PowerLink February 21, 2021 Blog: 4 Lessons Learned from PowerLink Advisory Board Meetings of 2021 – “The Art of Delegation” and a Sneak Preview of the March Sessions….
“The only way to predict the future is to create it.” -Peter Drucker
We’ve been waiting for 2021 all of last year—for a view of business that is more like 2019—more normal….an easier business life. Not quite there, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. This month, we worked with more than 171 small business owners who attended one of our 14 Community Advisory Boards or Private one-on-one mentoring sessions over Zoom. The topic was the reinforcing of our 2021 Revenue Goal and our Top Three Goals (or “Rocks”) we need to achieve by March 31st. February for PowerLink participants was asking ourselves the toughest questions of the year: (1) Am I clear about where I want to take my business? (2) Am I clear about the top three business challenges I have to overcome in the first three months of the year? (3) Am I clear about how I am delegating some of these tasks to others? (employees, contractors, sub-contractors, or vendors).
In 90 minutes of talking, writing, sharing, laughing and listening this month, here were a few of the Lessons Learned from February 2021 among Powerlink Small Business Owners across the United States about “The Art of Effective Delegation.”:
1. 1. "I delegated social media posting to my administrative assistant. So far she has written nothing and says she is too busy to respond to my request.” This was a common theme. Our owners this month were able to describe a task that did not get done in complete detail. So, what were some of the solutions? There were basically three ideas that seemed workable (1) Break down the task into steps and review each step slowly with your delegate. (2) Show the delegate examples of completed work that they can copy. (3) Be clear about how much time they think it will take (frustrating to hear but will probably take longer than you are doing it yourself). Schedule time to review the work after each deadline. Rinse and repeat.
- “I’m about to hire an employee in operations. The last time I hired someone, they were very irresponsible and cost me the loss of a large customer. What did I do wrong?” Delegating to someone new is a challenge for most of the owners in every single meeting if they had less than 3 employees. Here were the ideas generated to solve that problem: (1) Be clear about what’s important to you-the owner-about a person in that job. So, if “highly responsible” is important, put that in the job ad and interview for it and test for it yes, there is a personality test to determine if someone is highly responsible!) Here is the link: Free DISC Test - DISC Personality Testing (2) Train for every aspect of the job so the new hire has a clear idea of what is expected of them. Yes, this is very time consuming! (3) Measure and evaluate what is important and make the new employee report back on how they are doing. If you want them to deliver all services in less than 48 hours, ask them to report on the turnaround time of all the jobs they work on.
- “I am watching my business partner delegate a task badly, and the outcome effects my area. How do I fix it?” We heard this in lots of iterations….secondhand delegation. The solutions were straightforward: (1) Agree on a simple metric to measure if the delegation worked. For example, this owner watched her partner delegate website upgrades to a vendor. The outcome was supposed to be new, quality leads flowing at about 1-2 per week. So far, zero leads are flowing. Don’t focus on how, focus on what-8 new customer inquiries per month. (2) Agree on timeline. If needed, start scheduling a weekly meeting with your partner and the vendor until the issue is resolved. starting the new year at 40% above last year with new contracts. Now I have to figure out how to deliver service through my team. Not just me doing everything.”
- “I delegated to someone who keeps asking for more information to fix the problem. But if I knew how to fix it, I would. How should I deal with this?” Owners come in all shapes and sizes. But a common divide is orientation to detail. If an owner is a “big picture type” delegating to a “detailed type,” delegation can be a nightmare for both. We heard one of these stories in almost every meeting this month. The solution is easy actually. The big picture owner needs to sit with the detailed delegate and sift through report, web site, pricing (whatever the task) options until the big picture owner “sees” a solution they like intuitively. Then the more detailed partner or employee can safely start to perform by copying that format.
- We have pages and pages of other delegation challenges to goals for 2021. I’ll post more in March. Our March Topic is how to drive more revenue through on-line and technology strategies especially through FaceBook and Instagram.” Please text (412.721.3186) if you want to bring another business owner. Send all their contact information. See you in March on Zoom! -Anita
Calendar of Events: PowerLink March 2021:
Here is the Calendar for March 2021 (Community Advisory Boards). If you are not already registered and interested in joining any group (you may do up to two meetings per month with your program fee), just email or text me. It is $150 per month plus any scholarship that you qualify for if you decide to participate. The first meeting is always complimentary thanks to our foundation and grant sponsors. Thanks to a multi-sponsor scholarship program through PNC Charitable Trust, Standard Bank Foundation, FNB Bank Foundation, Huntington Bank and Citizen’s Bank (2020/2021), we may be able to lower program fees to free or $25 if you qualify.
