If burnout goes unaddressed, entire companies can lose their zeal for building great products and services and keeping customers happy. We have taken steps to prevent employee burnout as part of our goal of creating great businesses with happy, customer-driven employees and satisfied clients. Our employees look forward to coming to work most days because we apply the following ideas:

Understand how your companies are REALLY doing: Conduct confidential online surveys, employee interviews, and small group discussions where employees can fearlessly voice their concerns and the brutal truths to senior leaders. Share findings and openly admit problems to your staff. Then, make changes!

Show care and respect for staff: Solicit their opinions, be compassionate, inquire about their personal lives, and don’t treat them like objects. Instead, make them feel like company owners, the #1 workplace value desired by employees, according to an October 2011 Wall Street Journal article by Laura Petrecca. A work/life balance came in second.

Never make promises you cannot keep: Be careful not only what you say, but what people perceive you as having promised.

Recognize and reward people: Actively look for things people do well and thank them. When you criticize people, coach rather than berate them.

Hire outstanding people: Employ great, positive staff members with strong work ethics and high quality standards. Organizations are energized by can-do people who “get things done.”

Fire the wrong people with dignity and compassion: Your staff will observe how you handle terminations, so do it respectfully and kindly. If you must lay people off, do it at all at once, not in waves, and provide caring post-employment assistance.

Develop strategic plans and promote teamwork: Establish a clear purpose beyond simply making money, along with a mission, vision, and a plan to achieve them all. Teams in strategic workplaces handle stress better and are more productive. Keep everyone involved in challenging work and in rowing together toward common goals.

Communicate: Keep staff informed of important events, which negates misinformation and gossip.

Set boundaries on work: People who don’t set rules for how they spend their time can find work eating up lunch hours, early mornings, and late nights. A 2006 University of California study found that working more than 51 hours per week over an extended time period can triple the risk of hypertension. Thus, working overtime can really hurt your business—and employees themselves. Of course, you may occasionally need to work longer-than-normal days to “get the job done,” but it shouldn’t be a regular occurrence. If, like ours, your folks are passionate about what they do, have purpose, feel appreciated, help steer the ship, and enjoy their colleagues, they will be willing to work hard to make the business succeed.

Successful businesspeople who have achieved true satisfaction with their lives know how to set limits and leave work at the office. Those who don’t often end up hating what they used to love!

Take care of yourself: Some people refuse to take breaks from work, eventually resulting in serious health issues. Back pain, insomnia, anxiety, and depression are potential outcomes of workplace stress and burnout. If you want to dig out of the “burnout hole,” exercise is the cheapest medicine. There exists “a wealth of knowledge that shows that exercise and recreational activities reduce stress, increase productive moods, and build social supports and vitality, the lifeblood of enterprises,” according to an Entrepreneur Magazine article by Joe Robinson. Thirty minutes of brisk exercise five days a week will bolster emotional and physical health.

Lack of rest caused by excessive work hours or stress can also lead to sleep problems, depression, and anxiety, as well as reduced productivity in the long run. Circadian, a workforce consulting firm, found that 60-hour work weeks led to a 25-percent reduction in productivity. Likewise, the Bible says, “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day, you shall rest”—even God acknowledges that we cannot burn the candle at both ends all week long! Try calming activities like yoga, prayer, or meditation to reduce stress and make it easier to rest and relax.

 Dr. Donna DeCarolis of Drexel University School of Strategic Initiatives notes, “If we want ourselves and our employees to be innovative, we need time to do things other than work. Entrepreneurs need to have periods of intense activity, but if it isn’t balanced with reflection, relaxation, and doing something to take your mind off work, you won’t be able to be innovative, creative, or find solutions to problems.” When it comes to avoiding burnout, mental, emotional, and physical rest are all important to protect employees’ happiness.

Eliminate distractions: Particularly when working under tight deadlines or in stressful conditions, business leaders and staff should turn off e-mail notifications, cell phones, and telephones, only checking them periodically. This allows them to focus instead on their top priorities. Otherwise, the endless beeps and rings can contribute greatly to stress, burnout, and decreased productivity. You may have to close your office door to avoid in-person interruptions as well!

Have fun! If your idea of “fun” is making money, think again! Everyone needs something in their lives beyond work. Mike’s passions include his 57’ Chevy, 64’ Corvette, and 66’ GTO convertibles, as well as traveling to Hawaii and Europe, and Blake has been traveling with him since he was six years old. There is nothing better to us than boarding an airplane destined for Maui, partying on the way, sitting by the pool, eating great food, and listening to Hawaiian waves and music. When we return, we’re ready to innovate. Such regular, periodic breaks are necessary to recharge your batteries and boost creativity! For some, it can be as simple as taking walks and reading books. Whatever your stress outlet, as Nike says: “Just do it!”

The bottom line: Burnout affects not only the person directly suffering from it, but the whole organization as well. Creating great businesses with positive cultures takes time and effort, but your staff, customers, and business—not to mention your back—will appreciate the benefits!

Embezzlement rarely registers as a concern for most business leaders. Few talk about it or realize that it can happen to them, yet it is more common that most people think!

A business colleague recently shared a depressing story about a highly-paid bookkeeper with a long tenure at his company. The person was a strong spiritual model, friend, church leader, and a very nice person. She had also stolen large amounts of money from the business, paying her personal American Express bill directly from its bank account. Because of her position as bookkeeper, as well as the fact that the company’s seven credit card accounts made it plausible for a credit card bill to show up on the bank statement, she was able to do this undetected for two years.

Employees were stunned. For some, she had been the go-to person for counseling and prayer. Many equated their feelings after news of the theft broke to those after a death in the family.

We viewed this incident as an opportunity to assess our companies’ risks and tighten up financial controls. We contacted other business leaders, nearly all of whom had similar experiences or knew others who did. Most of these cases were handled quietly and never reported in the media.

A 2010 global fraud study conducted by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners found that a typical organization loses 5% of its annual revenue to fraud and theft, with a median loss of $160,000. That amount could bankrupt many small businesses!

Detecting fraud is often difficult; in fact, the study reported a median of 18 months before fraud was discovered. Forty percent of the time, tips from customers, vendors, anonymous informants, or other employees led to the discovery. Other methods included:

• Management review - 15%
• Internal audit - 14%
• Accidental discovery - 8%
• Account reconciliation - 6%
• Document examination - 5%
• External audit - 5%

Many steal because of financial debts, greed, or unexpected expenses. They may live above their means, see the theft as a loan to be repaid, or justify it because of perceived mistreatment by the company. Attempting to get away with fraud can even be a game to some. Business consultant Dr. Rhonda Savage notes, “Managers are the usual culprits for the worst cases of fraud. It’s typically not the new-kid-on-the-block, but the long-term and trusted employee who ends up being the company crook.”

