Scenario planning and annual budgets

Did you make a annual budget for 2010?

Bet it wasn’t easy.

Did you think about all the different scenarios that might happen in 2010, and incorporate those variables into several budgets, or was your final product one single annual budget?

I am not a fan of annual budgets unless they are tied into Scenario Planning.

I believe that they are a necessary exercise that helps in anticipating what revenue and resources a company might require in the coming year.  But I truly dislike those who compare real results with a static budget created 6 months or a year prior.

Businesses cannot perform  “as planned” in rapidly changing environments.  Budgets can serve as guides for spending and investment if properly assembled, taking into account internal and external factors of influence.

I am almost sure your budget made in October or November needs to be redone (if you want it to reflect real results) in order to reflect the massive changes that have already occurred in the economy and business environment.

In chaotic times, when uncertainty is the only sure thing, the traditional budget process can be a waste of time for the people making them, and for those “using” them if scenario planning is not taking place.

When the environment is subject to so many significant changes that will affect our suppliers, costs, customers consumption, international competition, etc., it is wiser to make several budget scenarios.

These scenarios will contemplate and plan for possible (or impossible) significant changes in the business environment, and help the organization to quickly take advantage of the situation when and if they occur.

What if oil prices plummet, or skyrocket?

What if inflation takes off, or recession gets worse?

What if there is a massive terrorist attack?

What if there is an economic collapse in Asia?

What if our number one supplier closes their doors?

What if the automobile and construction industries fall deeper into a slump?

What if the USA puts huge import duties on imported products?

It’s not about guessing what will happen (traditional budget).

It’s all about preparing to what MIGHT happen (budget scenarios).

How many scenarios should a company create?   As many as possible in order to analyze the strategic impact on the entire supply chain, cost structure and customers buying patterns.  It’s having a battle plan A, B, C, and D.

This budget scenario exercise is an ongoing process that involves risk assessment, prediction of economic consequences to potential or real events, and should involve the entire management team.  Depending on the actual environment and conditions this assessment might take place several times a year.

The identification of risk areas that will have significant effect on revenue or costs,  and the  acceptance that things will continue to change, will enable your organization to thrive and survive during turbulent times.

Links

How to do Scenario Planning

Scenario Planning

The Secret of Successful Scenario Planning

No shortcuts to being a great leader

There are no shortcuts to effective sustained leadership.

It is not easy to be a leader, or to maintain a position of leadership.

There is no book, movie, seminar or short course that will turn one into a leader.

We can learn about certain elements of leadership that we may or may not possess, and incorporate these ideas into our lives and behavior.

But leadership is not about what information we possess, our good intentions, or a business title and corner office.

It’s all about what we show to others.

It’s about what we do.

Day to day actions.

Sustained leadership success comes from; listening, attention to detail, implementing ideas, perseverance in the face of adversity, willingness to embrace innovation, training and mentoring others, planning and risk identification, and the most important factor of all, providing a living example to others.

A true leader provides a model to others.

Leaders will consistently provide examples of; honesty, integrity, ethics, dignity, passion, diligence, capacity to learn, and unwillingness to be defeated.

A true leader will also provide examples of how to lose, how to accept defeat and move on, because leaders are not always winners

Leadership is not a 9 to 5 job, it’s a way of life.

Related Links

Leadership lesson – A Message to Garcia

Leadership, do you want the job, or just the title and benefits?

What defines an exceptional leader

Improve your leadership profile

Get the mission statement off your website

Do you read the corporate mission and vision statements on websites or in corporate promotional material?

I don’t.

In fact, I find them to be insincere, ambiguous and completely useless to the customer, and most of the time useless to the company itself.

So why do many corporate websites include them?

Does someone in the sales and marketing department believe that customers find this information important or believable?

Objectives, goals, mission and vision are important in an organization.  They define where we are going, and help in making decisions about how to get there.

You don’t need a mission or vision statement to be successful.You will need to make certain everyone in the company knows where they are going and are focused and motivated on getting there.

Customers will see the results.

You don’t have to tell them what you are trying to do.

Top 10 reasons for poor customer service and their solutions

Customer service, the interaction between the client and the supplier is an integral part of the purchasing and user experience, and as such, is the key to continued success in business.

What are the reasons for poor customer service?

Top 10 Reasons for poor customer service and their solution

1.    People are not trained.  When an organization does not spend the time to fully train their people the consequence is poor service.

