Starting your own business could be one of the things that you want to do. You may already have an idea that you want to go with. Something you have nurtured in your mind for some time. You have the courage to finally do it. Take that plunge, but then you realise that perhaps, you might need some added support in terms of actual business and the things you can do to make your idea become the success you envision it to be. So here are some of the areas you might want to brush up on, in order to have everything you need to really go for it.
Knowledge in business
You may have a real cracking idea for a business, a product or service that you want to offer, but that isn’t all that is needed to make it a success. Knowledge in business, from the general running of it to things you might want to try in terms of marketing and accounting could really help your new business thrive. So it could be worth looking into things such as an mba program online in business. You could also look at attending marketing events and networking groups to learn off other people and really pick up on things you may never have thought about before. This is a great way to give yourself a decent platform to bounce off of when it comes to launching your new business.
Social media
These days a business cannot really succeed without some form of social media presence of advertising. So it may be time to start thinking about these things before you startup your business. It could be that you read various different articles about social media strategies and how best to use specific platforms. It could be that you might want to focus on only a few to begin with, the main contenders like Twitter, Facebook or Instagram might be good places to start.
People skills
Working for yourself might not necessarily mean that you think you need good people skills, but actually this will become important to you. Even if it is just you for a while, you may still have to deal with customers and clients. Either on the phone, over email or face to face. Having decent people skills means that you are likely to handle a situation professionally. This will also help when it comes to hiring staff which could happen for your business in the future.
Websites and IT
Finally, while you may not be an IT expert, generalised things such as website management or even creation might be something you want to learn before you launch your new business. It can save you money instead of having to commission someone to do it for you, and you get to learn on the job about what will work for your business and what won’t. Things like SEO and keywords will be important, alongside a decent ecommerce facility. Thankfully there is a wealth of information online that will have you creating a decent website in no time at all.
Let’s hope this has made you more comfortable with starting your own business.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/office-3309862_1280.jpg10051280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-03-07 16:00:272019-03-07 15:04:41Starting Your Own Business? The Areas To Gain Knowledge In
StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.
Making Change Work!
This podcast is the second in a series that teaches leaders how to make change work. Coming editions of the Making Change Work series will explore the steps to gaining the buy-in and committed effort needed to implement change successfully. We’ll cover topics including:
The Problems of Change Management: bias and push
If decisions are always rational, why are changees resisting?
Why is buy-in necessary and how to achieve it?
Putting it all together, a radical approach to change management: real leadership
About the Author
Sharon Drew Morgen is a New York Times bestselling author and developer of a change management model based on buy-in that she’s written about in her latest book Dirty Little Secrets. She is the visionary thought leader behind Buying Facilitation®, a decision facilitation model that focuses on helping buyers and those who would be impacted by the accompanying change manage their internal, unconscious, and behind-the-scenes issues that must be addressed before they purchase anything or buy-in to the requested change. She has served many well known companies including: KPMG, Unisys, IBM, Wachovia, and Bose. To read Sharon Drew’s complete biography, click here.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/Base3000x3000-SDP-1.jpg30003000StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-03-06 21:36:352019-03-06 21:36:35StrategyDriven Podcast Episode 33 – Making Change Work: What are Systems and How Do They Influence Change?
Building a team culture that is magnetic or lasts means better productivity, positive engagement, and higher retention. However, what has been largely overlooked by many business leaders is the essential foundation for a culture that sustains and thrives: Ethics. An understanding and common ethical language is missing for many organizations. This makes it impossible to establish a strong, cohesive culture where the interests of the individuals and the collective move forward together. In order for both the individuals and the collective whole to move forward together, a common language and appreciation for ethics is essential.