The possibility of theft is decreased if employees know that they may get caught; however, as Steve Sahlein, co-president of the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers, reports, “Small businesses don’t always have the needed internal controls “to prevent fraud.

Frank Thomas, CPA, and other accountants recommended that business owners do the following to prevent fraud and theft:

1. Conduct background, criminal, and credit checks on all potential employees.
2. Use computerized financial tracking systems such as QuickBooks.
3. Review monthly ledger printouts of all business checks that have been written, to whom, and in what amount.
4. Distribute financial duties (reconciling bank statements, writing checks, making deposits, invoicing customers, etc.) amongst multiple people.
5. Consider having an independent external audit conducted. Audits can ensure the books are balanced (not cooked!), proper controls are in place, and expenses are correctly documented.
6. Business owners should open and review bank statements themselves, searching for any unusual expenses, checks out of order, suspicious payments, or missing deposits.
7. Another employee should stamp any checks with “DEPOSIT ONLY” and make the deposits.
8. Require checks above a determined amount to be signed by two individuals.
9. Be aware of disgruntled or stressed employees who may be having financial difficulties
10. Establish a positive work environment with open communication, making it easy for employees to report problems such as theft.
11. Charge most of your expenses to credit cards. American Express provides statements that are easy to review for unusual expenses (and, as a bonus, offers hotel and airline reward points).
12. Compare client billings to the payments your company has received. Employees could possibly open secret accounts at other banks with your company’s Federal Identification Number, make deposits, and write checks from the account for personal use.
13. If you have petty cash, maintain a close watch on it and document it well.
14. Don’t trust anyone completely!

Another way to protect yourself is to insure your business against theft-related losses. Independent insurance agent Scott Moseley recommends that businesses carry liability and comprehensive business insurance policies that include fraud, embezzlement, and theft coverage. Most policies are limited to $10,000 for each incident.

Financial officers can also be insured or bonded against fraud. A $100,000 Employee Dishonesty bond costs about $300 per year, depending on factors like the number of employees and officers in your company, Moseley said.

If you uncover embezzlement in your organization, you have several options:

File criminal charges: First, you should be 100% certain that the employee is guilty of stealing (obtain a written confession if possible). A law enforcement officer recommended going directly to the solicitor’s office to report the theft. Individuals who are charged with a felony will have fewer chances to repeat their crime because many businesses conduct pre-employment background checks. The drawbacks of this option include the stress of going through a court case and the fallout that reporting the crime will have on the embezzler’s family members.

Allow the employee to avoid prosecution by paying back the money: A solicitor we spoke to recommended against long-term payments unless the thief can repay you quickly because it will weaken your case if you have to prosecute later. If you do seek restitution, have an attorney draw up the loan note. It should be secured with personal guarantees from the perpetrator and his or her spouse, with liens placed on their home and other assets.

Report thefts to your insurance company: Your insurance premiums may be impacted even if you recover your losses. Insurance companies will ask for proof of theft for any claims and will seek to regain any money paid out to you by collecting it from the individual who stole the money, either through repayment or prosecution.

Whatever course of action you choose should come after careful thought. You should seek advice from spiritual leaders, attorneys, accountants, law enforcement, and company leaders before making a final decision.

The bottom line: Running a business is not easy. Just when you think you have seen it all, there comes another nightmare like embezzlement. There is no foolproof way to stop people from stealing, but you can make it more difficult for them to take your money!

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Blake DuBose graduated from Newberry College School of Business and is president of DuBose Web Group. View our published articles at www.duboseweb.com. 

Mike DuBose has been in business since 1981 and is the author of The Art of Building a Great Business. He is the servant owner of three debt-free corporations, including Columbia Conference Center, Research Associates, and The Evaluation Group. Visit his nonprofit website at www.mikedubose.com.

Katie Beck serves as senior writer to the DuBose family of companies. She graduated from the USC School of Journalism and Honors College.

“How did I ever get myself into this mess?”Who in the private or public sector has not had that painful thought? We sometimes develop partnerships based on first impressions and early conversations, only to face costly nightmares later!

Of all the horror stories we have heard since starting our family of companies in 1981, many complaints (and regrets) surround technology, especially Web design. The following comments were made by angry readers and customers who partnered with unethical, unprofessional Web companies:

• “My Web designer never calls me back. I feel like I work for them!”
• “I need to make small edits to my site, but it takes weeks of pleading for my Web business to make changes.”
• “When I wanted to change Web designers, I learned I don’t own my Website or domain address – they do! I’m trapped!”
• “My Website looks great, but no one can find it on the Internet.”
• “My Website is down and I get a recording when I call for help!”
• “I got a good deal, but my Website is useless!”

The technology field is similar to other professions in that customers can easily be pressured into paying for overpriced, ineffective Web services. Because there is no licensing authority to certify Web professionals, many consumers who rush to select a Web designer without conducting a thorough investigation end up with the wrong one.

How should I begin the search for good Web designers? Perform all of the following cautiously: inquire with friends, colleagues, business owners, and non-profit staff; contact Web designers listed at the bottom of appealing Websites; consult the Yellow Pages; and search the Internet (for example, Google “Columbia SC Web Design”). As in any field, Web companies’ philosophies, ethics, work quality, knowledge, experience, financial security, pricing, and customer service vary significantly. Solicit proposals from several Web businesses to find the best fit for your needs. Before making a final selection, check with your local business bureau to see if there have been complaints filed against the business.

What should I look for?Competent Web companies that create great Websites will often have these characteristics:

1. Employs customer-driven, friendly staff — Selecting the right Web design company is like choosing a partner for marriage—don’t rush into it! First impressions are important, but be aware of companies that “over-promise and under-deliver.” Jack Welch in Winning and Malcolm Gladwell in Blink both suggest that if you don’t feel good about something, don’t do it. Base your decision on facts and impressions.
2. Develops professional Websites — Customers are less likely to do business with companies that have poorly-constructed, unprofessional-looking Websites. Your Website must have the “WOW!” factor, be easy to navigate, contain helpful content, and include clear contact information. Quality Web design companies will carefully assess these factors during your Website development stage. Be sure to study a Web design company’s portfolio—if their clients’ Websites look mediocre, assume that yours will be similar. Contact their customers to learn firsthand about their professionalism and quality of their work. Look beyond provided references.
3. Offers a content management system (CMS) — This is the ability to make text and picture changes in-house, instead of waiting for (and paying for) your Web design company to make them. Designers must still make major structural changes, but having CMS allows you to easily update your Website’s content, offering customers up-to-date information without costly delays.
4. Provides a plan to increase your Web traffic through Search Engine Optimization (SEO)— This unique process allows your Website to be found quickly when potential customers type your services into search engines like Google. As technology advances, Internet searches are becoming more common than traditional information sources like the Yellow Pages, radio, and print media. Therefore, your company should be easily found on the Internet when consumers search for your services. If searches do not find you on the first page of results (usually, in the top 10 listings), potential customers are going elsewhere! Competent Web professionals will guide you in maximizing your Website’s marketing potential.
5. Helps you stay in front of your customers—Once your Website is operational, it is important to keep in touch with your clients. Since 350 million people frequently use social networks like Facebook and Twitter, consult with your Web designer to determine effective ways to utilize these sites. E-newsletter and e-mail campaigns are other economical ways to provide your customers with updates, specials, and important information. Quality Web companies can provide a custom program with an e-mail address database for you.

