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By: Kathy Kent Toney, CEO & Founder of Kent Business Solutions  Image by Emslichter from Pixabay Have you ever had a teenage road trip that you'll never forget? Well, here's my story and a description of how it, unfortunately, resembles the digital journeys of many organizations. Back when I was attending college in southern Iowa, I searched for the cheapest way to get home for Christmas. I settled on a non-stop carpool to Los Angeles with one other girl and two guys, traveling in an old Karmann Ghia. Little did I know how rough the journey would be! Here's a sampling of what went wrong on that trip:
It's a miracle I arrived home safe! So, what does this have to do with any business topic? It's this: Many companies start their digital transformation journeys with just a wing and a prayer like ours. They start excited about the trip and encounter severe problems along the road. They may attempt to bolt things on to keep things from breaking further. Or, they may continue to forge ahead when something that's broken, and they limp toward their goal. Much like my difficult trip, they may reach their destination, but it either took too long or cost them way too much to get there, OR they're in the unfortunate place where they never arrive at their desired endpoint. If you're starting a digital transformation journey and want to ensure you arrive at your destination with great results, then check out some lessons learned on this topic based on my eventful trip: 1. Chose the Right Solution/Approach So You'll Reach Your Desired Destination An old, not-well-maintained Karmann Ghia was not a good choice for our trip, and it never dawned on my teenage brain to ask the owner how safe the car was. Lessons Learned: When choosing a digital transformation platform, do your due diligence upfront.
If you do this before you even start, there's a greater likelihood you'll stay on time, within budget, and achieve great results. 2. Ensure Your Team Remains Engaged Throughout the Project Our "team" was pretty engaged in reaching our goal, except for me. This trip was a disaster in my eyes, and I didn't want ANYTHING to do with helping to solve the problems. The owner, however, had to be—it was his car and responsibility to provide us transportation home. Lessons Learned: As a team leader, you know it's your responsibility to help the team effectively arrive at the destination. If they don't see the process working well, you'll encounter detractors (like how I was on my trip). So, exploring the best ways to keep your team engaged is a good idea. 3. Celebrate Your Victories Along the Way At times, it looked like we'd never get home. That's why it was a mini-celebration every time the car was up and running! Lessons Learned: Whenever your team reaches a significant milestone, reward them with a small token of your appreciation, such as letting them leave a couple of hours early one day. That will work wonders for increasing team satisfaction and moving forward to accomplish the end goal. These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg to help you on your digital transformation journey. It's certainly not an easy road to travel, and having experts at your disposal can make all the difference in the world! If you'd like to learn how to successfully navigate your digital transformation journey, check out Michael Cantu's and my best-selling book on Amazon, No-Nonsense Digital Transformation. To learn more, click the button below!
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By: Kathy Kent Toney, CEO & Founder of Kent Business Solutions  Image by Freepik Many business leaders these days are searching for ways to stop good employees from leaving their organizations. With the Great Resignation in full swing, how do these leaders retain their best talent? Here are seven tips to help stop the bleed and, at the same time, improve your employees’ work lives. Employees are more likely to stay when they are: 1. Valued & Appreciated Every employee likes to know if they are doing a good job and making a difference in the company. Regularly showing them appreciation is a great start. And, if you can understand the best way to go about that, that's even better. Gary Chapman and Dr. Paul White present a great approach in their book 5 Languages of Appreciation in Business: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People. 2. Challenged Many employees leave their positions because they don’t feel challenged. Schedule a 1:1 with them precisely to determine if they feel challenged or not. If they’d like more challenging assignments, start the ball rolling to do just that. 3. Trusted It goes without saying that no one likes to be micro-managed. When you give your employees assignments, let them know you trust they’ll do a good job. And if you let them know you’re available for questions, that gives you the ability to have a hands-off approach, which shows you trust them. 4. Empowered Give your employees the full scope of what they need to do their jobs, including the authority they’ll need to see their assigned tasks through to the end. Doing so can prevent them from unnecessarily going back to you with questions when they could have handled the job independently. 5. Involved Ensure that you involve your employees in matters that concern them when it makes sense. It doesn't do you or your employees any good to make decisions about them when consulting them would have been a good idea. This approach also applies to communicating important company and department info. 6. Mentored Most employees want to grow and develop their abilities, and many leave their positions because they lack mentoring opportunities. Invest in your employees to help them become more effective in their roles and have the potential to move into leadership positions. Doing so most likely will save the company money in the long run if they don’t have to hire from the outside to fill vacated positions. 