Here’s my latest Big Idea from Peninsula’s Bottom Line Online – a book review looking at Jim Champy’s Outsmart!

http://www.peninsula-uk.com/blog/blogentries/55/The-Big-Idea-%E2%80%93-Outsmarting-The-Competition.html

The Big Idea – Outsmarting The Competition

24/01/2012

I’m a business book junkie. Not necessarily the highfalutin strategy type MBA books – although they have their place, of course – but I love the more accessible ones where you can quickly get some new ideas and tips to take away and put into practice.

I also hoover up biographies of business leaders for the same reason, scribbling down notes as I go and learning why they made such a success of their careers. The beauty of my latest gadget passion – the Amazon Kindle – is that you don’t need to lug heavy tomes around with you, but can dip in and out of as many books as you like, whenever you like, and order more and more at the click of a button. Dangerously addictive – but then again, you can never read enough.

A few hours spent learning about someone else’s approach or world view and I find I come away refreshed and full of new ideas for my own business and sometimes even my own life.

So I thought I’d spend the next few Big Ideas stealing other people’s Big Ideas – or more precisely and less plagiaristically, summarising them – and sharing with you some of my favourite reads and what I’ve taken from them.

A recent read was by an American business guru Jim Champy called “Outsmart!” which, whilst not available in the UK, you can get in hard copy from www.amazon.com or download directly to an e-reader. Champy is Chairman of Perot Systems’ consulting practice in the US and their head of strategy. Despite such fearsome credentials, he writes in an incredibly accessible manner comprehensible to the layman and gives top tips and guidelines that are relevant to every business and every industry.

Rather than taking case studies from very well-known, global businesses as so many business gurus do, Champy looks at real, sometimes small town, entrepreneurial success stories and analyses why they’ve outsmarted their competition.

After outlining the story of the company, he then talks through what they did well, where they went wrong, how they learnt from mistakes along the way and what the main differentiating features are of each company, which has allowed them to outsmart their rivals. Absolutely none of this is rocket science and sometimes it even feels like Champy is stating the blindingly obvious.

But that’s exactly why I like this book so much. It reminds us that so much of business is not rocket science but generally about getting the basics right, time after time. It’s about innovating and moving, it’s about vigilance and fundamentally it’s about hard work. By analysing these relatively small but very successful businesses in such detail, Champy helps us to focus on what’s really important and what really will work for our own enterprises.

Some of the areas Champy covers are:

Compete by seeing what others don’t – spot gaps in the market and find ways to bridge them

Compete by thinking outside the bubble – challenge stereotypes and dated practices to create an entirely new business area where there’s a real need

Compete by using all you know – reinventing an ageing business, making the most of your existing skills and talent base and reinvigorating a tiring workforce and brand.

Compete by changing your frame of reference – keep looking beyond your immediate world to see where else your company could develop, spot new trends and don’t be afraid to move in a different direction if that where’s the market’s moving.

Compete by doing everything yourself – find out what you’re really good at, what makes you distinctive, and how to get and retain the best people so you can keep what you need to in-house and maintain your standards.

Compete by tapping into the success of others – how one company piggy-backed on the success of another, having spotted a gap in what the larger company were making to make a huge success of their own associated product.

Compete by creating order out of chaos – how you can hone your own special resources and skill sets to bring new order to chaotic, dysfunctional or fragmented industries.

Compete by simplifying complexity – howit’s possible to use straight-thinking, a new approach and technology to challenge and streamline supply issues and create new business opportunities.

The other thing I really like about this book, as well as its simplicity, logic and accessibility, is its layout. Along each chapter there are sidebar notes with quotes and comments which make it very easy to dip in and out of and just learn from very quickly. With thoughts from Darwin to Drucker, Champy certainly takes you on an interesting, eclectic and varied journey in his book whilst never lurching into a preachy or overly academic tone. And the summaries at the end of each chapter are brilliant refreshers to remind you of the key points to take away from each case study.

Highly recommended and highly readable, Champy’s book is available from http://amzn.to/A2e6zy or downloadable on e-readers. Jim Champy – “Outsmart! How to do what your competitors can’t.”

Latest article published in Insurance Age

http://www.peninsula-uk.com/bottomlineexpress/498/The-Big-Idea–Goal-Setting-and-Planning-for-the-New-Year.html

The Big Idea: Goal Setting and Planning for the New Year

The New Year is a natural time to re-evaluate where your life is heading and whether you’re getting what you want to get from your brief span of time on this earth. Many people feel adrift in life – they work all the hours of the day but don’t really seem to achieve what they want. They’re paddling hard but the canoe just isn’t moving anywhere fast, if at all. 

So how can you step back and evaluate whether you’re getting what you want from life and, if not, what can you do about it?

One of the main reasons that people don’t achieve what they want from life is that they haven’t invested any time in thinking about what they actually desire and how they can attain it. As with so many things, planning is essential for a positive outcome.
Initially you need to set some goals. Goal setting helps you to choose where you want to go in life and where to concentrate your efforts. This helps you get motivated and focused on what really matters to you. 

But setting a goal isn’t enough. Setting goals without having a plan in place to achieve them is just making a wish list of your dreams, which anyone can do. In order to achieve what you want to achieve, you’ve got to have some resolve (that’s why we make “resolutions” at New Year) and a fair bit of discipline thrown into the mix. Alongside your goals, there needs to be some serious planning to work out how to achieve what you dream of and a commitment to investing the time to do it. 

Sounds too much like hard work? Fine, but then don’t complain if you find yourself in exactly the same place this time next year. You can’t run a marathon without putting in some serious training, so why should life be any different?

First things first. Get on with your planning as soon as you can. The more time that elapses, the less likely you are to do it. Harness your motivation – get out a pen and paper, get on your computer, buy a new notebook and start thinking, dreaming and planning. Writing it down is essential – it helps you clarify your thoughts and gives you a benchmark to refer to. If you’re visual, stick in pictures, doodle, draw your dreams – everyone expresses themselves differently. 

