It’s no surprise that Google, now part of Alphabet, loves data, and the company’s execs frequently share the revelations they find, such as their insights on mobile web use. But, some would be surprised to discover that this unicorn company often turns their eye inward, analyzing information about their people to help improve their operations.

A group of employees from Google’s People Operations section, the equivalent of an HR department, decided to complete an analysis to answer one question: What makes a Google team effective?

Here’s a look at their approach and the startling revelations they had along the way.

Google’s Team Effectiveness Research

The minds at Google wanted to know why some teams soared towards success while others seemed to struggle. Initially, the company’s executives, like many other great business minds, assumed that, when it comes to hiring, bringing in the most talented professionals was the ideal path to glory. But, it turned out, they were “dead wrong.”

According to Google’s re:Work site, they made the discovery after reviewing over 180 Google teams, conducting more than 200 interviews, and analyzed 250+ attributes they identified, cross-comparing the makeup of stellar groups and those that weren’t reaching such heights.

Ultimately, they determined “who is on the team matters less than how the team members interact, structure their work, and view their contributions.” And that is a powerful finding for those interested in upping team effectiveness and productivity at work.

Along the way, they discovered “five key dynamics that set successful teams apart” from the rest:

• Psychological Safety
• Dependability
• Structure and Clarity
• Meaning
• Impact

While they all play a role, the first trait, psychological safety, was substantially more crucial to overall success. Here is an overview of the characteristics Google identified and why the unicorn company believes they matter.

Psychological Safety

As Google put it, psychological safety is based on a primary question: “Can we take risks on this team without feeling insecure or embarrassed?”

The researchers found it to be the most important factor, by far, that could determine a team’s likelihood of success.

While risk-taking at work may seem easy on the surface, employees who don’t feel safe when contributing an idea or asking questions are less inclined to participate or innovate. Why? Because people are “reluctant to engage in behaviors that could negatively influence how others perceive our competence, awareness, and positivity.”

Think about it. How many times have you been in a meeting and held back because you weren’t sure how your idea, opinion or question would be received? Or felt nervous before a big presentation because you were concerned about being judged?

Ultimately, people want to protect themselves from harm and negative judgments made by others. So, if coming forward with an idea or asking for clarification on a goal or task can damage our reputation, we are more likely to keep quiet for the sake of professional self-preservation. Professionals, including entrepreneurs, often fear being wrong, and having an idea shot down with bravado can often bring that fear to the surface.

Teams that feel safe are more likely to take risks, admit mistakes, collaborate or even take on new roles. Feeling as though you are working in a judgment-free space empowers teams, allowing them to benefit from diverse ideas and innovative thinking, increasing their overall effectiveness and improving collaboration, something most millennials desire. It also ensures that employees can ask questions without fear, limiting the chance that they will head off in the wrong direction or operate under an incorrect assumption just because they were reluctant to face the repercussions of speaking up.

Google also discovered that psychological safety played the most substantial role in success because it provided a foundation upon which the other four identified traits were built. Without psychological safety, the remaining factors are nearly impossible to obtain.

Dependability

When it comes down to it, no one likes working with someone they can’t depend on, and having an unreliable team member is guaranteed to cause problems, regardless if the person is otherwise toxic.

To be dependable, all members of the team need to complete their tasks on time and to the expected quality standards. Without that, the entire group will struggle, regardless of whether others are willing to pick up the slack.

Structure and Clarity

Google also identified another good business basic as being particularly relevant: structure and clarity.

Employees need to clearly understand their role within the team, any current plans and business goals that affect their work. Without this, workers may have a difficult time identifying who is responsible for what, why certain actions need to be done, and what the broader objectives happen to be. Cumulatively, this leads to uncertainty which can harm the team’s ability to focus on what matters and cover all of their duties.

Meaning of Work

In a world where cultural fit has become increasingly important, it’s no surprise that those who feel personally connected to the business and their work are more likely to excel. People who are passionate about the company’s mission experience higher levels of job satisfaction, which ultimately improves performance.

Impact of Work

Beyond finding the work meaningful, the most talented teams also believe that what they do matters in a real way; that their contributions provide value and support positive change. This makes the day-to-day feel more important, as employees understand how their assigned tasks impact more significant goals in a fundamental way, making even tedious work seem valuable.

