What kind of legacy will you leave?

As a leader, you have been born for greatness! And yes, much has been written on the topic over the years, however, when have you last thought about the legacy you will be leaving behind? What is it that people in your workplace and those outside of it – your family, friends and acquaintances will remember you for? 

In this short heart-to-heart talk, we will be looking in the mirror and consider the footsteps we are leaving in the sand as leaders...


You can’t do it on your own
“If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants” – Isaac Newton
“You alone can do it, but you can’t do it alone” – Alice Cooper

Bring forth greatness!
“The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there” – John Buchan
“When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!’” – Lao-Tsu

Create the vision!
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” – Antoine de Saint Exupery
“A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there” – David Gergen

Be humble!
“Leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well” – Dwight D Eisenhower
“Leadership is an opportunity to serve. It is not a trumpet call to self-importance” – James Humes

Listen to others!
 “The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them” – Ralph Nichols
“The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention” – Richard Moss

Develop others!
“Leave everyone a little better than you found them” – John L Mason
“Leaders instill in their people a hope for success and a belief in themselves. Positive leaders empower people to accomplish their goals” – Unknown

Acknowledge mistakes as a learning opportunity!
“Mistakes are just part of our growth. The only people who never fail are those who never, never try” – Og Mandino
“Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power “ – Hugh White

Care for others!
“People do not care about how much you know until they know how much you care” – John Maxwell
“Great leaders genuinely care for and love the people they lead more than they love leading itself. Leadership without love degenerates into self-serving manipulation” – Rick Warren

Each one of us is called to make a difference. We work in organisations where the focus rightfully is the vision and its realisation in measurable outcomes to ensure continued profitability and sustained business growth. As leaders it is about the difference we bring that lies between the vision and the outcome; it is echoed in the words of Shannon L Alder: “Carve our name on hearts, not tombstones.”  It is about being part of a legacy … of sharing dreams and changing humanity for the better.

“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago” – Warren Buffet 

Until next time!
Hein

www.rothassociates.com.au

Business Effectiveness and Sustained Profitability – The Crucial Link

For the majority of us, we are in business having one objective: profitability. That’s the bottomline. That’s the very reason for a business’ existence. But as times get tougher, how do we ensure the sustained profitability of the business we’re in? The answer lies in ‘Organisational Effectiveness’, a much debated topic having approximately 1.3 million Google citings and probably just as many definitions!

But seriously now, much has been written on the topic, yet, research still suggests that many business leaders are struggling with exactly what it entails, let alone how to achieve it. And it’s mainly because it’s easier said than done. It’s not a smoothly paved road with clear markers.  Instead, one can liken it to a 4x4 bush track, which is bumpy, have many twists and turns, and sometimes is barely distinguishable from its immediate surrounds.

Some define the term as the alignment of a business’ strategy, its people, and its operations management to achieve success. But in short, business effectiveness is having the ability and the necessary means to do what you have undertaken, and being good at it. It’s about the tangibles and the intangibles that make up a business and work in unity to steer it towards realising its strategic goals. It’s about having all the gears in place and having them oiled thoroughly that eventually lead to the machine purring away smoothly at full torque.

Business effectiveness is the fundamental element enabling businesses – irrespective of industry and size – to meet their strategic objectives and ensure sustained business growth.

At the foundation thereof lays a clearly articulated business strategic plan, the seemless execution of which is made possible by the structural components of the business to ensure effective work and information flow. However, that is less than half the story. Of much more importance are the intangible and often vague ‘rules of the game’, which are the mortar holding together the bricks. Or as Marian Bradshaw-Knapton (President, Avocet Organisational Performance Inc.) puts it:

“The main driver for an effective organisation is what’s happening in those ‘white spaces’ between the boxes on your organisation chart.”

Business leaders who realise this and make an effort to engage these elements from a holistic perspective, are more effective and their business is more successful than those who neglect it.

Research identified a number of critical universal organisational elements needed to drive business effectiveness, which can be illustrated as follows:

Click on image to enlarge

Key drivers of business effectiveness

Although no set parameters exist for business effectiveness and it follows no definitive mathematical formula, it is driven by a holistic, coordinated effort to align the key drivers of a clearly articulated business strategy as illustrated in the figure above.

