Biz Coach Steve

Category: Leadership

  • How to Ask for Help

    A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox.  He had cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny red shovel.  In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.

    The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt.  With a little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the large rock across the sandbox by using his feet.  When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, he found that he couldn’t roll it up and over the wall of the sandbox.  Every time he made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox. 

    Frustrated, he burst into tears.  All this time the boy’s father watched from his living room window.  As the tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox.  It was his father.  Gently but firmly he said, “Son, why didn’t you use all the strength that you had available?”

    Defeated, the boy sobbed back, “But I did, Daddy, I did!  I used all the strength that I had!” 

    “No, son,” corrected the father kindly.  “You didn’t use all the strength you had.  You didn’t ask me.”  With that the father reached down, picked up the rock and removed it from the sandbox.

    We all need help at some time.  Don’t be afraid to ask for it.  As I like to say, don’t say no for the other person. 

    Successful people rarely reach the top without a lot of help along the way.  The ability – and willingness – to ask for help is one trait that really stands out among those who are truly committed to success. 

    I can personally attest to the necessity of asking for help.  I visited Score to start my first business Got it up and running with their mentoring. Since that time, I have owned 6 different businesses, ran 3 others and still ask for help in my current business.  By not asking for help could cost you your business.

    As one who is often on the other side now (mentoring for Score and being a certified business coach), I appreciate the opportunity to advise and mentor entrepreneurs and emerging talents.  When you are seeking advice from the experts, here are some items to consider:

    • Don’t waste their time:  Once they’ve agreed to help, get to the point quickly.  Don’t go through your life story in excruciating detail, or spend an hour explaining your business plan or the plot of your novel.  Plan what you want to ask so you can make a clear, succinct request.  Utilize your time with them, stay on point. Take notes so they know you value their input.
    • Get specific:  Don’t just ask, “What should I do?”  Imagine you can ask only one question (because that may be the case).  Identify the most important issue you’re facing that your expert is qualified to address and build your question around that.  Be prepared in case you get a chance to ask a follow-up or move on to another subject.  Don’t assume you’ll have all the time in the world to get to what you need.
    • Save one general question for the end:   The corollary to the rule above is to save a few minutes to ask something like, “Is there anything else you’d recommend?” once you’ve gotten the answer to your essential question.  This gives the expert a chance to expand on whatever information he or she has shared and provides the opportunity to start building more of a relationship than a one-time transaction.
    • Give people options:   When you approach an expert, ask for permission to probe his or her mind before starting to fire off questions.  Give the other person some control over how to respond.  It’s polite and shows your consideration for the expert’s time and workload.
    • Offer something in return:  You’re asking for a favor.  Be ready to trade services, buy lunch, offer your own expertise, or reciprocate in some other form.  This demonstrates your professionalism and commitment to building relationships, not just grabbing information and leaving right away.

    Don’t struggle in your business. Ask for help. Meet with a Score mentor and see how they can help you today.

    Story came from Mackay’s Moral.

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    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing

  • Pros and Cons of Outsourcing

    “To outsource, or not to outsource. That is the question.”  

    OK, I took some liberties with that famous line from Shakespeare.

    Businesses today have more ways to be efficient and outsourcing may or may not work for them. Have you been mulling over the idea to outsource one or more tasks within your business? The most popular outsourcing trend right now is outsourcing your human resources. What about outsourcing your marketing? Sales? Customer Service? Production? Delivery?

    What about outsourcing personal tasks? You can outsource things like picking up your dry cleaning with Task Rabbit, many people are already outsourcing picking up their food through GrubHub and other delivery services.  

    Outsourcing in the business world is growing and will continue to grow as many organizations become your outside departments. You really need to understand the effects of outsourcing and how that can affect your company culture and not just the bottom line.

    Some Advantages of Outsourcing:

    Knowing the benefits of outsourcing will help you decide if this is something that could work for your business. One of the biggest reason’s companies outsource is to free up resources for other areas.

    • You don’t have to hire more employees: When you outsource, you can pay your help as a contractor or vendor. This allows you to avoid bringing an employee into the company, which saves you money on everything from benefits to training.
    • Lower labor cost: Did you know that there are approximately 300,000 jobs outsourced in the US each year?  By having those specialists doing the work of the company lowers your labor costs from taxes, benefits, etc. By outsourcing your labor, the company you hire finds the right person for the job. They usually have access to a larger talent pool.
    • Outsource the mundane tasks: Paying a full-time data entry person may not make sense when you can have someone else do the same tasks for a fraction of the rate. Not to mention all the other savings that come with not having that person on the payroll or taking up a desk.
    • Tap into global scaling: Even outsourcing manufacturing can reduce costs but allows your connection with the contractor to tap into other potential customers and revenue streams. Possibly expand your product lines, increase distribution, eliminate warehousing, and not manufacturing in-house.
    • Reduce problems: Outsourcing allows the business to wash its hands from many problems, that are difficult to control in house, such as regulatory, unions, licenses, etc.

