Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

From Small Potatoes to Big Ones: The Question of Expansion

The decision to expand your business from a small, mom-and-pop operation to a larger organization is a milestone many business owners want to achieve.

But expansion can be scary—not to mention risky—and it's important to approach it with a significant amount of forethought and strategy. In this roundtable interview, I spoke to three business owners—Bryan Bedera, CEO of PR firm Amplify Relations in Reno; Richard Kershaw, CEO of web design firm Quality Nonsense in London; and Jean-Michel Lebeau, CEO of software development firm Cortex in New York City—about how they came to the conclusion that it was the right move for them, and the steps they took to help ensure they were successful.

What led to your decision to expand your business?

Bryan Bedera: We were too reliant on a small number of clients and thought expansion would provide long-term stability for the business. It's much easier to get good deals when three or four clients aren't providing the bulk of your revenue.

Richard Kershaw: Like many entrepreneurs, I wondered if we could take everything we'd learned, clone it and double our revenue.

Jean-Michel Lebeau: We look at growth as a strategic tool, not a way to survive or hide imperfections and problems through speed. We decided to grow and expand to the U.S. market because our goal is to generate as much impact as possible through technology, and to do so, we need to work with people who are looking to create this kind of impact. Top companies are all around the world, and if we're to attain our objectives, we need the right structure to support those clients and help them with their technological challenges.

What did your initial expansion entail? Did you expand your business again later on?

Lebeau: The first four years were very hectic, to say the least. We rented our first office when we had two people and had to move several times as we kept adding staff. We doubled in sales and headcount every year or so, so we tried to predict our needs in terms of human resources and real estate two to three years ahead and did our best to remain agile.

Kershaw: We spent nine years focused almost exclusively on one project. We made the decision two years ago to launch new websites, leveraging our existing team and processes. That turned out to be the wrong strategy, and we are about to expand again with a different approach.

Bedera: Our expansions have included more office space, a 30 percent increase in staffing to further fill out roles, bringing services we had previously subcontracted in house and a larger investment in marketing.

For more where this came from, visit the full interview on the AMEX Open Forum.

How 21st Century Leaders Develop Their Teams

Business owners who wish to increase their growth trajectory should be mindful of succession issues and make solid plans to ensure that the next generation of leaders is ready to take over. Manager training is a critical part of the mix, but should your business engage in formal or informal training, and what type of mentorship should you encourage?

I spoke with three business owners about their strategies for getting their organizations' leaders up to speed: Josh Harcus, co-founder and chairman at sales agency Hüify in Wilmington, South Carolina; Joey Kercher, founder and CEO of Air Fresh Marketing in Denver; and Nina Ojeda, founder and CEO of beauty aggregator PRÊTE in Los Angeles.

What's your definition of a leader in your organization? Is leader synonymous with manager?

Josh Harcus: A leader is an individual who has a lasting impact on those around them. A good leader will have a positive impact, and a bad leader will have a negative one.

Being a manager does not necessarily imply the qualities of leadership. The title of manager gives one the opportunity to lead, but a good manager must make the choice to sacrifice for those underneath them.

 

Joey Kercher: A leader in my organization is someone who takes initiative to make our company better and doesn't rely on others for motivation.

For me, the definition of leader is not synonymous with manager, though they are intertwined in many ways. Managers focus primarily on tasks, time and keeping projects on track. Although a leader has to have managerial abilities, leaders also need to focus on interpersonal relationships. Leaders often have to act as the face of the company as well.

Nina Ojeda: Leadership doesn't come with a title, it's a choice. A leader is someone who always puts their team first, company second and themselves last. Leaders can be managers, but not all managers are leaders.

How do you develop leaders or engage in manager training? Is your approach more formal or informal, classroom-based or experiential?

Kercher: We develop rising leaders by first hiring the best people. We look for those who have expertise and intelligence as well as the capacity for growth. My company is small, so we do not have a formal method for manager training. Currently, we operate as a flat organization, in which each team member has the flexibility to make their own decisions. Failing is okay as long as we can track our mistakes and learn from them.

Harcus: My colleague David is a terrific example of my company's approach to leadership development. Since David's team focuses primarily on sales development, David wanted each of his team members to grow in their abilities to build rapport and think on their feet. So he had everybody do open mic, stand-up comedy at an improvisation club in San Francisco. It was awesome to see each team member thrive under the pressure of trying something terrifying, and conquering it. Along with stand-up, David has conducted many formal manager training sessions that are essential to his team's development.

For the rest of the interview, head over to the AMEX Open Forum.

When Designing an Employee Experience, Are You Factoring in Culture?

I recently presented a webinar, Employee as Consumer: Building a Differentiated Experience Through the Lifecycle, with SilkRoad and HR Daily Advisor.  We talked about the consumerization of HR, the creation of a meaningful employee experience throughout the lifecycle, and how design thinking, talent activation, and employer branding play into it.

