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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Family business leaders versus managers...

by Rick Baker
On May 16, 2016

Managers outnumber leaders in business, by orders of magnitude.

Managers outnumber leaders in families, my orders of magnitude.

So, of course, managers outnumber leaders in family businesses, by orders of magnitude.

The imbalance we see between the number of leaders and managers is a problem. And the problem is compounded when family businesses are involved.

The solution is clear: leaders in family businesses need to increase the amount of leading they do and decrease the amount of managing they do. That's the simple solution to this problem. To implement the solution, some damage repair must be completed. Some knowledge must be gained. Some skills, new skills, must be practised and honed. Bad habits must be stopped. New things must be tried. And good habits must be developed…good leadership habits, that is.

It is far more natural for parents to manage their children than to lead their children. Sure, most parents want to be role models...as in leadership. Regardless, children do not arrive with a predisposition to follow leaders. Rather, the little ones are born with 'minds of their own' and many of them seem to be daredevils at heart, oblivious to the dangers in the world around them. Consequently, all children act in ways that sream out for parental management. And, their parents feel both the desire and obligation to deliver that management.

Time passes.

Patterns of management become habits.

And, once a parent has experienced a long term relationship filled with managing children, it is very difficult to break the managing habits and alter the parent-child relationships by converting management habits to leadership habits.

Then, the next thing you know, the children become adults and they want to manage themselves and others...and some want to lead!

Tags:

Family Business and CFFB | Humour | Leaders' Thoughts

Reawakening 'Positive Controls' [Your Controls...self-control]

by Rick Baker
On May 5, 2016

Every human being wishes, to a degree, to control his or her environment, including the actions of other people.  

For some people, this need to control the outside world remains a lifetime desire. For others it shrinks with time. And sometimes the need to control others seems to almost completely disappear…repeated doses of criticism can do that to you.

For some people, this need to control gets out of control. We all know people whom we go out of our way to avoid because their dispositions are too critical or too instructive. 

And some of these people remain 'controllers' throughout their lives...not necessarily 'control freaks' but highly prone to provide feedback/opinions whether or not these communications are appropriately timed and placed or beneficial to anyone. This last type of person is the type I am writing about now: I mean I am writing about the people who have the habit of trying to control others by expressing opinions/criticisms at most [if not almost every] opportunity, without having the ability to observe or understand the real reactions others have to the repeated opinions/criticisms.

Let me break that last sentence down:

  • some people almost always try to control others,
  • these people regularly express their opinions and criticisms,
  • the people who receive these opinions and criticisms do not receive benefit, in fact the opposite is true, and 
  • the people who donate the opinions/criticisms are oblivious to the impact their communications have on the people who receive them.

For these people, self-monitoring and self-regulation are either fully dormant or mostly asleep. In other words, their positive controls are sleeping. There's no question - their self-monitoring and self-regulation abilities exist somewhere [because all normal human beings possess those abilities]. However, for these people, those abilities are not awake.

I have observed many of these people as they communicate with others. What is most intriguing, is the fact most of these people are virtually unaware of the impact they have on others. In fact, in many cases these people feel they are the victims of unwarranted criticism rather than the critics. At least, that is what their complaints lead you to believe. For example, they complain about their inability to inspire others to think and act properly.  They complain about the feedback they receive from their followers. But, based on my own experiences, I wonder if their complaints aren't more about failed a battles of wits than desires to inspire or lead. Regardless, some people carry on with excessive criticism and expression of opinions while others do everything possible to tune them out, avoid them, and think about other things.

A challenging situation arises when the overly critical person is the boss, holding a position of authority and power. In this situation, everyone's motivation suffers...and business performance and productivity suffers.  I see this situation so frequently that I wonder what has changed in the last 20 years. Have bosses become more overly-critical? Have employees become more sensitive to and intolerant of criticism? 

It's interesting to consider the situation from both the boss's perspective and the employee's perspective. The boss is generally frustrated, perhaps angry, and feeling under-appreciated. The employee is feeling abused, dis-respected and under-appreciated. It is interesting to note that both hold a victim's mindset. 

How do you remedy the situation? 

I believe an intervention of sorts is required. First, the boss must do some self-analysis and figure out how to become more comfortable with holding back on opinions and criticisms. That's easy to say, but, in practice it is very difficult to do. Most people, for one reason or another, are unable to make a change that large in the way they express themselves to other people. That's unfortunate because if the boss cannot change then the situation will never be remedied. 

(repeating)…if the boss is not able to change then the situation will not change…if no change is made everything remains the same…(it is so simple, when repeated it almost sounds sarcastic)  

The employee will have to make a change too. The employee will have to figure out how to remove sensitivity and resistance to criticism, which has probably become a habit [for self-protection].  This too can be a hard thing to do, especially if the boss and the employee have been operating in this criticism/resistance mode for a long period of time. 

While these changes are difficult, they can be achieved. When they are achieved, I call them Reawakening 'Positive Controls'.

How do disorganized people accomplish productive things in business?

by Rick Baker
On Feb 17, 2016

To explore this topic, I did some on-line research and found an interesting article that has fed into my thinking process. Below are some excerpts from that article called ‘Why People With Disorganized Mind Are More Intelligent’. The article can be found at http://www.lifehack.org/324803/12-reasons-why-people-with-disorganized-mind-are-actually-more-intelligent [COMMUNICATION MOTIVATION BY DIANNA LABRIEN]

 

Why People With Disorganized Minds Are More Intelligent

The clutter continues to accumulate—it has all of your life. You can’t find your car keys or your cell phone; you get in the car to go somewhere and you find yourself going in the wrong direction; if you have a workspace, it’s a mess; nothing is ever “where it’s supposed to be.”