    Some Disadvantages of Outsourcing:

    Despite the many benefits of outsourcing, you don’t want to go down this path until you compare some of these potential drawbacks:

    • Lack of control: Although you can provide direction in regard to what you need to accomplish, you give up some control when you outsource. There are many reasons for this, including the fact that you are often hiring a contractor instead of an employee. And since the person is not working on-site, it can be difficult to maintain the level of control you desire.
    • Communication issues: This doesn’t always come into play, but it’s one of the biggest potential drawbacks. Here are several questions to ask:
      • What time zone does the person live in and how does this match up with your business hours?
      • What is your preferred method of communication? Phone, email, instant messaging?
      • Does the person have access to a reliable internet connection?
      • Since communication is essential to success in the business world.
      • A large number of U.S.-based employees report not being engaged at work.
      • Communication remains a major problem. Will this get worse if you outsource?
    • Problems with quality: Despite all the benefits of outsourcing, it is only a good thing if you’re receiving the quality you expect. Anything less than this will be a disappointment.

    This isn’t to say you can’t successfully outsource particular tasks, but you need to discuss the expected quality upfront. You are still responsible to your customers regarding the quality of your product and/or service. Make sure you do your due diligence in finding the best outsource company for your product or service.

    • Delivery: Many companies outsource their manufacturing operation, then have another outsourced company that stores and pick/pack/ships the finished goods. Their delivery problems are your delivery problems. Customers don’t want to hear excuses on why their delivery was not on time, or the wrong products were delivered.
    • Intellectual property/formulas/secret sauce:  You really need to make sure your IP, formulas, etc. are protected properly.  Some countries don’t care about your legal documents and will copy your product and distribute it through their sources without your knowledge.

    Impact of Outsourcing on Company Culture: 

    As a business owner, it’s easy to focus on the benefits of outsourcing, all without considering the impact it can have on your company as a whole. If you plan on outsourcing, you need to take steps to ensure that it doesn’t have a negative effect on company culture.

    A positive work culture leads a higher level of productivity, so you don’t want to do anything to jeopardize this. Some of the ways outsourcing can negatively affect company culture include:

    • Upset employees as they may feel they are being replaced
    • Confused employees who don’t understand why you are outsourcing particular tasks
    • Add challenges to the daily workflow of the company

    Outsourcing doesn’t always have a negative impact on company culture, but you need to protect against this before you ever take a step in this direction. This typically means discussing your decision with any employees who could be impacted.

    There are many pros and cons of outsourcing, all of which you should carefully consider before deciding for or against this strategy. With the ability to affect company culture, this isn’t something to take lightly. Do you have any experience with outsourcing? Did it benefit your company, or result in more harm than good?

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    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing

  • Complacency Kills

    When a business’s culture stagnates and complacency sets in, performance declines, growth stalls and existing customers sense the lack of drive and erosion of value occurs. In many situations where a business has lost its drive and is backsliding, the cure it to reset to a performance-based culture. This is a move that can have a significant impact on the organizations long-term financial performance.

    But how to instill a performance-based culture as a means of improving a product or service and concentrating on three main components: Goals, Incentives, and Measures.

    Have you ever noticed the companies that are consistently growing are always changing? Having a strong culture to keep inventing is usually directly correlated to consistent growth. That culture starts with leadership but can diminish over the life of the business as other coefficients of culture become more powerful.  Undoubtedly, a company’s culture is impacted by many factors. Sometimes corporate culture is nurtured by involved and caring management where it flourishes and sustains, while other times the culture gets dinged and damaged over the years to the point of being unrepairable. Among the many no-so-positive factors that might harm the culture are: major restructuring, mergers and acquisitions and frequent changes in leadership at the corporate level.

    Mission Drift: Businesses naturally evolve and change. Executives, staff and customers come and go. Change and evolution are good and to be expected, but over time, businesses can experience “mission drift.” When a business starts it is focused on its mission, as the business grows the organizations workforce expands with the business’s growth. Roles change, key resources stretch to take on new responsibilities and try to transition their knowledge about their old role to someone else. Mis-interpretation creeps in, so does improvisation.

    The original organizational culture has changed, it gets diluted as fresh blood gets pumped into the environment. This is also when the culture transforms, sometimes positive with new ideas and innovation. The key is to stay in check and preserve the core mission of the business, but yet keep it moving forward.

    Relentless Charge:  Expansion creates fatigue and burnout within the organization and can also lead to an exhausted and ambivalent workforce that is detrimental to growth, innovation and operational excellence in the business. This does not mean that a business should not push ahead, or coast along and slack-off. It does mean that we must have a formula to fuel the business for the long-run. Think in terms of running a marathon and not a sprint. The formula must be mixed with the new culture and be attuned to the business’s strategies and goals.

    During boom times, business leaders must listen to the signals the business is sending to them. Organizations get tired and need rest cycles as well. Not like us humans need to rest, but the business cannot endlessly expend energy with replacing it along the way. Business cycles go in spurts of work and then rejuvenation. Constant full-speed accelerations without maintaining the organizational pistons will wear out the engine and momentum will slow. A balance is needed between the need to constantly move the organization forward and the need to recharge energy and celebrate successes along the way.

