,,,The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps. – Mary Kay Ash

So just curious, how do you treat your employees?   Are they a valued part of your company?  Do you treat them like you don’t want to lose them?  Or do your really not think about them at all?    I watch many business owners and boards interact with their employees, many on a daily basis.  I’ve seen great examples of how to treat an employee and some great examples of how not to treat an employee.  So here is the good, the bad and the ugly. 

The good:  I’ve seen employees treated with respect and valued for their contributions.  I’ve seen employees be given a lot of leeway in their jobs to perform those jobs.  I’ve seen employees be taken on an individual basis and then given tasks to reflect their skill set.  I’ve seen some great reward systems put into place for employees.  I’ve seen great leave packages put together so that employees feel valued. 

The bad:  I’ve seen bosses who blame every failure of the company on their employees instead of taking the responsibility themselves.  I’ve seen bosses who want to do the employees jobs instead of giving up control and allowing the employee to do what they were hired to do.  I’ve seen bosses continually be poor communicators, but always blame their employees for the miscommunication. I’ve seen bosses take credit for the hard work an employee did instead of allowing that employee to shine.  

The ugly:  I’ve seen bosses sexually harass employees.  I’ve seen bosses who very rarely show up for work, but still get paid.  I’ve seen a boss show up to work in cut off shorts and flip flops in the summer (when he actually did show up for work).  I’ve seen boards cover for bad bosses time and time again.  I’ve seen board members try to take employees jobs.  I’ve heard of bosses who are robbing companies blind and their board refuses to discuss it with any of the employees and the employees are so afraid of losing their jobs that they keep their mouths shut. 

This is just a short list of the things I’ve seen. So, what have you seen? What kind of boss are you?  

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

...The Art of the RSVP

R.S.V.P. stands for a French phrase, "répondez, s'il vous plaît," which means "please reply.”  So why is it so hard for people to do just that?  Or respond to an RSVP saying the will attend something and then not show up.  So two of my biggest pet peeves as a person who likes to have parties/gatherings are the people who just don’t bother to RSVP and show up or the ones who RSVP and then don’t show.  It’s just plain rude!

I know we are all busy but we all have these handy little things called calendars.  That way you can organize your day and your week. Don’t get me wrong, I know things come up at the last minute and sometimes we just can’t be where we said we’d be, but I think this happens way too often in our society. 

I wonder if respect for other people’s time and money is the issue.   When people put on events especially involving food, there are costs associated with those events. When too few people show up when they said they would or more people show up than RSVP’d then there are problems.   I hate it when my nonprofit goes to the expense of food and not many show up compared to the number of people who RSVP.  The same thing goes for meetings. It’s tough to have a meeting with six people who RSVP only to have two actually show up.

So think about it the next time you promise to be somewhere or want to attend an event. Think about those people responsible for that event and respect what they are doing.  

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

...Just Show Up

They say eighty percent of success is just showing up.  I head a committee of about 25 people. The agreement is that once a month we show up for a committee meeting to do our work. What I found when I took over as the chair of that committee was that very few people were actually showing up to the committee but were being allowed to hold a title associated with the committee. 

It didn’t take me long to institute an attendance policy.  I was unsure how people would react to suddenly being held to a standard on this committee. What I have found is that it has been very positive. For those people who have been showing up on a fairly regular basis they are relieved that someone actually addressed the issue. 

What I found is that it wasn’t fair to allow people to have the perks without doing the work.  If the rest of us were there putting in the time and doing the work, then you should be too, if you wanted to be on this committee.  Now it seems like such a simple concept.  If you make the commitment, then fulfill the commitment. Don’t give me fifty excuses as to why you can’t be there. Either show up and do the work or leave the committee. 

It’s pretty much the same way with anything we do in life.  We make commitments, appointments, etc. with people for a reason. If you don’t honor those commitments how long do you think it takes for people to stop making those appointments with you?   When you are running your business, are you making sure that you are fulfilling your commitments to everyone like your staff, your customers?  Because if you aren’t it won’t take any of them long to find someone else to work for or to do business with.  

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

....How Do You Like to Work?

