Whether you know it or not, being a business owner also
requires being a leader — especially if you have employees. If you don’t
display good leadership skills, you won’t get the most from your
employees, and your business will suffer.
Despite good intentions, many business owners and managers unknowingly strike fear into employees simply by what they say — or don’t say. And fearful employees are not productive employees. They react to fear with the primitive ‘fight, flight or freeze” instinct and begin to focus only on their own survival, says Christine Comaford, a leadership consultant and author of the new book “How Teams Become Brilliant Together” (Portfolio/Penguin 2013).
Here are five ways that business owners inadvertently scare employees into a dysfunctional state:
You “help them out” by giving them solutions. When you constantly tell people what to do instead of encouraging them to figure things out on their own, you develop a business full or order-takers instead of innovators. By training them to always ask, you end up with a group of workers who are perpetually frozen in survival mode.
On the other hand, when you engage people in problem-solving themselves, you create a sense of safety, belonging and mattering.
Your meetings are heavy on sharing and point-proving, and light on promises and requests. Meetings that are rambling and unfocused send people into fear and confusion
.
But short, high-energy meetings that have a clear agenda keep everyone
motivated. Ideally you should focus on only enough information sharing
to solicit requests from people who need something, and promises from
people who will fill that need.
If you tune up your communication, the result will be meetings that are efficient and effective, and that keep your employees happy as well as productive and accountable.
You give feedback to employees without first establishing rapport. In short, you must be able to influence people, not just boss them around. Here are three shortcut phrases that can help you do that:
“What if ...” When you use this preface to an idea/suggestion, you remove ego and reduce emotion. You’re curious — not forcing a position, but kind of scratching your head and pondering.
“I need your help.” Specialists call this a “dom-sub swap” because when the dominant person (the boss) uses it, they are asking the subordinate person to rise up and swap roles. This is especially effective when you want a person to change their behavior or take on more responsibility.
“Would it be helpful if ...” When a fearful employee is unable to move forward, offering some options will help them see a possible course of action or positive outcome.
You focus on problems, not outcomes. Instead of asking ‘What’s wrong?’ and ‘Why is this happening? You should ask ‘What do we want?’ and ‘How will we create it?’ ”
Being outcome focused is more energizing and fills people with confidence. Avoid saying things like “Let me help you” or “I’ll make it better for you.” Instead, say “What outcome would you like?” and “What will having that do for you?”
You talk about change in the wrong way. Most business owners and managers want their businesses to change. That’s the only way to grow and get better. But as we know, most employees — and people in general — fear and resist change.
People tolerate change better if it’s framed the right way — more like “sameness with a difference.” Try presenting change as merely an improvement in what is already being done. The bad stuff is being removed, and the good stuff is being added. You might even avoid using the word “change” at all and instead use “growth” which is less daunting to most people.
“All business owners want to outperform, outsell, and out-innovate the competition,” says Comaford. “And most of us have teams that are quite capable of doing so. We just need to stop scaring the competence out of them.”
Despite good intentions, many business owners and managers unknowingly strike fear into employees simply by what they say — or don’t say. And fearful employees are not productive employees. They react to fear with the primitive ‘fight, flight or freeze” instinct and begin to focus only on their own survival, says Christine Comaford, a leadership consultant and author of the new book “How Teams Become Brilliant Together” (Portfolio/Penguin 2013).
Here are five ways that business owners inadvertently scare employees into a dysfunctional state:
You “help them out” by giving them solutions. When you constantly tell people what to do instead of encouraging them to figure things out on their own, you develop a business full or order-takers instead of innovators. By training them to always ask, you end up with a group of workers who are perpetually frozen in survival mode.
On the other hand, when you engage people in problem-solving themselves, you create a sense of safety, belonging and mattering.
Your meetings are heavy on sharing and point-proving, and light on promises and requests. Meetings that are rambling and unfocused send people into fear and confusion
.
But short, high-energy meetings that have a clear agenda keep everyone
motivated. Ideally you should focus on only enough information sharing
to solicit requests from people who need something, and promises from
people who will fill that need.If you tune up your communication, the result will be meetings that are efficient and effective, and that keep your employees happy as well as productive and accountable.
