific literature has since confirmed), “Man is by nature a social animal.” So this question asks you to step back and think about your decision in terms of relationships, values, and norms. What really matters to your team, company, community, culture? How can you act in a way that reflects and expresses those belief systems? If they conflict, which should take precedence?

To answer those questions, you might think about the defining stories of a particular group—the decisions and incidents that everyone cites when explaining the ideals to which you are collectively committed, what you have struggled to achieve, and what outcomes you try hard to avoid. Imagine that you are writing a sentence or a chapter in your company’s history. Of all the paths you might choose in this gray area, which would best express what your organization stands for?

This question comes fourth because you shouldn’t start with it. Unlike the first three, which require you to take an outsider’s perspective on your situation and consider it as objectively as possible, this one addresses you as an insider, at risk for adopting an insular, limited view when you consider norms and values, because we are naturally inclined to take care of our own. So counterbalance that tendency with the thinking prompted by the previous questions.

Living with Your Decision

Good judgment relies on two things: One is the best possible understanding and analysis of the situation. The other involves the values, ideals, vulnerabilities, and experiences of whoever will be making the decision. A seasoned executive once told me, “I wouldn’t go ahead with something just because my brain told me it was the right thing to do. I also had to feel it. If I didn’t, I had to get my brain and my gut into harmony.”

Ultimately you must choose, commit to, act on, and live with the consequences of your choice. So it must also reflect what you really care about as a manager and a human being. After considering outcomes, duties, practicalities, and values, you must decide what matters most and what matters less. This has always been the challenge of taking on any serious responsibilities at work and in life.

How will you figure out what you can live with? End your conversations with others, close the door, mute the electronics, and stop to reflect. Imagine yourself explaining your decision to a close friend or a mentor—someone you trust and respect deeply. Would you feel comfortable? How would that person react? It may also be helpful to write down your decision and your reasons for it: Writing forces clearer thinking and serves as a form of personal commitment.

In Practice

Now let’s turn to our case study. Becky Friedman was the 27-year-old manager of a 14-person technology group responsible for clothing sales at an online retailer. One of her team members, Terry Fletcher, a man 15 years her senior with a longer tenure at the company, wasn’t doing his part. Although his previous boss had routinely given him scores of 3.5 on their five-point performance scale, Friedman didn’t believe his work merited that; and whenever she presented him with opportunities to develop his skills and ramp up his contributions, he failed to follow through. So she wanted to drop his rating to 2.5 and put him on a performance improvement plan (PIP), on a path to dismissal. Soon, however, two of the company’s vice presidents, good friends of Fletcher’s, caught wind of her plans and paid her a visit. They asked whether she was sure about what she was doing and suggested that the real problem might be her management.

Suddenly the situation was no longer black-and-white. Friedman had entered a gray area and felt stuck. To find a way out, she turned to the five questions. She considered her options—stick to her plan, abandon it, or find a middle ground—and their consequences. She reminded herself of her basic duties to her fellow human beings, including Fletcher, her team, and the VPs. She evaluated the practical realities of her organization. She weighed the defining norms and values of her various social groups. And she thought carefully about her own abiding sense of what really matters in life.

She suspected that if she pushed forward and gave Fletcher the rating he deserved, she and her team would suffer retribution: The VPs could withhold resources or even force her out of the company. She also worried about Fletcher, who seemed off-balance and appeared to have few things going well in his life. How would a poor review and a possible job loss affect him, not just financially but also psychologically? If Friedman chose option B, however, she would still have a deadweight on her team, which might prevent the group from achieving its ambitious goals and demoralize its most talented and diligent members. The VPs might also take her capitulation as a sign of weakness, which could keep her, a relative newcomer, from moving up in the leadership ranks.

Would you feel comfortable explaining your decision to a close friend?

Middle-ground options, such as presenting Fletcher with further development opportunities or giving him another warning, seemed more promising but carried their own risks: Would they be effective in changing his behavior? Would they still result in backlash from the VPs? Friedman also thought about what she, her team, and her organization cared about most. As a woman in computer science, she knew what it was like to be marginalized, as Fletcher was among the whiz kids in her department, and she felt compelled to help him. At the same time, her group prided itself on exceptionally professional performance, and her company, although young, had always claimed and generally proved to be a meritocracy with high standards and a sharp focus on customer needs.

