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As a business owner, you know what it’s like to lie awake at 2 a.m. Maybe it has happened when you are excited and full of new ideas for your business. More often, it’s because you are worried about issues you will face the next day. Sometimes, it’s because you just woke up with the solution to a problem. I’ve experienced all those emotions about my businesses over the years. Awake at 2 o’clock? is where I share them with you, and hopefully help with answers that will let you sleep.
John F. Dini, CExP, CEPA
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Small business owners are the Hunters of the 21st century. We are 3% of the US population, and yet we create over half of all American jobs. As Hunters, we may not be inclined to manage by the numbers or stick to systems. Are you a Hunter or a Farmer?
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How prepared are you to exit your company?
The Assessment breaks down the four major categories of exit readiness; Finance, Planning, Operations and Revenue/Profit.
Tag Archives: employee performance
Employee Retention: From Thirty Years to Two
The United States has never been known for permanent employment. The flexibility of our job market, the ability of employers to hire the employees need and fire those they don’t, has always been considered by economists to be a core attribute … Continue reading
2 Responses to Employee Retention: From Thirty Years to Two
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Employment as Video Game
In a recent survey of 20-something employees, the majority said that they expected a promotion in the workplace at least every two years. Most surprising to business owners, however, was that they did not believe that such advancement should be … Continue reading
One Response to Employment as Video Game
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Great points John. I have seen some significant software trends dealing with “gamification” of business process control systems to address this specific subject. “RedCritter Connector” is a notable example of this.
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“We’ll Just Agree to Disagree”
A CEO was having a discussion with one of his top executives a few weeks ago. He felt strongly that the executive needed to take a certain course of action as soon as possible. The Vice President explained that the … Continue reading
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After the Goal
Why do employees have to “rest” after accomplishing a goal? When most human accomplishment required manual labor, taking time to recuperate after a final push, whether it was harvesting a crop or completing a building, was a natural way to physically recharge before starting another project. Today, most … Continue reading
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What is Mentoring?
In a recent meeting of one of our groups in The Alternative Board®, the business owners discussed mentoring. One member, a partner in a large professional firm, has been tasked with mentoring a partner in training. He asked what the … Continue reading
4 Responses to What is Mentoring?
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I would argue that coaching and teaching are part of mentoring when there is a strategic goal of developing an employee. We have a small software company. Since not long after PEI was founded in 1996, we have had a Service Item set up in QuickBooks called “Mentoring”. It is used in many contexts.
When an employee is assigned a project that requires new skills and I assist, my time is marked as Mentoring / Non-billable and their time is booked to the client project (billable or not). When I have to coach or teach a new skill that is booked to Mentoring. If I review internal work that an employee did (company website or whatever) and then discuss different techniques or strategy than they applied, that is Mentoring. However, the review process or asking them to fix something goes to Administration or Marketing or whatever normal business process is involved.
It may be correct that if an employee is simply shown who to complete a specific task so that they can perform that duty, you might call that “merely” teaching. When efforts are part of a long-term strategic goal to develop an employee into something more than a cog in the machine, then the deliberate work to accomplish the goal is legitimately mentoring.
David Basri
Point Enterprises, Inc.
http://www.pointent.com-
David, the idea to capture a mentoring role as a ‘job cost’ data point is an interesting one. We capture management consulting with our clients, which falls under mentoring with the teaching and coaching dynamic as discussed. With my own company staff I have not captured that in any way. Thanks for the eye opener!
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I have experienced all the three levels of “learning” with a person: I am mentored in a public speaking club. I have a direct and personal relationship with my mentor. She was my choice from the start. I felt that we clicked and I feel comfortable with her. She teaches me things in a focused and condensed way: all about public speaking and how to convey my message to an audience. My lessons are small assignments in the form of a speech formed in such a way for me to learn important elements of a successful speech but one at a time.
However, I think a trainer is teaching you something much more specific rather than a mentor which connects elements from different lessons and goes a second level. The sessions can be more relaxed and a bit generalized though having one special assignment due to the varied topic of the speech and the many objectives that need to be met.
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Off-topic: I have just noticed the name of the blog is awake at two o’clock. It is 2.15 AM.
John,
Thanks for the article, I am a “baby boomer” and agree totally! I was laid off after 6.5 years and after a year of being a ” you are too qualified for the position”, I decided to do something I could enjoy, and taught myself how to become a wholesale/retail Chocolatier! I have 4 years in the “business” and am finally growing and have learned a lot the hard way and I am more unique and happy. I do have 2 part time assistants that I feel will work,learn,grow with my company…but nothing is permanent so each day is a new door that I can open and enjoy the challenge. Thanks again!
Cathy
Good blog, John. Per studies, money is well down the list of reasons for employee retention. If I’m not mistaken the employees relationship with their direct manager is #1, followed by other factors such as company culture, ability to learn, their passion for the company mission, etc. So retention boils down to doing some tough work around making your workplace an appealing place to come every day, rather a place to dread. That’s not as easy as it sounds, for a small business person who focuses on meeting his payroll.