Its all about business.

Archive for December, 2007

How to create structural integrity in your business

Dec 30

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Structural integrity
The systems and procedures for your business are vital to ensuring a solid foundation and the supporting structures up from there are suitable. The aim with developing structural integrity is to ensure that “when the wind blows” the house stays in tact, or when it rains and a tornado comes through after it that you have the ability to get the business back on track quickly.

Depending on the business will depend on how you plan to develop the structures to keep things in place. If it’s a retail store you might keep some stock off site, the same with databases and records in the event of sabotage (yes staff can do it to you if they are displeased…) or a natural disaster, you have a back up.

You can extend the idea right through the business to leadership, HR policies and so on, so that the organisations backbone is supported by healthy muscles, all finely worked and tuned to provide the right amount of support.

To begin working with ideas on structural integrity you would probably start with looking at the values and beliefs the business has and how the ‘culture’ supports that and vice versa, then you can identify strengths and weaknesses and start to see the spots to tackle.

How to create a sustainable and robust business

Dec 29

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Sustainable and Robust
When you start up in business you probably do so wanting it to last, so you can get more than just the $$ it cost you to get started. So you need to think about what will make the business sustainable and strong so it can last. Ideally you will want to set up a profitable passive income device so that you can reap the rewards of being in business without having to be there.

Sustainable will probably mean your industry niche is one that means people will be require what you have for a long time to come, it may be a flexible area so that you can go with the flow and include new innovations with ease.

A robust business could be seen as one that has good investments in place that create passive income returns JUST for the business, so that it can be supported by its own wealth. This can be done by putting away a percentage of profits, so that in the event of a disaster happening you can weather the storm. (You still need insurance though!)

These are just some of the ways to create a strong business and over time I suggest you add these points to discussions you have on business planning, this way you can really know that they are being considered and acted on for the future.

Retain and engage staff, or else…

Dec 23

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

In the race to maintain and or grow their business many business operators find another hurdle that pops up far to easily, and that’s staff turnover. Some call it churn, but whatever you call it it costs the business $$.

Some businesses try to keep their wages above the award rates in the hope it will keep people in the business and not move on. Some use other tactics to retain the employees and even engage them further than the usual 9 – 5 arrangement.

In reality a lot has been written on this subject over many years and the fact that it is still a major issue is testament to the fact that not a lot has been done, or not a lot of understanding about the issue has filtered it’s way through.

Whatever the situation and the outcome, the effective engagement and retention of staff requires innovative approaches to ensure they are mentally stimulated enough to want to hang around and give positive input rather than just being driven by the $$.

Over time people can fade in their energy and interest levels, and this can have wide ranging effects on productivity, leadership, communication and probably a whole raft of other things in the business. So to ensure ongoing engagement, a variety of techniques should be employed, not just one.

Giving cash is one thing, but it’s often a short term fix, giving training is a good option, but should not be the only option as not all people want to be taken away from their work to attend leadership training for example. The astute business needs to find ways to adapt to the person and become more flexible in the delivery of retention devices.

Issues around working hours, family friendly work practices, and now health schemes are becoming more obvious as options for the team. Again innovative approaches need to be used to implement and develop these practices so the staff member can not grow or feel complacent, but rather feel more valued as the various options get rolled out.

Imagine a workplace where a range of options were put to staff, where they could elect some of the options to retain them, then there are more options they do not get to choose but are put in place as well (formal and informal training for example.) The upshot of all this is that an employee feels valued, to the point where they don’t want to go elsewhere, they want to simply contribute at 110%.

In an age where quality workers are lured by better players in the market any employer needs to consider the best ways to get and keep the best players, otherwise their business could find itself on the scrap heap faster than it might care to know about.

A moment or three to reflect…

Dec 19

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Innovation and Creativity | No Comments

I was out and about today, the roads getting busy with Christmas shoppers, the car radio warbling with the odd Xmas song (yes I mean XMAS!) and I had to make two trips to the one location to collect some gear for a client, as well as two trips to another spot out much further than I would usually venture, but such was the task at hand.

