Leading at Light Speed is a must-have leadership book by Eric Douglas highlighting the 10 Quantum Leaps to build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization. Chapter 2 is all about Sharpening the Strategic Focus.

A strategic plan shows how to implement your vision and is divided into three parts: goals, objectives and actions.

Once you’ve defined the vision, you need to define the priorities for the organization in the form of goals and objectives. The desired amount of goals is approximately three or four. Any more than four goals can greatly decreases the probability of reaching them. Once the organization has successfully executed on those priorities, then you can introduce more.

Indifferent leaders often aim their focus at too broad a spectrum, forgetting the importance of maintaining one priority at a time. This dulls people’s energies and saps the focus. One CEO had 14 goals for her company. After being questioned on her less than refined goals, she truthfully stated that; “It is important that we have a goal that reflects everything we do.Sharpening the focus of an organization relies on the establishment of priorities, rather than the satisfaction of everyone’s pet project.

How do you define priorities? If you perceive the expansion of your organization, be sure to implement goals that will reflect this. Incorporate related objectives that will help to open new offices or introduce new products in order to ultimately attract more sales in that market. If your vision is to become more vertically integrated in the sources of production, then one goal might be to buy a manufacturing plant. It is greatly important to clarify the priorities. It is important to keep in mind the fact that a priority should stand alone, not alongside other supposed priorities.

Objectives seek to define the initiatives and developmental points you need to reach in order to achieve your goals. Actions capture the specific steps, timetables and responsibilities for achieving the objectives.

The senior leaders of an organization need to pay close attention to defining and articulating their goals. Leaders should be given responsibility to work with their departments and units to refine the goals and tie them to specific objectives and tie them to a coherent set of action steps. This “cascade” effect enables every manager – and ultimately every employee – to connect what they do to the strategic plan.

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When you’re defining an organization’s core values, it’s critical to avoid making them sound hollow. For example, your own personal values cannot be substituted for those of the organization, or making the exercise too cute. In his ground breaking new leadership book titled Leading at Light Speed, author Eric Douglas synthesizes the best business practices into 10 Quantum Leaps that build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization; Chapter One is all about Aligning the Core Values.

To begin with, let us look for example at a set of “core values” that one management team came up with:

We work as a team
We act with integrity and honesty
We champion and celebrate diversity
We expect and support exceptional service
We celebrate our successes
We encourage creativity and innovation
We care about our community

This list is incomplete. Some are legitimate core values, such as acting with integrity and some are key values, such as celebrating successes; but some of our obvious core values are missing and it was not well-organized either. It should then come as no surprise that this particular set of values had little impact on the organization.

Some of the Symptoms of “Hollow” Core Values, that we saw a few examples of above, would be values such as:

People “go it alone”— working at odds with one another.
People aren’t held accountable.
People are confused about the how their work ties into the big picture of the organization.
People take actions against the interest of the organization.
People do not like asking difficult questions or clarifying what their priorities are.

And most of these problems are caused why? Because of poor core value systems; there was evidently:

Failure to identify the organization’s core values and communicate them.
Failure to communicate and clarify the core values throughout the organization.
Failure to articulate performance measures tied to core values.
Lack of feedback and performance measurement tied to the core values.
Lack of training tied to the core values.

Another example of what I consider to be hollow values would be those of “Jamba Juice”, a health-oriented seller of fruit-based shakes and other products. Its values spell out the word “fiber.”

Fun – Have fun. Smile and create a spirit of celebration for your customers.
Integrity – Do what you say. Demonstrate good character and encourage an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect.
Balance – Live a balanced life. Consider the needs of customers, team members, and shareholders alike.
Empowerment – Believe in yourself. Be responsive and innovative. Do whatever it takes to make your customer happy.
Respect – Be respectful. Help each team member succeed. Contribute to a vibrant and diverse community.

Behind these values is a heartfelt sentiment, but they are poor reflections of what is crucial to the business success of Jamba Juice as an organization, or any company that wants to see a markable change in work ethic. It’s a cute marketing gimmick, not a reflection of what’s truly important. The chart on page 23 will show the symptoms of hollow values, and if you sense any of that, or inherit a listless organization, resolve to do something about it right away. If you want to move at light speed, nothing is more crucial.