1. Business strategy:
• The clarity that exists across the business as to its strategic direction and objectives, and the degree people are allowed to take ownership thereof.
2.  Business structure and capability:
•  Alignment of the business structure, work processes and role accountabilities across the business with the strategic direction and objectives.
3. Leadership capacity:
•  Leadership capacity in the business (top management to supervisory) to drive sustainable business success.
4.  Business systems and procedures:
•  Existence of clear and appropriate systems and procedures and their alignment with, and driving of the business strategy and objectives to ensure continued competitive advantage.
5.  Business development strategy:
•  Strategies for attracting and managing customers from a variety of sources.
6. Business values and culture:
• Existence of a business culture aligned with clearly written and communicated values depicting its “heartbeat” and what it stands for.
7. People engagement:
• Existence of clear and effective strategies to ensure the engagement of all people in the business involving their hearts and their minds.
8.  Customer service and satisfaction:
•  The business and its people’s regard of the needs of internal and external customers.

 Where do we start?

The first question to be answered is: “How does our business measure up with regards to its effectiveness in meeting our strategic objectives?”

You might already have some business performance metrics in place, which suggest that the business is achieving its objectives. If so, great! However, your mission is to continue with what you are doing right. Thus it’s not only about the victory of the moment, but you need to gear up, because it’s a continuous process of improvement. Continue to evaluate the business’ effectiveness focusing on the key drivers above. Identify what you are doing that irritates your people and your customers – and fix them. Consider what you are doing that delights your people and your customers and embed them in the business.

On the other hand, you might be aware that things are not completely right and that the business is not performing as well as it could. Maybe it’s time to regroup and consider the road ahead. Start with your business strategy and describe what it means for the business to be effective, i.e. What are the objectives?; What would success look like? What would it take for the business to achieve this? Reflect on each of the key elements above. It would be wise to consider the use of a business effectiveness survey and have all people in the business (including yourself) complete it. There are a number of diagnostic tools available on the Web that you can use.

Our Organisational Effectiveness Matrix has been developed to give you a sense of where your business is on the journey with regards to each of the key elements above. Being a flexible instrument, it can be customised to fit any specific business and their requirements.

However, to get you on the road, there are a number of questions you can consider:

1.  Are you and your people clear on the strategic direction and business objectives of the business?
2.  Is the work flow and information flow throughout the business conducive to its success?
3.  How does the leadership across the business stack up with what is required to engage your people and drive the business strategic direction?
4. What does your business development strategy look like? Do you engage the best inbound and outbound strategies to ensure potential customers to easily find the business and its products/services?
5.  Does the business have a set of clearly written and communicated values that depicts its “heartbeat” and what it stands for? Is your business culture aligned with it?
6.  How well is the business doing at engaging its people and retaining them?
7.  Are you “wow-ing” your customers (internal and external) with a blow-away service?

A final word

Effective strategy execution is paramount to business success. It takes a combination of the business operations and the effective engagement of its people and their alignment with a clear business strategy to achieve success. There are challenges, but knowledge, focus, and an integrated approach will ensure your business survives and thrives under all economic conditions.

Embarking on this road, always keep the words of Dee Hock (founder and previous CEO of the Visa credit card association) in mind:

“An organisation [or business for that matter ], no matter how well designed, is only as good as the people who live and work in it.”

Until next time!

HEIN ROTH    Principal Consultant
ROTH ASSOCIATES
heinr@rothassociates.com.au

Five strategies for improving your business development

You’ve got a great product or service that you know would greatly benefit people ‘out there’ if they just try it out. However, instead of people swamping you for your business, it’s a mere trickle, if any. Don’t despair; you are not alone! Fact is, many businesses are established having a fantastic product or mind-blowing service with the owner then waiting for business to come rolling through the front door, but it doesn’t happen. In the earlier years, it was fairly easy, but as you know, competition in the marketplace is fierce, and customers have a myriad of choices where to take their business. And if you do not ‘go with the flow’, your business is dead in the water! So what do you do?

Let’s just sit down and have a little discussion. The future of your business is in your hands, and I am going to show you six strategies for turning it around and get the right kind of customers to start approaching you, instead of you running all over the place to solicit more business.

Traditional business strategy is a thing of the past

Before we proceed, you have to realise that traditional strategies for getting more business are yielding less and less. There was a time that you could pick up the phone and just cold call on prospective customers. And there was a time that you could put out a large billboard or put an ad in a newspaper or the radio and television shouting out what you have on offer. But the market has changed; cold calling would-be customers is increasingly becoming a waste of precious time, and advertising costs have gone through the roof, with the return not always being that great.

In today’s business world we need a mindset shift to make us relevant to today’s consumers!

