http://www.articlearmies.com Articles posted by Milana Leshinsky. en-us Copyright (c) 2005 ArticleTime.com http://www.articlearmies.com/articles/Business/the-competitive-advantage-of-fun.html At the How You Can Assemble, Develop, and Lead a High Performing Team seminar I facilitated, a business leader stated a passionate case for a company she recently left. "You never realize how much it means when you wake up in the morning and look forward to going to work each day until that changes," Diane said. "The company I used to work for was fun. We enjoyed working on projects together. We laughed a lot and we still got the work done. It was really good to work on that team." Others at the seminar related experiences that made their work relationships meaningful as a basis for great teamwork, such as: * Integrity - When someone said something, you could rely on that promise being kept * Frequent and relevant communications - every team member was in the loop * Competent team members - you could do better work when you didn't have to worry whether someone else was going to come through with their contribution * Safe environment - establishing a business environment where personal attacks, digs, or humor that demeaned anyone was off limits * Clear expectations - everyone knew what was expected from the team and what they could expect from each other * Great leadership - a leader who listened, gave people appropriate challenges, and reminded everyone of the mission and implications At smaller companies, the opportunity to get it right is just as good at larger companies, if not better. The impact you have as the leader of your organization is that much greater. Whether you have management staff or they are working solo and become part of other teams, re- evaluate the behaviors and attitudes that you bring to a team, and make appropriate decisions about what to improve. When you do, you'll build a stronger team, as well as a stronger business. http://www.articlearmies.com/articles/Business/strategic-growth-of-your-most-valuable-asset.html Mrs. Milch, my sophomore English teacher, led us through an interesting exercise in identifying those things that are most important to us. She had us list our most treasured possessions on a single piece of paper. We had 15 minutes to write on the front and back of a single sheet of 8 _ by 11-lined notebook paper. We wrote furiously, inventorying our possessions both large and small, from the obvious (favorite sweater, bicycle, or tennis racquet) to the small details that make life run smoother (like a toothbrush or bicycle lock). As you've already anticipated by now, we began a series of increasingly difficult choices. Pare that list down in factors of 10 from your top 30 items, to the top 10. We had to whittle the list down to five possessions that we called our own. At 15 life, at least in this respect, was much simpler, but the thought process of evaluating and making clear choices was just as difficult as you might experience today. If we had the time in a coaching session, we could go through this process on several levels and key categories. But in this short span that we have together, I'd like to offer you a question and then a shortcut. Here's the question: What's the single most important asset in your business? Think about what helped you launch your business. What's been behind its growth? What's helped you meet new clients and serve them well? What's been instrumental in your decision-making and risk management? If you're still thinking about a computer, your desk chair, your lucky suit, or even your cell phone, you're off base. For the answer, go look in a mirror. That's right, it's you. Yes, you! Now that we've identified your most valuable asset, we've got to think and plan how to nurture your best qualities in the coming year. Why? Because as the leader of your company, the more you grow and expand your thinking and comfort zone, the faster and more successfully your business will do the same. It's true for me and true for you. When I narrowed down my high school list to two items, it came down to my bed vs. my desk. In choosing between the two, I realized that my desk could help expand my business opportunities (which consisted of tennis lessons and math tutoring at the time) and earn back all the other possessions. Though I could do work at my bed, I knew I was more productive and inspired at my desk and I'd rather sacrifice sleep at my desk than creative work on my bed. How's that for personal insight from a NJ teenager! Take deliberate steps to anticipate in which ways you need to strengthen your most valuable asset and build them into your schedule. In doing so, you'll build a stronger business. http://www.articlearmies.com/articles/Business/send-your-business-team-racing-ahead.html The feedback and success stories from How to Assemble, Develop, and Lead a High Performing Team seminar continue to stream in. I got an e-mail from a client who participated in the seminar alerting me to the story on the front page of today's Wall Street Journal because it built on an example I had used during the seminar. In the article, Gautam Naik writes about how the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London has spent the past two years integrating techniques from the Italian Ferrari Formula One racing team. A particularly surprising statistic jumped out: in 2005, nearly 70% of preventable hospital mishaps occurred because of communication problems. When errors occur in your business, it puts many assets at risk: money, time, reputation, and client satisfaction. Awareness and commitment are critical to overcoming these inefficiencies. You can make gains in three easy steps. 1. Troubleshoot First, identify an area that is underperforming in your business. It might be the time it takes to write a proposal. It might be faulty inventory controls that prevent you from running out of key supplies. It might be collecting outstanding receivables. Whatever area you select, review a one to six month period to find existing trends and to establish norms. 