"Here's me doing it."

Employees.
Employee issues generate the largest responses to my emails/posts, so we'll stick with it for awhile. Employees are the life of any business, particularly the entertainment business. I may be the best entertainer on the farm, but I can't be everywhere at once. I need employees to fill in for me, and you do too.

Authentic business.
Authenticity is most referred to in discussions of your business brand. Is your brand authentic? Is it consistent from answering the phones to the experience at the gate to the website? Are you really farming or is it just a facade?

Authentic management.
Authenticity in management works in a similar way between you and your people. Are you the same in your behavior to staff as you are to guests? Do you treat employees in a similar way? Are you the same person in private that you are in public?

Authentic managers answer: Yes. The question "Are you the same person in private that you are in public?" is a particularly piercing look at yourself and why you behave as you do. I won't try to fully analyze the deep philosophical questions here, but suffice it to say that something is amiss if you are someone completely different in private than you are in public.

I cannot tell you who you should be, but it should be fine to be who you choose in public and private (by private, I simply mean at home with your family.) To identify if this is an issue, ask: Are you quiet and introspective, desiring nothing but time alone when you clock out, but on the clock you are boisterous, gregarious, even "over the top"? Do you smile and glad-hand the public, then go home a drink yourself into a stupor alone?

There are so many personality types, and none of them are wrong, but a two very different types in you will be perceived as fake, lacking authenticity. If it's true, I can assure you that everybody who works with you can already sense it, so you might as well take some time to examine yourself.

Inauthentic Hugh.
My first experience with this in business was after college. I took a job as an ag insurance salesman in a fancy office building. I wore a suit everyday, made 3,000 (literally) cold calls, and in 6 months was sale-less and miserable.

I'd fake it through the day, pretending to be interested in learning coverages and studying for insurance exams. In the evenings, I'd come home and work on Maize Quest with a rush of energy that started the minute I left that stifling office. I felt such an overwhelming sense of relief the day I quit to run Maize Quest full-time it was as if I was reborn into the person I was meant to be.

Later in my adventures, I started an Internet company with a partner and built it part time for nearly 7 years, when I realized again that I had trapped myself in an inauthentic role. Freedom of purpose rolled over me again the day we sold the company.

Your inauthentic activities, actions, business ventures, relationships will never allow you to be truly free. You must release them and return to what you truly love to do.

Lead from the front.
Self analysis is great, but personal change takes a lot of time and effort. So, what can you practically do to make things better on the job today? To build your authentic leadership brand with your employees, lead from the front.

Do you do what you ask the employees to do? If you ask employees to put tool back, put them back. If you ask employees to smile at guests, you smile at guests. If you ask employees to clean up the trash, pick up trash.

You simply must show them; "Here's me doing it! I'm not asking you to do anything I wouldn't do."

They don't know anything.
In computer/text speak, that phrase could read...
They don't know anything :-(
or They don't know anything :-)

Fact: Employees don't know anything. Even if they know a lot of stuff, they don't know anything. What a great opportunity! You can mold new, especially young, employees into the people you want them to be. They start at zero! Nothing to unlearn!

As you train employees to complete the task they need to complete as part of their jobs, use "Here's me doing it" instead of verbal instructions. Partner with them in the position for the first few weeks, popping in and out at random times to show them exactly how they should do it to match how you would do it.

Along the way, you will find many opportunities to model for them appropriate speech, jokes, interactions, scripts, problem assessments and resolutions. Remember that they don't know ANYTHING, so you get the opportunity to model EVERYTHING.

Set your expectations...
HIGH. Be authentic. Model desired behaviors and you'll be surprised how quickly employees you want to keep, rise to the top.

I've been preaching about the importance of creating value for your customers and guests through social media. It's a crucial step in marketing to a new generation of customers for each of your businesses. It's not been easy for me to learn everything I need to know to put out a weekly email newsletter, now blog, twitter, facebook, and video blog weekly...

...but "Here's me doing it."

Thanks for reading.
Have a great week. - Hugh

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