News & Updates – Page 9

August 24, 2009March 29, 2017

Returning that special gift you have been given…

As we progress through our careers we gain the benefit of experience.

The situations we find ourselves in become more and more familiar. We meet the same type of personality profiles, we see the hidden opportunities in adversity, and the kind of traps or dangers in the decisions we need to make or in situations that we can create or avoid.

We also benefit from having a much stronger understanding of our own powers and limitations, having already navigated what it takes to progress, communicate, motivate or manage others. Mostly we have the benefit of having a number of wins and failures on the board and knowing why and what results in success, and why and what lead us to experience failure.

This experience and knowledge is a gift. Something we should cherish and relish. It is also something we should share.

As the saying goes, it is much better to give than to receive. And although it is not kosher to return the gift you have been given, there is something wonderful about returning the sentiment. Adding your stamp of personalization, consideration, love and attention can create a lasting impression.

The positive impact and empowerment you can generate by giving someone the time to help them with their particular concerns, queries or quest for knowledge, through sharing your experience can not be underestimated.

Looking back I can name a number of great people who “gifted” me their experience or who helped guide me along my way. Some of my greatest mentors and guides were my managers, but more often than not the greatest counsel and sage advice I received (and continue to benefit from), was from wise and experienced colleagues, associates, contemporaries and friends.

It was from them that I learned how to navigate tricky waters, what to look for and what to avoid. That mistakes and failures are to be considered great learning experiences, challenges to be explored and gained from.
Some of the best lessons I learned early on was that mistakes don’t need to be fatal. That you’ll never know how far you can go and how much you can achieve if you don’t push yourself to the very edge. That the biggest opportunities also come with the biggest risks and a fear of failure is really being cognizant of that fact. That it is silly to try to avoid mistakes which may result in having a risk profile so low that we don’t really move forward leaving the brave decisions to be made by others.

You also gain strength from others encouragement. When may already know what the right thing to do is, but to have it reinforced and supported by an appropriate anecdote or example from someone else’s experience provides the much needed impetus to move forward. It can help to have your strengths and talents reinforced to be applied in new situations.

As our experience grows, so we should “gift” this to others.

There are many opportunities to positively impact. To help those who are starting out, still green, still learning, who would benefit from a great dose of your encouragement and knowledge.

With each promotion or progression in our careers, can we dedicate time to give back and grow others? To make time to mentor someone (or a greater number of people) that we identify as talented?

To stop and help them find the answers they are seeking and to help them develop and perform to their potential.
From my experience, gifting others time and experience bring numerous benefits. And not just the feel-good emotion it will surely generate.

It provides an enforced discipline for us to synthesize our experience into insightful clarity. Moments to mine the wealth by revisiting our working lives and review what really worked for us and why. To turn the many grains of experience into valuable pearls of wisdom.

It also helps us to reflect and recognize where we still have room to learn or develop.

So I ask this question, how can you share more of your experience with others? If you are already doing this consciously or unconsciously, can you do more of it?

Whether you offer this through formal mentoring or coaching or through informal mentoring and genuine sharing, listening, advising others, there is nothing more rewarding than giving to others and to see them grow greater from the collective experiences.

Not only can you help someone progress you may find in turn, you have gifted yourself another valuable experience.

August 12, 2009March 29, 2017

Sharpen your focus

Life is busy. We run from meeting to meeting adding additional items of things to do on our ever increasing list of items to be done. In between meetings we check our email, facebook, twitter or LinkedIn accounts. On the phone we multi-task by responding to the many instant “urgent” messages that are flashing via MSN or Skype. We race home to begin the juggle with family – cooking dinner, supervising homework, meanwhile responding to emails, phone texts, writing reports and making new notes of the additional things we need to do the next day.

We chase the sweet feeling of satisfaction as we tick each item off our list as “done” or as we extend our network, proving tangibly to ourselves that we are making progress.