Strategy 1: Your business Unique Selling Point, Value Proposition and Slogan

The starting point of developing an effective business development strategy is your business’s Unique Selling Point(s) (USP) and its Value Proposition (VP). You need to start by thinking creatively: What is it that makes your business unique to any other of your competition?  If you are a dentist, you might be the only one making house calls. Or if you are in construction, you might be the only company giving a five-year guarantee on its craftsmanship. Or your service might be more personalised, building long-lasting friendships with your customers instead of the next-door business where people are just a number.  Don’t wing it, but do some homework on what your competition does and improve on that, putting these into a number of unique selling points. 

Once you have those in place, ponder over them, and start developing a Value Proposition for the business, which states the value you add to your customers or the benefit they will derive from doing business with you.  Once you have a sensible Value Proposition in place, you could go one step further by developing a slogan for your business, which in seven or less words, state what your business is about and the value it adds to your customers.

I need to warn, however, not for you to do this exercise by yourself. Involve people you can trust and get their input. It’s amazing how you might think you have the perfect Value Proposition and slogan, only to have someone telling you they don’t understand it.

Strategy 2: Having a great website

A number of years ago, having a website was considered a luxury. However, living in the Information Age, a state-of-the-art website is an absolute necessity. It has become the custom for prospective buyers of whatever product or service to shop around. This they do on the Internet researching the product or service they are contemplating in buying. You need to realise: Before a would-be customer picks up the phone to give you a call, they have already done their homework by comparing those businesses that specialise in what it is they need. And guess what? They look at your website and those of your competition and compare apples with apples.

So the question is: What is the appearance of your website and how user-friendly is it? Take a long look at your website. If you were a customer, would its appearance ‘wow’ you, or is it old-fashioned and tired-looking? Is the content you have on it recent? I stand amazed at how many websites I see where the most current article is well over a year old. Guess what that tells you about that business! Does your website really convey the message on the value you add to your clients, or the uniqueness of your business and that which makes it different to your competition? 

And another very point of consideration: You might have the most up-to-date website with all the bells and the whistles, and still have it not working to the advantage of driving more business through the front door. Having a great-looking website drifting around in the eons of the worldwide web is not enough. When people do a Google search on the product or service you provide, your aim should be for your business to appear on the first or second page of that search. People are not interested in scrolling through one Google page after another. 

This is where Search Engine Optimisation comes into the picture, which in a nutshell involves fitting the keywords describing your business to fit your potential customers’ keyword searching habits.

Strategy 3: Your inbound business development strategy

Inbound business development strategy has as its purpose getting your customers to contact you first, and not you having to cold call them or spend a massive amount on advertising. Over the past decade, the shopping habits of your customers have changed dramatically. The advent of the Internet, especially for business purposes has led to a major move towards self-education. It is disturbing but true that even before a customer contacts you, they already have done all the research they could on the product or service you sell, and they have a good idea of the costs involved, because they have already spoken to colleagues, friends and your competition.

A winning inbound business development strategy is focused on having the necessary Internet presence, not only by having a website, but also promoting your products or service through publishing great content and making it easy for your prospective customers to find you on the Web. You need to have a presence on number of Social Business Media websites, e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook Business Page, Twitter, Blogger, etc. And you need to be active on those in publishing information your customers would be interested in. 

Strategy 4: Your outbound business development strategy

Outbound business development strategy is focused on actively marketing what it is you do. This can take the form of online campaigns (e.g. virtual events, webinars and emails), offline campaigns (e.g. direct mail, printed advertising, the local newspaper, television and radio advertising), field marketing (e.g. cold calling, buying customer lists, telemarketing or targeted events like addressing your local Rotary Club),  and corporate marketing (e.g. bill boards and poster campaigns).

With the exception of online campaigns, most outbound strategies come at a considerable cost, and with many, the returns are not that great. However, if you have a heap of money to spend, be my guest. As for myself, I have found the use of webinars and emails quite effective. Should you want to use advertising strategies as those mentioned above, ensure that you are targeting your ideal customers, i.e. advertise where your prospective customers are. It is of little use to run an advertisement in a general magazine if you want to target other businesses. If you want to advertise, better to do so in a magazine targeted for your ideal customers, e.g. a business magazine.

Strategy 5: Behaviour-driven Sales Mastery

You might have a great product or service, have a super website and inbound and outbound business development strategy. And you even might have people contacting you as a result thereof. However, how do you turn an enquiry into actual business, and ultimately, a long-term business relationship? This is where a significant amount of business gets lost, due to a number of factors: (1) a lack in confidence; (2) a lack in facilitation skills to steer the meeting towards a desirable outcome for the customer; (3) an inability to effectively qualify the customer and their requirements and wants; (4) an inability to make a winning presentation that ‘wows’ the customer; and (5) having the immediate sale as the sole focus of the sales meeting,  instead of viewing it as a way for building a long-term business relationship and even a long-lasting friendship.

