A Business Hub for Virtual Work

Loving & Business (Part 12)

One of the greatest challenges currently, with so many people working outside of an office or company environment, is keeping the sense of touch, community and belonging. It is not isolated to any one industry, although the challenges are different for a company that is locally based vs. regional, national or even international.

All companies have experienced this with cost pressures related to size of the physical footprint, cost of gas and time for commuters. Internet access, shared data and communications options have erased many of the former barriers that used to necessitate bricks and sticks. Even the consumer, in many industries, is able to interact with the company online, rarely, if ever, visiting in person. Business models have changed including many new business models that have a minimal physical footprint if any.

Small companies, where the individuals interact frequently, do not face the challenge of maintaining vibrancy and culture in the same way that larger companies do. Perhaps some of the most challenged are sales companies. Sales people by nature are highly social and perform at their best in a highly interactive environment. They enjoy and appreciate recognition from not only executives in the company, but their peers as well. Their competitive nature is important not only in beating the competition but also winning accolades for top performance, creativity and or initiatives within the company.

So in a world of text, emails, social media exchanges, online information and reduced personal interaction, how do you create a vibrant magnetic culture that attracts, motivates and feeds the best talent? How do you really enable the touch and interactivity? Harold, one company owner, has found several ways to deal with the challenges a growing virtual work culture brought.

Harold is the owner of a sales organization with over one hundred 1099 sales people. The only employees are in support roles. His company is well known for their market presence, expertise, industry tenure and ability to put together sales. With a market share that hovers between 46 – 48% in a good sized city, his company is considered to be number one and absolutely dominated the market on their side of town. A number of years ago, he built the office space he currently occupies to be the best in the area, providing the business and professional accoutrements for the best in the business. There are private, semi-private and group work spaces, state of the art technology is found throughout. It is an inviting and impressive building. When designing the building, he wanted to make sure that there was privacy but not isolation. Traffic patterns and locations of common elements made interaction easy without being forced or work compromised. The 1099 sales people paid desk, management and usage fees in return for high commission splits. Many, with the slowdown in the economy, saw moving their offices home as a cost savings that made sense with little potential impact to their earnings or ability to earn.
That decision changed the dynamics for Harold in that he had a lot of space and significantly reduced people using and paying for it. The other thing that changed was the busy noise that had been an enjoyable backdrop was gone and with it a part of the culture that had been built with the activity and exchanges between people who now did not even pick up their mail.

After some thought, he knew that unless he could bring the vibrancy back, some of the people staying would reconsider their decision.

While hoteling is certainly not a new concept, he decided to explore the options that it could present not only for his own sales team but also types of business professionals in related and non-related businesses. He examined the common areas for better ways to use and monetize these and literally turned what had been built for his company into a community business center.

Some of his support staff is now re-allocated to work in and for the business community rather than just his company. He has set up some business services that are for sale to those using space under the hoteling arrangement. He already had all of the front desk staff, the technology and the space. So there were really no costs for infrastructure changes and he is now making money off his space with a waiting list of people wanting space and services. His own sales staff has grown to almost 150 people who want to be in the company where the action is.

What is interesting is that his company changed from a business destination to a business hub. Harold’s story is really one of bringing loving and business together. He found that people want to come in and meet, work and have a business community that is full of activity and life. I suspect that as more people work from home, there will be more community hubs created much like this one.

Pocket Full of Sunshine

Loving & Business (Part 11)

I met a woman who worked incredibly hard and held a very difficult position in her company. To meet her you would never know it, as there was always a smile and a warm greeting whether she knew you personally, professionally or maybe not at all. No matter what, when you were in Jill’s presence, you instantly felt like a friend not that you were talking to the CEO of a major company.

I did not see her often, maybe once every few years but her reaction was still as if we had just seen each other yesterday. She was truly blessed not only with an excellent memory but also the ability to put something that was personal or meaningful in each conversation she had.

It was interesting that when she was promoted to the role, many doubted that she could possibly succeed the iconic person she was replacing. There were rumors floating suggesting that her rise could not be attributed to her business talents and skills since she was not well known in the company, let alone in the competitive world.

She chose a different tactic, using not only professionalism, intelligence and talent but, more importantly, relationship skills and the ability to be genuine as she interacted. This leveled the playing field instantly as the people she would normally have been compared with, while great with relationships, lacked the personalized warmth and reaching out, rather than simply receiving those she met.