Yet at the end of the week we find the business development proposal, recommended organization structural change, the new marketing plan or policy [you can insert any key project you should be completing], has not really progressed in the way we wanted or in the way our business really needs.

Our sense of satisfaction wanes as we see many items achieved but not together representing a milestone measure of true value, progress and success. We know we need to do better…if only we had the time to plan? Or more people to help?

Does this sound like you? Or at least like you some of the time? I know I have fallen into the trap of “busyness” before, spreading myself too thin, and have needed to consciously take steps to pull myself out, take ownership of my time again and reset my focus.

It certainly is a common problem and one that many of us face or fall into the trap of doing from time to time. This type of high pressured chaos may be felt like an unreasonable workload thrown upon us, but more than likely this will be a problem of focus, a problem of prioritization and a problem of learning to say “no” without feeling guilty.

The person who owns and is responsible for managing your time and achieving the best outcomes with your time and your team is you. And only you can change the way you approach your day and week to sharpen your focus and thus maximize your effectiveness.

Here are some simple steps to sharpen your focus and start making greater progress:

Revisit your business vision, strategy and goals. The more concise your business proposition is and who it is likely to help, the more likely your actions and those of others will help it stay on course. Once this proposition and your business goals are clear and easy to articulate, it becomes easier to sharpen your focus on the most important elements and targets to ensure you get there. If it is not clear to you or those who are leading, then it certainly will not be clear to those that are following.
What do you need to do to ensure your business achieves what it is looking to do? Be clear about your key responsibilities and the key things you should be doing to ensure you and your business achieve this. At any one time you should be focusing on no more than three major projects. Build in time to reflect on your progress and that of your team’s against your business goals and revisit anything you know is not really working.
What is the overall plan project outline and what needs to be done by when? Make a conscious list of priorities and develop a weekly plan to give you the right amount of time to spend on each item. The more tangible your goals and timeframes are, the easier it is to know how to approach your priorities, resources, workload and keep everything on track.
Identify how much can be delegated. What can be handed over and to whom? Plan how many items can be handed over. Spend the time with your team to help them also prioritize and see where they can make a major impact on the business. The more focus they have, the greater the results you will see being delivered. You also are creating an achievement culture where success motivates everyone and you will find even more can be achieved.
Weigh up those list items you can say no to. If you see too many competing priorities within projects, pick the top three things you should be focusing and begin the process of weighing up each item further down the list with the question “what would happen if I did not do this?”. If the answer is not fatal, then find the discipline to say “No” and make sure you reset expectations in your organization. Saying yes to everything on your list is an easy thing to do but much harder to deliver. Practicing the art of saying no, remembering to help your manager and team identify what they too can say no to helps sharpen focus within your organization. Focusing on the key things you should be doing will have a major impact on your business and will give everyone a chance to do those things well.
Plan each day and approach it with discipline. Set aside specific times to review and plan your day (first thing in the morning before heading to the office is a good time). Set aside specific times to review and respond to emails, phone calls and messages as well as time to write your plan or proposal – making sure you are writing any plans or proposals at the freshest point in the day. Identify who you need to speak to and allocate an appropriate time. Don’t overschedule your diary. It is easy to book every 15 minutes and there may be many times you need to, however it takes enormous discipline to keep to schedule.

Sharpening your focus brings you much closer to achieving your business targets.

As your targets change over time, you may need to also revisit the resources that are available to you. As a manager, you need to ensure you are equipped to do your job and that of your team’s well. To do this you will also need to set aside time to work on recruitment and your people development. Remember that your people are your greatest asset. By helping coach them to sharpen their focus, it will bring an enormous return on the power of what you as a team can achieve.

August 3, 2009March 29, 2017

The King and I…(and a story of learning courage)

This is not the start of some fictional story or make believe anecdote. Nor is it about my special memories of my mother, sisters and I all singing along to the Friday night movie special of The King and I, imagining what those days were like of impossible dresses and outrageous social expectations of women. This story is about courage and how The King and I played a role in teaching me about courage.

