What Do You Stand For?

I have had the privilege throughout this year of working with many people starting up a new business. Even in the midst of a pandemic and all the fearful headlines, opportunities for business exist; especially new ones.

Anyone starting a company today fully understands that almost no scenario is now impossible to imagine. Very, very few would have ever predicted national lock downs happening so fast and being so extensive back in 2019. Now they have happened leaders are wiser to the risk, impact and how to cope.

One thing I stress to all new business owners is the importance of clarifying what your company stands for, and that clarity comes in the form of answering two questions:

1. What is the purpose of your business? Describe what you want it to achieve and why.

2. What are the principles of your business? List the key principles (or values / standards) your business will work to and why.

One owner shared that it was simple to answer these questions. Number 1’s answer was to make money, number 2’s answer was to make money effectively and efficiently. It was helpful that he was so clear, however if that is the core to your culture I explained they should not be surprised that if there are times when the money does not appear so easily, their people will quickly desert the business. Money is used a motivator for work but not to create the culture a staff team need to face challenges such as infusing loyalty, encouraging sharing, going the extra mile or enabling co-operation.

Another new owner recently offered the phrase ‘we want to make beautiful things’ as her answer and this quickly led, after a few coaching questions from me, to understanding what was behind this aspiration. They mapped the purpose and the values of the new business and now they use their answers as a guide for the big and the mundane decisions: to assess the quality of their products; to choose suppliers; to create the look and feel of their brand; to form a marketing plan; to style their website; and so on. A lot of thought lay behind the short statement and they now have a culture they are demonstrating that as others join will be followed. This person wants their business to make a profit too but their purpose and values will help hold a team together in good times and tough.

The start up business owner has energy and time to consider these questions. What they state at the conceptual stage becomes the reality as the busy demands of the new company appear and opportunities or challenges must be assessed.

If you are a leader of an existing business you will undoubtedly be, right now, very busy but you will still do well to pause and ponder these two key questions. If you have no space in your day you might have to think about the questions on a walk or when you exercise, maybe as you lay in bed or while you are eating your food; but you can ponder these questions*.

When you’ve started the answers you can then find out who in your business agrees with you, or maybe is even aware of the existence of such statements. It is then that we find the most value appears, as behaviours, attitudes and plans can be shaped by a group working towards a common goal and with agreed standards.

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*We recommend a way to take notes for such times, perhaps keeping a small notebook to hand or app on your smart phone, ready to record the clear thoughts you have in these quieter moments.

Being Forced To Change

Sometimes we chose to change our environment, sometime our environment decides to change us. Right now, the impact of Covid-19 means we are all being forced to change. If you lead a business you are not only dealing with your own changed world but also how it changes the worlds of your colleagues, your company and your customers.

One thing I have had to wrestle with in this situation is feeling like work is being unfairly taken away from me. I know it is insignificant compared to the pain and fatalities the virus is causing but being honest it is still hard to take.

Just a few weeks ago we celebrated 10 years of our company, that’s 3,650 days of graft, of constant plans, thinking, strategising and all topped off with a lot of worry and plenty of success. It is emotional to run a business – however big or small – and I’ve invested my reputation and character in it too. So, to lose work, and good work at that, work I and others had strived to find, secure and then start is painful.

As I have often shared with clients, I decided to take my own recommendation. I went back to one of the models we’ve used over the years about change: the Kubler Ross Change Curve. Using a model like this to review the situation gives an objectivity to my thoughts, and starts to remove the emotive reaction bubbling within me.

I can see in the change curve how in my conversations and emails and I moved from shock “Can the government really order businesses to stop overnight?”) to denial (“This is just temporary, an overreaction”). Then onto frustration and anger (“How will any company survive this?”) to resignation (“What can we salvage from this?”).

I know my character and that journey would have taken a long time on my own. Fortunately, I have a business partner (Andrew Ramwell) who excels at re-framing discussions and positive thinking. My few days of responding negatively quickly shifted to talking about opportunities, making a plan and the re-making it again (so far about 7 times in two weeks!). Now I’m into a new rhythm of work, communication and strategies; now I am ready for ideas, fresh thinking and for learning more. My mind set is back to 'growth' again and not 'fixed' on wallowing in just one place.

From my experience thus far I'd say to any business owner grappling with this complex time to:

1. Stay safe, listen to and follow the government’s advice to protect you, your loved ones and your community.

2. Check out where you are on the change curve. Are you moving through it and out the other side or are you stuck somewhere repeating patterns?

3. Who helps you? I had an Andrew Ramwell, so who is yours? Family, friends, colleagues? This unprecedented situation is not one to face alone, no one person has all the answers. Seek out quality support.

