Category: Business Management

One of my long term goals has always been about the ability to conceptualize a sound structure that attracts money making ideas. Whether it was Centuria Group or the CentEx Cargo Blog, the inspiration for their inception was to build the strong foundation of a platform for under-represented people and those too timid to go mainstream with an idea for a business. Such a platform would allow them to bounce off their business ideas with each other and others. That in and of itself is a gift – a golden opportunity. The rest is up to you. The name Centuria for this type of group, was chosen by our ‘2004-team’ for its meaning and represented to us a business capable of having 100 different units.

It is an ‘on-going’ process. CentEx Cargo blog posts range from a substantive discussion about ‘endemic corruption’ in some Caribbean customs to allocating adequate resources to tackle a specific venture in this huge US domestic market. For example, ‘freight broker training’ and actively soliciting the services of good freightforwarders and NVO, came from one of my colleagues who wanted to diversify, and hence made an attempt to get his foot in the door of the shipping industry as I continually deal with the peaks and valleys of ‘international shipping service’ from the US eastern seaboard to the Caribbean. This blog is not business 2.0 and consequently doesn’t have a complex organizational structure. What we have, is ‘good old American ingenuity’ and a sharp business sense. This awareness also translates into the power of unlimited imagination, a collective positive attitude, and subsequent synergy that derives for brainstorming and pulling resources together. This allows active participants to make more money, for example, by starting a business or having a side hustle. Your participation gives you access to a fountain of relevant knowledge, developed expertise, free consulting, even allows you to attract investors, and lastly, endless opportunities to re-invent yourself at any age. ‘Yes, your most valuable asset is YOU.’

Before going any further, it’s absolutely necessary that all readers of this post understand the difference between leadership excellence and managerial acumen. A good manager is someone that shows good judgments, thorough knowledge, and expertise when supervising other employees. Managerial acumen also implies having a keen sense of other employees’ capabilities, who can get the job done, and how to assign workers to tasks. Lastly, a good manager always accepts responsibility for the overall performance of his/her team. However, this high level of professional competence does not necessarily make a manager a leader. A leader is someone who truly cares about those entrusted in his care. A premise indicative of the type of leadership that I embrace. Based on the findings of countless studies on leadership, most human beings are genetically predisposed to trust and cooperate with others that are in their immediate surroundings. A leader or team builder that keeps these human traits in mind when working with people and caring for them has a great chance of attaining leadership excellence. Many argue, this type of leadership is in direct opposition to capitalism; a position that resonates with a lot of conservatives. The conservative brand of leadership takes hold especially in an environment where numbers on a spreadsheet are more important than employees. As a result, corporate decisions are solely based on data, market conditions, and financial opportunities. Corporations are elevated to “people status” while people are stripped of their humanities.
Let’s go back to my style of leadership where getting to know employees on a personal level, listening to them, and taking care of them are a priority. This noble position gives leaders the ability to empathize and subsequently embrace what Bob Chapman, CEO of Barry-Wehmiller Companies refer to as people-centric leadership. Where exactly should this type of leader start? A leader should definitely start by explaining to subordinates that his acceptance of a leadership role is closely tied to providing team players with a new circle of safety and job security. Moreover, he should also express a willingness to extend that circle of safety to every employee. This is always a good starting point because it is the prerequisite to setting a positive work culture where employees can trust one another. In fact, the goal of leadership is to set a culture in which employees are free of danger from each other. Whether you are seeking new talents for your leadership team or are a new promoted leader to an existing team, it is imperative that you provide a strong sense of belonging to every member of the team. According to Simon Sinek, Author of Start With Why, “this feeling of belonging, of shared values, and a deep sense of empathy, dramatically enhances trust, cooperation, and problem solving.” Without a leader providing that circle of safety and a sense of belonging, employees will be forced to spend too much of their time and energy protecting themselves from each other.
Do I have your attention yet? I made sure and double checked that all employees know there is a new leader at work who cares about how they feel. Consequently, their stress levels about “the unknown” begin to decrease. With the stress and anxiety greatly diminished, a CEO should go straight into the next level of leadership, which entails sharing his/her vision for the company with every member of the team. There are still unknown dangers outside to worry about – e.g., competitors, a fluctuating market, rapidly changing technology … etc – but when employees are in that circle of safety, they convince themselves that those external dangers are more perilous than the dangers inside. Employees will gladly substitute individual goals for team goals when they know the more they give of themselves to see others succeed, the greater their value to the group and the more respect and compensation they will receive from the company. In this work environment, it is unequivocal that the more others want to help you, the more you can achieve.
Team building, the next component worth exploring, is an invaluable tool to leadership excellence. It is a process that should always include a new leader’s close observations of how people work together, preferably with minimal or no oversight, and how they talk to each other and behave in staff meetings . Theoretically, if everyone in a given team is completely on the same page and working in lockstep toward the same goals, as their new leader, you are half way there. With some degree of varying confidence, you can focus your time and attention making sure that every member of the team buys into the same plan of getting results, shared accountability, group motivation, and knowing how bad each member of the team really wants to win. Your pep talk to members of your team can go as follows: “you have to decide right now, what is more important: helping the team win or advancing your own career.” We all should be aware of the ultimate test of a great team: RESULTS. And, it is ‘teamwork’ not just good management that remains the ultimate competitive advantage in any given industry.