    Complacency: One of the biggest enemies a business culture faces is complacency. Complacency can come from having reached a level of comfort that accompanies some degree of achievement and feelings of success. Sometimes when an organization reaches a significant milestone the employees throughout the company sometimes gravitate towards a place where it is comfortable and safe. Why risk what we’ve works so hard for? Complacency develops out of our natural desire for the predictability of a routine over the uncertainty of change.

    The primary issue with complacency is that we cannot remain in a fixed position with the external environment is moving and changing. This guarantees that the organization will be passed by competing businesses that embrace change.  Businesses that do not systematically strive for improvement and growth will plateau, stagnate and then decline. Those businesses that continue to reach beyond the status quo and adapt to evolutionary changes in their environment will thrive.

    Strong leadership during growth periods is essential to curtail dilution and avoid organizational complacency. Non-proactive leadership during a growth period can slowly erode confidence throughout the organization and lead to complacency and disconnectedness.  It may seem counter-intuitive, but these outcomes are exposed when people begin to focus on the wrong things as a result of the business-essential tacit knowledge held by the original core team being stretched and worn thin. Some workers may begin to feel overworked, while others may feel underutilized.

    So, what do you do when your organization’s culture has been pummeled and is no longer reflective of the workplace that it once was?

    What’s your ideal target?  Clearly, a broken culture must be addressed by changing it, but that requires a vision of the target culture be in place before attempting any transformative actions as well as a realistic plan for change. Ultimately, the goal of the culture reset is to create a strong and positive culture that is well-aligned with the organization’s core values.

    A strong organizational culture is one that is extremely well aligned to a common set of core values, making policy and procedure changes easier to introduce. However, rigidity and group think are two rick factors that accompany strong organizational beliefs and corporate dogma. Having a strong culture is certainly preferable to a weak one but is not entirely the optimal situation.

    A healthier model is a performance-centric culture, striking a balance between the desirable attributes of a strong culture and the equally important ingredients of goals, incentives, measures, flexibility and acceptance. A performance-centric organization allows for and promotes diversity in thought and business innovation but does not tolerate complacent behavior. These organizations have developed a corporate structure that promotes accountability and rewards performance target achievements, while accepting and embracing challenges to the status quo. Bureaucracy and group think are viewed as the demons of innovation that must be kept in check in order to allow fragile new and game-changing business ideas to survive and one day be implemented. Research has shown that organizations with performance-centric cultures experience better financial growth.

    The Reward: A culture with a bias for action: Make no mistake, transforming a culture is not easy and requires an organization to seek change. Unfortunately, an organization in mission drift, exhausted from the relentless charge and/or suffering from complacency is not an ideal patient to respond quickly to any treatment. Conditions that developed over a long period of time will require a careful and paced culture change program as opposed to an attempt to introduce quick fixes that create more disruption and distraction.  Those organizations that succeed in change the rewards are enormous.

    Realizing the benefits: Performance-based cultures unify employees and naturally bridge the organizational gaps such as hierarchy or geography. In a performance-based culture, the organization feels and behaves much like a family. This commitment helps guide employees to do the right things right and strive to advance the business in the absence of explicit direction.

    Perhaps most importantly, employees in performance-based cultures demonstrate a marked bias for action remaining fundamentally dissatisfied with the status quo and thinking and acting more like owners of the business. They show accountability and take personal responsibility for overall business performance and not just their own domains. As such, the culture tolerates very little bureaucratic debate and expects team players who display high levels of passion and commitment to achieving organizational goals.

  • Start today to change EVERYTHING

    Think about where you were 5 years ago.

    Seems like only yesterday, right?

    Are you where you’d thought you’d be 5 years later, when you looked forward back then?

    Are you leading the life you envisioned?

    Do you have the income, lifestyle, freedom, health, relationships, poise and skills you thought you would have by now?

    Guess What? Now you get another chance to look forward to the next 5 years
    Over the next 5 years you can accomplish what people spend a lifetime trying to do. How do you visualize your life to be in 5 years? What job do you have in what industry? How much money are you making? What city do you live in? What kind of car are you driving? What kind of house/apartment/etc. do you live in? Who are you with in your relationship? How are you viewed in the community?

    Be as specific as possible. Take the time to visualize all areas of your life. I only mentioned some of them. Write them all down and look at it every month, wee, and even day. Start today moving to where you want to be in 5 years.

    A Goal vs. A Promise
    It makes a big difference if you turn your goals into promises. That’s because most of us have set goals and know of other people that have set goals and didn’t fulfill them. Our mind tends to see goals as something to strive for, something to aim at…but if we don’t “hit the target”, it’s fine because “we’re not the first or the last that have set goals and didn’t achieve them.”

    On the other hand, when we promise someone that we’re going to do something, our mind goes to work for us and we do everything that’s in our power to fulfill that promise because we don’t like to feel the pain, shame or embarrassment of letting somebody down. Our integrity is such that a promise means more to us than setting a goal.

    Therefore, instead of saying, “Honey, I know that we have not been spending enough quality time alone, lately… so, I’m going to try (or my goal is) to take you out on a romantic date twice a month”, tell her instead, “Honey, I promise that from now on, I’m going to take you out on a date twice a month.”

    The Power of Accountability Partners
    Commitment is doing the thing you said you were going to do, long after the mood you said it in has left you.