The Culture Fad
Culture is a company’s collective personality. To fit into a company’s culture, your personal attributes as a team member should be compatible with the personality of the workplace. Culture entails work environment, vibe of the people, values, and mission. Examples of cultural attributes are values like collaboration, creativity, learning, and professionalism. Culture also entails environmental preferences like a casual workplace with a dog-friendly environment. Culture entails policies and rules, like a work-from-home policy or a vacation policy. A strong collective culture fuels the individuals and therefore fuels the mission, since when the individuals are supported and motivated, they contribute toward the collective mission with energy and dedication. With a strong cohesive culture, the individuals are aligned and united around the mission, as well as around how the mission is achieved day-to-day in practice. A strong culture is one where individual peace and progress thrive, and therefore the company’s progress thrives.
Ethics as the Essential Foundation
Why are ethics essential for a strong culture to work and sustain? Ethics are principles that guide our behavior toward what is most good or guide as to what is the right thing to do in a given situation. Ethics guide how we conduct our work and how we interact with and respond to others. Aren’t these the most basic, universal actions of any organization? Surprisingly, these basic requirements can be very tough to align around without a common understanding and appreciation for what is ethical. Though the individuals in an organization may all value the work-from-home policy and free lunch, without a common understanding for how to communicate with each other, build relationships, and foster development for each person, the work environment and perks become obsolete. Though a company or team’s culture may change with time – the policies, the environment, the people, a common language for ethics are timeless. A common language, understanding, and practice of ethics is the basic foundation for any strong culture.
Modern Obstacles to an Ethical Culture
An ethical language is challenging to design and align around. Many companies define their culture as built around Integrity as a value. Most organizations describe integrity as “do the right thing” and stop there. However, this leaves many individuals asking: What is the right thing in a given situation? There are a few reasons that this isn’t so straightforward anymore. Firstly, we have become so accustomed to hearing “do the right thing” that it has almost lost its meaning. Secondly, organizations have diverse teams of individuals that have different perspectives on what “the right thing” is. Finally (and most relevant for our need for ethics now), with the fast-paced, dynamic society we live in, new products and situations arise everyday that require a newly interpreted understanding of what “the right thing”, or the ethical thing, to do really is. In many organizations, people on the same team are speaking a different ethical language and this causes misunderstandings and does not serve the mission. Many organizations believe that is human-centered action is prioritized, business progress and impact will be jeopardized. However, actually the opposite is true. If human-centered action is not prioritized, business progress and impact will be jeopardized.
Ethics in Practice
In a business environment, the culture is often professional and mission-driven, however, it so often lacks an ethical backbone. This is to say that it lacks a common understanding for what is acceptable and conducive behavior toward work and toward each other. In interpersonal situations like meetings, team projects, or when giving feedback, people do not know how to treat each other in a way that both serves individual peace and progress, as well as collective peace and progress. The result? Lack of ownership, lack of productivity, high stress, low morale, and ultimately poor retention. Teams become environments of animosity that are not aligned or focused on the mission. Without this foundation of ethics, productivity and retention are impossible. Therefore, without ethics, a strong culture is not possible. Building a culture without building it upon a common language and appreciation of ethics is like building a skyscraper on a foundation of sand. In harsh weather, when misunderstandings and debates arise, the shiny skyscraper you have built will waiver and come tumbling down.
The Solution
Ah, the good news, finally. A culture built upon a foundation of ethics is a culture that will sustain and continuously thrive. How can you build a culture that that is build upon a foundation of ethics?
To build a strong culture, you must build a common language, understanding, and appreciation of ethics into your own cultural DNA. A common language of ethics can be found in Awake Ethics. This language of ten principles is a timeless system with clear, universal appeal. The interpretation and stories from the field are from recent business experience. Next, schedule regular ethics trainings for your team every quarter. With an understanding of ethics and time to share recent experiences as a team, you will feel more confident in your own decision-making. You will have a shared team understanding about what positive, constructive collaboration and interacts look like. Finally, encourage ethics. Incorporate ethics into performance reviews and acknowledge outstanding ethical behavior. Incorporate ethics into your cultural values, as the foundational value.
