Saturday, January 7, 2017

Business Growth Has Flatlined! - and What to Do About It.

Flatline

Ultimately you have to slow down in order to speed up. Remodeling yourself and your business for success over the competition requires a crystal clear vision for the future.
You will also need good market intelligence for making informed decisions, the right values beliefs and attitude in the people inspired to work with you, strategic planning, and good problem solving skills along with simplified processes. It’s the process, followed by everyone that enables your team to repeat success over and over again in each aspect of your operation. (Whether you are aiming to improve the bottom line or to sell, you owe it to yourself and those who have worked so hard to help you, get the best bang for your buck!)

Business owners are often the reason why a business has maxed out, hit the ceiling, flat lined, it’s not feasible for you to be chief cook, waiter and bottle washer forever. If it took 18 months to wake up to the fact that you've been in a holding pattern without further gains then it’s fair to say it's going to take at least this long to get back in the game providing you have the appropriate guidance and methodology. Sooner rather than later you must let go, get out of the way so that a new level of success can be achieved. This takes trust, and careful consideration of what will be delegated and when and to whom...the "Implementers".

Ask: What knowledge, skills and experience do you need to bring this about? Do you get this training yourself or get someone in to facilitate and motivate you and your leadership team? Who are my Implementers and are they the right people for the future of your business?

Change is scary and filled with anxieties so remember the quote "You don't have to have it all figured out to move forward". Gaining traction in your chosen marketplace requires you to have an appetite for vulnerability, open-mindedness, and growth. For that you need to keep the sound principle of "anxiety is a message from the unconscious mind to concentrate on what you want, not what you don't want!" parked in your frontal lobe until you recognize this inbuilt alert from the brain and your subsequent actions become second nature. What does your "Gut" say after you have applied the science?

Second nature means training your team to do the right thing the right way at the right time without hesitation - empowering your frontline. Genghis Khan once said “as you train so shall you fight!" In today's world, hundreds of years later, nothing has changed, albeit reframed a little to say "as you train, so shall you conduct business!” it’s more critical now than ever!

It is the organization who can deliberately build and maintain a true leadership team, plan strategically for the day to day as well as the future, underpinned by a sound set of operating procedures with the right people on board that is often the only advantage it has over its competitor in an often over-commoditized industry, that wins!

A Vision that is shared is a Burden that's halved. You'll sleep better at night for starters. Inspiring and motivating your staff on a routine basis is a must in order to gain and maintain the momentum and enthusiasm to be the best in the world at your chosen niche within your industry. Also the staff will greatly appreciate it! With the right help and methods you can extract and deliver this important message of what needs to happen short term with a glimpse of a future filled with hope. Its human nature with change a foot to want to be able to see the next step in the journey you want them to take so they can evaluate their part, the tasks and any risks for themselves.

Ask: What will your message say in your yearly "State of the Company" address? What shape will the "quarterly update" addresses take? Has your company's "Intent" been realized by at least 80% of the team you have working for you?

If you've made the right choice to get help from a business coach make sure:
1. The process and the timeline they are proposing is efficient in time and resources,
2. Is costed from start to finish so you have an accurate estimate of the costs (and the logic of any increases can be easily understood),
3. The plan is easily communicated to all and improves communication throughout your organization,
4. Up-skills your ability to solve problems,
5. Clarifies your "Way" of doing business for all your staff (and customers),
6. Your sales and marketing strategy is on a sound footing for the trip back to the future.
7. The actions you take going forward are based on best practice and tied to performance.

Remember, change requires a new perspective. There can be no improvement without change. You can't do it better unless you do it differently. You can't do it differently unless you think about it differently. You can think about it differently only by adopting a NEW MENTAL FRAMEWORK.

Sources: G.Wickman, J.Collins, D.Parmenter

Foot Note: Stuart draws from his leadership and training development experience with over 22 years in the armed forces. Combined with his knowledge skills and experience in facilitating and consulting project planning and time and workload management to large and small business globally.







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About Me

Started blogging in 2012 because I wanted to be a part of the internet, rather than just read from it. I began writing about time & workload management from my professional career as a trainer and coach in knowledge workers arena and leadership which I learned a lot about during my Army career. Since June 2002 I’ve worked in the coaching, training & development, planning, sales & customer service or security roles as a team member, facilitator, coach, coordinator or manager. Prior to that I was Senior Non-commissioned officer in the N.Z. Army retiring after 22.5 years. The first part of my military career was in the “doing” of being and leading soldiers. The last bit was spent in a variety of training and development roles from instructor to training development officer. For the final 2.5 years of my career I worked on a public facing youth development initiative collaborating with other govt. and private sector entities. Now living in the USA, I work 1 on 1 with busy professionals reshaping how they use their technology and desktop tools combined with best practice process to get stuff done on time with less stress and turn that elusive dream of work/life balance into a reality.

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