There were many messages of courage throughout the movie – the courage to follow your dreams, the courage to stand up to a bully or to fight for better outcomes despite the conventions of the day.

However my biggest lesson from The King and I came from having the courage to overcome your fears. Although this may sound corny, it is a real story and I will tell you how I learned to develop courage.

About 3 years into the workforce, I put my hand up to take on a big project. It involved doing some strategy work for a bunch of super smart, confident, talented, experienced – and as it turned out – extremely demanding people.

The brief turned out to be much more difficult and challenging than I had first expected. Certainly it was beyond my experience and knowledge of that time. I felt out of my depth and felt all the physical signs that come with fearing the enormous task and expectations in front of me – heart racing, legs shaking, stomach knotting and mind racing. At that moment of fear and crisis, in amongst thinking of all the reasons to not be able to say yes or to limit somehow what was possible to something more reasonable, somewhere out of the depths of memory, a song started playing in the back of my mind.

It went like this…

Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect
And whistle a happy tune, So no one will suspect
I’m afraid.

While shivering in my shoes, I strike a careless pose
And whistle a happy tune, And no one ever knows
I’m afraid.

The result of this deception, Is very strange to tell
For when I fool the people I fear,
I fool myself as well!

And sure enough by immediately changing my focus from fear to “I will find a way”, and when I showed confidence that what was being demanded was possible, I actually began to believe those project goals could be reached that it was just a matter of finding the way. It allowed an immediate settling in my mind and an unwinding of my stomach so I could be free to focus on finding the solution and the “how”. In the example I mentioned, I confidently stated what they briefed could be achieved and shared a rough outline of the strategy and a plan of action. I included what the dependencies would be and set a new time to meet to present the more detailed strategy which bought me more time to work through the details.

The result was extremely positive. The goals were reached and a great sense of satisfaction and respect was gained.

But the biggest positive for me was the lesson of courage that it taught me. I was able to put the art of make believing I was brave, and focusing on the positives in every situation, and finding that I was actually brave and positive enough to face anything. By finding a strategy to overcome my fears, it allowed me to find the courage to overcome barriers, find solutions and be confident to continuously look for and do new things.

I have adopted this approach many, many times – whether it be walking into a new networking situation, addressing a large group of people, taking on what may seem to be the impossible brief or role. Each time you find you can do something, it builds your confidence to explore and overcome any future challenging situation. This strategy can be adopted as much in our personal lives as it can in our professional lives.

We can all achieve so much more if we allow ourselves to go as close to the edge of impossible as we can before we allow ourselves to feel limitations or constraints. If we limit our scope to something that feels safer, more comfortable, more easy – we lose the possibility of breaking new ground and achieving something truly new, remarkable and special.

The more we believe we can do something, the more others will believe you can and that they can do it too. As a leader, you will find that if you demonstrate believe, then you will have your people help you do whatever it is you need to do.

And so as the song continues…

Make believe you’re brave,

And the trick will take you far.

You may be as brave
As you make believe you are.

(Lyrics by Rodgers and Hammerstein, 1951. The Movie “The King and I” starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr by 20^th Century Fox, 1956.)

July 24, 2009March 29, 2017

Leading your business to success

Written by Emma Lo Russo and as published in the July 2009 “Australian Businesswomen’s Network” newsletter:

Leading your business to success

You have the title, a team that reports to you and a defined business purpose and responsibility. The business environment and competition is tough and you are looking at new ways to ensure continued growth and success. You spend night and day wondering what else you can do, what extra advantage you can create…

It is likely you already hold that advantage. And the answer is your own employees. You can easily move from managing them to do their job (even if you do this aspect very well), to leading them to achieve something far greater – for themselves and for your business.

Understanding the difference between management and leadership

Management is about getting the best out of resources, mostly through defining responsibilities and processes, to further the goals of the company. ‘Leadership’ on the other hand is painting a common view of the future and inspiring and galvanising your team towards achieving it.