Solution:  Dedicate resources (time and money) for training and reinforcement.   Employees should be fully informed about company goals, the products and services.  Emphasis and training should be focused upon the importance of listening and responding to the customer’s requests.  People can only do the job if they are given the right tools and objectives.  It costs money to train people.  It will cost more if you decide not to train them.

2.    People don’t care.  Selecting the correct personality is crucial for your business success.  Apathetic or self centered personality types have no place in a business that requires customer contact.

Solution:  Focus the selection and evaluation process to identify personalities that do not fit the required profile.  Get the wrong people out immediately, it also sends a clear message to everyone.

3.    Sabotage.  Angry or frustrated employees can actively work to sabotage and try to destroy the company.

Solution:  Keep honest and open communications with employees.  Informally and formally review performance, goals, objectives and feelings to stop potential problems before they reach the customers.  Get these people out of the front lines immediately.

4.    Employees don’t believe in the company, product or service.  If the image, marketing and promotion of the company is quite different from the reality, workers will not be able to sustain a positive attitude in the face of problems they know exist.

Solution:  Be honest.  Work closely with customer service, marketing and quality control to identify real problems and fix them.  Don’t let  marketing advertise over problems, solve them.

5.    Personal problems reflected in work.  When an employee’s personal life is in crisis or out of control, they may exercise control, aggression and negativism toward customers in an attempt to put some part of their life in order.

Solution:  Clear communications with employees:  If their personal life is affecting work performance, talk about it.  Time off, access to counseling or just listening may prevent more serious problems.

6.    Burnt out.  Too much negative, too many complaints can lower a person’s level of commitment and move their positive and helpful attitude to an apathetic one.

Solution:  Constant communication helps to identify who is burning out and why.  Get customer service people together to talk of success and how to deal with the frustrations.  Provide recognition or incentives for excellence in dealing with problems.

7.    Not providing the correct solutions to customers, lack of empowerment.    There is nothing worse than dealing with an employee who listens to a problem, then shrugs and says they have to ask someone else in the company to intervene and provide a solution.

Solution:  Give the people on the front lines the authority, power, tools and ability to solve problems.

8.    Don’t see the benefits – don’t understand their role in the company. 

Solution:  Employees project an image of the company.  They are the company.  They should be reminded of their importance and value to the customer and to the company.  Incentives, recognition, training and constant reinforcement are important.

9.    Apathetic from hearing the same problems over and over.  A fundamental role of the customer service division is to provide constant feedback on how customers view the company, the products and the service.  If this feedback is not analyzed and acted upon by upper management a feeling of apathy and frustration is created.

Solution:  Set up a model and procedure for the accumulation, analysis and implementation of solutions for the problems identified by customer service.

10.    Incentives/salary not tied to results.

Solution:  If you insist that the company depends upon people, and that people are the key to success, implement compensation packages, evaluations and incentives that support and reinforce this.

Related Links 

Are you listening to what the customer needs?

Broken Promises

Give this away

Don’t find a solution, find a way to make it better

Are you listening to what the customer needs?

I have been involved in a series of meetings with business owners regarding problems in their companies. 

Declining sales and market share due to international competitors, inability to compete or a decline in the entire industry sector are some of the reasons mentioned.

Solutions that were discussed and debated including cutting costs of raw materials, increasing worker efficiency, lowering logistics costs, streamlining the administration and related costs, government intervention and protection, outsourcing and even forming alliances with the international competitors.

What struck me as incredibly odd was that not once were the customer’s needs mentioned.

Not once did anyone mention creating new ideas, products or services for the customer.

There was no discussion of investing in new technology because “things are difficult now”.

There was never a comparison made between the marketing and promotion, branding or image of the competitors versus the company’s marketing, promotion, branding and image.  Why not? 

Every comment or observation focused on lowering production and logistics costs to the customer, never on increasing the benefits to the customer.

All that mattered is “how can I sell at a lower price”.

That’s right.  The entire future of these companies, and in some cases entire industries are focused on how make their products for less.  How to beat the Chinese, Indonesia or Brazil or whatever developing country has access to cheaper raw materials or labor. 

Common sense tells us this is not a viable, long -term solution.

Each of these companies has stated in their publicity, website and in their mission statements that their focus is on the customer and on customer service.  Why aren’t the customer’s needs and future needs part of the search for solutions when sales are declining?

