tips for staying sane during a...
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10/23/2015 Tips For Staying Sane During A Turnaround Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyallan/2015/09/19/tipsforstayingsaneduringaturnaround/print/ 1/5
http://onforb.es/1JgQxXY
ENTREPRENEURS 9/19/2015 @ 7:48AM 2,436 views
Tips For Staying Sane During ATurnaroundCertainly, toughness and determination arehallmarks of entrepreneurial success. Yet,through the years I’ve worked with more than130 business owners and entrepreneurs, and I’veseen that staying sane often takes more than justtoughness and determination.
TIP: You want to build sanity into yourorganization. I’ll mention ways to do that, below.
The Ugly Back Story
Perhaps because of the heroic depiction ofentrepreneurs in the media, many go into denialof the reality when their businesses are not doingwell. Why? Because at that point they don’t feelheroic; they feel the shame of failure creeping in.
Keep in mind: the 130 entrepreneurs Imentioned are smart people. They have hadsuccess, yet I’ve seen dozens of situations inwhich an entrepreneur is faced with a reallytough struggle, and determination just isn’tenough.
• One Sunday morning I received a call from alongterm client who was usually very succinct.He rambled emotionally about his poor financialsituation. No wonder he rambled: he hadn’t sleptin two days because of his worries.
• Another small business owner called me whilehe was driving to a psychiatric center to checkhimself in. The stress has “sent me over the edgeand I need to get help. I’m going off the grid for afew weeks.”
Kelly Allan Contributor
I help entrepreneurs and bring you their stories.
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
10/23/2015 Tips For Staying Sane During A Turnaround Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyallan/2015/09/19/tipsforstayingsaneduringaturnaround/print/ 2/5
• Another owner confided in me that he washaving debilitating panic attacks, and didn’tknow how much longer he could hide them fromhis staff.
Those stories don’t get as much coverage as thestories of brilliant successes, but they are veryreal. BTW: over time those three owners learnedto cope and made their businesses successful.
As I mentioned, the overall tip I want to give youfor staying sane is to build sanity into yourorganization. Here are a few ways to do that.
TIP: Who says you have to go it alone? Youdon’t. So don’t.
Given that most growing businesses do havetimes of great stress, it is surprising that thereare very few places where the fears, andsometimes panic, of entrepreneurs and smallbusiness owners can be validated and addressed.
• Some business groups, such as Vistage, forexample, offer executivetoexecutive guidance insmall groups and via oneonone discussionswith Vistage Chairs about how to handlechallenges and opportunities. [My company hasworked with Vistage Chairs and Members formore than a decade, so I have seen the benefits.]
• Owners/Leaders of small businesses can gethelp implementing professional management asthey grow/scale their businesses, includingduring stressful times, via Aileron, a nonprofitheadquartered in Ohio, founded by billionaireentrepreneur Clay Mathile. Mathile has a passionfor helping small and growing businesses.” [I’vehad numerous conversations with Clay Mathileand I have firsthand experience working withAileron staff.]
In several posts I have shared the story of BobGeis and his colleagues from the office of theauditorcontroller of the County of Santa Barbarain regard to their turnaround story. Their storyhelps to summarize a number of tips.
10/23/2015 Tips For Staying Sane During A Turnaround Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyallan/2015/09/19/tipsforstayingsaneduringaturnaround/print/ 3/5
Staff members of the Office of the AuditorController of the County ofSanta Barbara. Details of their turnaround success are explained in aseries of posts on Forbes.com. [Photo by Lael Wageneck]
TIP: Do what they did: they used their corebeliefs to guide their decisions.
That isn’t so easy to operationalize if your corebelief is that you merely want to get rich. Thattypically is not enough. Clay Mathile of Iams, forexample, also wanted to do good things for hisemployees, the community and for dogs.
Sure, Bob Geis and his colleagues also used theirintelligence –combined with the teachings of W.Edwards Deming– to transform their office. But,it was the core beliefs about what they wanted toaccomplish and why they wanted to accomplish itthat got them through the turnaround.
TIP: An anchor of sanity for Geis and his teamhas always been to think about the importance ofthe work and to be focused on improvement.Geis elaborates, “Evermore robust processesreally matter, and making improvements excitesus and give us emotional energy to continue thefight.”
TIP: As a part of always thinking aboutimprovement, Geis says the leader needs to be avisionary, “It’s easier to stay sane and to jumpevery hurdle, when you have a vision of howthings could be –look to optimizing the system soit really hums.”
TIP: Keep investing in people’s knowledge, evenin a turnaround. Geis has had to cope with a lackof funding over the years, and he says, “It istempting to cut the training budget first, but I’vefound it is better not to fill an open position thanto cut training for everyone else. When you investin people’s knowledge they repay you with higherproductivity and with pride and joy in their work.Their knowledge will help save you.”
10/23/2015 Tips For Staying Sane During A Turnaround Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyallan/2015/09/19/tipsforstayingsaneduringaturnaround/print/ 4/5
Betsy Schaffer, Bob Geis, and Theo Fallati. “How many leaders do youhear complain that ‘my people don’t want to change’?” Geis says. “I amguilty of having said that myself. Then, I learned that those people wereresisting change mostly because they were working in an insanesystem.” [Photo by Lael Wageneck]
TIP: If you want to stay sane and stay focusedduring a turnaround, don’t let toxic humanresource practices infiltrate yourorganization. Geis is not a fan of the usual andaccepted HR practices, “like incentives and payforperformance. They waste your time, reduceproductivity, don’t contribute to your stability orsuccess –and they make people unhappy.
• “I’ve worked in private industry and ingovernment, and in my experience, the DemingManagement Method is flat out the best way togo. With Deming’s approach you focus onimproving the system in which people workbecause the system controls about 94% of theresults you get.
• “Not only that, by using Deming’s methods wehave avoided the overhead and problems causedby the usual HR beliefs. Sure some countyadministrators continue to try to push thosetechniques on us, but when they see oureffectiveness and efficiency, they realize we aredoing something special — and they don’t wantto tamper with it.”
TIP: “Create an environment for learning inwhich people can focus on making things happenand on getting things done,” Geis summarizes.“And don’t let anything get in the way of that.That is part of your system. That makes forhappy, responsive, and responsible people. Thathelps create an effective turnaround –and it willhelp keep you sane.”
The TIPS, although unorthodox, made a bigdifference to many of the 130 companies Imentioned. They rejuvenated the leaders and
10/23/2015 Tips For Staying Sane During A Turnaround Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyallan/2015/09/19/tipsforstayingsaneduringaturnaround/print/ 5/5
This article is available online at: http://onforb.es/1JgQxXY 2015 Forbes.com LLC™ All Rights Reserved
their companies. I hope you won’t need them, butif you are to be a successful entrepreneur, atsome point you probably will.
The author donates the honorarium paid for thisblog to The W. Edwards Deming Institute®, anonprofit helping businesses and organizationsachieve success through Deming’s philosophies.@KellyAllan6
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