There are some key leadership characteristics and qualities to embody if you hope to achieve a powerful business advantage through your people. A key aspect is understanding that your people are entirely your business. They provide the moment of truth every time they interact with your customers, partners, suppliers, each other etc. It is important that they share and believe in the aspirations for your company. That they can see how to align their communications and activities they do every day to the greater picture you have of success, and how that can in turn help them enjoy and benefit from that success.

Acknowledging, encouraging, empowering your people to act in harmony with your vision and values is far more powerful than prescribing what you want and outlining precisely how they should be doing it.

Empowering your people

Regularly sharing your vision and plans for the future and encouraging your team to help visualise success will help stimulate growth. Looking to your people to help identify the best growth opportunities and providing regular forums for your employees to present their ideas can help grow your business. Acknowledge all good ideas, empower your people to own those ideas and reward them when they help you get to where you want to go faster. The more you can celebrate success with your employees, the greater the performance culture you are creating.

Tips to help you lead your organisation to success:

Paint a common view of the future and translate your vision and strategy into workable goals for your employees
Share your vision regularly, applying short and long-term frame of references for all projects and activities
Live and promote your desired culture and values
Model integrity in decisions, communication and treatment of people – always lead by example
Recognise others’ strengths and limitations – focus on building teams around individual employees'(and your own) strengths
Coach, mentor and develop your team – help your team members develop self-awareness and strive for personal development, helping them align their career aspirations with your business goals
Inspire, encourage and acknowledge action and commitment from your employees

When thinking about leadership, it is good to reflect on the line “follow me, I am right behind you”.

If you lead through inspiration, suggestion and example then your team will follow, encourage others and deliver you greater success.

To read the article in context and others on leadership go to:

http://www.abn.org.au/womeninbusiness/newsletterissue79/Leadership-Strategies-for-Women/index_landing.html

To follow Emma on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EmmaLoRusso

July 17, 2009March 29, 2017

Attending to the elephants

How often have you seen or been in situations where everyone around you is busy discussing, dealing and deciding on the smaller, easiest issues to address, and the item that is most likely to be a showstopper is being overlooked or held-over to address at another time.

The expression “ignoring the elephant in the room” is based on this very situation. Just as an elephant in a room would be impossible to overlook, we use it to describe those situations where we pretend the elephant is not there, concerning ourselves with smaller, relatively insignificant matters, shuffling around the bigger issue of what to do with the elephant in the room.

The “elephant” is usually a bigger issue we choose to avoid because we know it will be time-consuming, painful and uncomfortable to deal with. So we take comfort in keeping busy with all the other things that can be done instead.

More often than not, it is the smallest things being left unresolved that prevents us from bringing to conclusion the projects we are working on.

Just as we can rationalize ignoring the big elephant, it is even easier to rationalize ignoring the smallest of issues, wishing them away and dismissing them as insignificant or as something “easy to deal with later”.

In reality we find that either issue – big or small – no matter how far forward we move the project or initiative we are working on, it can never be fully resolved and finished until the outstanding matter is resolved.

Recently I was in discussions with a business. They had engaged me to discuss their overall business proposition, position and product portfolio ahead of a launch. There were many outstanding matters to be dealt with and decisions to be made and they were rushing through their list to get feedback on all of them. However there was a starting showstopper, and no matter how much they wanted to cover all the later issues on the list, if they did not resolve the basic starting proposition, they were not going to be able to resolve anything else, nor achieve a successful outcome.

Through further discussions and exploration, it became evident that there was an issue of avoidance in dealing with perhaps the biggest fundamental showstopper (the elephant in the room). There was clear conflict in the direction by two key principals of the business. Each saw it differently, and the rest of the team was busy trying to avoid bringing these differences of opinion into focus let alone to a conclusion and final agreement. Lots of busy work was being done on other facets, giving a false sense of progress, however it was evident there was no way this could work without getting a common agreement from the two conflicting principals. And this agreement was fundamental to the success of the next stage of their business. Once the elephant was attended to, the next stages of business could then move forward.