Goal-Setting
Let’s look at goal setting. You need to set sharply defined and clear goals that are measurable. There are loads of theories and books on how to set and achieve goals, but one way to start is to think about the very, very big picture. What do you really value and what do you most want to achieve by the time you shuffle off this mortal coil? Think about areas such as career, home, family, education, creativity, philanthropy, finances, personal growth, physical activity, recreation and relaxation. For some people achieving spiritual happiness far outweighs anything you can measure with a certificate or by pounds, shillings and pence. So be honest with yourself about what really matters to you. Don’t try to be someone you’re not – no one is judging you and there’s no one, apart from you, who knows what you truly want from life. 

This part of the exercise, in its simplest form, is about getting yourself to a place from which, when you die (which you will, incidentally) you can look back and feel proud, at peace and fulfilled. We don’t all want to scale Everest or run a Fortune 100 company. Our diversity is our beauty. But generally most people do want to feel they’ve lived a life that mattered, in whatever way matters to them. 

Spend some time on this and then choose the three or four goals that will really transform your life and that will make the most difference to you. Having a few really significant goals is far more achievable than having a raft of unattainable dreams you’ll feel overwhelmed by. 

Planning
Then it’s down to the planning. Nothing is achieved in a day, but the way you live each day, the way you spend each hour, can set you on your path to fulfilling your ambitions. Small, achievable steps taking you in the direction you want to go is the way to make things happen. 

Think about what you need to do to get where you want to go and plan what you could do over the next six months to get further down that path. Do you need to read more in a certain area? Do you need a qualification? Do you need to get fitter? Do you need to move location? Do you need to learn budgeting or get a financial adviser? Do you need to find a teacher in your chosen field? Do you need to join a dating agency or a club where you’ll meet like-minded people? Then make a daily to-do list where you cover off just a few small steps and, little by little, you’ll start making progress and seeing real change. 

By working out where you want to be heading and identifying the skill gaps preventing you attaining the things you desire, you can begin to work on filling the gaps to get where you want to be. 

We’ve discussed before the helpful SMART mnemonic which can be a useful check when setting goals and making plans. It’s always good to check your goals meet these criteria – Specific/Significant, Measurable/Meaningful, Attainable/Action-Oriented, Relevant/Rewarding and Time-Bound/Track-able.�

Keep in mind that this is a life’s work and not something you can rush so be patient and take it slowly. Also your views can change, so be sure to review your goals regularly and check they are still relevant to what you really want from life. Be flexible and most importantly, be kind and true to yourself. A great friend of mine, a career-girl who had sworn she never wanted children and had married her husband on that premise, was absolutely terrified of telling him she had changed her mind and suddenly desperately felt a desire to start a family. When she finally broached it after months of internal turmoil, it turned out he’d had exactly the same change of heart as he’d entered his thirties. They’re now happy parents of two children and still enjoying successful careers. So don’t assume you’ll always feel the same way as you do when you make your plan out because things, circumstances, values and people change and life has a way of throwing curve balls at you. 

Recognise your successes and congratulate yourself as you achieve even the smallest steps on your plan. Any resolution is completed in small increments and each one is an achievement in itself. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t achieve something – just learn the lessons, work out why and tackle it differently. You may have bitten off more than you can chew and need to take things more slowly or you may need to re-evaluate whether your goal is realistic within your timeframe. 

And remember that the path to achieving goals is as important as achieving the goal itself – so relax and try and enjoy it. That’s what life is about and that’s where you’ll gain the most experience, challenge and pleasure. As J.M. Barrie so rightly said: “You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by; but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by.”  Make sure to take in some rose-smelling along the way whilst you tend to your garden and watch it grow.

Deborah Done is managing director of Nab Communications – http://www.nabcommunications.co.uk

http://www.peninsula-uk.com/bottomlineexpress/481/The-Big-Idea–Effective-Delegation.html

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” So said Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States from 1901-1909. A century later, add a few women in alongside those men to bring the sentiment a touch more up to date, and you have the essence of effective delegation. 

I’ve written before about time management and how learning to delegate well is absolutely essential to getting better at managing your time. The more you can focus on your own priorities, the more effectively you can achieve that which you need to achieve, concentrate on what really matters and take on the tasks that add more value to your life and your business. As one of my management heroes Stephen Covey points out: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

But delegation isn’t easy. It’s human nature to hold onto things and to think that perhaps we can do them better than someone else. And sometimes the investment of time in training someone up to take a task away from us just feels too great. But learning how to delegate effectively can be one of the skills that elevates you from a follower to a real leader.

So how to do it better? I’ve pulled together a list of some top tips to think about when learning how to delegate and to ensure you get the best results from the process.

1. Take some time to yourself to work out exactly what results you want to achieve from a job. That way you can ensure you identify exactly the right person to handle it. Classic poor delegation technique involves selecting the nearest person in the office who looks as though they have some time on their hands and throwing a task at them. This is not delegation. This is more accurately known as “dumping”. By working out exactly what the task requires, what results you want to achieve and who best fits the profile for the job, then you will get far better results. 

2. Secondly, wherever possible, to try to delegate a “whole” task rather than just a small part of a process. That’s because it’s quite difficult for people to visualise what they are supposed to be doing if it doesn’t make coherent sense to them and they can’t see the end game. If that’s impossible, then take some time to explain the overall project, where their bit fits in and what the final aim is. Also emphasise what value their contribution will make. If people feel empowered and can see that they are making a contribution, even in a small way, they are far more likely to respond positively and do a good job. And take time to emphasise why you’ve chosen them especially for the job – which you’ll already know, if you’ve done your homework on point one.

3. Equip them. Make sure people have the right tools and training for the job you’re asking them to perform and provide them if they don’t.  

4. Don’t expect miracles. If someone has never done a job before then they aren’t going to get it right first time. Try to take a long term view and think about the benefits in the future of training this person up to do a certain task. Leave them enough rope to have some freedom and feel independent in performing the task, but not enough for them to hang themselves with and scupper the project. Try to keep a watchful eye whilst avoiding micro-management. A tough balance but vital.