Also, look for a company whose staff members:

• Are customer-driven, friendly, and interested in learning how your organization works.
• Listen to your needs, answer questions, and provide suggestions.
• Are college-educated in business, marketing, and/or technology areas.
• Focus primarily on Web design and not a host of other services—or else your Website development may be subcontracted to another company whose staff you have never met.
• Speak to you in understandable terms (not techno-babble).
• Are quality-driven and honest about what they can do.
• Have proven graphic design, coding, business, and marketing experience.
• Educate you on the Web process.
• Develop realistic, understandable action plans with timelines.
• Maintain a philosophy of doing fewer projects really well versus serving many customers fairly well. You should be treated as if you are the only client the Web design company has.
• Provide Web services and ongoing support at reasonable prices. Don’t go too cheap—remember that it takes money to make money! However, don’t pay for expensive services you won’t need.
• Give you Website rights and ownership.
• Work for an established, financially-strong business that maintains high-quality offices (no fly-by-nights!).
• Provide copywriting services and catch grammatical errors. Ask if they have technical writers on staff with degrees in English or journalism.
• Offer monthly traffic reports to assess how visitors interact with each page of your Website.

Your project is a substantial investment, so read written bids and contracts carefully. Agreements should be mutual and must be more concrete than a simple handshake.

Expect to wait in line for quality companies that focus on a few customers at a time. It is best to select a turnkey company to provide all Web services so there aren’t “too many cooks in the kitchen.” Your Website reflects your organization, so don’t rush the process. Depending on your objectives, a realistic timeline to field test and put your Website into operation is 60 days. Updates take less time.

The bottom line:The more work you conduct up front to select a great Web design company, the less frustration and loss you will experience down the road. You want a professional Website that works, draws clients, and generates profits; a customer-driven Web company whose staff exceeds your expectations; and competent Web professionals who will support you and your Website well into the future.

Remember: you get what you pay for!

© Copyright 2010 by Blake DuBose and Mike DuBose. All Rights Reserved. You have permission to forward this article to a friend or colleague and to distribute it as part of personal or professional use during the year 2010 in its full content with all credits to the author. However, no part of this article may be altered or published in any other manner without the written consent of the author. If you would like written approval to post this information on an appropriate web site or to publish this information, please contact Katie Beck at Katie@grantexperts.comand explain how the article will be used. We appreciate you honoring our hard work and we try to accommodate any requests in a timely fashion. Shorter versions of some articles are available upon request.

Blake DuBose is a graduate of the Newberry College School of Business and is president of DuBose Web Group.

Mike DuBose has been in business since 1981 and is an instructor with the University of South Carolina graduate school. He is the servant leader and owner of three debt-free corporations, including Columbia Conference Center, Research Associates, and The Evaluation Group. Mike has completed his book The Art of Building a Great Business. For more helpful articles, visit his non-profit Website www.mikedubose.com.

In Good to Great, Jim Collins determined that great organizations hire self-directed, competent staff who have positive outlooks and are team-focused. If you make greatness your goal, as we did in 2007, staff who don’t fit into your vision will have to leave.

There are ways to avoid hiring the wrong people in the first place. The tougher you screen applicants upfront, the less likely you’ll have to fire problematic employees later. All new hires should go through a provisional period of at least six months so you may assess them and correct any hiring mistakes.

If you are thinking of terminating an employee, you should be able to say honestly (and document thoroughly) that you tried your best to promote his or her success. First, provide all employees with job descriptions that clearly explain expectations, duties, and how performance will be measured. Ongoing feedback is crucial to providing new and existing employees with confidence-boosting compliments, as well as specific examples of areas in which they must improve.

When employees require counseling or discipline, take notes. Work with them to create action plans for improving their problem areas, and have them sign letters specifically detailing any violations if they fail to improve.

Some transgressions simply cannot be excused, including: unethical, illegal, or dishonest acts; discriminatory or harassing behaviors; incompetence or inability to perform job duties;  mismatch with work culture; poor-quality work; customer and employee complaints; inability to work with teams; rude, arrogant, and resistant-to-counseling personalities; making similar mistakes repeatedly; not following policies; poor or inappropriate customer service; requiring constant micromanagement; missing deadlines; hostile or threatening behaviors; and using alcohol and illegal drugs during work, to name a few.

Employers in at-will states, like South Carolina, tend to have more rights than others. Still, detailed, comprehensive employment contracts (ours is seven pages) go a long way toward protecting from misbehavior or attacks by former employees. Employee handbooks can also provide evidence in your favor by clearly defining company rules; however, they do not mean you will not face a lawsuit or EEOC complaint (been there, done that)! If one is filed, you will need clear, documented evidence of previous attempts to help the employee improve.

Before firing someone, consider these points:

Ask yourself, “Do I really want to terminate this person?” Seek advice from human resource professionals and other unbiased parties.

Never fire based on emotion: While it may feel good to give them a swift kick, consider cooling off for 2-3 weeks. If you terminate incorrectly, you may spend hundreds of hours defending yourself in court or EEOC hearings, even if HR professionals gave you the green light. (We’ve been there, too!)

Seek alternatives: If you are unsure that the person must be fired, try other avenues first. Consider allowing the employee to work under a different manager, and make sure that the problems are not being caused by a toxic work culture. If the employee is new, has he or she been given enough time and training to learn the job? If not, consider extending the provisional employment period. (However, if they’re not cutting the mustard within six months, we believe it’s time to go, especially because employers have more rights during the provisional period.)

Other options include demoting the person, trying them in other positions or departments, or eliminating their position but offering them contractual work.

Look for hidden causes: If employees who excelled in the past begin exhibiting performance issues, they may be having personal problems and should be gently confronted, given time off, or encouraged to seek professional help. Be careful, however, to keep your distance from their crises, since this area can be legally dangerous, emotionally draining, and distracting. Though you should be understanding of people who are experiencing difficulties, make sure to treat all employees consistently and fairly.

