Welcome to Business Management


Friday, August 22, 2008

 

Is That Clear? Crystal, Sir

Remember Tom Cruise' military lawyer character responding to Jack Nicholson's Colonel Jessep in the film A Few Good Men? They were talking about following orders and the murky unwritten laws of military procedure in this classic from the nineties. But, I wonder how many crystal clear affirmative responses you'd get if you asked your staff if they understood your firm's purpose or your company's vision. Not many is my guess.

This is not surprising as research suggest only about 5% of organisations can claim their employees genuinely understand the company's strategy. But what's worse is the seemingly tacit acceptance of many leaders who seem to think this is ok and that they'll still achieve their goals/targets/dreams regardless!

Well if you're a leader, you might be one of the lucky ones and do just that. But just think how much luckier you could be if you had all your team focused on the same destination with a shared vision, clear goals and an understood purpose. In fact just think how much more successful you could be if when you asked your team, "Are we clear?" they all responded with one voice "Crystal",... we'll drop the "Sir".

The best and most successful leaders in business (and in all forms of life for that matter) know how important it is to set out and clearly communicate a vision and purpose for their team to rally behind. But the trap many 'start up' and 'SME' leaders and entrepreneurs fall into is thinking that vision & purpose stuff is just for the big boys. Nothing could be further from the truth. Fail to set out and communicate your vision and purpose and you'll fail to achieve anything much.

So how do you do it? Well as a leader, you obviously need to have a clear view of where you're going and how you're going to get there. This might entail a degree of new strategic thinking, but in most cases in my experience, you already know this, that's why you're an entrepreneur. What you really need to do is to communicate it to everyone else in a way that highlights your goals simply and clearly. In fact alongside your personal dreams for the market size, share and value of your company you should have another key goal: to make sure everyone else in your team shares your vision.

There are a number of ways to do this but the golden rule is to make sure your vision is connected to your key performance measures and that everyone can see this in a unified and connected manner. People need to know what they're trying to achieve in terms of their own detailed targets and how this fits in with the 'bigger picture'. Mind maps of some description are a great way of showing these interconnections. On top of this an eye catching visual will go a long way to grabbing people's attention and getting the point across in a highly imaginative way.

As an example, a new team recently formed as part of a leading UK drinks distributor felt they had a job to do in getting everyone to understand their vision and how their team would benefit the rest of the organisation. The first step was to set out a clear purpose and goals and to underpin this with a set of actions and behaviours that would move them towards their goal.

They did this by drawing a map of their vision using the circle as the foundation, which helped to suggest unity and team spirit, essential ingredients in any form of communication where more than one person is involved. The main ingredients of any vision and goal map are:

• Make it inclusive - not hierarchical.
• Puts organisation and personal outcomes on the same map to ensure alignment of everyone's efforts.
• Make the targets easy to track and don't have too many of them.

The feedback was instantly positive from within the team and from the rest of the organisation. If all that was required was to get everyone 'crystal clear' on the vision and goals, the map would have been enough. But the team leader wanted to really nail it and make it instantly clear right across the business just what his new team was there to achieve.

This is where the second element came in - a dramatic and inspiring visualisation of the vision and ideas incorporated within the map.

Visualisation and the ability of pictures to tell stories and communicate purpose and vision is a massively under utilised area in business and for little effort, can reap massive returns. The resulting illustration engaged people emotionally as well as analytically.

Armed with the vision map to communicate key actions and ideas and the picture to reinforce the story and navigate the route, the new team were well on their way to achieving their vision and goals.

Leadership vision is about people and you can only move people in a particular direction if you can communicate the destination and the path. Remember:

• "Today > 75% of the average company's market cap is attributed to intangibles - brand, databases, information and people" (Kaplan & Norton: Strategy Maps - 2003)
• "Communication enables us to plan, achieve, reflect and share experience. It underpins just about everything that shapes our lives" (Prof. Nigel Nicholson LBS)
• "...the best efforts of the leader come to naught if he has neither the means nor ability to communicate." (Field Marshall Montgomery of Alamein)

 

Learning Organizations - Creating a Climate For Success

You are a newly appointed manager of an organization that is identified in need to improve organizational learning to remain competitive in your market. The only problem is there is no established program and you haven't had any training on it. What can a new manager due to make a difference immediately? How can you create a climate of learning in your organization and why should we care?

One of the most powerful truths about the global economy is that in order to remain competitive and even survive, organizations must devote themselves to learning from ongoing operations. That's the only way you can maintain competitive advantage because the other businesses around you are studying you and your customers looking for ways they can take over your market share.. It's only by learning deliberately, carefully and thoroughly that we can continue to serve our customers and provide a valuable service. This translates directly to our ability to grow and thrive.

