In my days as Managing Director of Arts Hub (2003 to 2005) I used to be on the alert not to hire staff or engage the services of anybody who was too busy to do real work, due to their need to look frazzled and out-of-control doing ‘busy work’.
Seth Godin speaks of something similar in his blogpost Modern Procrastination, where he’s hit upon the same terminology that I learned studying a Graduate Diploma in Education, where as soon-to-be teachers we were warned to beware of the student who engages in endless busywork. That is, looks super busy, always appears to be trying hard, however what they’re never actually concentrating on or doing is the actual work they’ve been given to do. They’re busy thinking about anything else – and of course, telling everybody how busy they are while doing it.
How many people do you know who actually got through all of their school years without being caught out by an eagle-eyed teacher and questioned on what they were actually doing?
It seems to me that if you ‘look busy’ the people around you take it for granted that you really are busy, and are unlikely to look more closely at you to see if what you are doing amounts to anything of value or indeed, is in any way related to what is expected.
Are you too busy being busy to do 'real work'?
I worry also that the ‘busy workers’ put off genuine people who actually want to do work that matters and want to thoroughly throw themselves at the tasks at hand, but because they get so involved and do such good work and appear to be enjoying themselves while doing so, those around them aren’t actually going to believe that they are quite ‘busy’ enough. Busy means to look tired, frazzled, to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, to look and be serious, to look like you’re drowning not waving! To look important, because you are BUSY!!
The busywork ethos is all about looking busy, however if you tie up all your energy in looking busy, what is left over to actually do the work that’s needed to be done? And more than that, who’s going to figure out what needs to be done?
With the rise of Twitter, Facebook and the multiple other ways in which we connect with others online and through social media it’s really interesting to see who indeed uses these social mediums for a noble purpose, revealing that they’re doing meaningful work there and those ‘busyworkers’ who have found yet another way to hang around looking busy and really doing nothing.
If you’re someone who thinks you might be using ‘busywork’ to prevent yourself from doing ‘real work’ then how about you think about doing things a little differently? Instead of talking about the work you’re meant to be doing, how about just doing it? Usually there is no need to talk about our work. And instead of needing feedback and wanting to be noticed for a small amount of actual work you’ve done, keep quiet and get involved more heavily in your tasks and in completing them in really satisfactory ways. Even better, why not do your work brilliantly and then innovate. Figure out how you could have done it better and faster second time around. And don’t tell anybody – just next time you get a similar task use your faster and smarter knowhow to do a really great job quickly, efficiently and without drawing attention. An insightful leader/manager will notice something has changed and will be more inclined to view you as really valuable to the business, and opportunities flow to those who are highly valued.
Many business owners don’t need to be counseled on this area, it’s usually really obvious who your ‘real workers’ are, and in many companies I suspect the fate of the company going forward rests on a handful of really able workers by whose efforts a whole plethora of passengers get to tag along looking self-important and as if they’re actually contributing to the company and doing real work.
Across my time as MD at Arts Hub I had a bit of an epiphany when I realized that the ten staff we had doing very carefully crafted roles appeared to be spending way too much time politicking and looking special and important – a sure sign of a busyworker. When I did a time in motion test I came to the conclusion that their output could be done by half the number of workers, so I went about restructuring the company and staff levels with David. As it was, I only hired two and a half people to replace this lot, and they did more and better work (in the area of content generation) and as a result our members reported that our content had improved dramatically.
So how does that work then – reduce the workforce by 75% and you get more and better work from your team? It works because we didn’t have any busyworkers in the new team and because this bunch had a relentless drive to create great product and to be involved with it and really care about our content and our members and our company- so that every new staff member who joined from then on, had to fit this ethos. They didn’t have to be any other thing in particular – we had a very liberal outlook – however the team and owners did dictate that only real workers got to join this team, not busy workers. They also didn’t work super long hours – we asked everyone to be there by 9am, and they always were, and no-one to stay later than 6pm (usually they all went by 5pm) as we had the office in our home and home life started for real (kids, dinners, noise mess) at 6pm.
We also rarely had meetings, instead we all communicated regularly with each other via our company intranet and email. Even though we were all housed in the same building, most of our decisionmaking communication was done via email – and it worked! So face-to-face time was not about company stuff but about sharing a bit of ourselves to each other – proper social contact and time together. A beer, a laugh, dips and chips and a chat on Friday nights and then off to one’s other life!