Beware of guilt: There is no foolproof hiring process, and even the best of us make mistakes. When someone must be terminated, both parties share responsibility for having chosen each other. Upon realizing they have made a hiring mistake, some leaders try to situate problematic employees into other jobs, change their responsibilities, or “make them fit” the business to ease their own guilt. However, stalling on necessary firings wastes valuable time and can make leaders drained and distracted.

All good leaders care about their employees, but for the sake of the company, you must judge performance primarily on job descriptions, professional behavior, and value within the company. Firings become more difficult when the people in question are friends or relatives, likeable people, or simply cannot do better, despite how hard they try. However, if leaders allow incompetent or inappropriate staff to stay too long, other employees and customers may become frustrated with their inaction.

Design termination plans carefully: When you fire employees, you change not only their lives, but the organization itself. Christine Davis of the New Hampshire Department of Public Development reports that, even in an at-will employment state, “You have to be concerned about the legal ramifications of firing someone.” As she explains, many people are members of a protected class (due to age, race, gender, disability, etc.), and might sue for discrimination.

Our philosophy is to “hope for the best, plan for the worst.” Think in advance about what will happen if a person leaves. If they have been with the company for a long time, their exit may cause disruptions. Therefore, you should plan accordingly. Who will absorb their responsibilities? Will things be better or worse? How will customers and staff react? When and how will the termination occur? How will you respect the needs of the employee and help him or her transition to other employment? Will you provide severance pay and/or allow unemployment benefits? Have a human resources professional review your plans once they are made.

Fire with dignity: No matter what employees have done, they’re human, so follow the Golden Rule and treat them like you’d like to be treated. Terminated employees can go through feelings of shame, anger, low self-esteem, and rejection; in fact, losing one’s job is ranked almost as traumatic as a death in the family on many stress tests! Your job as a leader is to transition the wrong employees “off the bus” with the least amount of conflict possible. As a litigation lawyer once warned us, “Wounded people with damaged egos do desperate things!” You don’t want to create “assassins” who will tell everyone (including customers and staff) how you mistreated them.

Bottom line: Be careful, deliberate, and sensitive. Then, if you are certain the person needs to go, pull the termination trigger (carefully)!

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Blake DuBose graduated from Newberry College School of Business and is president of DuBose Web Group. View our published articles at www.duboseweb.com.

Mike DuBose has been in business since 1981 and is the author of The Art of Building a Great Business. He is the servant owner of three debt-free corporations, including Columbia Conference Center, Research Associates, and The Evaluation Group. Visit his nonprofit website at www.mikedubose.com.

Katie Beck serves as senior writer to the DuBose family of companies. She graduated from the USC School of Journalism and Honors College.

Our research and experience have shown that business is like travel: the smoother the customers’ ride, the greater the chance that they will patronize businesses, come back for more, and, ultimately, tell others about their positive experiences. Unfortunately, many clients today are stuck saying, in the words of the Rolling Stones, “I can’t get no satisfaction!”

As noted by Jim Collins in Good to Great, great businesses promote customer-driven philosophies that are embraced and practiced by their employees. Likewise, our studies have shown that maintaining client happiness is an art, and to achieve it, staff at all levels must be trained in delivering high-quality customer service.

Let’s examine how to build prosperous client bases:

1. Employees are your first clients: A happy staff means delighted customers.
2. Build the right product and they will come: Businesses should primarily focus on their profitable core services, but should also create new products to adapt to changing markets.
3. Be different: You can stand out in today’s crowded marketplaces by offering unique products and niches to attract customers.
4. Be strategy-minded: If you don’t know where you’re going, chasing dollars can easily become your mission. Be the best in a few areas, rather than stretching yourself thin on too many lower-quality endeavors.
5. Market effectively: A strong Internet presence is critical in these high-tech times (through a website, Twitter, Facebook, etc).You can have the best product in the world, but if you don’t market it correctly and track which advertising methods work, you will fail!
6. Provide a human touch: Technology is killing many businesses. Aggravating computers control customer service, asking too many questions, and live humans (if ever reached) repeat those questions again. At our Columbia Conference Center and DuBose Web Group, real people answer the telephones 90% of the time.
7. Return calls the same day: Many customers go down lists of potential service providers, so the first human to answer their calls often secures the sale.
8. Make excellent first impressions: When clients call, they should hear an attentive voice and be able to visualize a smiling face on the other end of the telephone. Make them feel like they are your only customer.
9. Be punctual: When you visit clients, arrive five minutes early. If running late is unavoidable, call to let them know.
10. Be truthful: Clients don’t like surprises. One vendor charged us $50 for an estimate on a backup generator. We weren’t happy!
11. Look professional: Be sure that employees’ clothes are appropriate, neat, and clean.
12. LISTEN: First, let the customer describe their needs, and then provide input as their guide. Too often, “experts” tell clients what they “need,” forgetting to listen to what they “want!” Arrogance is a major sale-killer. Write down and repeat all client desires to ensure accuracy.
13. Respond promptly: When clients ask for estimates, reply within 72 business hours. It’s amazing how many contractors we have had to call multiple times to receive an estimate! Avoid pressuring clients, but you should follow up with them to ensure they received your proposal. A second set of eyes reviewing your proposal can catch errors before you send it to the customer, thus making your company appear more professional.
14. Underpromise and overdeliver: Too often, aggressive salespeople promise the world for short-term commissions, leaving their companies unable to deliver. When working with clients, remember Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong! Customers don’t care about anything other than you following through on what was agreed upon in a timely manner. Too many contractors take forever to complete a job, then wonder why they are unprofitable. It’s simple: if you tell a customer you’re going to do something, JUST DO IT!
15. Provide consistent service: In the past, we have been impressed by companies that executed perfectly (on the big sale) enough to list them in our Quality Vendors Guide. Then, when their products needed minor repairs, our calls to them went unreturned. This kind of runaround sends a clear signal to the customer: you are important when the big bucks are flowing, but after we have made our money, forget it!
16. Bill correctly: Submit accurate, timely bills to the right person. If necessary, send friendly reminder notices, avoiding irritating computer-generated hate-mail or using aggressive collection agencies until you have exhausted all internal efforts. Sometimes, a simple telephone call can make headway in retrieving overdue payments.
17. Don’t aggravate customers: When we tell doctor’s office staff, “Nothing has changed since our last visit,” we often hear the infamous words “It’s policy,” followed by a request to fill out the exact same ten-page forms we completed before! Then, we wait hours to be seen. Your customers will appreciate it if you don’t act like it’s an honor for them to do business with you.
18. Stay in touch: Maintain regular communication with clients via e-mail, regular mail, telephone calls, and e-newsletters. Remember: out-of-sight, out-of-mind! Our newsletters provide useful personal and professional information, humor, and thought-provoking quotes, keeping us in front of customers without waving the “sales flag.” However, don’t swamp clients with too many communications. Based on a recent customer study we conducted, every 4-6 weeks will suffice.