Take this free work survey to reveal how your company compares to the 10 consistent practices of high performing organizations.

Strategic planning has been the first step for businesses and corporations of all sizes for many years. Implementing a solid and effective strategic plan beforehand can make all the difference between a successful and failing company. A strategic plan is an outline of a potential organization’s plans and goals, and how the organization plans to achieve them. Very in depth, strategic planning takes focus and paying close attention to detail.

Varieties of strategic plans exist and can vary according the type of business, size and overall goals of the company. Below is a brief outline and step-by-step guide to assist budding entrepreneurs with getting started on the right track.

1.Define a Purpose. Draft a mission statement. The word draft is used because as time passes and business progresses, the mission statement will undergo a few changes as well. The mission statement educates potential investors and consumers about the specified product or service how it can be of value to the potential consumer. A mission statement is a paragraph, usually only a few sentences, but can be longer if the situation calls for it.

2.Define Goals. What steps are necessary to fulfill the mission statement? In a general and brief fashion, list the goals to be completed for the mission statement to reign true. This requires a deeper look into the planning process and more importantly, foresight. Consider any possible obstacles and start to find ways to overcome them.

3.Define Strategies. How will I reach these goals? At this point in the planning process, specificity is paramount. Pay close attention to anything and everything that may have an effect on the organization, its intentions and decide how to handle the said situation. List the specific actions and responsibilities of every employee, department and group within the organization. List alternative strategies and take a look at the purpose and goals from every angle. The more in-depth the plan to start, the lesser chance of running into any issues later.

4.Take Action. It’s time to put the plan into play. It is important to stay on the path of the strategic plan. If your strategic plan dots every “I” and crosses every “t”, then this last step will not be a problem, as there should be no distractions.

Now that all of the specifics are out of the way, it’s time to sit back, not relax and observe your progress. Are goals being met? Is your consumer base growing? Keep track of what has and what hasn’t been accomplished and decide the next plan of action. Request feedback, take it into serious consideration and act on it.

The thought of drafting, designing and implementing a strategic plan makes it seem to be a daunting and downright tedious task. Although meticulous, a well crafted plan is the perfect first step to launching a thriving organization. The attached mind map presents the basics for strategic planning in a condensed, easy to remember format. Remember the four keywords to strategic planning: purpose, goals, strategies and action.

A KPI dashboard, or key performance indicator, is a software program which will monitor a company or industry’s effectiveness. It monitors and offers some of the most recent data on various facets of efficiency, including recent product sales and performance statistics of rival organizations.

Every company that competes in a particular sector may want to have access to one of these kinds of applications. Many corporate statistics could be accessed quickly, but an evaluation of the up-to-date industry overall performance can take days.

A bonus with the KPI dashboard is that sales statistics from one quarter to another can be quickly compared. This will help the company make decisions about sales techniques as well as about the efficiency of staff members. It can also exhibit how well an organization measures up to its competitors.

You’ll find many choices made inside an organization that ought to be carried out with the most precise information and facts feasible. A good computer application can help provide a great deal of the information needed.

In the airline market, such software can monitor the financial effectiveness of several distinct carriers, as well as additional data such as the frequency in which many different types of planes are flown or the number of seats sold on every single flight within a specific time period.

In the health care business, an application can track how many individuals come through the emergency room in every hospital inside a region, provide information and facts on which hospital gets the most trauma cases or clearly show the frequency in which unique diseases are diagnosed.

For organizations with numerous domestic or global locations, this sort of an application can indicate which are the highest performing in terms of earnings, evaluate levels of productivity, or reveal which places tend to be most cost efficient. Several features of these applications can include the capability to generate graphs, bar charts, pie charts and numerous other visual aids made use of in data analysis.

Applications also usually incorporate different kinds of information that may be selected for analysis or comparison. Filters are additionally used to look at distinct events or ranges of events. This can incorporate dates, selection of certain product sales within an organization, or for additional refined information that is highly dependent upon specific factors.

While there are lots of software companies that offer these types of applications, they can also be produced in Microsoft Excel. Excel might be employed to present percentiles or a variety of distributions of distinct efficiency measures.

