In many professions, the idea of full-scope, sophisticated positioning has been foreign up until now. Business development has occurred primarily by accident or through market demand.

Because of economic realities and the increased numbers of firms providing comparable services, the notion of business development is now a necessity, rather than a luxury.

The Business Tree: Growth Strategies and Tactics for Surviving and Thriving by Hank Moore Any company or organization is like a tree. It seemingly looks the same each day but sheds leaves, lets its limbs rot and applies “band-aid surgery” to its branches late in life. Therefore, it does not fully grow and bloom. Often, it withers and dies an early death. The Business Tree™ has 7 major parts… 5 primary branches, a trunk (6) and the base (7): The business you’re in Running the business Financial People Business development Body of Knowledge The Big Picture No single branch (business component) constitutes a healthy tree. None of the limbs and twigs on each branch (staff-consultants) provide all nourishment required to breed a healthy tree (company). Each branch has its proper responsibility and should learn to interface with the others. The Business Tree™ will not stand without a trunk and the base. These keep the branches, limbs and twigs (divisions, consultants and vendors) on a growth curve. Trees with thicker bases and deeper roots will sprout greener (be profitable), shed less often (fewer corporate flaws) and live longer (dominate its industry). Learn more about Hank Moore and The Business Tree™ by visiting his website, www.HankMoore.com.

Competition for customers-clients is sharpening. The professions are no longer held on a pedestal… a condition which mandates them to portray or enhance public images.

As companies adjust comfort levels and acquire confidence in the arena of business development, there is a direct relationship to billings, client mix diversity, market share, competitive advantage, stock price and levels of business which enable other planned growth.

Public perceptions are called credence goods by economists. Every organization must educate outside publics about what they do… and how they do it.

This holds for corporate operating units and departments. You must always educate corporate opinion makers on how you function… and the skill with which you operate.

Gaining confidence is crucial… as business relationships with professionals are established to be long-term in duration.

Each organization or should determine and craft its own character and personality… seeking to differentiate from others. That appeals to professionals within your own staff, those professionals whom your firm would like to attract and clients.

Top management must endorse corporate imaging and other forms of practice development, if your company is to grow and prosper. Few companies can even sustain present levels of sales without some degree of business development.

Some people in your organization will devote much time to promotions, public relations, marketing and advertising. This quality should be recognized and rewarded… since professionals with a sense of business direction play an important part in company growth.

Be it a ‘necessary evil’ or not, corporate imaging activity can be accomplished with skill and success…provided that organizations follow the advice of professional communicators.

Companies must maintain a delicate balance between seeking new business, replacing lost clients and nurturing client relationships. Operating units and departments must schedule and follow a program to market their worth to their companies.

No matter what time allocation basis is selected by the organization, it is vital that some basis exists in writing and in execution.

Guidelines and Customs to be Observed in Corporate Communications

The professional organization that evokes a caring image – and backs it up with service – will prosper in today’s marketplace.

In image building, the following ideas should be considered:

• Your company and profession fill essential needs of society.
• Each key staff member represents a learned profession.
• Qualities that denote your company include skill, expertise, objectivity and independence.
• Work and abilities of your employees are diverse and creative.
• Your key management team is dynamic, in terms of business issues.
• The marketplace is rapidly expanding and is an excellent career choice for young people.
• Your team encompasses multi-dimensional professionals…concerned with much more than the immediate responsibilities of the work at hand.
• Recognize the role of professional communicators. Seek qualified counsel.

Corporate Communications Program – Essential Ingredients

Strategic Plan

• Mission statement.
• Visioning document.
• Goals and objectives.
• Tactics.
• Timeline for implementation.
• Benchmarks for measurement.

Policies and Procedures

Investor Relations Program

Public Relations Program

• Complete generic press kits.
• Guidelines on working with the media.
• Pointers on training staff and volunteers as media spokespersons.
• Company collateral literature system.
• Guidelines on arranging speeches, seminars and town hall meetings.
• Ways to improve local community and government relations.
• Opinion pieces and bylined articles on key topics, suitable for placing in newspapers under local bylines.
• Formula press releases and features, which can be locally customized.
• Other components of a program which can and should be customized.

Marketing Program

• Internet.
• Sales support.
• Business development.
• Direct marketing.
• Indirect marketing.
• Advertising.
• Business-to-business promotions.
• Industry and professional marketing.
• Point-of-purchase materials.
• Collateral materials.

Job Descriptions (Position Results Oriented Descriptions)

Staff Training Program

Corporate Communications Manual

• Overall Philosophy and Writing Style.
• Statements to Make Publicly.
• Letters.
• Forms.
• Statements.
• Customer Comment Cards.
• Customer Service Correspondence.
• Sales Manual.
• Graphics Standards.

