By Kathleen Quinn Votaw

Collaboration is on my mind. I was recently in a room with a group of business owners, all wanting to build growing relationships with similar sized clients. It made me wonder what they were each thinking. Did they want to connect with these potential competitors? Or did they feel like running away in fear that someone might steal an idea from them or outshine them in some way?

With these questions still top of mind, I spent the end of March at Rockies spring training watching the team come together. As Casey Stengel once put it, “Gettin’ good players is easy. Gettin’ ‘em to play together is the hard part.” All those egos competing and yet, somehow, they learn to cooperate and win together. What’s true for baseball can be true for business: the most cohesive teams usually win. Small business owners can get in the game too. They just need to learn that collaborating with others is sometimes the best way to serve clients and grow their business.

Competition often means winners and losers. It ignores the fact that the fundamental purpose of being in business is to meet customers’ needs. Collaboration can put small businesses in a better position to serve customers, and eliminate the continuous work of trying to differentiate your business from competitors’. Collaboration is choosing to operate in a world of trust and support. It may not always be the solution, but it’s another great tool in the box that should be considered every time you feel that urge to compete.

Imagine what you can do

Collaborative models are everywhere, between nonprofits and businesses, education and business, hardware and software developers … but Wikipedia may be the best example of what collaborating can accomplish. We all heard the doubters question whether anyone could ever trust Wikipedia, the collaborative effort of total strangers. That was before it became a worldwide resource with millions of pages—and usually the first result in a Web search, and even more reliable than the encyclopedias of the past. “Imagine what people in your industry, or your profession could do,” Wikipedia founder Larry Sanger suggested in a recent keynote. Well, let’s imagine.

Teams typically see greater knowledge sharing, boosts in productivity and efficiency, higher quality, and more innovation as the result of collaboration. By combining their skills, insights and experience, small businesses can generate the same kinds of benefits for both their clients and themselves—and in ways you might not have thought of:

• Market to two (or more) customer lists instead of one, and to new or different geographic areas or demographics.
• Develop and offer complementary products or services to meet more customer needs.
• Create synergies that enable you to reduce costs, increase capabilities and adapt better to change.
• Leverage experience and knowledge to create better solutions.
• Protect customer relationships with continuous and stable service when you’re sick or on vacation.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t be cautious. Collaboration offers tremendous rewards, but it isn’t a free lunch. You have to choose the right partners and establish a foundation for working together. Collaborate with people who:

• Share your values and are trustworthy
• Share your business philosophies
• Contribute equal or similar amounts of effort and resources
• Establish and maintain effective communication with you
• Share your vision and commitment

It’s probably true that competition encourages you to improve yourself, and that collaboration helps you achieve more than you could do on your own. What motivates you in choosing how you work? Make a conscious choice based on the best way to meet your customers’ needs and your business goals.

 

Kathleen Quinn Votaw is founder and CEO of TalenTrust, a unique recruitment firm that helps companies find exceptional talent to accelerate their growth. TalenTrust LLC is located in Golden, CO. Kathleen  recently completed a two-year term as president of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Denver. Reach Kathleen at kvotaw@talentrust.com or 303-838-3334 x5

By Kathleen Quinn Votaw

Think of a crazy idea that everyone says will never work and prove everybody wrong by creating a successful business out of it. That’s the all-American story—and one we never tire of hearing. Joe Assell, co-founder of GolfTEC, was told repeatedly that his model for teaching golf was doomed to failure. He ignored the naysayers and took his love of the sport and belief that golf is a tool for productive economic, community, and personal change, and turned it into a $60 million business with 700 employees. After more than 16 years, he still feels giddy when he gets up in the morning to go to work.

Joe, like every other business leader who spoke at ACG’s Rocky Mountain Corporate Growth Conference this March, agreed that “resilient growth” is at its core about having the right people —which means not only those with the talent needed to meet the challenges, but people you love to be around.

People first, strategy and culture second

I wonder how many brave entrepreneurs have overcome the naysayers and taken their crazy ideas to market only to fail, not because there was something intrinsically wrong with the idea, but because they hired the wrong people. Once you have that spark in your mind, who will build on your vision? Who will help you set realistic goals? Who will help you decide what you’re going to do and, as Carly Fiorina advised in her keynote, define what you’re not going to do? It has to be people you respect, trust and, yes, like.

