Springfield Business Journal_2021-03-01

SPRINGFIELD BUSINESS JOURNAL · 21 MARCH 1-7, 2021 I t’s hard to boil down what business leaders do and what they need to do. As the virus and the pandemic’s impact goes into the wretched history books, busi- ness leaders had better be able to adapt to new roles and different ways of supervising people and op- erations. Being a boss looks so different from even two years ago. Consider these as our emerging leadership truths: 1. The higher you get, the less “work” you do. This seems untrue, but it just is. Once you promote or rise to the top, you really get further away from the field. Some employees never want to promote be- cause they like working where they are or doing what they’re doing and aren’t motivated by the responsi- bilities or pleasures of supervising. Once you start to move up the ladder, you’re doing lots of work to be sure, but it’s different than what you were first hired for. 2. There will never be enough time, resourc- es, money or people to do everything you need or want to do. Stop saying, “Where does the time go?” and make better use of the time you have. Free up your time by delegating more. If you’re always go- ing home tired and the people who work for you are never going home tired, you need to give them more to do. Budgets are always tight, staffing is rarely at full, and even when you have money and personnel, it doesn’t feel like it’s enough. Prioritize. 3. Remember Teddy Roosevelt. He said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Let’s modify his advice to say, “Do the best you can, with who you have, where you are.” You can’t always pick who works for you, but you can pick what they do. Make the best fits, between their knowledge, skills and abilities, and what needs to get done. Don’t hesitate to give people new challenges, related but different job duties and opportunities to succeed (or learn by failing safely). That’s how you identify future leaders. 4. Don’t ignore the strength-weakness irony . This a human trait we all have, a concept some of us understand more intuitively, acutely and external- ly than others. And it’s one we hardly see in ourselves: “Your strength, taken to an extreme, becomes a weak- ness.” Whatever you’re too good at can become a blind spot. Therapists define addiction as repetitive behav- ior that over time creates negative consequences. We can become overly involved in things that can cause problems. Notice how often we can spot this in others but not so much with ourselves. From a work perspective, the strength-weak- ness irony often manifests itself in a huge time drain, where you get tied up in issues and events that are probably not even in your area of responsibility. See if you recognize yourself in some of these: • Workaholism : If I said, “Hi, I’m Steve and I’m a workaholic,” some of you might quickly shout “Hi Steve!” which means you’re workaholics too. This is not a badge of honor. Even though it might seem like it’s good for your career or your bank account, it’s ac- tually bad for your physical and mental health. • “Super boss” disease : “I’ll take care of it. I’ll han- dle it. Step aside! Boss coming through.” Your strength – being hands on – becomes a weakness and you slip into micromanager territory. Super bosses have diffi- culty delegating and this leads their employees to be- lieve they are not trusted to do their jobs. • Perfectionism : “I need to make one more tweak to the PowerPoint before I send it over” or “I have to go over this employee’s sales report one more time with a fine-tooth comb.” Sometimes, good enough is good enough. Bosses who seek perfection in all they create (and from what they expect from others) will be disappointed. Plus, it’s a huge time waster. A busi- ness owner was once asked by his staff to pick the trees to be planted around the exterior of the building. He carefully researched his answers and provided his choices, two years later. • Can’t say no : This one is often connected to the others. When you demonstrate your workaholic traits to others, when you wear the super boss cape and when you try to be perfect, you end up taking on oth- er people’s work, failing to delegate and becoming ex- hausted. Good leaders use their human resources assertively and with compassion; they make the best use of time and people. It’s not always about what you can do alone, nor should it be. Steve Albrecht is a Springfield-based trainer, human resources consultant and employee coach. He can be reached at drsteve@ drstevealbrecht.com. OPINION The week SBJ almost wasn’t printed When strengths become weaknesses – and how to avoid it S ometimes, you look back at your work in awe. The