It meant I had to negotiate my way around the back of a disused reception centre, it has a fairly leafy fernery out the back, out the back of that is what appears to have once been a nursery, overgrown and messy.

It took about nine trips to my vehicle loading up the various ‘bits’, I went from full sun and the noise of a busy road to the cool shade a muted tones of the traffic in the background. Tall ferns and deep green lattice under the cover of a huge roofed in pergola created a “solid slice of serenity” in my busy day.

Not long after I started I noticed a sound I had not heard for a very long time, a bull frog. The deep “Breebit” sound it made was short and deep, very resonant. At about trip seven back from the car I wanted to find the frog amongst the ferns and watch it. I got close and found a pond with lots of growth, green froth I guess it was tadpole eggs and slowly as I peered into the water emerged a few gold fish, very light, almost translucent white, slowly they moved gracefully amongst the ideal green growth.

I crouched down and waited, I was just a few feet back from the edge, finally after about a minute “Breebit” I honed my senses a bit more and moved closer I was sure I had located the area where the frog would be, I waited again.

The background muted traffic faded even more as I waited for signs of movement, signs of ‘frog life’ and I waited… “Breeeebit” I now had a better idea of where it was located and I watched, intrigued, deep in thought. I recalled watching and catching frogs and tadpoles as a kid… muddy farm dams with long reeds the frogs would easily hide in… I was transfixed on one spot… nothing.

My hustle and bustle day had folded in on itself, I was not concerned about what I had to do next, I was not hassled by the thought of the phone ringing… none of it mattered, I looked around (conscious that if you stand in one spot and it happens to have an ants nest nearby you can become a painful snack…) No ants.

I breathed easy enjoying the serene scene before me, wait where did that fish go? How come this pond has survived so well without any tending by people to top up the water? Oh yeah it’s in a shaded area of a fernery… very nice too. No frog, not a sign of it.

Standing up I noticed that the area was well protected against any predators so the frog had a great chance to thrive, the environment was fairly ideal really… I took a few steps in another direction to see if I could get a better view of the frog, no luck not a sign, not a peep.

For a while as I finished off my tasks I was more relaxed, breathing with ease, noting how my thoughts were strongly tinged with green lush foliage and a calm smooth pond that formed a trigger in my mind for quieter reflection.

I never got to see the frog, I managed to hear it once more as I left, I felt as if it was toying with me. The rest of my day was guilt free, not a rushed moment, not a hassle not a care really for the tasks ahead, just a sense of knowing I had stopped to reflect, to make time to “stop and smell the roses” as they say. I had a good day and was thankful the client had given me a nice little task.

In our busy business lives we often get too bogged down in the daily grind… now ask yourself, what can I do to take a moment or three to reflect? Guilt free, openly almost in defiance of the hustle and bustle we might have in front of us. What’s your story, your point of reflection, your time to connect deeper and relax, even if it is for just a fleeting moment…

Successful business 21+ list

Dec 17

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Planning, Starting out in business, The Board Room | 1 Comment

Okay so I like lists, let’s face it they give us readily accessible starting points to build with, so lets jump in and see what a successful business should have.