If the customer really truly cares only about price, your product is a commodity. 

If the customer only cares about price, they don’t care about your company’s service, advertising and promotion, attitude or participation in their business.

If you really think that the low price will guarantee the sale, cut out the customer or technical service.  Take away financing.  Take away delivery and logistics.  Forget environmental and worker protection.  Reduce your inventories.   Standardize your prices and order sizes.   Cut down on sales and promotion. 

Call me when your sales skyrocket and the money pours in. 

I suppose it’s normal when sales fall, to attack costs, and costs are a fundamental element in being competitive in certain goods and services.

It is not the only element.  It may not even be the most important one for your customer. 

It probably is the easiest area to change quickly, and requires no investment.  People like easy solutions that don’t require investment. 

The relationship with your customer, the ability to meet their needs with your product or service and allow them to make a profit is what makes business click.

How well do you know your customer? 

What problems are they facing?

Is your contribution to their product important, significant or fundamental in their success?

Do they see you as simply a supplier of a commodity or an integral part of their supply chain and future?

Have you explored how you can work with them to make them more competitive?

Once this has been accomplished, bring the results to the boardroom and start the discussion of how to aid declining sales and deteriorating margin.

Don’t stop with the easy solutions.

Look for the difficult solutions, the ones that require compromise and long-term commitment.

Look for solutions that require investment of resources; time, money, and ideas. 

These are the solutions that the competitor focused on cost is not interested in. 

These are the solutions that will provide confidence and mutual opportunities for growth.

The 3 Y’s – help for difficult decisions

An organization’s management and leadership team is responsible for making timely decisions, supplying and applying resources when required, in order to efficiently reach known or perceived goals and objectives.

In order to make these decisions; research, information and analysis of the pertinent information is required.

Here is where management bogs down or leadership can make serious misjudgements.

• Poor incomplete analysis or lack of the critical information required to assess the risks, obtain the required resources or understand the probable benefits.
• Lack of understanding of the changes or resources that the decision will provoke.
• Making the decision too early, or too late.

A quick and useful trick is to apply the “3 Y’s” to assist when faced with a difficult decision.

The “3 Y’s”

• Why Me?
• Why Now?
• Why Not?

The First Why – Why Me?

• Who is requesting that I make the decision? Why?
• Is this in my area of responsibility? Why?
• Is this my area of expertise, do I know what I’m doing? Why?
• Do I have enough key information to make the decision? Why?
• Can I obtain more information, in how much time and at what cost? Why?
• Do I understand the analysis of the data and the conclusions? Why?

The Second Why – Why Now?

• Does this need to be done or decided now? Why?
• Is it in response to an emergency, part of “normal” operations or a change in strategy and objectives? Why?
• Who depends upon this decision or is affected by it? Why?
• Should the involved parties be informed of how the decision will affect them? Why?

The Third Why – Why Not?

• What happens if I don’t make the decision? Why?
• Are there other options, solutions, or alternatives? Why?
• Do I think this is the best solution or decision available? Why?
• Do I fully understand the short term and long term effects on resources, customers, work systems, goals and objectives that this decision will provoke? Why?
• Who are the internal or external “experts”, what is their recommendation? Why?
• How far am I putting the organization at risk with this decision? Why?
• Are there metrics to measure or contingency plans in place in case this does not go as planned? Why?

By reacting and making difficult decisions without reflecting on the WHY we miss identifying the real problems and issues.

We miss solutions and strategies.

We miss opportunities to unify and support the organization.

We find ourselves responding to symptoms and not solving or responding to the core issues.

Related Links

Can’t make a decision

9 steps to better decisions

New is a requirement

We are creatures of habit.

We enjoy and feel comfortable with a routine.

We create routines in our personal and professional lives constantly.

We wake up around the same time, go to work at an appointed hour, drink coffee at a scheduled time.

We tend to focus and concentrate on our specific career area, and in doing so are excluding influences and relationships that matter.

New and different influences and relationships that can dramatically change the way we work, feel and create.

Even our free time is scheduled and programmed.

We read the same papers, watch the same programs, go out at the same time, and surround ourselves with the same people and experiences.

In order to maintain interest and excitement in our professional and personal lives we need to learn, experience or add something New.

Turn the microscopic view of our lives into a telescopic view and look for the New relationships and New elements of influence.

We can’t change, innovate, modify, evolve and grow if we don’t have access to New.

New ideas.

New learning.