5. Be open-minded. Just because you’ve done a certain task in a certain way for a number of years, it doesn’t mean that it’s the only way or the most effective way. If you’ve chosen someone you believe in, they may come up with a more effective or more innovative approach. Delegation is far more about telling people what needs doing rather than telling them how to do it. 

6. Communication is key. You need to make it absolutely clear what the project involves, what you expect from the person you’re delegating to and by when you need it to be achieved. Also explain how you like things to be done. If you expect a daily update with a progress report, then tell them that. Don’t expect people to be mind readers. If you’re in a position to delegate, then you’re in a position to teach as well.

7. Encourage upward feedback. Make it clear you want to hear from them if they have questions or feel unsure about something. Whilst you don’t want to nanny them, there’s no shame in double checking if in doubt.

8. Build in some slack. People make mistakes. Things go wrong. Sometimes people tell you things are going well when in fact they’re in a blind panic and don’t know what to do next. So make sure there’s some slack in the timeline to redress the balance if it isn’t perfect.

9. Here’s a good quote. “Delegation is not abdication” (Brian Tracey). Remember the ultimate responsibility is still yours even if you’ve delegated a task. If it fails, it’s either because you’ve chosen the wrong person, haven’t communicated the task well or haven’t explained the results you expect. So stay on top of it even if only from a distance. 

10. Provide feedback. After a task, sit down with the colleague and let them know how they performed against the benchmarks you set up and how satisfactorily they completed the task in hand. Also encourage them to give you feedback about how you delegated and how successful they felt the process has gone. It’s a valuable learning curve for you both.

And finally remember that delegation is not necessarily a chore or something to be feared. It can be fantastically rewarding as a manager to see your team learn and grow in their roles as they take on more responsibilities and develop in confidence, as well as the clear benefits it brings to you to get on with the stuff you want to do where you add more value. As Andrew Carnegie so rightly said: “No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.” 

Deborah Done, the author of our Big Ideas, is founder and director of Nab Communications, a freelance public relations agency which provides sensible and value for money PR advice to regional and national businesses.
WWW.NABCOMMUNICATIONS.CO.UK

http://www.peninsula-uk.com/bottomlineexpress/442/The-Big-Idea—Making-The-Most-of-The-Time-We-Have.html

“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” So wrote the essayist, lecturer and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson more than one hundred years ago and his words ring as true as ever. The issue of how to use our time as effectively as possible remains a great problem for many of us, particularly in this age of instant communication and round-the-clock connectivity.

The first thing to realize is that essentially time management is nonsense. However smart you might be, you can only work with what you’ve got, and that’s 24 hours in a day. What you actually need to work on is managing yourself. The time you have is finite – that’s the deal – so all you can change is the way you interact with the time you have.

So how can you do that? The first thing is to identify your “time thieves” – the things that occupy you so you don’t do what you need to do. Procrastination is indeed the thief of time and it can take many forms – Internet surfing, Facebooking, chatting to colleagues, making personal calls. All of these activities can steal our time, sap our energy and enthusiasm and significantly reduce our productivity.

To combat this, some people take a day or two to track exactly how they spend their time. There are free assessment tools on the web that can help you do this such as www.toggl.com (or you can just use old-fashioned pen and paper). Just quickly jot down every half an hour how you’ve spent your time. It can be a real shock to the system to realize how much time you actually spend on activities that simply don’t contribute to your bottom line or indeed make you feel that great about yourself and your day.

That’s not to say that social networking, shopping on the web or chatting to your friends can’t make you happy. But there’s a time and a place. If it’s at the expense of the quality of your work, or if you end up putting yourself under extra pressure to meet a deadline because you’ve wasted time during the day, then try to knock these things on the head during work time.

This leads onto the next tip. Once you’ve identified where you’re wasting time, plan and prioritize ruthlessly. Take a look at the broader picture – look at your own personal and career goals in the short term and long term. Are you spending your days doing things that support these greater goals? Or are short-term, urgent tasks using up all your time and taking you away from your true priorities?

Stephen Covey in his masterpiece on personal effectiveness “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” suggests that change starts within oneself, emphasizing my initial point that time management is really about learning to manage oneself. Covey believes we need to focus on important but non-urgent activities, such as preparation and planning, relationship-building, learning, self-development and so on. These help not only how we spend our time day-to-day but enhance the integrity of our lives as a whole.

So it’s worth taking some time to check that the activities we are undertaking day-to-day are supporting our longer term goals and that we aren’t driven by a reactive, short term agenda.

Weekly planning is a really helpful time management technique to support this end. Try taking some time once a week – for me it’s a Sunday evening – to do some serious forward planning and note some lessons from what you’ve learned the week before, again using online tools or a paper planner if you prefer.

I swear by Covey’s weekly planner, available online in pdf form, which not only helps you plan and prioritize weekly goals and day-by-day activities but also includes a section on social, emotional, spiritual and physical development. Covey calls this “sharpening the saw”. He believes that unless you schedule in some time for these broader elements of life, as well as work-driven activities, you will not be making the most of your time and your existence. And certainly we all function better with some sleep, good nutrition, social interaction and a bit of exercise – so schedule it if you aren’t getting enough of it.

During your weekly planning time, see if you can break down your long-term projects into a series of short-term goals and schedule some time for these bite-sized chunks into each week. That way you feel you’re chipping away at them little by little and major long-term projects seem more manageable.

Take time to seriously evaluate what will be filling your week ahead. Challenge habitual tasks that you may undertake because they’ve “always been done that way”. Work out what you really want to be doing in your job and think about ways you might achieve that more consistently. Look at processes and systems – is there a quicker or a more efficient way? Are there tools you can find online to improve the way you do things? Are there books you can buy to learn how to sharpen up your skills? Make a list. Take responsibility for your own life and career and don’t expect it to be given to you on a plate. Start asking more questions to see whether deadlines really are as tight as people state – find out what their real needs and expectations are.

You may immediately find you can reduce your non-essential workload and concentrate on the real value-added tasks, which will give you more satisfaction within a more manageable timeframe.

