Top Tips For Entrepreneurial Success

On June 16th, I attended a fabulous conference hosted by The Company of Women called Journey to Success.

One part of the program was LESSONS LEARNED from Canada's Top Women Entrepreneurs, which was a panel of 3 women recognized by PROFIT magazine in its annual list of Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs in Canada.

They had many great insights to offer the over 220 participants. At the end of the panel discussion each woman offered her “top 5 tips for entrepreneurial success”.

NANCY ADAMO, President and Owner of Hockley Valley Resort in Orangeville, Ontario

1. Believe in you
2. No business is easy- perseverance is key
3. Learn to let go to grow
4. Love what you are doing
5. Find balance

JILL ANDERSON, President of Aecometric Corporation

1. You have no idea what your abilities are until you test them
2. Never give up
3. Be truthful—tell your team about the problems
4. Have good people
5. Some customers you don’t want; they simply aren’t worth it

MARG HACHEY, the Executive Vice-President of Duocom Canada Inc., offered her “Joy of 6”

1. Have a compelling business model
2. Have a strong management team
3. Listen to your customers
4. Have a profitable financial model
5. Have a powerful marketing strategy
6. Have robust technology

I’m curious, which of these tips resonate for you? What are your top tips for entrepreneurial success?

Onboarding Success: The Team's Accountability

Now that the term “onboarding” is clearly a part of the business vernacular, most organizations are doing a much better job than they ever have of preparing new hires for their new role and new environment.

In keeping with the philosophy “the best gift you can give an employee is a great boss”, I’ve also observed that organizations have made improvements in equipping hiring managers to support their new direct reports.

So, the relationship of the new hire with the organization and the relationship with the new boss are being addressed in Onboarding programs. But lately I’ve noticed a third relationship being added to the list in organizations that are truly interested in staying ahead of the “onboarding best practices” curve. This relationship is the one between the new hire and his team.

I recently presented at an Onboarding conference where organizations in the financial services and healthcare sectors both mentioned the importance of peers and direct reports in supporting the Onboarding process. There’s nothing wildly new about this in and of itself. The best Onboarding programs have always included meetings with peers to ensure that the new hire builds these key relationships early in. And one-on-one meetings with direct reports plus full team meetings are also critical in the initial weeks after a new leader is hired.

What IS new, however, is the shift in perspective around accountability. The new hire’s direct team is now being positioned as having shared accountability for the success of their new peer or new boss.

For example, CEO’s and heads of HR are spending time with Leadership Teams preparing them to help ramp-up a new member of the Team with the explicit message, “You are ALL accountable for the success of your new colleague”. In some environments, performance measures are even built-in to ensure that colleagues pay attention to extending a hand to their new peer. In these companies, sharing resources and information is a desired behavior and the message from the top is clear, “if the new man or woman doesn’t make it…we all share collective responsibility for this outcome”. Such a message raises the stakes big time!

Instead of the typical “crossing-of-arms-across-the-chest” stance, collaboration is stronger and preparation gets underway before the new peer joins the team.

• What should she know to be successful around here?
• What land mines should be pointed out?
• What’s the most efficient way of bringing him up to speed without creating overwhelm?

This accountability shift gets even more interesting when we focus on the new hire’s direct reports. What could be the difference in the behavior of employees who are coached that “setting your new boss up for success is an expected part of your job”? Yes, of course, the new boss still needs to earn trust, respect and credibility, but imagine the possibilities of adopting the perspective that “everyone in the team is essentially onboarding to this changed team, so let’s all take ownership for how well it goes”.

For me in my work as an Onboarding Coach…having the opportunity to support the SYSTEM, not just the new hire, dramatically enhances the success of the assignment.

I’d love to hear your ideas of how your organization prepares “the system” or the direct team for the new hire. Where does their accountability lie for the new hire’s success?

