No Moby: How To Whale-proof Your Small Business Finances
It is the middle of the business day
It is the middle of the business day. Do you know what your finance team is doing? In an ordinary company somewhere in the world a rouge employee is operating with the means and motive to create financial havoc. Will this happen on your watch? There are ways to reduce the opportunity for financial disaster in your small business by spotting and harpooning the company whale.
I have been in many leadership positions in the military as well as corporate America. Leadership is the core of the well-functioning team. Training, financial controls, and character are powerful causes of team success. The absence of these factors makes a fertile environment for rouge behavior.
Training: Employees that are well trained are extra eyes and ears to spot and report unauthorized activities. More companies are taking on the role of educator by providing elementary and advanced training for staffers. Executive coaching programs are particularly effective because they can provide customized and flexible programs to meet the needs of your employees.
Financial Controls: Make sure you have adequate firewalls and financial safeguards in place. Limit the ability of any one person or group of people to make large financial commitments without the informed consent of a responsible manager. Checks and balances are extremely important in small business especially when it comes to money, the life blood of the company.
Excellence: Encourage your team to be excellent every minute of every day. There are no acceptable shortcuts that involve a less than excellent contribution. The temptation to coast or take the easy path can lead to unauthorized small business activity. Being excellent does not mean being perfect. I use my executive ability to coach my team members toward excellence.
Reputation: Your reputation is earned over a lifetime and can be destroyed in the flash of a questionable decision. Remind your employees to do everything with the knowledge that it is a direct reflection on the person that brought them to this point. I remember my army drill sergeant who told me that everything I do after graduation will be direct reflection on him. His care and coaching shaped me into the executive I am today. You have to figure out who that mentor is in your life. Encourage your employees to preserve the reputation of the people that they represent.
Commitment: In a world driven by financial gain and material pleasure this is probably the toughest quality to live out each day. We are bombarded by messages that it is alright to lie, cheat and steal for financial gain or to avoid a loss. Be a person whose word is golden and can be trusted to do what they said they would do. Require the same standard from your employees. None of us are perfect but we should move in the direction of that goal.
Honesty: Next to commitment, being honest is the toughest trait to maintain. Always think, act and speak the truth. know that truth is absolute and is not relative to the situation. When we start to rationalize the circumstances and make truth relative to our condition then we are on a constantly shifting foundation. Model the truth for your employees and give them a solid foundation to stand upon.
Courage: You must be able to manage your fears in order to be courageous. Courage is not the absence of fear but the informed decision to move forward in spite of calculated risks. However, courage should be exhibited withing the boundaries of company policy. Being brave doesn't mean breaking the rules.
Loyalty: Promote a policy to always keep the boss informed and not let him or her get blindsided by good or bad news. Encourage your staffers to bring news to you especially news that could cause harm to those around you. Bad new is not like fine wine which gets better with age. Whales that know they might be spotted are less likely to remain on the surface. This makes it more difficult for an employee to carry out rouge activities but can have the unintended consequence of making them dive deeper to avoid detection.
Innovation: Encourage those around you to lead through ideas. The ultimate outcome is for a team to proactively address an issue with an outstanding plan of action with minimal input from the leader. However, executive oversight must be maintained to ensure compliance with company policy
Trust but verify through training and financial controls. The effective executive must coach his team to high levels of excellence, reputation, honesty, commitment, courage, loyalty and innovation. These are powerful causes that drive the team toward desired results and reduce the chance for rouge employee behavior.
by: Michael Shelton
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