Alongside your weekly plan, which should guide the overall direction of your week, take ten minutes every morning to plan out your day before you get going and prioritize your to-do list. Remember to include planning and preparation time for longer-term projects as well as the more immediate, short term tasks. Then, the key to your day is quite simple. First things first, and one thing at a time. Get going as soon as possible and try to tackle your most important tasks first. It often helps to work in short, focused bursts concentrating on one task at a time then taking frequent breaks to get some air, have some water and change your scenery.

If possible, allocate three to four blocks of time per day to check and reply to emails rather than constantly monitoring them. This admittedly doesn’t work for all businesses, for example those in logistics and so on where speed is of the essence. But going backwards and forwards on email traffic can be a terrible time thief so don’t give into the temptation to spend all day fielding emails rather than actually producing something tangible (particularly when getting up and walking across the room might solve the problem more quickly).

It’s important to ask yourself whether the respondent actually wants an immediate response or a considered response. Sometimes, in a crisis situation, responses have to be immediate – but more often than not, habit and precedent dictate email behaviour rather than necessity. I recall one client saying to me: “I’m not impressed when someone sends a dashed-off email by return from their Blackberry. I don’t pay you guys for immediate, off the cuff advice. I can do that myself. I pay you guys to think on my behalf.” A good lesson.

Sometimes daring to be slower and taking a bit of thinking time can be more impressive than being the first out of the traps.

Delegation is another key skill in becoming a better manager of yourself and your own time. No matter how small your business is, there’s no need to be a one-person show. Try to pinpoint which tasks you’d be better outsourcing or delegating to allow you to focus on the areas where you can really add value. In order to maximize your own personal ROI (which is essentially what you’re doing by improving your time management skills) you need to do the things that really matter, not the peripherals that someone else could handle for you, however enticing they might be to avoid focusing on the more difficult stuff. And people tend to respect you all the more for it.

And don’t waste time waiting around and twiddling your thumbs. We all find ourselves sometimes with time to kill stuck in a cab, on the tube, in an airport lounge and so on. So always have something with you to pass the time and carry a notebook for your planning and ideas. With the plethora of electronic devices and e-readers available, you can reduce your email box, read some interesting articles you’ve been meaning to get around to or dip into the latest business thinking. 

Finally, if you want something to kick start you into some action, then try this quote for size. Remember though that we all have to start somewhere – so first things first, and one thing at a time. 

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Louis Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”
(H. Jackson Brown)

Deborah Done, the author of our Big Ideas, is founder and director of Nab Communications, a freelance public relations agency which provides sensible and value for money PR advice to regional and national businesses.
WWW.NABCOMMUNICATIONS.CO.UK

http://www.peninsula-uk.com/bottomlineexpress/434/The-Big-Idea—The-Leadership-Legacy-of-Steve-Jobs.html

Last week marked the departure of one of the most iconic figures from the international corporate stage, as Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, stepped down after some years of ill-health.  The very fact that his resignation had been slowly and carefully stage-managed for more than a year indicates both the personal impact that Jobs has had on the Apple organisation and the intimate association that intrinsically binds Jobs the individual and Apple the brand. 

Jobs’ fame has spawned many articles, books and even scholarly texts analysing why he has such global resonance as a leader. His decision-making skills are so admired that an acronym has grown up in his honour – “WWSJD?” i.e. “What would Steve Jobs do?” So what is it about this man that makes him stand out from the crowd and what could we, as relative minnows in the business world, learn from his style and his philosophy?

It’s important to keep in mind from the start that Jobs is not universally loved. He’s a controversial man who divides opinion and who is famous for a fiercely autocratic style. “Aggressive”, “demanding”, “Silicon Valley’s leading egomaniac” are among the epithets Jobs has inspired. Not for him a collaborative, “buddy buddy” style of management. Tales of his temper tantrums are legendary. However Jobs’ belief is that as a leader, you aren’t there to be your subordinates’ best friend – a tip we could all learn as business owners and leaders. “My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better,” Jobs was quoted as saying in Fortune Magazine.

The flipside of (or perhaps the complement to?) this drive and aggression is that Jobs is often cited as an inspiring and charismatic leader. Charismatic people are rarely the easiest of individuals and Jobs seems no exception. He is a wonderful storyteller and uses his powerful public speaking ability to captivate his audiences. His famous address to Stanford University in 2005, widely available on Google, is worth seeking out as a read in itself to get a sense of what makes this man tick and what has driven him through life. He can fire up audiences with the power of an evangelist, and this quality is certainly reflected in the zealot-like adoration shown by the millions of devotees to Apple’s products. 

What Jobs certainly had in spades when building his company was an exceptionally clear vision of what he wanted to achieve, and the drive to effect that change. His passion for what he produced was powerful to the point of obsession. And as such, he expected the same commitment from those who worked for him, which may have produced tensions but also provided a fertile breeding ground for some of the world’s most innovative new products. Jobs famously took a course in calligraphy when a young man, and that attention to design, shape, simplicity, form and detail is synonymous with Apple. He was renowned for his tendency to micromanage his employees (again hardly textbook management behaviour, but a hallmark of the perfectionist) although in recent years he is reputed to have mellowed somewhat.

But Apple’s success isn’t just down to the appearance of its products. “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works,” Jobs once remarked. And therein lies another of Jobs’ great talents. As well as being a passionate perfectionist with vision and an eye for detail, he also knew his technical stuff inside out and could hire people with absolutely the right skill set. He and his team created real products which not only worked but which looked fabulous and which people not only wanted to own but desired and coveted. Famously when Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, having been forced out ten years earlier, his first question was: “Tell me what is wrong with this place?” Which, typically, he answered himself: “It’s the products. The products suck. There is no sex in them anymore.”
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“My philosophy is that everything starts with a great product,” he told Newsweek back in 1985, way before the Iphone, Ipod or Ipad hit our collective consciousness.  The combination of creativity and design flair with a genius for marketing, plus a serious dash of hard-nosed business acumen (left brain right brain skills, some might say) seemed to come together in this one exceptional individual. 

