9 Business Practices to live by

9 Business Practices to live by
do you do these?

I have a bachelor of science in Technology from Utah Valley University. I also have a M.B.A. from the University of Redlands. I have taken many of the classes on the topic of Organizational Behavior. I have been a marketing manager. I have worked in construction. I have been adjunct faculty at Utah Valley University. I have been a Client Services Director 2 times for 2 different firms and am currently director of technology at Partners In Leadership; the foremost leader in Organizational Accountability and Culture Change. 

I tell you this because I’m afraid that after you read what I have to say you might wonder, “has this guy had any training or experience whatsoever in the business world?”

The answer is, “Yes I have—I have succeeded in the business world using all of the heralded techniques, but I was not happy with the price I had to pay in terms of self-respect and scattered bodies along the way. Consequently, I have discarded almost everything I have learned in business school and in the world of work.

Thankfully, more recent business techniques have surfaced that are more to my liking. I recommend the following books

• Crucial Conversations
• Crucial Confrontations
• Good to Great
• Built to Last
• In Search of Excellence
• Leadership and Self Deception
• The 360° Manager
• The Oz Principle

Below I’ll describe a method of management that will work for you. It will succeed every time. I found it in these books. If you use it you will never fail. It is a one word management style. I have tried using it the past five years and I am amazed. When I have used it I have never, NEVER, failed.  Each of the business practices described below can be summed into a one word Management Style… “Charity”

Here are the practices that I try to follow, in no particular order...

Principle 1: Everyone has a right to enjoy being at the workplace. If someone is a grouch or always makes things miserable for someone else they are charitably re-mediated or asked to leave, irrespective of their skills or how badly they may be needed. I worked in industry where innuendo and dirty jokes were cherished and were an indicator of how clever you were. The past few years at Partners In Leadership I have never heard one dirty joke. It’s amazing. Our workplace is a place that everyone loves to come to. It is safe from filth, from abuse, from sarcasm, from backbiting, and from those who would make your time at work miserable.

Principle 2:Don’t always hire the smartest, or the best prepared, or the most skilled. I hire the most charitable. I hire those that can get along. I hire those who use words to build and bless. Here is a quote I like. “Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.” Talent is not the measuring rod. Charity is.

Principle 3: Interview all applicants, even those that look weak on the application. I have found some jewels that way. That means that I spend a lot of time interviewing. However, the time spent, no matter how long, is less than the time that I spend with a bad employee when I make a bad hire. I interview at least three times before I make a final decision. By the third time the applicant is becoming more familiar and confident and they let down their interview shield and we get to know who they really are.

Principle 4: The customer is not always right. In fact, they are wrong much of the time. Sometimes they lie through their teeth to get what they want or to cover their own procrastination or mistakes. BUT, and I emphasize “but” I still attempt to treat them as if they are always right and as if they are telling the truth. We treat them as valued.  Remember that your customers can be your boss, coworker or a “real” customer.  ALWAYS treat them as if they are right!

Principle 5: DON’T do “employee of the week” because I value all of our employees and don’t want someone to feel slighted if, over a period of time, they are not chosen.

Principle 6: Don’t micro manage. I spend a lot of time walking and chit chatting with our employees and staff. In the course of these casual conversations I learn a great deal. If someone is sick I tell them to go home and rest. If someone is angry I sit and listen. It’s called management by walking around. Independent Study at BYU teaches four pillars of performance which can be modeled to all businesses. These are:

a) Be an advocate for the customer (remember, this can be your boss)
b) you are trusted to make decisions on behalf of the customer (refund?),
c) protect our academic(business) integrity
d) give charitable service

Principle 7: Before telling you what principle 7 is let me set a small case study for you to solve. You are the boss. Carlos is your best house framer. In a casual conversation with him at lunch you learn that his brother, who he hasn’t seen for ten years, has a three hour layover at the local airport the next day at noon on his way back to South America. You are seriously behind schedule on the house. What, if anything, would you do?.....I do not have the answer for you. I can only say that I firmly believe that charity never faileth.

Principle 7 then, is families come first and foremost. Your employee is on borrowed time from their church, family and friends.  Keep that in mind and make their most important things your most important things.

Principle 8: The CEO/Director/Manager doesn’t have all the answers. When an employee comes in and asks me about how to do something or how to respond to a customer I say, “What do you think?” They give me an answer that almost always is a good solution and I say, “I agree. Good idea. Go for it.” If they say, “I don’t know” then I tell them to come back when they have at least one solution. The word has gotten out and now one of two possible scenarios occurs. Either they don’t come because they have learned to come up with their own solution and implement it, or they come with a suggested solution. They don’t come in with a blank slate expecting me to give them the answer.

In an article I read from the Harvard Journal I learned about the care and feeding of monkeys. Monkeys are “problems” that must be fed and cared for. If not they must be dispatched. Don’t let others give you their monkeys. You can pet there monkeys and talk about their monkeys while they are in your office, but make them take it with them when they leave.

Employees can be very clever. I remember the story of my great grandfather, Dave Black. He built roads in Southeast Utah in the 1920’s and 30’s. He would hire a man to help and the man would ask him how to do it. Grandfather would step up and show him how to use the shovel or the pick or how to move a rock. The joke in the county was that Dave Black would hire guys to stand around and watch him work. He didn’t know how to resist monkeys.

In the book Crucial Confrontations, it says “Of all the bad ideas. . . pretending the leaders must know everything is among the most ridiculous and harmful. Leaders earn their keep, not by knowing everything, but by knowing how to bring together the right combination of people and propel them toward common objectives.” A confident leader is very comfortable saying, “It beats me. Does anyone know the answer?” A good leader/manager is an orchestra leader, not a violin player.

Principle 9: Shut the door  and go home physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Give your life back to your family and your church/community. Don’t go back to work in your mind until it’s time to go to work physically. This may be the most difficult of all.  If you are not charitable to yourself (family), you cannot be charitable to others…

The above was adapted and personalized from an article written by R. Dwight Laws

DuVall J Laws is Director of Information Technology at Partners In Leadership and a member of HIMSS.  He also earned his MBA in Technology Management