Onboarding: Taking a Page From Lessons on Recruitment

In HR, it seems like an age-old proverb now…”people are rarely if ever fired for technical competence…it’s all about fit”. We get this now. We know that background experience should be a very small part of recruitment specifications and that hiring based on the quality of the resume is missing the mark. As recruitment processes have evolved, our interviews now focus much more on ensuring fit:
• cultural fit with the organization
• fit with the manager’s style
• fit with the behavioural characteristics that differentiate success in the job.

We’ve learned that hiring someone based on “what they know” and “what they know alone” is short-sighted and can lead to mishires (people who are up to the tasks but are simply unlikely to be successful in their new environment).

So, the penny has dropped for many HR folks and hiring managers alike on recruitment.

Now flash forward in the process.

You’ve found the ideal candidate and she’s ready to join the organization…on to the onboarding phase.

Think about the content that’s at the core of most Onboarding programs…

You’ve got it…lots of “technical content” about the company—formal organization charts, company products, dates in the company’s history, etc. Some of these details may be interesting to know. AND, they are details that have little to do with whether someone is going to be successful or not in the new environment.

If you fire people for fit, here’s a thought….how about an Onboarding process that helps them with fitting in?

Please know that I’m not referring to creating a culture of clones and undermining diversity. I’m simply pointing out that there are certain rules of the game that are organizationally specific. Incorporating these insights into your onboarding process can be invaluable for enhancing retention of great new hires.

‘Cause fit isn’t entirely about the new hire’s DNA. I’ve seen it time and again…the person who is absolutely right for the job and the company can STILL flounder during transition. Nobody wins when this happens.

• Smart people can flex their behaviors if they are given the appropriate heads-up.


• Smart people want to communicate with the boss in their preferred style. What if they didn’t have to guess what these preferences were?

• Smart people know what to do to maneuver around landmines. What if they had a road map as to where some of them might be?

• Smart people pay attention to what’s genuinely important for success in a particular organizational culture. What if these success factors weren’t a secret?

So…in designing your Onboarding Programs…don’t forget the insights you’ve gained from recruitment and be sure to build-in ways of giving people what they need to know about fit.

Discuss Expectations with the New Boss-- Yours and Hers

In my last blog post I shared the first step of dealing with the disappointment of starting a new position full of enthusiasm only to find as the weeks have gone on that the boss you were so excited to work for has turned out to offer less promise than you’d hoped.

This step was to face up and recognize that your boss is human too.

In this post…we’ll look at Step 2- Discuss Mutual Expectations with the New Boss

More often than not, I find that the challenges that surface in early weeks of a boss-direct report relationship arise because expectations have not been aligned.

This doesn’t necessarily mean there is a MIS-alignment…but simply that the alignment conversations haven’t taken place. There are too many assumptions being made.

Conversations about expectations need to focus on the WHAT and the HOW.

A) First the “what”…

If your boss isn’t sending you warm and fuzzy vibes…perhaps it’s because you’ve launched in by focusing on the wrong priorities. Your job description is not necessarily the right place to start. Be sure to have a conversation that identifies the most important initiatives over the next few weeks to demonstrate that you are ramping-up in a productive and appropriate manner. In other words…what does your boss REALLY want you to do in your first few weeks?

Here’s a client scenario. After three short weeks on the job, Jill was getting the sense that her boss was somehow let-down by Jill’s contribution. When she got the nerve up to check-in with him, she learned that the subject her boss most wished she would address was a long-standing organizational issue that was well within the scope of Jill’s role at her previous organization. Resolving this issue didn’t involve a learning curve for her at all. This expertise was, in fact, one of the key reasons Jill had been hired…despite the job description focusing on areas that were outside of Jill’s comfort zone. Jill had mistakenly understood that the “right thing” to do was to show commitment right off the bat to learning about all of the areas that were new to her. This misunderstanding could have easily derailed the relationship and Jill’s perceived performance in her role.