Our philosophy is that our customers “sign our checks.” We employ the Golden Rule, treating them (and staff) like family and good friends. If you keep your promises and deliver outstanding services, customers will come back for more—and better yet, they will become your marketing advocates, telling others how well they were treated.

On the other hand, if you treat clients poorly, they will become “assassins,” so named by a Harvard University School of Business article. “Assassins” make it their mission to inform many people about their mistreatment. Recently, a friend’s debit card information was stolen (unbeknownst to her). Without alerting her, the bank froze her card and assets, causing her embarrassment when the card was declined at a restaurant. When she met with bank employees, however, they made her feel like it was her fault. She is now telling everyone about her traumatic experience, the bank’s name, and her plans to close her account!

The bottom line: You can spend years cultivating client relationships and lose them in days. Building successful, long-term client relationships is like growing a garden. There is no single ingredient that causes plants to flourish; rather, many strategies are implemented simultaneously over a long period of time. When you grow your garden right, it’s fun for you and clients…not to mention your bank account!

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Blake DuBose graduated from Newberry College School of Business and is president of DuBose Web Group. View our published articles at www.duboseweb.com.

Mike DuBose has been in business since 1981 and is the author of The Art of Building a Great Business. He is the servant owner of three debt-free corporations, including Columbia Conference Center, Research Associates, and The Evaluation Group. Visit his nonprofit website at www.mikedubose.com.

Katie Beck serves as senior writer to the DuBose family of companies. She graduated from the USC School of Journalism and Honors College.  

By Blake DuBose and Mike DuBose

In 2007, we set out to build a great family of companies with employees who exceed customers’ expectations. Our hypothesis was that if we had happy employees, they would provide better customer service, thus creating happy customers and ultimately, profit. As it turns out, we were right! (You can view the December 2007 speech where Mike set the goal for a positive culture at www.mikedubose.com under "Articles").

We had realized that our companies, while very profitable, had toxic cultures. We developed a series of strategies to get back on the right track, which are described in the first four parts of this series (which can be found at www.duboseweb.com, along with the employee survey we recently used to measure staff satisfaction in June 2011).

Two books proved to be catalysts for many changes we made in 2007: Good to Great by Jim Collins (which studied successful businesses and how they got to that point) and Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy (who served as CFO of General Electric when Jack Welch was CEO) and Ram Charan. Every business leader (and employee) should read these two books!

Recently, we read another excellent bestseller called First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham (who works with the Gallup Organization, the most experienced survey firm in the world) and Curt Coffman. The authors conducted in-depth studies of 25,000 small and large businesses over long periods of time. When the dust settled and all the research was in, they made a discovery—in order to attract and keep happy, talented staff, it all boiled down to ensuring that twelve questions were addressed satisfactorily.

Surprisingly—and unbeknownst to us—most of these twelve questions were addressed by our 2011 employee survey. They include (in the context of a work environment):

• Do I know what is expected of me?
• Do I have the resources I need to do my job right?
• Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
• In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
• Does my supervisor or someone else seem to care about me as a person?
• Is there someone who encourages my development?
• Do my opinions seem to count?
• Do the organization’s mission and purpose make me feel my job is important?
• Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
• Do I have a best friend at work? (This was interesting!)
• In the last six months, has someone talked to me about my progress?
• This past year, have I had opportunities to learn and grow?

You may be asking, “What about salaries, fringe benefits, titles, power, office space, and prestige?” None of these factors made the list. Of course, they are somewhat important, but to create a great culture where people look forward to coming to work most days, you have to pause and understand what is REALLY important to them. Buckingham’s research found that leaders should not follow the traditional hiring path that most of us are taught. Like Jim Collins, Buckingham determined that great companies find the right, talented people with the best attitudes and then place these individuals into roles that allow them to thrive based on their strengths. After thirty years of being in business, we have found this to be true. The most educated, experienced, and intelligent employee may not be the best hiring choice. Instead, employ talented individuals who fit into your culture. Then, the rest will be much easier.

Buckingham reports that much of a company’s value “lies between the ears of its employees.” This means when a staff member quits, that value is gone too (often, according to Buckingham, “straight to the competition.” Therefore, leaders and managers should focus a great deal of their energy on creating cultures where the right employees will stay and continue to contribute.

Profit should not be your mission or purpose, but we all know it is needed to keep the company alive and well. Buckingham references a Gallup study of business chains with multiple locations, all of which had identical layouts and sold the exact same merchandise. At the stores whose employees scored their culture as “good,” profits were 14% over budget. Those stores that scored culture lower, however, reported profits 30% under projections. Customer satisfaction was much higher and employee turnover significantly lower in the stores with good cultures. Buckingham found that engaged employees connected better with their customers and were higher performers. Therefore, the right cultures equal higher profits. Southwest Airlines is a master of these concepts. While many airlines were losing money during the Great Recession, Southwest was profitable—because of its culture. 

The most talented workers are only as effective as their managers and leaders, hence why great companies employ both outstanding staff and excellent leaders. We watched the decline of our favorite restaurant this year in dismay when a new (incompetent) general manager was brought in from another city, bypassing several competent managers within the store for the promotion. Prior to his arrival, there was a great culture where staff laughed, joked with customers, smiled, and seemed to be happy with their jobs.

The new manager’s first move was to get rid of all the talented, very experienced waiters who had been there more than five years to save money. Little did he realize that many customers came to see those same people. We considered them family, and visiting the restaurant was one of the highlights of our week! Like us, others also came to the profitable restaurant to be a part of the culture. We knew more about several servers’ lives than we knew about some of our blood family members!

As things got worse, the restaurant’s staff became fearful. They quit smiling, engaged customers less, complained about the poor leadership, and left in disgust or were fired. Their loyal customers followed them to other restaurants. In a few months, the new manager destroyed a good, positive culture that had taken years to build. Unfortunately, we have heard the profits have left too!

The bottom line:  Successful leaders focus on employees’ strengths and treat them as their first customers. They situate staff members in roles where they can thrive around their passions and expertise. This results in healthy cultures, which are the lifeblood of any great business. Build a culture right, and competent staff and customers will come. Build it wrong, and get ready for lots of trouble and few, if any, profits!

Blake DuBose graduated from Newberry College School of Business and is president of DuBose Web Group. You can view our published articles at www.duboseweb.com.   

Mike DuBose has been in business since 1981 and authored The Art of Building a Great Business. He is the servant owner of three debt-free corporations, including Columbia Conference Center, Research Associates, and The Evaluation Group. For more articles, visit his nonprofit website www.mikedubose.com.

Katie Beck serves as senior writer to the DuBose family of companies and graduated from USC School of Journalism and Honors College.

