The games we play at work

Office culture - is dirty politics acceptable or not?

According to dictionary.com one definition of playing politics is: "to deal with people in an opportunistic, manipulative or devious way, as for job advancement"

Some companies seem to naturally attract highly tense and combative cultures while others seem able to exist in relative harmonious teams. If you find yourself in one that is highly political do you join in?

In my ideal world it is best to steer clear of any and all office politics, but doing this can be viewed as its own political stance, as you can be accused of indifference and thinking you are better then everybody else. 

Whatever happened to everybody just getting on with their own job and treating all colleagues with respect, whether you like them or not. Business is not personal, unfortunately many people cannot remember this and it all becomes about them.

Generally, there are no long term winners in office politics, if you are happy to get involved you have to expect it to turn around on you at some point. It always amuses me when the office gossip finds themselves on the receiving end and then complains!

With the now widespread use of email as preferred communication tool, politics has become even more insidious as many people find enormous levels of otherwise unknown courage and can mount campaigns, copying in vast numbers of people which results in email bullying and as it is in writing is nigh impossible to counteract or retract.

I have heard of a couple of recent examples of email gone wrong. The first was someone trying to send a bullying email. The receiver decided not to participate in an email war, but rather to go and confront them fact to face. The response was a rather panicked "What are you doing here, just go back and reply to the email".  Two questions spring to mind, can the keyboard really add that much courage, and how does a business operate effectively if staff can't simply talk to each other?

The second email example was during a discussion of storage capacity problems on the mail server and everyone's strange aversion to deleting unnecessary emails.One response was "I don't delete anything, how else do you gather enough evidence to fire someone". If this is typical of the viewpoint within this company it screams of a very dysfunctional culture. This type of attitude can also become a self fulling prophecy, if you expect the worst of staff or your team mates, you will get it.

So in regards to office politics - neutrality is usually what I aim for, that and the simple stance - don't say or do anything that you wouldn't say and do to the person's face. This is something I try and teach in training sessions, especially around conflict resolution and negotiation skills.

As we all know, culture is determined from the top down and many senior managers and business owners would benefit from walking about and really getting to understand the environment they have created, hopefully it would give them enough pause to actively participate in stamping out practices such as gossip, bullying, harassment and fear. Happy, satisfied and engaged staff add more value to business then any amount of political games.

Lost art of customer service?

On a recent car trip I was confronted with possibly one of the worst examples of customer service for a long time. Having been on the road for some 6 hours we stopped for a much needed food break. The food outlet we chose was not a major chain but rather a smallish but well reputed venue. It was packed, and being on the main highway it had an obvious captive audience, with the line of people waiting stretching out the door.

My husband stepped up to place the order and I watched amazed as the service attendant took his order, packed it, accepted money and gave change, all without once making eye contact. It was quite a feat. Having worked in management positions in hospitality and other service industries I was appalled. I have spent many hours training and lecturing staff on the need for quality customer service.

As we took a seat to eat our food, which by the way was really very good, I watched many more examples of poor quality service from all the servers. Just as my indignation and frustration was growing, I was wanting to jump up and tell them how happy customers spend greater amounts and more often, not to mention the idea of complimentary selling, etc, etc, I noticed the behaviour of the customers.

Customer after customer approached the counter with mobile phones stuck to their ears, or talking to their companions, giving their order as an aside and continuing their conversations with little acknowledgement of the person behind the counter.

Since then I have been paying attention, at the supermarket, the service stations and the local store and noticed the dwindling respect that society seems to pay each other. Have customer service standards dropped? In general, I think yes. But can we blame service staff if, as customers, we cannot even give them the common courtesy of acknowledging they exist? I think in may cases, no, we cannot blame them but it is definitely a sad reflection of the way society behaves.

Alternatively there is a great point of competitive difference for savvy businesses to take advantage of. Train your staff to give exceptional customer service, in spite of customer distance and it will pay dividends, there are people who still notice. Even though the food was good, will I stop at the same venue next time I pass? Sadly for them no, they have lost a customer.

Difference between a tax agent and a financial controller/CFO

Most small/medium businesses will have a tax agent or external accountant but many do not see the need to hire or retain a Financial Controller/Chief Financial Officer. In fact many do not understand the different roles.

