.jpg)
The People Gardener Podcast with Rhonda Delaney
The People Gardener Podcast with Rhonda Delaney
Cultivating Team Success: Celebrating Small Wins with Rhonda Delaney
Elevate your leadership game and steer clear of those sneaky small business blunders with Rhonda Delaney, the People Gardener, in this eye-opening second installment of our trilogy on missteps that could be holding you back. You're not alone on this journey; we're peeling back the layers of workplace dynamics to bring you a treasure trove of insights that can transform the way you recognize and celebrate your team's hard-earned victories.
This episode brims with real-world wisdom as we unearth the subtle, yet impactful, gestures of kindness that blossom in the office ecosystem. We're talking about more than a pat on the back; it's about acknowledging the shared lunches, the extra hand offered to a colleague, and the thoughtful notes that unexpectedly brighten someone's day. Whether you're navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship or honing your leadership finesse, you'll walk away with a bouquet of strategies to sincerely affirm your team's efforts and watch your business flourish.
Well, hey there, welcome to the People Gardener podcast. I'm Rhonda Delaney, your host, also known as the People Gardener, thrilled to put this podcast together to help small business owners, new business owners, frustrated business owners and aspiring leaders, whether they're inside business or outside. Each week, we bring you some actionable steps so that you can actually improve your skill as a leader. That's what we're about. We're here to help you become a better leader by giving you access to lots of different perspectives. By giving you access to lots of different perspectives. The guests are varied. We're thrilled to have them. Get out your pen, get out your paper and be ready to learn Every single episode. You're going to be able to take something away that you can implement. Are you ready? Let's get to work. Hey there, welcome back to the People Gardener podcast and to part two of our three-part series on small business owner mistakes. And once again I'm going to reiterate do not take this personally, I am not beating up on you. I'm just sharing observations from my own time in corporate, yet also studies that have been done based on employee feedback. So let's get into the four mistakes and solutions for this week. The first one is you don't recognize employee achievements and you know I don't think the vast majority of small business owners are curmudgeons or misers or jerks, but I know that so many of you are trying to keep 52 plates spinning in the air and you've got all these hats and it's so easy to just be consumed with trying to get everything done. This is a place that you absolutely need to work on. When people are recognized, it's your acknowledgement of something that they've done and you know, so often it's the little things that have the greatest impact. Catching someone, being kind or helping a teammate you know employing them as signs. I noticed today that you were really helping Randy with what he was working on, and you know what. Thank you. I'm sure that it helped him in his day.
Speaker 1:Catching somebody sharing a lunch this happened in our break room all the time my 15 years in corporate. It was in a manufacturing company. In the lunchroom there were so often people that didn't have anything to eat. They hadn't brought a lunch. There was no time to go and get anything. They might not have had any money and somebody in the break room would invite them to share their lunch. Recognize that. Just recognize the humanity of it. You could keep some cards in your desk and just handwrite a note and drop it at somebody's desk after hours if you're the last one to leave or if you get in earlier than everybody else, because I can tell you the dopamine hit when somebody opens that is going to impact their day opening a note thanking them for doing something.
Speaker 1:When it comes to recognition, you must be specific. Don't just say great job because for them it's great, great job at what I do lots of jobs here. What are you talking about? Don't make the assumption that they know what you're thinking in your head, that you are recognizing. Absolutely be specific, depending on your location and what things are like For me. I had a door really close to me to the outside and I had an air horn and my sales team. When they hit their million-dollar mark for the year. I made a big stinking deal out of it. I managed to find gifts that spoke to them and things that they were interested in outside of the business. I opened that door and I let him rip it. It was loud. I couldn't have done it inside the building. Find creative ways.
Speaker 1:Having said all that, you need to make sure that you're recognizing in the way that somebody feels comfortable receiving it In a sales department. Most of them are pretty competitive. Most of them are more extroverted than they are introverted. They're part of a pool of people that are constantly talking and communicating and figuring things out out. Public recognition was fine for them, but I didn't do that for other people because I had departments where people were much quieter, like even my art department. A lot of them were just very introverted. So for them it was a personal, it was a private recognition and they felt more comfortable with that. So know your people, know how they want to receive recognition and get your head out of the sand and see what is going on and make sure that you're speaking about it. They need to hear it. We all need to hear that. Hey, we're on the right track. It doesn't mean that they can't do their job without it, but it sure makes it a lot more fun.
Speaker 1:Another mistake is you are tolerating a negative workplace and again with small business owners. Often you have one salesperson, you have one person in accounting, you have one person out in shipping. You might have a couple, but often it's a single digit and that person may be toxic, they may be a problem, and you refuse to let them go and move them out. You refuse to have the conversations with them because your thinking is we need them. How are we going to make this work if they're not here? It's going to get worse and you're going to lose really valuable employees. You have to have the conversations, and there's a great book's called eat the frog.
Speaker 1:It's not necessarily about conflict resolution, but it's learning how to tackle the hard things, and tackle them at the beginning of the day, when you have the most energy and the most mental clarity. Remind these folks, these ones that are being negative of what the values of your company are and what your behavior expectations are. And again, this goes back to last week having all of your ducks in a row, your SOPs, your behaviors. Url. Your SOPs, your behaviors could be your employee handbook. This is how we do it here and this is how we expect you to behave, and a negative, toxic behavior is not okay at all. And if somebody has violated your policies, you have to be okay with letting them go.