I had the opportunity to ask Jill what she did to make sure that the smile was always on her face and the warmth in her voice. She told me about her pocketful of sunshine. When starting her day, she puts six coins in her pocket, the denomination does not matter. On the way to work during her 30 – 40 minute commute, she reaches out to three people by phone. Her sole objective is to make them smile that day. They may or may not be a business contact and even if they are, no substantive business is discussed, it is reserved for a call back during her business day. The call may simply be a hi, a how are you, a birthday wish or anything else. In most cases, these are people that she does not talk to everyday at the office. When it is someone at the office, it is often a private conversation of care and concern that might be misinterpreted by observers in the normal business setting.

Each time the call is completed and Jill has “heard” the person smile on the other end of the phone, the coin goes from her pocket into a jar. On most trips three calls are made during her commute. On her way home, the same routine. The coins are donated to a charity and the amount met by several co-contributors.

When Jill was explaining this to me she said that she could choose to make business calls during that time but when she used to do that, she usually entered the office still wrapped up in whatever the issue the call dealt with. Instead, when she walks in, she is smiling almost all of the time because she has given and received three smiles, a bit of sunshine starting each day regardless of the weather, chaos before leaving or what she would face in her day. At one point, she realized that she was often carrying the weight of her day home to her family at night, so she replicated the morning routine on the way home and found herself walking in the door at home with a smile on her face and ready to be immersed in family time for a while.

While it is only six coins a day, the contributions to the charity have been significant over the years especially with the matching funds. More importantly, Jill has challenged those around her to adopt the practice, really changing the work environment and culture. Her warmth and generosity truly combines business and loving.

I am reminded of Jill and her “Pocketful of Sunshine” whenever I hear the song of the same title by Natasha Beddingfield.  I really admire Jill, not only for the work she does, but the investment that she makes in all of her relationships. She has certainly proven it pays off.

Every Day Is A Celebration

Loving & Business (Part 10)

Every day and every month has something to celebrate, whether it is within your company, family or circle of friends. Each is a reason, sometimes a little on the whimsical side, to take the time to reach out and contact someone. Perhaps you will make them smile or give them a bit of a boost in their day.

According to the site Holiday Insights, not only is February 21 Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) but also the date of a more obscure holiday – National Card Reading Day. The description from their site is as follows:

“Card Reading Day is a fun day. It's a day to read cards..... no more, no less. Beyond a doubt, the stationery and Ecard companies love this day. It encourages you to send cards. They like that. As we did our research, we thought we'd find some history that suggests it is a day for Tarot card readings. It very well could be. But, we found no written evidence to support our theory. What we can tell you, is that it’s very popular to send and receive cards today. In order to read a card, someone has to send one. So, get the ball rolling and send out some cards today. Chances are you will get a few back.”

So let’s just imagine that you are looking for creative ways to grow your business, whether it is in product sales, new prospective clients, recruiting or touching your sphere of influence – new reasons for contact with a something a little light-hearted mixed in can really help you engage the other person in conversation. You might want to tap into a holiday such as National Card Reading Day and send cards or eCards in celebration of the day, even to those people who are a little bit difficult to reach.

February 22, you might want to celebrate George’s Birthday – George Washington that is and maybe even leverage off some of his well-documented leadership skills. If you are looking for humor – the same date will give you choices such as Be Humble Day, Walking the Dog Day and World Thinking Day. I can imagine hundreds of ways to use celebrations to motivate, honor, build spirit and give back to the community I serve. To assist you, you will find a document compiled with something to celebrate every day on our download page.

If you do not find what you are looking for there, birthdays, anniversaries, milestones and reasons for recognition abound in your company, just waiting to be noticed. There are also fun things that you can create to build toward a celebration – whether it is work related or just for fun. There are also many service and support oriented celebrations that bring a great reflection as a community citizen. No matter what, all of these touch people and give recognition.

Everyone likes to take part in fun, especially when, perhaps, it reduces a moment of tension. Everyone likes to be recognized for not just the big things but the little ones as well. It doesn’t mean that you need to spend money as much as you need to make a personal investment to positively touch someone else.

What will you celebrate today? Who will you touch with the celebration? How many smiles will you create? Most likely, you will find that using celebrations, holidays and recognition return far more than most other investments you can make and ties loving and business together. As the old adage goes: “No one cares until they know how much you care.”