Generally speaking a tax agent is visited only a few times a year and their primary function is to prepare or review accounts in order to lodge appropriate tax returns. Any business advice they can give is limited by the lack of a close operating relationship and knowledge about your business. Additionally they are dealing with historical records so there is no room to improve on what has already occurred.

A Financial Controller/CFO, on the other hand usually looks at 4 different areas of your business:

1. Accounting - ensures that accurate information is available for reporting analysis and statutory compliance. Often working with the tax agent in this area to set up and maintain your accounting system, conduct company secretarial matters, as well as managing and advising book keepers or accounting staff.
2. Financial - ensures visibility of current financial position through financial statements and analysis, management reporting, job costing, budgeting, cash flow forecasting and an annual audit.
3. Operational - aims to achieve best practice through lean and efficient operations that support growth or expansion. This is achieved by setting internal controls, establishing systems and processes, writing standard operating procedures, depicting job functions and responsibilities, conducting contractual audits.
4. Strategic - aims to maximise your business value through business planning, identifying and setting financial strategies and policies, risk assessment and management, implementing performance measures and benchmarking.

All successful businesses look forward not backward, yes we have to learn from past mistakes but improvement is only available in the future and the best way to achieve continual learning and improvement is to surround yourself with the appropriate talent. Investing in the right Financial Controller/CFO will pay dividends as they will get the financial and operational fundamentals right for growth.

Is the world black and white, or many shades of grey?

This was another interesting question posed on LinkedIn. Is the world black or white, is there right or wrong, or many shades of grey?

We must remember that the colour we "see" is determined by our individual perspective (education, religion, gender, age etc) so can there ever be only black and white?

True acceptance and co-operation can only be achieved when we accept that there are no absolutes. Stephen Covey explores an interesting concept in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People where habit 5 is "seek first to understand, then be understood".

We don't necessarily have to agree with another persons viewpoint but if we seek first to understand who knows what opportunities may open up.

Going out of our way to view the world in as many colours as possible is the only way to achieve continual learning and advancement, the alternative is to stagnate.

Have you ever been thrown under a bus by a boss or colleague?

I recently answered a question posed on LinkedIn about whether you had ever been thrown under a bus by a boss or colleague, interesting question that I thought I would explore here.

In my career, I have been "thrown under a bus" by a number of bosses and colleagues, for various reasons. Some have been confident in my skills and experience and wanted to see how I would handle myself when challenged to leave my comfort zone, and sadly others have wanted to see me fail for no other reason than I was viewed as a threat.

In all instances (sometimes there was no choice) I have taken the challenge and viewed it as an opportunity to stretch myself and learn new skills. I have not always achieved to my own personal standards of success but have never "failed" as the experience has always given me something to take forward to the next opportunity.

For those colleagues who were inspired by what they saw as guaranteed failure I have had the satisfaction of being able to move forward in my career, developing a reputation as someone who is not afraid of adversity, someone who may not know everything but can work out how to find the answers, someone who achieves results.

I would actually recommend that occassionally we choose to throw ourselves under the bus for no other reason than to take away the safety net and force ourselves to think outside the box. Adversity builds character - when we have to stretch ourselves and search deep inside we can achieve amazing things, sending us forward with renewed confidence. Life, especially your career, should be about continual learning, and fear can be a brilliant motivator!

Reclaim hours as a business owner

Many business owners spend so much time working in the business that the long term viability of the business suffers, they remain hands on for far too long. The first way a business owner can reclaim time to allow them to focus on managing and growing the business is to hire someone with the right experience and delegate, this is often a hard thing to do as many owners struggle to "let go".

An alternative is to formulate standard operating procedures (SOP's). That is to:

• work out how a job needs to be done
• write down the process (flow charting is a useful tool)
• train someone to use process
• measure results

The key point here is to measure the results. With the right operational and measurement techniques and systems in place a business owner has no need to micro manage and can direct their attention to strategies to ensure growth, or to those areas that do not produce the expected results.

Having standard systems in place also means that no-one has to play the blame game. If something goes wrong the first question to ask is "Was the system followed?". There are several possible answers and scenario's:

• If the answer is no, was it because there was no system for that situation, if so you have an improvement opportunity to create a standard. If the answer was just the employee did not want to follow the system they can be informed that employment is contingent on following the standards. If the employee was not aware of the standard then again there is an improvement opportunity through staff training.
• If the answer is yes then the system needs to be reviewed for appropriateness, relevance and usability, another improvement opportunity.

