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Posts Tagged lateral thinking

Innovation how does it work?

Nov 22

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

Some recent findings on innovation by Dr Ralph Kerle raised a few questions about the state of innovation in business. Let’s take a look at what he found after running a workshop with world leading organisations His workshop was titled Understanding the Discipline of Innovation in Organizations

Four interesting findings about innovation emerged from his workshop.

  1. Most large organizations have or have had innovation processes in the form of idea programmes in place. They work to varying degrees, none appear highly successful.
  2. Most organizational innovation produces isolated successes, yet does not sustain organizationally over long periods. I used a case study with a 6 year life cycle and that represented a lengthy period according to the participants.
  3. None of the innovation programmes discussed had benchmarking or on-going measurement associated with them enabling decision makers to value organizational innovation. Once the innovation had been implemented, it was regarded simply as a part of the business regardless of its impact. As a result, it appears decision makers in organizations are not able to meaningfully assess over time the value of innovation programmes or processes.
  4. Whilst innovation programmes might be considered part of an organization’s core values. if they don’t have senior leadership driving them in a coherent and disciplined manner, they have little chance of being considered truly strategic and are likely to die if there is a change in leadership.

Dr.Ralph Kerle

 

Let’s start with what innovation is, it’s either a quantum leap or incremental process, either way it’s about finding ways forward to produce an organisation which can function more effectively.

The big thing, it’s often about using creative thinking processes to spark the change, however most business processes follow logic and are not often linked to creativity even though they look to innovation for a “way forward”.

There’s the challenge, to take a logical organism (business) and marry it with creative thinking (ideas and processes which may have only a few logical processes as part of them). Especially if there are few examples of creativity making big inroads into business development. (Some would argue market leaders like apple computers fly against this).

 

Some thoughts

  • Use innovation
  • Value innovation
  • Push to innovate
  • Explore it!
  • The board should be creative junkies
  • The board should be implementing it at every level
  • The team don’t get it because they are following the lead (fail on creativity guys)
  • Forget JUST innovation go for creativity and see what happens (does it lead to innovation, usually yes).
  • Measurement, take a look at the bottom line, are there more dollars, is there greater retention of staff (therefore some reduced costs), are staff happier? You get the idea make a big list and see if the creative invasion has made a difference
  • Ask your team to brainstorm the difference innovation and creative approaches might make, then measure that
  • Does your organisation have a culture which can handle creative approaches, if not why not and how might you alter that?
  • How does the main team get to value creativity and innovation?
  • Do your team say “Oh no another silly thingy we have to deal with from ‘upstairs’” or do they look on with interest.
  • Plan do check act – try – do check act plan…
  • Improvise adapt overcome – try – adapt overcome improvise…
  • Replace “They won’t go for that” with “Go for that it might just make a BIG difference”
  • Replace “do it now” thinking with “do it yesterday?”
  • Think save the world with our actions because we can, via innovation
  • Think… explore… create… and or ANY combination of those
  • Ask, is the ball rolling effectively or are there any obstacles in it’s way? Now innovate that for results. BIG results
  • Pose creative questions at all levels, all the time
  • Ask for creative responses to challenges (you shouldn’t have to after a while)
  • Ask, what creative process do I not know about that we can use now…
  • Hire for creativity first skills, passion and abilities second…
  • Hire based strongly on “What creative or innovative thing propelled you in your last role?” (even if they are applying for a menial role)

Enough, either see the road blocks or create the road ahead, make it a golden one with all the trimmings thanks.

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Business culture – Some more points

Jul 14

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People! | 1 Comment

Your team fits to the culture of the organisation, some because they have to (mortgages and other commitments), some because they want to (they love the job no matter what their commitments are).

Your aim as a business person should be to make the workplace culture brilliant so the team WANT to be there and readily go the extra mile because it’s the right thing to do, not because things are a have to…

It’s a lot about creating an environment where people get things to feel right, where they get a ‘sense’ that things are good. Let’s start with that.

