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How well do you know your business?

How well do you know your business?

How well do you know your business?

Irrespective of what growth method your business uses it needs to be flexible to deal with CONTINUAL innovation and true human centered design thinking about the future.

Many management teams and boards focus on alignment in leadership, to achieve success. There are three core issues recommended to discuss:

  1. Align on where the business is at RIGHT NOW, so when you agree on the future you are all on the same page about the starting point and goals.
  2. Agree what indicators in your Right to Play need to be met before running off to new shiny objects, many good market people are not good business people, agree core indicators and be transparent on those for everyone to solve for.
  3. Alignment on the ONE true Achilles heel of the business and ensuring that is mitigated and not ignored.

The question of the week:

What phase is your business in Right to Play? Pursue? Disrupt? Can you pinpoint your achilles’ heel?

Let’s consider the evolution of dance as an analogy for aligning your business.

There has been an abundance of genres and fads in dancing as it has evolved over time. In the last century, the 1920’s bought us ‘swinging’, the ‘Hokey Pokey’ became so popular in the 1950’s that many couples had it played at their weddings, ‘Disco’ came with the 70’s, the 80’s Rock ‘n’ Roll era bought us moshing, and in more recent years there has been hip hop, krumping, twerking, flossing plus so many more.

The art of dance continuously develops over time just as you and your business should. As with dance, standing out is vital to success. The leaders stand out more than the followers, but it does not just stop there. To be truly successful, one must align themselves to those in the same phase and take the same path to grow together.
So:

  • Choose your ‘dance partner’ wisely; if you go left when they go right you will not stand out.
  • Choose your ‘band’ wisely; if they play rock ‘n’ roll while you dance hip hop you will not stand out.
  • Choose your ‘Dance instructors’ wisely, if your niche is hip hop and they attempt to direct you, your dance partners and your band to ballroom you will not stand out.
  • This does not mean must surround yourself with those exactly the same, diversity is great for innovation, however their dances must compliment yours and they must know how to dance your dance.

Alignment with those surrounding you in business and life is fundamental to success. Align with others that will recognise shortcomings and constantly look to improve on them in addition to providing continual innovation to not only evolve with the times but lead the times.

Take one, two three steps forward to become a leader in their domain and stand out.

If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself

– Henry Ford

 

Ferne Eliz King

Love Life Love YOUR Life

About Ferne

Ferne is globally recognised and called upon for quickly accelerating complex change to achieve business strategies.  Translating strategies to actionable plans, prioritisation of those actions, engagement from the right people, bringing business architecture to life or your life plan if individual and in many cases driving the change as a program director.  The bottom line is Ferne accelerates businesses or individuals to achieve outcomes and enabling that is her passion.

What's the consequence if you take no action?

“If you do the same thing today as yesterday, your tomorrow will be the same as today”.  Ferne Eliz King

Want To Learn More?

Book a free 15 min call and see how Ferne can help you accelerate your aspirations for you or your business.

There’s always room for improvement

There’s always room for improvement

In business and life: There’s always room for improvement

80% of executives believe their current operation models are insufficient for future growth (Source McKinsey). If you are part of this 80%, are you going to take you head out of the sand and implement innovative changes?

Have you ever noticed how over time stagnant water omits an odour? Something that was once clear, clean and consumable turns green and unappealing? Staying still has the same effect on a business. Whether you are currently achieving goals or not you must continuously strive to improve. Procrastinating the hard decisions or accepting things as ‘good enough’ will not get you the imaginable future you deserve.

What area of your operation model needs further development to support your BAU and growth strategies, inclusive of digital?

Valium essentially has a calming effect on the body and is typically used to treat anxiety and various other conditions and disorders. Our brains do not have eyes, and therefore relies messages sent by neurons within the body to identify how it should react to different stimulus. While a highly effective medication, Valium merely conceals the root of the problem from the brain and prolonged use can desensitise the user to its effectiveness. Valium should definitely not be without a prescription or medically diagnosed condition!

But, in either your personal life or your business are you guilty of taking ‘Metaphoric Valium’ without a prescription? I definitely am! Have you ever operated on autopilot, while you complete your daily tasks, as you continuously tell yourself (your brain!) that everything will be fine, because you just cannot handle that gut wrenching feeling you get when you think about the real issue? The bottom line is if things are mediocre at best the ‘Metaphoric Valium’ you are taking without a prescription is not helping. If you were to go to an accountant or a therapist would the advice be to continue ignoring your problems until they disappear, or continue operating in the same way until you get a different result? Eventually you will become ‘desensitised’ and you will be left with no option but to address the issues, which will have grown over time. It is time to remove those rose-coloured glasses and look realistically at the areas in your business or life needs to be addressed for further development and growth- there is always room for improvement.