Businesses who are not looking for ways to be continually improving their product, service or processes are limiting their success.

Top 7 Critical Success Factors for Business - Final Part

Last but not least in this 7 part series in the critical success factors for business is an area where many businesses make many mistakes.

1. Plan
2. Competitive velocity
3. Customer satisfaction
4. Network
5. Technology
6. Culture
7. Global thinking

Technology has shrunk the business world. Businesses of all sizes can now have access to worldwide markets, allowing them to share information, technology and products.

Keeping abreast of global trends can lead to new channel opportunities or ways to compete.

The vast majority of businesses going overseas fail within the first year after spending a lot of money on travel, consultants, market research, trade shows, giving out samples and entertaining potential clients.

The key reason for failure is the inability to understand, accept and fit it into a foreign culture.

Want to expand globally without the mistakes, Ivy Business Consulting can offer expert advice, having had experience in operating global businesses. We can also assist with the preparation and lodgement of grant applications for export marketing funding.

Top 7 Critical Success Factors for Business - Part 6

For the second to last week of the series I talk about a subject that many managers wish they could ignore and many have no idea how to manage or change it.

1. Plan
2. Competitive velocity
3. Customer satisfaction
4. Network
5. Technology
6. Culture
7. Global thinking

Business leaders must create environments that communicate consistently their passion, goals and mission to every individual employee. Nurturing a sense of ownership among your staff is key to attracting and retaining the most talented and qualified people.

Empower staff to innovate and be held accountable and most individuals will focus their strengths for the benefit of the business.

In need of a mentor or motivator? Contact me via www.ivybusinessconsulting.com.au or by return comment.

Top 7 Critical Success Factors for Business - Part 5

Week 5 of the series in discussing the Top 7 Critical Success Factors for Business brings us to a subject that scares many people due to the pace of its change and the need to constantly keep up to date.

1. Plan
2. Competitive velocity
3. Customer satisfaction
4. Network
5. Technology
6. Culture
7. Global thinking

The right use of technology can not only reduce manpower needs and operational costs but also increase efficiencies and open channels to new markets, all directly affecting your bottom line. The danger is adopting technology for technology's sake, care must be taken to identify and only implement that technology that is needed to support your business and its growth.

As part of the technology consideration the mix of Online vs Offline must determined.

Many facets of business operations can now be conducted both on and off line - e-commerce, business development, sales, customer service, marketing and public relations - you must find the right balance between online and offline that is right for your individual business and budget.

Whatever the mix though, consistency of message must always be maintained.

Top 7 Critical Success Factors for Business - Part 4

Week 4 in my series of the Top 7 critical success factors for business brings us to a discussion of how we cannot go it alone.

1. Plan
2. Competitive velocity
3. Customer satisfaction
4. Network
5. Technology
6. Culture
   
7. Global thinking

No one can be all things to all people, so use the skills and resources of others to open and unlock growth opportunities and provide support outside of your core business.

Analyse and determine what capabilities (usually non-core) that could probably be provided more efficiently or effectively through strategic alliances in which each alliance partner realises a benefit from working together.

There are many virtual resources that can be tapped into that in years past would have necessitated capital and or human outlay.

Networking requires thinking outside the box and building strong relationships, it does not happen overnight but persistence can reap huge rewards.

Top 7 Critical Success Factors for Business - Part 3

For week 3 in my series of the Top 7 Critical Success Factors I discuss the thing that many businesses place too little importance on and is my pet subject.

1. Plan
2. Competitive velocity
3. Customer satisfaction
4. Network
5. Technology
6. Culture
7. Global thinking

Sub standard customer service not only alienates the immediate customer but can damage the reputation and brand of the organisation, leading to additional customer loss and an inability to attract new customers.

Surveys suggest that a discontented customer tells an estimated 10 people about their experience while a happy customer tells only one.

The more information you have about your customers the better you can service and anticipate their needs. You must have mechanisms in place that gathers customer information to allow personalised marketing and service and the future needs of your customer to be anticipated.

There is also the internal customers to consider - the humble employee, a type of customer that is quite often left feeling very dissatisfied at great cost to the business.

Remember a satisfied customer is a repeat customer!