Interestingly, Apple also challenged the common belief that the customer is always right. Although the company absolutely recognised that the relationship with the customer is vital, it also believed that the customer doesn’t always know what he or she actually needs. Jobs was fond of quoting Henry Ford: “If I had asked customers what they’d wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse.” Of course they would – because  a car didn’t exist and was beyond most people’s conceptual ability. As a true visionary, Jobs read the market, anticipated its direction and blindsided it with completely new products, even in the face of initial mockery. He had the self-confidence to decide what was best for the consumer, irrespective of what they thought they needed, and sell it to them with chutzpah and passion. 

Jobs was also fearless in his corporate decisions. He didn’t have it easy – having been ousted from Apple, which he had co-founded, he could have shrunk into oblivion or lived quietly with his wife and three children for the rest of his days. However, instead he founded NeXT Computers and Pixar Animation (heard of them?) demonstrating yet again not only his visionary abilities but his entrepreneurial spirit.  How sweet it must have been for Jobs when Apple subsequently purchased NeXT for $429 million dollars so it could use the technology to upgrade its by then dated Mac OS system. And, as if the moment could not have been more delicious, Jobs resumed his place as CEO as an intrinsic part of the deal – with an extremely tasty share package to boot.

His courage, extreme focus and his ability to take difficult decisions, was shown during this period when he immediately reduced the product range on which Apple was working from forty to four. Commercial suicide, some people suggested.  “Focus means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are,” Jobs said to Fortune magazine.  He identified which ones would be great rather than good and invested all Apple’s energies in making that happen. The rest is history, which we’ll probably listen to on our Ipods, read through our Ipads or hear about chatting on our Iphones.
In summary, Jobs is far from a text-book example of classic management behaviour. He doesn’t tick all the boxes and indeed rips some of them up. But we can learn much from him as to how to take our own companies forward. 

Here are just a few ideas we may want to take from the extraordinary legacy to business thinking that Steve Jobs has left in his wake.

1. Don’t be your employees’ best friend. Be their leader and guide and you’ll bring out the best in them.
2. Inspire your employees and your customers through your passion for your business or product.
3. Have a vision of what you want to achieve and why.
4. Keep innovating.
5. Great design is not enough. You need a great product as well.
6. Challenge your customers’ beliefs about what they want.
7. Don’t give into knockbacks but keep your entrepreneurial spirit.
8. Keep focused on the best ideas in your organisation. Don’t try to do everything. 

And finally here’s my favourite Steve Jobs quote, from his Stanford speech. Although it applies to business, it’s really about life in general, and given Jobs’ battle with cancer, he knows a bit about life as well as business. Every time I read it, it makes me re-evaluate my priorities and check my life is heading where I want it to be heading – and re-calibrate if necessary. That’s something to be treasured and a legacy worth leaving.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

http://www.peninsula-uk.com/bottomlineexpress/398/The-Big-Idea–Making-the-Most-of-Working-from-Home.html

Working from home may seem like a dream solution for many people and many employers are latching onto the benefits of allowing their employees to operate remotely, at least for some their working time.

The idea of rolling out of bed and into the office without the need to sit in a hot car or sweaty tube; the freedom to come and go from your desk as you please and the prospect of a better work/life balance are all possible benefits to be gained by working from home. However there are pitfalls and negatives as well, so it’s worth weighing up the options.

Evidence has shown that working from home can improve employee retention, particularly those employees who are parents with childcare responsibilities or other carers. It can also improve staff motivation, reduce stress and sickness levels and can save costs for the employer in terms of office space and provision of other on site facilities.

However, the potential drawbacks are clear. It can be far more difficult to monitor and manage staff when they aren’t physically based under one roof.  IT problems can increase and there is a greater risk in relation to the sharing and protecting of data when operating through remote systems.  It can be more difficult to engender team spirit and keep staff updated on training and internal developments. And meeting health and safety standards can be trickier when dealing with staff in many different locations.

Whilst there are clearly some jobs where home working isn’t ever going to be an option, sometimes splitting an employee’s time between the home and office can be a good solution with the employee coming in for some of his or her working week or at least attending key meetings on site.
If home working is the route that you are taking, how can you keep yourself motivated and ensure you stay productive whilst enjoying the benefits of working from your own four walls?

Essentially self-discipline is the key to effective home working. Remember that you’re still working. It’s important, if at all possible, to have a separate space that is designated a working area – even the space under the stairs or cordoning off a section of the spare room. Otherwise the temptations to make another cup of tea, sort out that laundry basket or watch just one match of Wimbledon can be too great to resist. Keep your workspace organised and tidy as you would in the office and make it clear that when Mum or Dad are working, they aren’t to be interrupted unnecessarily by little people who want to play with the stapler.

One tip you often read about working from home is to “dress the part” as you would if you were in the office. I’m unconvinced by this one – surely one of the benefits is that you don’t need to spend an hour in the morning putting on your best bib and tucker? Nonetheless, there is something to be said for being in the right mindset for getting down to your work – so at least ditch the pyjamas.

Make sure that you’ve got a defined reporting system in place with your employer back at the ranch. It’s vital to be as contactable as you would be in the office. Look into basic and free videoconferencing tools such as http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/home to stay connected (another reason to avoid pyjamas). Have your mobile charged and with you at all times, particularly if moving around the house or stretching your legs in the garden.
Have your IT department advise you on whatever remote systems are necessary to ensure you can access your work database in a secure and efficient manner. And installing an instant messaging service such as Google Talk is a great way to catch up with fellow employees, share information and give updates, as you would if you were physically under one roof.

Working from home can be isolating and it’s important to stay connected both with fellow workers and with people in a similar situation to you. There are some great forums – my favourite is www.enterprisenation.com – where you can link up with other home workers to share tips, information and advice.

It’s important to check in regularly with your employer to ensure you are keeping them briefed about your activities and to demonstrate you are staying productive. Set your working hours and try to stick to them as far as possible. Whilst one of the great advantages of home working is its flexibility, make sure you do keep up and monitor your hours because it’s far easier at home to get distracted and fall behind.  Also try to work around your natural biorhythms – if you’re a morning person and you don’t have to work set 9-5 hours, then why not get up a bit earlier and maximise your most productive period?