A common language, understanding, and appreciation for ethics is the foundation of a strong culture. Once you have the ethical foundation in place, then feel free to add your perks, policies, and decorations. A shared practice of ethics enables individual peace and progress, which fuels collective success. Ethics align and accommodate the desires of the individuals and the whole.
Get started in building your culture upon a solid foundation of ethics.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/Awake-Ethics-COVER.jpg14741200StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-03-06 16:00:162019-03-06 21:00:43Why Ethics are Essential for a Strong Team Culture
At one time or another, everybody has thought about the wonderful idea of owning their own business. The notion of being in charge, having no boss, making a lot of money, and travelling around the world seemingly effortlessly – it’s glorious.
As a kid, you have your favorite hobbies and wonder if you can do an extraordinary job like an astronaut or a sportsman/sportswoman. Into your – teens you begin to get a little more realistic and think about different ways you can perhaps take a passion of yours and make it into something to make money from. You’re now a fully-fledged adult with a working life, and you want to leave your current situation for greener pastures. However, you’re slightly unsure as to how to make the step and what avenues to take.
There are a lot of facets to the business world, grasshopper, and there are many ways in which you can access it. Let’s take a look at a few things you can do to learn about and get stuck into the world of business.
Constantly Think Up Ideas
If you want to create your own firm, it’s probably not going to be handed to you on a silver platter. If you don’t already have the kind of idea you wish to pursue, then you’ll want to spend a fair bit on time in, say, the evenings to jot down different thoughts. Perhaps there’s something you’ve always needed in your house, or maybe there’s something you’ve always needed to make your day more convenient. It could be anything. They say if you chuck enough mud at the wall, some of it will eventually stick – so get thinking!
Read Books
There are thousands of books scattered around the world that you can purchase that will teach you the ways of business. Whatever the field or sector you wish to enter, there will be something for you. They can be motivating, educating and inspiring. Experts around the world are dropping knowledge bombs for you to take on and work with. If you’re a bookworm, you’d love this thought.
Watch Videos
Watching videos and learning this way could be for you if you’re not exactly a fan of reading lots. They also give you a different angle that perhaps a book cannot, as the person talking may be able to articulate certain parts better verbally as opposed to a rigid text form. You can also sense the passion of someone’s words as you hear them – something you can’t quite do as well when you look at written sentences.
Listen To Podcasts
Most podcasts are free and easy to access, so if you’re working away and wish to get some advice or education, you can load up a business show and listen on the job.
Look Up To Others
The internet has also given us the ability to learn about others who have been in our footsteps and managed to carve out fantastic careers. For example, if you want to learn from the likes of experienced business people like Jos Opdeweegh, you have the ability to do so. You could take some aspects of their journey and apply it to yourself as you go through your enterprise adventure.
Go Back To School
Not everyone can just start up a business and go with it. If you feel you want to learn in a classroom or lecture hall environment and have genuine face-to-face tutoring, then there’s no problem with going to college or going back to university and giving the courses a go. It may be the missing piece of the puzzle you need to get going.
Look For An Internship
Finally, if you’re in the position to be able to work as an intern, then it might be the right way to go. Starting from the bottom as an eager go-getter, learning everything there is to know directly from your boss’s mouth might prove beneficial as you’re right in the middle of it all while taking information in like a sponge.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/william-iven-19843-unsplash.jpg7971200StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-03-06 11:00:222019-03-06 05:35:23Entering The Business World As A Novice
StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.
Episode 32 – Making Change Work: What is Change? and Why is Change so Hard? explores what change is, its relationship to business systems, and why business changes are so difficult to effectively implement. During our discussion, Sharon Drew Morgen, the New York Times bestselling author of Dirty Little Secrets, shares with us her insights and illustrative examples regarding:
what change is and why its fundamentally the same regardless of industry or organization type
what systems are and their role in the change management process
This podcast is the first in a series that teaches leaders how to make change work. Coming editions of the Making Change Work series will explore the steps to gaining the buy-in and committed effort needed to implement change successfully. We’ll cover topics including:
What are systems, and how do they influence change?