I must admit that I look back fondly at that team at Arts Hub from 2003 to 2005. A key member is still at Arts Hub and the others are now in senior roles at Lonely Planet and wonder why it is so rare to come across such a wonderful high-performing group.
Busy work is my answer. The world has been taken over by busy work and it’s well nigh time to put the honour back into doing great work, for love and money, in an understated but efficient and excellent way!
Real workers of the world, unite and take over!
Image: flickr Don Nunn
Fiona Boyd and David Eedle go into more detail about their run with the ‘dream team’ in their book about the Arts Hub startup adventure – Niche Content Millionaire.
Last week I started to think about who some of the best business clients David and I have had were. Not only have we started up and sold a couple of online businesses (Arts Hub, Screen Hub), started others which just plug away waiting on a bit of love and attention (www.collectzing.com), all throughout our entrepreneurial journey, we have also consulted to other businesses.
I’ve pondered some of our experiences with clients and have come up with a few traits that really stuff up your ability to provide a totally fabulous service, and mainly they have to do not with practical or logistical issues, but with attitude.
Firstly, when you are a business consultant, you are actually invited to do some work inside someone else’s business. You are not an employee and are not there to be bossed around or manipulated to a specific agenda. A consultant has a degree of autonomy that an employee usually doesn’t have (though exceptional businesses often make sure most of their staff have a good degree of autonomy).
If change is required, then as a consultant you often have to map out what that change will be, who will be affected, and strategies for making the change successful while also minimizing the negative impact on those in the company.
Most of the projects we’ve consulted on have had to do with introducing new technology, changing old practices and implementing new ways of going about business for the firms who have engaged us.
The sorts of projects we do require significant energy, drive and methodical diligence on our part to make them come to fruition in the most optimal way possible for the client. And for a number of our clients, our work for them has totally revolutionized how they do business – several have moved all their business online and others have started totally new initiatives with the technology and guidance we’ve given them. One client said to David last year that a new and burgeoning aspect of his business had only been made possible because of the innovative work David had done in providing technology and market knowhow to this client and without the project he’d done for them several years ago, a whole important revenue-generating arm of their business would just not be there.
No-one takes the wind out of your sails faster than the 'Bad Client'.
What really puts a spanner in the works when working with a client on a project that requires significant love, care, and the development of new ways of doing things, and staff training that goes with that, is mean-mindedness and a scrooge-like attitude that many business leaders adopt (after you’ve signed a contract and agreement) that has them penny-pinching on every aspect of the project. Now I’m believer that if you hire an elite team at an agreed rate, that you pay that rate and you don’t try screw the deal down even further, to the cheapest price you can get it for, particularly not after you’ve wooed the team to come do work with you, and they’ve put to bed other options to work with other clients, who may not be negative penny-pinchers.
It never ceases to amaze me that management always looks around to find the very best talent to design and implement the technology and resources required for the next phase of the business, but promptly forgets that new revenue has been made possible by this work. And of course, if the in-house team was able to do this work themselves, then of course they would have been called upon to do so.
Maybe it is something in the DNA of the manager-style CEO to fail to value the contribution of the consultant or staff member (if the company is lucky enough to have such talented and interested employees) who creates new value in their business appropriately. If so, then I’d like to point out that there is another way.
Several companies we have worked for, and therefore keep doing work with them from time-to-time as they decide they need us, have really valued our consulting contribution and let us know so with direct feedback, paying their bills on time, being a delight to deal with (good manners, focused around the project, not letting other aspects of the business interfere with the project).
Others have complained and whinged about cost and delivery. What’s really interesting is that those who complain about delivery are never the ones who stick to the knitting of your original agreement, they are always the ones who want to vary the gig, to get a little bit extra, however when it comes to the crunch, they don’t want to pay for that bit extra they’re demanding.
Here are some of the characteristics of our good clients – usually the founder of the business or long-time leader of an organization; directly able to command resources and influence team members; self-assured (doesn’t burden the consultant with their worries and business concerns); passionate about the project and the business they’re in more widely; committed and fun to be around; good at finishing things off and seeing new initiatives properly and fully implemented; good understanding of costs and benefits; values the consultant’s input and makes good use of the consultants knowhow within the constraints of the agreement. Good clients always pay their way, they never try get that bit extra of juice without some form of benefit back to you.