  1. Sustainable and Robust – So it will last and be strong as well. Who wants a business, which will fall over with the slightest puff of wind?
  2. Structural integrity – The systems and procedures are built from a solid foundation. With no foundation how can we expect a building to stand for long, it’s the same with any business.
  3. Growth ability – Wealth is not a dirty word, it’s a leverage point, you want the business to grow so that it can absorb future price increases and be ab le to handle any changes that come along unexpectedly.
  4. It’s readily understood - By the clients and the staff, if you are in a niche the niche should understand it. Clarity can lead to power.
  5. Profitable – At the end of the day it’s what’s left in the kitty that counts. With no profit you’re a charity or a hobby, which do you want?…
  6. Strong brand - The customers know your brand or are getting to realise it has longevity.
  7. People love it! – Customers and staff alike love the business and what it does, heck why have a business that people despise? Go for love, it’s much better.
  8. Fills a need and or want – Preferably both. No need for what you have? No sales, therefore no business.
  9. Easily saleable products and services – You want people to buy, not to um and err then walk away, so it should be easy for them to select what they want and then make the purchase with great peace of mind.
  10. Enjoyable to run – Who wants a business which is a hassle? Who wants to work in a tough field? No one… make it a joy to be part of for you and staff that will rub off onto the customers over time.
  11. Overheads are covered easily – Overheads are often the thing that break the camels back, so make it easy for the camel and take the pressure off, in this case keeping the turnover and cash flow up so the overheads are not a challenge EVER! (I know, easier said than done…)
  12. Upholds great values - People love it when you are on a positive footing and in the values area its a great place to start (integrity – honesty etc.).
  13. Train to win/win – You and your staff are trained to make the whole show win, then the customers can win too. A great position to get to and stay in.
  14. Market leading Unique Selling Point/s – This will set you apart from the competition, then your aim is to make it known to everyone, therefore they will pick you over the competition, If they don’t they are crazy right?
  15. Duplicable – You can franchise this in an instant, or open other branches, either way its easy to duplicate (usually means it’s easy to run).
  16. Readily/easily established – You don’t want a business to take forever to get up to speed, you open and its up and running fast.
  17. Easy to plan – Your foundation will ensure the basics are in place, and from here the business plan is a breeze, if not you will avoid the business plan and lose sight of your goals. And of course have the plan on paper.
  18. Able to take massive action – In an instant, to get ahead, to make a stand, to stand apart, to innovate, to lead, to penetrate deeper. When the going gets tough, the tough get going…
  19. Know your competitors – Your research enables you to know quickly if you need to zig while they zag. If you know them intimately then you can readily compare prices, marketing etc.
  20. Niche flexible – You have a target to aim at, but you also realise there can be ’sub niche’s’ e.g. a bicycle shop, sells kids bike, mountain bikes, racing bikes, but its main business is bikes, if its a sports store it has more niches.
  21. Maverick management/leadership – Your leaders and managers can pull great results out of thin air and do it all the time. Sure they make mistakes (how else will they learn?) the point is they can think on their feet and get great results. Therefore innovation becomes your middle name…
  22. Minimum footprint – Physically, environmentally, emotionally, resources. All of these (and probably more) are important make a big impact but do it without making a big mess of things.
  23. You get support - Family and friends appreciate and understand what you are doing and support you to make it successful. Without this support you are on your own in a tough wilderness and it’s hard to survive on your own.
  24. One great idea - Sometimes it’s two or three ideas (serial entrepreneurs), but in the main people in successful business do good with the one idea well researched and executed.

That’s it, easy huh? Now all you need to do is copy it and figure out if you can do it, can’t do it, want to do it and or have the guts to at least try… Go on, make a name for yourself.

The miserly boss, or Scrooge revisited…

Dec 15

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Risk Management | No Comments

Many of you will have seen forums where the nasty boss is mentioned and various people have jumped in with numerous stories of how they have had to put up with a lousy boss. The stories are amusing enough, the problem is they are all too common.

In this day and age the idea that a miserly boss exists seems a huge anomaly to me and thankfully I have not had too many over my career.

Examples will cover low wages, poor conditions, poor recognition of work done, seemingly not knowing that a Christmas party boosts morale and not only celebrates Christmas.

The challenge is that this issue can quickly become a hassle and if the business does not come to terms with it, in a buoyant market place the staff turnover will be one form of evidence things are not running effectively. Follow it up with the chance that pilfering and fraud can happen too, and the outcomes can be very costly!

Ok Mr (or Mrs) Miser, it’s time to wise up. There is an old saying that you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. Therefore to be in a position where staff turnover and the other hassles are minimised you need to take positive action now.

