One idea to Win in Business, one idea to Win in Life.

Welcome to Winformation Weekly. My 13 years’ experience of growing a business from £0-£100m, and the life that goes with it. All wrapped up, in one winning weekly email.

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Winformation this week...

Welcome to the 38^th edition of Winformation Weekly. This week is significant as it’s the first of a 4 week trial, testing our new release day... Friday.

I’ve hired over 250 people over the years, and serviced hundreds of clients. Whether you are an employee looking for an increase in salary or a business owner looking to get paid what you’re worth, I have found that there is a fundamental point most people miss. In today’s One Idea to Win in Life I share how I’ve seen business owners and employees use THIS change to increase their earnings.

I’ve worked for some great leaders in my time but also had my fair share of bad bosses. Even from the outside you can tell businesses that are run by someone who “shows” and the ones that are run by someone who “tells”. I’ve got 14 years' experience in leadership now. Did I always get it right? No. But in today’s One Idea to Win in Business I share the quickest and most impactful changes you could make today to start to become a world class leader.

One Idea to Win in Business

How to Become a Better Leader with These 5 Quick Wins

We are all in leadership roles of some kind. You may have a 500-person business, a family, a sports club, and we all lead ourselves, every day. Successful businesses and lives are led by leaders, not bosses. Leaders don’t dictate what is to be done, they guide and inspire their teams.

Here’s 5 quick wins to switch from boss to leader.

What’s in it for me? This is the question everyone in your team will ask every time there is a new change or task to complete. No matter how driven and selfless someone may be, their first question they ask (whether conscious or subconscious) is “how will this affect me”. If you know this going in, you can frame things differently and get buy-in sooner.

Manage with empathy. Of course, you want the business to succeed and grow, but good leaders want that to happen in an environment where the team feel good. Empathy is important. This is done by listening to the team and not making assumptions.

Repeat yourself. I once heard someone say that a CEO should change their name to CRO. Chief Repeating Officer. From experience, this is so true. As a leader, it’s your role to keep painting the vision of a huge, exciting future. You need to repeat it, every day. Be specific. Where does each team member fit into that vision?

Spread the love. We reward our team really well, we do nights out, holidays, vouchers, you name it. But the most hard-fought thing people work for is a 4-inch plastic trophy on their desk for “team members of the quarter”. Often a simple, specific well done in the moment is worth way more to some people that actual financial reward. This was an eye opener when I realised this.

Be a storyteller supreme. As much as all the steps above are vital, more important still is for a leader to be able to communicate the story of what you are all working towards. They need to be able to do this countless times, to inspire their team.

One Idea to Win in Life

How to Get Paid What You’re Worth

Imagine a baseball player saying to Yankies, pick me for the team and pay me $30m a year, and then you’ll see the very best of what I can do. Imagine a footballer phoning up the England Manager and saying, pick me for England, make sure I’m captain, and then finally, I will start playing well and scoring goals.

In professional sport this approach would get you literally laughed out of the building. But in employment or even business ownership this is the exact methodology that the vast majority of people employ. Here are the factors you have to get comfortable with to get paid more for the job you do, or the clients you service.

Create the value first. This is huge. So many people don’t realise this. They ask for a pay rise or a promotion without demonstrating they are at the level required. You have to spend many weeks or months operating at the level you are asking to be paid at or promoted to. This is wrong. Create the extra value, then later ask for some of the value to be released to you. This is true for a business owner looking to increase prices with a client. You have to create and provde the extra value first. This is demonstrating how valuable your product or service is before you charge for it.

Document it. Keep a list of projects and tasks you have done that are over and above your current duties. What was your input? What did you learn. This makes evidencing your request much easier.

Be careful what you document. Turning up on time, working hard and contributing to the company isn’t cause for promotion. Being on time with projects and offering products that aren't faulty isn't cause for raising prices to clients. This is the minimum expectations of a professional person. That all has to be done anyway. Document the times you have exceeded your current level. The evidence needs those that make the decision to think...”my god, we cannot lose this person or this supplier”.

Avoid comparisons. You aren't owed a pay rise because Sarah recently got one. This is an individual journey. It’s based on your output v what you were expected to do.

Internal and external progression options. Your quest for a greater salary, a promotion or clients that pay you more may lie outside of your current workplace or client base. If you have provided excellent value, documented what this is, done this for a sustained period and made yourself totally invaluable and still don’t get rewarded internally? Then the process wasn't wasted. There is a company or clients somewhere that will regognise the work you have done.  

Until next week! 

Let’s win, together!