If you are new to PowerLink or returning but not registered through the program, let us know if you want to register for any of the monthly meetings in March over our Zoom platform by texting your contact info to 412.721.3186:
Monday, March 8, 2021 4:30-6 PM Executive CEO Circle --$1 million and more (open to our larger PowerLink companies, manufacturing companies and alums anywhere in the US with $1 to $10 million growth and income goals). 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
Tuesday, March 9, 2021: 8:30-10 am Succession Only CEO Circle—only for companies intending to sell their business or pass it to their children or employees in the next 5 years (for our more mature PowerLink companies anywhere in the US. March Topic is 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. Delegating this to Your Heir Apparent or Hired CEO. How to let go of the reins to the next in line for leading the company. Register by text to Harry Edelman, Regional Director at 412.389.5297 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested. Facilitated by an experienced Mergers and Acquisitions specialist with a passion for helping smaller companies exit successfully.
Tuesday, March 9, 2021: 4-5:30 pm City of Pittsburgh Businesses sponsored by Citizen’s Bank—to promote growth and new business strategy. March Topic is 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
(NEW for 2021) Tuesday, March 9, 2021: 5:30 – 6:30 pm City of Youngstown, OH Businesses sponsored by Citizen’s Bank—to promote growth and new business strategy. An after-hours roundtable for business owners starting businesses while holding a full-time job. March Topic is 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
Wednesday, March 10, 2021: 11-12:30 am Pittsburgh East—PowerLink Without Walls II – Community Advisory Board to promote growth and new business strategy. March Topic is 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
(NEW) Wednesday, March 10, 2021: 5-6:30 pm Retail Only Community Advisory Board in Indiana PA (open to retailers and downtown/urban location businesses) to promote growth and new business strategies beyond bricks and mortar street traffic. March Topic is 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested or contact Linda at Downtown Indiana (DI) at linda@downtownindiana.org .
Thursday, March 11, 2021: 8:00-9:30 am Harrisburg/York Regional Community Advisory Board sponsored by FNB Bank to promote growth and new business strategy. March Topic is 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. By invitation only. Register by text to Sherry Jordan, PowerLink Regional Director at 814.881.8106 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
(NEW) Tuesday, March 16, 2021: 11 am-12:30 pm: PowerLink without Walls I for Small Businesses Anywhere in the World —to promote growth and innovative new business strategies regardless of your location. For owners doing $150,000+ in annual revenue wanting to hit $1M in the next 5 years). March Topic is 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
(NEW) Tuesday, March 16, 2021: 3-5:30 pm: Penn State PowerLink Community Advisory Board for Contractors Only—if your business is connected in any way to facilities, construction, design, renovation or maintenance and you want to grow through private sector and government contracting, this group will limit its discussion to only construction/maintenance related marketing and new business strategies. March Topic is 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
Wednesday, March 17, 2021: 2-3:30 pm: Westmoreland County CC Community Advisory Board sponsored by Standard Bank: to promote growth and new business strategy. March Topic is 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested. Or you can text Courtney at the Westmoreland County Chamber at 724.880.1703.
(NEW) Wednesday, March 17, 2021: 5-6:30 pm Downtown Washington, PA Businesses sponsored by Huntington Bank and PCRG—to promote growth and innovative new business strategies in the urban/merchant areas of the City of Washington. March Topic is 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested. Or you can contact Ramon at PCRG rfoster@pcrg.org ;Christy at PCRG crowing@pcrg.org or Sara at Downtown Washington, PA sara@downtownwashingtonpa.com
(NEW for 2021) Thursday, March 18, 2021: 12:30 – 1:30 pm City of Youngstown, OH Businesses sponsored by Citizen’s Bank—to promote growth and new business strategy. March Topic is 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested.
Thursday, March 18, 2021: 3:30-5 pm Washington County Businesses sponsored by the Peters Township Chamber of Commerce and Huntington Bank—to promote growth and innovative new business strategies. March Topic is 7 Steps to Driving more Revenue through On-Line and Technology Strategies-especially FaceBook and Instagram”. Also share your own online tactics. By invitation only. Register by text to 412.721.3186 with your email and location desired if you are new and interested. Or you can contact Brian/Kelley at the Peters Township Chamber of Commerce at brian@peterstownshipchamberofcommerce.com
Also note that our March session will also let everyone share their key New Business challenge and let the group help “crush” that challenge with insight based on experience, lessons learned and mentoring. These meetings are private and confidential. You must register in advance to attend as a guest.
Have a productive and prosperous 2021! A.
Anita Brattina, CEO and Board Chair, PowerLink
1501 Ardmore Boulevard, Suite 404, Pittsburgh PA 15221, 412.721.3186 (M), anita.brattina@allfacilities.com, www.powerlink.org
“Helping small and emerging companies achieve their next level of success through access to executive and CEO advisors.” A Pennsylvania 501(c)3 corporation.
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