By Blake DuBose and Mike DuBose 

In our first three articles about creating positive, productive workplaces, we defined culture, listed symptoms of toxic environments, and outlined ways to conduct autopsies of organizational cultures.

For the last several years, one of our goals has been to create a great family of companies where everyone looks forward to coming to work each day. We are happy to report that 100% of employee respondents to a June 2011 confidential online survey said our companies were good places to work! (You can find the survey questions, as well as the first three parts of this series, under the Articles tab of this site.) This is a far cry from our 2007 companywide survey, where 75% of staff said they would not be with our companies in 2012. To achieve such a turnaround in just four years, we had to make radical changes in the way we relate to our employees, and the 2007 survey was a valuable resource in charting this new direction. Now, out of everyone employed across our four companies, only one person does not foresee working with us in five years!

If you followed the suggestions in the first three parts of this series, you have already stepped back and conducted a thorough, nonbiased assessment of where your company, staff, and culture stand at this moment. To do this, we recommend a combination of staff surveys, one-on-one interviews, and focus groups. (We have learned that you can capture a clearer picture by combining these methods.) If you perform these correctly, you will have detailed, accurate insight on how your business and staff truly function.

How do you use this information to move forward? To borrow from the famous idiom, great cultures, like Rome, aren’t built in a day. Like a garden needs fertilizer and attention, it takes a lot of the “right stuff” to make a workplace culture grow and flourish.

Once you receive the results from your assessments, we recommend that you take the following steps: 

Practice a receptive attitude: As a human, it is natural to be initially offended or taken aback by some comments or ratings. Your first inclination may be to think, “I cannot believe you are saying that! You are lucky to have a job!” or “You don’t have all the facts.” However, you should appreciate even negative feedback for the new opportunities it represents.

Remember: you asked for honesty, and your respondents were good enough to tell you like it is. The most effective leaders are open to hearing criticism, comments that contradict their thoughts and perceptions, and even offensive remarks. Constructive feedback can help guide you in pinpointing problems, allowing you to improve conditions for you, your staff, and your customers. You do not necessarily have to implement every suggestion you receive, but you should consider them all gifts of knowledge.

Look for patterns: If person after person repeats the same comment or concern, there is likely a problem, issue, or need that should be addressed. However, do not try to force patterns to appear if there are none. Even remarks that surface infrequently can spark new ideas and discussions. For example, one respondent to our survey (for whom the issue may have arisen due to recent events in his or her life) said that we should revisit our bereavement policy. Although this was not a common complaint, we plan to ask staff to help refine the policy.

Prioritize action items: There are four ways to solve a problem: address it promptly, consider it for a while and resolve it soon thereafter, act in the distant future, or do nothing about it all. Consider addressing the “low-hanging fruit” (items that are easy to solve) first before tackling more complex issues.

Address the responses: Individuals who provide feedback willwant to know that you heard their concerns, what you plan to do about them, and, if no action will be taken, good reasons why. As Sara Baker Stokes, Ph.D., noted in a May 2011 column for Morehead Associates consulting firm, “Employees must believe that their feedback will be taken seriously. In order for employees to take the risk of offering honest and perhaps critical feedback, they must trust that feedback won't be disregarded as invalid or unrepresentative simply because it may not be what management wants to hear.”

As attuned as you may be to employee concerns, however, a business is not a democracy. There will always be some wants that you cannot meet (e.g., large salary increases when your business is barely surviving) and some people you simply cannot make happy. What youcan do is let people know that you are listening to them (by echoing their concerns) and that, when the budget allows, their needs will be addressed (giving them something to look forward to). Take note: whatever you say you will do, you must do it! The worst thing a leader can do is recognize that there is a legitimate issue and fail to follow through. If this happens, responses to future surveys will be low or inaccurate, since employees will figure that responding is pointless anyway. Always “under promise and over deliver” in everything you say and do.

React carefully, methodically, and promptly to findings: Use the survey responses and interviews to develop a strategy on how to proceed. Be sure to redact any sensitive information—you want to release as much of the report as possible, but it is also important that personal, confidential, and/or damaging comments about individual employees or customers are removed. The purpose of the report is to make positive changes, not demoralize people, and you want employees to feel like they can bluntly express their opinions without hurting others.

Share with management: Because time can allow for better perspective, it is best to look at the findings several times over a 30-day period, searching for important points like a detective looking for clues. When you have thoroughly examined the results, you can either develop your own report of the findings and ideas for improvement or provide them to your management team for them to develop a response. Since our staff faces heavy workloads this time of year, we developed a draft report ourselves and distributed it to our senior leadership team for review and input.

Categorize the findings: Make lists of both positive responses and opportunities for improvement, grouping similar ones together. People naturally focus more on weaknesses, but you should also think about how to elevate good responses to excellent ratings in the future. This promotes a valuable habit of constantly asking, “Can we create excellent outcomes better, faster, and cheaper, while also improving customer and staff happiness?”

Share the results with staff: Consider the best time to give the report to your employees. You don’t want to distribute important information like this during high workload times. We plan to share our draft after late August 2011 but before our companywide meeting takes place in September 2011. During the meeting, employees will break into small groups to discuss the report. We will incorporate their feedback into a final document later in the year and, ultimately, into our strategic plans. By showing employees that we value their opinions and allowing them to impact where our companies will go next, we build trust and buy-in for the future.

Implement improvements: Rather than making changes in bits and pieces over time, study the information, solicit a lot of input, and then develop a comprehensive plan so everyone sees the entire picture. Clarity, comprehensiveness, and consistency are especially important when structural changes to the organization are necessary.As Larry Bossidy, author of the bestseller Execution, told us, “You don’t want a new plan coming out every two weeks!”

Staff surveys should not dictate your entire strategic plan. They are, however, an important tool to document how you are doing and where staff members envision going next. Developing quality strategic plans takes time, effort, and several sources of information. Unfortunately, many business leaders spend more time planning their vacations than they do planning their companies’ futures!

The bottom line: Excellent cultures staffed by the right people push companies to greatness and promote long-term success. Build your team, plan, and culture correctly, and profits will follow!

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 Blake DuBosegraduated from Newberry College School of Business and is president of DuBose Web Group. You can view our published articles at www.duboseweb.com.   

Mike DuBosehas been in business since 1981 and authored The Art of Building a Great Business. He is the servant owner of three debt-free corporations, including Columbia Conference Center, Research Associates, and The Evaluation Group. For more articles, visit his nonprofit website www.mikedubose.com.

Katie Beck serves as senior writer to the DuBose family of companies and graduated from USC School of Journalism and Honors College.