Dreams are lovely but they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.

– Shonda Rhimes

 

Ferne Eliz King

Love Life Love YOUR Life

About Ferne

Ferne is globally recognised and called upon for quickly accelerating complex change to achieve business strategies.  Translating strategies to actionable plans, prioritisation of those actions, engagement from the right people, bringing business architecture to life or your life plan if individual and in many cases driving the change as a program director.  The bottom line is Ferne accelerates businesses or individuals to achieve outcomes and enabling that is her passion.

What's the consequence if you take no action?

“If you do the same thing today as yesterday, your tomorrow will be the same as today”.  Ferne Eliz King

Want To Learn More?

Book a free 15 min call and see how Ferne can help you accelerate your aspirations for you or your business.

Is what you offer valuable to clients?

Is what you offer valuable to clients?

Is what you offer valuable to clients?

Identifying where there is a need for what you do or provide and how to deliver your value in compelling way is not as easy as it may seem.

Gone are the days of ONE elevator pitch, we see so much diversity and flexibility in the market, and we must be able to articulate our value in a manner that will best resonate with prospective clients. Our people must effectively communicate to a variety of stakeholders, each of whom listen and take information in different ways. Key words and phrases are a starting point, empowering your people to mix and match to deliver your value successfully to ideal clients and markets is imperative.

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.

– Albert Einstein

Can you articulate the value you provide and the need for it in the market? Can everyone in your organisation articulate this story authentically in their own words, culture, ways of language?

I’m going to take a moment to gloat… I bake a magnificent coffee cake! You will have to take my word for it, but it looks and smells as delicious as it tastes. It has been my go-to recipe for years!

But, would I serve this cake to my 7 year old daughter and her friends for her birthday? Definitely not! It would be a massive fail and candidly a waste of a magnificent cake. If I were to tweak the recipe to replace the coffee with caramel, I think there will be a lot of happy (and potentially very sugar high) little vegemite’s running around.

However, I would absolutely serve a coffee cake to the parents at the party. There would be a much higher chance of pleasing adults with a coffee flavoured cake.

The bottom line is do not WASTE your value on the wrong people or markets!! Recognising your value is not always easy and is an achievement in itself, ensuring you can convey this value in relatable terms to any individual is also very essential. But it is just as important to think of where this value fits. In business you need to target the right stakeholders at the right time (or tweak your value to make it fit, as I am doing with my daughter’s birthday cake). In life, surround yourself with people that appreciate and support your value. There is no point trying to force a square peg in a round hole when there are plenty of other round holes available if you know where to look. Are you ready to find those round holes?

It always seems impossible until it’s done.

– Nelson Mandela

 

Ferne Eliz King

Love Life Love YOUR Life

About Ferne

Ferne is globally recognised and called upon for quickly accelerating complex change to achieve business strategies.  Translating strategies to actionable plans, prioritisation of those actions, engagement from the right people, bringing business architecture to life or your life plan if individual and in many cases driving the change as a program director.  The bottom line is Ferne accelerates businesses or individuals to achieve outcomes and enabling that is her passion.

What's the consequence if you take no action?

“If you do the same thing today as yesterday, your tomorrow will be the same as today”.  Ferne Eliz King

Want To Learn More?

Book a free 15 min call and see how Ferne can help you accelerate your aspirations for you or your business.

How will you know when you are successful?

How will you know when you are successful?

80% of the companies that existed before 1980 are no longer around. In 5 years time another 17% will not be here (Source: Harvard Business Review).

What is your plan to make sure you aren’t another statistic? How will you make sure you succeed?

The quality questions you ask yourself, and the actions taken as a result of those questions will determine the success of your tomorrow. To me success is evolutionary. Continuously reflecting on how to improve, setting new goals, and taking actions to achieve them will guarantee longevity in success. Once I have ‘succeeded’, I look for new things to achieve as success doesn’t stand still.

What does success look like for you in the future? How will you measure your success differently from today?

Consider this:

What came first the chicken or the egg?

