Learning is a team sport.
January 28, 2012, 11:27 am
I am drowning in information! I vowed to break my info addiction in 2012 by using a strict quality filter. Guess what? I have a stack of books and articles that looks daunting and my eagerness to devour these gems is shortening my sleep pattern. Oh well. At least I have wiped out virtually all of those email newsletters that walk the line between information and sales pitch narrowly. If you are a ‘solopreneur’ you probably understand how necessary it is to keep learning. It can be a lonely journey. It is really of little use to consume all this great information if you cannot apply it in your business and life. The best learning takes place when you can ‘churn’ the information in conversation with others. I have two suggestions- If you are a sole operator you need to get an education partner. This person can be another business owner, trusted advisor, coach or mentor. You meet this person at least twice a month and you ‘churn’ your learning. You discuss ideas and topics you have read or experienced and look for ways to apply this information in your business. For example, as a coach I have a few clients for whom I am the education partner. While reading the Steve Jobs biography we also reviewed Multipliers by Liz Wiseman. We churned through behavioural
Meaning, passion and competence
January 16, 2012, 2:14 pm
Are you damn excited about the next twelve months? Are you ready to execute all the great plans you have created to achieve your goals? Is there still something missing that makes you bit less than enthusiastic to jump right in and start working? Do you think this might be caused by a lack of passion? Or meaning? Or competence? If you think the answer may be a lack of passion, do you have any ideas why this is so? I find that many times passion is influenced by physical health. If your energy is low you will find it very hard to tap into your wellspring of passion. A foggy mind will kill passion as well. If you lack a sense of meaning in your work, what kinds of thoughts do you have about this? Are you looking for meaning in your work or in your life in general? Is work the right source of meaning for you and will it deliver the type of meaning you are after? I have clients who asked me to help with this issue and the resolutions have come as a bit of a surprise to me. In every case the person felt a lack of meaning as well as a sense of general lack of progress. My clients ended too many days without a sense of having
Have you got some clarity yet?
January 7, 2012, 3:18 pm
Ok we are now getting a bit further into 2012 and despite some predictions based on the Mayan calendar you probably should bank on completing the year. Outside of the standard New Year’s Resolutions what have you achieved in real planning. In other words, do you have a game plan for 2012 that will guide you month to month, week to week and day to day? It sounds more daunting than it really is. I spent some time doing this work last week. I have been reading two books recently that have provided some great ideas and motivation. The first one is The Pledge by Michael Masterson. This book is a real wake up call and I really like the way Michael gets into specifics about his own methods without being prescriptive about what might work for the reader. The other books is 18 Minutes by Peter Bregman. This is an easy to read book that almost gives one a sense of having a conversation with Peter Bregman with the stories and anecdotes he uses to support his ideas for planning and productivity. The combination of these books, some quiet time and strong desire to avoid the wild horse ride of 2011 has led me to create a realistic set of objectives for 2012 and a plan to achieve them. In the mix I added
Can you count on yourself?