I'd be interested to know other people's responses:

• What strategies are others deploying?

• How are you finding a way through this changing environment?

• When did you move from the negative to positive response?

• Who are you helping to find a way forward?

And finally, if you want a way of structuring support you give others inside or outside your business, then to be productive at Know+Do we have shared a free template and how to video to encourage people to form practical, focused Virtual Mastermind Groups of their own.

"Circumstances don't make the man, they reveal him"

Said the Roman philospher, Epictetus. In the throes of this global pandemic, we are seeing this come to light. There are stories of heroic efforts and selflessness by some, and utter stupidity and greed by others. In the main, I'm witnessing a lot more of the former, even by people significantly impacted.

I would encourage you to take some time to think what these circumstances will reveal about you? All of us have very different opportunities and obligations during this time, but all of us have an individual role to play. It's a time to think more deeply about what matters to us and to recognise how our previous circumstances have shaped us in relation to the way we think, act and consume. I'm pretty sure so-called reality TV shows don't seem so real anymore. Endless consumption of the latest throw away item or fast fashion has lost its allure. This is a chance to reset your paradigm and think about what really matters to you.

There are things that we can all do. As an individual you can take heed of the core message to stay at home and do all you can to limit the spread of covid-19. If you are furloughed or unable to work, what could you do to improve yourself or contribute positively both now and post-crisis? It's gratifying to see the overwhelming response with over 500,000 answering the call for volunteers in the UK. We can all do a bit.

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Have a think what skills you could offer or develop? Then make a plan to make this happen. It could be as simple as helping someone you know use technology to stay connected, or sharing how to bake a cake, or offering your skills for free to someone in need.

On my daily run, I struggled with the fact that whilst I've been able to get out (observing appropriate advice protocols) certain sections of society are currently overwhelmed with demand such as the NHS, the care sector, cleaning and PPE suppliers, food supply chains, internet providers, and many others. I'm grateful to these individuals and organisations and applaud their efforts but I feel like I wanted to help. What I realised is that this doesn't require a grand gesture but just doing something small and focussed.

As a business owner, I'm currently impacted as many are with a significant and dramatic drop in my usual work. Having taken stock and realised that my previous way of working isn't going to work at the moment I've set about to focus on what I can control and develop a new purpose and way of working so that whatever happens I emerge stronger in the long run. This enables me to help the economy post-recovery.

I've also looked at ways I can help beyond following the Government advice. I've offered free coaching support to the NHS, I've been working with clients to reshape their businesses, I'm sharing information (like this article) that just might help a few people and I'm running some free focused mastermind groups each connecting 6 business owners over the next 6 weeks.

I'm also learning new skills, reading new business books, listening to podcasts and updating clients as I learn. I’m making sure I look after myself so that I can add value and lessen my impact at this time on already stretched services. It didn’t seem like much at first but I know that if we all did a little something then collectively it will make a big difference now and post-crisis.

I'm making sure that I don't add to the confusion and uncertainty in what I post and consume on social media and checking in with many of my contacts and ensuring that they know they can reach out if needed. Sometimes just knowing that someone can reach you can be very powerful.

I hope that when you and I look back, we'll be proud of what the next few weeks or months revealed about us. Remember that circumstances will be changing rapidly. Keep updating a simple plan about what these changes might mean to you and respond accordingly. If there is one thing history has shown us is that humans are very resilient. However, those that thrived where the ones who had a why and a purpose. Set a new purpose for yourself and build a new routine to help shape it.

Stay connected to those that matter and reach out to your support networks or build new ones if needed. We’ll all need a pick me up at some point over the next few weeks. I hope this helps you; if it does feel free to share.  

Notes:

• Image by Gino Crescoli from Pixabay

• For reference, this article first appeared on Andrew Ramwell’s linked in page.

Context, Clarity & Change in Business Right Now

I managed to avoid mentioning coronavirus or Covid-19 in the title but it sets the context for this piece. This week has been unprecedented, and the current situation seems to be one of much uncertainty, confusion and a mass of information that if read out of context feeds more uncertainty.

As a coach and business consultant I thought it might be helpful to provide a simple 3Cs framework – Context, Clarity, Change - to help people think and react over the next few months. The brain likes logic, and a framework like this helps you to gather your thoughts and plan a response in what might be testing times. It works even better if you write it out on paper. Personally, I’d recommend starting a new journal or pad as you’ll be updating things as the situation evolves.