Your team has a sense of…

  • Belonging – In the work you do and the team you are part of, if you belong you will feel a greater sense of esteem, people like to be with people they like and if they readily fit because they were chosen not just for their skills and abilities but also for their team fit then all the better.
  • Connectedness – To the people they work with, to the culture of the organisation, to the customers and the overall service and product the organisation provides. It can also take in the broader community with support for groups who do broader works in the community to assist others (Good corporate citizenship).
  • Achievement – A sense of achievement can be a great boost to all. In your organisation what gets measured and how do the staff know ‘where they are at’ in the scheme of things, are they meeting quotas? Are they being valued for input? Do they feel like they are part of a team who wants to achieve more… All of these are vital and it’s up to you to see that the team can have a sense of achievement. Stuck for ways to measure this? Just ask the team you will soon get a bunch of ideas for things to measure.
  • Contribution and value adding – Do you or your organisation value the contributions of your team? Do the team readily put ideas forward for your consideration? What do you have in place to get the ideas going in your workplace… a suggestion box might seem like a great start but really you might have to ‘kick start’ a few idea development sessions to brainstorm options… but don’t let it stop there!
  • Purpose – What is the purpose of your organisation? Those mission and vision statements along with value statements and the like can be a great bonus to people fitting to the purpose of your organisation – It’s probably a great interview question to ask “What do you know about our organisational purpose?”
  • Being valued by others – Do others value the people in the team, their contribution, their personality fit, their communication style?  If not why not and what can be done to alter that?
  • Organisational integrity – The structural integrity of the organisation is a big factor to people feeling secure and stable in the business. If the business is stable then the team will feel it too and before you know it they will ‘go deeper’ and look at other internal organisational issues (often subconsciously) from the processes to cause things to flow in the organisation to the robustness of systems and hierarchies and connections. It’s a big area to explore… Just like you should not build a business on a poor physical foundation so to the psychological and philosophical foundations they have to work with.
  • Leadership – No lead, no direction, from the people to the plans and strategies they have in place to achieve more and create even greater security for all in the team.
  • Safety – Last but certainly not least. If the above points add to a sense of safety that’s great, but the physical side of safety is VITAL and will assist the above points to come together, esp these days with a greater focus on softer issues, such as workplace bullying and its prevention.
  • Security – The organisation provides a profitable income for itself and the team are aware they are part of a sustainable and solid organisation which is able to ‘improvise, adapt and overcome’ various challenges it may face along the way. Physical security is clearly an issue as well so the team can feel comfortable in the knowledge harm is either eliminated or minimised.

Did you think that business culture was not important? Hope fully now you realise how it’s EVERYTHING in your organisation, without it you may as well throw money out the window, it’s quicker than watching a business fail a long slow death simply because your team had a sense of things not going quite how they should…

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Don’t do it! – How not to be part of a trade show

Feb 17

Posted by Steve Gray in People!, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

A recent trade show, lots of activity and displays for all sorts of interesting suppliers, generally a good time was had, however one thing which struck me was the appalling use of mobile phones by those who’s stalls were not doing a brisk trade.

There were staff sitting and standing about texting or chatting on their phones, some CLEARLY bored out of their brains.

Dear Boss… Tell them not to do it please!

I was embarrassed for them and I was a spectator.

If you take a stall at a trade show, you are on show, the business is on show… Therefore make sure you do the right thing and present professionally and do it well.

Firstly, these people may have had no idea what to do when they got to the show, they may have been told to “Turn up and chat to people.”

Secondly, if you feel you must text or email people use a lap top or an i pad so you look like you are doing business, or don’t do it at all.

I fully appreciate it can be a hard task to be at a trade show and be attentive all day long, it really is a draining experience.

May I suggest.

These people need to have something to do,

  • Set the situation up so they have appointments with people before the event, book some prospects to drop in and see what’s going on.
  • Make it clear about the things they can and can not do while on the stand texting for more than 30 secs is a no no!
  • Ensure you use a friendly branding expert to have creative ways to work with the people walking by the stand. It may be a giveaway you actively hand to the people, get the chance to chat to them and find out more, qualify them to see if they are a fit to what you have on offer, if they are then get their details and reward them with a better handout, this time with solid “remember us” branding on it.
  • Perhaps involve the people in a survey.
  • Consider other novel approaches to create interest. A juggler, a celebrity… make it so the people walking by want to stop, engage them, qualify and go form there.
  • Just because a person is not a prospect now, does not mean they can’t change if they move companies or start a different business later on.

Simply put, having people just sitting or standing about mindlessly not engaged in “working the crowd” are a liability, not an asset. perceptions and image are often paramount to ensuring your business puts it’s best foot forward.

Oh and to finish, “To the man who was so rude as to ignore myself and my friend by looking straight past us once he had figured out we were of no use to him, think again. The scan tag telling you my line of business is only one of my business activities so you gave me a BAD impression of your business, so the very important question I wanted to ask you will wait for the next celebrity speaking bureau chief I meet.”

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Creative marketing for 2011, will your business win this year?