The Problems of Change Management: bias, resistance, and push
If decisions are always rational, why are changees resisting?
Why is buy-in necessary and how to achieve it?
Putting it all together, a radical approach to change management: real leadership
About the Author
Sharon Drew Morgen is a New York Times bestselling author and developer of a change management model based on buy-in that she’s written about in her latest book Dirty Little Secrets. She is the visionary thought leader behind Buying Facilitation®, a decision facilitation model that focuses on helping buyers and those who would be impacted by the accompanying change manage their internal, unconscious, and behind-the-scenes issues that must be addressed before they purchase anything or buy-in to the requested change. She has served many well known companies including: KPMG, Unisys, IBM, Wachovia, and Bose. To read Sharon Drew’s complete biography, click here.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/Base3000x3000-SDP-1.jpg30003000StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-03-05 23:43:242019-03-05 23:48:07StrategyDriven Podcast Episode 32 – Making Change Work: What is Change? and Why is Change so Hard?
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Business Programs
Starting Your Own Business? The Areas To Gain Knowledge In
/in Entrepreneurship/by StrategyDrivenKnowledge in business
You may have a real cracking idea for a business, a product or service that you want to offer, but that isn’t all that is needed to make it a success. Knowledge in business, from the general running of it to things you might want to try in terms of marketing and accounting could really help your new business thrive. So it could be worth looking into things such as an mba program online in business. You could also look at attending marketing events and networking groups to learn off other people and really pick up on things you may never have thought about before. This is a great way to give yourself a decent platform to bounce off of when it comes to launching your new business.
Social media
These days a business cannot really succeed without some form of social media presence of advertising. So it may be time to start thinking about these things before you startup your business. It could be that you read various different articles about social media strategies and how best to use specific platforms. It could be that you might want to focus on only a few to begin with, the main contenders like Twitter, Facebook or Instagram might be good places to start.
People skills
Working for yourself might not necessarily mean that you think you need good people skills, but actually this will become important to you. Even if it is just you for a while, you may still have to deal with customers and clients. Either on the phone, over email or face to face. Having decent people skills means that you are likely to handle a situation professionally. This will also help when it comes to hiring staff which could happen for your business in the future.
Websites and IT
Finally, while you may not be an IT expert, generalised things such as website management or even creation might be something you want to learn before you launch your new business. It can save you money instead of having to commission someone to do it for you, and you get to learn on the job about what will work for your business and what won’t. Things like SEO and keywords will be important, alongside a decent ecommerce facility. Thankfully there is a wealth of information online that will have you creating a decent website in no time at all.
Let’s hope this has made you more comfortable with starting your own business.
StrategyDriven Podcast Episode 33 – Making Change Work: What are Systems and How Do They Influence Change?
/in Change Management, StrategyDriven Podcast/by Sharon Drew MorgenEpisode 33 – Making Change Work: What are systems and how to they influence change? explores what systems are and their importance to effectively managing any change. During our discussion, Sharon Drew Morgen, the New York Times bestselling author of Dirty Little Secrets
, shares with us her insights and illustrative examples regarding:
Additional Information
Making Change Work!