By creating teams that possess the five traits above, you are setting them up for success. So, instead of focusing solely on hard skills and education (even if the candidate has a degree from an Ivy league school), examine the personalities of your employees and make sure that they come together in these key areas. That way, they’ll be primed to exceed expectations, innovate and work like well-oiled, collaboration machine.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, “What Google Can Teach You About Building a Successful Team” was first published on Small Business Trends

It’s tax season, and that means small business owners everywhere are starting to worry about how and when they’ll file their year-end returns. Tax season is a stressful time for everyone, but especially for small business owners, who often have more complex financials to work with than individuals — but considering there are close to 28 million small businesses in the United States, at least you’re in good company.

It helps to thoroughly understand why the season is stressful, pinpointing the biggest and most significant worries so you can address them proactively. So what are the chief concerns of small business owners during this hectic period?

The Biggest Small Business Tax Issues

These are usually their most pressing concerns:

1. Timing. Timing is an issue for all small business. Between daily operations and long-term management issues, you have enough to worry about — adding a heap of tax considerations at the beginning of the year makes it even more difficult to properly manage your time. That’s why online services have cropped up to try and streamline the process; they can shave hours off the manual process of filing taxes and give you checklists to ensure you haven’t missed anything, but can’t eliminate the burden entirely. On top of that, many small business owners end up filing late, which comes with its own share of problems.

2. Record keeping. There’s a lot to keep track of in a small business, including your revenue and expenses. You should have every receipt for business-related purchases stored somewhere you can access them easily, but for most small business owners, that’s a tall order. One of the best solutions for this is utilizing a receipt scanning app, like Shoeboxed or Wave, which will automatically and digitally store this information. You’ll still have to make a concentrated effort throughout the year to scan and store this information properly, but it will be worth it when you shave hours off your time and rest easy knowing all your records are kept accurately.

3. Underreporting. Unfortunately, many small business owners run into the problem of underreporting income or expenses. Because they often deal with a larger number of small clients, they might forget about a section of income, or neglect to take advantage of a significant deduction. Underreporting in small amounts generally isn’t an issue, but in large enough volume, it can land your business in hot water. Accurate record keeping and detailed reporting are your best preventative tools here.

4. Complex advantages. There are some significant advantages specifically meant for small businesses, such as the Section 179 expense deduction and certain capital gains taxes. However, many of these are complicated, with special requirements that make them harder to take advantage of. In addition, some of them expire and are replaced practically every year. Knowing how best to utilize these savings is an elusive art form, but working with a professional can help you sort things out.

5. Ambiguous deductions. Small business owners can also be confused by the nature of deductions; what counts as a business expense isn’t always clear, especially when your personal and professional lives seem to blur together. For example, should you deduct the costs of maintaining a home office if you only use it one or two days a week? Again, the best solution here is to work with a professional, who will help you figure out the exact requirements here.

High-Level Goals

Overall, there are three simple actions you can take to make your life much less stressful:

• Plan ahead. The further ahead you plan, the better, for nearly every aspect of the tax filing process. Thinking ahead will keep your records better organized, and will help you manage your time so you can file before the deadline.
• Work with a professional. Even if you’re experienced in filing business taxes, it’s a good idea to work with a professional. They may know things you don’t, giving you greater advantages, and they’ll be able to do the work more efficiently as well.
• Keep things organized. As much as possible, keep your records organized throughout the year. It will save you time and stress come tax season.

There isn’t much you can do to restructure the tax system, but you can take control over the issues in front of you. Work with your team to proactively identify your most significant problem areas, and squash them in time to feel confident about your tax strategy.

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, “Time is Running Out! Remember These 5 Tax Challenges and the Solutions to Overcome Them” was first published on Small Business Trends

A new partnership between Cisco, Apple, Aon and Allianz seeks to protect small businesses from the growing threat of cyberattack. The threat to small business is growing, with around 43 percent of all cyber attacks squarely aimed at this segment.

The Cisco, Apple, Aon and Allianz Cyber Security and Insurance package was established so small businesses can manage the risks they face from the threats of common malware and ransomware. And when they do become victims of an attack, the service gives them the resiliency to quickly recover and minimize their downtime, the companies say.

The cybersecurity threat small businesses face is alarming. More than 72 percent of successful data breaches happen in smaller companies, and around 71 percent of owners say they don’t have confidence in the cybersecurity measures they currently have in place. With all the associated risk, and many citing data breaches as their number one concern, almost two thirds or 65 percent go without cyber insurance.

Cyber Risk Management Partnership

The cyber insurance and security package created with the collaboration of Cisco, Apple, Aon, and Allianz is a comprehensive solution designed to protect the organization as a whole.

Jason Hogg, CEO of Aon Cyber Solutions, explains the approach in a release announcing the new service. He says, “This holistic solution provides our clients with an integrated approach to addressing ransomware risk. We can provide customers with guidance on what cyber defenses, resources and processes to deploy to improve their cyber posture. It’s the improved cyber posture that makes them eligible for enhanced/broader cyber insurance protection.”

As part of the Cyber Risk Framework, this solution allows organizations to act on the risks they face with streamlined access to the right tools to strengthen their security while reducing cyber risk.

The process starts with an evaluation of your digital ecosystem to provide the insights you need to bolster the security posture of your company. Once your security profile has been strengthened with tools from Apple and Cisco, your organization can qualify for enhanced cyber risk insurance. This is where the insurance underwritten by Allianz and sold by Aon comes in to add another layer of protection.

According to the partnership, “This enhanced insurance offers broader coverage terms and conditions than generally existing insurance coverage.”

With this solution in place, you will be able to respond to advanced threats faster, empower your employees, increase your cyber insurance profile to get protected from additional risk while gaining security expertise.

Though information on the total cost of the program was not provided, more information is available by contacting any one of the partners for more.

Image: Cisco

This article, “Cisco, Apple, Aon and Allianz Work to Shield Small Businesses From Cyber Attack” was first published on Small Business Trends

Have you seen “Small Business Revolution — Main Street”?

It’s the show where a whopping $500,000 revitalization prize is awarded to one city, by Deluxe Corp. This month, Small Business Trends connected with Amanda Brinkman from the program to discuss its third season, which begins later this year with co-host Ty Pennington. We discuss Brinkman’s role at Deluxe, what businesses can learn by watching their past and upcoming content, and how they’re using Facebook Live.

Third Season of Small Business Revolution-Main Street

A creative visionary in marketing and media, Amanda Brinkman has innovated for brands like Reebok, BMW, Sony, Toro, Virgin Mobile and more. Her work on BMW Films kicked her career into overdrive. Brinkman currently works with Deluxe Corp. as chief brand and communications officer, and in 2015 she made a bet that an authentic program — branded as the Small Business Revolution championed by Deluxe — would garner more results than she could buy with traditional advertising.

The show, named “Small Business Revolution — Main Street”, chronicles the program’s impact on communities and countless lives. The winning city for the show’s new season was announced on Feb. 27, 2018 via Facebook. Content from the two previous seasons have gained 11x the reach and impressions of a traditional media buy with the same spend.

Brinkman is honored to serve on the boards of the Children’s Cancer Research Fund, Make-A-Wish, the Children’s Theatre Company and the Women’s Business Development Center’s (WBDC) Chicago Board. She also passionately volunteers for an array of causes, including the Special Olympics, Feed My Starving Children, People Serving People, the Down Syndrome Association of Minnesota, the Jeremiah Program and more. She’s also a member of the Minnesota Women’s Economic Roundtable. Engage with her on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook @amandakbrinkman.

Small Business Trends: What is the Small Business Revolution all about and which city won Season 3?

Amanda Brinkman: The Small Business Revolution is a movement. We are creating a revolution across the country to celebrate small businesses and their critical impact on our economy and our communities. This year marks the third season of “Small Business Revolution – Main Street”, which annually awards one small town with a $500,000 revitalization for its Main Street and its small businesses. We received thousands of nominations from towns across America and spent the last couple of months visiting and researching the finalist. After naming five finalists and inviting the public to vote for their favorite, Alton, Illinois was named the winner.

Small Business Trends: How has Facebook Live been helpful even before the third season of ‘Small Business Revolution — Main Street’ begins?