Company Wide Survey 2011

By Blake DuBose and Mike DuBose

In Parts I and II of this series, we defined what culture means and the symptoms of a toxic work environment. This installment will address ways for leaders to capture an accurate picture of their organizations’ culture. As we noted, some leaders are clueless about what is really going on in their businesses. Then, suddenly, profits are spiraling downward, they are in the midst of a major crisis, and it is often too late to regain control. Actually, most businesses will emit faint warning signals when problems are brewing, but they are easily missed by leaders without systems that give them accurate information about successes, mistakes, and failures. Staff and managers often tell senior leaders what they want to hear, when in reality, the house is on fire!

In 2007, we found ourselves in a quagmire. An anonymous survey showed that 75% of employees in two of our companies were unhappy, and many planned to leave within five years. Fortunately, we were able to step back, acknowledge the causes and symptoms of the issue, and develop a new plan to turn our toxic workplaces around. Just four years later, most of our employees look forward to coming to work each day!

There are several things you need to do to take the pulse of your business’ culture. The first step is developing a comprehensive plan for obtaining an accurate snapshot of your organization. The following are suggestions for that plan, which can be developed in-house and/or with the aid of an independent consultant (we recommend utilizing both).

Avoid biased analysis: The leadership team needs to ensure that all feedback on the condition of the business and the culture are accurate and nonbiased. Various people may participate in gathering the information, but once complete, the final results should flow directly to the highest levels possible (preferably, to the company president). This allows the findings to bypass any individuals who might filter, pollute, change, misinterpret, and/or alter the results to inaccurately make them, others, and/or the business look better than they actually are. The fewer people who touch the information the better; we suggest minimizing bias in reporting by hiring a competent, experienced outside consultant to analyze the results.

Clearly communicate your plans to everyone: Let staff at all levels know what you are doing, your goals, and the process that will take place. To attract buy-in and staff participation, invite all employees to review and comment on your plans, surveys, and processes. Stress to them that the results will be confidential so they can express their true thoughts without fear. Leaders must also commit to making changes based on the results; staff will find taking future surveys pointless if they do not feel that actions are being taken to address their concerns. Do not rush this process!

Conduct a confidential survey: We utilized a University of South Carolina doctoral student (one of our graduate assistants) to design our survey with input from leaders and employees. The student also compiled the responses and provided a narrative report to senior leadership. You can contact the associate dean at your local university’s schools of psychology, public health, business, social work, or education to inquire about contracting with a graduate student (preferably a doctoral student in their last two years of study) to conduct your survey. Another option is to use survey software called Zarca (www.zarca.com), which allows employees to anonymously respond to a questionnaire via Internet link. Some employees may still be paranoid about comments being traced back to them, so we suggested that our staff use computers at the public library, friends’ homes, etc. to complete the survey. To further encourage honest responses, ask them not to place their names or any other identifying information on the survey.

When formulating the survey, develop a variety of question types: open-ended, true/false, Likert scale assessments, etc. Ensure that your questions are simple (12^th grade reading level or lower), relevant, and reasonable in number. The entire survey should take no longer than 30 minutes to complete; otherwise, response rates may be low. It is also a good idea to provide an incentive to take the assessment, such as allowing employees to leave work a few hours early. Beware: graduate students, university academic staff, consultants, and survey developers tend to ask an excessive number of high-level questions on surveys. Thus, for each survey question, ask yourself, “Do we really need this item? How will we use the information to make our company better?” Grouping your questions by category will also make the survey easier to read. Open-ended questions will generate the most valuable information, so ensure that you allow adequate room for people to express themselves and explain their answers. Here are sample questions you might consider using:

Open-ended Questions

• What do you like most about the company?
• If you could make any changes within the company, what would they be?
• What do you like most about leadership?
• What are leadership’s opportunities for improvement?
• Please describe the five greatest values (if any) within our company.
• What are the five greatest things (if any) you value in a workplace? Please comment on how our company does or does not address them.
• What do you think the greatest problems with our company are?

True-False

• Most days, I look forward to coming to work.
• I can share concerns or disagreements with my supervisor and others without fear.
• My opinions and suggestions are valued.
• My supervisor cares about me.
• I like most of the people with whom I work.
• Decisions within the company are made on a timely basis.
• I know what is expected of me in my job.

Likert Scale

• Rate your level of job-related stress. (1=low-stress and 10=very stressful )
• Please rate your salary. (1=poor and 10=excellent)
• Please rate the fringe benefits you receive from the company. (1=poor and 10=excellent)
• Please rate how well our company executes or gets things done. (1=poor and 10=excellent)
• Please rate the quality of the company’s overall work. (1=poor and 10=excellent)
• Overall, how would you rate your satisfaction with your job? (1=poor and 10=excellent)
• Please rate how ethical the company’s leaders are. (1=very unethical and 10=very ethical)

Seek outside help: Once our survey was completed, we hired an independent leadership consultant to gather his own findings. He conducted one-on-one confidential interviews with our employees to probe deeper into their responses, asked follow-up questions as an outsider, and then developed a confidential report of the results. Between our survey and his report, we had a very clear picture of our companies’ problems and their causes that could be used as we planned a strategy to improve the companies.

Assess customer satisfaction: You should already be assessing client happiness on an ongoing basis (at least once a year; more often is ideal). Again, confidential surveys are the best way to solicit unbiased feedback. At our Columbia Conference Center, we assess customer satisfaction after every encounter with a simple one-page survey (you can view the assessment at www.columbiameetings.com/survey). The responses go directly to the conference center’s president via a self-addressed stamped envelope, by fax, or by on-line. They are then shared with all staff to celebrate customer happiness or pinpoint opportunities for improvement.

Of course, there are other options and strategies as well. You may choose to develop and implement a structured survey yourself using software like Zarca, you could interview each employee yourself, or you could ask a trusted employee to conduct the survey. However, if your workplace is truly toxic, employees will most likely not share their true thoughts for fear of punishment. If trust is an issue, you may have to ask an objective outside party to step in and do the work.

The key is to assess the heart of your organization using a variety of methods that will generate the greatest, most truthful returns. We have learned that the more ways you ask for feedback, the higher the chances will be of getting an accurate look at how your organization really functions.

Bottom Line: Be careful about developing new strategies until you accurately understand the issues, problems, and the true causes behind them. Many times, leaders develop pathways to the future based on misperceptions, strengths, or symptoms—not causes—of problems. To build great companies, you must look at the entire picture, however ugly it may be.

Our next article will focus on strategies for changing toxic workplaces into exciting places to work. We did it, and so can you!

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Blake DuBose graduated from Newberry College School of Business and is president of DuBose Web Group. View our published articles at www.duboseweb.com.

Mike DuBose has been in business since 1981 and is the author of The Art of Building a Great Business. He is the servant owner of three debt-free corporations, including Columbia Conference Center, Research Associates, and The Evaluation Group. Visit his nonprofit website at www.mikedubose.com.