Jan 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Innovation and Creativity, The Marketing Dept | 2 Comments

Its a tough time to be in business, GFC might be over to a degree, but buyers are holding back on spending, the following ideas are sure to get your friendly branding expert chatting and I am sure you will find ways to connect better with existing customers and excite new ones in the process.

Content creation on your website etc is one thing, but getting your target to see it is another. here are a few ways to explore a few pieces of the puzzle and develop a few answers. If nothing else this should be a spring board for your people to come up with some new options, share those in the comments!

  • Build digital communities people want to go to and stay at…. Give them reasons to stay, a gift, a prize and offer, an alliance, a chance to get tokens to build towards a bigger gift. along the way, they get your message.
  • Word Of Mouth as a way to get people to check out your social media information, blogs etc… so make a  you tube video of some people telling each other about your service. Imagine an office where two people are filmed by an apparently “sneaky camera” they talk about some of the benefits of using your biz, they say the biz name poorly at first (so you can’t quite hear it) then it gets clearer over time. have an anonymous you tube acct so it’s not your biz acct, then as they walk off the camera sneaks up and your biz card features on a desk..
  • Hand out your branded gear in an area where you are more likely to get to the sorts of companies which might use your services. Chat to your friendly branding expert for ideas and options.
  • Link a series of approaches together, your linked in group, with your face book page, with your blog, with your website, with your email’s and links on faxes out and adverts with QR codes to a starting point on your website.
  • Have fun doing suitable “stunts” and get media attention which features your website, a “mob event” for example try a creative dance group for some ideas.
  • Provide a suitable enticement via a promotion to get people to head over to your blog and sign up… If they are your target market then great! if not just give them the thing and move on… its a number game.
  • Create a PDF of value to your target market, they can only get after signing up to your blog. advertise it on  your facebook page and linked in group, while twittering about it a few times.
  • Create self qualifying adverts, “When you want what we have go here…” then lead them to your website and give them a reward for doing so.
  • Fortune cookies with a pr code in it to link to a specific page on your website.
  • Create a you tube video with your website featured in it, make it interesting, like have a home movie, or show  a calm and beautiful scene of rolling waves make it short and to the point, heck make a bunch of them, then send links to them via your email list, of course the videos have your website details across the bottom.
  • Load your autoresponder email outs with great tips, hints, ideas and links to your various resources. keep adding to it with brilliant information so they want to stay subscribed.
  • Develop strategic digital partnerships with others who can link to your target market, this way you can get more leverage and be seen as a go to person for resources and ideas.
  • Repetition, repetition,REPETITION!, some things just don’t change! Your adverts need to be seen by people multiple times to be effective… So will it be a branded product, a link to your site, PR codes (more linking…) emails to your targets or all of them! yep do the lot, one of them will be the one which connects!

More ideas you want to share? Use the comments section in the  header for this post to let us know..

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What’s next, the fourth instalment

Dec 6

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

In this final part of the new recruit guidelines I wanted to focus on the probation period guidelines. it’s a very important part of the whole process but one which is often dismally left out of the process. Here is what I said in the initial article in this series.

Probation period guidelines – Start and in three months we will assess how  you have gone. Assess what and how? Is anyone in your organisation clearly responsible for figuring out what and how to assess, are they qualified to do so to some regulatory standard?

Many organisations have a three month probation period while others have six months and others none at all. If you want to build in cooling off period where either party can part ways, it is wise to ensure you and they fully understand the process and the criteria they will be assessed on.

These days there are plenty of people with workplace assessment qualifications who should be able to map out the criteria for measurement and the ways to assess the recruit against those criteria.

Depending on the role will depend on the specifics of operational effectiveness they will have to attain, the skills they will have to demonstrate and the level of cultural fit they will attain.

At a minimum level the OHS standards will be addressed and I would like to think a solid appreciation of the values and beliefs of the organisation as well as practical job skills and abilities would be very wise.

The aim being to ensure the person being assessed has clear criteria to work to, as well as a full appreciation of how they will be assessed and the evidence or types of evidence which will be sued to do all this.

May I suggest a clearly set out set of criteria in a bunch of areas, OHS, job skills, Cultural fit, Communication skills, Technical skills (IT etc). and then build the assessable parts within each section. Perhaps they will have to show an understanding of the terminology or intention of the parts of each section as well as demonstrate with clear evidence they have achieved that level of skill.

Whatever the end product make sure it is clear to all parties and people assessing the person have the ability to do it based on great evidence and clear guidelines for all.