Speaker 1:The interesting thing that happens is when employees can see that you are willing to put them ahead of I'm going to say yourself or your company, because I mean they know if there's just one person in the sales department. They know company, because I mean, they know if there's just one person in the sales department, they know. They know that their job is on the line, because if we can't find another salesperson and we can't generate sales, then how in the world are we going to pay them to do their job? So people are pretty savvy. You're going to demonstrate that you appreciate their contribution and you want to make sure that the workplace is safe and that it is effective and that it's a pleasant place to be. So don't be shy. Learn how to get those tough conversations out of the way.
Speaker 1:The third one is micromanager employees, something that I've found in my 15 years in corporate. This is kind of part of who I am as a person. I've been very trusting and I found that it was always easier and more productive for everybody if I trust first and then, when and if they demonstrate that they are not trustworthy, make an adjustment. So I always came at it from if I delegate something to somebody, I expect them to do it well, I expect them to do it on time, I expect them to do it within budget and I expect them to come to me if they have any questions and I made sure that they understood exactly. Here's the job. This is the result. You'll know that you're done your task once we get to here. I need you to be here by this time and if you've got any questions or need any help, make sure you come and chat with me. Sure, I have a few disappointments. You know what that's life. Have a few disappointments, you know what that's life and I know that doing it this way, I had less disappointment than I would had I micromanaged, because I would have lost a lot of really good employees.
Speaker 1:When you're delegating as the solution because you're going to hand it off, you're delegating as the solution because you're going to hand it off you have to do it and give them authority to truly do the job, to be in control of the outcome. You've already explained what the outcome you expect. Now just let them get in there and do it and don't be nitpicking them and don't become a bag Just checking in How's things going. There's nothing more irritating to somebody because it disrupts their day and it disrupts their flow. You've got to let go of control because you have a very specific skill set as the business owner that nobody else has, and that is to be the visionary, to see the big picture, to be able to ebb and flow and move things, and you cannot be down in the weeds on these day-to-day tasks. You have set it in motion, you've been clear of what the expectations are when the result is needed. Now let it go. Let them do it, as I say, until they prove that they are not the person, and then you've learned something that you needed to learn.
Speaker 1:And the fourth one I should say is your work arrangements are inflexible. Hard. Like me I'm old school, you know because I said so you get here at eight, you work hard and you leave at this time and it's all hands on deck and you just you're in there, it's your job, that's just what you do. Just you're in there, it's your job, that's just what you do. Life has changed considerably since I was in my early 30s, with young children at Coleman, all the rest of it, and so I have learned that being flexible doesn't mean that you're being easy. Being flexible doesn't mean that you don't have boundaries. They just happen to be a bit more flexible than they were when you spend time getting to know people and getting to the place where you really understand every role in your business and how it interacts with the others and how it might impact another department if somebody wasn't there or was there. You've got to have a really clear understanding of that, because it's only when you do that you can have confidence to say you know what, sally, you know what, sally, I'm good with you working from 10 until 6 because your role is not impacting other people getting their work done. You couldn't do that if you didn't completely understand the rule and you just keep on top of things.
Speaker 1:Something that I did in corporate is I had each of the departments work in other departments that had the potential to impact them and it was really super interesting thing because they all, in their own isolation, they were blaming each other for things that were happening in the department and once they came into the sales department, they understood how much was our customer. Our customer needed things to be a certain way. Our customer needed things delivered by a certain time. It was the customer and they had lost sight of who they were ultimately serving and the ultimate serving was to our customers. And so that mindset shift that they had is like oh, this isn't Bob, and shipping that's telling me I've got to do it this way or I've got to do it faster. It's the customer. The customer needed it.
Speaker 1:Being flexible is a huge, huge bonus. One of the things, job share. I know it can be a bit of a mind work. That is something. You have two committed employees to part-time work because that's what works for their family dynamic. At this point I can tell you they are more appreciative of that flexibility than it's going to cost you in any frustration. They will work harder at making sure there is a seamlessness to that because that job is so important to them and the flexibility of it. Yeah, another four common I'm gonna.
Speaker 1:It's hard to call all of these mistakes it's more missteps, it could be more, just not not thinking maybe big enough, but they contribute. And the sooner you understand these and recognize that they're happening inside your business, the faster you are going to be able to transform your employees into raving fans. Like I said last week and you're going to hear me say this a lot on this podcast is when you have a team of raving fans that your life as a business owner is going to absolutely change. You're going to have time inside the business. Outside the business You're going to have profit, more profit than you've had before, because you have a team of people who are interested in making your vision come to reality. That's it for this week. We'll talk to you again next week.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks so much for listening to this episode. Hopefully you got a few nuggets that you can get into play right away. Every week, we certainly try and bring you things that are going to make a difference in your leadership journey. If you haven't already gone on and checked the People Gardener Collective app, it's on the Apple Store and Google Play. The free membership has my 25 ways to be interested. It's a 25-day challenge. It's one item a day. It is a fabulous place to start your leadership transformation. Check it out. Love to get some feedback, so don't be afraid to leave a review or shoot me a message on any of my social channels or my email, rhonda, at RhondaDelaneycom. Thanks again for listening.