Managing in the abyss

Like many business owners in our community my phones are more quiet now, and a few offices are dark now too. Like many of you, I have had to lay off several of my staff in this very slow economy. I find myself managing in the abyss some days managing myself to do more daily production and less strategic planning. Had I known how difficult of an employee I was going be, I would have thought twice. But I am learning again that managing myself in a production capacity is very different from playing a leadership role. Once there were employees going in several directions, deals to be made and strategies to be formed along with dozens of daily tasks ... now there is often just me.

Andrew Carnegie once said "Take away my people, but leave my factories, and soon grass will grow on the factory floors. Take away my factories, but leave my people, and soon we will have a new and better factory."

Well we certainly have a bounty of people right now, and I am all for some new factories in our "little city." I am confident that some great ideas for new directions will come from this return to basics on the factory floor. But it may take some self-motivation to get it started so here are a few tips that will help you manage in the meantime.

Look at every new opportunity as an exciting experience that may catapult you in a new direction, towards a new customer or new marketplace. Don't let the trivial things pass you by as easily as you once did you could miss something big!

Be a professional who exhibits self-confidence and self-assurance in your ability to complete any task. Don't think that doing the basic work is less of a position than managing staff ... you would be terribly wrong.

My Grandma used to say "No matter the job, big or small, do it well or not at all." Agree with yourself in advance that you will have a good attitude toward the upcoming task.

Frequently ask, "Is what I am doing right now moving me toward my goals?"

Accept responsibility for your successes and failures. Do not look for a scapegoat. I know this is counterintuitive to most modern management techniques and politics for sure ... but at the end of the day you should be able to look yourself in the mirror and acknowledge what you did and didn't do.

Do not view things you do as a "job." Every task is a challenge that can be done faster, better, more efficiently, more accurately than before. Use this opportunity to relearn how your business runs and make improvements to the underlying structure based on what you experience by doing some of the actual work.

Games are great motivators, and I don't mean solitaire on the computer. Give yourself points for completing tasks on your "to-do" list in priority order. When you reach 10 points, reward yourself.

Stop procrastinating on the little things if you have a task that takes 10 minutes or less, do it right now, don't save them up to the point when you have 25 tenminute tasks that were due a week ago.

Practice self-determination, wanting to do it for yourself. This isn't about being a control freak that wants to do everything anyway; this is about wanting the work itself and finding pleasure in its completion.

Some coaches say never criticize yourself as having a weakness. Bull; if that were true, I would be trying out to play in the NBA. I recognize that I have undeveloped skills that can be improved on or outsourced. Knowing that there is always untapped potential in yourself, your staff and your business is what keeps you moving forward.

Challenge yourself to do things differently than you have in the past. It provides new ideas and keeps you interested in what you are doing. Keep looking for what is interesting about your work. Change your perspective and look at it as someone outside your job would. What would they change?

Talk to yourself. It may sound crazy, it may even by crazy, but uttering ideas out loud can be beneficial to clarifying your thoughts as well as the presentation. Just keep the door closed if it's going to get personal.

Create a "motivation board" by putting up notes of things you need to do on a white board or special wall space. It is an easily visible way to see what you need to work on. When an item is done, remove the note. Also keep your goals listed and pictured on your board.

Establish incentives and rewards to help maintain your own enthusiasm and performance level, sometimes a whoo-hooo out loud does the trick, sometimes you may need a little more. The knowledge of something good at the end of project is what motivation and self motivation are all about. Remember ... this is why you get paid the big bucks.

Steve Conine is owner of Talent Framework and the Reno office of AccuStaff. Contact him at 322-5004 or conine@accustaff-reno.com.