Now you have a new recruit with correct training, who has met the criteria for assessment, feels welcome in the organisation and is settling in to the role with ease and a degree of comfort. You on the other hand have the peace of mind in knowing you did all you could to make the process as easy as possible to ensure the new recruit is a brilliant fit and are assured of their ongoing success… Let’s hope so!

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What’s next, the third instalment

Dec 5

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning | 1 Comment

Last time we looked at the training area in the new recruits process, now lets check out the expectations put on them, and how to deal with that, in the initial article I said…

High Expectations – The HR dept say this person is a great fit for the organisation on SO MANY levels, yet no one in the dept they are going into knows anything about them except some here-say rumor… Truth is the person is a bit average in the start up phase and people in the dept are “non plussed” with the new recruit, some people just need time to shine and figure out where everything is and how things happen. How were the skills the person had in a  previous position “Mapped” across to this new role. What if they had used a much older piece of software in the past and the version or type you have is VERY different to what they are used to…

Your new recruit starts and the place is a buzz with excitement, people want to meet them, people want to avoid them, people need to help them or not. It’s all about people and the fit to the organisation, yet on so many levels there are issues with how things come together and the expectations some in the team may have about the new recruit.

In the initial phase the new person might struggle to get up to speed, despite reassurances from many in the organisation, yet the person may well be highly trained and have a resume bristling with qualifications. In the initial phase then it should be vital to ensure they have the support they need without prejudice or hassle, this way they can grow into the role at their pace. For some that will be fast and for others painfully slow perhaps,  you role is to make sure it happens in the best way possible.

Others in your team will need to know about the new person and why they were chosen so they can make fair assessments and not base a person on day one performance and here-say from others in the team, rumours are rarely objective.

You will have talked to the team about how they have certain skills and how these can be traced across or mapped, to suit their new role. You will assure them this person meets a range of positive criteria and proved at interview they should be well and truly capable of fitting in, and doing an effective job in the new role.

You will also outline any training or other support they need to allow them to make the best of the probation period and explore the role and the organisation fully.

Now every one knows about the new recruit a welcome party will ensure they are able to fit in and be supported in positive and solid ways by all the team.

In our next part in this series lets look at the guidelines for their probation period and ensuring they are clearly assessed to meet the criteria.

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What’s next, the second instalment

Dec 4

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

This is the second part of the four part series on dealing with new recruits, this time we focus on training. Here’s what I said in the initial article.

Lousy training – Tough, though I know your training people are possibly doing what they can, given tough challenges or are just not that suited to training new employees, they might have a stronger focus on I.T. or a some Leadership program, they can be spread thin. After all did anyone tell the Training area to prepare something for the new recruit?

When it comes to training some are of the opinion “If you picked a new recruit, pick one already trained…” nice thought but there are things  your organisation will do differently to others so they might need to know how your team look after OHS issues, and about the versions of software you use. as well as looking at the values and beliefs in the organisation.

I can only hope your organisation has a great training program in place for all sorts of things and not a lousy one as I hinted at in the opening section. So that being the case your training team will have this area all handled for you when  you let them know the new recruit is about to start.

  • The training team won’t tell you “Oh the OHS (or other) training doesn’t run for another 3 weeks.” They will have a positive stop gap measure like an online training option, or at the very least a handout on OHS expectations and guidelines to give the recruit early in the process (before they start perhaps.)
  • The training team will have put together something for the new recruit on the values and beliefs of the organisation, knowing full well the value of a great cultural fit and how this can happen using foundation organisational philosophies.
  • The training team will have mapped out a schedule of what training is happening and what the recruit needs to do to ensure their training needs are met and especially in the area of the induction program and it’s time frame. They will be well and truly focussed on the recruits success in the organisation and not just for the recruitment phase either.

The new recruit, even by this early stage, will be suitably impressed with how things are going, they feel included and are valued in the organisation and are trained to succeed.

In the next phase your Leadership and communication skills come to the fore as you make sure all the team know about the recruit and a bit about how they will fit in. Join me then as weexplore the expectations of the new recruit.

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Congratulations on the job, what next…

Dec 2

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning, Risk Management | 4 Comments

You have selected an employee for a new position in  your organisation. Congratulations! All good yeah.. now sit back and watch as it all turns to mud…

Sorry I think in that last line I was being a little bit cynical… Clearly things won’t turn to mud in all organisations, but in quite a few I think it will and here’s why.

- Poor induction program.

- Lousy training.

- High expectations.

- Tricky probation period guidelines.

Yet these things can clearly be overcome. Firstly however you have to objectively measure the four things which could fail.