This podcast is the second in a series that teaches leaders how to make change work. Coming editions of the Making Change Work series will explore the steps to gaining the buy-in and committed effort needed to implement change successfully. We’ll cover topics including:
About the Author
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:50 — 52.0MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Why Ethics are Essential for a Strong Team Culture
/in Corporate Cultures/by Hilary Jane GrosskopfThe Culture Fad
Culture is a company’s collective personality. To fit into a company’s culture, your personal attributes as a team member should be compatible with the personality of the workplace. Culture entails work environment, vibe of the people, values, and mission. Examples of cultural attributes are values like collaboration, creativity, learning, and professionalism. Culture also entails environmental preferences like a casual workplace with a dog-friendly environment. Culture entails policies and rules, like a work-from-home policy or a vacation policy. A strong collective culture fuels the individuals and therefore fuels the mission, since when the individuals are supported and motivated, they contribute toward the collective mission with energy and dedication. With a strong cohesive culture, the individuals are aligned and united around the mission, as well as around how the mission is achieved day-to-day in practice. A strong culture is one where individual peace and progress thrive, and therefore the company’s progress thrives.
Ethics as the Essential Foundation
Why are ethics essential for a strong culture to work and sustain? Ethics are principles that guide our behavior toward what is most good or guide as to what is the right thing to do in a given situation. Ethics guide how we conduct our work and how we interact with and respond to others. Aren’t these the most basic, universal actions of any organization? Surprisingly, these basic requirements can be very tough to align around without a common understanding and appreciation for what is ethical. Though the individuals in an organization may all value the work-from-home policy and free lunch, without a common understanding for how to communicate with each other, build relationships, and foster development for each person, the work environment and perks become obsolete. Though a company or team’s culture may change with time – the policies, the environment, the people, a common language for ethics are timeless. A common language, understanding, and practice of ethics is the basic foundation for any strong culture.
Modern Obstacles to an Ethical Culture
An ethical language is challenging to design and align around. Many companies define their culture as built around Integrity as a value. Most organizations describe integrity as “do the right thing” and stop there. However, this leaves many individuals asking: What is the right thing in a given situation? There are a few reasons that this isn’t so straightforward anymore. Firstly, we have become so accustomed to hearing “do the right thing” that it has almost lost its meaning. Secondly, organizations have diverse teams of individuals that have different perspectives on what “the right thing” is. Finally (and most relevant for our need for ethics now), with the fast-paced, dynamic society we live in, new products and situations arise everyday that require a newly interpreted understanding of what “the right thing”, or the ethical thing, to do really is. In many organizations, people on the same team are speaking a different ethical language and this causes misunderstandings and does not serve the mission. Many organizations believe that is human-centered action is prioritized, business progress and impact will be jeopardized. However, actually the opposite is true. If human-centered action is not prioritized, business progress and impact will be jeopardized.
Ethics in Practice
In a business environment, the culture is often professional and mission-driven, however, it so often lacks an ethical backbone. This is to say that it lacks a common understanding for what is acceptable and conducive behavior toward work and toward each other. In interpersonal situations like meetings, team projects, or when giving feedback, people do not know how to treat each other in a way that both serves individual peace and progress, as well as collective peace and progress. The result? Lack of ownership, lack of productivity, high stress, low morale, and ultimately poor retention. Teams become environments of animosity that are not aligned or focused on the mission. Without this foundation of ethics, productivity and retention are impossible. Therefore, without ethics, a strong culture is not possible. Building a culture without building it upon a common language and appreciation of ethics is like building a skyscraper on a foundation of sand. In harsh weather, when misunderstandings and debates arise, the shiny skyscraper you have built will waiver and come tumbling down.
The Solution
Ah, the good news, finally. A culture built upon a foundation of ethics is a culture that will sustain and continuously thrive. How can you build a culture that that is build upon a foundation of ethics?
To build a strong culture, you must build a common language, understanding, and appreciation of ethics into your own cultural DNA. A common language of ethics can be found in Awake Ethics. This language of ten principles is a timeless system with clear, universal appeal. The interpretation and stories from the field are from recent business experience. Next, schedule regular ethics trainings for your team every quarter. With an understanding of ethics and time to share recent experiences as a team, you will feel more confident in your own decision-making. You will have a shared team understanding about what positive, constructive collaboration and interacts look like. Finally, encourage ethics. Incorporate ethics into performance reviews and acknowledge outstanding ethical behavior. Incorporate ethics into your cultural values, as the foundational value.