Now, how about YOU’re “what”? Based on the discussions through the recruitment process, what had you expected to be able to focus on in the initial few weeks of joining the organization? How are these expectations being met? I’ve witnessed new Onboarding coaching clients who are stewing over the disappointment of not being able to sink their teeth into the assignments that they’d been promised. It’s my belief that sitting on this disappointment is a sure start down the road of disengagement. Better to have a conversation about what’s different from what was expected. Then, in a non-blaming way, work to clarify how and when you may be able to experience the initiatives you thought you would be part of your mandate.

B) Now let’s look at the “how”…

Even clients who are perfectly aligned with their bosses on the “what” expectations for their first 90 days, often have missteps on the “how”. Mutual expectations around communication style, mode of communication and frequency are all too often left to chance. It’s only when things go horribly wrong that the discussions take place and by then it’s often too late.

In my self-coaching workbook, “Wow Them In Your New Job!”, I include an exercise that encourages new hires to set time aside with the new boss to talk about:
• Whether they prefer email, phone or face-to-face
• Frequency of updates preferred
• Turnaround times expected
• Nature of feedback preferred, etc.

Remember that this is a conversation about “mutual expectations”…it’s a chance to express your needs as well…it’s not just about pleasing the boss. Optimal communication meets the needs of both parties.

Having these “what” and “how” conversations to clarify expectations as early in the game as possible can go a long way to rectifying an uncomfortable relationship with a new boss. I’ve witnessed many boss-direct report relationships turning around profoundly with even one open and direct conversation about expectations.

So, if you are disappointed with how things are going with your new boss… what do you have to lose? Arrange for an “expectations” conversation as soon as possible.

My next blog post will address Step 3. After attempting steps 1 & 2, it’s time to decide if the gap is workable—or not.

Face Up. Your Boss is Human Too

In my last blog post I focused on the disappointment of starting your new position full of enthusiasm only to find as the weeks have gone on that the boss you were so excited to work for has turned out to offer less promise than you’d hoped.

I observed that my clients who are most successful in moving through this disappointment are those that take the following steps:

1. Face Up. Your Boss is Human Too
2. Have a Discussion About Mutual Expectations
3. Decide if the Gap Is Workable. Move On… or Not.

In this post…we’ll look at Step 1.

Face Up. Your Boss is Human Too

Once you’ve recognized that you are indeed working for a human being who is bound to have foibles, bad days and development needs of his or her own, you need to figure out what cost to you is your boss’ humanity.

News alert! Perhaps at some point in the future, we will all report directly to an avatar, but in the meantime…reality is that you will ALWAYS work for a human boss (unless of course you start your own business and then the clients become your human bosses).

So, you need to decide rationally… Is the situation with your boss so extreme as to be intolerable? For example, ethical issues, harassment, undermining behavior (If so, move directly to Step 3). Or, is it simply less than an ideal relationship and thus ripe for ample opportunity for learning for you?

As I often coach my clients… try to flip the situation upside down.

How is THIS boss as THIS time with THESE flaws actually perfect for your own development and progress as leader? The Center for Creative Leadership has long identified having a difficult boss as being one of the developmental experiences that contributes most powerfully to growth of successful executives. What can you gain from this relationship?

How can you get over yourself? So, the dream of the ideal boss hasn’t been fully realized…now what? You’ve made the move, you’re in the role. How do you make the best out of the situation?

How can you lighten up about your boss’ flaws? In relationship coaching we are taught that focusing on the positivity in the relationship is the best way to nurture a relationship. It’s all too easy to train our eyes to see what’s missing or what is different that what we’d prefer. What if you were to be deliberate about taking the time to notice your boss’s strengths and how you could benefit from being around these strengths?

I recently coached a client (I’ll call her Kelly) who acknowledged that she had been so blinded by how impossibly hard-driving a previous boss had been that she literally couldn’t see any of the “good” in him. She failed to learn from him how to “pre-sell” ideas through one-on-one conversations prior to major presentations for executive team approval. Kelly’s boss was an absolute master at this art of influence and it is now a skill that my client is working hard at developing. How much further ahead might she be now, had she not turned ignored the leadership lessons her previous boss COULD have offered?

