Networking is key to building a business in the professional services industry whether you enjoy that part or not, it is an essential part of progression within companies as well as inside industries as business owners. If you have attended any networking events you can nearly recognise the various characters: those working the room eager to be seen rather than have any meaningful interest or conversation in anyone apart from themselves, those genuinely looking to help other people present and invariably you have the wallflowers who only speak when spoken to and in some groups you even have the insider cliques as well.
Over the years I have attended all kinds of networking events from the social setting variety to the formal dinner dance to a focused business exchange meeting and I even organised a speednetworking event before this became all popular and the rage. Living in a small city in Ireland networking is the only way to place yourself and your professional service on the map. I used to tell my clients if there aren't 3 or 4 random business people in this city that have heard about you and your business then you just haven't hit the map. In Ireland business is still largely done through who you know and hence the connection factor is extremely important. Connect well and it can make you, the other side of the coin being it can also break you, so be aware.
For a number of years I assisted people new to networking on how to get to most out of their experience and especially with fellow coaches I often had to teach them to have non-coaching conversations. Just because somebody asks you what you do and shows an interest, that doesn't give you license to coach or consult or pitch for that matter. The last one pitching is relevant for all service professionals not just coaches. The purpose of networking in my view has always been to meet new people and walk away with a number of potentially good and useful contacts, not necessarily closed business, but rather the start to what could be a meaningful and mutually beneficial business relationship. Pitching should only enter the frame when you are specifically invited to do so or quote for actual work, any time before then you are having meaningful business conversation that may or may not be mutually beneficial and will help build up a business relationship. So becoming a good conversationalist will be helpful.
Recently I saw quite a different approach, which I can only call net-vulturing... If you have seen any of the Harry Potter movies, the whole experience felt like one of the vultures just grabbing hold of you and nearly strangling you to the point of total discomfort and unease whilst trying to get to your contact base. One of these experiences I observed and the other I was on the receiving end of. At first I though it might have been a stand alone freak incident, but when it happened again I felt compelled to write about it and I have to say 4 different unrelated businesses and individuals were involved, so there was no cross-over.
What made the experience so uncomfortable is that the person interested in my contact base, really wasn't interested in me, my well-being, but they were just out to self-profit and self-promote, which in my view was missing the whole point. I actually felt like saying 'What makes you think I actually want to introduce you, when you don't even have the respect for me?', I obviously didn't ask this question, but I sure as hell thought it and made a mental note to be seriously cautious on who I would introduce this individual to. If you want to be introduced to people I know, the first things I want to do is build a relationship with you to find out whether I can get to know more about you and your business, whether I like you and whether I can trust you and only then when all those boxes are ticked I may ask is there something mutually beneficial for you and the person you want the introduction to.
The other vulture type situation where I was an observer, was slightly different to the one I experienced, but it made watching people rather interesting. Here the netvulture was so intent on getting the contact, he nearly killed everything in it's path to get the name and number, a little bit like what happens to creatures in 'The Lord of the Ring' when they get hypnotised by the ring. The individual on the receiving end reacted with stunned shock at the aggression of the pitch and because they were the lesser experienced they just handed over all relevant information, but you could see this didn't sit well with them. An agreement was made for this vulture to meet the contact at another event a few weeks later and I have to say the whole thing came full circle. The unsuspecting contact was immediately whisked away to speak to the pitching party of the vulture team and I have never ever seen anyone leave a networking meeting with such urgency as the unsuspected individual did that time. I felt if time had been taken to nurture the introducer as well as the actual contact, an actual very profitable situation could have grown from it for all involved, but as it stands the introducer will not come near the vulture again and the contact I think will probably stay well clear also.
When you are eager to find business and new contacts, do it with respect for the introducer but also for yourself, sometimes it is worth building and nurturing a relationship over time that is based on real trust as opposed to going in with the hard sell, hungry for business type of tactic. Whether the economy is doing well or not is actually irrelevant in building a network of contacts, but only those that you have truly nurtured will stand the test in bad times, those fair weather hungry creatures will always let you down in the long run or when the favour needs to be returned.
Always remember in professional services people buy from people they know, like and trust and have something to offer that is beneficial to them. In networking you need to make the last part mutually beneficial and nurture the relationship over time...or at least that's how I feel about it.
The key observation in both situations was that the damaging parties obviously had no idea they were having this effect, which is what fascinated me and has me writing about it. I wonder am I the only one observing this behaviour? Is is a sign of the times? Or am I missing something completely?
Pride, procrastination and other good things that hold us back from change by An Coppens
6/21/2010 10:18:25 AM
Pride, procrastination and other good things that hold us back from change - by An Coppens
Change management has been one of my personal hobby horse topics for some time now, very likely because it is also where I started my working career and specialised in through my MBA. This economic climate is driving change and if any of you watched any European elections, the trend is very clear those that were in government get voted out and new guys with a change message get voted in, which I guess is not too dissimilar to what happened with the Obama election. People are fed up with the same inefficience at government level and choose a clear difference. If you are the owner of manager of a business or department, would your team re-elect you? If you are a solo-preneur, would you choose for you again?