2. Raise the bar Ask yourself what it would take to make a significant improvement such as time saving measures like collaborating with colleagues on reports and proposals. 3. Improve Commit to improving the process and tracking it for at least three months. When you establish clear guidelines, such as "we'll get all proposals turned around in less than two business days and proposals for common projects will take up less than two hours" you have clear benchmarks to measure your progress against. Your garage may take all day to check the oil and rotate your tires, but in a Formula One pit stop, they have their processes down to a science so they get it done in less than two minutes. You can do the same thing in your business. Identify an area and commit to a higher standard with your team. When you do, you'll build a stronger business. http://www.articlearmies.com/articles/Advertising/goal-setting-as-inspiration.html If you're like me, you, too, may have an aversion to advice about goal setting. That may sound surprising, but it's true. Any article about goal setting gets scanned at best. If I'm at a conference or seminar someone cheerfully trots out the SMART acronym, I get fidgety at first, and then after 30 seconds I want to snap my pencil into many pieces in frustration rather than dutifully record specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-based goals. Yet, like you, I love to set and achieve goals. I'm passionate about my goals in all areas of my life. I think about my goals, talk about my goals, record progress towards my goals, get coaching to reach my goals faster and more easily, and study how others attained their goals. Hearing someone talk about goals in simple terms was (and in some cases continues to be) like hearing fingernails scraping against a chalkboard. This used to perplex me until several years ago my coach helped me see the distinction. For me, the goal paradox unlocked once I understood two parts. First, it was advice about goals that made my skin crawl. Second, it wasn't just any advice - it was feeble advice in a poor environment from a less-than-credible speaker that really set me off. Here are five keys that you've got to follow to help set your goals: 1. Set aside time. 2. Create the right environment. 3. Give yourself permission to write down everything. 4. Set goals that are meaningful to you and where you want to go. 5. Share your goals with others to create accountability. The bottom line for me is that I want to learn about goals from people who set and achieve big goals. Why? Because that inspires me. It helps me connect with my passion. Andrew Carnegie shared an interesting insight on this topic when he wrote, "The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get." Plan big and play big in the year ahead. We'll all benefit - if not directly from your contributions, than surely from your example! http://www.articlearmies.com/articles/Management/expand-your-business-repertoire-to-build-a-stronger-business.html Did you ever know someone who wanted to stop doing something but never seemed to be able to fully flip the switch to disengage from that patterned behavior? Maybe they got into a habit of always stopping for a donut or a cheese steak on a certain route back from a trip, when they really intended to do a better job of watching their diet. Or maybe they spent money in their business before it was collected. And even after they got burned a time or two and logically realized that the money wasn't theirs to spend until the check cleared the bank, they still made decisions that left them overextended and at risk. Ron was stuck in a "me first, be first" habit when he hired me to coach him to grow his business. The main trouble was that as fast as he brought business in the front door, he had staff leaving through the back door. Ron is spectacular at being the first with the most when it comes to hiring a new employee, responding with a proposal, and even negotiating a lease. It's refreshing to work with someone with so much energy and focus. The flip side of the coin is that he was burning out himself and his staff by going after everything at only one speed: lightning fast. We talked about the cost of pursuing everything at white-hot intensity and how it can lead to health risks and tension in his company. We talked about the early experiences he had that rewarded him for being fast -- talking fast, thinking fast, and acting fast. No surprises here: he won prizes and awards from Cub Scouts all the way up through high school and college and it was a behavior linked with positive outcomes. Einstein said, "You can never solve a significant problem at the same level that you created it." We needed to change tracks dramatically, because he had nearly run himself and his business to death in this adrenaline-soaked paradigm. I asked him if he knew what the early bird got, and right away he replied that the early bird always got the worm. "Entrepreneurs are a little bit different," I explained. "More often, we're like a mouse looking for cheese. And that takes more cunning and cleverness than just mere speed. A mouse looking for cheese has risks to consider and different advantages to weigh." He nodded along, trying to figure out where this conversation was leading, but he didn't know the Steven Wright line I was about to lay on him. "Ron, the early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese." We had a good laugh, and more importantly, he got the part about risk. Even now, he'll downshift into neutral and say to his staff, "Maybe we'd better check for safer cheese." Sometimes it's better to be the second mouse; it's always better to have a range of options and approaches to select from. Expand your repertoire and you'll build a stronger business. http://www.articlearmies.com/articles/Business/expand-your-business-beyond-business-as-usual.html Tuesday afternoon, I got off the phone with a client and started thinking about my workout that night at the gym. On Tuesdays the instructor takes us through a particularly grueling circuit of squats, crunches, barbell lifts, mountain climbers, and deliberately difficult push-ups. Within 