The Water Trough- We can't make you drink, but we will make you think!
The Water Trough- We can't make you drink, but we will make you think!
Business Lessons From the Classroom
I am an educator and small business owner. I was always confident that being business savvy made me a better educator. Being an educator also has the potential to make us better business people. It is easier than you might think.
Welcome to The Water Trough, where we can't make you drink, but we will make you think. My name is Ed Drawster, the Small Business Doctor, and I'm really excited you chose to join me here as we discuss topics that are important for small business folks just like you. If you're looking for ideas, inspiration, and possibility, you've come to the right place. Join us as we take steps to help you create the healthy business that you've always wanted. Good afternoon folks. This is ed draws to the small business doctor. I want to welcome you back to the water trough. Where today I've been reflecting. Upon the seven plus years that I've been. Working as an adjunct professor at Bryant university in Smithfield, Rhode Island. As a professor of management and business. I found that this opportunity. Is greatly aligned with my role as a business coach. More importantly. It seemed like an opportunity to get back to something I had done. For many years. A long time ago. Early in my career. I was engaged in all sorts of teaching opportunities. In the medical field, working with medical technologists, medical laboratory technicians. Doctors surgeons, nurses. So on and so forth. It was a great opportunity. To share. My expertise. With these folks who were growing and developing their skills. And I enjoyed it immensely. When I took the position at Bryant university. It was a step in a slightly different direction. I had previously taught one graduate level course. At the university of Rhode Island. I co-developed and administered a course with a colleague of mine. But this opportunity at Bryant was different because. I was going to be engaged substantially. With large groups of students and. Being in the fields of management and. Business. We're no longer talking about a scientific oriented education is I was accustomed to, we're talking about. The art. Of. Management the art. Of business. These things are vastly different than the. Somewhat. Concrete world of science that I was accustomed to. I learned a lot of lessons and I'm learning lessons all the time. In this role. Lessons that I believe have helped me. To become a better person. The purpose of my. Role. At Bryant university was of course not. To help me to be a better person. It is a. Benefit, if you will, that resulted from the role. Naturally the role itself is designed. To nurture and to inspire. And two. Aid students. In their development, their understanding of, and perhaps their enthusiasm for. The world of management. And the importance of those things In their subsequent work life. Needless to say, not everybody sees things the same way as I do. I always made an effort to try to couch my enthusiasm for the things that I enjoy. What the reality that not everyone is on the same page. But I've found. Historically. That by taking this time to share my experiences. By taking this time to nurture, to help develop. These young folks. Was tremendously rewarding. In many cases for them as well as me. And that's what I wanted to. Talk about today. I want to talk about the fact of how important it is. In your role as small business people. To be educators of sorts. I'm not suggesting that you have to put together courses. I'm not suggesting that you have to have certificate programs or that you have to have a bonafide educational structure. Although we all know. That standard operating procedures. And guidelines and so on and so forth are necessary in a business, but I'm talking about things that are unrelated to the actual task. That your employees perform. I'm talking about. The opportunity. Two. Help people identify. Their own. Passion to help people to identify their own value and purpose. In the instant sense when you work with your employees. In an effort to help them identify their value. You are number one, helping them directly and coincidentally. You are serving the business. Well, also. Now it's not unrealistic to want to be able to get more from your employees. And so this sort of. Effort. Shouldn't be looked upon as a selfish thing or selfish in a negative way. Anyway. It should be looked upon as an opportunity to maximize the potential for your employees to maximize the productivity and the. Success of the business. And then ultimately. Ultimately when all of a sudden done. To give the employee greater opportunity. The time that you invest. In these employees, helping them to discover their value. We'll return on investment to your business. Immediately. But whether or not they stay with you. The investment. We'll return benefits for them. For the rest of their lives. It was kinda strikes me like a win-win. Your company can benefit. From your taking the time. To support. The development of your employees. And the employees. Can benefit from the time that you take to invest. The really cool thing is it doesn't require a lot of effort either. The type of. Education. That I'm referring to. Is the nurturing. Aspect of education. It's taking the time simply to listen. To what people have to say. To ask them questions as to what inspires them and how they can be better served working. In your organization. Some people might think. Well, I'm not going to give my employees that kind of latitude. They're working for me, not the other way around. And rest assured. They are working for you.
Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-4:But how do they work for you? What they do on behalf of your company is critical to the success of your company.
And whether you realize it or not. What you do for what you think of. And how you behave with these people. Is important for their success as well. You do not have to go to great lengths to do these things. It starts out with little things, sincerity. Genuine listening. And actual curiosity. For what. Is making these people tick. You see. When I was in the classroom. Which I am not any longer. Um, in a remote situation now. I was inspired more. So. Bye. The way. That a student would respond to something. Then I was by the correctness of their response. We used to like to say, there's no wrong answers. Except for the answer that you can't explain. This is an opportunity for you. To enhance your business. This is an opportunity for you. To accomplish that. Through the development and nurturing. Of your staff. I encourage you to give it a shot. Like so many things that I mentioned on here, they're not very particularly sexy. They're not exciting. And I understand that that's cool. But these little fundamental things can make a profound difference.
Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-5:Let's face it. You're in business to be successful. So take these things to heart, give them some consideration.
Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-6:As I wrap up here, I'd like to extend..
Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-5:Hey, welcome to anyone. Who'd be interested in being a guest. On my podcast, if you are interested in doing so. Please feel free to reach me. At my email address, ed at the small biz Dr. Bizz, doctor.com. And if you are listening to this podcast, And you're enjoying it. Of course, I hope you are. I also encourage you to share it with others.
Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-7:After all sharing makes the world go round. Wouldn't you say?
Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-8:And so until next time,,
Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)-5:this is ed draws to the small business doctor. I want to wish you a healthy business. So we try long grenades in this match. I didn't want to play, but we're going to play it for fun. I know.