Crisis Plan

• Risk management team.
• Preparedness.
• Contact numbers.
• Plan for emergencies.
• Case studies.
• Company profiles.
• Preventive programs to keep crises from occurring.
• Training and testing.
• Timeline for implementation.
• Benchmarks for measurement.

Compensation, Benefits and Other Financial Plans

Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable Plans

Continuous Quality Improvement Program

Ethics Statement

Literature and Audio Visual Programs Which Portray Company Image

Special Financial Publics Program

Internal Auditing and Assessment Program

Government Relations Program

Community Relations Program

Staff Development and Professional Enhancement Program

Conflict Resolution and Arbitration Plans

Corporate Philanthropy Program

Contingency Program for Specified and Unplanned Emergencies

About the Author

Hank Moore has advised 5,000+ client organizations worldwide (including 100 of the Fortune 500, public sector agencies, small businesses and non-profit organizations). He has advised two U.S. Presidents and spoke at five Economic Summits. He guides companies through growth strategies, visioning, strategic planning, executive leadership development, Futurism and Big Picture issues which profoundly affect the business climate. He conducts company evaluations, creates the big ideas and anchors the enterprise to its next tier. The Business Tree™ is his trademarked approach to growing, strengthening and evolving business, while mastering change. To read Hank’s complete biography, click here.

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About the Reference

The No Asshole Rule by Robert Sutton provides methods for constructively dealing with the workplace bullies, creeps, jerks, tyrants, tormentors, despots, backstabbers, and egomaniacs – regardless if they are seniors, peers, or subordinates. His research provides insight to the financial costs such hostilities have on an organization as well as the proven methods for effectively dealing with such ill-mannered individuals.

Benefits of Using this Reference

StrategyDriven Contributors like The No Asshole Rule because its well researched strategies for dealing with hostility in the workplace provide effective methods for isolating these negative influences and restoring personal effectiveness. We further appreciate the insight Dr. Sutton presents to enable the reader to recognize instances where his/her behavior creates workplace hostility and how to eliminate such behavior.

We believe workplace hostility is a leading contributor of diminished moral, reduced productivity, and elevated attrition; all of which poison an organization’s culture and hurt its bottom line. (See StrategyDriven‘s Diversity and Inclusion topic area.) Effectively dealing with such hostility not only benefits the organization but helps the individual by reducing stress and increasing effectiveness. Dr. Sutton’s actionable methods for recognizing, isolating, and dealing with workplace hostilities – for becoming part of the solution rather than a perpetuator of the problem – in a manner that improves individual productivity makes The No Asshole Rule a StrategyDriven recommended read.

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† Available only to those living within the United States after the first monthly membership payment is received. Name and address information required. Books typically valued from $14.95 – $29.95 USD. Book value is not guaranteed.

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The following characteristics, benefits, risks, and risk mitigators are representative of the Supervisor Initiated, Rules and Standards Controlled Environment.

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Landing in the Executive Chair: How to Excel in the Hot Seat by Linda Henman   In today’s fast-paced, unprecedented, and unpredictable economy, many executives simply don’t know what to do. Conventional methods-which many never entirely understood in the first place-often don’t work during economic upheaval. Executives, especially CEOs, need something better. They need a guide that identifies the roadblocks and points out the landmines. In her more than 30 years of working with hundreds of executives, Dr. Linda Henman has observed the critical elements of success, both for the new leader and the one who aspires to the next level of success. In Landing in the Executive Chair, you’ll learn how to: Avoid the pitfalls and identify a clear plan for personal and organizational stress. Leverage the first months in a new executive position- that time of transition that promises opportunity and challenge, but also brings a period of great vulnerability. Create a competitive advantage, set the right tone, make effective decisions, keep talent inside your doors, and establish credibility-all while navigating unfamiliar and turbulent waters. As organizations expand and grow, the skills that led to success often won’t sustain further development in a more complex, high-stakes environment. Present and future executives need more. They need Landing in the Executive Chair.

