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Post #2 in a series of 6 posts on work/life balance: Where to begin?

When thinking about work/life balance, it’s also useful to consider where you are in your life. Young and unencumbered? Seems like the logical time to put every bit of your energy into building your career or business. Married with small kids at home? Maybe that’s the time to build more family time into your daily routine, even if that means some of your career goals need to go on the back burner for a while.

This sort of thinking seems like conventional wisdom. But what if your parents are elderly and need your help, even as you are in your prime career building years? What if you have a burning desire to spend a year in Africa building schools or helping a local community build desperately needed infrastructure? Or what if you’re a business owner trying to grow your fragile enterprise by squeezing every last ounce of productivity out of your people? Isn’t “balance” the enemy of growth and profit?

Obviously, when it comes to balance, there are no easy answers. That’s why I’m so intrigued with the framework developed by Eric Sinoway and Howard Stevenson, detailed in the October 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review (“No, You Can’t Have It All”). As noted in the article synopsis:

Many of us are struggling to chart a path toward success in our careers and a sense of fulfillment in all aspects of our lives. But we can’t excel simultaneously in every role. Instead, at various points in life we must choose what to emphasize and what to relinquish. The goal is to make the decision consciously instead of unwittingly letting go of the most important item.

All of the above resonates for me… the first two sentences, remind me of a conversation with my brother-in-law (thanks Jon). It was one of those conversations; where you keep replaying it. I shared, I felt guilty. In the past two years, with the death of my dad, significant accident of a friend, two adoptions, and health issues with my wife, I’ve been involved but working less on the business. In spite of this, Intertech has had its best two years ever. I’ve been tremendously lucky in having business partners who’ve “stepped up” (thanks Ryan, Dan, Jim, and Dave). Jon shared there will come a time when others will have similar issues and I’ll be more present in the business while they take care of their families. Simply, it’s life. It’s O.K.

Per the last sentence of the italicized paragraph above, when I was in the early stages of building Intertech, I put the most important relationship in my life—my marriage—at great risk, unwittingly of course. I was younger, ambitious and determined to make my company successful. That meant a lot of long days and many nights working into the wee hours, ignoring my wife and doing less than my fair share around the house. For my first wedding anniversary, I asked my wife to get herself a gift and get takeout… not good ideas!

My drive to succeed could have cost me dearly if my wife hadn’t insisted that I slow down a bit and take a look at my priorities. This is not to say that I lost my ambition or my work ethic, but I slowly began to realize that building the company could not be the only place I put my energy.

Next time I’ll tell you about the framework for making balanced decisions developed by Eric Sinoway and Howard Stevenson.

Post 1 of 6 posts of balance: Finding the elusive personal mix

When we think about a strong investment portfolio, the word “balanced” frequently comes to mind. Why do so many smart people get the importance of balancing investments yet totally overlook the critical nature of finding balance in business and in their personal lives?

As a leader, I think about this issue relative to my employees and my company’s priorities. And, of course, achieving balance in my personal life is of paramount importance to me.

Seems I’m not the only one pondering these issues and trying to make sense of it all. A recent article in Harvard Business Review, “No, You Can’t Have It All” by Eric C. Sinoway (October 2012) provides a thought-provoking framework for “deciding which work-life goals to pursue when.” There’s also a nice Perspectives piece in the November 2012 Minnesota Business magazine called “Keeping the Balance,” which features thoughts on maintaining work/life balance from executive coach and motivational speaker Dr. Verna Price. And I even noticed a recent Star Tribune article, “Street-smart yoga” about a local yoga studio giving free classes to homeless kids to help them develop—you guessed it—balance (and I’m not talking about standing on one leg!)

My next series of posts will take a closer look at an assortment of balance issues—you could say I’m going to take a balanced approach to the topic–as explored in these articles and from my own experience. I’m hoping these posts will inspire you to ask your own tough questions so you (and, if you’re a business owner or manager, your employees) can begin 2013 with a little more balance of your own. With the holidays just around the corner, I realize I could be setting myself up for a pretty tall order!

