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Letter From The Editor

Dear Friends,

Recently I listened to a program that quoted a statistic that said 68% of workers are not satisfied with their ability to maintain work-life balance. This program was in conjunction with a discussion on an employer’s role in helping their team with policies that encourage life-balance! And while the statistic is somewhat disheartening, I am happy to see that people are at least acknowledging that work-life balance is missing in their lives. Truly acknowledging that work-life balance is missing is a huge step in actually attaining it!

I work with business executives and entrepreneurs AND their teams on what it takes to get committed to and to take care of themselves, not instead of all of the stuff they have going on, but in addition to their work and family commitments. The solution is so simple, but because of our work-work-work way of operating, slowing down long enough to even notice what you don’t have, and then slowing down long enough to actually do something about it, is often difficult!

Yes, employers can help encourage work-life balance by offering such things as flex time and telecommuting. However, if the employee’s way of thinking doesn’t change, these programs will do little to balance the scale between the work they do and the life they live. So having said that, I believe that the solution to the complex issues of work-life balance ultimately rests in the hands of the employee…they have to be willing to stand up for themselves, ask for what they want, get committed to having a life, create a plan, be held accountable, and have fun. And no company policy can do that for them!

Remember: If there is something you want and you don’t have it… Ask for it! Create a plan for having it! Be committed to following the plan and you can have it!

Warm Regards,

Clay S. Nelson

Creative Chaos to one Person… Plain old Chaos to Another

Frequently I hear from people who say they work better under pressure; they say they do their best work when they are pushed, and to some degree, on a periodic basis, that could be the case. However, chaos, no matter how creative it may be, over the long term wears people out, plain and simple.

Think about when you were in school and up against a tight due date for a term paper. The running and hustling to make it all work… staying up all night… books scattered everywhere… it was fun and exciting. When you are 19 years old and the only thing you have to worry about is making the grade, creative chaos typically doesn’t cost you a whole lot. Flash forward 15 years, however, when you have a family and a team counting on you to not just make the grade, but to make the business work, and that all changes.

For those who think creative chaos is their friend, I’d ask that you stop and really think about that for a minute. Even if it doesn’t have a negative effect on you, what about the people around you? Very few people thrive in a chaotic environment for long. It causes too much instability, tension, and mental wear and tear, which creates wear and tear physically, and over time you – the person who likes creative chaos – ends up with a team for whom the ‘creative chaos’ causes nothing but short tempers, irritability, and break-down.

Not only your employees, but your clients, your suppliers, and anyone you touch inside of your business can be negatively affected. So to the business owner or manager who believes that the ‘creative chaos’ in their workplace is benefiting the company, I say, “Think again!” How may talented, creative, loyal employees, suppliers, trade contractors have you lost because the chaos was too much? How many clients have walked away?

It surely is something to think about and if you want to change the creative chaos in your office, you need to:

1. Stop the merry-go-round
2. Ask for help and accountability to get and stay organized inside of a plan
3. Get creative inside of a written plan of action, and leave chaos out of it

Family Business Tips We Can All Benefit From

Family businesses, while unique, can teach all of us in business about how to transition not just from one generation to another, but from one leader to another… one manager to another… one supervisor to another... one co-worker to another.

In a family business things can go very smoothly for many years as leadership passes from one generation to another. On the other hand, major upsets can also occur when transitioning from one generation to another if the general karma of how a business has been run is changed…. or if they want to change what the company does, who it serves, or what it’s product line is. And because change is the one constant we can rely on, family business owners have to be open to change, open to a level of communication and creative alignment that they possibly don’t have anywhere else. Otherwise, they risk losing it all.

Some “dos” of running a family business:

1. Communicate fully and completely at all times.
2. Embrace your brand… if it needs polishing, do so, but don’t break it down.
3. Modernize your business… systems and even how you communicate your brand (look at your mission statement too!)
4. When major change is necessary due to market factors or poor management in the past, enroll as much of the family leadership as possible – past, present, and future – into the new direction. If not handled properly, you could end up having a business that's in survival and creating a family that's in survival too!

Some “don’ts” of running a family business:

1. Don’t change anything just for the sake of change.
2. Don’t jump to conclusions.
3. Don’t assume anything or anyone.

As you can see, the dos and don’ts of transitioning leaders in a family business really apply universally to businesses everywhere! After all, isn’t building a family really what businesses are doing? Our teams are a part of our family and just imagine what we could get accomplished if we operated our businesses from that point of view!

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