New Eyes Rectify SME Blindness

Being a SME business owner can be both lonely and demanding and often this can result in the business owner experiencing the “not being able to see the forest for the trees” syndrome.

One effect of suffering from this quite common affliction is that a SME business owner can start to live wholly in their own world, and eventually lose sight of the bigger, business picture. I call this affliction SME Blindness.

The very nature of business ownership in the SME environment is such that SME business owners often have to severely stretch their personal skill sets, and can find that they are spending most of their time engaged in activities that are far from the best use of their time and abilities, and which tend to bury them deeper and deeper into their own darkening world.

The amount of time engaged in such activities, usually mostly of an operational nature, also makes it harder for the SME business owner to be as strategic in their decision making as they need to be if they want to grow and prosper with their business endeavours, and be well prepared to face greater challenges in the future with their eyes wide open.

In many cases, the business concerned is the owner’s “baby”, and the attachment can be so strong that objective analysis and cutting the umbilical cord when necessary, are almost impossible when the business is not performing as it should, or major changes need to be made to ensure ongoing survival. We all know that no mother ever had an ugly baby, but if you look around, some are definitely better looking than others, but who would ever directly tell a mother that she had an ugly baby.

If your business is not performing to your expectations, perhaps it is now time to bring in an independent pair of fresh eyes to help you to critically look at your business, so that you can gain new perspectives, and can then utilise the insights gained through this process to implement the appropriate changes to re-invigorate your business.

There are many ways you can avail yourself of a fresh pair of eyes for your business, but first you need to determine what will work best for you, your team, and your business.

You should consider your own strengths as well as the strengths of your business, your own ego and the culture of your business, your willingness to change and the capability of your business to adapt and quickly adjust to changes, the cash flow of your business and its financial capacity to meet any costs involved, and the adequacy of yourself and your team to take your business to a new level, or in a different direction.

Once you determine what you believe is holding yourself and your team back from successfully growing your business to the level that matches your expectations (remembering that this is your reality, but analysis by others may subsequently come up with different findings) you can target the market to find the fresh pair of eyes you need to give you a greater and fresher independent perspective.

You might decide to find a mentor, access community or local government resources, utilise resources from any associations of which you are a member, hire a business coach, engage a business advisor, call in a management consultant, or actually employ (either part-time or full-time) a good business manager, with complementary skill sets to your own.

Whatever you choose, you must be willing to work with the person concerned, and make sure that you establish upfront, how you will value their contribution. Where appropriate, ensure that where fees are involved, you look on the fee as an investment in the future of your business, not a cost to minimize at the expense of the quality of the outcomes likely to be produced.

In general, look for a pair of eyes that are well qualified, have broad business experience, have owned a business themselves, have a track record that demonstrates good analytical and consultancy skills, and who will commit to providing their expertise for as long as it takes for you to extract all that you can from the relationship.

Is your business well and truly in need of a fresh set of eyes to flesh out the reasons why your business is not doing as well as expected?

Are you willing to expose yourself to that level of scrutiny for the greater good of your business?

Do you see the cost that you may incur in bringing in a fresh pair of eyes to look over your business as an investment in the future of your business or an expense to be minimized?

Posted via web from Unique Insights

Federise your Business for Ultimate Success

Living in Melbourne, the home city of the 2010 Asia Pacific Grand Slam of Tennis, otherwise known as the Australian Open, it has been hard to escape the blanket exposure Roger Federer has received over the last two weeks, as he has danced his way to yet another Grand Slam Final.

Whilst I have always been conscious of the growing legend that Roger Federer is creating as his career trajectory continues unabated, the statistics rolled out in the local media throughout the last week or so, and the ever growing list of records he is breaking or simply extending further, are simply breathtaking.

Taking in his clinical approach to winning his semi-final the other night, I began to wonder what lesson for business success could be found by analysing the real essence of Roger Federer.

This article is being written and will be published prior to Roger playing off in the final this evening against the great British hope Andy Murray, but the outcome of this single match will not change the person that Roger has become, or the success of brand Federer, other than creating more records, should he be successful.