You give feedback to employees without first establishing rapport. In short, you must be able to influence people, not just boss them around. Here are three shortcut phrases that can help you do that:
“What if ...” When you use this preface to an idea/suggestion, you remove ego and reduce emotion. You’re curious — not forcing a position, but kind of scratching your head and pondering.
“I need your help.” Specialists call this a “dom-sub swap” because when the dominant person (the boss) uses it, they are asking the subordinate person to rise up and swap roles. This is especially effective when you want a person to change their behavior or take on more responsibility.
“Would it be helpful if ...” When a fearful employee is unable to move forward, offering some options will help them see a possible course
of action or positive outcome.You focus on problems, not outcomes. Instead of asking ‘What’s wrong?’ and ‘Why is this happening? You should ask ‘What do we want?’ and ‘How will we create it?’ ”
Being outcome focused is more energizing and fills people with confidence. Avoid saying things like “Let me help you” or “I’ll make it better for you.” Instead, say “What outcome would you like?” and “What will having that do for you?”
You talk about change in the wrong way. Most business owners and managers want their businesses to change. That’s the only way to grow and get better. But as we know, most employees — and people in general — fear and resist change.
People tolerate change better if it’s framed the right way — more like “sameness with a difference.” Try presenting change as merely an improvement in what is already being done. The bad stuff is being removed, and the good stuff is being added. You might even avoid using the word “change” at all and instead use “growth” which is less daunting to most people.
“All business owners want to outperform, outsell, and out-innovate the competition,” says Comaford. “And most of us have teams that are quite capable of doing so. We just need to stop scaring the competence out of them.”
We
used to invest in technology. Then it was marketing. Then we woke up
and realized it was all about the people. Bringing in the best,
seasoned, Director/VP-level talent over the past 18 months has really
helped the owners bring the company's goals back in focus. Do your
systems, workflow and technology always need to be evolving? You bet.
But at a certain point in company's growth, you will NEED an experienced
leader helping you architect those things if you want to go to the next
level. - 
Your
mindset drives so much in business: the risks you take, opportunities
you pursue, challenges to tackle, confidence level and vision. The great
thing is that even if you have doubts and fears now, your mindset can
change and grow with you as an entrepreneur. The things that once
terrified me are now easy to manage and I understand much better why
entrepreneurship is an excellent avenue for personal growth and
development! - 
Hands
down, continuing to execute to accomplish your goals is the single most
important factor in making your business a success. Without continual
execution, businesses sink. However, executing on the right goals will
not only keep you from sinking, it will help you excel. - 
At
Star Toilet Paper, we have a deep-seated yearning to change the world
and that is what we are doing and will continue to do. Each and every
week, we have a weekly email that we sign off with, "Let's change the
world and disrupt the status quo." Having an internal team slogan like
that really helps bring out the best in us and continues to fuel our
passion. - 
Purchase
decisions almost always come down to value --- customers must realize a
benefit from working with your business. That can mean a multitude of
things, such as cost savings, convenience, reliability, increased
quality, etc. Effectively providing value is integral to the long-term
success of your company; not only does it assist in retaining your
current customers, but also provides the highest-quality referrals you
can ask for when attempting to gain new business. - Charles Bogoian, 
Being
ourselves and working with companies who share our beliefs is
everything. We believe design makes a difference and we look to work
with companies who agree. We also work with companies who know the
people inside the building are what counts. Working with companies with
soul has been the key to our success. - 
It's
so tempting early on to chase after every interesting idea and business
opportunity. Learning to say "no" or at least "not yet" is paramount to
every entrepreneur's success. Focus on what's most important. Your
customers and investors will thank you for it eventually. - 
By
providing your product or service in a fast, convenient, and friendly
way, you'll establish your business as one built for the long term. Any
unsatisfied customers should be compensated to ensure they'll still
consider you for future business. Happy customers are everything. - 
I
am famous internally for saying "we're almost there" when referring to
the business. The truth is that "there" is a constantly moving goal
post. As a team, we have a positive but relentless and never-satisfied
attitude, which in turn results in our company always pushing for better
and never being complacent. - 
I
was telling my team just last week that regardless of how much we
market or sell, if we don't create good products (in our case,
websites), then we can't progress. It's people who create those sites,
so hiring the best developers (or widget makers, or whoever makes your
business succeed) is vital to keeping the engine of your business
running. - 
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