Discomfort of conflict is often the underlying reason of why issues will be left unresolved although there are many cases where it is avoidance of having to work through the difficult aspects of the project. It is too easy to spend time on the sexier, easier, showier parts of a project or to spend time on the areas that we have greater confidence, expertise or experience in. Meanwhile the clock races on towards the deadline.

No matter what the shape or size of it is – a show stopper is a show stopper. You need to identify when you have a show stopper, and you need to deal with it immediately. Ideally you would be proactively looking for the elephants or the show stoppers of any size.

The beauty in attending to the elephants early is the quality of solution that can follow. The earlier you have to solve the issue, the more creative the solution. And the solution may be very different from what you were first thinking or fitting the rest of the non-critical elements around.

As I have seen firsthand and Edward de Bono is noted as saying:

“It is well known that “problem avoidance” is an important part of problem solving. Instead of solving the problem you go upstream and alter the system so that the problem does not occur in the first place.”

To get this benefit you need to first attend to the elephants.

July 8, 2009March 29, 2017

The power of “Pressing the Flesh”

It doesn’t matter how clever we are. Nor does it matter how many books, forums or surveys we read. Nor how many official meetings we attend. If we do not get out there to “press the flesh” we are not going to be across what is really happening in the world we are responsible for.

Without directly talking to those you have responsibility for – whether this be your employees, customers, investors, family or community – how can you really be confident you have a handle on their real sentiment and emotion? Can you really know how your recent decisions have impacted them? Be certain that what you think is important to them is the same as what they think is important?

The only way to really know is to stop, ask and to listen yourself to the people you are responsible for, and if you can, to spend some time “walking in their shoes”. This can never be met by having this outsourced or filtered through other people.

It may require you to consider it as an imperative, a percentage of time you set aside, or build it into your daily schedule to ensure you are spending enough time being physically connected to the people you are leading and are responsible for. As much as possible, be engaged regularly and as close as possible on their terms, without the formality of a pre-determined agenda. The less rehearsed the encounter, the fresher your read on what is really happening.

It does not have to take up a huge chunk of your time or be a major single event. You can daily walk the corridors and visit workstations taking time to talk to people on the way to somewhere else. Or allocate a day a month to visit your customers’ businesses – and really talk to those who are using your products or services. Or man the phones, have open lunches, create social events and actively participate or help out if someone is away. There are many ways you can get out there and press the flesh. But it is essential that you break the shackles of your work desk. You need to go where you do not normally go. Talk to those you don’t normally talk to. You need to look to encounter as much of a reality of all your people (those you have a responsibility for) as you can.

The powerful return is far greater than helping others feel good. It is about getting a firsthand account and measure of what exactly is happening. It allows you to see what actions you may wish or need to take. What priorities to adjust or what new initiatives you may need to introduce. You may discover you need to make different types of investments or decisions but it is more than likely you will discover that you will need to improve general communications.

You may discover that this practice uncovers a great new opportunity. An idea that can set your organization apart. A product concept that becomes the next big thing. Or just find that these actions of you connecting can energize your team to deliver something greater than before.

If you genuinely care about your people and align everyone under a common vision that they believe in, they too will respond with care, passion and commitment. By engaging directly, they will feel valued and that they have a voice. That they are not dispensable or not important to you, but are instead seen by you to be important and part of helping create something great.

One of the more likely outcomes is the energy source you yourself will gain. Remembering why you went into business, corporate, NFP or office in the first place.

So go on, get out there. Start pressing the flesh. Now.

July 2, 2009March 29, 2017

Are you listening to your customers?

We all understand the power of referral business and a glowing customer testimonial. Particularly if it is from a customer who is prepared to say how you made them richer, stronger or more fabulous than before.