  1. Induction program – How do people learn about the nitty gritty’s in your organisation, the policies, procedures, OHS, who’s who and what about the culture of the organisation? Has anyone looked at the existing “program.” for a while? Is it relevant, suitable, useful…
  2. Lousy training – Tough, though I know your training people are possibly doing what they can, given tough challenges or are just not that suited to training new employees, they might have a stronger focus on I.T. or a some Leadership program, they can be spread thin. After all did anyone tell the Training area to prepare something for the new recruit?
  3. High Expectations – The HR dept say this person is a great fit for the organisation on SO MANY levels, yet no one in the dept they are going into knows anything about them except some here-say rumor… Truth is the person is a bit average in the start up phase and people in the dept are “non plussed” with the new recruit, some people just need time to shine and figure out where everything is and how things happen. How were the skills the person had in a  previous position “Mapped” across to this new role. What if they had used a much older piece of software in the past and the version or type you have is VERY different to what they are used to…
  4. Probation period guidelines – Start and in three months we will assess how you have gone. Assess what and how? Is anyone in your organisation clearly responsible for figuring out what and how to assess, are they qualified to do so to some regulatory standard?

All of these aspects can be challenging to negotiate, and like many people in businesses, they realise they need the new staff member too late and before long everyone is too busy to address any of the above.

Time to take stock and get ready for the new recruit. Now I have created a bunch of points to ponder, in the next few articles lets take each one and develop it further.

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Does your business have a heart problem?

Sep 10

Posted by Bren Ryan in Excellence!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Operations Dept | 2 Comments

I live and work in Geelong. I have for 15 years or so. In that time, we have pretty much been in drought conditions, and under water restrictions.

This year, month, week, that’s pretty much changed. The word is, we are fast moving towards breaking the drought. With just “average” rainfall mind you. Fantastic! However, it’s caused a bit of chaos this week. You see, Geelong is a city divided by the Moorabool River. It runs roughly West to East, and dissects the North from South.

Of course, there are multiple points at which to cross the river, but one (apparently) vital one. It’s called the Breakwater Rd & Breakwater bridge. As the name suggests, it’s a breakwater, and it floods every time the Moorabool River reaches a certain level. It a pressure release valve so that the river doesn’t flood as badly as it might.

It’s a two way, one lane intersection. It’s tiny. It’s insignificant. It doesn’t appear to be that busy in the scheme of things. I take it everyday in my 5 minute trip to the office.

When it floods, it throws the City of Geelong into Traffic chaos! This week has seen a lot of Geelong employees late for work. My daily 5 minute drive has turned into 45-60 minutes!

My City has a heart problem. Like our Hearts, the city depends on all it’s arteries to follow un-hindered – block one, and you have a heart problem.

It made me think about my business (while i was stuck in traffic :-) ) Sometimes, we have arterial blockages in our businesses. It might be that the phone messages stall at reception and don’t quickly get sent to the sales guy, it might be the order release message from the accounts dept stalls and doesn’t get communicated to the despatch area, so an order sits on the back dock two days longer than it should.

An arterial blockage in our business is simply a part of the system that gets blocked up, slows the rest down, and sometimes even stops the system dead – grid lock!

The first step to clearing such a blockage is to identify it. Sit back, take a breath, and objectively look at your business and how an order goes through your system, even place an anonymous order and see how your system looks to an outsider. Once identified, you can take steps to alleviate the pressure and work out ways to prevent future issues.

In my business for example, the artwork process can be one of those areas that can bog down and block the system. It might be the client is slow to send us appropriate files, or our email breaks down, or a contract artist does not do the job fast enough – there are any number of ways that part of my business can (and has) block and stop orders from proceeding. I don’t like it, but knowing it is an area for a higher potential for screw ups, I pay more attention to it to avoid said screw ups.

Another area with potential for blockages is delivery. I rely on third parties often for delivery. I have clients all around Australia and even a few Internationals. Therefore, I am often reliant on third parties like manufacturers and couriers. If the guy on the back dock at the pens factory is having a bad day, my urgent delivery might not go out, just as the courier driver might have a flat tyre or only pick up 2 of 3 boxes. Even a foggy night made us miss one deadline when the plane holding one box was grounded.

I can’t completely avoid potential blockages, but if i know exactly what they are, I can put safe guards and pressure valves in place to reduce the risk.

So, does your business have a heart problem? It’s one of those questions just like your own health – it might not be comfortable to self analyse if you are at risk, but well worth the effort.