    The pressures of life will not come to an end just because you have decided to begin this program. It has been my experience that those who have the most success with the program are those who had 2 or more Accountability Partners (not within the same household) doing the program also.

    Some benefits of utilizing Accountability Partners include:
    • Assistance in organizing ideas, thoughts, and tasks into specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic goals
    • Assistance in prioritizing an effective and consistent plan
    • Ensuring accountability for task follow through
    • Mentoring through difficulties and indecisiveness
    • Sharing advice, personal knowledge and experience
    • Follow up on your success

    During your search for appropriate Accountability Partners, keep in mind that the right person should be someone who will challenge, engage and evoke a sense of accomplishment in you. Confidence, creativity and strength are all traits that will be useful to you. Also consider choosing an Accountability Partner who you trust to keep confidence as you may get into financial and personal discussions that are confidential in nature.

    Promise yourself and your Accountability Partners that you will become a better person and achieve your goals.

    Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
    Unlocking your full potential for Wealth, Success, and Achievement

    Your THOUGHTS, your WORDS, and your ACTIONS, are building blocks to creating the life that you want!

    Doing the same things over and over expecting different results is insanity. The only way to get different results is to change what we do. The process of change begins in our minds. Our thoughts help shape and create our circumstances in life. “As A Man Thinketh, So Is He.” When we change our thinking, we change our lives.

    What does it mean to change? Change = to transform or convert.

    When we find ourselves stuck in a rut or not quite where we want to be in life, it is time for change. Old habits, old thoughts, and old ways of thinking must go. We literally have to cleanse our minds of negativity, scars, conditioning, and mental blocks.

    Living Your Dream is a continuous process of training and transforming our minds to achieve optimal living. There are many ways to begin the process of changing the way we think.

    What we feed our minds affect how and what we think. When we bombard the mind with negative images, fears, bad news, violence, pain, and suffering etc…our mind responds by conjuring up matching thoughts. When we feed our minds with positive images, good news, peace, happiness, and prosperity …our mind responds accordingly.

    Our mind will produce thoughts based on the information we provide it with. The thoughts that our mind produces set a wheel of events in motion. Thoughts are creative and whatever thoughts we find ourselves preoccupied with always manifest in our lives.

    What you do with your life is up to you. Life is what you make it. You have everything you need to create life, destroy life, improve life, and touch the lives of others. For every cause there is an effect. Every life represents a mission, a purpose, a cause. What will be the effect of your LIFE?

    I promise you, if you commit today to reach your goal with the help of accountability partners, change your thinking to positive thoughts you will be in a much better place in 5 years.
    How do you visualize your life in 5 years?

    All long journeys start with a one step.
    What one step are you going to take today?

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    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training. Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing

  • 5 WAYS TO BE MORE INFLUENTIAL

    “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”  Ferris Bueller

    The world is moving fast—so you should be, too. Here’s how to inspire movement and influence change.

    The world is moving fast, and the pace of change is only going to keep increasing. It’s challenging us to rethink what we do and how we do it—to rethink how we will operate as leaders into the future. It is challenging us to develop new operating systems for success and to learn to lead movements, to help our teams feel secure enough to think, to innovate, to be curious about new solutions. It’s challenging us to influence change.

    Here are five ways to be more influential:

    1. Build transformational connections.
    Just like your staff, the connections you create are the ones that will decide your success or failure. In our time-deficient world where dreams of change are big and visions of a future are ours to own, making connections has to be about the real and the genuine—about the interplay of a select group of people who are working closely together, strategically creating plans to succeed. This is not about quantity, but like-minded thinkers who understand what you want to achieve. It is here that transformational connections are possible: a select group of people providing quality thinking; creating new perspectives; pushing you further than you could ever go alone; supporting you and taking great pleasure in seeing you succeed. Surround yourself with people who you want to emulate.

    2. Lead out and embrace diversity.
    To lead out—to see the potential in new connections, in the collective intelligence—is part of the art of influence. It’s understanding that by working together, we create opportunity—by respecting the myriad of different abilities of others, by accepting the value in corporate and entrepreneurial viewpoints and by seeing the value in cross-sector relationships. Leading out is facing out—it is leading with rather than leading for; it is to lead toward not away from mutual opportunities for success. Old school thinking, “It’s my way or the highway,” is over.

    3. Beat your own drum.
    Every choice and action we take, every word we speak, has the ability to influence others and their decisions. What does “owning your choices” mean to you? Is it about making X decisions on Y day, or is it about accepting ownership of who you are? Do you own your skills, your flaws, your values and your dreams? Do you own your excuses and your vulnerabilities? Do you own your life, or does it own you? We are all unique individuals put on this earth to shine. Your views are unique to you, your thoughtful voice is your gift, and you matter—you are an integral part of driving change and influencing others.

    4. Kick complacency in the butt.
    You have to be your key competition, so make sure your first competitive audit is always with yourself. Better your end goal, push yourself to do more and to be better. Ask the hard questions: Are you on the path to success, or are you stuck because of critics, or maybe it’s you and your self-doubt? Throw fuel on your own fire and light up the sky.