The flip side of putting the hours in is to know when to finish. Often when working from home people work late into the night or return to the “office” to do one more little thing after the children are in bed. Whilst hard work and dedication are always laudable, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to achieve your work targets within your agreed working hours if you are productive during that period.  Overworking – or working intermittently and erratically – can cause fatigue, stress and that feeling of “never switching off”. This can be detrimental to health and general well-being, which defeats one the main objectives of working from home.

One way to avoid this pitfall is to try to work in blocks of time and have proper breaks in between. A home worker myself, my optimum working block is 90 minutes – if I’m writing or doing something that requires focus, I’ll try not to check email or be distracted during that period. Once completed, I then give myself a little “reward” – a stroll around the block with the dog to get some fresh air, a ten minute run, a cup of tea and a read of the newspaper. Variety is key when working from home and the block/break approach allows me to keep my day both productive and stimulating.

Having regular yet brief breaks when working from home keeps motivation going and avoids boredom. In an office environment these breaks tend to happen more naturally – when you stop for a chat with a colleague, pop into someone’s office for a meeting and so on. Also, by working in blocks it’s easier to record your time and report back to your employer on what you’ve been doing.

And finally – the simplest tip of all – keep hydrated. Mental performance, including concentration, memory and attention span can all be affected by dehydration. So always have a jug of water on your desk at home and make sure you drink throughout the day otherwise your performance will suffer.
Incorporating at least some of these tips into your day as your work from home should help you become a productive, connected, balanced and motivated home worker with an employer who is up to speed on your activities and confident you’re achieving your goals. Potentially a win-win situation.

Deborah Done, the author of our Big Ideas, is founder and director of Nab Communications, a freelance public relations agency which provides sensible and value for money PR advice to regional and national businesses.
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The Big Idea – The Power of the Webinar

A webinar is one of those irritating cyber shorthand words, meaning a “web-based seminar”. I was initially very sceptical about the value of webinars. Why would anyone take time out of their working day to click into a remote access meeting? It felt soulless, boring and quite frankly, a bit geeky. At least that was my view until I received an invitation email from a company hosting a webinar on a topic that I was actually interested in – social media, as it happens – and a new means of learning, developing, marketing and networking was opened up to me.

As a participant, a webinar is essentially a way to attend a conference, seminar or group meeting without leaving home or your office. Through your computer, you can hear a presentation as if you were on a conference call and watch the presenter’s slides on the screen.
Sometimes webinars are one-way, i.e. there is no interaction between the speaker and the participants, but increasingly you can either type in questions at the end of the webinar for the presenter to answer or ask them directly, as in a normal Q&A session, through your computer (VoIP) or over a telephone line.

Often to make the experience more interactive, the participants’ opinions are sought through polling during the presentation. Documents such as the slide pack and recordings of the presentation can also be shared.

The participant receives an invitation to participate in the webinar via email and registers ahead of time to confirm a space and obtain the URL of the webinar and any password needed. Then a couple of reminder emails are sent before the webinar itself reiterating these details. At the set time on the day of the event you simply copy the URL into your internet browser, type in your password and you’re into the seminar.

Not only are webinars a great way to increase your own learning opportunities without leaving the house or office, but as a business owners they can be a brilliant way of connecting with existing customers, potential prospects, or staff. They can be used to sell, to teach, to brief, to market, to network and to broadcast to people around the world at the touch of a button. When used well, they can be an incredibly cost effective way to communicate and educate.

So as a business owner let’s imagine you’re now interested in the possible benefits of holding a webinar. What’s next?

The first thing to decide upon is what to have as the topic of your webinar. If it’s an internal briefing such as teaching staff about a new product or updating them on the company’s progress, then that’s fairly straightforward. But if it’s to an external audience such as prospective customers, then the key is to add value.

People attend webinars when they think they are going to learn something or take something away for free that they did not have before. So try to focus on education – demonstrate your expertise and share your knowledge. Are there new developments in your industry they could benefit from hearing about? Is there a new product that could improve their performance as a business? Are there changes in legislation that could affect their business that you can help with? Try to find something topical, interesting, informative and educational that your clients or potential clients want to hear about.

Once you’ve decided on your topic, then the key to a good webinar is in the preparation and the execution. Firstly you need to find someone to host it for you. There are many service providers offering to host webinar services for companies – just search on Google for a comprehensive list of choices but Livestream, AnyMeeting.com, GoToWebinar, Dimdim and WebEx offer affordable options. Here are some tips when choosing a service provider:

1. Several providers offer a free trial period so take advantage of those to test a few out. Have some dry runs hosting a webinar using members of staff as “guinea pigs” to ensure you’re comfortable with how they work and what the process involves.
2. Ensure easy access for the participants. If the registration process is too long or complicated people will click off before completing registration.
3. Think about whether you want a Q&A, polling facilities, live video and ask for a demonstration of all the features. Make sure the audio and video quality is good and try out the Q&A facilities. If you are going to host a webinar you want it to reflect the quality of your company, service or product. Poor technology will let you down and will turn people off.

Once you’ve chosen who you’re going to use to provide your webinar service, then there are some other things to consider.
Should you charge for webinars? Received wisdom is that it’s better not to charge, particularly while this technology is still in its relative infancy. It seems more sensible to encourage more people to attend by offering information for free, as discussed earlier, to generate goodwill and more leads as a consequence.

How to promote your event? Use social media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to get the word out. Use your company’s blog. There are many listing sites such as webinarhero.com which act as directories for webinars by topic, date and speaker, so make sure you’re included on those. Send an email to your client list and prospects list inviting them to the event with clear details of how to register. Follow up with an email one day before the event and another one an hour before the event to remind people.

Once the logistics are in place and you’re comfortable with the technical side of things, then how does a webinar presenter need to prepare?
Essentially you need to treat it as you would any other event that your company may host. Simply because you’re at the end of a computer rather than face-to-face does not mean that your presentation should be anything less than you’d offer in person. In fact, quite the opposite – given the natural barrier between you and your audience, your content needs to be even more engaging and interesting. Put yourself in the position of an audience member and think to yourself, “What would hold my attention? What would I want to hear?”

