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You
hear all of the stories about how I worked my way up the
ladder from a lowly position in the mailroom. I’m the typical
American success story, the person who drives capital like
cattle. Everyone knows I’m the one, the big guy, the top
dog. I call all the shots.
Who
am I? I am the CEO.
But
what did I do to get here? And why should you, the owner
of a DJ business, really care? Well, for starters, I didn’t
get where I am today by sheer luck. No, I belong where I
am today because I’m a good investment. And like all good
investments, I yield returns – positive dollar returns.
And how do I do that? I follow a basic six-step program
that I’ve ingrained into my subconscious and practically
stamped on my forehead. I repeat them like mantras. I don’t
leave home without them.
If you don’t possess these habits, that’s OK. But it is
never too late to start transforming your management style
into one that will yield more money and fewer problems.
Make
an Example of Yourself
As an effective leader, I don’t isolate myself from my employees.
I make sure to listen, advise and exchange information with
the people that work for me. When I do this, I’m showing
to my employees that I expect the same cooperation, effectiveness
and adaptability that I myself have demonstrated. It can
be as small as merely taking time to answer a new hire’s
questions. My availability shows others what I expect of
them, and what my company’s vibe is.
Making an example of myself also creates leaders. Don’t
mistake this with creating competition. A great company
looks to develop leadership in its employees. Believe me,
it makes the next step much easier.
Delegate
Effectively
Delegating
is a difficult balancing act. On one hand, I want to be
able to give my employees jobs to do so I can free up some
time for other tasks. On the other hand, the temptation
to micromanage the very tasks I want to get rid of can be
hard to overcome. The backbone of delegation is entrusting
my authority to others: I’m trusting them to act and make
decisions independently. For example, every time you give
one of your DJs a job, you’re trusting that he’ll go out
and give a good performance because you’ve given him the
authority, and hopefully the training, to handle new situations
as they arise. It’s useless if your DJ needs to check back
with you for every unexpected situation that might come
up during an event. For best results, make sure that when
you delegate, the employee knows what you want, has the
authority to achieve it and the knowledge to accomplish
it. For example, you’re in a tight spot, and you need a
new DJ trainee to cover for someone at a 250-person wedding.
You send him off and first thing Monday morning you’re on
the phone with an irate bride. This trainee lacked two of
the most important qualities needed to run a successful
event: authority (through experience) and know-how. Tsk-tsk.
Communicate a Clear Vision
To me, vision is the sum total of the goals I have for my
business. When I let my employees in on what I want my company
to be, they feel more involved in its accomplishment. So
say you’re a smallish DJ company right now, but you have
plans to add 10 systems over the next five years. Let your
DJs know how you see your company expanding and what their
place will be in it.
Be
A Good Teacher
Not
only is it important that I tell my employees where I see
the company going in the future, but I need to make sure
they learn the skills to help the business get there. This
is called “business literacy.” What’s this? Business literacy
requires that I, as CEO, have complete knowledge of how
to get the job done. As a DJ company owner, this means you
need to know every aspect of your business from effective
ways of generating bookings to the execution and the follow-up.
If you can’t teach your employees this, you can’t expect
them to perform at their highest level. If you can teach
your employees, you save yourself the headache of micromanaging,
or babysitting, your employees and you teach them both what
to do and how to manage themselves.
Mind
Your P’s
The five P’s of leadership, according to my business consultant
friend, Wally Bock, are Pay attention, Praise, Punish, Pay
and Promote. I can’t pay attention to everything, so effective
leaders figure out what the big issues are. This is Pareto’s
Law (Vilfredo Pareto was a late19th-century economist),
familiar to most people as the 80/20 law. Basically, the
rule says that 20-percent of what you do will get you 80-percent
of what you want – in other words, results. The biggest
issue is deciding what makes up that 20-percent.
The
next “P” is for praise. Praise is a great way to motivate
my employees to continue those habits that are beneficial
to my company. Say one of your DJs was approached, during
an event, by a guest who had a stack of CDs he wanted played.
Your DJ diplomatically played one or two songs but explained
to the guest that his first priority was to take care of
his clients. To praise this action, if it adheres to your
company’s philosophy, will encourage your employee to continue
to handle similar situations in the same way.
Mirroring
this is the third “P” – punishment. Punishing an employee,
say, for being consistently late to gigs by cutting down
on the amount of jobs you give him, is a tangible way to
show him there’s consequences to his actions. The idea is
that he’ll wake up and realize that if his actions aren’t
benefiting him, they’re certainly not benefiting the company.
Pay
is another way to reward people for doing well. If one of
your DJs has managed to book gigs from a prior event, reward
him. Rewards don’t necessarily have to come as cash. Get
creative. Give away movie tickets, time off or better paying
assignments. Believe me, these work just as well as cash.
Your employee, knowing that there will be a reward he can
touch, rather than intangible words, will work harder and
continue the actions that got him the reward.
Finally,
there’s promotion. Promote the DJs who consistently meet
the expectations you’ve laid out for them. This shows them
there’s room for growth in your company. DJ companies tend
to be different in the sense that there isn’t usually a
hierarchical structure, but promotions could come by making
the employee a trainer of new employees. Maybe they’d be
interested in becoming the office manager or accountant,
if they’ve shown qualities that are well-suited for such
a position.
Keep
Your Ears Open
This is very important. As a good leader, I keep an open
mind and am receptive to ideas from employees. Don’t feel
that you must come up with all of the new ideas. More often
than not, if you don’t burn out, you’ll stagnate. Running
a business is a creative venture. Creative ventures always
benefit from others’ ideas. It doesn’t mean you must implement
them, but it may spark a related idea that would be a fit
for your company. To keep your company moving forward, listen
for suggestions from your employees. Not only does it help
business, but it makes your employees feel like a valued
part of the team.
If
you have any questions for TCB, please write to
DJ
Times c/o TCB,
25 Willowdale Ave.
Port Washington, N.Y., 11050
fax 516-944-8372
e-mail djtimes@testa.com.
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