Business Record - Iowa Biz

Keep Our Jobs In Iowa

Finding a job is no easy task in this economic climate.  There is a lot of discussion on creating new jobs, but in many cases the preservation of jobs is forgotten until there is a crisis.  Only then, do local communities and state agencies scramble for strategies to keep the business from closing.  This is a reactionary response instead of proactive one.

A proactive approach is selling the business to the employees.  It allows the owner to give something back to the employees and communities that helped build the business, if you are an owner you will work harder to grow the business and keep the business viable, and sharing ownership allows wealth to be accessed by a greater number of people. 

Iowa's local, regional, and state agencies should be well versed in the different forms of employee ownership as a proactive strategy to preserve jobs.  Let's hope that the strategies and discussions of employee ownership are alive and well in Iowa!

 Flickr photo by District Weekly

Creating ESOP Shelf Space

If you want someone to learn a new idea, then you have to give them a reason to want to learn the idea.  Yes, there are those that will automatically want to learn the new idea, but for most it will take time and patience. 

In the marketing world "creating shelf space" is a big part of creating success.  This concept is not associated with intense training or high pressured sales and marketing tactics.  It is about creating a mental space for an idea, concept or product to gestate.  This creates an opportunity that when the time is right, the person will "take the book off the shelf and start reading it". 

This technique lends itself to self development, which is the most efficient and effective style of learning and the bedrock for change.  What are you doing to create ESOP shelf space in the minds of your employee owners?  If there is no shelf space, then ESOP is just four capitalized letters.

Flickr photo by practicalowl

Would you want your child to see it?

Creating a company culture that drives performance, gives employees support and creates opportunities for personal growth is not easy. 

The best advice may well be the single, simplest and most focused statement ever made that can guide the development of a company's culture:  "Would you want your child to see it?"

What type of company would your child see if they walked into your company? Would you be proud or ashamed?

Maybe we could all use a bit of a child's perspective in dealing with work. Click on the link; it is worth the short read!

Flickr photo by mario bellavite

A Culture of Job Security

The biggest hurdle in engaging employees is creating a culture where they feel their jobs are secure. Secure in the context that there are no guarantees in life and there are situations that are out of the company's control.

At some point in any organization's life cycle, there will be times when the path ahead holds much trepidation. During these times of trepidation, employees are very aware that something is amiss. The longer the situation goes unanswered, the quicker employee engagement wastes away.

Organizations and leaders who understand that job security is a bed rock for engaged employees immediately address these periods of stress. Leaders go out of the way to be accessible, strategies are created with the help of employees and questions are encouraged. The organization rallies to defend the job security of its employees as best it can.

The fierce protection of jobs gives employees confidence that everything that can be done is being done (in the context that was mentioned earlier). Organizations that understand this will survive these tumultuous times and in many cases thrive.  It is never to late to start working on a culture of job security.

Flickr photo by capnmikesphotos

Planting Seeds

Spring has arrived and it is time to plant the seeds that will blossom into flowers, fruits and vegetables.  The process takes time, patience and nurturing. 

Organizational change follows a very similar process. The timing of organizational change is critical, as is the timing of planting the seeds for organizational change. The introduction of an idea, concept or vision of change can easily fail if is not planned well.

Implementing change randomly or following the latest fad typically results in lack luster results. To increase your chances of success, plant the idea of change early and let it slowly evolve with the influence of others.  When the time is right, nurture it, feed it and let it grow into the fabric of the organization. In time, change occurs and the organization improves in a natural and powerful way.

 Flickr photo by organic gardening association

Communication Does Impact Shareholder Return

Organizational communication is sometimes viewed by owners and executives as a wasted effort that has nothing to do with the bottom line. Towers Watson  published a significant study.

It shows that communication can improve shareholder return by 47 percent.

During times of organizational stress, which many companies are experiencing right now, communication excellence is needed to help cope with this stress. Communication excellence requires time, training and a commitment by leadership in thought and deed.

One other key point, communication excellence is a leading indicator of company shareholder return. Start your company comeback - communicate!

Flickr photo by elycefeliz

ESOPs: A Good Plan For Retirement

ESOPs are a powerful tool that allow average workers to accumulate some sizable retirement accounts.  Non-ESOP companies, on average, contribute close to 4% of wages into a 401k retirement.  Public ESOP companies contribute 6% of wages, and private companies contribute somewhere between 8%-10% into their qualified ESOP accounts (source NCEO)

Some critics say that this is putting everything in one basket and is very risky.  The good news is that many ESOP companies also offer a 401k plan.  The logic would lead one to think that employees in an ESOP company would not contribute  into another retirement plan when they are receiving significant allocations into their ESOP.  A study by the NCEO that will be published in 2010, says ESOP employees are just as likely to contribute to a 401k plan as non-ESOP employees.

Teaching and involving employees to be owners is a good plan to a happy retirement.  There are no guarantees, but there are no guarantees with a 401k stock accounts or that Social Security will continue to be available to those who retire.

Flickr photo by sweetie pie rebecca

 

Time For Education

This spring there will be three tremendous educational opportunities in regards to employee ownership, ESOPs and open-book management. There will be three annual conferences held this April and May, and two of them are right here in the Midwest.  They are long- standing events that provide a wide range of perspectives and speakers on the issues of employee ownership, ESOPs and open book management.

I have attended these conferences over the past 10 years and have never been disappointed.  I have always walked away with new and pertinent information that I could use.  The speakers are knowledgeable and passionate about their topics.

It is also a great way to meet your peers as owners, leaders and employees who are living the experience and more than happy to share their story and knowledge.  You will hear the real life version of how these concepts are played out from these individuals. 

Please check out the links below and make plans to attend one of these educational events.

The NCEO/Beyster Institute Employee Ownership Conference  April 20-22, 2010 Minneapolis, MN

The ESOP Association's 33rd Annual ESOP Conference May 12-13, 2010 Washington D.C.

The Great Game of Business's 18th Annual Conference on Open-Book Management May 5-7, 2010 St. Louis, MO

Do Not Waste A Good Crisis

There seems to be crisis everywhere and it is touching most everyone in some way.  Most people do not like crisis, but within crisis there are many opportunities that are wasted.

During a crisis, people and organizations are much more willing to be creative, change, and venture down paths that were once avoided.  Crisis pushes organizations to clean things up and get rid of "dead" weight, just as trees do during storms.  The clean up allows for new growth in different ways, which ultimately creates a stronger and leaner organization.

Crisis pushes leaders to address issues that have been put off or neglected.  In many cases the "gut" feeling that leaders may have had for sometime are now either confirmed or dismissed.

Crisis also allows past mistakes to rise to the surface and be exposed to everyone who may be impacted by those mistakes.  Crisis creates accountability for those who made the mistake and the opportunity to learn from those mistakes.  Make no mistake, the lessons that are learned can be hard and cruel.

A crisis is only a crisis if nothing is learned and nothing changes.  A crisis is an opportunity when mistakes are accepted, learned from, and there is a plan put together to avoid them in the future.

Practice Makes Perfect?

The saying practice makes perfect is used by parents, teachers and leaders to encourage their children, students and employees to improve themselves.

It is a great idea and it works, but only if they are practicing the right thing.  There are far to many instances where individuals spend countless hours practicing, only to learn they were practicing the wrong thing.

A lot of resources and efforts are wasted by companies during organizational change because the organization practices the wrong thing.

In many cases companies practice the wrong thing because they fail to engage the employees in the organizational change process.  In these instances programs are implemented and the employees will implement the program knowing full well that it will not work - they will practice the wrong thing.  Until the leadership of the organization becomes enlightened to the situation, the organization will continue to practice the wrong thing and get lack luster results.

 Engage your employees in change and practice will make perfect.