Katie Beck serves as senior writer to the DuBose family of companies. She graduated from the USC School of Journalism and Honors College.

By Blake DuBose and Mike DuBose 

No business or organization is perfect. Even those deemed “great” by Jim Collins in his bestseller Good to Great are vulnerable to dysfunction, mistakes, and failure, and there are some people who are impossible to please (employees or otherwise). In Part I of our series, we examined culture and how it impacts relationships between employees, leaders, vendors, community, and profit. In this column, we will define the symptoms of poisonous environments, beginning with a true story of a toxic culture. 

In 1972, shortly after graduating from college, Mike applied for a job as a counselor (or headhunter) with a North Carolina employment agency. Its stated purpose was to link prospective applicants with available jobs. Mike was impressed by the modern office and sharp executives he met during the interviews, and helping others find employment seemed like a rewarding job. Upon accepting the position, he was sent off for two weeks of what he thought would be in-depth training in helping others. However, while at the training school, he was expected to learn how to “break” applicants into accepting any job offered, however low the salary, and was also instructed to send them out to jobs he knew would not materialize. It was essentially a “bait and switch” operation. He and others were later summoned by management to lively group discussions on fictitious job openings to advertise in the classified section of the newspaper. He was told to tell applicants that the (nonexistent) advertised positions had been filled but other jobs were available, continuing the “bait and switch” philosophy. The work culture was also filled with shady characters. Lying was ingrained into their personalities, and everyone was out for their own interests. Gossip and bickering were their way of life, and management used open meetings to praise those who excelled in unethical practices. The business’ purpose and mission were to profit, regardless of how it was done. Stunned and dismayed, Mike quit the job after two weeks.

Does this scenario remind you of anything? What about the housing and banking industries’ recent collapse? Lehman Brothers, the 4^th largest bank in the US, experienced the largest bankruptcy in history. The greedy culture that made it a profitable business also drove it to fail. Likewise, some banks and housing organizations were so focused on short-term profit that they lent 110% of the value of a home to applicants who they knew could not afford the payments. Many homeowners lost their jobs and could not pay their mortgages, so the banks foreclosed but then could not sell the houses. The bubble burst, and now we are all suffering through The Great Recession! Some experts say that it may take ten years before all the foreclosed homes are cleared from the system.

We know that no two cultures are the same, but experience and research have identified symptoms of organizational dysfunction that can lead to business failure. The more of the following 27 items your company experiences, the greater the chances of it becoming a toxic workplace. (Sadly, one manager we recently hired came from a company where most of these factors existed.)

Keep your business in mind as you read over these symptoms:

• Employees chase any and every way to make a dollar. If you were to ask them for the mission or purpose of the business, they would say, “To make money.”
• There is a high employee turnover rate. Many high achievers leave; the people who stay are often troublemakers or average to incompetent workers.
• Employees take excessive leave time, are frequently late to work, take long lunch hours, and maximize their break times. If you value your life, you’d better not be near the exit at 5:00 PM as they stampede out the door!
• Management creates unhealthy competition, making “winners” and “losers” where there should be team unity. Bickering, disagreements, back-stabbing, temper flare-ups, and turf guarding are common.
• Large numbers of customers complain about the service and products, but there is a “who cares” philosophy towards helping them resolve complaints. Employees hide behind policies to avoid taking ownership customer problems or issues. Quality is not job # 1.
• Managers and employees alike blame and point fingers when something goes wrong. The more people who know about an employee’s failure, the better, causing staff to hide or cover up mistakes to avoid humiliation by managers. But although weaknesses are emphasized, strengths are overlooked.
• People rush to take credit for their ideas (or even others’ ideas.) “I’ is used much more frequently than “we.”
• Staff members work in silos and separate themselves from their teams.
• Promotions are based on seniority and relationships, not competency. Rewards are spread amongst all employees regardless of merit.
• Management turns a blind eye on top producers, allowing them to blatantly break the rules although policies are rigidly enforced on others. They have big egos and reward those who “kiss up” and agree with them.
• Leaders squash new ideas and suggestions on how to do things better. They have a “my way or the highway!” outlook and are often in denial of problems in the business.
• Employees are disengaged and confined to narrow job descriptions by micromanagers who do not trust staff to branch out of their roles or operate on their own. Managers require frequent updates, feel they know more than their employees, and have low tolerance for mistakes.
• Professional development and training opportunities are non-existent or a very low priority.
• All decisions must go through a lengthy, time-consuming bureaucracy with rigid hierarchy and rules; this means projects often stall or are not completed on a timely basis.
• Employees live in fear of verbal intimidation. Foul language, bullying, harassment, and racist or sexist comments are all allowed.
• Staff members dislike and often gossip about each other. They do not participate in planned or informal company social events.
• No one volunteers to “go the extra mile” to help others. They often say, “It is not in my job description.”
• Leaders set unrealistic goals or quotas. If salespeople meet the goals, greedy managers raise them again and again until superstars leave out of exasperation. The more you produce, the more you are expected to do. Impatient leaders want instant results and overnight miracles.
• People are treated like machines. They can never give enough, work long enough, or produce enough. Leaders expect employees to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of the harmful effects on their families or personal lives.
• Unethical, immoral, and illegal behaviors are allowed. Management says one thing and does another.
• The company frequently reorganizes the business structure in a misguided attempt to find that “magic bullet.”
• Leaders talk negatively about each other and other employees, inappropriately sharing sensitive and confidential information.
• The overriding philosophy is to “trust no one!”
• Staff members are fearful for their jobs. When layoffs occur, they come in waves and foster distrust and fear.
• People don’t smile or have fun. There are few celebrations and managers grab all the attention and credit for any successes.
• Incompetent, negative employees are allowed to hang around and further pollute the culture.
• The business owners do not share profit with employees. They take most of the extra money for themselves instead of reinvesting profits into resources staff members need to succeed, become more effective, or increase efficiency.

So…how does your business stack up? Have you seen any of these 27 toxic behaviors in your workplace?

Our next article will discuss how to recognize these symptoms and assess whether they are in the early stages or have progressed to major problems.  The bottom line: You must be aware of what these symptoms are before you can determine their causes and develop strategies to address them.

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Blake DuBose graduated from Newberry College School of Business and is president of DuBose Web Group. View our published articles at www.duboseweb.com.

Mike DuBose has been in business since 1981 and is the author of The Art of Building a Great Business. He is the servant owner of three debt-free corporations, including Columbia Conference Center, Research Associates, and The Evaluation Group. Visit his nonprofit website at www.mikedubose.com.

Katie Beck serves as senior writer to the DuBose family of companies. She graduated from the USC School of Journalism and Honors College.