You “suffer” from what psychologists now call “chronic disorganization.” But, what these psychologists also now tell us it that chronically disorganized people have higher intelligence and greater creativity. So, take heart, and the next time someone criticizes you for your disorganization, give them some facts to chew on. And here are 12 of those facts that demonstrate the high level of intellectual functioning of the chronically disorganized.

1. They score high on verbal IQ tests, often in the gifted range.

2. They have high creativity levels.

3. They have a broad range of interests.

4. They process information through their right brain hemispheres—the “creative” side.

5. They develop strong attachments to often un-related things and people.

6. They want to be around high-energy people.

7. They tend to lose track of time.

8. They have difficulty focusing when they are not interested or fascinated.

9. They are intuitive, extroverted, and feeling according to personality testing.

10. They must be learning all the time.

11. They think globally.

12. They may seem “nerdy” or “know-it-all” to others.

Disorganized people need to discover the truth and, in most instances, their own brand of truth. They may spend a lot of time with books and on the Internet. In school, they may be seen as nerds; to psychologists, they may be identified as having Asperger’s. They do not have a lot of patience for those who want to “follow the book” on everything. They research and think about how not to “follow the book” and are usually pretty committed to voicing their ideas and opinions—thus they can get a reputation for being a “know-it-all”.”

 

Now, there’s some food for thought. If you buy into those 12 points then perhaps you can buy into the concept that even disorganized people can succeed in business….and become well-respected business leaders.

Then, the questions move from whether or not disorganized people can succeed to the hows & whats around the thinking and actions that must happen to bring out the success embedded in disorganized people.

Leaders & What To Do About Stress

by Rick Baker
On Feb 10, 2016

When our brains/minds register things that are important, our bodies experience stress responses.

The more important the topic/outcome is to us, the higher the stress.

The less control we feel/believe we have over the outcome, the higher the stress.

Spirited Leaders consider the following strategic things to be quite ‘important’:

When individuals’ Talents & Strengths are ignored or sidelined, those individuals will tend to experience energy-draining stress. All else being equal, when those individuals’ Talents & Strengths are put to good use the individuals will be invigorated.

When individuals’ Values & Master Rules are challenged or violated, those individuals will tend to experience energy-draining stress. All else being equal, when those individuals’ Values & Master Rules are embraced the individuals will be invigorated.

When individuals’ Vision/Purpose is ignored or contested, those individuals will tend to experience energy-draining stress. All else being equal, when those individuals’ Vision/Purpose is supported the individuals will be invigorated.

When individuals’ Goals are ignored or contested, those individuals will tend to experience energy-draining stress. All else being equal, when those individuals’ Goals are supported the individuals will be invigorated.

Considering these points, leaders have choices:

  • They can work to drain people’s energy
  • They can work to invigorate people
  • They can be oblivious to the things that drain energy and invigorate

Knowing all this, what do you choose?

Do Family Businesses Have Better Values? [revisited]

by Rick Baker
On Dec 15, 2015

Five years ago, I wrote a Thought Post with that title, Do Family Businesses Have Better Values? During the last 5 years I have been involved in many conversations with many family-business people about this topic.

The consensus is – Yes, family businesses do have better Values.

An observation – Regardless of what people think about Values in family business, there is another related facet to consider: the people who work at businesses led by family-people live with the personalities of those family-people. To the extent the family has better Values the non-family-people enjoy that environment. To the extent the family does not have better Values the non-family-people tolerate, grin & bear that [or they depart].

When family-business values are not inspiring, people either put up with the flawed family-business values or they depart in search of better values. If they stay, sooner or later, their talents and strengths are stifled and replaced with mediocrity or dysfunction.

That’s a consequence of flawed family-business values. Talents and strengths never rise to the top when they live in environments laced with flawed values.

Similarly, when people do not receive clear signals to confirm the presence of better values they tend to assume the worse…they tend to think values are less than ideal, likely flawed…i.e., this is one of those negative-bias tendencies people fall into.

As a leader at a family business…

What do you think?

What values do you project at your business?

What values do you want to project?

 

Tags:

Leaders' Thoughts | STRENGTHS: People-Focused for Success | Values: Personal Values

Talents & Strengths - another perspective

by Rick Baker
On Nov 23, 2015

Talents are innate. They are the substances that define us and make us unique. They are our traits and characteristics; they guide/dictate what we do and stand to explain why we do what we do.

If we dig deep enough and study our Talents then we understand why we feel how we feel when we perform Tasks.

The Gallup Organization teaches Talents + Knowledge + Skills = Strengths.

Malcolm Gladwell teaches – even the most Talented people must spend about 10,000 hours to develop master-level skills. I have emphasized that by inserting the word ‘Practised’ in front of skills.

Napoleon Hill taught the importance of ‘Specialized’ Knowledge, in contrast with General Knowledge as provided in libraries. Today, of course, knowledge is much more available to one and all. So, what was Specialized Knowledge today will be General Knowledge – say, in Wikipedia – tomorrow. This is what I call global commoditization. We must be on a continuous quest for Specialized Knowledge in order to keep ahead of the global pack. And, of course, in addition to being curious we must be inventive.

I have inserted Opportunities into the Strengths equation.

Without Opportunities, Talents & Strengths will be wasted.

Business leaders are in the best position to provide Opportunities.

And, that’s exactly what they must do.

Tags:

Leaders' Thoughts | Solutions & Opportunities | STRENGTHS: People-Focused for Success

Copyright © 2012. W.F.C (Rick) Baker. All Rights Reserved.