Remember the Aussie band, Little River Band, and their hit song, Curiosity Killed the Cat…”running around, don’t know where it is at, getting confused with my way of life..” Well as business owner, if your employees don’t know where your are at, and where your business is going, your best resource will be running around and getting confused.
Do you recognise these conversations inside you head…perhaps in the middle of the night… I hate it when I come home from a long day in the office and yet my employees should be doing this work…I wish I could trust my employees to look after my key customers but if they get it wrong, it will be disaster….Millenium staff just don’t seem to get it…
Well, as business coach, I know life does not have to be this way, and as business owner, I can help you to train your staff to do your heaving lifting – so you get the time back you deserve after all those years of hard work.
And one of the secrets to achieving this and unlocking your future is to always remain curious; with your customers and your employees. And to help your staff create and live this same attitude. But why is being curious an essential part of optimising your business?
Remaining curious means that you are listening and not trying to deliver an outcome; we are not trying to a achieve a win;lose conversation but a communication where connection and identification is the most important factor. What are the underlying issues/and pain points, what are you ideas to resolve, is there are a better way to do things…? We are educating each other towards an optimal solution – a win:win outcome.
This process gives power to you staff and develops a “can do” attitude to resolve issues that otherwise you would be having to deal with. So your investment is into your staff, help them understand that responsibility is not too scary, so as a business owner, you get time back and permission to switch off.
A four step process to improve the pathway to have better discussions with your team to leverage their ideas:
- State your position with clarity – create a culture where there is no judgement in stating your position.
- Share how your reached your position – what are the underlying values/systems/process to express my thoughts
- Test your assumptions and thought processes by discussing options and ideas amongst your team. Build a culture where open discussion is encouraged and rewarded, not punished. So your role as business owner is to encourage the behaviours and culture where it is OK to express a view..remaining curious, and not being right or reaching a conclusion too early.
- Understand the impact of better questions – “I hear what you are saying, but please explain and expand your thinking around your conclusion” or ” I can see you approach has tackled this problem from a different angle, can you tell us how this will lead to an optimal outcome”
To remain curious, you get your team and your staff sharing the load – doing the heavy lifting for you. Being curious means you are still willing to learn and to be open to what staff have in their heads to help your business and what will be great for your business. So as an owner, your role is to nuture and leverage this – it’s the only way out of the bind of “more hours to create more revenues…”
Imagine having time to think and headspace to leverage your business and your staff… and to be able to sift through the chaff, and exclude what may not work.
Without a process, perhaps the sleepless nights will continue. Being a business owner takes courage, and we all learn over time what works and what doesn’t. But when things don’t work and your business strategy becomes hope, then it’s time to get a Melbourne business coach. Let’s have a coffee or book a call to see how I can help you on your journey and give you a process to vote your staff into accepting responsibility and ownership.