Post #6 (and last) in the Series: Accountability

Dr. Westerman writes:

Business says: “Why do you make me go through all of this bureaucracy?”

IT says: “Our methodologies are how we make sure everyone does the right thing.”

“It may often seem to business leaders that IT’s answer to every request is more procedures—more forms to complete, reviews to attend and approvals to get. These procedures, or methodologies, require effort, but they help to ensure that nothing important gets forgotten and that everyone knows their roles.

They become a sore point, though, if people don’t understand the purpose of each step, or if the steps become a bureaucracy aimed at enforcing unnecessary rules rather than helping requests to be executed well. As with the prioritization processes described earlier, the best companies have solid IT methodologies, and IT people make it as easy as possible to follow them.

The CIO of a defense contractor decided to convert IT’s development methodology to the same one the firm used for product-development projects. Suddenly, everyone knew what they were supposed to do, what questions to ask of whom, and how to deal with the answers. Executives made better decisions, project performance improved, and so did the relationship between IT and business people.

Creating transparency takes extra time and effort on everyone’s part, especially IT’s. But this is one project that definitely pays. Transparency around performance and decision processes improves the business value of IT and builds trust between business and IT people. As everyone learns to work better together, IT becomes part of the company’s business-level decisions and initiatives, not its own world. When that happens, the marriage of IT and the business side is really working.”

Tom’s Take: In my book, Building a Winning Business, I devote an entire section to working effectively with vendors. Not surprisingly, a fair amount of that section talks about the importance of taking the time to get key things right.

First, take time to select the right partner. Next, it’s crucial to clearly define what’s in and out of a project, identify risks and mitigation plans, have clear lines of responsibility, and, as shared throughout the book, a solid communication plan.

As noted an earlier post, in the world of Agile and Scrum, sprints create visibility and accountability… which is good for customer and vendor alike!

Intertech Featured in “How to collect money after the sale” in The Business Journal

Intertech, as one of the 50 fastest growing firms in Minnesota, was selected by The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal to be included in the Fast 50 Diary.

The Fast 50 Diary is a monthly piece that profiles 10 Fast 50 firms over the course of a year. Each month focuses on a topic.

This month’s topic featured Intertech. The article is How to collect money after the sale.

Better than being a Fast 50 or selected to be profiled is the painting in the background of the picture. It was created by my three year-old. When I showed him the printed article, he looked beyond me and said, “My painting, dad!” Spoken like a true artist.

Here’s a picture of his work (the solid background of the painting was done by our wonderful marketing person… the balance is my son).

Post #5 in the Series: Prioritization

Business says: “I need this right away.”

IT says: “Sure, but three other executives just told me the same thing.”

“IT people are in a tough situation. While they have to provide service to every unit in the organization, business-unit chiefs tend to recognize only the work IT does directly for them. One CIO said, “We need a way to ensure that resources go to the right people, not just to the ones who yell loudest.”

To accomplish that, executives need to decide which projects are most valuable to the company. The most successful companies have clear ways to estimate the value of every proposed project—how much it will boost sales, say, or increase efficiency. Then they have a clear method to decide which projects are most worth doing. Some firms use a steering committee headed by the CFO or CIO. Others use different methods. Whatever method is used, there must be a way to ask tough questions to ensure the company allocates its IT resources wisely.

But it doesn’t end there. Any good manager knows how to game a system like this by inflating a project’s projected value or overstating its prospects of success. So the best companies require executives to report back with evidence on whether each project met its goals. That reduces fibbing and helps executives learn how to drive more value from IT.”

Tom’s Take:

Engaging a third-party IT vendor, such as Intertech, is a great way to supplement a company’s internal resources, particularly when an IT department needs to quickly scale up resources. Consultants provide the metaphorical extra arms and legs needed to get the job done. Beyond bandwidth, vendors can bring new knowledge and expertise that in-house staff may not possess.