Here are some tips and mindsets that will guide you in developing a learning culture:

1. Make sure that you take the time and all work events to reflect on the lessons learned from what just happened. It's not enough to complete a task and then move onto the next one. You must build in time to consider deeply what we can learn and apply from this situation to others in the future. Reflection is the key but it takes time and training.

2. Treat failure is a natural part of the learning process. Failure is simply feedback and a learning opportunity. If you seek to play the blame game you will stifle any interest in learning and people will get into the self-preservation mode and that is a sign of approaching doom.

3. Make sure that you do not allow an elite group or a single point of view to dominate decision-making. The learning process requires multiple points of view and alternative strategies to be considered especially when you're dealing with uncertainty and complexity in your marketplace.

4.Go out of your way to create a climate of support of innocent openness so that your people feel safe about raising questions and offering new ideas.

5. Train your employees in conflict resolution and the mature expression of conflicting ideas in a constructive manner. You'll find this skill to be immensely valuable in all of your group problem-solving processes.

6. Deliberately use cross functional teams in order to get the benefit of different approaches and expertise by design. Given a chpoice, people will tend to form groups of like-minded individuals and that's no way to take advantage of your natural diversity.

Developing a learning culture is no small task, but it is absolutely essential if you want to continue to compete in the world market. It takes time and leadership and a commitment to seeing it through, but your time and effort will be amply rewarded. You can expect to see your people catch fire and begin contributing far beyond your initial expectations and their own. Good luck!

 

Does Action Have Intelligence?

Say what? Are you crazy? If I act before I think, I have no idea what the consequences of my actions will be.

You're right! But, it really depends on the context of your action habit. In working with the people that I've had the pleasure in working with over the years, I've discovered an interesting thing.

Way too many people fail in whatever they are trying to accomplish because they are thinking "TOO MUCH" before they're acting.

This is an interesting concept. Think before you act! You may have seen it on a billboard somewhere, it might be a lesson you and I learned in elementary school, or maybe your wife or husband says this to you daily. Either way, you've heard and understood and most of you have lived by it.

I'm sure you can come up with many ways this process has helped you, however. I'm sure you can come up with many ways this process has disempowered you, or stifled your success, or even stopped you dead in your tracks because you are always looking for the perfect action strategy before you even take any action.

What is the perfect action strategy? In my opinion there isn't one. As a matter of fact, I believe if you always try to make your activity perfect, you'll rarely even get started. This is the problem I find - that most of us think way too much before we act.

This is the equivalent of someone wanted to learn how to ride a bike by going out and buying the best books and video instruction on the subject. The bottom line is that you quickly realize that even if you have the best instruction on the planet, the knowledge on how to ride a bike can only be received AFTER you've put on your helmet, your knee pads and jumped on that bike to take it for a spin.

So if this is the same for riding a bike, why isn't it the same, for starting a business, investing in real estate, starting a fitness program or even taking on a spiritual path?
Hmmm... That's a good question, and although there are "more correct ways of doing things" YOU'LL NEVER TRULY KNOW, unless you DO SOMETHING!!

It's the quest for the PERFECT ACTION/STRATEGY which is impossible, because there is an innate intelligence within an action habit. What that means is that learning how to do something well, means you must do it.

The doing, not the planning, will create the perfection. You can plan while you DO but never plan "TOO MUCH" before you do.

How do I know I'm planning too much? Or I'm taking in more knowledge than I need? Easy. You know you're planning too much if you aren't getting anywhere. For example, could I really sit here and plan out an 'EFFECTIVE' exercise program or an 'EFFECTIVE' business plan for anyone without knowing what they can and can't do, what they're willing and not willing to do, or even if their direction is the correct one? It's not possible.

You need to get in action, right now, today. Then, let the results of the action dictate the direction, because action has its own intelligence. You will glean more results, and "what not to do" information from picking up the phone and getting into the action of making phone calls and by gauging your "realistic response" - not a fictional one that you make up in your mind. You'd get your results quicker if you got out of bed and went straight to a treadmill, rather than sitting down 'TRYING TO THINK ABOUT' a perfect diet and exercise program. I'm told the Devil is in the details. Well, that might be true, but you can also say that the Devil is the perfectionist planning.

Here's what you can do to break out of the mold of perfectionistic planning.

Put a time limit on your planning before you begin planning.

Make sure you take action the moment you finish putting a time limit on your planning.