7. Promoted and Paid Well This tip is a no-brainer. Provide opportunities for advancement and compensate your employees well, or they may walk out the door when a better option comes along. In the end, investing in your current employees will most likely help increase their satisfaction. Doing so could reduce employee churn and perhaps positively impact the bottom line. And who doesn’t want that? # # # Speaking of churn, are your customers satisfied with your products and services, so they aren't leaving for greener fields? If you’d like a quick way to find out, download my FREE Customer Satisfaction Checklist. You’ll discover an answer in just a couple of minutes. Click the button below to download your freebie! By: Kathy Kent Toney, CEO & Founder of Kent Business Solutions  Image by Tumisu from Pixabay As business leaders, we make multiple decisions every day; therefore, it takes diligence and sometimes reminders of how important it is to choose right instead of wrong courses of action when making those decisions. For that very reason, I'd like to share with you a quick primer from famous leaders on how to strengthen your personal integrity. # # # Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not. Oprah Winfrey In the end you should always do the right thing even if it’s hard. Nicholas Sparks People with integrity do what they say they are going to do. Others have excuses. Zig Ziglar Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea. Ayn Rand Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity. W. Clemente Stone Admitting one’s own faults is the first step to changing them, and it is a demonstration of true bravery and integrity. Philip Johnson As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself. Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility. Nelson Mandela Leading with integrity and empathy requires vision and a connection to your deepest self. Karla McLaren One of your most prized possessions is integrity; if this is you, then you should never compromise it. Byron Pulsifer Make living your life with absolute integrity and kindness your first priority. Richard Carlson Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you. H. Jackson Brown, Jr. The wind might cause a kite to rise, but what keeps it up there is the fact that somebody on the ground has a steady hand. You have to hold steady to your values – your integrity. It’s your anchor. You let go of that. . . well, it isn’t long before your kite comes crashing down. Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen Integrity is the ingredient that will enable you to forge rapidly ahead on the highway that leads to success. It advertises you as being an individual who will always come through. Whatever you say you will do, do it even if you have to move heaven and earth. Mary Kay Walk with honor, character, and integrity in all that you do. Do these things and you will find that you can appreciate the adventure of life and live with greater ease. Shawn L. Anderson I believe in integrity. Dogs have it. Humans are sometimes lacking it. Cesar Milan # # # Unfortunately, this last quote too often rings true. But if we, as business leaders, more consistently embrace integrity as an essential personal value, we could transform our business communities for the better. Speaking of transformation, that’s what I love to do with businesses. In fact, I have a podcast dedicated to business transformation called Elevate Your Profitability! Sound intriguing? If so, click the button below to hear a pod where I interview Tony Moroney with the Digital Transformation Lab at Cork University in Ireland. In it, we discuss the benefits of digital transformation. I'd love for you to check it out! By: Kathy Kent Toney, CEO & Founder of Kent Business Solutions  Image by wirestock on Freepik One challenge business leaders face is how to remain remain agile and to quickly adapt during periods of economic and societal upheaval. Doing so is ultra-important to navigate change successfully. So what are some keys to become more adaptable and agile? 1. Realize a Change-Oriented Mindset Business leaders must have a mindset that embraces change. Here's a great quote to reinforce the importance: Most suffering comes from the failure to adapt and a resistance to change. – Debasish Mridha Change is inevitable, and business leaders who embrace change will naturally become more agile and adaptable during times of upheaval. And as this quote suggests, realizing a change mindset can relieve the suffering of the business leader and, ultimately, the organization. 2. Develop a Plan Now that you're ready to embrace change, develop an organizational plan to navigate it. This applies to both internal change initiatives and the fall-out of change occurring outside your organization. For internal change initiatives, it's helpful to include an outline of steps you'll follow and a timeline for their accomplishment. In addition to the organizational plan, a personal plan for navigating change (both internal and external) can also significantly help a business leader. For instance, if you know you have triggers associated with certain things that will most likely happen, such as dealing with disgruntled and argumentative employees, then develop a plan to deal with these encounters. Also, include several scenarios that could occur to ready yourself to deal with them. 3. Be Accountable in Your Response to Change Having an outside sounding board can help business leaders become more flexible and agile during change cycles. If you don't have a mentor or peer group with whom you can regularly discuss ongoing challenges, it's a good idea to get involved with one. Not only will you have a forum to discuss these challenges, but you can also establish goals for which you can be accountable. Finally, regularly check in with your staff to see how well you are doing with agility and adaptability. Having the humility and discipline to remain accountable in this way can reap enormous dividends for you and the company. # # # If you created an organizational plan that includes projects, and you lack leadership resources, that's where I love to bridge the gap! As a fractional Project Manager, I’m passionate about helping my clients jumpstart initiatives—accelerating projects to a quicker conclusion with outstanding results. If you’re interested in learning more, click the button below to schedule a chat! |
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