15 minutes, sweat is pouring off the backs and faces of a dozen athletes, and that's with a five to six minute warm- up jog. It's one of the hardest things I do all week. Sometimes I cannot finish every exercise set. Why do I put myself in that kind of situation regularly? Two reasons, really. First, I know it's good for me to push my limits. Second, I know I won't push myself that far without some accountability and some company doing it. Being a good tennis player is something I really enjoy, and I know that I can't get to the level of performance I desire just by playing the game. I've got to strengthen my body off the court to build that extra capacity for when I need it on the court. Being adept at business is very similar. You can't get better at business just by doing your work every day. You need to make time for reflection. You need to spend time building extra capacity, by focusing on business systems and staff development. You need to think bigger and further into the future. If you're like me or any of the many business owners and entrepreneurs I've worked with and known over the years, you can make two safe bets. You don't push yourself as hard on your own and you don't do it on your own the same way that you would with some outside assistance. When we work out together to make your business stronger, you'll see the gains and feel the benefits -- and the sounds you'll hear are laughter and ah-has! You know that feeling of instant connection you get when someone you just met mentions that he's a fan of one of your favorite musicians or athletes? I automatically get that feeling when I encounter someone who thinks in big terms. Here's one of those cases: a marketing executive was spoofing Wal-Mart at the National Advertisers Conference through a commercial that showed Wal-Mart becoming so large that they merged with the U.S. Government. The closing line of the commercial was, "We're not just the lowest prices in the country, we are the country." OK, that's fine. Polite applause. Smiles. Saw it coming. The next speaker on the platform just happened to be Stephen Quinn, senior vp for marketing at Wal-Mart. In a very good-natured way, he thanked the previous speaker for her remarks and assures the audience that Wal-Mart has no intention of taking over the US. Then he fake-coughed and said, "China," with a grin. Big applause! High fives for thinking big. It would make Jerry Seinfeld say, "I wish I had said that." When I coach or consult with entrepreneurs, I celebrate their gains and achievements. It's a vital but fun part of my job. "Hey, it's great that you got a new client so quickly using the new marketing system we developed!" "Way to go on negotiating that project deal!" I know that we're capable of so much more, when the timing is right, so I plant a seed of an idea that points to an even higher level. http://www.articlearmies.com/articles/Business/credibility-and-business-consistency.html "Say, you don't happen to know a good sports massage therapist?" my colleague asked as we finished a meeting. "That's exactly what I was talking about earlier today!" I exclaimed. And it was -- not a sports massage therapist, but marketing consistency. The trouble with unsystematic marketing approaches is that it makes it very, very hard to be visible when a prospect is ready to buy. Three factors become more favorable to the consistent marketer: 1. Be in the right place at the right time At any given point in time, you have a percentage of your market that is ready, willing, and able to make a purchasing decision. You may not know who and you may not know when, but if you keep showing up, you're maximizing your chances of being in the right place at the right time. 2. Be consistent Consistent educational marketing leads to becoming a trusted source of information and insights, which puts you in a much better position than anyone offering similar products or services. 3. Be relevant Finally, people who have purchased some form of what you have to offer in the past are more likely to buy your product/service than someone who has not purchased something similar. You're more likely to sell someone a web site if they're already convinced that it can be used to bring in more business, than someone who is still wrestling with that idea and hasn't committed time and money to it before. Consistency is a critical component to effective marketing. If I were getting postcards, e-mails, or article reprints, it would be much easier to look up the name of that sports massage therapist I met a few months ago! Make your marketing more consistent, and you'll build a stronger business. http://www.articlearmies.com/articles/Advertising/communicate-like-a-team.html Coordinating, inspiring, and leading your employees to work as a team is a critical task every business owner needs to do, yet it's also one of the most difficult things for some to manage. Entrepreneurs don't typically go into business because they have a passion for leadership! The most significant professional development experiences take place in the context of relationships. As the leader, you've got to think about your relationship with the team as distinct from your relationship with each individual on the team. While I was coaching Ethan last week, he indicated that he was starting to feel uptight about meetings, like he did at the corporate job he left three years ago. He shared the usual litany of troubles that included inconsistent tone, lack of focus, lack of support, and poor follow-through. "Everyone dreads bad meetings," I told him. "The trick, now that you're in charge, is to call and conduct high-quality, productive meetings." Here are five tips to give your team meetings additional focus and purpose: 1. Recognize that meetings are held for different reasons. When you gather your team together, you want to perform some combination of information sharing, brainstorming, problem solving, decision-making, communications prep/review, skill development, relationship building, and planning. Figure out what mix is appropriate for each meeting. Don't call a meeting if sending e-mail will suffice. 