Too late? Then, start preparation now. These ideas will help:

1. If you didn’t have the advantages of a stellar education, remedy that situation. Study history, literature, art, music, and foreign languages. Begin today to augment your liberal arts knowledge, because doing so will help you with creative problem solving, conversation, and life balance.
2. Address the nuts and bolts of business too. If you don’t understand finance and accounting, enroll in a course immediately. With so many online options, there’s really no excuse to overlook this essential building block to your success.
3. Read. Read the Wall Street Journal and your local paper every day. If your city has a weekly business journal, read that too. Read your leading-edge industry publications, Forbes, other finance journals, and popular business books. At any given time, you should have read at least two books on the best seller list. In addition to giving you valuable information, this reading will make you a more interesting person.
4. Map out a path to the executive position you want. How did others get there? Position yourself for each rung on the ladder; take the requisite training; learn the relevant skills; and acquire the needed experience.
5. If you don’t hold a finance or operations position, consider cross training. Will the CEO allow you to work in these arenas for a short time? You’ll need this sort of groundwork for upward mobility. You can read books about HR and marketing, but getting your head in and hands on the finances and operations will pay huge premiums later on.
6. If you hold an HR position, get out as soon as you can. HR professionals tend to hit both glass walls and glass ceilings. They find that they can’t get promoted outside the HR function, and that road seldom leads to the executive chair.
7. Look the part. Everything about you should scream ‘Success!’ Dress well. Get a good haircut. Surround yourself with quality objects: car, pen, shoes, brief case, etc. If you’re uncertain about points of etiquette, hire a coach. If you’re out of shape, get a trainer. In short, send the message that you’ll be 100% at home in the C-suite, boardroom, or country club.
8. Get a mentor. The military, better than many civilian organizations I’ve worked with, understands the value of committing to high potentials – a commitment that turns those who may not have reached their potential into top performers. Many senior military officers begin mentoring future candidates when those would-be generals are still captains. Use this best practice for yourself. Find someone inside or outside your organization who has achieved what you aspire to do. Ask them to give you advice when you need it. Few will refuse to drink a cup of coffee with you while you pick their brains. Instead, they will feel flattered.
9. Get a coach. In the world of professional athletics, no one questions the value of coaching top performers, yet in business, the stigma seems to linger that those who need coaching must be ‘at risk.’ I have built my entire business model on the opposite approach, however. As ‘the virtuoso coach,’ I only work with high potentials.
   Recently the St. Louis Cardinals added former Cardinal player John Mabry to their roster of batting coaches. Mark McGuire will continue to coach the right-handed batters, and Mabry will concentrate on the left-handers. This focused approach should serve as the gold standard for hiring business coaches too. High potentials should hire specialized business coaches who have built successful businesses themselves and who have developed a proven track record for helping others get promoted.
10. Conduct your private life with uncompromising integrity. Unlike some of the aforementioned, you have 100% control over this. No one can rob you of your integrity, but you can give it away. I have seen so many high potentials derail themselves from a seemingly-sure path to success with bad decisions in their personal lives. Assume everything you do will make the front page, because some day it just might.

As the Baby Boomers leave executive positions in droves, others will need to ascend the corporate ladder, but too few have actively prepared themselves. No matter when you plan to climb the next rungs of the ladder, now is the time to start planning.

About the Author

Dr. Linda Henman, the catalyst for virtuoso organizations, is the author of Landing in the Executive Chair, among other works. She is an expert on setting strategy, planning succession, and developing talent. For more than 30 years she has helped executives and boards in Fortune 500 Companies and privately-held organizations dramatically grow their businesses. She was one of eight succession planning experts who worked directly with John Tyson after his company’s acquisition of International Beef Products. Some of her other clients include Emerson Electric, Avon, Kraft Foods, Edward Jones, and Boeing. She can be reached in St. Louis at www.henmanperformancegroup.com.

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Wondering how to quickly build a faithful following on Facebook?

Whether it’s Facebook’s complexity or simplicity that has you stymied, if you put in just a little effort– for 10 days–you can boost your Facebook interactions by 10, 20, even 30 percent or more.

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Explore how businesses can implement best practices using strategy management software.

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Leonardo da Vinci
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Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor…

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About the Reference

How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is the timeless classic that reveals how leaders can engage and motivate individuals to become teams; joining together to achieve a common purpose and produce more than the sum of their singular efforts. This book unveils:

• The six ways to make people like you
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Benefits of Using this Reference

StrategyDriven Contributors like How to Win Friends and Influence People because is provides the reader with easily understood and actionable methods of influencing people without being manipulative; engaging and motivating them to achieve more together than they could as individuals.

StrategyDriven Contributors believe that while leaders naturally act to serve and promote their self interests, it is equally important to benefit those who are supporting those initiatives. Dale Carnegie’s prescription for advancing one’s agenda is a benevolent, win-win approach that influences instead of manipulates. His ‘honorable’ approach to winning people’s support makes How to Win Friends and Influence People a StrategyDriven recommended read.