It is my sincere hope that this blog post gives its readers a glimpse into the type of leadership that I embrace. If you (individual reader, government employee, or a representative of a private company) were to order our management consulting services, Centuria Express Consulting would make it a point to address with you the first signs of a team in trouble.

Let me be unequivocally clear, management should always start with a rational business model that works like a well-oiled machine. This model consists of an efficient structure with several organization charts. It is crucial at this juncture to understand, this aforementioned structure is a precursor to strategies needed to make decisions expeditiously and get things done throughout any enterprise. Moreover, the organization charts of a sound structure give employees, management, and all interested parties a line of authority referred to as “hierarchy.” A chain command of this hierarchy as it is often called, can have several layers depending on the size of the organization. Regardless of the size of your business, I prefer three (3) levels or layers of management: line supervision, mid-management, and upper-management or corporate headquarters. Having too many layers to a management system will lead to a matrix of organizational structure with way too many charts, a very complex system indeed. Complexity is never better in business, a caveat to conglomerates and big businesses. According to many different studies, the U.S. mega corporations that succeed keep things simple in spite of their humongous size and those that add unnecessary layers to management and keep their strategic plan too complicated, fail. They move around like dinosaurs before facing extinction. This brings to mind the old adage: “the bigger they are, the harder they fall” rather than “too big to fail.” And, a behemoth is not necessarily fierce. Complexity causes lethargy and inertia, which makes too many big companies unresponsive. I should point out, however, it’s not the mere size of a big company that causes its failure. Substituting a rational business model with a complex one is usually the culprit. An alternative to complexity is fluidity and flexibility, which allows people in a businesses of any size to really talk to each other regardless of their geographic locations and the large number of units in those companies. As a result, people employed by those successful companies can solve problems, fix things, and are attune to customers’ needs rather than posture, debate and delay a given process. Once you are operating in a rational business model, you know who is in charge. Be mindful that an organization chart by itself is not a company but accountable people are. The people working for a successful company represent one of its most valuable assets. There is enough empirical knowledge around to determine that a good manager is always needed to shape company values and hence motivate the people who work for that company. To motivate people, you need a good philosophy. Looking at the basic premise of psychology, I have concluded that human beings of any background are socialized to think of themselves as winners. Therefore, it is safe to say and assume, as employees, we all think that we are tops. Consequently, make sure that your organization adopt that positive outlook of its people, a philosophy that will generate high returns for any company and always pay dividends to stakeholders of any business. Don’t just write “catchy phrases” in the company literature, correspondence or any place else for that matter, you must live the adopted philosophy. It is a paradox but that philosophy represents the starting point of the corporate culture that will motivate most, if not all employees to strive for success. In any country, the quality of products, services, and productivity of workers depend on good management. Why not take the time to understand the psychology of work and human performance, and adopt the right philosophy for your company. So much of performance has to do with people being motivated by simple, beautiful and compelling values. My determination makes it emphatic that a manager convey an organization’s shared values to all employees and once accepted by all, those values should be continually emphasized until and after they become the dominant corporate culture. Based on a plethora of business studies, the excellent U.S. companies are marked by very strong cultures, so strong that you either buy into their norms or you get out. A cohesive and dominant corporate culture is always accompanied with hoopla, fanfare, and a certain level of excitement. An employee not affected by the culture that’s being fostered, will either be terminated or leave of his own volition. An advantageous position that allows a unit manager to deal with sub-standard performance in a proactive manner. A manager’s job is to keep things tidy and under control. Well-run organizations ultimately become institutions as they are infused with consistent values. Pervasive values that demand that the performance of every employee be above par, an integral part of efficient business operations. In order for a company to remain successful, it will hire and then institutionalize new employees by infusing the system with those values mentioned above, company values that go beyond the technical requirements of any task. Moreover, other incentives should be put in place to achieve optimum performance – e.g., employee of the month, a bonus, being assigned to a special project … etc. A proactive manager will also look for coaching opportunities, a management tool that prevents any employee from falling behind. Then, and only then, can progressive discipline and punishment be used as a last resort instead of a way forward to supervise. The ubiquitous values of the excellent company often lead to employees initiating their own peer reviews and quality circles, a productivity proposition based on loyalty, commitment through effective training, and personal identification with the company’s overall success. I attest to the fact that peer pressure in this instance rather than orders from the boss becomes the main motivator to employees’ productivity. An experienced boss can now comfortably shift most of his/her attention to “quality control” and its objective measures while developing good instincts that tell immediately whether things are going well or when something is wrong . If performance is under control, what else can go wrong? Let’s say for the purpose of this blog, corporate headquarters is lean and decentralized simply because responsibilities are proportionally delegated to unit managers and line supervisors, respectively. A two-way communication is maintained between branch offices and the main office, a necessary component that permits line supervisors to identify corporate malaise given that extraordinary contributions on the part of every worker are regularly reported and verified by quality control. Corporate headquarters, in turn, don’t delay in bringing immediate corrections and change by keeping the rational business model responsive, relevant, and efficient. I did start this Blog post with a philosophy that emanates positive energy followed by a value system that gets responsible adults exciting about their work. Lastly, we find ways to stay close to the customer. The world of the excellent companies is especially open to customers, who in turn inject a sense of balance and proportion into its rational business model – even determining which slogans are used. For instance, at CentEx Cargo, we used the slogan: “The Next Level of International Shipping” to the Caribbean. Our goal to be a quality logistics company and provide quality international shipping service together with feedback from customers helped our company come up with that slogan. We then tell the people we hire over and over again, we are a customer oriented company and they are great for getting that slogan and our philosophy right every time. Doing a quality job is the only way. The customer orientation approach is by definition a way of tailoring our niche market where we can be better at something than anybody else. Moreover, allocation of company resources and building a team ought to be swayed by the paying customers. This way, management cannot only deal with unforeseen problems but turn customers complaints into marketing opportunities. Customers quickly realize that in this excellent company, employees are not only committed to doing a quality job but if things go wrong, those same employees can fix a problem to their satisfaction. Management, in turn, is confident of its capabilities. And when there is a major problem or crisis, they can bring the right people together on an ad hoc basis and expect them to bring about tangible solutions in a timely manner.

