Humpty Dumpty
When you discover, all of a sudden, that the Key Change Project for your business is actually ‘culture’ it can come as a shock.
Working in Sheffield with a cutlery manufacturer and his team, we had a room in a hotel with the usual muffins, coffee and buffet lunch. It didn’t really come alive until mid afternoon. But then some members of the senior team felt it was time to open up with the Chair and Managing Director. It wasn’t rude or brutal but it was very forthright, others would say critical.
Some people think that this approach will only “open a can of worms”. Rest assured that without opening the can, there is almost no chance of using this work to develop and sustain competitive advantage.
The two senior people were taken aback; they had no idea about the content or strength of feeling from members of their team. And at the end of the day when the three of us were sitting together, the Managing Director turned to me and said, “I feel as if my business is in pieces on the floor”.
That is quite a common reaction, but just like Humpty Dumpty we can always put the pieces together again.
Labels: Powerful business development
The appraisal
The MD’s appraisal is always the most important appraisal of all, but it needs to be conducted by a trusted outside adviser.
The board of an advertising agency were telling me how tough it is out there. Consensus is that advertising doesn’t work anymore; the banks aren’t lending; the internet is altering all the rules and so on. All these things, and lots more besides, are happening outside the business, yet the MD is carrying on more or less, inside the business, as he has done for years. What is that about?
Well, in fairness it can be very much because it is not always easy for any of us to change quick enough to deal effectively with the external operating environment. Especially whilst trying to deliver on business performance targets. However the business must be flexible and always ready to respond to the external demands of the market place.
This means that the workforce also need to have a similar mindset, but it always starts with the MD. Common sense really isn’t it?
Labels: The MD's appraisal is always the most important
Away day
It is as if our day to day work is conducted inside an invisible bubble. All our thoughts, feelings and actions happen, and bounce back, inside this bubble.
We know this because we get the same feelings every time we think about that same difficult and still unresolved and people issue; we know it because when the thought of our new website design pops into our head we have the same sequence of thoughts playing out; we know it because we haven’t done the appraisals scheduled for last month.
It feels as if we are treading wet sand on all these things; just not making any progress on important business issues; we are just going round in circles. And the way to alter this vicious cycle into a virtuous cycle is simple. You have to get out of your normal working environment. It may be a weekend away with your partner; it may be taking the staff paint balling or it could be the senior team locked away in a hotel for a day of ‘blue sky’ thinking.
Now we are not claiming that just going away will resolve all the challenges you face, but what it certainly will do is give you a fresh perspective. We find this is the first step towards improved decisions.
Labels: Get out more to improve decision making
Fee follows value, until....
Many business owners believe that the fee or price they are able to charge for their goods and services follows value. In other words, if you give more value you can justifiably charge more. However when your business becomes a ‘brand’, then the lines cross and at that point, value follows fee.
I said to the optometrist that I need some sunglasses for fishing. I am looking to spend about £25. The man says “Well, these Polaroid’s are what you need to spot the fish.” I figure the price could now be nearer £40.
The optometrist says, “These wraparounds will give you better fish spotting vision because they cut the sun out altogether.” I’m thinking that the price must now be £50 or more.
Then he says, “Why don’t you take these bi-focal, polarised, wraparounds away for the weekend. You can use these for tying hooks so you don’t have to change your glasses every five minutes.”
On the drive out to the river I find that I don’t need two pairs of glasses, one for the sun and one for the map, in the car either. Amazing. So I go back to the practice the following week and get a pair. Price £120.
When we develop genuine expertise that is of value to customers or clients, then fee or price becomes less and less important in our decision to buy.
Labels: understanding your brand and how it works