Amazing as it may seem, the essential essence of Roger Federer and his keys to achieving unbelievable sporting and financial success, can be found in words starting with the letter P.

So here is a comprehensive list of the secrets to business success, as distilled from the exploits of one supreme sportsman, using only words commencing with the letter P.

Apply the lessons of each of these P elements to your business, and watch it take on a new life.

1)      Preparation

Roger never comes to a tournament unprepared to go the full distance. He leaves nothing to chance and reliance on luck has never been his approach. His fitness has always been a key element of his success, and he has employed the best to ensure that it stays that way.

2)      Practice

Roger is the ultimate example of practice making perfect, the ease at which he executes his strokes, moves around the court, anticipates opponent’s moves and clinically steps up to a higher level whenever necessary, screams out hours and hours of practice and continual refinement of technique.

3)      Participation

Roger is a participant in the wider world of tennis other than just participating as a player. His voice is respected and he gives his time to advancing the interests of all professional tennis players. His approach should see his “tennis career” extend well beyond his playing days.

4)      Performance

Roger is the ultimate performer. He always brings his A game to the court and spectators know that regardless of whether or not the match is competitive, they will observe a master in action, and leave with a finer appreciation of what it takes to succeed at the highest level.

5)      Professionalism

Roger and professionalism go hand in hand, which is a lot more than can be said of all of his contemporaries. Has there ever been a more professional sportsperson. I doubt it. Long after matches are over, Roger is still giving media interviews which he conducts in English, German and French, respecting the needs of various media organisations.

6)      Persistence

Roger is nothing if not persistent. He waited a number of years before achieving his first success at Grand Slam level, and once having tasted success, he has persisted with all of the work required to maintain ongoing success, in a highly competitive environment.

7)      Personality

Roger is regarded as one of the nicest people to ever compete and succeed consistently at the highest level of his chosen sport. His personality is also his brand, and surely brand Federer, is now one of the most valued brands going around. The brand reflects the person and the personality continually adds value to the brand.

8)      Posture

Roger walks on to the court and no-one is in any doubt that he is there to do the business of winning. Off court his posture is one of co-operative endeavour to assist those who support the periphery of the world that he inhabits as he plies his trade. His standing outside the tennis world continues to grow, and his work with his own foundation supports this growing respect.

9)      Pride

Roger takes great pride in his achievements but suppresses the temptation to let his ego become rampant as a consequence of climbing many tall mountains on the way to where he is today. He now plays for his place in history as the best male tennis player to ever play the game.

10)   Projection

Roger projects the expectation of being successful in all of his tennis endeavours and whilst this may be intimidating for opponents he does not overtly set out to intimidate lesser opponents. None the less, he always projects the intent that winning is his sole objective when he steps onto the court.

11)   Power

Roger exercises power in a controlled and deliberate manner. His power comes from both his physical prowess and well developed techniques and from his status as a champion of his chosen field. He has not been known to use his power unwisely or inappropriately in any endeavours on or off the court.

12)   Promotion

Roger quietly and judiciously, continually promotes both his own brand and the sport which has richly rewarded him, over the years. He is now assiduously promoting his own foundation, and during the current Grand Slam, he used his promotion skills to raise considerable funds for the people of Haiti.

13)   Patience

Roger is now clearly a patient man. Success did not come immediately to him, he was somewhat petulant in his earlier days, and seen to be in a hurry but now is approaching statesman status, whilst continuing to compete successfully at the highest level.

14)   Perfection

Roger will dispute this, but in the eyes of tennis players and supporters worldwide, Roger Federer is as close to the perfect tennis player that anyone is ever likely to see in their lifetimes. He is blessed with natural talent, but has carefully honed this talent on a consistent basis for over ten years, to reach that state of perfection.

15)   Predictability

Roger created a new record this week in reaching his 23^rd consecutive Grand Slam semi-final. Tournament organisers, the media, the paying spectators and many other stakeholders have benefitted from this predictability over the last 5 years. No other player gets close in terms of predictability, and few would ever bet against Roger before a semi-final.