As well as interesting content, your delivery style needs to be authoritative, engaging and entertaining. How can you make the presentation visually interesting for the audience? Will you include video and audio clips? Will it be just you speaking alone or would an interview-type formula work better to vary the voices the audience hears?

It’s helpful to have an agenda with timings that you stick to at the beginning of your slide pack, so everyone is clear as to the direction and structure of the event. Explain at the beginning how questions will be handled (will you take them during the session or at the end? Will you be polling for opinions through the seminar?)

Ensure your slides support your presentation but don’t duplicate it. As a presenter, you should always have more to say than your slides actually show, but it’s particularly relevant in a webinar where the slides almost entirely hold the attention of the audience.

Make sure you meet the audience’s expectations. Don’t lure them in with an offer of information and educational content then launch into a sales pitch. Make it relevant, interesting and ensure you reflect exactly what you offered when you invited them. It’s far easier to switch off a computer than it is to walk out of a packed conference room.

Pace the seminar – again this can be done through rehearsal. Make sure you don’t rush through slides and make the changeover from one slide to the next slow enough for people to assimilate what they’ve just heard. Remember they may be taking notes as you speak.

The Q&A session can be a testing time, so don’t forget to prepare for that. Rehearse the areas that might be covered, in particular the difficult ones, and work out beforehand how you’ll answer in a succinct fashion. Also ensure there are a few “planted” questions for the moderator to ask. This ensures the Q&A session gets going if the audience are slow to post their questions.

Of course afterwards don’t forget to follow up. Not only is each participant a possible sales lead or source of referral but also be sure to get their feedback on what they enjoyed about the webinar and what they felt could be improved. Send out a recording and slides to the participants within 24 hours of the webinar to increase goodwill and demonstrate professionalism and responsiveness.

Webinars may be a current buzzword of big business but it seems to me that there’s a huge application for them within the SME community as well. Something that’s both cost effective and cutting edge must be worth a try!

Deborah Done, the author of our Big Ideas, is founder and director of Nab Communications, a freelance public relations agency which provides sensible and value for money PR advice to regional and national businesses. www.nabcommunications.co.uk

Latest Big Idea published today

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In this edition of The Big Idea, I wanted to share with you some fascinating ideas from a book I’ve read recently by Professor Richard Wiseman. Entitled “59 Seconds”, the book works on the basis that there are many simple, effective and practical techniques that can take less than a minute to implement but can significantly improve your life.

The book is broken down into several areas of research with Persuasion, Motivation, Creativity and Decision Making probably being the ones most pertinent to business owners and employers. Wiseman, a professor in psychology, uses evidence-based research to back up his suggestions and recommendations and does so in an easy and accessible way.

One of the things Wiseman looks at is how to give the perfect interview – and as employers, it’s interesting to consider his thoughts whichever side of the desk we’re sitting on. Although previous experience and qualifications are obviously important for a candidate, it appears from research that there is one overwhelming factor as to why interviewers choose one particular candidate as opposed to another, and that is whether the candidate appears to be a pleasant person. It’s as simple as that. 

According to Wiseman, going out of your way to be genuinely pleasant in an interview is more important than any other quality in the interview process and is more likely to get you the job. Whether consciously or unconsciously, studies have shown an interviewer is far more likely to appoint candidates who, for example, smile, maintain eye contact, are enthusiastic and praise the organisation or find a topic of interest to the interviewer outside of work, irrespective of other factors that one would consider rationally as more important.

Another useful tip of Wiseman’s is that presenting weakness early is seen as a sign of openness, not failure. So in a presentation or an interview, research shows that getting the bad stuff out of the way early on shows an honesty which is valued by interviewers. Similarly, Wiseman cites research showing that lawyers presenting a case in court who present the weaknesses in their case early on in the trial have statistically a far better chance of winning the case than those who attempt to hide those weaknesses until later and are therefore seen unconsciously as attempting to mislead. 

Another fascinating observation of Wiseman’s is to sit in the middle or centre of a group if you want to make a good impression in a meeting or presentation. Research has shown that when looking at a group, people use a basic and instinctive rule of thumb, which is that important people sit in the middle. Those around the edge are seen as marginalised and less important. It’s called the “centre-stage effect”.

Use of language is another valuable point that Wiseman raises. It’s always a temptation to try to look more intelligent by using complicated or highbrow language. However, a series of studies have shown that the opposite is true. When rating the intelligence of the authors of various pieces of writing, the readers tended to rate those who used simpler language as possessing far higher intelligence than the authors of the more wordy or complicated pieces. It seems that expressing oneself simply but effectively is valued more highly than complex language, which sends out a negative impression of arrogance and superiority. So keep it simple. 

Another interesting thing to know about which is raised by Wiseman is the “bystander effect”. Time and time again, studies have shown that if, for example, someone has a seizure in the street and there are many people on the spot, very often no one will come to help. But if there is just one person there, the chances are they will assist. It’s as though when many people are around, no one is prepared to take individual responsibility whereas when you’re on your own, the responsibility is all yours instinctively and people seem more likely to step up to the plate.
So as a business owner, the message is clear – try to give individual people individual responsibilities. Don’t allow your employees to become “faceless bystanders” but, by allocating tasks that are theirs and theirs alone, you transform them into a “fully functioning human being” to use Wiseman’s expressions.

And finally, what does Wiseman have to say about motivation – always a thorn in the side of business owners. He is fairly dismissive of one of the classic management tools to inspire motivation – visualisation – and he suggests that it can actually be counterproductive to visualise a perfect or ideal situation, because that can mean one is unprepared for the possible setbacks along the way and the disappointment at not achieving the goal outweighs any benefits of visualising it. 

But he has five suggestions to help you motivate yourself and actually get done the stuff you want to get achieved, and again, he has empirical research to prove these methods work. 

• Firstly define your overall goal then make a series of sub-goals which can become a step-by-step, manageable plan. The sub-goals need to be concrete, measurable and time-based (as we’ve discussed in the Big Idea before). 

• Secondly, tell people about your goals. Keeping your aims to yourself makes it easier to fall back into old ways whereas when others are involved, generally you’re more likely to stick to your aims or promises. 