The bad client looks more like this. Bitches about money and even though they’re aware of the costs at the outset of the project, part way in they get the jitters and start sharing their anxiety with the consultants and others involved with the project; tries to micro-manage aspects of the project to be seen to be more involved than they actually are or their skill set will allow them to be; always looking for a financial shortcut and expecting the other party to reduce their price in response to the client’s nerves; unable to remain focused on the goals of the project – gets distracted and goes off task; uses blame and negativity at every minor bump in the project road. Note – we haven’t worked on a project yet that hasn’t encountered significant bumps and issues, however that is to be expected when you’re developing new technology and intellectual property with a client. Good clients don’t let the bumps get them down – and consequently despite hiccups and hurdles we almost always deliver their projects on time (I can’t remember a project that has gone over time in recent years) and always on the agreed budget (even if we have worked some extra hours to get it there).
In the future that I envision, I see many more people will be as David and I have been since 1996, that is, guns for hire, free agents, knowledge-workers who work to those who will pay best rate with best experience to be had for both parties.
Gone will be the way of seeing that preaches that all business is good, and all clients are worth having.
If you’re a startup in 2010 and considering engaging the services of a truly great technologist or consultant, make sure you’re a ‘good client’. You will get great work out of the relationship, but more importantly this talented person will choose to do that work with you, and not the startup down the street or across the world.
Photo: flickr sierragoddess
Fiona Boyd and David Eedle share their real stories of business ups and downs, particularly the startup, growth and sale of niche content business, Arts Hub, in their book, Niche Content Millionaire. They are available for consulting to new ‘good clients.’
This transcription is from the videopost Valuation Roundtable which ran recently on Into the Mountain. It features Gary Graco, expert in preparing businesses for sale or investment and partner at Nexia ASR, Scott Kilmartin, entrepreneur and founder of green streetwear design business, Haul and David Eedle, co-author of Niche Content Millionaire (with Fiona Boyd) and co-founder of Arts Hub (also with Fiona). The roundtable is moderated by Fiona Boyd.
Fiona: Today I’d like to introduce you to a round table on how to value your business or valuing your business. It’s been in the news that Twitter in 2009 took a round of funding on a valuation of $1 billion, and that was at a time when the revenue was considered tiny. In the same year eBay sold Skype for less than they paid for it in 2003, and in Australia towards the end of 2009 Findababysitter.com.au was sold to Fairfax Digital for a reported sum of $3 million. With me today to talk about how to value a business from two sides of the coin – the entrepreneur’s side and then the number crunching accountant’s side. And welcome first to Scott Kilmartin, founder of online and offline urban streetwear and design business, Haul. Welcome Scott. Read More→
Being dismissive seems to be a general trend at the moment – so many people in business have narrowed their focus so much that anything that does not fall within their plan, or mission is instantly dismissed.
As an entrepreneur a focused mind is a definite asset, however dismissing that which does not fit into your plans could mean that you miss out on a piece of information that could enhance and widen what you are doing and could give you a bigger perspective and a bigger market to play with.
The opposite to being an overly dismissive decision-maker is that of being easily distracted, which is also a definite danger in business.
I must put my hand up here and admit to David and I having been distracted many times during our Arts Hub adventure and going down paths that weren’t necessary and didn’t add to our business knowledge or expertise. But I would argue anyday that being dismissive of new information, ideas, people and thoughts is far more dangerous than being too easily seduced into the new. Read More→
How often do you hear people giving gentle words of encouragement to another and resisting the usual temptation to tell them that what they’re doing or planning to do, is wrong, shouldn’t be done that way, won’t work, etc?
Last week one of the experts who I regularly interview on money matters and how they affect entrepreneurial ventures, Phil Grant from Nexia ASR came in for another video session and after we’d finished the video discussion he mentioned how much he enjoyed one of the other interviewees I talk to and how interesting what they had to say was.
Now it should seem rather strange that this sort of pleasant, encouraging feedback is unusual, but there you have it, most people want to tell you what’s wrong, how you could do things better but rarely, if ever, say – ‘hey, I liked that! That person did a good job, it was really interesting.’