At the end of the session, Jennifer asked: How do you create an experience that’s meaningful and impactful for different cultures? This is an excellent question, and both global and non-global organizations are becoming more interconnected with every passing year. But according to recent McKinsey research, only half of executives in global companies think they are effective at tailoring candidate and employee communications for different geographies.

The first step, of course, is to recognize that you can’t offer a one-size-fits-all experience to candidates and employees across the globe, even ones who are in the same demographic or perform the same role. You should seek to understand even the most subtle factors that drive engagement and motivation in other cultures. For instance, consulting firm Seven Step used Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory to tease out country-specific essentials. These include:

• China: This culture views titles within the workplace as extremely important. Given this focus on status, companies should integrate distinctions such as awards and competitive rankings in their experiences. In China, individualism is low and language is viewed as a unifying agent. Flexibility with language translation enhances the experience while positioning the organization as a true member of the community.

• Central Europe: This culture is more risk-averse and ambiguity is viewed negatively. Job seekers and employees prefer to weigh the facts of an opportunity rather than taking a chance. Experiences in Central Europe should be content heavy, focusing on the explicit details of roles and responsibilities.

For more on Jennifer's question, head over to the SilkRoad blog.

Cross-Company Innovation Addresses the Changing Nature of Work

As a long-time partner of Staples and Xerox, I just traveled to New York City to spend National Small Business Week with the two organizations, learning how they’re helping small business customers and entrepreneurs be more productive with the new multi-function self-serve machines in Staples stores across the country. 

By 2030, more than half of American professionals will no longer go to an office every day.  Getting simple things done, like sending a package or printing a critical document, will not be as easy as making a few clicks and sauntering over to the mailroom. As millions of new small business owners and contract workforce pour into the workforce, they will find out exactly how difficult it is to run every aspect of a business themselves. I’ve been working with Staples and Xerox to ensure that the two businesses are ahead of this trend and ready to offer the assistance that busy professionals, operating out of a home office and via mobile devices, so desperately need.

According to Amy Lang, Vice President of Print Merchandising at Staples, 18 million customers came to Staples stores last year, specifically to use Business Center services like printing. “Sometimes people have time to plan and order online; sometimes they need a document within the hour; sometimes they need help; and sometimes they want to come in and leave quickly without having to talk to anyone,” she said. “Our customers need to do their jobs, which involve thinking and doing as opposed to printing.”

Xerox printers have long been a “staple” of every Staples store’s Business Center, in the past, Xerox would simply send new products to Staples stores for employees to plug in and for customers to use. But Staples realized the value of tapping Xerox in advance to develop a machine that would address the changing needs of its customers.

Here’s what’s fascinating: you don’t usually see two large companies coming together to innovate on a solution that doesn’t yet exist. But that’s exactly what happened. Staples and Xerox combined their understanding of the customer, with Xerox’s constantly improving technology, to transform the Business Center experience from the ground up. “The goal was to design the machine to be intuitive to use for anyone walking up to it for the first time,” said Renee Carter, Vice President of Mid-Products for Xerox.

When Staples and Xerox finished their creation, they sent 3,000 of the new devices to Staples stores. The new MFPs have an interface that looks like a tablet and allows customers to print or scan from the cloud, usb, mobile device, and email. They have bar code readers to enable coupons and credit card readers so that people can pay without going to the counter. The MFPs are also future-proofed, meaning they are pre-configured with additional apps and functions that Staples customers may well demand soon.

Not only are the MFPs fully upgraded, but they save customers a tremendous amount of time and help them achieve productivity and results normally reserved for corporate employees. And THIS is a change that is bound to benefit everyone as the nature of work continues to evolve.

The Consumerization of HR and the Employee Experience

We started talking about the consumerization of IT several years ago, as employees began to demand technology solutions at work on their own terms, via their own devices. It was natural, then, that the discussion eventually moved to the consumerization of HR.

People now expect an experience at work that is comparable to the experience they have at home via apps like Netflix and Amazon. To be more explicit, employees are looking for digital content available on demand, a friendly user-interface, and online delivery that is agile and automated. They also expect a social experience driven by personalized recommendations relevant to their role, location, and place in the employee lifecycle.

When I talk to HR professionals about this, they get it. Many have taken major steps in the last year to bring their operations to life via mobile and social platforms. They are starting to solicit feedback about what makes a powerful experience at every phase of the employee lifecycle. They are trying new strategies, and using new forms of people analytics to measure their effectiveness.

But something is still missing, and the folks at Bersin by Deloitte identified exactly what that something is.

It’s design thinking.

Deloitte research shows that people collectively check their phones more than 8 billion times each day, yet productivity is barely rising. Traditional HR solutions, say the folks at Bersin, are typically programs or processes to train people, assess performance, ensure compliance, or document a practice at work. Most were built around forms, process steps, formal training, or classroom events.

But we’ve reached a new era. Employees are overwhelmed by the complexity of the workforce and the world in general, and need HR’s assistance in managing it. Design thinking moves HR’s focus beyond building programs and processes to a new goal: designing a productive and meaningful employee experience through solutions that are compelling, enjoyable, and simple.

For the rest of the piece, check out the SilkRoad blog.