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The Business Tree: Growth Strategies and Tactics for Surviving and Thriving by Hank Moore Any company or organization is like a tree. It seemingly looks the same each day but sheds leaves, lets its limbs rot and applies “band-aid surgery” to its branches late in life. Therefore, it does not fully grow and bloom. Often, it withers and dies an early death. The Business Tree™ has 7 major parts… 5 primary branches, a trunk (6) and the base (7): The business you’re in Running the business Financial People Business development Body of Knowledge The Big Picture No single branch (business component) constitutes a healthy tree. None of the limbs and twigs on each branch (staff-consultants) provide all nourishment required to breed a healthy tree (company). Each branch has its proper responsibility and should learn to interface with the others. The Business Tree™ will not stand without a trunk and the base. These keep the branches, limbs and twigs (divisions, consultants and vendors) on a growth curve. Trees with thicker bases and deeper roots will sprout greener (be profitable), shed less often (fewer corporate flaws) and live longer (dominate its industry). Learn more about Hank Moore and The Business Tree™ by visiting his website, www.HankMoore.com.

Technology constitutes less than 1% of any organization’s overall Big Picture. Computer activity constitutes less than 1% of the technology picture. Thus, efforts to treat a fraction of one percent took resources away from addressing the other 99.999% of companies’ full-scope planning.

My concern was that money was diverted from most other aspects of organizational wellness toward treating one symptom of one disease. I advocated a balanced approach toward planning, visioning and the Big Picture.

Rather than bash those who neglected other aspects of the organization in favor of Y2K Readiness, let’s refocus what we did and learned toward other future applications.

Among the lessons which we learned from the Y2K Bug exercise were:

• When they want to do so, company leadership will provide sufficient resources to plan for the future, including crisis management and preparedness (of which computer glitches are one set of ‘what ifs.’)
• When they want to do so, company leadership will provide leadership for change management and re-engineering… two of the many worthwhile concepts that should be advocated every business day.
• People are the company’s most valuable resource, representing 28% of the Big Picture. Today’s work force will need three times the amount of training that it presently gets in order for the organization to be competitive in the millennium.
• Change is good. Like change… don’t fear it. Change is 90% positive. Without always noticing it, individuals and organizations change 71% per year. The secret is to benefit from change, rather than become a victim of it.
• Pro-active change involves the entire organization. When all departments are consulted and participate in the decisions, then the company is empowered.
• Fear and failure are beneficial too. One learns three times more from failure than from success. Failures propel us toward our greatest future successes.
• When we work with other companies and the public sector, we collaborate better. All benefit, learn from each other and prepare collectively for the future.
• In the future and in order to successfully take advantage of the future, make planning a priority, not just a knee-jerk reaction.

Calculating Each Organization’s High Costs

People and organizations are wont to throw money at things that pop up at the moment or that look good at external publics. It is easier to tinker with machines than to admit that the organization has deep management and philosophical issues. After all, 92% of all organizational problems stem from poor management decisions.

Our society is infested with the band-aid surgery way of treating things as they come up. This approach costs six times that of doing things correctly on the front end… meaning planning, sequential execution and benchmarking progress.

Each year, one-third of the U.S. Gross National Product goes toward cleaning up problems, damages and otherwise high costs of doing either nothing or doing the wrong things.

On the average, it costs six times the investment of preventive strategies to correct business problems (compounded per annum and exponentially increasing each year). In some industries, the figure is as high as 30 times…six is the mean average.

The old adage says: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” One pound equals 16 ounces. In that scenario, one pound of cure is 16 times more mostly than an ounce of prevention.

Human beings as we are, none of us do everything perfectly on the front end. There always must exist a learning curve. Research shows that we learn three times more from failures than from successes. The mark of a quality organization is how it corrects mistakes and prevents them from recurring.

“They can’t hang you for saying nothing,” quipped President Calvin Coolidge in the 1920′s. He spent more time doing chores at his farm and taking long naps than taking care of the nation’s business. Coolidge prided himself upon doing little and, thus, failed to see crises brewing during his presidency. This ‘keep your head in the sand’ mentality is prevalent of people who move on and let others clean up the damage.

Doing nothing becomes a way of life. It’s amazing how many individuals and companies live with their heads in the sand. Never mind planning for tomorrow… we’ll just deal with problems as they occur. This mindset, of course, invites and tends to multiply trouble.