New skills.

New methods.

New relationships.

New challenges.

New does not seep into us by accident, it requires active participation on our part.

We must seek it out, experiment, and take chances.

Find it, analyze it, embrace it or reject it.

New does not always make us happy, in fact it can create conflicts and anxiety which ultimately lead to better definition of what we want, or what we are doing.

We can find New in books, magazines, web logs, articles, especially if they are unrelated to our current business.

New can be found by taking a different route to work, shopping in a different area, eating different foods or in different spaces.

New can be found in any person whom we haven’t had a conversation with.

We have to make the conscious decision to break our routines and seek out New.

When was the last time you encountered something New?

When will be the next time?

What can we do today to find New?

When creating our weekly agenda, keeping in mind that we must dedicate time to actively seeking experiences and information that are outside of our comfort zones and areas of expertise.

Find something New today.

Start a list, when you find something New write it down.

Encourage the people around us to discover and share something New.

Watch how New begins to change your life and decisions, enthusiasm and attitude.

Related Links

5 ways to promote creative thinking and idea generation

Does your company like new ideas

Individuality and chaos in the workplace

Improve your leadership profile

Ever wonder if your leadership style should be less interactive, less personal with your team?

Do you believe that the “cold emotionless leader” approach will bring better results to the organization?

Teresa Amabile in an interview entitled How Team Leaders Show Support-or Not in The Harvard Business School Working Knowledge newsletter, outlines her study published in 2004 in The Leadership Quarterly, and gives insight into leadership characteristics and styles as they impact group performance and creativity in organizations.

She identified 4 key behaviors that will improve the perception of team leader’s support by the team members (and by association improve group attitude and final results).

The groups perception of the leader’s support were positive when:

• they received on-time feedback and prompt response to problems. On-time decision making
• they were supported in their decisions on a personal AND professional basis by the leader and a sense of relationship was developed through exchange of personal information. Create personal relationships.
• they were recognized individually and in public for their achievements. Praise and recognition.
• they were included and asked for ideas and input about decision making. Inclusion and participation of all team members.

Sound familiar?

They are fundamental characteristics of any leader or manager.

The groups perception of the leader’s support were negative when the leader:

• Did not manage the work efficiently. Lack of timely decision-making, disinterest, disorganization.
• Unable to provide clear role definition and objectives. Lack of focus and objectives.
• Unable to solve problems or avoid them. Lack of strategy and planning.

Becoming a good leader is not all about barking orders or the implementation of revolutionary, new and improved ideas about data management and numbers analysis .

It’s about listening, doing your job and making decisions that affect others on-time.

It’s about dedicating time and applying common sense to create and maintain human relationships.

Related Links

How Team Leaders Show Support-or Not

Leading your team to mediocrity

Are we killing team performance by over-communicating

Step by step beginners guide to project management

Leadership, do you want the job or just the title and benefits

What defines an exceptional leader

Leading your team to mediocrity

“Too many chiefs and not enough indians ”

Slow Leadership has a post entitled Too Much Leadership that reminded me of a key concept required to effectively lead and manage people, and insure success in our organizations.

The willingness to pitch in and do the work along with the team.

There is no miracle formula to sustained success.

It’s about getting the work done.

It’s incredible important that we raise our hands to volunteer and roll up our sleeves, and not just point our fingers and give orders.

It creates a sense of camaraderie, provides an understanding of what are co-workers are dealing with, and shows a spirit of “doing what it takes” in order to make the business work.

The desire to “be the boss” somehow leads people to think that they are exempt from work, or entitled to give orders instead pitching in.

Being the leader involves identifying and eliminating the bottlenecks that affect your people in their work.

Supervision and coordination of work activities is part of that managerial responsibility.

Assuring that everyone gets their job done efficiently is what will make you a successful manager.

Best way to understand what that takes is to jump into the fray once in a while, listen, learn, work and think how to make it better or more efficient.

Do more and supervise less.

Start using your whole hand at work, and not just your index finger.