After much deliberation, Friedman decided to try a counseling session with Fletcher. She opened by telling him that she had decided to give him a 2.5, but that she wouldn’t put him on a PIP because it would be too demeaning. She then asked him to consider the department’s recent hires—all of whom had strong technical skills—and honestly evaluate whether he would be happy or successful working alongside them. She concluded by suggesting that he spend the next several months continuing to do his job while also looking for another one. She was surprised and relieved when his immediate anger over the bad rating subsided and he agreed to consider her plan; in fact, he had already been toying with the idea of leaving. He spent the next several weeks looking for other positions, inside the company and elsewhere, and soon joined another company. Friedman, meanwhile, continued to thrive. She had, of course, been lucky; there was no guarantee that Fletcher would respond so positively to her feedback. But she’d put herself in a good position by getting the process right, and she’d been prepared to try other, equally thought-through tactics if the first didn’t work.

When you face a gray-area problem, be sure to systematically answer all five of the questions, just as Becky Friedman did. Don’t simply pick your favorite. Each question is an important voice in the centuries-long conversation about what counts as a sound decision regarding a hard problem with high stakes for other people.

Leadership can be a heavy burden. It is also a compelling, crucial challenge. In gray areas, your job isn’t finding solutions; it’s creating them, relying on your judgment. As an executive I greatly respect once told me, “We really want someone or some rule to tell us what to do. But sometimes there isn’t one, and you have to decide what the most relevant rules or principles are in this particular case. You can’t escape that responsibility.”

A version of this article appeared in the September 2016 issue (pp.104–107) of Harvard Business Review.

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Joseph L. Badaracco is the John Shad Professor of Business Ethics at Harvard Business School, where he has taught courses on leadership, strategy, corporate responsibility, and management. His books on these subjects include New York Times bestseller Leading Quietly, Defining Moments, and his latest book, Managing in the Gray (HBR Press, 2016).

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How can I grow my company when I'm too busy to spend time on strategy?

Brian Brennan

Special to The Globe and Mail

THE QUESTION

I am way too busy to do anything more than what I am already doing. If I take my eye off the ball things will far apart quickly. How can I grow my business? I don’t have time to.

THE ANSWER

You have a product or service that is proving to be valuable in the market. People want it and now you can think about how to deliver it to even more customers.

I’m going to assume that you did not get into this business just to create a job for yourself and that you really want to see your business grow.

With that in mind, it is time to shed the activities that are not what you do best. Doing that will give you an opportunity to grow the business and bring in people who can most help you.

Which activities can be done better by someone else?

The first thing you need to do is to look at activities you are performing that do not add value to the company or that can be done better by someone else. They are likely chewing up more of your time than they should.

I would use some sort of a journal. Just jot down the significant activities that you perform so that you can review them later. It is likely that some of the work you identify can be done better by someone else in less time.

If you are great at selling, then you should consider giving up accounting and leave it to an expert. Maybe production is your specialty and getting in front of customers is difficult for you. It’s probably time to hire someone who specializes in sales to help you grow the business. The situation is different for everyone.

What is important is that you take some time to consider what you are good at and provide the most value and begin to hire people full-time or bring them in on contracts to take over some of the other activities. Drop any activities that have no current purpose – immediately.

But I can't afford to hire more staff!

Instinctively, you will have some objections to this advice:

· You cannot afford to pay someone to perform these other activities

· Some activities require unique knowledge that only you have. Therefore, training a new person will be next to impossible. It will take up too much of your time.

· You don’t have time to keep such a journal and review it.

There is no way to avoid spending time analyzing where you can apply your limited resources to improve your business. To start, you need to take a leap of faith. Spending time analyzing your challenges and training needs is a priority. You will discover that your investment of time will have a huge payback in the future.

Training is often overlooked by business owners because of their busy schedules. It is no secret that the most successful organizations take the time to train their employees well.