2. Treat everyone on the team to the same experience. That could be sharing good news, like a new client or contract. It's important to let everyone on the team feel included. 3. Develop and use a consistent agenda for regular meetings. Depending on your business culture (and every business has one), your meeting agenda may be formal or informal, down to the topic or down to the minute. 4. End meetings early, but not late. 5. Summarize to conclude so you all leave on the same page. Not only does this step present opportunities to clarify discussion points and strengthen commitment towards action steps, but it also brings about alignment from all participants. If a meeting concludes on the note of, "We decided to move to the new office location on Spruce Street on November 1," it leaves little room for ambiguity or rumor. The company has declared: that's where we're moving and that's when we're doing it. All ancillary discussions and actions now need to support the goal framed by that decision. Use these tips and find out how much more effective you can make your meetings, and by extension, your team. If Ethan can use these tools and perspectives to get more excited about team building, you can too! http://www.articlearmies.com/articles/Advertising/build-a-stronger-business-by-building-on-your-strengths.html In our last year-end review session, we plotted your past client projects on a revenue vs. fun matrix. I hope you enjoyed that exercise! Periodically, it's important to take stock of the ways in which your company has grown and developed in terms of its capabilities. It's not just about the eggs the goose has produced; it's also looking at the larger environment or the whole farm. Though there are dozens of factors to consider in each business, here are seven key areas to consider in this session: 1. Core competency skills; How have you developed in your career field? 2. Business development; What techniques and systems have you found to work well? 3. New offerings; What products and services are you offering now that weren't available a year ago? 4. New internal capacities; In what ways has your team grown? What new systems are in place to make operations flow smoother on a consistent basis? 5. New technology; Have you upgraded systems, software, servers, or networks? Have you started using new tools or accessing information in new ways? 6. Community enhancements; How have you contributed to your community through sponsorship or volunteer work? 7. Body of work; What articles, booklets, books, websites, audio programs, learning systems, etc have you created to educate your prospects and clients? Continue adding to the list ways that your company has grown as a result of your decisions and actions. Not every entrepreneur consciously puts energy into each of these areas each year. And unfortunately, that's one of the reasons that so many start-up businesses fail to grow and prosper. Certainly, having accomplishments in each of these areas each year isn't mandatory to grow. With your business coach or other trusted advisor, determine which ones make the most sense for the current stage of your business and where you want to grow in the coming year. Those are decisions you make. Because you're serious about building a stronger business, you can look back on your efforts in these areas and feel a sense of satisfaction and pride over what you've accomplished and how you've grown. Next week I'll share one of my favorite business goal setting exercises with you. http://www.articlearmies.com/articles/Business/advanced-business-concepts-for-entrepreneurs.html I read a newspaper story about a young man named Michael Walton who was raging against the community college dean over remedial skills test. He was a self-proclaimed math whiz because he aced his high school math courses and could balance his own checkbook. Unfortunately, he failed to understand that the math went beyond those basic levels. Not knowing about more advanced math concepts prevented him from furthering his education. Not knowing about more advanced business concepts can keep entrepreneurs from going further; it can prevent them from earning more revenue, serving more clients, increasing one's professional network, recruiting the best staff, and leading more effectively with less effort. So, how do you get smarter and apply that to your business? Here are five fundamentals to consider: 1. You need new input, to make new connections and widen your scope of thinking. Without new ideas from media, instruction books, and new relationships you can become isolated. 2. You need to know your personal operating system. This includes your values and belief systems. Many entrepreneurs I work with don't realize how much energy is devoted to maintaining values and beliefs each day that are unexamined, in conflict with each other, in opposition with stated goals and unhelpful in other ways. 3. You need challenges, so you grow. Business provides a certain set of challenges - getting new clients, managing projects, coordinating staff, creating new products, or entering new markets. But sometimes the challenges that are best for your business are the ones you are least likely to see. I'm reminded of a coaching client who said the best thing we did one year was having her work fewer hours and delegate more responsibility. 4. You need support as you take on bigger challenges. Support can come in different forms, from systems that ensure consistent results to staff who will accept greater levels of responsibility. 5. You need accountability. Sometimes, you can do this for yourself; but it works better to have a relationship in which you can set goals and report to them with your progress and results. After Michael Walton finished ranting about how unfair the tests, processes, and culture were, he buckled down and took the remedial courses. He liked the new materials so much, that now he's pursuing a bachelor's degree in math and plans to teach. What are you doing today that would amaze yourself four years ago? Imagine the possibilities in 2010 as you build a stronger business and richer life!