  • I appreciate that you may have been bought up to have frugal ways and you are tight with money. Hand the function of staff happiness to another person and set a generous budget.
  • Assign others with the task of finding out what is making your staff happy, or not (try a paper survey), then look at what research has been done on this issue (lots!) and take action to rectify it now!
  • Appreciate there are times when these things can snowball out of control, your aim is to stop it snowballing, when yo do a direct measure of it will be people smiling followed by lower absenteeism, these are probably the key indicators you have done things right, so don’t stop, keep going.
  • Your profits are one thing but the idea of chasing $$ profits only is really just a part of the equation, happy staff are happy staff.

Enough of the ideas, you can get more by some simple Googling on staff incentive options and create a workplace that staff willingly come to work, make it productive, put in ideas and in all make the profits go wild BUT it requires $$ to be spent (often not much) to make a happy bunch of people.

Creating a business where you are the employer of choice may not be easy, but the results will be well worth it.

Is it Christmas?

Dec 13

Posted by Steve Gray in The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

In a local shopping Mall last Sunday, 4 pm a number of the shops were closed! shutters pulled down, lights off teh whole shebang… What Gives!!!!

It’s Christmas a time when people want to shop…

In our area we have another shopping mall being added to so we will have more retail outlets, probably more than we need but that’s another story. The existing ones where I was, if they are struggling to make ends meet and can not afford to open ’til 5 on Sunday then something is very wrong. There were people in the mall but not heaps. Down the other end where renovations were completed earlier this year there were people and open shops, the car park was full… So what gives?

Is it a conspiracy… is the other shopping centre going to buy out the smaller player so they can revamp the centre for themselves? (can’t beat a monopoly…)

I smell a rat but have no proof (hey its just a theory) but I would not put it past the ‘players’ to be in bully mode with the aim of taking over.

What really is at stake is customer service and customer satisfaction, If I want to buy a specific item and the store is closed I can’t buy it. If the Co is in dire straits they need to get out and save what little cash they might have, or market better. The little Chinese massage shop is doing okay, they stand out the front and invite people in. We need more of that.

Go on guys, engage with the paying public, build the relationship, evaluate your offerings. but remember one thing you are in business if you lay down and die that’s it, the end of the road.

Jerry Seinfeld’s 3 rules of life

Dec 10

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Starting out in business | No Comments

Here’s Jerry’s 3 rules of life, pretty simple… so lets add some business thinking points to it.

Print it, use it, tick things off as you do them, make notes, add to the list, include some of these points in your staff training and see what happens.

Thanks Jerry lets see what happens now…

Bust your ass…

  • Work hard, work smart, if it’s not fun, do something else.
  • Following your passion, you will then want to do the work, in fact the work will be so enjoyable it won’t seem like work, you will be early and rarely late….
  • On something that will make a difference for more people than just you, you win they win.
  • On being exceptional, who wants to be mediocre? Ok so lots of people do, but why do you have to be…
  • Getting the next goal, and then the next, the journey of a thousand miles begins with that first step. The sense of achievement is a powerful drug.
  • Providing what the market place wants, you will soon be happy with the sales, they will be happy you provided what they want and those that work with you will be happy you thought of it.
  • Getting people to know about your business in the start up phase and then to come back for more of what you have, often.
  • To influence others in your circle of influence to be exceptional at all they do.
  • To surround yourself with great people who want to pass on great information you can all utilise.
  • Living life to the full, when the show is over it’s over folks…

Pay attention…

  • To the details so that you can understand the bigger picture from within. No point in having a business that no one knows what’s going on, especially you…
  • To planning. No plan no house, it should be the same in business.
  • To how you present what you have to the market place… Get great at marketing and sales, then do it with the rest of your team.
  • To the way you learn, then you will be able to pay attention more effectively.
  • To how others liearn, your role as a business leaer means you will probably do a fair bit of instructing on how things are done, so teach others in ways they prefer to be taught.
  • To the way you communicate, so get very specific about what you communicate.
  • To the way you listen… Be an attentive listener, that’s why you have two ears and one mouth.