    5. Speak up and collaborate openly.
    True influence requires one critical thing: for you to speak up. You can influence more if you collaborate openly and willingly, with complete, honest and full disclosure. You have the ability to influence one to one, many to many, more to more—your team, your colleagues, your leaders, your children, your friends, your family. If you don’t speak out, you are not leaning out, being brave, or showing willingness to have courageous conversations and contribute to the collaborative experience. You are not creating the space to gift your knowledge, thoughts, opinions or expertise to others. You are not enabling an opportunity for others to listen, learn and add value.

    One thing is for sure: The world is moving quickly. And if you continue to sit still, then you will inevitably come to an influential standstill. Stand in your spotlight, own your vision and lead out, because it is here that you have the chance to influence more through inspiring, shifting and creating movement around you.

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    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing

    Parts of this article were from Janie Garner.

  • Did you expand your knowledge in 2018?

    What lessons did you learn last year?

    Were they positive lessons? Or negative lessons?

    Fast Company magazine wrote an article regarding their top 30 most productive people and I found some very interesting similarities within ALL of these interesting people.  Here they are (in no particular order):

    • They all get adequate sleep. Anywhere from 6 to 8 hours. If you have not been exposed to the mounds of research showing that sleep is very important for us, then here is a summary. You really need to get at least 6 to 9 hours of good REM sleep per day. Being sleep deprived and proud of it, is not a positive thing.
    • They all have set schedules made in advance. They know before they go to bed what they are doing the next day, then they review it in the morning to stay focused and productive.
    • They all have filters on their email and social media. Having a set routine on when the look and respond to emails as well as setting up filters to avoid the junk improves their productivity. Same with social media. They all stated they do look at social media, but narrowed down which sites they look, for what reason, and only in small doses.  They are not scanning Facebook looking for cool GIFs.
    • Most of them exercise. They do some form of exercise, whether it be yoga, working out, etc. Some of them even told us their food habits, which works well for them.
    • They all read – BOOKS. Yes, real paper books.  Studies have shown we retain and process words better on paper than on a tablet, computer, phone, or any other electronical devise.  So, set some time out of the day and read.

    Speaking of books. I do mix of real paper books along with audio books within my schedule. Do yourself a HUGE favor and stop listening to the talking heads on the radio while you drive and educate yourself with an audio book. As Brian Tracy says, turn your car into a rolling university by listening to books while you drive. In 2018, I have read/listened to 63 books.  Many times, I will be reading one book and listening to another in my car.

    Here are my top 10 books that I read/listened to in 2018 (no particular order):

    • Essentialism – Greg McKeown. This is a great explanation on how to simplify everything.
    • Outliners – Malcolm Gladwell. Many of us wonder why one person “gets the breaks” while other done.  There is more to this as Malcolm explains.
    • Born to Win – Zig Zigler. Haven’t read this one in a while and really give you the jump start you may need to push ahead and WIN!
    • Find your why – Simon Sinek. Great follow up that now provides a step by step method to Know your Why.
    • Crush It & Crushing It – Gary Vaynerchuk.  Just get off your butt and do it. Find a medium for your message and just get your message out there. These books are for doers and action takers only.
    • Walmart Effect – Charles Fishman. Want to know why Walmart became a juggernaut?  This book shows the pros and cons of dealing with Walmart.  The gallon of pickle story will really make you think about your operation.
    • Measure what matters – John Dorr. Great lesson for business owners to keep focus on the true metrics in their business and ignore the rest.
    • 100 tricks to appear smart – Sara Cooper. Very funny play on how to appear smart.  Hear a lot of these tricks from people.
    • Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill. This is always on my annual reading list and it should be on yours as well.  Reading this book every year, will really keep you on your path for success.  Get into a mastermind group to really get the most out of this book and improve your life.

    No matter what, we all have learned something this past year. If you haven’t learned one or more new things, then make it a plan to learn something new in 2019 and put it into practice to grow your business, or improve your life, maybe to move up in the company you work for, get a new job, mentor someone, share your time by volunteering for an organization that you have no affiliation with.  Just learn something new.

    By continually learning you are growing as a person.  Right now, decide what action you are going to take to learn something new in 2019. Read more real books. Take an educational class. Learn a new computer program. Learn martial arts. Just learn.

    I wish you much learning success in 2019.

    Let me know what were your favorite books that you read/listened to in 2018 and why.

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    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business

  • The 10 Essentials of Operational Planning-Part 2

    Is your organization’s strategy delivering on its promises?

    For most organizations, the answer is “no”. Too many plans end up full of content that is cerebral and fluff, ultimately adding little or no value to the organization. That is why companies are failing in strategy execution.

    Operational planning may not be the sexiest part of corporate strategic planning, but it is very important. Most organizations do not even have strategy. Given its importance, understanding how to do operational planning and making sure it gets done is well worth the time and effort.

    It’s not that operational planning is that complex to carry out, but there is some art to doing it well and it does require finesse. In short, operational planning requires a different skill set and discipline than its counterpart – strategic planning. The biggest difference is that we must adjust our thinking to the day-to-day business operations and consider all the constraints, inhibitors and accelerators that must be evaluated and factored into tactical planning. The discipline required is a mix of strategic planning with good old-fashioned program and project management.