Let’s summarise

Having a solid and effective business development strategy requires you to be at all places at all times twenty-four-seven. You have to be in the mind of your potential and existing customers all the time. You have to be where your customers spend a considerable amount of their time, making it easy for them to find you. Take a serious look at your website and its contents. Does your business appear within the first two Google Search pages if you key in the product or service you provide? More than 90% of adults visit a social media website at least once a month. As much as 78% of all adults gather information on the Internet prior to making a decision to buy. Does your business have a presence on the most prominent social business media websites? 

Do you tend to “lose many fish on the hook close to the shore”? Maybe it is time for you to consider honing your sales presentation skills? Just maybe …

Until next time!

Hein

Please Visit my website for further information on how to improve your business development

or subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here

A dozen of proven ways to reduce your stress level

STRESS! It’s the number one disease of our time. There was a time that I felt I was losing control over my life. Too much work; too little time to do it; uncertainty as to what’s going to happen in future, especially within the recession as we have experienced over the past few years. No-one is immune against it. We all experience varying degrees of stress at times as a result of various issues and concerns troubling us.

The worst thing about stress is the fact that we fall victim to it and feel that we have the minimum – if at all – control over it.
 
“It’s not the stress that kills us; it is our reaction to it” – Hans Selye; pioneer stress researcher

Not all stress is bad. It is a natural phenomenon in life and necessary for our growth and development. Many of the things that stress us on a daily basis are realistic and objective. However, we can 'turn on' the stress response with unhelpful stress thoughts, beliefs or attitudes. Many times our response to stressful situations is subjective and even more stress provoking. As a result, we overeat or cease eating, smoke excessively, consume too much alcohol, drink excessive amounts of coffee, cease to exercise and a plethora of other unhealthy behaviour patterns. This only succeeds in creating even more stress in our bodies.

The good news is: You are in control and can do something about it!

HOW?  By learning to react differently towards stress.

The ways I am about to share with you to significantly reduce your stress levels have been proven time and time again. First of all, just to admit to yourself that you are stressed, is already a long way toward improving your reaction to it. Now you can start doing something about it!

1.      Talk to someone you trust about what is worrying you.

2.      Set goals you can reach and use your energy to do the most important and possible tasks. Do not blame yourself if you are unable to reach all your goals; simply push these out to next time.

3.      Eat a balanced diet consisting of fresh foods. Steer clear of some foods proven to increase and prolong stress levels, e.g. coffee, chocolate, alcohol and soft drinks.

4.      Make time (at least three times a week) for exercise such as walking, swimming or anything else physical that you enjoy doing.

5.      Better organise your work habits by getting up 10 minutes earlier so there's no need to rush; break large projects down into small achievable steps; and spend 10 minutes at the end of each day preparing for the next day. This helps you to start feeling more in control of your life.

6.      Give yourself a breather every now and then by taking time out for a weekend or a well-deserved holiday. Even just giving yourself half an hour at the end of the day to simply sit and relax, does wonders!

7.      Become more assertive at work by learning to say NO if you simply cannot help someone. By treating life as a popularity contest, you're not doing yourself any favours.

8.      Focus on what you do well and recognise and acknowledge your good qualities. Practice positive 'self-talk.' It works!

9.      Try to go for a massage every so often, take a soothing hot bath, or listen to your favourite music. There also are some excellent relaxation techniques available, which from my own experience, work extremely well. Whatever you do, learn what works for you and practise it regularly.

10.    Ensure you get sufficient sleep. There’s nothing more tiring and stressful to the body if you’re already stressed and get less than eight hours of sleep on top of it.

11.    Try and laugh more often by watching a comedy on DVD, reading a hilarious bibliography, visiting a comedian show, or simply enjoy some fun activity with your family or friends. Remember that laughter is healing to your inner self.

12.    Seek out a local counselling service or speak to your medical doctor about how you feel. They will know someone in your city, town, or community who they can refer you to.

I want to challenge you to start taking control over those worries and the things that are bugging you. Do something about it right now! Even if you just apply one or two of the techniques above, it will do wonders to get you feeling that you are taking control and claiming back the person you really are!

Please Visit my website for further information on how you can improve your workplaces environment

or subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here

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