week of Feb. 15 is one of those times. Am I right? At Springfield Business Journal, I have to admit we didn’t know with certainty the paper would be printed as scheduled. Of course, we never took our sight off that goal. But for starters, we had to hold up our end of the deal and upload files to our printer by our Thursday afternoon deadline. That meant dealing with the rolling blackouts in the city, both in the SBJ office and in homes where most of us still work, as well as complicated server and internet connection issues. I can say the team exhibited a mix of resilience and patience to stay dedicated to getting the job done. Much thanks to our information tech- nology provider, Pitt Technology Group, for stepping up when I know they were overburdened with clients in the same boat as us. I know from social media posts some of your busi- nesses were in situations of making the best of the snowy, frigid conditions. I saw one CEO brought their children to a scheduled client meeting and it turned out to be a great experience for all. SBJ’s printer had a mountain of a challenge to get our paper out the door: No water. In the whole city. Guess what? It takes wa- ter to run a printing press, specifically to clean the plates and to cool down the components. SBJ contracts with Corning Publishing Co. in Corning, Arkansas, where a water main broke effec- tively shutting down the north-central Arkansas town for two whole days. “It was certainly interesting,” says Al Bax, the plant manager at Corning Publishing. Of course, he’s speaking with the events in his rear- view mirror. Words might have been different in the moment. With no water, the plant had to shut down Tuesday and Wednesday. SBJ goes on press Thurs- day afternoon. Our staff got wind Thursday morning Corning crews were shoveling snow into the plant – one tub at a time – to melt and produce some water to run the presses. “We had 8-12 inches of snow out there, so we thought we ought to take advantage of what we got,” Bax says. “We filled totes that we get our chemicals in to melt the snow. We did put some snow in the system to clean the plates.” The snow melting experiment was a first for Bax and his press team. They filled a couple of totes, and had 55-gallon drums lined up inside, and as snow melted began to pump water into the press system. He says it takes 3-5 gallons of water for each press run. While it’s not a large amount, it is essential. “We were utilizing the snow as much as possible. We were going to get the paper out one way or anoth- er,” he adds. Then the National Guard saved the day in Corning. By noon, Bax says the guardsmen brought water in as a state of emergency was declared. While many towns dealt with electric outages, Corning never lost power. Just that essential water. I tip my cap to the Corning Publishing team on a week we’ll remember for a long time. “Every time we’d come to a hurdle, we’d figure out a way to overcome it. We knew SBJ wanted to come out that night,” Bax says. And it did. If you have your own business stories from the week to share, I welcome them at the email below. Heard on the street Let’s move on to chocolate. The Askinosie Chocolate story is pretty well- known in Springfield. The one where a high-pro- file criminal defense attorney makes a sudden career switch to making high-quality, direct-trade chocolate. Shawn Askinosie’s dedication to craft chocolate has led to the cultivation of cocoa beans and distribution of chocolate bars around the globe. I’ve seen the brand at coffee shops on vacation in Florida and heard similar stories from other travel- ers. Whole Foods is a national seller, and the company has made the Forbes list of the 25 Best Small Compa- nies in America. Well, some more national attention is coming this way. Author, blogger and podcaster Seth Godin appar- ently has tasted Askinosie Chocolate and he’s a fan. So much so that the Springfield small-batch brand will be on his upcoming social media series loosely dubbed “The best chocolate in the world.” Godin’s calling it a virtual tasting tour of some of his favorite chocolates and conversations with the people who make them. The series drops in March on his social channels, and you can mark your calendar for the Askinosie interview release on March 3. Godin will be sampling a 70% dark chocolate bar made from beans Askinosie sourced directly from San Jose Del Tambo, Ecuador. Askinosie and his daughter, Lawren, are scheduled to be on. Now you know and can taste along. Springfield Business Journal Editorial Director Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net. Send letters and comments to sbj@sbj.net IN THE TRENCHES Steve Albrecht EYES & EARS Eric Olson