    Businesses are not getting the full value they should from their strategic planning efforts. Most have only, themselves to blame and they know it. Clearly, strategic plans without follow-through will collect dust and never be executed as intended.

    This is the second part of this series and these last 4 essential operational planning steps will dramatically improve strategy execution in any organization.

    1. Define Metrics and Measurements

    Metrics and measurements can apply to two groups:

    • Measurements and metrics related to strategic goal effectiveness (plan performance)
    • Measurements and metrics related to managing execution of the strategic plan (execution performance)

    Measuring Plan Performance:

    As with the development of strategy, the relationship of strategic goals to metrics and measures can be tricky. For instance, a strategy might have a strategic goal related to “increasing productivity by X% over X quarters” and another related to “increasing profitability by X% over X quarters”. Setting the wrong metrics might help accomplish one goal, but simultaneously compromise the other. How? Assume the following:

    • Volume metrics for production are encouraging managers to seek higher labor productivity
    • The contribution of labor to profitability is 10%
    • The contribution of materials to profitability is 60%

    In this case, a 10% increase in labor productivity will create a decrease in material management efficiency – as inventory levels must increase to address the volume change. That could easily translate to a materials efficiency decrease of 2% or more to support the 10% labor efficiency increase. Give the profit contribution assumptions above, the net result is as follows:

    • a 10% labor productivity improvement times 10% profit contribution equals a 1% profitability increase
    • a 2% materials productivity decrease times 60% profit contribution equals a 1.2% profitability decrease

    As you can see, net profitability actually decreases when high volume production is encouraged by metrics misalignment – compromising the strategic goal of “increasing profitability by X% over X quarters”.

    Care must be taken to set metrics that actually drive the desired behaviors, and do not risk undermine the intent of the strategy.

    Measuring Execution Performance:

    Operational planning is all about reality, accountability and execution, so estimating work effort and time-to-complete correctly is important to get right up front. To estimate effort as accurately as possible, past metrics are essential to help answer questions such as:

    • How well can resource horsepower be utilized?
    • How much resource horsepower is at our disposal?
    • What is the expected productivity of their horsepower?

    With realistic time frames and accountabilities in place, measuring execution performance is much simpler and managing the strategic portfolio can be accomplished effectively at each organizational level.

    1. Plan Change Management

    Implementing corporate strategy is dependent upon the energy, dedication, hard work and faith of the organization’s employees. Motivating employees to act decisively in the face of uncertainty is a challenge where many an organization have failed miserably. Employees are often starved of adequate information related to strategy. Quite often, employees one or two levels down from the CEO have little knowledge about the strategy or what they can do to help with its successful execution.

    In order to convince employees that change is necessary, the organization’s leadership must communicate about the strategy and develop a sense of urgency around the need for a shift. The urgency becomes the catalyst for change that is needed for employees to rally behind.  It becomes the “cause”.

    The sense of urgency must be real. Change management is never to be about deception.  Effective change requires an open and honest dialogue between leadership, management and employees so that each person in the organization understands the change imperative – whether it is changes in competitive marketplace conditions or an economic downturn. You must let your staff feel that they are part of the process in helping the change come to fruition.

    The change program must be treated as any other large initiative. It must be managed and measured to know if goals are being reached or might be in danger of being missed. Governance of such a program through a PMO or planning office is the most effective way to administer the long-term transformation.

    1. Governance

    Plan governance is the essential “follow-through ingredient” to set the wheels in motion for strategy execution. Organizational performance indicators and metrics help provide the ability to control and manage, as they signal the need for evaluation and analysis early when corrections to implementation tactics can be made more easily with fewer cost implications.

    Plan governance, whether implemented as a formal Plan Management Office or administered through a less formalized committee structure, should be responsible for the functions of selecting, managing and measuring of everything entering or within the plan portfolio.  The plan portfolio is the overall macroscopic view of all programs (related groupings of initiatives) and projects within initiatives that are involved with strategy implementation.

    With proper management controls in place, this approach allows those closest to the action to respond quickly and appropriately when it is needed – always operating within predefined spheres of control and in concert with the strategic goals. The goals are well known and understood by empowered employees, as their direct managers will have effectively communicated these goals to them, accompanied by the expectations for how they can directly contribute – allowing them to embrace the vision and fully participate in the tactical execution.

    1. Sustain / Rejuvenate

    As a function of the ongoing management of the plan portfolio, plan governance also involves refreshing the strategic and supporting operational plans to reflect changes because of completing plan goals and taking on new ones.  A plan governance structure allows for strategic and operational planning to become much more actively managed and based on a shorter time horizon.  Shorter time horizons for plans lead to more focus on execution and results in better outcomes.  As we’ve discussed in previous articles, a rolling 12-month plan that is refreshed quarterly is best suited for achieving optimal results in execution.

    Summary

    Even companies that do a reasonable job at defining strategy and performing high-level strategic planning tend to struggle with operational planning. The overall strategic plan must be thought of as a portfolio to be managed. The strategic plan portfolio represents the overall macroscopic view of all programs and initiatives involved with strategy implementation.