December 3, 2011, 7:19 pm
Here we are now in the final days of 2011. To many this has been a difficult year and of course for others it has been a year of change and progress. Whichever side one takes in reflection, it seems universal to all persons I speak to that this year has been fast. It has moved at a pace that has left many struggling to keep up with little opportunity to slow down, plan and execute. I am beginning my 2012 planning early, at least for me. I typically use the last week of December and the first one in January as planning time. However I have left so much in my wake this year that there is much to review, clean up and prepare so that my new 2012 plan is not cluttered with hangovers from 2011. Doing this process has brought to the surface an interesting question, “can you count on yourself?” If you create a plan for 2012 that is aligned with your personal and business goals, will you execute on that plan? Will you end 2012 with a sense of satisfaction and a well used task list? When you fail in executing to your plan you are delaying your progress but more significantly you are breaking an agreement with yourself. If you break your personal agreements with yourself too often you
Zen and the art of business judging
November 10, 2011, 7:01 am
Imagine if you were a judge in a business competition that measures your business across dimensions such as financial results, people, processes, technology, innovation, leadership and overcoming obstacles. Detach yourself from your business physically, intellectually and emotionally and view your business as a judge would do when comparing your business to others. I know how hard this is as I am both a business judge and a business owner. Being a business judge has been responsible for some of the most powerful insights and learning in how to improve my own business. As a judge I also know how difficult it is to detach yourself from your business to gain a clear view of what is looks like to others, be they judges or customers. Despite the difficulty, detachment is absolutely necessary to gain a fresh perspective to inspire new ideas and the motivation to change. Without detachment you can often be defensive and prone to rationalize your status quo. There are a few ways to make this process effective. If you are a sole operator you probably have the toughest challenge but you can do your research and analysis yourself or get help from a consultant, business coach or fellow business owner. Establish your judging parameters. It is hard to benchmark your financial performance against competitors but can base your judging on the health
Never Assume People Know
November 8, 2011, 6:59 am
I have a client about to begin content -marketing that expressed a sentiment that I think may be very common, “why would anybody read what I write? I have nothing new or exciting.” These feelings are not conducive to a good start at writing content. I will admit that I have often had the same feelings. There are times when I am writing a blog or article and thinking, ‘this is common sense stuff, no person will care about reading it.’ My experience and those with whom I collaborate confirm a different scenario entirely. There are a number of points I would like you to consider if you feel your writing and content will not be read or dismissed. • Your ideas, observations and comments are as valid and worthy as any other persons. • If you really look at what is included in the avalanche of online information, there is rarely anything truly new or ground breaking. • People read online content for a number of purposes. These may include learning, confirming, questioning, innovating, and sharing. You do not need to write the ‘theory of everything’ to make an impact in the online world. • Once you begin it is important to get in the ‘flow’ of content creation. You will make an impact on others when they know you are a producer and
Are You Coaching? If not, why not?
November 4, 2011, 6:57 am
I suppose there is a need to clarify what I mean by coaching. When we engage in a coaching relationship with another person we are committed to improving that person’s performance. Coaching can be used in any business discipline including sales. The most common used method to improve sales is to provide some form of sales training. Sales training is done online or in workshops with either a single sales team or a group comprising persons from different organisations and industries. Sales training may be effective if it is implemented within a scaffold of useful ‘on the job‘ tools, follow up, and refresher learning opportunities. My experience shows that in most cases sales training is an event with limited ongoing impact on performance. Sales coaching is much different. Effective sales coaching is one on one. The sales coach engages with the coachee in a focused process to improve performance. There are many tools available to delivery effective coaching. In sales coaching it is essential that the coach ‘shadows’ the coachee on the job. Just as a sports coach analyses technique so the sales coach analyses technique and behaviours as well as providing the tools and guidance to create change. Other tools are available and an effective coach will use at least a few if not all of these. Shadowing (as mentioned above). 360 feedback
Do you have a knowledge hub?
October 13, 2011, 11:25 pm
We are always a bit surprised at how many new clients of ours do not use a customer relationship management system, (CRM). In some cases our client will grow into the need for one and in others the need is long overdue. A well configured and implemented CRM system is an excellent way to capture and retain vital information about all aspects of your marketing and sales as well as providing measurement. However a CRM may not be enough. Have you considered creating a knowledge hub for your business? A knowledge hub or portal gives you an easy way to centralise and retain information for your employees that can be translated into the performance of their roles- converting information to knowledge. We highly recommend creating a knowledge hub that can support your sales and marketing. For example the knowledge hub can be accessed anytime, anywhere to provide product information, presentation tools, project plans, sales tips, marketing literature, best practices, case studies among many other information types. The knowledge hub can act as a means of individual team members contributing ideas and information to help prevent vital expertise leave your company when people depart. In the past few months we have implemented a few knowledge hubs for sales teams using tools like Backpack, SharePoint and PB Works. In all cases our clients are intending to enable