Not being an expert myself, I would say that at some point a bird, that was not exactly a chicken, laid an egg. When that egg hatched a chicken emerged. So, in short, my answer is the egg. The species it came from evolved over time to become the animal we know today.

In biology evolution is not a choice. Evolving yourself or your business, however, is absolutely your choice! Actions come before mindset. If there was never an egg, there would never be the chicken. If you don’t take action you will not change your mindset and you will not succeed.

When you consider this question, be sure to deliberate what action you will take now to accelerate the evolution of yourself or your business to bring this success.

“The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda.”- John C Maxwell

 

Ferne Eliz King

Love Life Love YOUR Life

About Ferne

Ferne is globally recognised and called upon for quickly accelerating complex change to achieve business strategies.  Translating strategies to actionable plans, prioritisation of those actions, engagement from the right people, bringing business architecture to life or your life plan if individual and in many cases driving the change as a program director.  The bottom line is Ferne accelerates businesses or individuals to achieve outcomes and enabling that is her passion.

What's the consequence if you take no action?

“If you do the same thing today as yesterday, your tomorrow will be the same as today”.  Ferne Eliz King

Want To Learn More?

Book a free 15 min call and see how Ferne can help you accelerate your aspirations for you or your business.

Are you a Manager of Change?

Are you a Manager of Change?

Managing Change – a must read if you have this role.

Evolving with the times is essential for business longevity but change is a delicate thing to navigate. It is often received poorly by employees and can cause major disruptions and low morale. Intricate planning of change is vital for quick reception and success.

Unfortunately managing change (and all those that are affected) does not always come naturally to many in management roles. Leading a successful change program, or as is the recommendations today of smaller change increments, involves strong planning, comprehension, communication, listening and people skills. Management need to comprehend the perspective of all affected stakeholders and be prepared to support them through the transition.

When done properly a leader will achieve loyal and motivated staff. This guide will support management when approaching change with employees and help foster trust and motivation.   

Define and Plan

Articulate the Outcome and Benefit

Too many times leaders do not communicate a change until they understand the how, mistake number 1.  Articulate the outcomes, goals, benefits and drivers for the change early, discuss how you foresee the transition to the new model (gradual or instant).  Even if you are not 100% of the how – but you are sure on the goal.  By communicating early you build trust, people will get behind the goal and engage on the drivers and benefits.  They will plan their day to day and week to week based on the knowledge of those goals.  Change is realised at a more rapid pace when leadership spend more time on the outcome, goals, drivers and benefits and strongly articulate those vs keeping the change under wraps in a project team until an end to end plan is established.   Articulate goals early, be consistent across leaders in your business, hand choose a few influencers and bring them into the conversation.  Above all .. listen.   

Be Sensitive To Your Employees Bottom Line

With change comes uncertainty. When you prepare to have the conversation with your employees understand the main concern will be how the change will directly impact them. Anticipate some of the questions you might be asked and address them during the discussion.  People often naturally look for the negative (unfortunately).  Consistently refer to the positive, even if there is hardship involved in the journey.  Respect people and they will trust in return.

During the adjustment period it is your role to support your employees to comprehend and accept the change. Be available for conversations and be sure to adopt practices to show appreciation and support strong morale. Prepare for mistakes and slower productivity to begin with. Efficiency will quickly improve under a supportive and patient leadership.  Conduct a regular temperature check across the impacted areas.   Think of innovate ways to get the message across to the masses in an authentic way.

Set Clear Goals

Develop achievable goals for each individual or department (depending on the scale of the business). Effectively communicating the transition from point A to point B setting clear and achievable goals during the transition – then the future state.  Empower your employees, giving them a sense of purpose in the vision which is necessary to accelerate your change. Be as forthright as possible about the motivation behind the change.  Building trust is key.

What about the plan?

Factors and considerations in your environment and culture determine what project management methodology you apply to achieve your outcomes.   Whether you are applying waterfall methodology, agile methodology, eXtreme programming (XP) methodology, adaptive project framework (ADF) methodology, lean methodology, Srumban methodology or a hybrid.. change is an integral part and should be embedded in the skills of all lead roles.

To enable clear articulation of the goal and then followed by the design detail change needs to be embedded in the conversations from the beginning, not just brought in when the design is finalised.  It is way too late at that stage to engage effectively with your people.

Produce a ‘goal on a page’ and get that out to your leaders and influencers early, be prepared for it to show up across the organisation.  Articulate the essence of the change, be clear on what it will not solve for.

Each time you communicate more detail of the change journey, hook the story to a goal or outcome the business is driving towards.   People do not care how many ‘projects’ or scrum teams you have to solve for issues and opportunities, they want to know if you have thought about the sequencing and how the improvements collectively come together to improve their experience and ability to drive value to customers.

Know The Dynamics Of Your Employees

Your employees are diverse in their personalities, strengths, and shortcomings. Your team’s dynamics will be unique to that of any other and it will benefit your change journey to understand yours. Who are the natural leaders in your team, the ones that are well liked and respected by their peers – influencers? Get these employees involved first. Have them understand and feel positive about the change as they will be a positive influence on the rest of the team and aid management to gauge how the change is being received.

Set New Performance Objectives

With new outcomes and goals there will be new actions to achieve them. Guarantee that all employees understand their new role and how they will be evaluated and allow ample time for individuals to learn and operate before setting performance appraisals. Motivation is key.

Implement and Sustain

Set the Expectation that Change is Inevitable

Upon employment, in conversations, messaging and meetings ensure clarity of the prioritisation journey .. get the basics right, sustain, diversify, growth, what are the priorities? Communicate a goal of continual improvement to the value proposition in the market which means a culture of continually driving for efficiencies and opportunities.

Be authentic & keep and eye on the transition state

There will be times when the change is going to have a negative impact on some employees. If this is the case, acknowledge it, state the facts and the circumstances as to why the change needs to occur.  Have some leaders focused on the new ways of working, have other leaders focused on the transition.  Too many times we align all the leaders to the future state, no one to the transition, the people most impacted are left alone and confused and others who are staying on see this and become disengaged to the leadership and vision.  Treat the management of transition state as critically as the future state.

Celebrate Previous Achievements

Sometimes change involves placing another project on hold. Recognise that the individuals and teams working on these projects will have frustrations that they will not complete a task they have worked hard on. Appreciate the work they have done, acknowledge their frustrations and endeavour to give them a new purpose.

Listen and Understand

It is natural for employees to have a lot of thoughts and questions about the change. Leaders must make time to actively listen, interpret, consider, and respond to points made by employees. Patience, courtesy and honesty are a virtue, even if you are having to repeat questions or concerns. If you are unable to answer a question raised, commit to finding one promptly. 

Patience, patience, and some more patience.

When the employees are instructed, some will fear, uncertainty and doubt that they will need to process, and each will move through this at their own pace, you will have others that will transition quickly to the new future and wish to embrace and not wait for others to catch up. Provide options – lean into the transition leadership if you are struggling or have open questions, if you want to immerse yourself in the new ways of working lean into the leadership structure that is supporting future state.   Then at the right time you bring the transition and future state together as one.  

Nip Negativity In The Bud

Employees should be given a small grace period to comprehend and accept change but once it is underway it is important to identify any employees that are demonstrating resistance to address them promptly, in some cases they just need further guidance and support, in other cases you must be more firm in your approach. A negative attitude is contagious and allowing it to spread will be detrimental to the change that needs to occur.  Too many times we give 80% of our energy to the negative, vs 20% effectively deal to the downside and 80% time and effort to the upside.

Create Short Term Goals and Celebrate them

The end result can seem like a long way off at the beginning of a change journey, which can be discouraging and daunting for employees. Set short term goals along the way to reaching the vision and celebrate when each has been achieved.

An appreciated employee is a productive employee.

Change is never easy and can cause stress and anxiety in employees and management alike. The more time you spend ensuring consistency and clarity on the outcomes and the right amount of time on the planning to achieve it along with being authentic the smoother the transition will be.

Ferne Eliz King

Love Life  Love YOUR Life

About Ferne

Ferne is globally recognised and called upon for quickly accelerating complex change to achieve business strategies.  Translating strategies to actionable plans, prioritisation of those actions, engagement from the right people, bringing business architecture to life or your life plan if individual and in many cases driving the change as a program director.  The bottom line is Ferne accelerates businesses or individuals to achieve outcomes and enabling that is her passion.

What's the consequence if you take no action?

“If you do the same thing today as yesterday, your tomorrow will be the same as today”.  Ferne Eliz King

Want To Learn More?

Book a free 15 min call and see how Ferne can help you accelerate your aspirations for you or your business.