For individuals who are not familiar with all the advanced features of the Microsoft application, there are lots of books and some training videos readily available on the net to help with the process. For individuals who would like to have something they believe is additional user friendly, there are lots of software products that can be designed for the particular corporation or market.

If you are looking for a company who can develop dashboards and online reporting to track your business, be sure to visit our website to discover the services we can provide your company.

It is really crucial in business that you get your name out there. Your clients will need to identify your name if you are to get anywhere. It is possible to go about this in loads of ways. Among the top ways to do this is to turn to advertising. Let us say for example that you have a product like that of ‘Bacterial Vaginosis Gone Forever Review’, you would certainly reminiscent of your consumers know that the product exists. How do you think anyone to glance at the review if they didn’t know it existed.

With online stores, the key purpose would be that of getting sales. You will need to have search engines locate you if you desire to make that target come true without a hitch. Utilizing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) methods can help you do just that. There are several online tutorials that can help you if you do know how to do SEO on your own. It is also possible to pay experts to do the work for you.

There is a another story when it relates to online story. If you want your clients to discover you, then you will have to consider location sensibly. The most excellent places are those that pick up a high degree of foot traffic, which normally consists of your target demographic. For example, let us presume that you are selling something akin to ‘Yeast Infection No More Review‘, you can then open up a store next to a center for women’s health. If you can, ask the people running the clinic to stock these reviews for you.

To put up signages is another good approach that you can help your clients find you. To illustrate, let us say that you sell something in the vein of ‘Natural Cure for Yeast Infection Product Review’, but that the store you presently have is situated at on the unvisted end of a mall. In order to have your customers know you exist, you would should advertise on TV an on the local paper. On the other hand, if you want to make it quicker for them to find you, you should put up signages. It could be a large banner that would go on top of your store’s entrance or it could also can also be stickered on or painted on to your door. It may also be a good idea to put up signs indicating the manner especially if your store is hard to locate.

While flipping through my father’s old sports magazines, I came across this famous story:

In the 1970s there was a car racing team that won one race after another. The team consisted of two men: British pilot Henry Liddon and Finnish driver Timo Mäkinen. They took part in races for more than twenty years, and their trophies included:

• 1964 Tulip Rally (Mini Cooper S)
• 1965 Monte Carlo Rally (Mini Cooper S)
• 1965 1000 Lakes (Mini Cooper S)
• 1966 1000 Lakes (Mini Cooper S)
• 1966 Three Cities Rally (Mini Cooper S)
• 1967 1000 Lakes (Mini Cooper S)
• 1972 Hong Kong Rally (Ford Escort RS)
• 1973 Arctic Rally (Ford Escort RS)
• 1973 1000 Lakes (Ford Escort RS)
• 1973 RAC Rally (Ford Escort RS)
• 1974 RAC Rally (Ford Escort RS)
• 1974 Ivory Coast Rally (Ford Escort RS)
• 1975 RAC Rally (Ford Escort RS)
• 1976 Ivory Coast Rally (Peugeot 504 V6)

They were mysteriously successful, absolutely unbeatable…and there was a solid foundation- a great strategy. And this is how it looked like:

Henry Liddon being a pilot arrived at the location of the future race two weeks before the start. What he did was – he borrowed a car, examined the track of the race expertly , not just for one day, but for several, wrote his notes, and found out where the important places like the service bays were going to be. After several days when he knew the plan nearly by heart, Mäkinen would arrive and they would practice together, using Liddon’s notes. They were sure about their success as they prepard so well and knew the track.

The result was obvious: they won.

The race requires from the navigator: intuition, experience, quick solutions to questions, and the answers come from preparation.

Business – has similar strategies. When you can look far into the future what you need more are: sharp skills, passion, will to win, love for speed. What is essential to your success is to write a detailed business plan, and to prepare…those two actions make you failure-proof. So what makes writing a business plan so phenomenal- first: it makes you more creative, second: allows you to see what is necessery in order to succeed and third:you create the big picture of your idea.

We all love to win. There is always one winner. What makes the winner is nearly obvious :

- passion and drive, as well as awareness of purpose (that’s the driver)

- a detailed plan of action, a business plan (that’s the brain of the race).

Without a plan you may end up going nowhere, while still having the pleasure of driving, but driving without a clear purpose. It is the strategic planning process that takes you further. A winner is created by having a plan.

