Get Personal in Business: Have Fewer Problems, Make More Money

This is a reprint of a post from 2011 that is more true today than when I first wrote it. Enjoy it's simplicity, and appropriateness. I repost it because of what I recently read in Ken Blanchard's 2010 offering, Lead With Luv. 

My Dad used to say that Business is Business, and Personal is Personal. I think he was advising me not to mix my personal life with my professional life. It sounded like good advice, at the time, but the longer I live, the less realistic, practical and productive it actually is.

We could have much better, faster growing, more profitable businesses if we changed the way we approach business and people.

Sometimes we want “Business” to be “Business.”

There’s another business saying Dad used, and I hear even today:

“Don’t take this personally. It is a business decision.”

The only time Dad ever said this was in situations where someone was getting axed, fired, laid-off, removed or replaced. It could be employee or a vendor.

Dad has no exclusive use of the term. Last December, just two days before Christmas, a friend of mine heard similar words. “This is not about you, Bill. It’s a business decision. We wish you all the best.” Then he was handed his walking papers.

“It’s not about you, Bill.” What a ridiculous statement. Of course it is about Bill. Why else is he at the meeting? Tell that to his family.

Sometimes we want “Business” to be “Personal.”

We use an entirely different choice of words when we are courting a client, or new employee.We say things like:

• “We care about you.”
• “Your success matters to us.”
• “We want to be your partner, not a vendor.”
• “You can trust us. You can count on us. We have your back.”

These are unmistakably personal words. Some are even terms of endearment of sorts.

So, we see that:

• Business is personal when doing something pleasant. Otherwise, it is business.
• It is personal when we’re giving; it is business when we’re taking.
• It is personal when we’re helping; it is business when we’re hurting.

Flip Wilson’s character, said, “The Devil made me do it.” We say, “The Business made me do it.”

We want to take personal responsibility and get credit for the pleasant things we do. But we want no responsibility or blame for those that are unpleasant. We blame “the business.”

I have a shocking observation based on my 30+ years doing business:

All business is personal. Every business is personal. Everyday, all the time.

Think about it. Every activity, every decision, every system, every process, every procedure, every innovation, every creation, every interaction, every sale, every buy, every complaint, every problem, every solution, every idea, every interaction, every communication, every error, every misunderstanding, every lawsuit, every mishap, every success, every failure, all without exception are the result of personal involvement somewhere.

There’s nothing that happens in any business that doesn’t have a personal involvement. Everything in business is done by, for, at, or with people.

Example from The Bailey Building and Loan Association

It’s a Wonderful Life depicts the story of George Bailey, a man whose life is inextricably connected to his family’s business, The Bailey Building and Loan. The personal/business connection is made obvious in each of the business situations presented in the movie.

• George saves drugstore: Mr. Gower, the druggist, has received a telegram with news that his son had died in combat. (personal) He is so upset that he mis-fills a prescription with poison. (personal) George sees the telegram and realizes Mr. Gower’s mistake. He saves him from certain ruin risking his job (personal) by not delivering the inappropriately filled prescription. (Personal)
• George rescues his business from 1st run on the bank: George witnesses a “run on the bank” and steps in, canceling his honeymoon. The “run” is caused because his customers heard something and reacted by demanding their deposits in cash. (personal) George’s intervention (personal) convinces them to take only what they need, (personal) thus keeping the bank whole for another day.
• Uncle Billy’s mistake, and Mr. Potter’s choice creates a problem: The bank is in its worst situation when Uncle Billy mistakenly leaves a deposit in a newspaper at Potter’s. (personal.) Potter knows what happened, and he keeps the money and calls the bake examiners. (personal)
• Mary Bailey, intervenes to save George and the Building and Loan. George is in dire straights, drunk and looking for a way out when his wife gets word of the situation and takes a course of action. (personal) She calls the bank customers and some of George’s friends and asks for their help. They overwhelmingly come to his aid with their savings and other significant contributions. (personal)
• The Bank Examiner changes his mind. The bank examiner, seeing the generosity of the community and support of friends, and caught up in the spirit of the moment, tears up the subpoena, and sings with the others. (personal)

Business is Personal

It is inarguable. Business is personal.

In fact, a business can only work as well as its people work. The success of an enterprise is directly related and proportional to how well that workforce works together and with the marketplace and the community. 

People! People! Everywhere!

If business leaders could realize just how personal business really is, they would prioritize an optimized workforce.  It would cause companies to run better, to grow faster and to make more money.

CJ Coolidge is a popular speaker about real productivity in the workplace. 
CJ is the author of Sell More - Work Less- Have More Fun: The Success Secrets of a Dysfunctional Salesman who Sole $B and Made $M Working Part Time. Watch for his new book, The People Driven Business: Unleash your People, Transform your Company.

Visit CJ online at www.coolspeaks.com.

Business Lessons From Sports: Performance Management is Key to Winning

Businesses and athletic programs are similar in that successful programs win.

Winning, however you define it, is the result of proper execution - players doing what they're supposed to do, when they're supposed to do it. Proper execution is dependent on player performance – in the game.

So, teams and companies that best manage player or employee performance win. They have the right people, in the right jobs, executing the right way.

In sports, results are reported in the standings. In business, results are reported as profits.

It just makes sense.

I must make a worthy observation. Business performance management practices in business are deficient and under-developed compared to those common to sports . . . and it is costing us millions in potential profits.

Business should take a lesson. It will revolutionize results.

I want to address just four glaring differences between the two models. Seeing these will help us, as executives, make some simple but important adjustments in our own practices which will really improve our results. The deficiencies in our business practices should then become clear

• Goals and performance expectations need clear definition. These are exact and mutually understood in the sporting world, but blurred for employees in most businesses. In sports, everyone knows what winning means, and every player knows how their job contributes to that goal. That is not characteristic of the teams involved in our businesses.

• Monitoring, encouragement and correction must be immediate, relevant, and continuous. Player performance is monitored and corrected regularly, even immediately, in sports, but is handled only intermittently, monthly, quarterly or even annually for employees in business. Athletes receive immediate feedback and coaching. Good habits are reinforced, and bad habits are broken as soon as possible. Employees may not even know how they are doing.

• Resources for improvement must be readily available. Player performance correction and coaching for improvement is immediately available for the athlete, but may not even exist for employees. In the sporting world, coaches, trainers and specialists abound. Specific enhancements are developed. In business, correction comes without specific help to develop performance.

• Regular training and skill development must be central to operations. Ongoing, regular training is commonplace and essential for any and all highly skilled athletes, while businesses falsely assume that well recruited employees don’t need ongoing training. They should already know what to do, and how to do it. Practice is expected for athletes. Employees rarely practice.

Recognizing and correcting these differences and correcting your processes will mean an increase in your employee's performance, and with it, your company's profitability.

Modeling company performance management practices after those of a sports franchise will improve you revenues, reduce your costs, and create competitive advantages. It will take pressure off your management, as your staff adapts and innovates in ways that will create value for your company and your customers.

Don't know where to start? You're not alone. Consider calling a professional, like a PEO. A good PEO should have a full coaching staff, a veritable well-equipped gym, in fact, everything you need so you won't have to hire a bunch of people to make sure you cover your bases. I work a lot with one particular PEO, Administaff. I know, firsthand, they can help you pull this off very easily.

In the words of FedEx’s Fred Smith: You’ll make more money, and have fewer problems.

I think that’s worth a lot.