When was the last time one of your customers provided positive feedback in writing or publically endorsed your organization? When you received that feedback, did you acknowledge the customer? And did you acknowledge your employee or team who were responsible for generating that positive response?

What if it was negative, did you re-engage and thank the customer, look to involve them in future product reviews, value them in a way that acknowledges your success is dependent upon how you treat and deliver to your customers.

I am not advocating the customer is always right and that to be a customer success driven organization it means you just do what they ask for. This is about listening. Listening and engaging your customers. Expecting and respecting that they will talk about their experience with your organization with someone, and maybe with many people either face-to-face or via any of the easy-to-use social mediums. You can’t control what they are going to say about you, but you can create an environment that makes every touch point positive, consistent and what is felt as an important engagement in a long term relationship.

Today I talked to two business owners of very different businesses. I asked the question of both of them to define their long term revenue model. And whether they had defined the perfect customer relationship – what engagement model, over what period of time, to generate a defined amount of revenue and profitability. Neither could answer and both admitted they were in the trap of thinking short term. One wanting to squeeze every possible dollar out of the first transaction and thus was focused on how many customers he could meet (in a volume X single transaction model) and the other just thinking survival so the horizon was very short term (weeks in fact). The problem with thinking this way is that they could both see that they were putting at risk a longer term relationship with the customer and potentially putting at risk the long term viability of their business and the profitability able to be realized over a long-term relationship with the end customer. They both acknowledged there was room for a better customer engagement model, with a relationship built and secured over the long term with the added potential to up-sell, cross-sell and value-add based on their ability to perform. Forget short term accountability – think of a longer term engagement model that requires long term accountability, and one that brings greater profitability.

This brings us back to the customer experience, and whether you are delivering this at each touch point and measuring this in a meaningful way.

When you genuinely feel the service or quality you experience is extraordinary, you are more likely to want to thank someone. A phone call, an email, or post something to a web forum or social network. You will share your positive experience with those close to you. When the experience is anything less than average, it can generate multiple conversations with anyone that will listen. Any of you who are active on Twitter will see how quickly great service and even more so, bad service is shared, and if it communicates the point more strongly, it will include an image and provide great detail of what is wrong. This often starts a number of those who begin sharing their similar experience. Or what alternative solution that they found. Rants get posted to blogs and then linked to other blogs, forums, tweets or Facebook posts for all to read, with hot topics seeing many of those who agree or disagree engaged even further. So it moves from perhaps a series of single incidents into a customer sentiment that is hurting your brand.

Someone’s perception of your company is their reality. Which means you can’t hide and you can’t control it. And thus, I ask, are you listening to your customers?

Since you can’t control what your customers are saying about you or where they are saying it, you need to focus on their experience when engaging with you.

If you don’t encourage and provide a forum for them to feedback to you, then they will find or create their own. So create that space, have the space owned by your customers and encourage active feedback (good and bad).

Engage in some way with each and every customer who shares their experience with you – this may be through suggested reading, recourse, or just in saying thanks. Share your appreciation for the feedback and what you did about it, not only to them but to the rest of your customer base.

The basis of creating a community and establishing a large number of loyal long-term customers will be strongly based around how well your customers feel they are being listened to. Whether they can see their feedback is influencing the overall customer experience, the levels or types of customer service and support, possibly even the products or services you provide.

And don’t ignore the stuff “out there” in the global social media space. Not just what they are saying about you but what they are saying about your competition. Today there are companies that offer tools that measure buzz, mentions of products and brands. This can provide you very early insights into what could become a big opportunity for you – either heading off a disaster or in discovering your next breakthrough.

So ask yourself the question today – do your customers have a place to talk to you? Does your business processes and culture encourage listening? And if a customer does talk to you – how will they know they were being listened to and that their input is valued and can help positively impact your business?

You can significantly improve your business if you view every single customer as a potential evangelist and part of your extended sales organization.