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Elegant service communication

Sep 10

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

I love it when I meet people who chat about things of instant interest to me. Recently I got chatting with a person about service, particularly the first few delicate moments when you connect with people in that all important exchange where you aim to connect and attain an idea of what they want from your business.

The chat started with the difference between “May I and Can I…” May I assist you, or Can I assist you, what happened next was a BFO, (Blinding Flash of the Obvious).

You see it was so simple when he explained it. “Imagine you are at the top of a cliff and your task is to push someone off, would you say “Can I push you off or may I push you off…” ” Can I”, relates to skill and “May I” relates to permission to do a thing.” I was engaged in the conversation now, what a great hook! Yes he clearly knew his English and the lesson was simple but so good. Actually on thinking about it none of the above would get you far in the pushing stakes but it makes a point also about service being more about offering, rather than demanding. Chances are you would not ask a person if they wanted to be pushed!

I asked him for a view on my old favourite, “help and Assist” he agreed, Help is needed when you are in dire straits, assistance is softer and more readily taken up unconsciously. So many people will say “Just looking thanks” when you offer help, but more people take up an offer of assistance “May I assist you…”

It could go further you could say “May I assist you to find what you are after today?” That way you are being specific about what you are offering. Without the specifics it is so open you might get in a bit of a bind, like this… ‘May I assist  you?” asks the store attendant… “Oh yes, you can give me a million dollars, that would be great assistance…” replies the customer.

Take the time out to consider the small things like this which may impact on people  you deal with so the service you offer is as elegant and correct as possible. We also chatted briefly about G’day as a greeting, I will leave that one for another article.

Well time got the better of our conversation too quickly and circumstances meant we had to part ways, all I can hope is that I said goodbye in an elegant manner!

On providing great service, “I don’t know if you can but you may…” :)

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Training to Win…

Aug 6

Posted by Steve Gray in People!, Personal Development | 1 Comment

Yes I figure business is like a game, there are winners and losers, so train to win, heck who wants to lose right? But before you jump in with “Oh but I don’t have time to train people and I don’t know how to… Don’t think you have to do it, or do it all, there are plenty of external organisations who can do it for you.

BUT you need to do some things, like setting up the system you want to follow to ensure you get the best results for the investment you make.

Here are a few points to consider:

  • Create levels – from apprentice to master, there are levels, you should do the same and create a a range of options, a progression if you like.
  • Points to cover – At each level there will be things you need to cover, so jot them down in point form so you can develop the details later.
  • Measure – Competency and then proficiency, just one on it’s own may not be enough, especially if it’s an essential skill.
  • Record – How you measure things is one thing, but how you record the details is another, so create a system to effectively track each persons progress at each level.
  • Acknowledge – How will you let people know they have attained a set level? a certificate? or… make sure it’s worth it!

All these will be useful starting points to developing a training outline for your business, so go and take action to make it happen.

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7 Mistakes new businesses make with IT

Jul 23

Posted by Bren Ryan in Excellence!, IT Dept, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Operations Dept | 1 Comment

Any new business likes to get off to a fast cheap start, but it important to keep an eye on the prize and be wary of cutting too many corners that will end up costing time, money and possibly loss of data and even your businesses ability to adapt to a changing business landscape.

So here are the top seven IT mistakes I have seen new businesses make:

  1. POP email

POP email accounts are those email accounts that you get when you sign up with an ISP. Often you get a few free email accounts that you can associate with your company domain. The problem with POP accounts is that they don’t get backed up and leave you with a false sense of security. Ultimately much of your businesses value lies in the contacts that you have, as much as the conversations you’ve had. POP accounts only store the conversations, and in many cases even those are cleared from the server by your email application. So now all of your data is sitting on the one vulnerable hard disk in your computer and unless you know what you are doing, this does not get backed up.

Shop around. For less than $US15 per month you can get a hosted 5GB Exchange mailbox that stores all contacts, calendar and email. It gets backed up each night and it can be made to synchronise contacts and appointments as well as email with your mobile PDA. If you have multiple employees you can share contacts and calendars and email. This can takes office productivity to a whole new level. Outside the office, on the work site, having access to your email, contacts and calendar is fast becoming as important and as expected these days as having a mobile phone was five years ago. From the work site you can place a booking with a client into the Calendar on your PDA and within minutes staff back in your office can see that booking by looking into your calendar on the server. And Vice-Versa, how good is that. No more checking with the office then calling the client back to confirm, not to mention the to and fro reduced if the booking did not suit.