What type of work environment do you like?  Are you the kind of person who likes a totally peaceful work environment or one who thrives when there are lots of people around to interact with?  Or are you a combination of the two?  It’s always interesting to see how people function when they work.  I love to get in the office early every morning and have about an hour of quiet time.  It gives me a chance to think about the day- look over emails and generally ease into my day. But I also like to have others around to bounce off ideas and talk about projects. 

So when you work alone, how do you balance that alone versus being around others time? Some people join groups which help keep them up to date on issues and their industry but it also allows for that time to connect with others.  Some people have a trusted business friend that they might invite to lunch or coffee.  Others join co-working spaces in order to have some together time with like-minded professionals. 

So think about how YOU like to work.  Make sure you are getting enough of whatever it is you need.  We spend a lot of time working, make sure you make your time exactly what you need it to be.  

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

...Nice Guys Don't Always Finish Last Part 2

So if you read my last blog you know I wrote about a business owner who seems to keep his employees happy and at their jobs.  What is his secret?  For one, it’s a fun place to work.  When Coastal Consultants was here at BizWorks their offices were beside mine.  I always said it was like coming to work at Comedy Central. The guys were just funny!   But they still managed to get their jobs done. Eric has a great sense of humor as do most of his employees and they aren’t afraid to make a joke about each other or themselves. 

Michael Kerr, an international business speaker, president of Humor at Work, and author of The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses are Laughing all the Way to the Bank (Dec. 2013), says “In workplaces that encourage people to be themselves–that are less hierarchical and more innovative–people tend to be more open with their humor.  Even people who aren’t always comfortable sharing their humor tend to do so in more relaxed environments where the use of humor becomes second nature with everyone’s style.”

This is how Coastal functions. People are encouraged to be themselves led by Eric who is truly himself in whatever situation that arises.  Humor in the work place can do wonders for employee morale.  Having happy employees just doesn’t happen - you need to work to make it happen.  

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Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

...Nice Guys Don't Always Finish Last

When people say “Nice guys finish last”, they haven’t met Eric Ertzner. Eric is the owner of Coastal Consultants, LLC, which is a survey company.  Coastal does a lot of surveys for gas lines and such.   When Eric started with BizWorks he didn’t think his company would grow very much, or wasn’t sure he wanted it to really grow. He thought he would be content with a very small company doing most of the work himself. 

Once he got going though, work flowed his way and he had to hire employees.  When Eric moved this past July from BizWorks he employed around 20 people. Most of those employees have been with Eric for five years or longer.  His employees rarely leave once they come on to work there.  His secret, well he is a really nice guy and takes care of his employees.  Now are his employees happy all the time? Of course not - no employee ever is, but they are obviously happy enough to stay with the company.

So, are you a nice boss? Do you think of ways to take care of your employees?  Can you think of ways to make sure they have what they need? Can you provide benefits to them? Some employers can and some just financially make it happen.  But creating a work environment where employees are happy is not an easy thing to do.

There will be more to come in my next blog on how he seems to have happy employees.   

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Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

...Customer Complaints

Customer Complaints

I have to make a lot of keys for our building here at BizWorks.  I have been using a local hardware company not a big box company.  I was hoping that by using a small shop I would get better service and the keys might actually work most of the time.  

What I’ve found is the service was good, not great but good and the keys for the most part had to be taken back (one set three times). So I took the last set back today and the manager had to ring in the refund to help the cashier.  She neither acknowledged me as a customer nor apologized to me for having to come back in to make the return for a faulty set of keys. 

This was disturbing on many levels.  First, I go in there regularly to have keys made.  Second, as a manager she should have been concerned about the fact that I brought in keys that would not work.  And third, she should have at least acknowledged me. 

So when you have a complaint or a return, are you and your staff handling customers correctly?  Are they leaving you knowing that whatever the issue, things were handled with care and you and your staff were concerned about their experience?   Do customers come back to you time and time again? If not, have you tried to figure out why?  

We all know it’s a lot easier and cheaper to keep a customer than to try to gain a new one. So, why don’t business owners try harder to make sure their current customers are happy? 

The next time you have a customer with a complaint or a return, listen to how your employee treats them and be aware of how you respond. It could be the difference between coming back to you or moving on to another business.    

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Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter