Tag: Business

BREXIT………….SO WHAT?????

Posted on by Evan Gantley
So have you heard about Brexit?
I’m sure you have, are you scared? you should be.
Or so we are led to believe, but maybe we just need to take a seat in our comfiest chair, and enjoy some herbal tea.

The bottom line is :

  • Brexit is talked about too much.
  • The Brexit fear is causing too many questions, and too much negative emotion.
  • People are afraid and the media are spreading this mentality.
  • We are seeing too much of the white haired Buffoon walking with his shirt tail hanging out.
As covered in Forbes Magazine previously, fear and spread of fear is contagious and most definitely damaging to our economic environment, so why do we keep doing it?
But we are not here to talk about the psychological affects of why, that’s for another article,
the following are proven ways that can be used Pre-Brexit and Post-Brexit to get you back on track.

Firstly

   1.  Access:

Is Brexit really going to affect your Business?

   2. Plan:

Make a plan of what you need to do.

  3. Take action:

As the world famous sportswear companies marketing team once said:

                                                   ‘Just do it’

  4.  Grow your Sales:

Any change in the Economic landscape is also an Opportunity to grow, Look for    where you can grow.

‘This is your time to grow your business’

SO ARE YOU READY ?

‘If its to be its up to me’

The following are Proven ways that can help……

  1. Increase your number of Clients:
  • Go out and meet new people and take on some new Clients.

2. Build on your existing relationships with current clients:

  • Go out meet your Clients find out what they want or what other Products/ services you can supply them.

3. Increase your average sale:

  • Go out and sell them more.
Ok, So to conclude, Fear and lack of confidence comes from the lack of a plan.
You can now do your: ‘Quick and dirty plan ‘ You can now start to take action,
The results will come: ‘Action leads to results’
For more info on how to take action, contact John at Sika Business Mentors.

Are you de-motivating your team?

Posted on by admin

No one would de-motivate their team intentionally, right?  But we see it happen so often in owner managed businesses.  The latest research shows that entrepreneurs are currently so focussed on the bottom line; they don’t see what impact their personal actions are having on their team.  They are concentrating on getting their employees more motivated, rather than recognising and getting rid of their own de-motivating habits.

As the business owner/manager, ask yourself the following questions (and give truthful answers!) to find out if you’re de-motivating your team.

Does my team know what’s important to me? They won’t if you change your mind on an issue several times a day or give them directions which contradict previous ones.  Keeping your team guessing may keep them alert, but it is highly de-motivating.

Do I explain my actions? Just because you are the boss, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to explain your actions. Your team are watching you carefully, but they can’t see what’s going on in your mind.  Non-specific directions like “make it better” or “get it right next time” are not helpful or motivational.

Do I only hire people who will follow my instructions? Or reprimand team members for taking any initiative that I personally did not authorise? Your team may appreciate having a job in these tough economic times, but they won’t be motivated to show any initiative to help lead your business through the competitive minefield.

Do I keep people on their toes with the threat of consequences? Ensuring people understand consequences are one thing, making threats is another.  Even implied threats are de-motivating, yet the latest research shows that a majority of employees say their manager holds threats over them on a routine basis.

Do I talk more than listen at team meetings? Do you believe that team meetings are for delivering the latest decisions and that it’s more important that your team listens intently, than deliver input?  You may also ask them to bring you up to date on what they’ve been emailing you, but you’ve been too busy to read!

Do I agree to targets and then stretch them? Upon hearing the latest sales projections, you can’t resist adding a “stretch” objective, just to keep people challenged!  Changing the goalposts, for whatever reason, is highly de-motivating.

If you recognise yourself in any of these points, re-think your own behaviour NOW to root out any unintentional or intentional de-motivational habits.  Motivation is one of the most powerful driving forces toward entrepreneurial success.  From your team’s perspective, it’s time to move to the positive side of the motivation curve.  In these tough competitive times, you need all the help you can get, and you won’t get much from a de-motivated team.

Principles for Business Leaders

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“Out of the Crisis”

Those of you who attended our recent seminars will have heard John refer to Kaizen – a Japanese word meaning change for the better. This management philosophy is defined as making “continuous improvement in your business” – slow, incremental but constant.

The Deming philosophy also focuses on continual improvements in product and service quality by reducing uncertainty and variability in design, manufacturing and service processes, driven by the leadership of owner managers/senior management. W. Edward Deming was a leader in the quality management revolution, widely recognised for his contributions to Japan’s industrial rebirth in the 1950’s.  He offered a number of key principles for management to transform business effectiveness. They were first presented in his book “Out of the Crisis” and are still used as a basis for those seeking to improve their business quality today.  We’ve taken the strongest and most relevant for today’s owner/managers and senior management – read them and let us know your thoughts?  Whether you agree with them or not, they certainly provide us all with food for thought!  These principles apply to every business, to small organisations as well as to large ones, to the service industry as well as to manufacturing.

1. Create a constant purpose toward improvement in your business – now commit to it.
2. Adopt the new philosophy and become a leader for change.
3. Stop depending on inspections to drive product quality- eliminates the need for massive inspection by building quality into your product or service from the beginning.
4. End business practices driven by price alone – minimise total cost instead. Move towards a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
5. Constantly improve your systems and processes – forever!
6. Institute training on the job – train for consistency to help reduce variation.
7. Don’t supervise – teach and institute leadership, provide support and resources so that each staff member can do his or her best.
8. Drive out fear in your business and create trust so that people are not afraid to express ideas or concerns.
9. Optimise team and individual efforts – break down barriers between departments, people must work as one team.
10. Eliminate management by objective – look at how the process is carried out, not just numerical targets.
11. Remove barriers that rob people of pride of workmanship – allow everyone to take pride in their work.
12. Implement education and self-improvement.
13. Take action to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job, not just the business leaders, but the transformation must start with you.

The Power of Written Goals

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Does your business run you or do you run it? Are you frustrated with your business right now? Do you want to make more money? Do you want, and need more time? Do you want a winning team?

So, what are YOU currently doing about it? It is proven “What doesn’t get written, doesn’t get done”. Some years ago, at Harvard, a study was carried out which found

70% of students had no written or verbal goals
27% of students had verbal goals
3% of students had written goals

Very interestingly, 25 years later, the 3% who had written goals owned 98% of the total wealth of all the students. Do you want more success than you are currently getting? Then read on…

1. Decide what your 3-5 year goals are, both in life and in business and write them down. Your goals must be SMART. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time Bound)
2. Next make a detailed weekly plan of all the actions you need to take, which will help you achieve your goals.
3. Then you need to TAKE ACTION. As the Nike slogan says – Just Do It!

I challenge you to take these steps. They work for me, they work for our clients. It’s very simple and effective. I personally guarantee you, it works.

Last Quarter Action Plan

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5 point action plan for a successful 4th quarter…

1 It’s not over till the fat lady sings

We all want to end the year with the satisfaction that we fought all the way!  There are still 10 working weeks left until year end.  In the All Ireland Final, Dublin scored a goal and a point in the last 5 minutes to win the match.  Fight right to the end – make each day count.

2 Activate the captain in you

Whether you’ve had a good or bad year so far, become the captain and take control of the rest of the year.  Write down your year end goals today – what doesn’t get written, doesn’t get done.  Write your quick and easy plan – what you need to do to achieve your year end goals – today.

3 Activate your team

Does your team know what you need them to deliver?  Meet them today and tell them.  Motivate and train them if they need it.  Give them constant feedback on their progress.  Acknowledge and celebrate their wins.

4 Thank your customers

Let them know that you care about their custom.  If they bought before and had a good experience – they will buy again.

5 We all run better with a partner

Get a ‘buddy’ you trust to be your Chairman, measuring progress against your plan for the last 10 weeks.