Success leaves clues.

Nowadays it is far easier to prosper than ever before. The key to prosperity is known well. But the proverbial devil sleeps in the details- in the knowledge how to use it. We have the tools that revolutionize the speed of progress. If you are interested in learning more, visit the link: Young Entrepreneurs.

Participative Management Design Improves a Multi-Production Facility

The Situation

QuietFlex Manufacturing had a problem. Productivity and morale needed to be improved, and one department was in conflict amongst themselves and with the company. Meetings were disintegrating into arguments over emotional issues, rather than yielding constructive discussions toward solving production problems and improving the workplace. Workers tended to bring nonspecific complaints to management, making resolution difficult, even though CEO Dan Daniel’s priority was to create a thriving work environment. These miscommunications caused workers in one department to question their confidence in the company’s leadership.  

The Task

Mr. Daniel wanted to help the QuietFlex Manufacturing employees be satisfied and challenged in their jobs, and feel important to the company’s overall success. He required an approach to “shift the focus from emotional issues to factual issues that I could do something about,” and look forward to “increase the production rate and decrease the amount of physical labor so our employees felt that the job had more value.” QuietFlex Manufacturing needed to move quickly to continue competitive production, and make plans to avoid a recurrence of the situation. Mr. Daniel wanted to bring everyone together around a set of common goals, reduce stress and physical labor, and find new ways to solve problems into the future.

Mr. Daniel had attended a Caridas Consulting International (business consultant) workshop about using Participative Management Design to build individual involvement in company success, “It was a good seminar for strategic executives, but I initially questioned how well it would work on the plant floor.” He contacted CCI to tailor a program for QuietFlex. Mr. Daniel sought an approach in which all stakeholders could win. He valued the talents and skills of his people and wanted to bring out those strengths to build internal capability. He knew CCI specialized in improving performance and productivity through people. The task was to improve the quantity and quality of production, increase morale, and improve communications to manage problems effectively over the long term.

Implementation

Mr. Daniel was eager for solutions that would work for everyone at QuietFlex Manufacturing. He had been intrigued by CCI’s participative management strategies, and knew that such an approach made sense for his company. The best solutions arise from the daily needs of work, and the best-informed people are those who are doing the work. Participative Design calls for change in the location of responsibility, so the people doing the work initiate the changes. People are encouraged to be self-managing, though not autonomous. Managers provide redesign guidelines, so that everyone contributes to the process and develops reasonable expectations for change. Mr. Daniel was eager to see how Participative Management could both address the employees’ needs and improve the bottom line at QuietFlex Manufacturing.

The company’s opening Participative Design sessions required two days for each shift. Caridas Consulting helped participants define and evaluate their current work process and make suggestions for improvement. Definite aspects of the fabrication process were not supple; Caridas Consulting helped the workforce to focus proactively and positively on what could be transformed. Initially, Participative Management Redesign sessions were difficult because people were not convinced there would be any real change. As they saw their suggestions being implemented, people began to improve their productivity and commitment to the company, as well as their own expectations and morale. Plans created within this collaborative framework earned the commitment of everyone on board. Staff were excited to put in force the work redesigns of their own creation. They became innovative problem-solvers, and as issues arose, they found the initiative to create solutions. Caridas Consulting carries out Participative Management follow-up meetings with each department every 6 months.

CCI recognized that positive business results could not be sustained and company-wide improvements would not be complete without guaranteeing their successful delivery. QuietFlex management understood that it was necessary to mend employee relationships without delay. Superior communication and conflict resolution skills have made the plant environment favorable to the introduction and implementation of new ideas. Now QuietFlex keeps employee relations strong by helping managers be quality communicators. Caridas Consulting business consultants helped managers develop:

• basic communication skills, with an emphasis on genuineness, positive regard, and empathy
• conflict prevention and resolution skills

Immediate feedback from top managers shows these skills gives them a sense of interdependent control and improves their relations with employees. The managers are eager to further develop their communication skills and build on their initial accomplishments.

