Letting Go

It seems that when a group of professionals get together, the topic frequently turns to the generations, namely, the Millennials and the Baby Boomers. Unfortunately, the Gen Xers are stuck in the middle of a generational feud between the Boomers and the Millennials where they blame each other for ruining everything: the workplace, politics, the housing market or whatever makes for a good headline. Fortunately, Gen Xers are in a prime position to leverage the best of the Millennials and the Baby Boomers. We’ve worked for and learned from the Baby Boomers and they’ve instilled their notorious work ethic into us. Now we have Millennials coming up through the ranks in our companies and, like it or not, they’re here to stay and will be running our companies soon. It’s time to learn from this generation and let them push us out of our comfort zones.

What’s a Gen Xer to do? The easy thing to do is resist change, complain about Millennials and wonder why the stereotype that they don’t stay at one job for very long is true. The hard thing to do is let go and give them the responsibility they crave. I know that some readers just cringed at that sentence. I get it. I’ve been there too. We feel like we’ve put in years to get where we are now, and just because Millennials want it all and want it now doesn’t mean that we should just give it to them, right? Wrong.

Some things hold true for any employee, regardless of generation: You give additional responsibility to someone capable of accepting it. The key is to find those who are capable, driven and hungry for success and let them show you the immediate impact they can make in your organization. The tricky part is simultaneously mentoring them while giving them the freedom to fly.

The realization that Millennials will soon be running our companies should get us thinking about how our role will evolve. Our rising stars need us to get out of their way. We have to let go and step aside. In order to let go of some of our long-held responsibilities, there are a few things we have to get right first.

1. Before we empower others to lead our company, the mission, vision, values and culture must be well established and communicated in order for the company to withstand a transition of power.
2. Once those company values are established, we have to hire for values to create alignment between company and employee values. As an employer, I know it’s difficult to find talent in this market, but I hope this article will help you begin to overcome the struggle. Just remember, your vibe attracts your tribe.
3. Every member of the team has to be in the right seat on the bus. You may be asking what this means. If so, read the classic Jim Collins book Good to Great.

Once you’ve got the foundation covered, it’s time to figure out what you’re going to do with yourself once you begin to let go. Getting your mind right is the most critical thing to do. Once you have the right people in the right seats doing things that you used to do, there’s going to be a wave of emotion coming at you. You will have to balance the feeling of insecurity from seeing someone do your job better than you with the feeling of being grateful that your team is skillful enough to run your company for you better than you could have imagined. We fear letting go of control, but we can only take our companies so far by ourselves. It takes a village to help us surpass our personal limits.

Now would be a good time to think back to those Baby Boomers you worked for (maybe it’s your father) and reach out to them to say, “Now I know what you were going through when you began to loosen your grip on the company. I want to thank you for trusting me enough to let go.” Tap into the compassion that restorers are known for by putting yourself in your predecessor’s shoes and thinking of how hard it was for them to let you have more responsibility.

Once you let go, you will find yourself with some free time — a rare feeling for someone that’s poured everything into building their business. It’s time to take it up a notch and do some of the important things that were pushed to the back burner in the past. At the top of that list is working on your business and discovering your purpose: how and where you can make the biggest impact on your business, your community and your industry.

Everything Comes Back to Relationships

While reflecting on this idea of “letting go,” I realized that so many things can be tied back to relationships. Sometimes, however, we find ourselves too consumed by the daily activities of our companies that we forget we are in the business of building relationships: with our team, our customers, other restorers and like-minded people. When you think about finding your purpose, making a difference and working on your business, you can do all of those things through relationships. Let’s break down the how, where and why of relationships and the idea of helping yourself by helping others.

Although some things, such as communication methods, may change with each generation, how relationships are built will never change. They are built by being authentic and caring for others. When we realize that relationships feed revenue, it can be tempting to only show the good side of ourselves and our company, but that’s not acting with integrity. Your company is a reflection of you, and if people don’t trust you, they won’t do business with you; that holds true for customers and employees. Build the foundation of the relationship by listening to others to learn what’s important to them, and always abide by the Golden Rule. John Maxwell, author of There’s No Such Thing as “Business” Ethics: There’s Only One Rule for Making Decisions, would tell you to take it one step further and treat others the way they want to be treated.

It’s possible that you’ve been so involved within your company over the years that you’re not even sure where to begin building relationships. If you’re reading RIA’s flagship publication, C&R magazine, your membership in the association is a great place to start! Fellow restorers can be a great source of information, inspiration and even revenue. If you don’t have strategic relationships in place with restorers, especially those just beyond your typical coverage area, you could be missing out on opportunities for idea sharing and project collaboration. Aside from collaboration, associations provide us with the opportunity to serve the industry that has served us over the years. When we give back, we advance the professionalism of all restorers and make the industry better for the next generation.

Authentic leaders will naturally find themselves in situations where they are surrounded by like-minded people. Usually it’s within community organizations where they can serve others and lead with purpose. When we’ve worked to reach a point of self-awareness and stop thinking about what others can do for us, we find opportunities to get to know people and build relationships anywhere we may be. It really is as simple as remembering, “It’s not about me, but it’s about how I make people feel.” In our line of work, anyone who owns a property has the potential to be a customer, and that realization has the power to change how we interact with people on a daily basis.

Now that we’ve covered the how and where of building relationships, we can conclude with the why. It’s all about impact — on your business, on your team, and your industry. Personally speaking, relationships produce results at our company, PHC Restoration. We can claim that over 40 percent of our revenue comes from our raving fans: word of mouth referrals and previous customers. That number also includes fellow restorers. The remaining revenue comes directly from relationships with agents, adjusters and clients who found us and researched us online. Because we focus on relationships, compassion and treating others the way we want to be treated, we have been able to carve out an independent spot in our market. But, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that a Baby Boomer laid the groundwork for this second-generation company to build on and taught us the value that authentic relationships can add to our lives and our business.

Ultimately, your relationships and how you make people feel will determine your reputation. If your company is a reflection of you, your reputation will attract talent to your company. This comes full circle once we realize that relationships start with our team. We build them to the point where we are ready to trust the next generation to take the wheel and drive our company toward our goals. All the while, we mentor them and lead by example, showing them the importance of serving others and giving back to our communities and our industry. In the end, I believe we will find that we’ve expanded our reputation to be known as leaders that create leaders — who also happen to be great at restoring properties.