7 Categories of High Costs

1. Cleaning Up Problems. Waste, Spoilage. Poor controls. Down-time. Lack of employee motivation and activity. Back orders because they were not properly stocked. Supervisory involvement in retracing problems and effecting solutions.
2. Rework. Product recalls. Make-good for shoddy or inferior work. Poor location. Regulatory red tape. Excess overhead.
3. Missed Marks. Poor controls on quality. Fallout damage from employees with problems. Undercapitalization. Unsuccessful marketing. Unprofitable pricing.
4. Damage Control. Crisis management. Lawsuits incurred because procedures were not upheld. Affirmative action violations. Violations of OSHA, ADA, EEOC, EPA and other codes. Disasters due to employee carelessness, safety violations, oversights, etc. Factors outside your company that still impede your ability to do business.
5. Recovery and Restoration. Repairing ethically wrong actions. Empty activities. Mandated cleanups, corrections and adaptations. Employee turnover, rehiring and retraining. Isolated or unrealistic management. Bad advice from the wrong consultants. Repairing a damaged company reputation.
6. Retooling and Restarting. Mis-use of company resources, notably its people. Converting to existing codes and standards. Chasing the wrong leads, prospects or markets. Damage caused by inertia or lack of progress. The anti-change ‘business as usual’ philosophy. Long-term expenses incurred by adopting quick fixes.
7. Opportunity Costs. Failure to understand what business they’re really in. Inability to read the warning signs or understand external influences. Failure to change. Inability to plan. Over-dependence upon one product or service line. Diversifying beyond the scope of company expertise. Lack of an articulated, well-implemented vision.

Remediating the High Costs

7 Primary Factors of The High Cost of Doing Nothing™:

1. Failure to value and optimize true company resources.
2. Poor premises, policies, processes, procedures, precedents and planning.
3. Opportunities not heeded or capitalized.
4. The wrong people, in the wrong jobs. Under-trained employees.
5. The wrong consultants (miscast, untrained, improperly used).
6. Lack of articulated focus and vision. With no plan, no journey will be completed.
7. Lack of movement really means falling behind the pack and eventually losing ground.

What Could Have Reduced These High Costs:

1. Effective policies and procedures.
2. Setting and respecting boundaries.
3. Realistic expectations and measurements.
4. Training and development of people.
5. Commitments to quality at all links in the chain.
6. Planning.
7. Organizational vision.

7 Levels of Handling Problems, Determining Effectiveness

1. Do Nothing. Think that things will work themselves out or that causes of problems will go away. Research shows that doing nothing results in creating 3-6 more affiliated problems.
2. Deny, Actively Avoid. Don’t see problems as such. Keep one’s head in the sand and remain impervious to warning signs of trouble. Go to great lengths to put positive spins on anything that may point back to one’s self, department or organization as being problematic.
3. Cover Up. Cover-ups cost 6-12 times that of addressing problems upfront. In addition to financial, cover-up costs can include the effects upon morale, activity levels, productivity, decision making, creativity, adaptation and innovation. Even after the cover-up has fully played out, there is an additional cost: the period of recovery and restoration of confidence.
4. Partially Address. Perform band-aid surgery, at such time as action is demanded. Address signs and symptoms, without addressing root causes. This shows that something is being done, but it is often the wrong thing at the wrong time.
5. Handle in Politically Correct Terms. Some problems are addressed, partially or fully, because bosses, regulators or stakeholders expect it. Some are handled for fear of repercussion. This motive results in tentative actions, with lip service paid to deep solutions.
6. Address Head-On. Problems are, of course, opportunities to take action. Everyone makes mistakes, and success lies in the way that problems are recognized, solved and learned from. The mark of a true manager is to recognize problems sooner, rather than later. The mark of an effective leader is the ability and willingness to take swift and definitive actions. The mark of an empowered team is its participation in this process. The mark of a successful organization is its endorsement and insistence upon this method of action.
7. Address in Advance, Preparing for Situations. Pro-actively study for patterns. 85% of the time, crises which are predicted, pre-addressed and strategized are averted. The skill in pre-managing problems is a fundamental tenet of a quality-oriented organization.

If postured properly, the process of planning and visioning remediates opportunity costs before they occur. Running a profitable and efficient organization means effectively remediating damage before it accrues. Processes and methodologies for researching, planning, executing and benchmarking activities will reduce that pile of costly coins from stacking up.

About the Author

Hank Moore has advised 5,000+ client organizations worldwide (including 100 of the Fortune 500, public sector agencies, small businesses and non-profit organizations). He has advised two U.S. Presidents and spoke at five Economic Summits. He guides companies through growth strategies, visioning, strategic planning, executive leadership development, Futurism and Big Picture issues which profoundly affect the business climate. He conducts company evaluations, creates the big ideas and anchors the enterprise to its next tier. The Business Tree™ is his trademarked approach to growing, strengthening and evolving business, while mastering change. To read Hank’s complete biography, click here.

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All the Best,

Karen Juliano
Editor-in-Chief and
Director, Communications and Marketing
StrategyDriven
 
 

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Learn more about BI components and approaches to implementing a solution to improve your company’s efficiency and effectiveness.

Find out how to recognize the signs your company needs a business intelligence solution and what you should look for in a vendor.