Related Links

Successful Managers should be breaking the rules

Slow Leadership:  Too Much Leadership

20 ways to guarantee failure as a manager 

20 ways to guarantee failure as a manager

A guide for the new leader who wants to alienate all employees and fail as quickly as possible in their new management position

1. Immediately purchase new office furniture and redecorate your office.  Spend a lot of money and make your office look very different from any other office in the company.
2. Insist on new computers, cell phones and software for your use only.
3. Spend several days working on your title, the press release announcing it and how your business cards look.
4. Insist and “fight over” small insignificant details and decisions in meetings, leaving big decisions and “big picture” items in limbo.
5. Treat the people in the organization as if they are there for your convenience and well being.  Be as rude as possible in your communications.  Demand, never ask.
6. When in meetings and conversations, always answer the ringing telephone, type and send Blackberry messages, read and respond to all incoming email and instant messages.  Interrupt frequently and ask people to repeat themselves because you were busy.
7. Plan company workshops or events aimed at creating a new atmosphere of “community” at work for weekends or after work hours, and preferable with short notice.
8. Avoid sharing any information about your goals, ideas and strategies about the company with employees.  Always talk about theory, never get specific.  Keep it fuzzy and out of focus.
9. Don’t listen to any ideas, solutions or complaints from employees or managers who report to you, especially if they have been with the company for a long time.
10. Make strong permanent opinions about the company and employees, solely on the basis of discussions with top management and the business owners.
11. Take lots of “business trips”  and attend every professional seminar and conference possible, do not take anyone from the company with you.  This is especially effective if the company is suffering from cash flow problems.
12. Talk about implementing massive changes, re-inventing methods and strategies, promote innovation and tell everyone that money is not an issue for them to worry about, at the same time focus all your energy on cutting costs, and minimizing the organization.
13. Immediately terminate some employees because someone told you to do it.
14. Insist that everyone in the company learns how to work with a new software program that you like.
15. Request reports and analysis from all managers and department heads, then several days later, repeat the request.  Don’t read or respond to any report and never acknowledge that you have received it.
16. Schedule many inter-departmental meetings at odd hours, don’t provide an agenda, then cancel them at the last minute, or just don’t show up.
17. Always refer to customers as if they were something evil and undesirable.
18. Constantly remind employees that before you came to the company they were primitive and uneducated, without a clue as to what business is all about.
19. Hire consultants, lots of consultants, expensive consultants are best.
20. Never make a decision by yourself, always try and find total consensus on all issues.

Related Links

Motivation, not the leaders job

Leadership, do you want the job or just the title and benefits 

Can we allow ourselves to work and enjoy it?

 I’d like to work with Tim Smit.

I determined that halfway through an article in the BBC News article by Peter Day entitled  Tim Smit’s Monkey Business

I think it would be quite an experience.

A supportive and demanding environment, requiring the daily application of personal and professional skills.

Optimal results would be demanded, incompetence not tolerated and everyone would be focused on achieving positive and focused results.

Creativity and innovation are sought out and rewarded.

It might even be fun.  In fact I’m sure it would be.

Fun and rewarding in the sense that the people working with Tim are doing what they want do to, have the skills to do it, they work with people they like, and are focused on achieving something, together.

That’s a great definition of my ideal workplace.

Take a look at some of his management “rules” for his current project, The Eden Project

•  Wants to work with people he likes, interviewers must provide a 10 minute performance of something entertaining
•  Seeks extroverts with opinions, not seeking “yes men”
•  Job interviews take two days and include potential subordinates
•  Don’t make important decisions at work, do it over dinner or a glass of wine when you are relaxed and more “human”
• Take responsibility for your job and actions, don’t pass it on to others
• Once a year make dinner for your co-workers, read a book you don’t want to read and report on it, forced activity in order to broaden your horizons

We focus too much on specific business skill sets and abilities in business and management as a “guarantee for success”.

We forget that we are human beings, and work and interact with other human beings.

Business is all about participating in a community.

If you, your product or your service is wanted and desired by the community, they purchase it, a profit is probably generated.

We are successful.

Is there anyone who comes to work and doesn’t think they have to have the skills to do their job, to interact with others as a team, and be productive?

Do we need to hammer this into our people any more?

A little fresh air, creativity and innovation is in order.

Time to create a community and social organization, with the goal of creating a product or service.

Creating an active, open environment where ideas can be developed, forcing ourselves to learn new skills, having a relationship with those around us,  great ideas.

Keep on eye on Mr. Smit, his project and his ideas.

Some sort of financial, social or commercial success for his project will turn his ideas loose upon us and maybe change the world.

I can hardly wait.

Related Links

Tim Smit’s Monkey Business 

The Eden Project 

BBC Four Profile – Tim Smit

Successful Managers should be breaking the rules

Weird ideas that work 

Are you on the right team? 