    During the operational planning stage of strategic planning, initiatives get defined that support the strategy’s outcomes. Those initiatives can then be broken down into bite-size projects so that they can be estimated, understood, and eventually – managed. To manage the overall strategic plan, however, we must have some different views of the work to be completed in order to successfully manage it. Grouping projects into programs provides a big-picture way of tracking, managing, and reporting on the tens, hundreds, or in the most extreme cases – thousands of projects that can arise from a corporate strategic plan.  Projects can be grouped into programs in terms of how they support the overarching strategy and goals or along budgetary lines. The overall group of programs is the portfolio. Plan governance then becomes the vehicle to manage the plan portfolio and ensure the of operational initiatives with plan goals and track progress of plan-supporting strategic initiatives through effective oversight at the corporate and operational levels.

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    Steve Feld, MBA is a certified business coach that provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. He has owned and operated 6 businesses and operated 3 large corporations with Fortune 500 Companies.

  • The 10 Essentials of Operational Planning-Part 1

    Is your organization’s strategy delivering on its promises?

    For most organizations, the answer is “no”. Too many plans end up full of content that is cerebral and fluff, ultimately adding little or no value to the organization. That is why companies are failing in strategy execution.
    Operational planning may not be the sexiest part of corporate strategic planning, but it is very important. Most organizations do not even have strategy. Given its importance, understanding how to do operational planning and making sure it gets done is well worth the time and effort.

    It’s not that operational planning is that complex to carry out, but there is some art to doing it well and it does require finesse. In short, operational planning requires a different skill set and discipline than its counterpart – strategic planning. The biggest difference is that we must adjust our thinking to the day-to-day business operations and consider all the constraints, inhibitors and accelerators that must be evaluated and factored into tactical planning. The discipline required is a mix of strategic planning with good old-fashioned program and project management.

    Businesses are not getting the full value they should from their strategic planning efforts. Most have only, themselves to blame and they know it. Clearly, strategic plans without follow-through will collect dust and never be executed as intended.

    If followed, these 10 essential operational planning steps will dramatically improve strategy execution in any organization. This is Part 1 of a 2-Part series and will show the first 6 steps.

    1. Define the Strategic Portfolio

    The work behind executing a corporate strategic plan lies in the goals that must be achieved. Each of those goals must be understood in terms of the various initiatives the goals really represent. This is a way to understand the work to be done in real terms that apply to business operations.

    2. Translate Goals Down into Major Programs
    Translating goals into major initiatives is the beginning of operational plan development, accomplished by mapping the goals laid out in the strategy to chunks of work. The next step though is to bundle or group initiatives into goal-aligned programs. This exercise makes the work to be accomplished easier to understand, manage and track.

    3. Map Programs to Organizational Structure
    With grouping of initiatives into programs completed, the question becomes, “How do initiatives impact the organization?” Profit and Loss accountabilities, organizational structures and resource control must all be understood as they relate to the strategy programs. Where will resources need to be shared? How will program funding effect budgets across the organization’s structure? This step requires an understanding of organization, its culture and budget controls.

    4. Define Accountabilities for Programs
    Accountability also must be clear in terms of expected timeframes. For accountability to exist, all who are affected by the plan must understand what is to be accomplished and within what timeframe. After all, it is impossible to hold people accountable for accomplishing a key outcome if there is no basis to measure. Similarly, if an objective that is not bound by time or if the team has unlimited time to complete it, the goal can never be complete, or its progress evaluated.

    5. Break Programs Down into Projects
    Operational planning is all about reality and execution, so estimating work effort and time-to-complete correctly for chunks of work is important. Programs are large and too unwieldy to be estimated and managed without breaking down the effort into smaller chucks, in this case, projects. Project-sized chunks of work can be more easily estimated, resourced and managed.

    Projects that have been identified can now be planned for at the detailed level, including: timeframes, human resource requirements, technology requirements and in many cases, dependency on other projects or programs (groups of projects). Careful attention to detail at this level can help avoid collisions with other projects down the line. Even then, there may be inter-dependencies between these groupings of initiatives and shortages of resources where overlaps exist. Tactical planning must delineate to the maximum extent possible the timelines, dependency relationships, resource allocations and costs relative to the allocated budgets across operational areas to avoid as many collisions and conflicts as possible.

    6. Define Accountabilities for Projects
    Common wisdom tells us that achieving strategic planning and management goals requires an actionable plan that considers the people required to bring the plan to fruition. A plan is worthless without the staff accountability to bring that plan to life.

    Sounds simple enough – yet, in practice both components (plan and people) have intricacies and uncertainties that must be carefully managed. People, in particular, must have accountability to accomplish the individual tasks that are required to achieve the overarching organizational goals. Projects that have been identified earlier in the process must be planned for at the detailed level. Operational planning is tactical and must assign accountabilities at the project level and delineate to the maximum extent possible the timelines, dependency relationships, resource allocations and costs relative to the allocated budgets across operational areas to avoid as many collisions and conflicts as possible.

    For accountability to exist, the team and all who are affected by the plan must understand what is to be accomplished and within what time frame. After all, it is impossible to hold people accountable for accomplishing a key outcome if there no basis to measure. Similarly, an objective that is not bound by time can never be considered to be complete or have insufficient progress because the team working on it has unlimited time in which to complete it.