Having money to hire is always a challenge for a growing business. The good news is that if you bring in the right people your investment will pay off quickly. Most business owners will keep costs low for the first few people they hire. But if they are the right employeese you will see immediate positive results. I think that hiring people when the need is clear to you is a good practice.

It is important to understand exactly what you want to achieve by hiring people before you begin any recruiting activities. I like to develop a list of accomplishments that I expect from a new hire if they are performing their job well. The more specific you are about what you expect the more likely you will hire the right people for your organization.

It is also important not to rush even though you will feel like you have to.

You need to understand that it takes time to save time. Your success is not accidental. It requires you to think ahead and execute carefully according to your needs and instincts. Ironically, taking the time you need to make these important decisions will ultimately be one of the most significant contributors of success to you and your company.

Brian Brennan is a senior partner at MAX Potential, an organization committed to assisting clients with the successful growth of their businesses. He actively coaches small and medium size business owners in all aspects of their growing companies.

How can I attract top talent when my company can’t pay big salaries?

BRIAN BRENNAN

Special to The Globe and Mail

THE QUESTION

I need to hire good people, but we are too small to pay the salaries that experienced people are asking from us. How can I attract good people without paying them too much?

THE ANSWER

Small-business owners often feel at a disadvantage because many of the larger companies can pay employees more than they can. There is more to employment than money, though.

Not everyone likes working for large companies for their entire career. They provide great training and experience, but they often lack the “feel” that small companies have. That is worth something to people and that is why you can attract good people to your organization without having to pay more than you can afford. It is your secret weapon.

In my experience, people don’t work just for money. Often the culture, the meaningfulness of their contribution, and the ability to grow personally and professionally weigh large in their decision on where to work.

If you want to win the employment game, you need to find ways for your organization to seem attractive to potential employees. Here is my take on some of the things you can do:

Provide things that large companies can’t

People working in large companies often complain about slow decision-making, too much paperwork and a focus on the company and not the customers.

Smaller companies like yours have the advantage of having fewer managerial layers so you can make decisions much more quickly. Decisions are often made on the fly (not that they should always) and because you are close to your customers, you can react to their needs more rapidly than a large company can.

These are great selling points to people. My experience is that they will forgo some salary for these advantages.

Offer fair compensation packages

Just because you are small does not mean that you can pay significantly less than market rates. You need to know the market rates well and make sure that you can explain to employee prospects why the difference in rates exists. You can get away with paying less, but it has to be for good reasons.

Some of the reasons that I have heard about include:

· More fulfilling work

· Great culture in the company

· Flexibility to deal with family and children needs

· Likes where the company seems to be heading – your leadership

· A broad variety of challenges

Create a company culture that interests people you want to attract

There is nothing better than working at a place that puts a smile on your face. Many times my clients have asked how to create a positive culture in their organizations. The answer I often give is that they are the people creating it through their leadership.

If you want a fun environment, provide outlets for people to have fun. Some owners provide games rooms, after-hours “get-togethers” or other activities that employees are interested in.

If you want open communication, have regular communications with employees individually and as a group. Talk about things that are important to them and that contribute to the success of your company.

Finding the right people

Chances are that when you need someone in a hurry, you won’t find them very easily. That is why you always have to be looking and ready to hire when the right person shows up.

Networking is probably the most effective tool you have. It gives you and prospective employees the opportunity to develop a relationship where you get to know how each other thinks, acts, etc. That is an important part of the interview process.

Unfortunately, most business owners neglect networking because they feel that they are too busy running the business to spend time on it. I think that this is a critical activity that needs to be given priority.

When people find a “fit” that they like with you and the company, their salary will not be their top priority and you will be able to continue to invest in the growth of your business.

I’ve always interviewed good people even when I didn’t need to hire them. Sometimes you may find a place for a perfect person and other times you will benefit from developing a bank of great contacts whom you may hire later when they are available and you are ready. Those have often been my most successful hires.

Brian Brennan is a senior partner at MAX Potential, an organization committed to assisting clients with the successful growth of their businesses. He actively coaches small and medium-sized business owners in all aspects of their growing companies. He is also chair of TEC Canada.