Of course if you lose or break the mobile phone al of the contacts and appointments that are synchronised to the server are not lost. Just get a new phone and set up again and all the contacts and appointments will be synchronised back onto the phone.

OK, setting this up may require some help from an IT consultant but when you factor in the productivity gains and the reduced risk of data loss in the event of failure the gains are worth it for most businesses.

2. Peer to Peer networking

There is a plethora of fantastic cheap devices on the market these days that let you store copious amounts of data on a networked hard disk. If you like you can also share the hard disk of your own computer so that your co-workers can store all of the data in a single location.

But please don’t forget that you need to back that data up and, just as importantly, you need to be able to restore from that backup should the data be accidentally overwritten, corrupted or you just have a good old fashioned disk crash. Most IT professionals don’t like keeping all of the eggs in one basket. So we devise ways of making systems redundant. A ‘real’ server solution will have redundant hard disks, so that should one fail, your data does not go with it, resulting in days of downtime while the system is pieced together from that backup that you regularly do.

Too many small businesses still store scary amounts of critical data on a single hard disk inside a regular workstation (usually the oldest one in the office).

3. Free software

Free software sounds great. And it can be. I am not against it in itself, but with most software it is not the license that will end up costing you the most money, that will actually be a small part of the cost. You need to consider the longer term costs of implementation and running your systems utilising that software. For a small basic single user application that may be fine. But for something that will be implemented across your business to become what we call ‘mission-critical’ you need to consider the longer term implications. How easily can I get outside help to support this system should those who know it move on (key-man risk)? Can I recruit people who know how to use this system, or will I need to train them up?  Will updates for the software be available when I come to upgrade the platform on which it runs?

These are some of the questions you need to ask before taking on what may appear to be a cheap solution.

4. Mates Rates advice

It is hard to pass up free advice. However free advice rarely translates into good support. At least not the kind of support you can depend on from a strategic point of view. Your mates may be available after hours and on weekends but if they are holding down a full time job they may not be as accessible as you need them to be. There are also often strategic and technical differences between how IT is setup and run in a small business environment compared to that of larger organisations. There are specific product bundles available from vendors such as Microsoft, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Symantec and many others that facilitate excellent solutions for small business when implemented correctly. However while these bundles may appear to be a collection of products that many IT experts may be familiar with, they often include some additional bells and whistles that allow you to get real leverage with your IT investment. I have seen many implementations Microsoft’s Small Business Server where a so-called expert was unfamiliar with the use of Remote Web Workplace and so had not known to implement this for the business. Yet Remote Web Workplace is one of the core offerings of small business server and one that many administrators of large organisations would give their eye-teeth for. It allows small business workers to connect to any workstation within the office and run all of their applications from a remote location.

So how could this have been over-looked? Remote Web Workplace is not a feature available on ‘big’ business systems, so if your friends work in big business, they may not know about it, or many other things.

Another important function I have seen ‘knowledgeable’ mates overlook is the ability of Microsoft’s Small Business Server to enable BlackBerry type functionality with regular iPhone, Nokia and Windows PDAs. Perhaps the mate thought they would need to buy a BlackBerry server to do all of this, perhaps because the company they work for has one.

5 . Backup-backup-backup and offsite-backups. Then test them.

It makes me cringe to see what some people consider a backup plan.

Too often I have heard people telling a reporter that loosing the house to a fire was bad enough but loosing the family albums and memories was devastating. The rate of business failure after a major IT disaster from which there was no backup is very high. I have seen figures like 80% in the two years following the disaster thrown around.

So I guess lesson one is make a backup of all of the family photos and take them to a location away from the home. And then repeat this regularly. And check that you can access the copies that you have made. Lesson two is to do the same for your business.

6. In-house software / DIY Systems

All too often I see people who believe that their systems and their way of doing things is so special that they must create their own software just to manage this. Accountants probably bare the brunt of this when the new business owner fronts up to them with a box full of receipts and an excel spreadsheet full of fancy macros that nobody except the business owner knows how to use. Or the very very special Access database for managing stock levels and generating very very special reports.

All businesses want to feel that they are unique. But encoding that uniqueness into a software application that can only be modified by one select person can turn out to be a serious strategic mistake when you try to sell the business or when that ‘key-man’ risk is realised because the person who knows the system can no longer maintain it.

Ask yourself how your business will make money. If developing this special piece of software and selling it is not on the list then don’t go there.