June 24, 2009March 29, 2017

Utegate – A question of trust

According to a recent Harvard Business Review Advisory Council Reader’s Survey dated January 2009, it was considered that trust had eroded in top executives – by over 76% in US based companies and 51% in non-US companies.

That is a lot of trust to lose.

Watching the recent shenanigans* of our government and opposition spat over the so-called Utegate scandal, it certainly raises the question of what possibly were they hoping to gain? Given no-one seriously thought it would result in a resignation of the Prime Minister or the Opposition Leader, all that really is at stake here is the public’s trust in their leaders.

We can only assume the motivation that is driving them to behave, attack and defend their actions as they are, is to help protect and uphold Australia’s values, ethics, security, competitiveness, health, safety, education and all the other reasons that they were voted into office as our leaders. I would not be the first to say that connection is difficult to make. Even if it can be found, would we rate it as the most important issue that we would like our leaders of our nation to focus on? And at what point did or does the motivation change from pursuing the truth to pursuing personal agendas?

In this global economic environment we are seeing increasing pressure on businesses and executives. This is a test of character for most. And we are seeing plenty of examples of organizations’ cultures crumbling, trust being eroded, candor turning into clandestine, and ethics and values once clear now murkily represented.

Trust is something that requires careful building. A coherent and transparent position that is understood, chosen and lived by those who lead and those who follow. It is very easily dissipated. And even harder to rebuild.

So how do you ensure trust not only remains in-tact but grows over these challenging times? The key thing is of course to know who you are and what you stand for. Trust is not a job responsibility, it is a choice in which you wish to offer and earn.

The basis of trust in leadership

Know oneself and take a clear position on your beliefs and values – communicate and live by who you are and what you believe in
Be transparent and candid in communication and decision making – share why decisions are being made, share the process, those engaged, and progress. Your organization and personal values should have a common base otherwise the differences will quickly show and allow room for corruption.
Share – share information, good, bad, challenges, disappointments and wins. Help explain what is clear, what is grey, what is not being shared and why.
Tell the truth always – you may suffer consequences of telling the truth, but it can never be as bad as the consequences of not telling the truth. The most important thing at stake here is your integrity. You can’t deceive and retain integrity.
Encourage, invite, create forums for feedback – this is all about creating a culture that encourages open discussions and the sharing of ideas and information. It is also important that you regularly hear, see and feel the truth and reality of a situation.
Get directly involved and see first-hand any situation that you need to represent – the more layers you have between yourself and what you represent, the more likely the room for spin, softening, misinterpretation of the truth etc.
Evaluate how you are living your word – reflect regularly on your behavior and that of others, call yourself and others to question and do not accept anything that can be considered untrustworthy or against the values of your organization.
Champion Trust – encourage it, live it, recognize it, reward it.

Friedrich Nietzsche, German classical Scholar, Philosopher and Critic of culture once wrote “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”

To lead in today’s environment, you need to be trusted. Don’t compromise.

* Definition of shenanigan “1: a devious trick used especially for an underhand purpose2 a: tricky or questionable practices or conduct —usually used in plural b: high-spirited or mischievous activity —usually used in plural (Merrriam-Webster online). A most apt description!

June 17, 2009March 29, 2017

Can you afford the expense of a cheap lawyer ?

Ever heard the saying “there is nothing more expensive than a cheap lawyer”? That lesson can easily be applied to the decisions we make every day regarding our business vendors.

It is easy to make the mistake of spreading our budget too thin or going with the cheapest option – mistakenly thinking we are getting more bang for buck or that we are saving money. Often you will find this approach will result in poorer quality and not achieving the goal you set out to do in the first place. The cost either in additional time or further investment to bring what you are doing back to scratch can often be far greater than if you had aligned your budget to your goals in the first place (or your goals to your budget).