Amanda Brinkman: Facebook Live has been an incredible tool for energizing our passionate Small Business Revolution audience and engaging with them in real time — especially at key points throughout the program. For example, when we visited 10 short-listed towns in January to determine our five finalists, we did a Facebook Live broadcast from each town with a local representative. It was an amazing way to shine a spotlight on all of the communities and share with our followers the amazing communities we were visiting. We’ve also used Facebook Live to make major announcements, such as the reveal of our five finalist towns for Season 3 and the inclusion of Ty Pennington as our new co-host. It’s fun — and effective — to have everyone learning the news simultaneously and weighing in with their comments.

Small Business Trends: Let’s hear a recap of what Deluxe is, for those who don’t know.

Amanda Brinkman: Deluxe was founded more than 100 years ago with a legacy in the check-printing space. Today, it is a growth engine for small businesses and financial institutions, serving 4.4 million small business customers across the country. Deluxe provides small business services and products such as website development and hosting, email marketing, social media, search engine optimization and logo design — helping small businesses with marketing so they can focus on the aspects of their business that they love most.

Small Business Trends: When does the new season air? How does Ty Pennington fit into the show?

Amanda Brinkman: Season 3 will debut this fall on Hulu, YouTube and SmallBusinessRevolution.org. Seasons 1 and 2 are both on SmallBusinessRevolution.org where you can see what’s at stake for Season 3, and how small businesses in these inspiring communities have overcome challenges with help from Deluxe. We enlisted Ty as a co-host for Season 3 because of his proven track record of working on projects that help transform and improve lives, homes and communities. Now, he’s going to help us transform an entire community!

Images: Deluxe Corp.

This article, “‘Small Business Revolution – Main Street’ Returns for Third Season” was first published on Small Business Trends

For awhile in my business, I looked at income as the only marker of success. I was completely income focused because it seemed like everywhere I turned other business owners were using income as the top metric to measure how well they’re doing.

Income is the greatest motivator for some people. There’s nothing wrong with this mindset. But if money isn’t your greatest motivator, my coach last year introduced me to an entirely new metric that’s helped me redirect my mission in a way that’s brought a lot of new excitement to my business.

2 Ways to Measure Business Success Outside of Income

Think Impact Not Dollar Signs

If it seems you set income goals that you’re not truly inspired by, set goals on how many people you want to impact instead. Thinking this way led to a huge mindset shift for me.

It’s easy to get stuck in the, “I want to have four-figure, five-figure, and six-figure income months,” business hype. But achieving this income will be tough if you don’t know how you’re serving people.

Essentially, you’re only concentrated on your own pocket and not the value that you’re bringing to the customer. Don’t get me wrong — you can do both. You can make great money while helping people. But if you’re putting your income first above and beyond anything else, people can tell and it’s going to make achieving these income months a challenge.

The “How Many People Do You Want to Help?” Metric

I like to give credit where credit is due and it’s LaTisha Styles who changed my way of thinking. It’s important because in addition to freelance writing, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to take my business. I had a lack of clarity for a while which kept me stuck.

My purpose got much clearer when she introduced me to the “how many people do you want to help?” metric. Focusing on a number of people you want to impact forces you to answer a few questions:

• Who are you helping?
• How are you helping them?
• What results are they getting from connecting with you?

Doing market research and answering these questions helped me create a lead magnet and copy that resonates with my people. As a personal finance coach, I’ve set a goal for the year to help at least 100 people move past living paycheck to paycheck through one-on-one coaching, group coaching, online workshops, in-person workshops and a printed book.

Knowing who I’m serving and what their results will be helps me better explain my purpose and create relevant products. The number of people I touch is a marker of my success.

So what about the money?

Revenue and profit shouldn’t be your only metrics, but they’re still ones you need to think about. After all, you’re in business to make money. It’s a lot easier to monetize when you’re clear on who you’re serving and you have actual results you’re giving them in mind.

Again, if you’re not clear on who you’re helping, it’ll be harder to reach the aforementioned multi-figure income months. A business is the exchange of goods and services for money. What goods, services, experiences or results are you offering?

Get highly invested in the impact that you’re having on others and money can follow.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Photo via Due.com

This article, “How to Measure Business Success, Apply These 2 Metrics Beyond Money” was first published on Small Business Trends

Offering your restaurant customers the newest and fastest ways to pay or book a table is a great perk.

In fact, there are lots of emerging restaurant tech options for owners to offer their customers and help run their business more smoothly. But one factor trumps all those — food quality.