Of course you need a killer strategy and an evolving culture that inspires innovation and embraces change. But which comes first, the strategy and culture, or the people? Despite what you may think, your success depends most on the first person you hire, and on every person you hire after that. Without the right people, things like clear goals, competitive advantage, and effective leadership have diminished importance. The right people will help develop your winning strategies and the culture to support them.

Choose your people carefully

If you’re surrounded by people who talk incessantly, are always gloomy, or simply never find time to have fun, would you look forward to seeing them every morning? Would it affect your motivation to go to work? Your productivity? And what if one of the supervisors you hire regularly flies off the handle and puts people on the spot? What is coming to work like for the ten people who work under this person? I once heard someone say that culture is only as broad as a single supervisor. When you’re the one getting yelled at in front of your team, it doesn’t make one bit of difference that one of the company’s values is “respect for others.”

Well-defined strategies and lofty values are just so many words unless you have the right people in place to bring them to life. After coming up with your idea, choosing your people is where your attention should go—and should stay your primary focus as long as you lead the company.

Use every tool available to find people you truly want to work with: assessments, referrals, references, background checks…take them to dinner, meet their spouse if they have one, dig to find out who they really are. And, if you don’t fully respect, trust or like any member of your team, that person may simply not be the right fit. Imagine the success rate of companies where everyone feels giddy about going to work!

 

Kathleen Quinn Votaw is founder and CEO of TalenTrust, a unique recruitment firm that helps companies find exceptional talent to accelerate their growth. TalenTrust LLC is located in Golden, CO. Kathleen  recently completed a two-year term as president of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Denver. Reach Kathleen at kvotaw@talentrust.com or 303-838-3334 x5.

Would you give employees unlimited vacation days? Crazy-good perks are powerful.

By Kathleen Quinn Votaw

Are you a dinosaur if you still count employee vacation days? You may be soon. What about $3,000 subsidies for hybrid cars? Botox injections and tans? Subsidized childcare and summer camps? Life coaches? Allowing new mothers to bring their babies to work? Or, how about offering flex time, the most popular benefit of all?

How do your employee benefits compare with what’s happening in the market? There’s a trend toward crazy sounding perks that employees love and, as it turns out, benefit employers too—by increasing productivity and boosting retention.

Organizations of all sizes are experimenting with perks that add more trust, dignity, respect and love to the workplace—as well as employee loyalty. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have yet again achieved increased profits, revenue and share price based on their belief that “more benefits means happier employees, happier employees means more company loyalty, and more company loyalty means increased profits.” Free onsite haircuts, swimming pools, gourmet meals and gyms—and onsite doctors—plus 20% of your time reserved for your own special projects—who wouldn’t say the GooglePlex is a “totally awesome” place to work?

Google may be the king of benefits, but there are many other organizations increasing profits by following its example. Take Red Frog Events, a $45 million Chicago company that started with a $5,000 investment four years ago—where every employee has unlimited vacation days and meetings are held in a $100,000 tree house. The only vacation requirement is that employees make sure their work is getting done while they’re gone—otherwise, no questions asked.

Productivity, CEO Joe Reynolds insists, has increased as a result of this policy because employees are treated like adults; administration costs are reduced because there is no need to track vacation time; employees feel appreciated; and the policy helps recruit top talent. And, by the way, Red Frog recently won the Chicago Innovation Award and the Chicago Tribune Best Workplace; and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce named them the “United States Small Business of the Year.”

 Open up your traditional mind

If you’re proud of your two-week vacation policy and annual picnic, and still believe that employees can’t be trusted to work at home or make wise decisions unless they are under your watchful eye, you’d better update your benefits policies. Try experimenting with some crazy perks and see what happens. You don’t have to be a multi-million or billion-dollar company to show that you trust your employees and want to create an awesome culture.

Order in lunch once in a while; offer interest-free computer loans; make birthdays an extra vacation day; pay for child or pet care when employees travel for business; give parents time off to attend the school play; offer paid time off for volunteer work; provide flexible work hours—you can afford it. The most valued perk of all is telecommuting. Even half-time telecommuting would save companies, communities and employees more than $650 billion a year by increasing productivity; reducing office expense, absenteeism and turnover; and lowering environmental impacts (according to Wikipedia and others).