So, provided you aren’t working for someone who compromises your personal ethics or deliberately undermines your sense of self, I challenge you to shake off the victim mentality and see what learning there is for you in this relationship.

My next posts will address Steps 2 and 3.

When the Dew Comes Off the Rose

Moving to a new organization is an exhilarating time. A clean slate! A fresh start! No baggage! A shiny new boss that just picked you from hundreds of candidates in a hiring process!

Yes, it's an exciting time. This post focuses on the relationship with the "shiny new boss" and how this relationship often morphs very quickly and the "dew comes off the rose".

The recruitment process is by nature a courtship. We put on our best clothes, we emphasize our most attractive qualities and we bring our respective lists of what we are looking for in the other party—candidate or employer. In the role of hiring manager, the boss wants to be respected and admired. In a competitive market for top talent, he recognizes that his management style is part of the “attraction offer”. It’s a rare hiring manager that completely lets down his guard in the recruitment process and reveals all of his leadership faults.

So… you are wooed! This boss appears to be everything you are looking for. Everything your current manager (whom you’ve known for the past five years) is not. All the qualities you listed as being important to you in a manager, he miraculously seems to have. You can’t wait to be mentored by this perfect boss.

Then a couple of weeks into your new job, the dew begins to come off the rose.

Once the orientation meetings that were pre-booked by HR are no longer being added to your calendar, you can’t seem to get the boss’ ear. He travels so much and always seems to be closeted in critical meetings with the executive team.

The parts of YOUR job description that he used to handle have not been delegated to you yet and the annual budget process is starting in two weeks. You don’t have a clue of what’s been spent in current year on the budget line that you were supposed to inherit.

Your boss always seemed so patient and respectful in the interview process, yet lately he has been edgy and curt.

You have a sinking feeling that your new manager is not the ideal boss you thought he was afterall.

In my coaching of leaders in the first few months of their new role—during the onboarding phase—this scenario is repeated all too often. Many clients find themselves waking up to a reality of a boss relationship that is not what they had dreamt of finding in their new role.

It’s been my experience that the clients who are most successful in coming out the other side of this disappointment are those that take the following approach:

1. Face Up. Your Boss is Human Too
2. Have a Discussion About Mutual Expectations
3. Decide if the Gap Is Workable

In my next blog post, I will elaboarate on each of these 3 steps.

Stay tuned!

Onboarding & Social Networks

It's exciting to see the exponential growth of social networking activity in this field. It wasn't long ago that I could only identify 1 small group in LinkedIn that was established to address the topic of Onboarding.

Now, there are numerous Fortune 500 companies that have established sites explicitly for new hires in a given year. It's a great way to create a cohort to foster connectivity-- particularly important for engagement and retention of your Millenial hires. But the value cuts across generations and organizational levels. Everyone craves a feeling of belonging when they're the "new kid on the block".

There are also social networks cropping up for participants in various conferences related to the topic of onboarding.

As I've observed this growth in activity (from a time when I began working in this niche four years ago and had to spell the word "onboarding" each time I mentioned it)...I still notice a couple of gaping holes in the social networking scene related to onboarding. So, I've just launched 3 LinkedIn Groups in an attempt to address these holes.

1) New Hires- Clearing the 90-Day Hurdle: This is a public forum supporting entry level and professional new hires across a broad spectrum of industries. I'll draw from work with clients and research on success factors & derailers in the first 90 days to lead discussion groups and foster connectivity between fellow new hires.



2) New Managers- Clearing the 90-Day Hurdle: This is a similar public forum addressing the unique needs of leaders and managers as they join new organizations or ramp-up in a new role and face enormous pressures to perform.


3) Onboarding Best Practices: This group is a forum for Onboarding specialists, HR professionals and Recruiters who are passionate about raising the bar for preboarding and onboarding experiences of new hires and their managers.

I'm looking forward to stimulating discussions and plenty of sharing in the months ahead!