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Context

For now, in the UK follow the government advice https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus. This contains all relevant and updated information from across government such as health information, business stimulus information and any other advice relating to travel and self-isolation. Check in with a credible news source for relevant updates but limit your access. This is a fast-moving pandemic and the situation will change rapidly. It’s worth remembering that although we are all in this together, individually the context has a very different meaning for all of us and is shifting constantly.

Clarity

Stop and think through what you can do for you, your family, your job / business and your customers right now. Prepare immediate and staggered projected financial forecasts either personal and / or business related (work on this lasting 3-6 months so you are prepared). If needs be contact your bank, any lenders, landlord/s, supply chains and customers as appropriate; early and clear communication is key. As the context changes. work through your response and understanding of it as it relates to you and / or your business. You’ll need to set and reset at key stages. Even if you’re not immediately impacted do this anyway, as the business impact will continue long after the initial shock. Its better to have worked through a plan calmly and track it so that you can respond as and when needed.

Change

This is a time for reassessment and transition. You have an opportunity to learn develop and grow during this time. The ripple effect of this global pandemic will continue long after the current first shock wave. The way you do business might need to completely pivot and change. Depending on your circumstances the skills, business processes, supply chains and products or services you have may be useful, or pretty much redundant, right now and for the foreseeable future. Actively participating in your personal development will make a massive difference to you and your family and to your economic opportunities post crisis. You may need to support yourself, family members, friends and co-workers remembering that different people will respond differently to change.

Finally, take this situation seriously and respond accordingly. Now is not the time to binge watch TV but to assess and reassess your current role and / or business. This is the time to learn, develop, adapt and adjust to a new environment. It’s useful to be reminded of Charles Darwin’s full quote about survival:

‘According to Darwin’s Origin of Species, it is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.’ [1]

We are all in this together; some will feel the shock immediately, others later, but no one is going to be untouched. I’ll be posting a slightly longer view separately. In this, I’ll go into a bit more depth and cover how individuals respond to change and what we need to look out for to support each other.

Regards Andrew Ramwell

andrew@knowanddo.com

This article first appeared on Andrew’s LinkedIn page.

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[1] Megginson, ‘Lessons from Europe for American Business’, Southwestern Social Science Quarterly (1963) 44(1): 3-13.

The Art of Great Delegation

This week I had the privilege of making a presentation to fellow members of the Institute of Directors in Manchester, UK. I was asked to share how Directors could approach delegation in their business to be more effective in their role.

What fascinates me about working as a leadership coach and trainer is that despite everyone in the room being a Director, each person came with a different expectation of what they needed to explore around delegation. My professional challenge - and the fun part of our work - was to take my prepared presentation and weave the audience’s expectations into the hour. I managed to reference the legal issues, leadership styles, change management, making time, devolving authority, sharing responsibility, harnessing technology and dealing with growth; all the questions they were interested in!

Underlying, the techniques I shared to improve daily delegation I referenced two guiding principles. This was because having access to a technique to use is only one part of effectively deploying a skill; knowing the principles behind it allow you as a leader to adapt, develop and contextualize the technique. The two principles behind great delegation are:

1. Know the purpose. Delegation deals with the ‘What’ of business, the things that need to get done. However, starting with the what is not a leadership perspective it is fulfilling a management duty. Leaders need to be clear on ‘Why’ something is happening and ‘How’ it is delivered. So, if a Director were to ask me or my Know+Do colleagues to help them solve a problem around delegation we’d want to know the purpose of the business, its mission, its key targets, its values. Those why factors that drive behaviour, decision making and define success. Then we check out the how of a company - its key strategies and processes, its ways of organising itself and its 'internal ‘rules’. This is so we can place the delegation issue in context and how we solve that must reference why the business exists and connect with how it operates.

2. Leadership is a daily practice not a one time event. By this we mean everyday the people in, or connected to your business, will need you to lead them. People are not static, they change, evolve and grow. Businesses are dynamic, new sales arrive, the economy changes, the competition gets better. Delegation is therefore not something we do once and forget about; it is something we do and repeat. Finding ways to ensure we have sufficient energy, the right attitude and sustained motivation is crucial to leading a team, whatever its size or context.

In the presentation a great deal more was shared. Techniques on quick planning for delegation. Principles to measure a delegation strategy. Language in differentiating delegation levels. How to ask questions in the right format. But the principles to great delegation underpinned the practice: Know why your business exists and work hard on your skills as a leader. After all, as a Managing Director I know well shared with me just last week:

“Delegation only works well, if the one delegating works!”

For both principles I shared a template to map and assess the business and the leader. If you want to find out about these contact me on bernard@knowanddo.com and I can share the templates with you.