Restaurant Experience Statistics

According to this new infographic from Toast, makers of restaurant plefi, 60 percent of survey respondents say that food quality is the most important part of their visit to a restaurant. All the bells and whistles in the world clearly can’t top a great steak cut or some really fresh vegetables.

Although most people say food quality is very important to a great restaurant experience, other factors clearly also make it more likely your customers leave your establishment happy and ready to book their next visit.

Tablets at tables, for one, are important to improving a dining experience at a restaurant. The Toast data shows 61 percent of restaurant customers believe a handheld tableside tablet helps improve their overall experience. Customers can use these tablets to stay in contact with your wait staff, allowing them to order drinks or another appetizer or dessert without further distracting your servers.

And tablets help you, the restaurant owner, too. In fact, 67 percent of restaurant owners say these tablets also help improve their business operations.

Outside of tablets at the tables, 73 percent of diners told Toast restaurant technology overall helps improve their visit to a restaurant. And 95 percent of restaurateurs say this same technology helps improve their business operations.

The Toast data shows this tech doesn’t need to be anything special. Just the ability to split a check among guests is a big plus.

For example, According to the numbers from Toast, 90 percent of diners will pay for a full meal if they can use a credit card. Expect more of an a la carte situation — and lower check totals — if your guests are paying cash.

For more information on tech in the restaurant industry, check out the full Toast infographic below.

Images: Toast

This article, “Restaurant Owners Learn 60% of Consumers Will Judge Them On Food Quality” was first published on Small Business Trends

Only 14 percent of respondents in a recent survey say their organizations currently use eve the most basic cybersecurity businesses. The survey was conducted by mobile carrier Verizon (NYSE: VZ) in an  effort to raise awareness, not only of the mobile security landscape, but also of the growth of mobile computers among both consumers and businesses.

Verizon Mobile Security Index 2018

The inaugural Mobile Security Index 2018 report from Verizon provides insights into the growing threats faced by mobile users as use of the technology expands. The study also makes recommendations to combat these threats in the mobile ecosystem.

For small businesses, protecting the mobile ecosystem must now take equal precedence with protecting more traditional computer networks and technology, the report explains. With mobile being more important for the day-to-day communications, interactions and transactions of small businesses today, security must take top priority for these systems too.

Thomas T.J. Fox, Senior Vice President of the Wireless Business Group at Verizon, explains how vital mobile has become. In a press release announcing the report, he says, “As mobility becomes more integral to business operations in today’s digital economy — from supply chain management to IoT-enabled sensors to customer-facing mobile apps — protecting mobile platforms is critical.”

The survey for the report was carried out in the second half of 2017. An independent research company was commissioned by Verizon to survey more than 600 professionals responsible for mobile technology in their organizations. Eighty-three percent of the participants were based in the US, and the remaining 17 percent were from the UK. The survey covered industries in financial services, government, healthcare, manufacturing, professional services, retail and hospitality and technology.

Key Takeaways from the Report

The vast majority or 85 percent of respondents said their businesses face at least a moderate risk from mobile security threats, and over a quarter or 26 percent said this risk was significant. As to the serious and growing threat mobile security presents, 93 percent of organizations agreed it was definitely an issue.

Even with this high-level of recognition concerning the security threat, 32 percent of respondents admitted to sacrificing mobile security to improve business performance.

When it came to protecting their mobile ecosystem, only 14 percent or one in seven reported having even the most basic cybersecurity practices in place. And when there was a system in place, best practices were not applied.

Only 39 percent of respondents reported their organizations had even changed all default passwords, leaving almost two thirds or 61 percent of companies surveyed extremely vulnerable. Two-factor authentication was used by only 38 percent of these companies, and only 59 percent had restrictions as to what apps their employees could download on their mobile devices.

Recommendations from Verizon

In the report, Fox says, “Nothing is 100 percent secure.” However, he stated the goal is to lower the risk to an acceptable level for all organizations. In the process, businesses should make it as hard as possible for bad actors to breach the security systems they have in place.

Verizon recommends restricting what apps can be downloaded by employees, improving device management and threat detection with endpoint security, and increasing employee awareness with best practices and strict governance.

You can read the full report and the recommendations from Verizon here.

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, “Only 14% of Businesses Have Basic Mobile Security in Place” was first published on Small Business Trends