Although this rule applies as much to the personal decisions we make, it is less likely we fall into that trap because we tend to naturally protect “our hard earned money”. We will spend far more time in determining return on investment whether it is through measuring easy to compare metrics, searching online or by talking to family and friends to better understand their experiences and opinions. We seek recommendations feeling confident of asking someone we know “how did you find your builder, car, computer, TV, phone etc? “. We do this whether it is a conscious best practice or not.

It has always struck me the difference that people feel about spending their own money vs. their employers’ money. The sense of responsibility and ownership for return on investment regarding business purchases often differs from the way the same decision would be approached if it was their own money. At a time where organizations are looking at innovation as a means to survive the global economic environment, we should also be revising our planning and procurement approach. And this is more about the culture you create rather than defining it through process.

Encouraging your team to spend time on determining the best plan to achieve your goals against budget, investing in research and assessment of the right vendor, obtaining testimonials directly from similar type businesses who have engaged or purchased from that vendor, investing in developing a good brief or requirement specifications; all will help you determine the best partner for you and your company – and I do emphasize that you see the relationship as a partner not just vendor/supplier. This should result in you choosing the best partner that truly shares your vision and belief in your desired objectives, and is motivated to bring you success beyond “making the sale”.

If you are delivering on someone else’s brief, and you find the scope and budget are out of alignment, you may need to either negotiate more budget or learn to reset expectations when determining how best to achieve the goal within the budget you have.

Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of going with the cheapest option, spread your budget too thin, and have the outcome you are working to achieve at risk. Even with the financial pressures as they are today, you can’t afford the ‘real’ expense of going with the cheapest lawyer or any other vendor unless you really have weighed up the true cost and return of that engagement.

The same goes in reverse. If you are offering a product or service, make sure you invest in understanding the brief and proving how you are best able to help your client achieve their brief. Be realistic about pricing and quote what you believe is fair and reasonable for the scope of brief or requirement given. Everyone needs to win for success to be fully realized.

You need to buy well to return well. And this may mean you need to review your purchasing culture right now.

June 10, 2009March 29, 2017

Progression post recession…

With great caution, we are seeing reports of “Australia avoiding a recession” with claims the worst has passed. And whilst I sincerely hope that is the case and no-one suffers further or unnecessary financial hardship, I do wonder if we as a nation have spent enough time considering just how we will compete and sustain our economy over the long term. Have we invested enough in understanding the global economic crisis? The reasons for the global crash and the questions it raises about our understanding and demands on the companies’ (or investments’) integrity, values and responsibilities that we invest in?

One beauty of financial uncertainty is that it forces us to think about what is important to us. It certainly forces us to review where our priorities and responsibilities lay. In business it brings clarity to what is the true means of competitive differentiation and how best to go-to-market. If your company’s survival is at stake, it forces you to define clearly where your markets are (or could be) and how sustainable they are. It allows you to explore different possibilities and opportunities. And it should be a time where you encourage and promote innovation and change within your organization and empower your team to help find the path to future growth and financial strength.

In the March quarter national accounts, it still showed domestic spending falling by one percent, the sharpest fall since December quarter 2000. We avoided a technical definition of a recession by a GDP expansion mostly due to imports contracting and exports remaining positive. “Overall, GDP growth was positive because imports contracted by an extraordinary seven per cent allowing net exports to contribute 2.2 percentage points to GDP growth and ensuring a positive result” stated Westpac’s chief economist Bill Evans.

Let’s not exhale the sigh of relief that the worst has passed us. Use this time to consider what you need to do to emerge stronger. How can you innovate and compete strongly in the global markets? What is your true means for sustainable competitive differentiation and how do you focus on those?

Back to integrity, values and responsibilities, what does this mean for your company and what (if any) are the lessons here? What should you avoid next time and what do you need to ensure you do next time? What measures need to be in place to help ensure you don’t forget those lessons?

And finally, as we consider the lessons in these times, how in finding your means for financial strength and security will you balance your desire for greater profits against your responsibilities to your employees and to the greater community moving forward?

What will your story of progression post recession (or near recession) be?

As Albert Einstein said “in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”.