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Samuel Butler (1835 – 1902)
Iconoclastic Victorian author
 
 
 
 
 
 

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About the Reference

Finance Without Fear: A Guide to Creating and Managing a Profitable Business by William S. Hettinger and John Dolan-Heitlinger unveals the mysteries of financial statements in this easy-to-understand, example filled book. William and John arm leaders with the knowledge of what is in each financial statement, how statements relate to each other, and, more importantly, how business operations impact reported financial outcomes.

Benefits of Using this Reference

StrategyDriven Contributors like Finance Without Fear because it imparts the appropriate level of financial report understanding needed to be a successful executive or manager while not requiring the reader to be a CPA. Additionally, the illustrative examples relating business operations to financial statements clearly conveys the relationships and importance of strategic and day-to-day decisions to the financial well-being of the organization.

StrategyDriven Contributors believe it is vitally important for all executives and managers to understand how operational decisions impact financial performance and its conveyance in financial statements. Likewise, it is critical that these leaders be able to draw conclusions about business operations from their financial statements. While newly ascending managers may not have this knowledge, they should seek and be provided this information early in their management careers. Finance Without Fear can be used to impart such knowledge; making it a StrategyDriven recommended read.

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† Available only to those living within the United States after the first monthly membership payment is received. Name and address information required. Books typically valued from $14.95 – $29.95 USD. Book value is not guaranteed.

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Learn how to use Twitter to extend your reach, create buzz, listen to and network with your customers and prospects.

Twitter is one of the most powerful social networks for your business. Why? Because it is a relationship building and maintenance tool. In this practical, how-to eBook you’ll learn specifically how to twitter for marketing, PR and customer service. You will learn how to use Twitter to:

• Develop and promote your brand
• Interact with your customer base
• Track what people are saying about your company and brand
• Create buzz around upcoming events
• Help individual employees act as liaisons to the public
• Promote other content you’ve created, including webinars, blog posts or podcasts
• Develop direct relationships with bloggers and journalists for potential PR placement

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Episode 3 – Framework for Aligning an Organization explores the mechanisms needed to create an programmatic framework focusing all employees on the achievement of the organization’s mission goals as well as the benefits these organizations realize over competing firms not so well aligned.

Learn more about how to become truly StrategyDriven by reading: The StrategyDriven Organization.

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Thank you again for watching this StrategyDriven Podcast – Video Edition episode!

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Learn how HR can achieve greater efficiency – while delivering strategic value – by establishing best practices that are supported with technology.

At most organizations, the workforce is both a significant expense and the most important asset. In order to manage the workforce appropriately — and in turn to serve the business as a strategic partner — HR needs to implement consistent, integrated, and flexible processes and systems. In effect, HR needs to implement best practices that are supported and facilitated by integrated, robust systems.

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Samuel Coleridge (1772 – 1834)
English poet, literary critic, and philosopher
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Landing in the Executive Chair: How to Excel in the Hot Seat by Linda Henman   In today’s fast-paced, unprecedented, and unpredictable economy, many executives simply don’t know what to do. Conventional methods-which many never entirely understood in the first place-often don’t work during economic upheaval. Executives, especially CEOs, need something better. They need a guide that identifies the roadblocks and points out the landmines. In her more than 30 years of working with hundreds of executives, Dr. Linda Henman has observed the critical elements of success, both for the new leader and the one who aspires to the next level of success. In Landing in the Executive Chair, you’ll learn how to: Avoid the pitfalls and identify a clear plan for personal and organizational stress. Leverage the first months in a new executive position- that time of transition that promises opportunity and challenge, but also brings a period of great vulnerability. Create a competitive advantage, set the right tone, make effective decisions, keep talent inside your doors, and establish credibility-all while navigating unfamiliar and turbulent waters. As organizations expand and grow, the skills that led to success often won’t sustain further development in a more complex, high-stakes environment. Present and future executives need more. They need Landing in the Executive Chair.

• Make sure people and their jobs match. Too often people want to move to management when they are better solo performers, or they prefer to work individually, but the job requires collaboration. People perform better when they and their jobs are in synch.
• Give feedback. Top performers will be more engaged when they receive constructive information about what they do well and what they need to improve.
• Delegate. Give each person whole projects instead of pieces or parts of a project. Grant authority and freedom to get the job done.
• ‘A’ players want access—to you, your top clients, investors, and anyone else who is important to the organization. Give them this access, and they will engage.
• Start the year by establishing realistic and achievable objectives. Stretch people; don’t snap them. Dangling the carrot just beyond the donkey’s reach will just make for a very angry donkey.
• Star performers expect recognition. When you don’t provide it, they feel cheated and devalued. Stars require praise, but unless you offer it sincerely and specifically, they will dismiss it. When you provide it, they repay you with loyalty and exceptional performance.
• Compensate fairly. Don’t pay an average wage unless you want average performers.
• Allow for life balance. Top performers tend to be overachievers in all aspects of their lives. Just as they expect to do exceptional work when they are on the job, they insist on outstanding relationships in their private lives. Clever people know the difference between critical and unimportant uses of their time. If you insist on long hours, rigid schedules, and busy work, they will disengage.
• Don’t micromanage. Communicate, set timeframes, establish goals, and get out of the way. Talk to others about what needs to be done, but let them decide how they will go about it.
• Establish trust as a two-way street. People who don’t trust their leaders lose their motivation first and their desire to work for the un-trusted leader next. Be consistent in behavior, mood, and policies. Conduct your personal life with the same integrity that you do business, and trust others.