Top 7 Critical Success Factors for Business - Part 2

This week I discuss number 2 on my list of 7 Critical Success Factors for Business:

1. Plan
2. Competitive Velocity
3. Customer Satisfaction
4. Network
5. Technology
6. Culture
7. Global thinking

To maintain an advantage in a highly competitive world a company must move faster and more effectively to outpace its rivals and grow as a business.

Successful businesses not only provide a better product or service than their competition but continue to innovate, by adding new functionality to old products or creating new offerings.

As a result of the GFC many businesses cut R&D costs and are now finding it hard to maintain market share as their products are old and tired.

Jeff Immelt of General Electric said recently that "only optimism creates growth". This is a fabulous statement and for any business that has put off any innovation they should heed these words and create!

Time to gain velocity!

Top 7 Critical Success Factors for Business

I have been asked to join the panel on a series of Webinars addressing businesses concerns post the Global Financial Crisis. See this link for details: http://www.corporatecanary.com.au/uploads/ProtectGrowFly.pdf

In formulating my material for the Webinars I have listed what I feel are the 7 critical success factors for sustaining profitability in business.

Over the next 7 postings I will dedicate each entry to discussing one of these factors.

1. Plan
2. Competitive Velocity
3. Customer Satisfaction
4. Network
5. Technology
6. Culture
7. Global Thinking

First and foremost in my opinion is to have a business plan. They seem to have become a bit passe but given the pace of business today it is imperative that businesses have at least a basic operating plan and budget as the framework to keep things in focus.

This plan needs to be organic, changing and evolving as opportunities and challenges arise. Reviews and updates should happen at least quarterly to keep the business on target. Both financial and operational metrics should be measured to allow for early detection of problems before the business reaches crisis point.

Not sure how to write your business plan so that it is a useful tool that can be used to drive the success of your business, Ivy Business Consulting can assist by either completing the entire project or facilitating your own staff in the compilation process through insightful workshops that will sharpen the focus of even high functioning management teams.

Remember the Peter Principle

I recently came across The Peter Principle again and was struck anew by its aptness.

Formulated by Dr Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull way back in 1969, it is a humourous treatise which essentially states that members of a hierarchy are promoted so long as they work competently, sooner or later they are promoted to a position in which they are no longer competent (their level of incompetence) where they remain, unable to attain any further advancement.

Peter further states that "work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence"

This is the statement that I think both employees and employers need to be aware of. If someone is achieving great things in a role, does it necessarily follow that they should be promoted? The answer obviously is no, but as a society, if we do not achieve regular advancement we presume we have ceased to perform at our best, or worse yet that we have failed.

The best employers find ways other than promotion to solve the stagnation problem, such as:

• to acknowledge and reward performance, with things such as company awards, financial incentives or elevation to mentor status for others.
• provide training in a new role and only promote after sufficient evidence of capabilities have been displayed.

Don't become a company which blindly elevates employees to their level of incompetence, a properly constructed performance management system will identify not only who, but when someone is ready for promotion. To do otherwise only elevates the company to its level of incompetence and reduces its competitive advantage.

Competitive advantage in service organisations

When operating a professional services business the primary means of achieving a competitive advantage over your competitors is to have a better understanding of the needs and wants of clients then the competition does.

The greatest way to learn what these needs and wants are is to listen to your clients. Sounds very simple but many service practitioners do not actively listen.

There are various ways and means to listen to your clients:

1. user groups
2. reverse seminars
3. attending client industry meetings
4. market research
5. senior partner visits
6. engagement team debriefings
7. systematic client feedback

You must also determine the difference between reactions and feedback. Reactions are an immediate response, either verbal or non-verbal, to a communication whilst feedback is a response with logic and reason, or other useful information. Take note of the reactions but to truly learn what your clients want feedback is more useful.

Designing and implementing an active client listening program can have immediate and startling results for any business. Call Ivy Business Consulting for help with developing such a program.

Leadership and influence

Leadership is the ability to influence.

Influence is the art of using power to move people voluntarily toward a certain end or point of view.
Power is useless unless converted to influence.

Organisational application of Maslow's hierarchy of needs

I was recently reminded of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and realised it can be applied quite effectively to the organisational sphere in many areas.


For example to customers:
The physiological aspects are represented by the basic performance of a product or service - does the product work?
The safety needs correspond to the reliability and security of the product – will it let me down or cause harm?
The belonging needs relate to the social aspects of products of service – is this the brand that everyone is wearing?
Esteem often relates more to the transaction itself than the product – did the sales assistant treat me with respect? However, esteem can also be product related – will people admire me when I buy this product?
Self-actualisation occurs when a product or service allows the buyer to be creative or fulfil capabilities.