So why are we holding back? Surely you look around you every day and you see things done well and that capture your attention in a good way? I do, and every now and then you get the opportunity to chat with the person who did that good thing, so then what do you do? Over the years I’ve learned that analyzing and telling people that they could do things differently or better is just plain insulting. Given their time and life constraints, most people give their best in what they do within the limitations they operate in, most of the time. So, isn’t it worth giving a few gentle words of encouragement to help keep them on this path of being good at what they do and offer? Read More→
In the video interview with Michel Hogan Brand and the startup – videopost recently featured on Into the Mountain, Michel makes a point for startups with their brand is that while it might be impossible to get your brand right straight out of the gate, because your business hasn’t really established itself – what is possible is to be deliberate. To act according to your values, to follow the path that as founders, you set for your business.
There’s something to that perspective that’s relevant not just for startups and businesses, and for the past few weeks I keep thinking about it in context of other issues in my life.
Firstly we had an opportunity to buy a lovely home that we have been renting for some time. A very tempting pitch was made to us, however the price appeared much above what the market appears to be doing, even though here in Melbourne Australia it’s doing what virtually no other part of the property market the world over is doing, and is booming.
We’re in a hot property market, we live in a house we love but we’re currently renting and all around us people are talking about the suburbs we love becoming unaffordable. Read More→
In the second session of our Valuation Roundtable with Gary Graco, partner at Nexia ASR, Scott Kilmartin entrepreneur and founder of Haul, and David Eedle, co-founder of Arts Hub and various other online businesses talk to Fiona Boyd co-author of Niche Content Millionaire about different ways of valuing an entrepreneurial business and also discuss the recent sale of an online business.
Gary, Scott and David join Fiona Boyd again next week for the third part of the Valuation Roundtable.
Brand advocate, Michel Hogan from Brandology talks to Fiona Boyd about the difficulties of trying to identify and establish your ‘brand’ at the startup of your new business. This is a transcription of the original videopost entitled “Brand and the startup“.
Fiona: Today I’d like to welcome Michel Hogan from Brandology, who walks and talks brand and knows all there is to know about businesses and brand, I reckon. Thanks for coming in Michel.
Michel: Wow, what an intro, thank you.
Fiona: You’ve been a brand consultant for a long time. Maybe you can tell me exactly what one’s brand actually is. What is it really?
Michel: Sure…well, actually, one of the things that I call myself rather than a consultant is an advocate, and one of the reasons I do that…
Fiona: An advocate’s more involved?
Michel: Well, exactly. Well it’s, and it comes from this idea that I think there’s a lot of judgement around brands for people, for organisations, you know, whenever they’re bringing someone in to advise them around their brand, quite often it’s with this sense of judgement that it’s broken, that it’s already broken, there’s something wrong, it needs to be fixed, it needs to be changed, it needs to be redone. And so I really, that’s a point at which I really diverge from the traditional methodologies and ways of thinking about brand. Read More→
Tags: businessIn life there are some people who can be known by those who matter, but never register as ‘famous’. Who in some ways could be said to ‘fly under the radar’ and in being unobtrusive, not terribly noticeable and by remaining clear-headed and not influenced by the pack, are able to do quite extraordinary things on behalf of the human race.
One such person died recently – and hers is not a story that I had known until I read the obituary for Miep Gies in The Age last week. I’ve had a hunt around for it on The Age website, but can’t find it, suspect they’ve already pulled it down, so for some background on Miep Gies, what better place to look than Wikipedia!
Like many of my era I read “The Diary of Anne Frank”, the young Jewish girl’s account of being hidden in a secret annex at her father’s business premises and supported with supplies by Miep Gies and her husband Jan, in literature class as a teenager. I found it a wonderful, poignant book and was truly wrenched when our teacher informed us that Anne had not survived and that she had perished in a concentration camp, not a year after the last entry in the diary. Read More→
When you start an innovative, entrepreneurial business, it’s likely that you will focus on the ‘blue sky’ potential of that business and until you’ve been going for some time, it will be really difficult to work out what your venture is really worth. In this Valuation Roundtable, Gary Graco Partner at Nexia ASR, Scott Kilmartin founder of Haul and David Eedle co-founder of Arts Hub and co-author of Niche Content Millionaire, thrash out with Fiona Boyd the issues related to the valuing a business.
This was the first part of a three part business Valuation Roundtable featuring Gary Graco from Nexia ASR, Scott Kilmartin from Haul and David Eedle, co-author of Niche Content Millionaire.
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