Oil and water

Oil and water don’t mix.

That’s what I believed until today.  Oil and water do mix after all

In an organization there are departments that don’t mix well, or not at all.  Sales, finance and production departments are notorious for having problems or “not mixing”.

Each of these groups has a different way of thinking, they create very different processes and final products, it makes sense that they will not agree to, or understand what the other departments are doing.

Tension, misunderstandings, frustration and chaos can result if left unattended.

Sales and marketing is concerned with creating or identifying demand for the product and negotiating an agreement.  It’s about people and relationships, emotions, taking advantage of opportunities, being creative innovative and adaptable, exploring new ideas, making sure the customer is satisfied.  Uncertainty is a large part of every business day.

Finance focuses on numbers.  What did we do in the past, what are we doing now, what will we need in the future and how do we reduce or eliminate our risk.  Structured, predictable, logical, they label everything.  Their evaluation and decision making is based on guaranteed outcomes and not on uncertainty.

Production is concerned with efficiency and is also numbers driven.  Processes are studied, analyzed and standardized in order to maximize control and eliminate  errors.  They prefer set plans and actively resist rapid or constant deviations and modifications.  Believers in contingency plans and backups, logical, not fond of uncertainty.

The goal is to acknowledge that every group is very different, with different points of view, and that these differences are essential to the success of any organization.

The entire system (organization) benefits from the interaction, questioning, and controls required by each department.

If there is total agreement, all the time, something is wrong.

Leadership’s role is to provoke, question, listen, analyze and push this chaos toward a goal.

Successful leaders know how to make oil and water mix,  and make it happen on a regular basis.

Related Links 

New Scientist – Oil and water do mix after all

Are we killing team performance by over communicating 

Leadership, want the job or just the title and benefits

Leadership – who do you want to lead

Stop worrying and start thinking

 How much time is scheduled for thinking in your normal business day?

Do you have a regular time when you take the phone off the hook, avoid interruptions and think about business situations and problems or create plans?

Do you often worry about past, present and future business decisions?

This quotation from Harold B. Walker Think or Worry
might provide some motivation for you to include some time for reflection and thinking into your workday.

“Thinking works its way through problems to conclusions and decisions, worry leaves you in a state of tensely suspended animation” (H.B. Walker)

Get the subject out in the open, describe it, observe it, analyze it, understand it.

Think about it.

Create solutions or action plans to deal with the reality and stop worrying about it.

“You can think about your problems or you can worry about them and there is a vast difference between the two.” (H.B. Walker)

Related Links

Can’t make a decision

Think or Worry 

Putting change into perspective   

Motivation – not the leader’s job?

“It’s not my job to motivate my people, they should do this by themselves. It’s my job to make sure things get done right and on time.”

“I’m not here to hold hands and baby the employees, I’m here to make them perform and bring me results”

Ever heard that, or said that?

These comments are typically from leaders or managers who don’t believe motivated people are important in their business organization or results.

More than likely, they don’t have the “people skills” required to motivate others.

Sustaining motivation and enthusiasm at the workplace is one of the important factors in assuring business and personal success.

Leaders who tell me that motivating employees is not part of their job description, or not required for success are blind to the reality of working with other human beings.

Which group would you rather lead and work with, Group A, apathetic and unmotivated or Group B, focused and motivated?

A large part of motivation comes from the individual, it has to start here. There is no magic pill to give someone the desire and will to do their job with vigor and energy, striving for the best results possible.

You either have it, or you don’t. Hiring decisions should include an evaluation of an individual motivation potential.

Reinforcement and refocusing of personal motivation comes from the workplace, and workplace leaders.

Superior leaders know how to maintain momentum over time, keep the organization motivated, enthusiastic and focused.

Excellent results come from organizations that are motivated and are able to sustain their enthusiasm over time.

Failure to accept your role as leader and motivator at work is a a sure sign that you are not doing your job, and that your people and organization will not be performing at their best.

Motivating others is difficult and requires important social skills including listening, communicating, applied psychology and the art of negotiating.

All successful leaders share these skills or know how to find the right people in their organizations to keep their people motivated.

On your checklist of important goals and objectives for the organization this year add “maintain employees motivation” if you want to achieve all the other items on the list.

Related Links

Motivation – Heroic Moments

How to motivate yourself on Monday

Leadership, do you want the job – or just the title and benefits

Can’t make a decision?