    #bizcoachstevef

  • Difficult Conversations

    Use your coaching skills

    Many owners and leaders have confided in me that one of the most difficult aspects of their job are those difficult conversations that have to have with their employees. A lot of those leaders either ignore them or hope they will go away by themselves. But wishful thinking is not managerial thinking. To face up to personal employee habits that may upset customers or colleagues, team leaders need to have a strategy, a plan, and the skills to confidently know how to put things right. As with everything, there are right ways and wrong ways to have these sensitive discussions and I hope you choose the right way.

    Difficult Conversations: A 5-Point Plan

    The following plan can be applied to any difficult conversation with an employee whose habits need to be changed. These include employees with unpleasant personal habits, such as poor personal hygiene, as well as employees with attitude problems.

    1. It’s Only Difficult If You Think It Is

    Drop the idea that this will be a “difficult” conversation. Look at it in terms of a performance issue. Focus on the desired outcome which is always to bring the person up to the standards required of everyone. Remember that you have the assertive right to raise the issue if it is something that affects you or the people you are responsible for. You don’t have to justify, explain or excuse yourself.

    2. Even When It’s a Personal Issue, Don’t Make It Personal

    Many “difficult” situations arouse strong emotions in people which in turn make the exchange appear personal. The only feeling you should have is a desire to help the other person. If you are feeling angry, anxious, or embarrassed, stop. Connect your head to your heart. Discuss what the person is doing and what they can do differently. This is not about who they are.

    3. Ease Your Way In

    In any conversation that deals with personal issues, it is best to ease your way in while not misleading the person about the subject under discussion. One good route into the personal is to start with clichés, such as “How’s things going?”, then to move on to facts, proceed to their views, and finally to how they feel. Do this without skirting around the issues or trying to sneak the issue in under the guise of something else.

    4. Link Your Feedback to a Business Issue

    If you are the team leader, you need to relate everything in the conversation to business issues, e.g. “your appearance (manner; hair style; hygiene; grooming; attitude) isn’t what our customers’ expect from a business like ours”. While they may want to explain why they are behaving as they are, “why” is not what it’s about. Acknowledge their reasons, but don’t go there. For you, it’s more about “what” – what they are doing and what they can do differently.

    5. Have a Neutral Spot Where You Can Both Go If Things Become Awkward

    If people become defensive, it is likely that you’ve hit a raw nerve. It’s at this stage that you need to back off by going to a neutral third spot where you can both look at the behavior dispassionately. Don’t challenge them by saying something like, “Your personal hygiene needs to be improved”. Instead, say something like, “Let’s try to figure out why you and I see this issue differently”.

    Difficult Conversations: You Can Succeed

    Difficult conversations are unavoidable in the workplace but, given the right approach and the right skills, they can be managed. You should aim to put emotions, stress, and personal issues aside and bring behavior, performance, and the business center-stage. Keep your composure, be compassionate, and be determined to create a successful outcome.

    Whatever you do, don’t avoid these conversations otherwise the issue will grow and fester. It will impact more of your business operations than you know. Develop a plan of action before having these difficult conversations and you, the employee and the business will be much better off.

     

    #bizcoachstevef

  • Time Management is Painful

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    We all want to feel good, and not feel bad. Therefore, we prefer that change be comfortable. Sometimes it is. Most of the time it’s not. As you may have heard said in the fitness world, “No pain, no gain.”

    You want to slim your waistline? Bigger muscles? You earn that progress through discomfort. You’re going to sweat, and it’s going to burn. Sure, you’ll feel great afterward, but the process is going to hurt. That’s how you know it’s working. That, and seeing the results when you stick with it over time.

    Business change works exactly the same way. In my experience as a coach, it’s your relationship to discomfort that makes all the difference. Leadership is a challenge, so working on yourself as a leader should feel like a workout. You are intentionally doing things that make you uncomfortable to improve yourself and your business. It’s not easy. But it doesn’t have to lead to burnout. In fitness, it’s called over-training. In business, it’s called overwhelm.

    Having more time in your day is right there for the taking, but you have to accept some discomfort to get there. Over the years, the most successful clients I’ve had are the ones willing to accept this short-term ‘pain’ for the long-term benefit.

    Can you leave the house every morning in sixty minutes flat? Can you cut your lunches to thirty for a while? Can you say “No” to some brilliant and fun projects that you know you can’t really focus on?

    Can you train someone on your staff today to handle three things that you know you shouldn’t be dealing with as the business leader?

    Are you willing to post office hours for the only times of the day where employees can interrupt you?

    Some of these things may sound easy but putting it into practice is another story. Going out of our normal routine can be very uncomfortable. Just remember why you’re doing this – it’s in the best interest of the business and you as the owner.

    In the end, you’ll realize that “I don’t have time” is almost never true, it’s just that you haven’t yet made the difficult choices about how you use your time. And making those choices is the first step to creating a business that works.

    Not enough sales, people problems, cash flow issues, etc. – are all symptoms – they’re all a call to face the discomfort directly and solve it first by making the time. Then you’ll have your strength to be able to lift the real weights of finance or management systems or whatever your business needs next. It all begins with you.

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