16)   Profitability

Roger has redefined tennis as a business and is probably one of very many who treat it as such. His predictability as demonstrated above ensures consistent cash flow and avoids the peaks and troughs of revenue generation. Brand Federer continues to grow in value and it would be impossible to estimate the earnings potential of this brand over the next twenty years or so.

There you have it, sixteen words, each starting with the letter P, which defines why Roger Federer experiences a level of success which, others only dream about. As a business owner you can learn valuable lessons through assessing yourself and your business against such precise benchmarks.

How do you and your business measure up?

Where can you take action using these lessons to grow your business to a new level?

Do you have what it takes to climb your personal mountains?

Posted via web from Unique Insights

Attack it Before it Gets Big Enough to Eat You.

As business owners, we are always aware that there are problems we should be addressing in various areas of our business, but often we confine them to the too hard basket, or turn a blind eye to them, in the vain hope that they will somehow just go away, or someone else will resolve them for us.

The chief reason for this particular mindset is not an unwillingness to deal with all of the problems of running and operating a business, but rather the propensity of small business owners to focus on today’s most urgent problem, as well as older problems that have recently assumed a greater level of importance, due to the damage they are now inflicting on the business.

The downside of this understandable approach is that as a business owner you can get blind-sided by what was initially a small problem, but which has festered out of sight and mind, to become a much bigger problem that is about to bite you when you least expect it.

So how do you break the cycle and address problems as they arise, and when they are easier to resolve, rather than just putting them aside to deal with later? The following six step process may assist you to address the tendency to ignore problems until it is too late, and the damage has been done.

1)    Identify it is real and then quantify the extent and rate severity.

The fact that someone says something is a problem doesn’t necessarily mean that it is. It may actually be a symptom of an unidentified larger problem, or a consequence of a misunderstanding, or a deficit of knowledge, about the relevant subject matter.

Once you have established the problem is real, you need to quickly quantify the extent of the problem, and rate its severity relative to your business operations. This will allow you to establish an order of priority in taking action to resolve a series of problems if you have more than one to address.

2)    List the key benefits of solving the problem immediately.

Look at the problem from the perspectives of; the business, the shareholders, employees, external stakeholders, customers/clients etc, and list what the key benefits of resolving the identified problem will be for each group. This exercise should be quick and should also determine how widespread the effects of not solving the problem will be. It will also assist in pointing you in the right direction for Step 3.

3)    Collect and evaluate a range of potential solutions.

Don’t just rely on your own intuition or knowledge when considering potential solutions or you may miss more effective or more efficient solution that are readily available. Share the problem around and canvas, as widely as you deem necessary relative to the severity of the problem, for suggestions on how it can be effectively and efficiently resolved.

Allow only a short period for feedback, and as soon as this expires, evaluate the suggestions and rank them from the best to the least attractive, in terms of resolving the problem quickly.

4)    Evaluate the chosen suggestions against the tools and resources available to implement.

What may have been rated the best solution could, on closer examination of what tools and resources will be required to implement it, be relegated down the list of preferred solutions. It is therefore necessary to carefully evaluate each suggested solution, so that the one to be proceeded with can actually be successfully implemented.

5)    Sell the chosen solution to those who will implement it.

This is an important step to ensuring that the problem identified is addressed and put to bed.  The benefits to the business of resolving the problem as identified in Step 2, should be highlighted again, and specific individuals charged with implementing the solution within a specific time frame.

6)    Check implementation is complete and validate that problem is now buried.

This final step is critical. On the completion date check with those charged with implementing the solution to ascertain that full implementation is completed, and then validate the outcome is as expected.

As part of this process always ask, if in implementing this solution whether any other problems were identified, which now should be addressed. You will be surprised how often resolving one problem assists in identifying others that also need to be addressed.

There you have it, a quick and simple 6 step process to dealing with problems as they arise, rather than when they create a fire, which you may or may not be able to put out.

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Are you a business owner or manager who sweeps problems under the carpet rather than dealing with them when they arise?

Do you see the value in using this six step process to ensure problems do not fester in your business?

What will you do when you next become aware of a small problem in your business?