Star performers, by definition, come through your door motivated and ready to engage. They want to contribute to the success of an important organization and work with other ‘A’ players. Make your organization a place where the clever choose to work, and your stars will become your best magnets for other top performers – and all will stay engaged throughout the year.

About the Author

Dr. Linda Henman, the catalyst for virtuoso organizations, is the author of Landing in the Executive Chair, among other works. She is an expert on setting strategy, planning succession, and developing talent. For more than 30 years she has helped executives and boards in Fortune 500 Companies and privately-held organizations dramatically grow their businesses. She was one of eight succession planning experts who worked directly with John Tyson after his company’s acquisition of International Beef Products. Some of her other clients include Emerson Electric, Avon, Kraft Foods, Edward Jones, and Boeing. She can be reached in St. Louis at www.henmanperformancegroup.com.

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by Roger Fisher and William Ury

About the Reference

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury recognizes that professionals are in a frequent state of negotiation and provides them with the tools needed to achieve a desirable outcome. This book probes many diverse negotiation circumstances from both sides of the debate and offers constructive, easy-to-follow methods to achieve one’s desired outcomes by:

• Disentangling the people from the problem
• Focusing on interests, not positions
• Working together to find creative and fair options

These methods help the reader negotiate with anyone at any level of their organization.

Benefits of Using this Reference

StrategyDriven Contributors believe that negotiation is a key component to individual and organizational success. Getting to Yes breaks down these give and take situations; providing the immediately actionable tools needed to achieve a favorable outcome and making these situations less intimidating. If we had one criticism of the book, it would be that the authors seek to achieve a ‘fair’ or ‘equitable’ outcome for each side. While this appears admirable, it forfeits an upside gain that an effective negotiation might be able to otherwise achieve.

Getting to Yes provides a thorough, actionable negotiation tool set that is critical to every professional and organization’s success; making it a StrategyDriven recommended read.

FREE StrategyDriven Trial Membership Start your FREE trial membership* and receive: FULL ACCESS to StrategyDriven’s premium content for 14 days FREE COPY of a StrategyDriven Expert Contributor book† EVALUATE how StrategyDriven gives you a competitive advantage

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† Available only to those living within the United States after the first monthly membership payment is received. Name and address information required. Books typically valued from $14.95 – $29.95 USD. Book value is not guaranteed.

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About the Reference

I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words edited by George Beahm reveals Steve Jobs’ core beliefs about business in a way no other author has been able to achieve… because these insights come directly from Steve Jobs himself. George’s book systematically covers a wide range of topics from ‘Being the Best’ to ‘Risking Failure’, from ‘Passion’ to ‘Values’, and ‘Beyond Recruiting’ to ‘Firing Employees’.

Throughout I, Steve, three predominate themes are revealed:

• the intersection between design and business values as expressed in products
• the importance of people, teamwork, and organizational culture in achieving innovation, and
• the necessity of cutting against conventional wisdom to fulfill what people want before they know they want it.

Benefits of Using this Reference

StrategyDriven Contributors like I, Steve because it reveals the intimate thoughts and beliefs of a man who was not only a creative genius but who was also a business giant. Most of Steve Jobs’ approaches align well with the principles and philosophies we recommend business leaders adopt to further the success of their organizations. While we recognize that some may disagree with Steve Jobs’ approach to certain circumstances – and on occasion we do too, all agree he was one of the great leaders and visionaries who has shape our modern world.

StrategyDriven Contributors appreciated the layout of I, Steve, the organization of quotes around meaningful topic areas, the dating of each quote, and Steve Jobs’ life story timeline provided at the end of the book. We found that knowing the setting and circumstances of the Steve Jobs’ quotes provided insightful context from which to interpret them. As such, we recommend first-time readers review the ‘Milestones’ timeline presented at the end of the book first and refer to it often when reading individual quotes.

For it’s intimate portrayal of an American entrepreneurial icon, I, Steve is a StrategyDriven recommended read.