After a Successful Intervention

Mr. Daniel informs the conditions at QuietFlex has considerably improved. Workers in one department have been able to increase production from 2500 lbs per hour to 4000 lbs, and continue to progress. In the meantime, scrap and reject have been reduced dramatically. Safety has significantly improved, ever since the work redesign. People’s ability to participate has greatly improved the speed and quality of production. Mr. Daniel says the workers at all echelon of QuietFlex are satisfied with the outcome. There are “more pounds being pushed out the door, and we redesigned the pay structure so there are incentives to reduce scrap and waste further, and improve product quality. Employee earnings are already up by 30%. Our employees can produce more and not be as tired.” The company results have been significant and keeps on improving.

By including Participative Management methods at QuietFlex Manufacturing, workers have been given a part in resolving potential company challenges. Participative Management Design has “given the managers a way to deal with specific issues. Now they know to ask the employees to really define the problem and what they think the solution should be.” Mr. Daniel is pleased CCI helped QuietFlex both increase quality production and communicate with their workers. “I ask everyone to bring me solutions with their problems,” he says.

Caridas Consulting also worked in the most troublesome area of the plant. He “threw Caridas Consulting into the lion’s den,” by requesting them to facilitate a faction of employees so discontented, and extremely distant from administration, where they had invited the union to intervene on their behalf. Similar to the glass plant, CCI facilitated the duct workers to create comprehensive outline of the work flow and identify their challenges. The workers proposed a set of solutions, and the management responded by detailing the changes they were willing to make, and setting a timetable for implementation. Now that most of the changes have been implemented, productivity is up over 30%; because compensation is tied to productivity, morale and pay for this group has also improved substantially. Caridas Consulting unlocked the doorways of communication connecting management and the workers, transforming the urgent issues and designing a structure for upcoming problem-solving.

Mr. Daniel is now a believer; the results at QuietFlex prove that Participative Management Design is a flexible and comprehensive model that can be used across industries and at all levels. The workers at QuietFlex have raised the quality and rate of production, and greater productivity means higher wages. They have learned to innovate solutions. Participative Management Design has helped all the people at QuietFlex Manufacturing reach their individual and common goals, and provided them with a framework for continued success.

 Caridas Consulting International (management consultant-business)

Many professional service firms put themselves at risk by only focusing on one single approach to business development. It could be networking or SEO, it could be word of mouth and referrals. Typically, it’s whatever they feel the most comfortable with, not necessarily the approach that will actually work the best to bring them in new clients.

This works fine when times are good and there’s plenty of work for everyone. However, when times get tough, if that single source stops working, they’re left high and dry.

My suggestion to clients is to protect against this by always having multiple approaches to win new clients. In particular, I suggest a Business Development Strategy which focuses on 4 types of client:

1. Current Clients: investing in “superpleasing” their highest potential current clients to secure their business, win expansion and extension projects, and get referrals to new clients. To do this, a Key Account Management or Client Relationship Management approach must be used.

2. High Probability Potential Clients: targeting 3-5 specific companies which meet the core criteria for being a good client ( in terms of their size, sector, location, leadership, cultural fit, etc.) and where there are alredy pre-exisiting relationships to increase the chances of winning work. For example, an ex client, or a contact that’s been nurtured over recent months. This requires the use of personal approaches – either direct contact with the potential client where there’s a pre-existing relationship, or asking for a referral if there isn’t one.

3. Ideal Potential Clients: focusing on 3-5 specific, named businesses who meet or exceed all the criteria for an ideal client – but where there’s no pre-existing relationship whcih could be leveraged to increase the chance of a sale. This, of course, is a long-term approach. It requires them to begin nurtuirng their relationship with the client – perhaps offering to run a seminar for free, or sending them a sequence of high value articles and ideas.

4. “Bluebirds”: the seemingly serendipitous clients that “drop in your lap” rather than being directly targeted. How can you attract and win business with these types of client? By having a method of getting in front of a broad range of prospects. E.g. speaking at seminars at client industry conferences, or optimising your website for keywords you know your potential clients use. Here, the trick is to find tactics which open up a broad range of potential clients, rather than the narrow focus of the previous approaches.

The starting point should always be to win more work from your current clients. Because they already know and trust you, the likelihood of winning new business is so much higher than with a “cold” or even “warm” prospect. After that, it’s important to use a portfolio approach. Balance the greater probability of success with a High Probability prospect with the higher potential of an Ideal Prospect. Wherever possible, still try to leave the possibility of a nice “bluebird” by having one of these channels live.