• Thirdly, remind yourself of why life will be better when you achieve your goals. Having a more positive future to look forward to is a strong motivator.

• Fourthly, give yourself a reward when you achieve each sub-goal to encourage yourself along the way. 

• And finally, keep a record of how you’re doing in a journal, on your computer, through photos or whichever method works for you – but the act of committing your journey to paper is apparently one of the most powerful ways to ensure you’re successful. 

Wiseman’s work is full of interesting tips and techniques, and the beauty of many of them is that you can incorporate them into your life in less time than it takes to make a cup of tea. It’s a great book to dip in and out of, and whether or not you agree with all of his findings, there’s bound to be something in there to at least make you stop and think – if only for 59 seconds.

Please find a link to the book here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/023074429X/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1CEY9XCGBYEBJHBFD98W&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

Deborah Done, the author of our Big Ideas, is founder and director of Nab Communications, a freelance public relations agency which provides sensible and value for money PR advice to regional and national businesses.

Three years ago only the most pessimistic forecaster would have predicted the difficult economic environment in which we as business owners are now operating. Many of us will have seen our businesses go through significant changes over the past few years, for good or bad. Whether we’ve grown or downsized, changed direction, moved into new markets or shaved our costs, change is part and parcel of running a business.

One of the problems that all business owners face is how to communicate change effectively. The more autocratic among us may think that communication is simply unnecessary – “It’s my business and I’ll do what I like with it”. But realistically most enlightened business owners realise that unless changes are communicated and explained, it causes a vacuum in information which can leave the workforce at best undirected and at worst disillusioned.

Don’t think that only “bad” changes such as job losses and redundancies need to be communicated. Even “good” change can be unsettling and disconcerting if not communicated effectively by management. Perception is reality during times of change and what you perceive as something positive may not translate in that way to someone operating on the front line of your business, if they don’t understand why it’s happening.

Effective communication of change can and does positively affect the behaviour of your front line employees during such periods.

So as a manager what are the key things you need to think about when communicating a change to your workforce? Firstly, identify exactly what it is that you are planning to change and why. Clarify in your own mind the objectives for the changes being introduced and the results you hope to achieve as a consequence of implementing them. Avoid management jargon and “MBA speak” and think about your target audience – frame what you are doing in language they will understand.

The next thing is to ensure you communicate from the top and in person. If a major change is being implemented, then it helps if it’s explained by the leader of the business so he or she can be seen as championing the change and leading from the front. Everyone in the business will be influenced by the way you as the boss manage change – so you need to show that you’re personally committed to the process.

Start out by explaining the nature of the changes to be implemented, objectives, anticipated results and set out a clear timeline for the process including key dates, activities and milestones. Then be ready and open to take what may be challenging questions. Be as honest as you can so you are not risking storing up any nasty surprises for the future, even if you’re sharing bad news. Don’t spin it – if the news is bad for some of the audience then it’s only fair and right to acknowledge that openly. Listen carefully to feedback given, deal with concerns and respond quickly to sensitive topics.

But remember that allowing employees to have a voice is not the same as allowing them to have a veto. Nonetheless it does help them feel involved and gives them an assurance that their point of view has been heard in the process.

The next point is timing. Inform employees about a change process as soon as possible. Change takes time to unfold and the sooner they are involved, the less unsettling the whole process will be for them and the less disruptive to the business as a whole. If you don’t know all the facts at the beginning of the process, acknowledge that, but also tell your workforce that you will inform them of new information as the process develops.

Ensure you deliver on that promise. Employers are ultimately judged on their behaviours, not their words (something that applies to most of life in fact!) Try to follow through on your initial messages and if you do need to change direction during the change process, then explain why. Sending out mixed messages to your workforce is a recipe for mistrust which can lead to reduced productivity, disharmony in the workplace and even loss of key staff.

Throughout the change process, communicate often and through lots of different methods, remembering that different people digest information differently. If you’re an SME it could be as simple as an update in the weekly team meeting. But for a larger company, using different vehicles such as a newsletter, email, the intranet as well as face-to-face meetings and presentations can be helpful to cover off your bases.

As a rule of thumb, the Internet is best for getting over information that’s short and easily digestible. Paper is best for more complicated, detailed or new ideas. Additionally, face-to-face methods are best for achieving long-term changes in behaviour. Logical really, because people feel more involved and engaged when dealing with real people.

Whilst frequency of communication is important, don’t sacrifice quality. Ensure you’re sending out significant and substantial information that will mean something to staff during any process of change.

A common mistake is to assume that just because you’re putting out lots of information, it’s actually being taken on board by employees. It’s essential to engage them in the process actively so that you maintain their loyalty and buy-in once the transition is completed. Ensure your communication is two-way. Ask for their feedback on the process and give them many opportunities and methods to share their concerns, raise questions and offer ideas. Hold regular forums if necessary to express their thoughts, worries and contributions. Make sure that you as their leader through this process follow up with answers and updates whenever you can, preferably face-to-face. Developing a feedback loop as it’s called is essential to implementing and communicating change effectively.

During the process of change, people need to feel supported. It’s very easy to bring in new technologies, for example, which you know will revolutionise your business – but if you don’t train your people properly before or once it’s introduced, you’re wasting your money. So listen to what your employees tell you about the implications of the changes you’re introducing otherwise you could find yourself with an expensive disaster on your hands.

Make sure you support your workforce through recognition too. When you reach milestones in the process – the signing of a contract, the introduction of a new technology – then acknowledge and appreciate the people who’ve made it happen either privately, publicly or both. Even in a negative situation, such as redundancies, make sure you show your gratitude to those who’ve worked on dealing with the lay-offs – often a demoralising and dispiriting job however sensitively handled.

Remember that change is disruptive and difficult. There’s no perfect or ideal way to make transitions from one state to another comfortable or easy – we know that from our personal lives as much as we see it in our professional ones. But if you follow these simple and common sense tips, you should find the process a great deal easier to manage.

Deborah Done, the author of our Big Ideas, is founder and director of Nab Communications, a freelance public relations agency which provides sensible and value for money PR advice to regional and national businesses.

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