Tribute to Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was one of America’s greatest entrepreneurs who has forever changed our global society. This tribute video by Antonio Marotta and Diana Casadiego was made on one of Steve Jobs’ Macs…

…and this article produced on another.

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Building a Winning Business: 70 Takeaways for Creating a Strong Company during Good and Bad Economic Times by Tom Salonek Use this book as a blueprint for successfully competing in good times or bad. Building a Winning Business is organized around 70 short, practical and highly useful ‘takeaways’ that allow readers to easily digest the book in a few hours. Includes 20-plus downloadable templates and tools.

• Speak your mind
• Be critical of our business
• Stay on point
• Respect confidentiality
• Be on time
• Have fun!

Speak your mind. This means what it says. I want people to share what they’re thinking , not think about how they are going to position it. That said if you have an argument, you do need to think through your position and the things that support your position. We often discuss the same story when this topic comes up at meetings.

A customer hired us to teach a class only for their team. The manager stood up at the start of class and said, “We paid for Intertech to just teach us so we could have an environment where we can discuss anything.” He then paused and said, “Well folks, what questions do you have?” There was a long silence and a lot of looks between the team. One of the newer employees raised his hand and asked a question. While he was mid-way thru his question, the manager interrupted and said, “WHAT! You don’t KNOW THAT! What is wrong with you?” Needless to say that was the only question asked that week when the instructor was in the room.

Be critical of our business. When we have discussions, I usually say “We can be hard on our business or our competitors would be more than happy to do the work.” For both of the past two yearly strategic planning sessions, I was not in agreement with half of the leadership team on a key initiative. In both cases they ‘won out’ we did their approach, and guess what? They were right. One of those decisions, our push into virtual training, is responsible for 40% of our public enrollments today.

Stay on point. I can’t stand people who ramble, use their floor time as a chance to remind us of how smart they are, or someone who takes us on a wild ride of tangents just to arrive at a point that could have stated in a couple of sentences. To be honest, it’s one of the reasons that I prefer giving back to the community thru our Intertech Foundation instead of being on the board of a non-profit , where, in my experience, people love to hear themselves speak.

Respect confidentiality. It’s hard to have a ‘real’ discussion if you’re concerned about information about a decision or an event getting back to folks not in the room. In years past, we used to have several non-leadership team members involved with our two-day offsite. I found members of our team not bringing up positions because they were concerned about the discussion getting back to the group at large. Today in addition to having just the leadership team at the offsite planning, every Friday just the leadership team goes out for lunch together. While the purpose of the lunch is to have an informal meal together, I’ve noticed that when issues come up there’s no hesitation to jump right in and discuss the matter.

Disagreements can be one of the best triggers for innovation, strategy and great business decisions. I can certainly point to a lot of money we never would have made without them!

About the Author

Tom Salonek is the founder and CEO of Intertech, a successful technology and training company in the upper midwest. Intertech twice has been awarded a place on the Inc 500 list of fastest growing companies in the nation and is a seven-time ‘Best Places to Work’ winner in Minnesota. Building a Winning Business 70 Takeways is Tom’s first book. He also blogs at TomSalonek.com. To read Tom Salonek’s complete biography, click here.

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Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)
German philosopher, poet, composer, and philologist
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Special Edition 62 – An Interview with Mark Sanborn, author of Up, Down, or Sideways explores the actions everyone can take to achieve sustainable success, as they define it, regardless of their circumstances. During our discussion, Mark Sanborn, author of Up, Down, or Sideways: How to succeed when times are good, bad, or in between, shares with us his insights and experiences regarding:

• the difference between sustainable success, dumb luck, and informed misfortune
• the three key, overarching actions one must engage in to achieve sustainable success
• the barrier to sustainable success most people create for themselves and how to overcome it
• the secret ingredient to achieving sustainable success

Additional Information

In addition to the outstanding insights Mark shares in Up, Down, or Sideways and this special edition podcast are the resources accessible from his website, www.MarkSanborn.com.   Mark’s book, Up, Down, or Sideways, can be purchased by clicking here.

Final Request…

The strength of our community grows with the additional insights brought by our expanding member base. Please consider voting for us on Podcast Alley by clicking here. Casting your vote for the StrategyDriven Podcast improves our ranking and helps us attract new listeners which, in turn, helps us grow our community. Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Podcast!

About the Author

Mark Sanborn, author of Up, Down, or Sideways, is the New York Times bestselling author of The Fred Factor as well as six other popular books. He is the president of Sanborn and Associates, Inc., an idea studio dedicated to developing leaders in business and in life. Mark is a noted authority and in-demand speaker on leadership, customer service, and extraordinary performance. To read Mark’s complete biography, click here.

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