 There are times our decision-making is stalled due to fear of making the wrong decision.

Next time you’re in that indecisive state of mind, answer these questions and see if it pushes any buttons to move the process forward.

1. What is the “best case”desired outcome?  Will your decision move you toward that outcome?
2. What is an “acceptable” outcome?
3. What is the worst thing that could possible happen if you make the “wrong” decision?  Can you accept this?
4. Is your decision reversible?
5. Will a wrong decision destroy value, confidence or trust of anyone involved?
6. Do you have enough information to make the decision?
7. Do you have too much information?
8. Who knows more about this subject than you….what are their recommendations?
9. Are you the right person to be making this decision?
10. Will avoiding making a decision now make the situation better, worse or have no effect?
11. Does the decision provide a short term fix or will it solve the problem permanently (long term)?

Related Links

How to systematically analyze any situation for better decision making

Why don’t they?

9 steps to better decisions

Are you on the right team?

 When the focus at work is on providing a great product or service to the customer (maximizing) the perceived value of the product is higher for the customer, and they are willing to pay more.

This translates into more profit for the company.

When our focus is on maximizing profit for the company, management tends to rush toward cost cutting and/or reducing product quality (minimizing) many times resulting in reducing perceived product or service value for the customer.

The customers may not buy your product now, resulting in less profit for the company.

It’s all about providing a product or service that will be appreciated, sought out and embraced by the market.

Creating a product or service that is valuable to the market.

The more people want YOUR product, the more money they will pay for it.

It’s about listening to customers, creating new ideas, innovating, and taking calculated risks based on your expertise and understanding of your business.

It’s not easy.  Creating has never been easy.

Success is not guaranteed.  In fact the higher the risk the higher the potential payoff and profits.

But it sure is more exciting and rewarding than cutting pennies off manufacturing, administration, sales and logistics costs.

It takes a different type of leadership, management and employees to make this happen.

What team do you want to work with, lead or manage?

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The dangers of success

Today a Google search for the word “success” turned up 321 million websites.

“Failure” got 218 million sites.

We all want to be successful. Leaders are expected to be successful.

We’ve been trained, rewarded, pushed and prodded to become successful. School, work, games and personal life, we are always focused upon success.

It is probably genetic in nature. Competition to survive demands success, and therefore the desire to succeed is an inherent quality in human beings.

Success brings recognition, wealth, favor and fame to the individual or group. All are benefits and rewards of being successful. We like the rewards and benefits….we really do.

Business loves success. In fact, business is not very tolerant of failures, especially leadership failures. To be a leader in a business environment means that you must be successful and get your objectives accomplished.

We strive for success, we really want it to happen, we plan for it, we train, we learn new things, we even modify and manipulate external factors to assure the outcome we desire. Despite all our planning, spending and preparations we are not always successful. No one is successful all the time.

We often forget that past success is not a guarantee for continued success, and that failure is always a learning experience, not always a bad outcome.

The illusion that we must always be successful, and the glory and attention that success brings is not always a good thing.

“Pray that success will not come any faster than you are able to endure it” Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe

Success, and particularly continued success, can lead an individual or organization into the following behaviours and attitudes.

• Cult of Personality / Fame. The focus is on the personality and not on the present or future work outcomes. It becomes more about who is doing it and less about what to do.
• Fear. Avoiding or agonizing about doing something different, new or original, “ we were great doing this…let’s keep on doing it”.
• Can’t let go. Inability to let go of a success and move on to the next challenge. Unwillingness to say “that project and party is over…what’s next”.
• Over Confidence. Invincible attitude leads to strategies, theories and attitudes that may provoke attacks on enemies or punish those in a weakened position.
• Loss of control. Inability to gauge or control excess or weakness. Losing touch with the reality of the situation.
• Yes Men. Lack of honesty from the people around you, no real challenges to ideas, methods and objectives.
• Hangers on. Distractions and undesirables begin to fill the agenda and schedules.
• Closing Networks. Cutting ties with old networks and individuals to move “up” in status.
• Depression. When the happiness or emotion of succeeding does not reach previous levels of emotional highs or didn’t meet the expectations.
• Risk. Anxiety about repeating the success may drive one to take larger risks, or to eliminate risks.

So go on seeking success, it’s the right thing to do.

Don’t take the failures too hard, learn from them, pick them apart and understand exactly why failure occurred.