Bigger firms, able to invest more into marketing, can expand on this strategy simply by adding more individual names to the lists of current, high probability and ideal potential clients; or by adding and extra “bluebird” channel.

My advice for most firms though is to always add resources in that order. For many professionals, the “bluebird” channels (e.g. web, speaking, articles) are seductive ones as they offer the hope of attractive new clients without the challenge of personally engaging in the process. Resist the urge to focus too much effort on these channels – the most successful Business Development Strategy will focus on the more targeted, personal approaches.

Unfortunately many SME’s don’t have access to the large corporate bailouts that offered a lifeline to the largest banks and corporations.  Collectively,  SMEs are the largest employers in the economy but face some tough choices at the moment.While the banks pay their huge bonuses to “keep the talent” that got us all into this mess in the first place, SMEs are facing layoffs or shutting the doors. Before looking at those options, effective inventory management is one step that any company can take to help it weather the storm.

Other than employees, inventory is a company’s single largest asset. Reducing inventory levels and increasing inventory turn-around can result in substantial savings on a company’s bottom line. In a nutshell, you need to get rid of the inventory you don’t sell and get more of the inventory you do. Sounds straightforward but many businesses still have the wrong mix of inventory and more don’t actually know what they’ve got.  Inventory management software will help implement a system that allows you to shed products that don’t sell and invest in those that do.

Fixed asset accounting can also make a significant contribution to cutting costs and increasing profitability. It can help manage internal and external service providers to reduce administrative costs associated with asset maintenance and repairs and provide asset-specific total cost of ownership data that can be used to reduce insurance premiums and cut tax liabilities. Effective asset tracking can also save money by reassigning idle equipment instead of having to purchase brand new plant or machinery. Leased equipment and assets can also be managed far better. Lease termination penalties can be avoided by simplifying the process of tracking and locating those assets and ensuring the equipment is returned promptly when the lease term expires.

In times like these, SMEs have to manage realistically, cutting short-term costs that they can afford to cut.  A rigorous inventory management and asset tracking system will allow you to identify which assets are mission-critical and which ones are not, so you can cut expenses and increase sales.

Business Strategy Consulting. This is an essential lesson about enterprise method, so pay out close consideration to it. I had a handful of consulting calls this week and the subject of ranking came up on greater than an individual occasion. In small business, “positioning” is everything. It generates your differential (why a person must work with YOU over your competition), it provides you with a explanation why you exist, and it also, when employed correctly… translates into scarcity, solidifies your place from the market place, and enables you to charge higher charges than any person else.

The secret to placement is to merely make whatever’s various about you, your power. But occasionally it’s tough to view this big difference when you are looking at your own small business. So today I want to share a story with you that will give you one more perspective. The tale, whose writer is unfamiliar, is labeled…

Business Management Strategy. “One Trick Pony”

There was a 10-year aged tiny boy, who’s left arm had sadly been amputated — the result of your tragic automobile accident. The bit of boy made a decision he desired to learn judo, and so he commenced studying under an good old Sensei. His Sensei was a affected person but demanding teacher, a well-respected Chinese judo expert. And even even though the young man learned quickly, he was frustrated. See, after three months, the child had only discovered one proceed.

He pleaded with his Sensei to train him a lot more moves, however the Sensei held firm that this was a common proceed he would ever should know. To show this, he entered the child into a tournament, and he easily innovative on the finals. Nonetheless, his opponent in this final match was considerably larger, and far much more skilled, along with the odds seemed to become stacked towards this one-armed small child.

Business Marketing Strategy. Yet, immediately after a long match, his opponent initiated losing concentration. The boy sensed this, and rapidly took edge of it. He pinned his opponent and scored a highly unlikely win. In the vehicle about the way house in the tournament, the boy asked his Sensei, “Sensei, how was it probable I was in a position to win with only a single proceed?”

The Sensei replied, smiling, “You have mastered one with the most challenging moves in all of judo. As well as the ONLY defense in opposition to this shift, is for the opponent to grab your left arm.” If you’re smart, and in the event you do the job at your enterprise method… from time to time even your biggest weakness… can become… your largest muscle.