Fall in love

  • With what you do, how you do it how your team does it…
  • With causing others to fall in love… with the job, the business, the customers, the service the products, their life, their significant others.
  • With life. Life is what we do day to day so we should get great at loving it.
  • With how others see the world. This level of fascination is from the old American Indian idea of “walking in another mans moccasins” it hlps to give us perspective.
  • With the people you surround yourself with. Are they all lovable? Are they all worth fighting for?
  • With the glory and beauty of nature. If the view is lousy, I wonder what you are looking at?

The business of red-hot core values

Dec 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

In business it’s too easy to fall into the trap of just doing business, then it can become a grind, the details become a blur and the idea of lifestyle enhancement as a value you wanted to chase can become minimal, in fact you may as well have just kept a job.

So where is the depth, the meaning that gives hope, strength, clarity, stamina, creativity, innovation and a whole raft of positive/emotive sensations?

These positive values are the core mechanisms that enable us to keep going even in tough times, to enable us to fall down and get up again, the resilience to bounce back, with a vengeance.

So here’s a loose definition of these “valuable business intangibles” as I see it, in this context. “Showing refinement, distinction and concern for the higher things in life.” This is where it comes down to the red-hot core values and some bigger questions to ponder in the business, and by individuals.

The points that follow are concerned with both team and individuals and how they connect or not. It’s about looking for and working with these distinctions to be able to create a business, which embodies these with a degree of ease and efficacy without having to consciously working towards them. So a degree of unconscious competence can kick in.

In reading the list, feel free to say, “If I had a business that had all these things I would be delighted, but it’s not going to happen today, nor tomorrow for that matter…” I appreciate this viewpoint and suggest the following… “You have these things in your business already, it’s a matter of ‘to what degree’ you have them”.

Your aim as the business-person would be to look at what you do in the improvements to your business that will add to the value of any of these. An example might be if you were wanting your team to service the customers more effectively, In chatting to them about the issue/s you might find yourself suggesting they be more tolerant, cooperate more with the customers and staff, show higher levels of respect and so on.

As you have just seen it may not be difficult to work with these as a group of items, but in isolation it might be. Note also some o the items are team based while others are more individual in their appeal and approach.

  • Honesty
  • Sensitivity to Others
  • Responsibility
  • Emotional Balance
  • Tolerance
  • A Deep Compassion for Humanity
  • Cooperation
  • Accurate Self Image
  • Respect
  • Development of self and others (for intrinsic and extrinsic value)
  • A Deep Sense of Mystery
  • Connectedness
  • Vision Mission – Personal and professional
  • Inner Peace
  • Freedom
  • Simplicity/Elegance
  • Strength – integrity
  • Holistic approaches to the development of – People – Environments – Culture/s

Taking a look at the list may be daunting, but I hope to show you ways to utilise each of these to enhance your business to be all it can be.

Finally, don’t think for a moment that this list is complete, feel free to add words you and your team might find that can be utilised to enhance the business further.

Risks are what business is all about… or is it?

Dec 8

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

This is the eighth in a set of posts designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of “how to” as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, I need to do that”, and then forget it and let it go.

Risk taking (all business is this, the further you go the more risks seem to ‘pop up’)

These days there is a lot of talk about risk management to ensure your business is not exposing itself to too many risks that could undermine it. In this article I wanted to point out that being a risk taker is often a useful device in starting a business, without the ability to take a risk we might never start one and spend the rest of our lives wondering what would have happened if we had…

  • Do your business research to ensure the risks you are taking on is minimised where possible.
  • Know how far you can go with the risk you are undertaking, if you pull out at any stage, will there be “something in reserve” or will the project finish you?
  • Explore the unknown, often great ideas come from the strangest places or mishaps in scientific research, sure there are risks involved but the ‘pay off’ can be worth it.
  • Making mistakes often leads to learning opportunities, far too often we are risk adverse and fail to give things a try. When you or an employee make a mistake, are you ridiculed by others for the mistake or is it seen as an opportunity to learn and grow?

Its not all risk taking but hopefully when the challenges arise you can be ready to accept the challenge and not merely dismiss it.

  • You are currently browsing the archives for December, 2007