A common language, understanding, and appreciation for ethics is the foundation of a strong culture. Once you have the ethical foundation in place, then feel free to add your perks, policies, and decorations. A shared practice of ethics enables individual peace and progress, which fuels collective success. Ethics align and accommodate the desires of the individuals and the whole.
Get started in building your culture upon a solid foundation of ethics.
About the Author
Entering The Business World As A Novice
/in Entrepreneurship/by StrategyDrivenAs a kid, you have your favorite hobbies and wonder if you can do an extraordinary job like an astronaut or a sportsman/sportswoman. Into your – teens you begin to get a little more realistic and think about different ways you can perhaps take a passion of yours and make it into something to make money from. You’re now a fully-fledged adult with a working life, and you want to leave your current situation for greener pastures. However, you’re slightly unsure as to how to make the step and what avenues to take.
There are a lot of facets to the business world, grasshopper, and there are many ways in which you can access it. Let’s take a look at a few things you can do to learn about and get stuck into the world of business.
Constantly Think Up Ideas
If you want to create your own firm, it’s probably not going to be handed to you on a silver platter. If you don’t already have the kind of idea you wish to pursue, then you’ll want to spend a fair bit on time in, say, the evenings to jot down different thoughts. Perhaps there’s something you’ve always needed in your house, or maybe there’s something you’ve always needed to make your day more convenient. It could be anything. They say if you chuck enough mud at the wall, some of it will eventually stick – so get thinking!
There are thousands of books scattered around the world that you can purchase that will teach you the ways of business. Whatever the field or sector you wish to enter, there will be something for you. They can be motivating, educating and inspiring. Experts around the world are dropping knowledge bombs for you to take on and work with. If you’re a bookworm, you’d love this thought.
Watch Videos
Watching videos and learning this way could be for you if you’re not exactly a fan of reading lots. They also give you a different angle that perhaps a book cannot, as the person talking may be able to articulate certain parts better verbally as opposed to a rigid text form. You can also sense the passion of someone’s words as you hear them – something you can’t quite do as well when you look at written sentences.
Listen To Podcasts
Most podcasts are free and easy to access, so if you’re working away and wish to get some advice or education, you can load up a business show and listen on the job.
Look Up To Others
The internet has also given us the ability to learn about others who have been in our footsteps and managed to carve out fantastic careers. For example, if you want to learn from the likes of experienced business people like Jos Opdeweegh, you have the ability to do so. You could take some aspects of their journey and apply it to yourself as you go through your enterprise adventure.
Go Back To School
Not everyone can just start up a business and go with it. If you feel you want to learn in a classroom or lecture hall environment and have genuine face-to-face tutoring, then there’s no problem with going to college or going back to university and giving the courses a go. It may be the missing piece of the puzzle you need to get going.
Look For An Internship
Finally, if you’re in the position to be able to work as an intern, then it might be the right way to go. Starting from the bottom as an eager go-getter, learning everything there is to know directly from your boss’s mouth might prove beneficial as you’re right in the middle of it all while taking information in like a sponge.
StrategyDriven Podcast Episode 32 – Making Change Work: What is Change? and Why is Change so Hard?
/in Change Management, StrategyDriven Podcast/by Sharon Drew MorgenEpisode 32 – Making Change Work: What is Change? and Why is Change so Hard? explores what change is, its relationship to business systems, and why business changes are so difficult to effectively implement. During our discussion, Sharon Drew Morgen, the New York Times bestselling author of Dirty Little Secrets
, shares with us her insights and illustrative examples regarding:
Additional Information
Making Change Work!
This podcast is the first in a series that teaches leaders how to make change work. Coming editions of the Making Change Work series will explore the steps to gaining the buy-in and committed effort needed to implement change successfully. We’ll cover topics including:
About the Author
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:01 — 41.3MB)
Subscribe: RSS