Trust in the truth

I usually leave it pretty open as to what I am going to write about in my weekly blog.  I prefer to be current, go with the flow and be open.

As I tossed around what I could write … it became clear that the global focus of this week is one of trust.  Between what is happening down south and who to believe, and the recent election in the UK – it seems to me that much of our challenge today is building trust, keeping it and not betraying it.

Who do you believe is working in the best interests of your country? Who do you think is putting the everyday person first, or does everyone have their own agenda, one that does not include you? How do you know what is true or what is all smoke and mirrors?

As a small business owner, there are some crucial lessons to be learned from the global political arena.  First as you work with your clients and potential customers, it is vital that you build their trust.

Because as is often said, people do business with people that they like and trust. So how do you build that trust?

1.              You are authentic in your dealings with people.

2.              You listen.

3.              You provide what people say they need, not necessarily what you want to provide. In other words, you focus on their agenda, not your own.

4.              You deliver what you say you will deliver. On time. On price.

5.              You are honest about what you can and can’t do.

6.              You care and show your client that you are interested in them as people, not as part of your money train.

Bottom line – you drop your agenda because inevitably it does become a win-win for all.

Another lesson - do not underestimate the power of young people.  As we saw in the UK, when you listen, respect and involve millennials, they will support you.  Ignore them at your own peril.  They are our future. Pay attention.

We live in complicated times. Times when it becomes harder to determine what is truth and what is not.  What we can do as individuals and as business owners is be true to ourselves.  

Because when we do that, we can sleep at night, knowing we have done our best, we’ve stuck to our values and believe that at the end of day, people will trust in what we say and do.

Do your values define your business?

When you say someone is professional, what do you mean?  We had quite the discussion about this at one of our meetings this week, when two profs from University of Guelph came to ask our opinion.

Knowing they were coming, I’d actually given the topic some thought and found it interesting, that it was far easier for me to come up with what is unprofessional – like being late for a meeting, neglecting to say thank you when you’ve received some help,    being indiscreet, or crossing boundaries from professional to personal.

When we delved into this further, there was much conversation about social media,  and Facebook in particular, being the downfall of some folks, who reveal and share way too much personal information, and thereby diminish their standing and regard by others.   Employers just have to check out their Facebook page, and jobs are lost or careers railroaded.

So what does professional behaviour look like?  We felt it was about respect, and not just how you treat people, but the environment and how you communicate with others.

It’s about follow up – delivering on your promises.  It’s having and holding true to a high standard in your career. It’s acknowledging the contributions of others.  And it’s also how you show up in the world – as a person and yes, in how you dress.

The consensus was that Casual Friday has done nothing to enhance the professionalism in the workplace.  In fact, someone remarked that we’ve lost our sense of occasion – when we’d dress up to go out for dinner or a birthday party.

This whole dialogue was a prelude to our next topic – one on values and how our values impact and need to reflect our brand.  Two fairly connected topics in a way, as both hold us to our intentions and as women, often our need to be authentic.

But values are not something we likely give much thought to as we embark on this world of entrepreneurship, and yet we can quickly discover that they impact what we do and won’t do within our business.  It therefore behooves us to think and reflect on what values we hold close and which would be deal-breakers.

I know for myself integrity, honesty, respect and ethical behaviour are all strong values for me and I’ve been in situations when that line has been crossed, and I’ve had to make tough decisions.  In one instance, I quit the project because I did not want to be part of what, in my view,  was unethical.   On another occasion I ended a business partnership as I didn’t like the way she treated my team.

But the other part of digging deep on your values, is that they may well be the deciding factor for a potential client on why they want to go with you, rather than someone else.  So your marketing, your brand and your website presence needs to convey what you hold near and dear.

How do you do that?  By using the words that describe your values in your marketing materials.  By being the leader and role modeling your values to others.  For example, if giving back is important to you, showcase what you do in the community to make a difference.  Have giving back be an integral part of your website. Foster it in your employees – give them time off to volunteer.  Involve them in your philanthropic activities.

We covered a lot of ground in two hours, and I know we all left with plenty to think about, and to do in terms working authentically, professionally and with integrity within our businesses.  

Self-awareness is important – it’s time well-spent.  I encourage you to delve in and reflect. Ask yourself about your values?  How do you convey them to the world, and are you true to them?  What does professional mean to you?

Let us know, it would be fun to keep this dialogue going.

Users are losers

I always enter into a new business relationship thinking about what I can do to help someone achieve their goals, and if they dovetail with mine, even better.

But sadly I am learning that not everyone thinks this way.  Oh they may at first appear to be looking out for your best interests, but they can’t keep it up.  In the end their ulterior motives raise its ugly head, colouring and often damaging the working relationship.

Take the situation of a good friend of mine.  She has a supplier with whom she has had to detail every aspect of their working arrangement, otherwise they would twist it around to suit them best.  No win-win situation here.

Customer service is just not part of their vocabulary.  As far as they are concerned, there seems to be little pride in doing a good job, or let alone an outstanding one.  But like most rotten apples, they got caught out. 

A couple of the packages they mailed out have come back to haunt them, totally damaged because they took short cuts.  In studying the photos from the unhappy customers, my friend finds that these suppliers were not using, yet still charging for, the required packaging and instead were using free material which was inadequate for the task.

To me this flags two issues – they clearly don’t care and they have no ethics.  Their actions are totally dishonest in that they have been charging for a service they are not providing, and they know that they are not providing it. Now we are not talking about a lot of money, but their behaviour causes you to question their values, their moral compass and trust is gone.

The outcome?   They’ve lost the business.  So their attempts to squeeze more money out of their clients has somewhat backfired, because now they are not getting anything.  The gravy train has stopped. My friend is pulling the plug.

And let’s face it, once you have lost trust and there’s no shared philosophy on customer service, honesty and good old-fashioned ethics, you have nothing.  It’s done. It’s toast.

What continues to shock me, is how people can blatantly rip off others, without much conscious.  Another world I guess.  But at the end of the day, in my view, users are just losers, and it will catch up with them.

Personally, I prefer to take the high road.

Trust is a value to be treasured

With the headlines and recent proceedings in government, it is hard to ignore this climate of mistrust that is surfacing as a result.

While I usually try to avoid getting into politics, there have been some valuable lessons to learn from watching Harper in action, in terms of how to avoid and evade difficult questions.   

It actually reminds me of the comments author Stephen Shapiro made recently in that, we often ask the wrong questions.  I certainly found that to be true when I had teenagersJ  

But back to the business lessons because when truth is stretched, trust is lost, and it is very hard to win it back.

I am sure many of us can think of times when people have let us down, led us down the garden path or just disappointed us with their lack of integrity. People do business with people they know and trust.   So if you misuse or abuse that trust, it is quite likely that the relationship will go sour and you will lose that order or contract. 

Also when trust is gone and someone does something questionable, it does lead you to ask what else is being hidden?  What else is the person not ‘fessing up to?  It is very hard to repair that damage, all of which speaks to being honest and upfront in all your dealings.

 Honest, ethical behaviour is important to me.  Break that trust, and sorry, you’re toast.