Celebrate when you do succeed, take your 5 minutes in the limelight. Then put your feet back firmly on the ground and get back to work.

“Try not to become a man of success but rather become a man of value” Albert Einstein.

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Don’t find a solution, find a way to make it better

We make a large error in our business and personal lives if we believe that every problem or situation can be solved immediately or in the short term through our decisions and application of resources.

Theoretically it’s possible, but our focus on solution instead of optimizing and making changes to make it better can blindfold us toward evolutionary processes that in the long term provide better, stronger and long lasting solutions.

I’m suggesting that every situation should be initially evaluated based on two basic criteria; can it be solved now, or can it be improved now.

The situations that can be solved now or in the short term, should be. The organization should dedicate the time and resources toward the solution.

An example would be a delivery service that has 3 trucks and cannot cover the current delivery area on-time due to an increase in customers and package volume. A possible swift solution would be the purchase of another vehicle and hiring of a new driver.

A situation that cannot be solved now or ever should be approached by identifying areas where improvement should be made. The time and resources of the company should be focused upon the improvement.

An example would be government’s attempt to eliminate poverty or disease from a population. A perfect solution is not possible or practical, but by focusing on specific areas one can find great opportunities for success or enormous impact (vaccinations for children against polio).

When we look at every situation as a problem that needs to be solved right now we may be missing the best solutions and strategies required to resolve the situation over the long term. Ask yourself:

• Can we solve the problem quickly and efficiently with simply modification of variables or a shift in technology? If the answer is yes, then set the process and resources in motion.

• What if the problem is not able to be solved quickly or has no practical or economically viable solution? This is where the approach of resolving and modifying parts of the problem comes into play.

This evolutionary approach to problem solving is not often requested or expected in business (the quick fix is always applauded and sought after), but often the best long term strategy is optimization and gradual modification.

This evolutionary problem solving process will provide new opportunities for change and solutions to be developed in the future.The identification of areas, processes or resources that are the bottlenecks in your organization become areas of opportunity.

Modifying and improving these bottlenecks will automatically create new bottlenecks, in new areas. The focus on identifying and solving these “new” situations leads to a process of continual improvement and a better, stronger organization.

This is one of the fundamental ideas behind the Theory of Constraints (TOC).

Common sense tells us that in a complex world not all solutions are simple, quick or painless. The “quick fix” is a great idea, but not often found in everyday life.

Observation of science, technology, philosophy and business ideas and strategies show us that change occurs through the rare revolution (paradigm shifts and new discoveries) and through the more common evolution (gradual modifications leading to continual change.

What can be changed, fixed or modified today to make the organization, process, product or service incrementally better?

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Using positive reinforcement to win customer loyalty

We respond positively to positive feedback, recognition, and reinforcement of our behaviour and activities at work or home.

We get angry or lose interest in an activity, goal or organization if we don’t receive this “pat on the head” or “cheer-leading” on a continual basis.

Our customers also need reinforcement and recognition in order to maintain their motivation and good feelings toward your company or products.

What are you doing to make sure they get it?

Does the customer feel like you are just “going through the motions”?

Does it feel real?

Are you really showing that you care?

What sets you apart from your competitors AFTER the sale?

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The point of no return

The hardest part of decision making is passing the “point of no return“.

While the situation is being analyzed we’re safe.

Wacky, imaginative and wild solutions can be discussed and their impact and effect weighed and discussed. But it’s theoretical, it’s safe.

The minute we have to make the decision, take responsibility for the action and outcome, then we enter into scary territory.

The key to decision making is to get the momentum, confidence, courage and motivation in order to pass the point of no return.

I’m not saying that your decision will always be correct. But what is important is to make a decision and not spend hours, days and weeks agonized and postponing the process and decision.

Picture yourself on a diving board. High above the water. It’s scary to think that you may not perform the dive perfectly. A belly flop would be embarrassing and painful.

There are three options available.

1. Stay where you are, agonizing over the decision to jump.
2. Go back down the ladder, let someone else jump.
3. Jump.  Leave the diving board, cross the point of no return, make the dive.

When we are sure of our abilities and understanding due to good research and experience, we have confidence.

When we are not afraid of making a mistake, we have courage.

When we know the decision is important and necessary in order to keep things moving and get on with other activities, then we are motivated.

Focus on the task and problem, create the solutions and make the decisions on time.

Push yourself to pass the point of no return quickly and with confidence.

Jump.

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