The activity of the planning must start TODAY. Not tomorrow. No Excuses, Make sure you're doing something TODAY toward your desired outcome. Make that phone call, clean up the office, send that email, make that connection, or go out and shake a hand or two. YOU MUST DO SOMETHING TODAY.

After you've done your one thing for today, make a pact with yourself that you will take one activity daily that adds to the momentum of your outcome - NOT an activity that adds to your planning, learning or prioritizing.

Celebrate! Make sure after you actually take that first step, and CELEBRATE. Even if things don't go the way you expect, at least you're on the bike!!!

I'm sure there are times that you need to plan a lot, like a big project, a business plan, etc.

However, if you stop and take a look at your life and ask yourself, where have I over planned and underachieved, my guess is that you'll find many areas, and that's ok!

Welcome to humanity! The next issue will be about getting you beyond your unexpected failures.

Labels:


 

How to Measure Your Hourly Progress

Have you ever started on a project and 10 hours later you are no where near being finished? Or how about you received an order to fill and you never completed? So many business entrepreneurs as well as others have trouble measuring their hourly progress. So many people never know where to start; others do not know how to manage. Whatever your case maybe whether you want to succeed in life as well as business you will need to know how to successfully measure your hourly progress.

When just starting out in business its ruff, with so many ideas and things on your mind the day can fly by in an instance. This is why to properly be proactive and very productive you need to track your every step of the way. If not, time will pass by faster then a speeding bullet.

Here are some things you can do to help with this situation.

-Create a to do list, and update this list every day(remember when working for yourself no one will have what needs to be done all laid out in front of you, you will need to log and track it yourself)

-Complete you to do list. So many people will get the first step correct and completely pass the second, Completing what you have logged and scheduled in. a schedule or to do list can prove to be one of the most efficient tools in your life as well as business adventure and can lead to overall better productivity.

Set goals. See goals and track your status from how far away to achieving those goals you are. Goals can be a great thing to have; they keep you on top of your game, life and give you motivation when you need it the most. Having to self motivate yourself can be a daunting task however, if you have goals that are in place it pays all the world and proves help you reach your success. When setting goals set a realistic achievable goal, instead of setting a goal for the month or the week or the day set a goal to obtain by the end of the hour. Work through and achieve. The mind comprehends in work progress. This is what slows the feeling of time down.

Now that you have these three tools you can now measure your hourly progress with ease.

Step one; create your to do list and map all task and daily chores.

Step two; get on your horse put your mind and creative energy to work and bust through your task

Step three; have goals posted up around your home or work place in the instance you are confused stuck or fall out of interest you can refer back to and self motivate yourself back on track to obtain success. If you stick to the plan and put your mind to work use your creative energy wisely you will have no problem keeping track of your hourly progress.

Labels:


 

Business Training Modality - What Works Best For You?

Business training content should be something that will enhance your business and help you increase your revenue, skills or happiness; however, the way in which you learn should help you determine how those skills are best processed by you.

Essentially there are 3 different learning modalities:

Visual - You find writing things down, or highlighting them to help you best to recall the information. Diagrams, photos, video or even cards with notes on them - remember flash cards in math? All of those are helpful for those that process things visually.

Auditory - You learn best by closing your eyes, blocking out the world and listening. Word Association is an effective tool that you use to remember things. Tapes and teleconferences are fabulous ways for you to increase you business acumen.

Kinesthetic - You learn best by jumping in and doing it. You are the one that glosses over directions and fiddles around with things until you know how to do it. Lessons that include games, role-playing and props (or physical examples of something you can touch) make a much bigger impression on you.

Most people do not have just one modality. I learn best kinesthetically, but I also learn well visually. Sitting still through a lecture or teleseminar is difficult for me, no matter how interesting the subject matter. To counteract this tendency for my mind to wander in situations such as teleseminars, I tend to doodle about what the person is speaking about or take notes. If the speaker is referencing things from the web I will bring them up on my computer. I do have to make an effort not to become too involved with whatever is on the web so I tune out the speaker. I know the point of my doodling or surfing the web is to keep my mind engaged on what the speaker is saying.

The most important thing to do is think about the ways you process information best and then choose the classes or lessons that work with that modality. If there is a class or seminar that you want to be involved in that is not your strength, think of ways to incorporate your learning modality. Someone who is auditory might want to record a seminar to listen to later. Someone who is visual might choose to take notes and go over them with a highlighter later. A kinesthetic person would choose to jump in and try out whatever it is they are learning to see how it feels. Play to your strengths, while still being aware of your weaknesses.

Labels: ,


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]