Alternatively it can also be applied to employees:
The physiological needs are salary and wages;
Safety is job security;
Belonging means being accepted in the workplace and being part of a team;
Esteem involves being respected by management and colleagues; and
Self-actualisation is achieved when the employee's abilities are fully utilised.

For any effective organisation, the aim is to meet the needs in order, from lowest to highest.

Thus, for a supplier, the organisation would first ensure that a fair price was being paid for the supplies; then offer security to the supplier in the form of long-term contracts; then make the supplier part of the team and involve them in discussion and planning. Treating the supplier with respect and concern is also important. Finally, using the skills and knowledge of the supplier to create higher end-value completes the process.

Many organisations would benefit from looking at what level they are currently meeting various stakeholders needs and committing to strategies to ensure higher needs are met.

The benefit to meeting those higher needs, quite simply – satisfied, loyal customers; engaged and committed employees; proactive and innovative suppliers which will result in improved profits.

Ivy Business Consulting can assist with strategy development to meet the higher needs.

Operating metrics vs. Financial metrics

Many businesses spend large periods of time collecting data and producing detailed reports at the end of each month, quarter or year, containing pages of financial metrics while ignoring operating metrics. There is a profound difference between operating metrics and financial metrics.

Operating metrics are those inputs that drive the financial outcomes.

While financial metrics definitely provide useful measurements of business performance, it is all historical information by the time they are produced. Operating metrics on the other hand provide scope for continual learning and improvement.

Concentrating on operating metrics to improve customer satisfaction by reducing wait times, producing better quality products, providing exemplary after sales service, can all increase customer loyalty, which in turn is likely to increase the value of the customer to the business.

A by product of measuring and improving these operating metrics often results, in this example, in an increase in sales, which will in turn take care of the financial metrics.

Ivy Business Consulting can implement programs to measure and improve operating metrics across all business disciplines.

Business improvement does not have to cost a lot!

Many businesses struggling along can be too afraid to seek help for fear of incurring huge fees and getting little tangible returns.

During a project for a company facing bankruptcy I implemented a new process that cost the business a total of $160 in "capital" outlay. Integral to the new process was a shift in employee responsibility and accountability. There was resistance at first, but quite quickly the new methodology was embraced wholeheartedly - and the returns to the company:

• increased staff involvement, which lead to further improvement suggestions
• decreased staff turnover as they became engaged to a greater extent AND
• dollar savings of $150,000 in the first year

Not a bad return for the initial investment of $160!

Combined with other initiatives I implemented this company achieved:

• revenue growth of 37%
• eliminated $1.2 million of costs
• transformed from bankrupt to achieving 5 times industry average net profits

My firm, Ivy Business Consulting, specialises in providing innovative, cost effective approaches to business turnaround, improvement and growth.

Are you an effective trainer / teacher?

Can't get your message across?

None of us want to think that the problem might be ourselves, but the question must be asked if people cannot follow your instructions, are you instructing in the right way?

Leading educators have found that people retain:

• 10% of what is read
• 20% of what is heard
• 30% of what is seen
• 50% of what is seen and heard
• 70% of what is seen and spoken
• 90% of what is said while doing what is talked about

Sounds simple but to be a good trainer / teacher you must have:

• thorough knowledge of topic
• desire to teach
• positive, helpful, cooperative attitude
• strong leadership abilities
• professional attitude
• exemplary behaviour to set positive example

And the basic principles of learning are:

• people learn best when they are ready to learn
• people learn more easily when what they are learning can be related to something they already know
  
• people learn in a step by step manner, take it slowly, enjoy the journey, not the destination
  
• people learn by doing, when at all possible make it hands on, see the point above - 90% is retained by doing!
  
• the more often people use what they are learning, the better they will remember and understand it, in other words use or lose it
  
• success in learning tends to stimulate additional learning
• people need immediate and continual feedback to know if they have learned, positive re-inforcement, possibly the one thing that gets forgotten most in the workforce
  

Point to remember, if your student one day surpasses you, instead of feeling threatened by competition, take pride in your talents as a mentor and teacher - it is a hard skill to learn.