According to a fellow blogger who quoted Samuel Culbert, companies should get rid of the Performance Review because its outcome does not determine pay, and salary is determined by market forces and budgets. I find that position interesting. Having the opportunity to supervise many professionals and especially entry-level employees – i.e., cashiers and shipping clerks – in a retail environment where the turn over rate is high, compelled me to look at an alternative to the traditional performance review. That alternative is job coaching. What is job coaching? It is the interactive process whereby managers and supervisors aim to solve performance problems and develop employee capabilities. The players or employees in this case are told about  the business system of our organization, and I, in turn, assessed the functioning levels of employees based on how they learn, perform the required tasks and how interested they are in the subject matter. If you are a supervisor, you are probably wondering, why should I become a coach? You already have plenty to do and rarely have enough time to do it all. The answer is that effective coaching will actually make your job easier and enhance your career. Job coaching is generally accomplished through a four step process: observation, discussion classes, active coaching, and follow-up. I’d love to go over each of the four elements of coaching but it would be too extensive for the spectrum of this blog post. However, I’d like to state that job coaching is ideal for “on the job training” (OJT). As a training module, it enables a supervisor to identify countless coaching opportunities. Your players are put in the “Help Seat” instead of the “Hot Seat.”  In addition, keep in mind that one of the basic rules of job coaching is to always point out three (3) things the employee does right (i.e., compliment) before pointing out a single (1) discrepancy (i.e., deviation from a training expectation sometimes perceived as a negative reinforcement by the employee) and then helping him or her to correct that discrepancy. In my experience of training employees for a few retail stores, those coaching opportunities in spite of the 3 to 1 ratio approach, are not without conflicts and friction. But good coaching in spite of this low level of resistance can make your job easier by producing better job performance, greater job satisfaction for you the trainer, and higher group motivation. Lastly, it helps managers and supervisors address and overcome performance problems, develop employee skills, increase productivity, and improve overall retention. Due to good coaching techniques, I always know who the team players are and who the slackers are.

Well, what do you think of this blog post? Thank you for your valuable input. I will continue to respect the privacy of those readers who don’t want their comments published on my blog. Please continue to send me your comments to the following e-mail address: carlhcharles@gmail.com