7. Lock in.

No deal in IT is so good that you should sign up for more than two years. The market and your business moves too fast for that. What is a great deal today can be serious drain on cash flow in as little as six months from now. So whether it be a mobile phone plan, an internet connection, a PABX system, a server hosting plan or an IT support plan, two years is just too long a commitment to make. If we think a deal is good today, you can be assured that a better deal is just around the corner and if you’ve locked in for a long time you will be regretting the lock in for at least half of that time.

And it is not just the money. Once you’ve locked into a plan you’re often locked into a technology. Then along comes the next best thing and your business is now not as dynamic as you thought it was.

Svend Petersen is the Managing Director of Excelan.

Excelan provides a personalised level of IT support and strategic consulting for small to medium sized organisations in and around the Sydney CBD.

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Do you do this with your marketing?

Aug 20

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

I’ve seen it done a lot, I’ve seen it done really well and I’ve seen it work exceptionally even in a down market.

I call it Marketing overlap, there is probably a fancy name for it in market speak but for now that covers it.

Many businesses rely on just a few forms of marketing and can measure the results of those, however what most fail to do is overlap the marketing so that as one method of marketing runs out of stem the next one kicks in.

An example of this is when you have a range of great products, and this month you have a special on one of them, the next month another special with a  different item and so on. By focusing on one product special then another people can get excited about coming to check out what you have on offer, often to get the special, but guess what they do, they often buy more than just the special.

If your business is expanding and offering new products you can launch them as the “special” then as you move to the next special the first one has nearly run its course, and so the overlap effect occurs.

This method generally ups your average dollar sale, keeps people interested in what you have to offer and if you can couple it with a range of marketing devices you will probably see great results. Want to develop a plan of action, then try chatting to your friendly branding expert to see what you can do to make it work.

So on, get out your marketing plan and cram a few extra marketing devices into the mix and overlap each campaign to keep the punters interested, if you don’t, your competition just might and take your customers out from under you. Chances are you may not notice until it’s too late.

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Good connections

Jun 15

Posted by Steve Gray in Innovation and Creativity, People!, Planning, The Marketing Dept | 1 Comment

One of our guru lads over here is Ross Hill, on his Blog is a great piece of intriguing information I think all businesspeople and educators can learn a lot from.

He starts off talking about games and what makes them addictive… Then he goes on to show the comparison to social media (“aint” that the buzz at the moment) then I figure if you know what makes social media addictive, you could create a business that is addictive for your customers.

Imagine that people addicted to what you have, and they keep coming back to buy more… Yep the old loyal customer routine. Only now (thanks to Ross and others…) we can start to build an understanding of how that happens, so lets do it for business. Oh I mentioned educators as well, in a stale classroom, sit down, shut up, take down these notes… a fresh perspective on what engages people has got to be useful!

I’m going to cut to the chase here… The five central elements of Game Mechanics are:

  • Collecting things.
  • Earning Points.
  • Getting/giving feedback.
  • Exchanges/Gifting.
  • User Customization.
In looking at the game mechanics and the social media link up to it there are plenty of things that make these points work, If you ever played pinball, getting the high score was way cool, in the latter day digital gamers world collecting things to give you more power, gifts, tokens etc was way cool too. then in a connected world being able to give feedback via facebook, twitter etc became a big buzz. then they allowed “games” of giving flowers, plants (virtual etc…)
Let’s go across to:
Business…
  • Collecting things – Tokens in adverts.
  • Earning points – Buy five things get the sixth one free or at a discount (loyalty card ticked off.)
  • Getting/giving feedback – Hello – how are you – query form.
  • Exchanges/gifting – For every $10 you spend we give $1 to charity…
  • Customisation – if you have an online store they can personalise in some way then that’s useful.
Education…
  • Collect and bring things for show and tell.
  • Get points for good behaviour.
  • Discussing progress – giving feedback on what they liked in class.
  • Exchanges of information in group sessions
  • Customising by selecting which type of final assessment device they want to choose.
These are a few examples of possibilities, I’m sure there are plenty more, the thing is making sure you can provide enough to ensure your service is the one they are addicted to.
If you are still not sure about any of this check out Mc Donald’s and think about their happy meals for kids… you get a toy to collect, while the parent is there they probably buy something too, so even just having a single part of the formula in place can be highly valuable. Now put on your thinking caps and come up with a few ways you can use this information to your advantage.
I’m almost excited about the prospect of saying AND… lets add in our target market personality types, motivators and Drivers it would really assist us to be able truly effectively hit them between the eye’s with solid targeted information they want to act on… but perhaps I better leave that for another day… Oh and remember if you need assistance to figure out ways to do this sort of thing chat to your friendly branding expert, they are sure to help.

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