Allow employees to work from home sometimes. And don’t forget the most affordable, highest ROI, and most appreciated benefit of all: saying “thank you.” It’s the basic perk that is in short supply in so many organizations.

Offer what works for you

Not all benefits work for all organizations. Depending on your business, telecommuting may not be possible, and month-long vacations may not make sense for many reasons. But there are things you can do to show that you trust your employees and understand that they have multi-faceted lives, interests and obligations—and limited amounts of time. In fact, I would argue that you must get creative if you want to stay competitive.

We’re already beginning to see a diminishing pool of quality employees in some fields and, as the economy recovers and more baby boomers retire, more companies will find it hard to attract and retain the employees they need. Make it easier for your employees to do their jobs and balance their work and home lives with unique and business-appropriate perks.

One employee tells the story of when he got married and his boss surprised him with a honeymoon at a resort. His reaction? “When a company does something like that for you, you’re not going anywhere.” What can you do to invoke that kind of loyalty? It’s time to figure it out.

 

Kathleen Quinn Votaw is founder and CEO of TalenTrust, a unique recruitment firm that helps companies find exceptional talent to accelerate their growth. TalenTrust LLC is located in Golden, CO. Kathleen  recently completed a two-year term as president of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Denver. Reach Kathleen at kvotaw@TalenTrust.com or 303-838-3334 x 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve been waiting since about 2007. It’s time to stop waiting and go for it. If your business isn’t ready to expand and grow now, you risk losing out on top talent because your competition isn’t waiting. They’re snapping up the best of the best right now. If you’re looking for a new job, it’s time to check out the companies you want to work for. They are hungry for talented people.

Our economy should be in growth mode for the next six years (except for a small downturn in 2014) predicts economist Alan Beaulieu of Institute Trend Research, guest speaker at the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) this month. Banks have money to lend. Businesses have money to spend. 2012 will be a fruitful year for all who take advantage of what are sure to be game-changing opportunities.

Employment trends

If CEOs don’t rate talent management as their number-one priority, it’s probably their number two. Starting now, every manager in your business should be thinking strategically and proactively about attracting and retaining the talent you will need to stay competitive. Top on HR guru John Sullivan’s list of 2012 trends are:

• Hiring competition will be intense and happen at a breathtaking pace in innovative industries like high tech and medical technologies. (You’ll often have to decide whether you have time to develop an internal candidate or need to recruit for ready skills.)
• Retention issues will dramatically increase and may become the highest economic impact area in talent management. (Even highly engaged employees will stick around only until a better opportunity comes along.)
• Employers need to begin using a combination of internal and external social media to manage and develop employees.
• More companies will realize that teamwork, learning, development, recruiting and other forms of sharing can be achieved remotely.
• Employer branding will return. (Branding and building talent communities are the only two long-term recruiting strategies.)
• Candidates will finally get the positive experience they deserve, now that the competition for talent is increasing.

My top three pieces of advice for companies and candidates in 2012

Businesses:

1. Retain your talent with a personalized approach for every employee and say good-bye to retention strategies that put everyone in the same basket. One size never fits all, no matter what you’re trying to squeeze into where.
2. Whenever possible, trust your people to work from wherever they want to work to improve both recruiting and retention. If you don’t trust your employees, they shouldn’t be working for you.
3. Get rid of all unnecessary bureaucracy and let your people use their creativity, skills and intuition to achieve your goals faster and better.

Candidates:

1. Look inside yourself to determine what you are truly passionate about doing and what skills you need to learn or update to do your dream job. Things are opening up and it’s a good time to reevaluate what’s possible for you personally.
2. Look for clues about the culture of companies you’re interested in. For example: do job postings list only requirements and responsibilities, or do they also include opportunities for employee growth and development? Research everything you can find on a company to ensure that you and the company are a match.
3. The best companies take time to write their job postings and the career sections of their websites. Build mutual respect by giving them quality responses, and don’t respond at all to jobs you are not qualified to do.

“Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.”—Wayne Dyer

Kathleen Quinn Votaw is founder and CEO of TalenTrust, a unique recruitment firm that helps companies find exceptional talent to accelerate their growth. TalenTrust LLC is located in Golden, CO. Kathleen  recently completed a two-year term as president of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Denver. Reach Kathleen at kvotaw@talentrust.com or 303-838-3334 x5.