Even though we all recognise that there is a need for change, often we assign the change to have to come from the outside as opposed to ourselves or within our business as well as outside. In Ireland a lot of the economic crisis has been blamed on the global downturn and if that picks up the local economy will also improve... hmm, forgetting inefficiencies in our public sector, government as well as banks, spending patterns and other general head in the sand type policies from the people in leadership. But that is a totally different discussion. When it comes to change, it is amazing how often we are totally unaware of our own resistance to change and we even convince ourselves that it is just a matter of time before things will turn around for the better or we make statements that it isn't too bad, etc. etc.
We all have unique ways of holding ourselves back and having experienced some extended periods of major upheaval, I have had to get very much up close and personal with my own resistors. One that took me by surprise a bit is the power of pride in stopping change, pride of achievements and what I stood for closed off opportunities that were presenting themselves quite clearly but my pride didn't allow me to see them or even contemplate pursuing them. In some cases even to the extent of alienating people with ideas and suggestions. I don't believe I had to diss my achievements, but I did have to sideline personal pride or stubborness to get out of the impasse I was in and that took a good bit of mental persuasion to say the least. I had little peptalk sessions to be open to opportunity and also invented a rule to give something at least 1 week of proper consideration before moving away from it and that helped keeping an opportunity mindset.
When I did my first coaching course in 2001, the training mentioned that in life we often receive little nudges to encourage us to change into a new direction or change something about ourselves, but when we keep ignoring the little nudges they tend to grow into seriously big trucks coming towards you hitting you off your path and throwing you into a new direction and no matter where you move to these trucks keep finding you until you get the message and change. Well to be honest I think sometimes I must just be a slow learner because up till now my life has been full of nudges and quite a few trucks and you think that at this stage you learn to recognise them and adapt sooner.
When the economy started to go south in my line of work, I did what most entrepreneurs were doing I thought let's wait and see if it will get better, I procrastinated like no tomorrow and did all sorts fo non-effective business building or reorganising on a very superficial level. Until the proverbial truck hit and I had to take big action from leting staff go to closing down the office location and retreating back to working from home. The old tactics of building business were no longer working and it has made me rethink everything to do with this business and I am working on more dramatic changes, but only after it nearly floored me as a person as well as the business.
Procrastination shows in multiple forms and it is up to you to recognise what you do, once you know how then you can change it. I have seen people hide in IT land, meetings, networking events, books, etc... but the real essential change isn't getting done even though they know damn well that something needs to change, even if what exactly isn't so clear. My suggestion for you is to find your procrastinator and then work at reducing the time it spends consuming you, it's amazing what change you can bring about. Hint, hint, it's probably somethign you do every day more than once per day.. for no particularly logical reason.
Focus on what is important to you, not what everyone else says it should be. In a time a rapid change, which is now happening around us, there is a tremendous potential for new creation and re-invention of you and your business. One book I read early in my MBA always comes to mind when I think of re-invention, namely the Semco story where the company nearly went under but thanks to serious maverick actions the workers managed to turn the business around and in the process entered several brand new markets, produces products and services it never originally had, etc.at the same time they also challenged every bit of management thinking and came up with a brand new internal model. (Book: Maverick by Semco)
So if your business isn't working as it is, then maybe it is time to go back to the drawing board and do something drasticly different, engage your staff in the process as they are often the best to spot new opportunities.
The fear factor is another one of those great show stoppers, if you are stopped by what other people might say... here is a newsflash most of us think about ourselves about 90% of the time if not more... so for you to get on someone else's radar screen, you want to be seriously special to them. If you are seriously special to them they will also want the best outcome for you and that means communicate your fears and ideas in equal measure and bring them along, you might be amazed at the support. Breaking into a new area may feel uncomfortable and as long as you don't expect perfection from the first step it can also be very liberating and invigorating.
If something is no longer working whether it is your business, a person in your team or just you... look at the situation from every angle and see if you can find the cause of the problem and if you don't find a cause then I urge you to pay even more attention because it is very likely a little nudge, which if ignored turns into a truck...so look at change options. If you are living in a state of change overwhelm, where the need to change is so obvious and so clear but you really don't know how to get your head and actions around it, then I advise you to hire a coach or trusted advisor to help explore options. Whatever you do, make sure it is what you see as the best option and not what people tell you to do. Some advice is good, but then keep your own critical thinking ability in check as well as everything you value in life and business and when the advice still fits after that little detour, then maybe it is the best way forward. Time is relative in these kinds of change periods, so let that not be the decisive factor, but clarity, values, peace of mind to have made the right decision and excitement for your new direction are a must.
For now all I will say is that I am personally changing into a new direction, I am proud of my achievements in my business for the last 9 years and have absolutely no regrets of my current decision to pursue a new direction. What it is exactly remains private for now, as for the coaching business this will transition into an e-business with outsourced coaching. This blog will remain because I enjoy writing about business and where people can improve. At the same time I am excited to explore my new adventure, so what is your adventure going to be?
Challenge 100 was an original brainchild of mine when I first went looking for work after finishing my degree in marketing. I set myself the goal to collect 100 PFO letters, which loosely translates in 'please find other' (or some equal words to that effect of lesser printable nature) in other words letters of rejection. My dream job at the time was in management consultancy, so I wrote to every job ad in the Sunday Times, any company advertising through the university or any I could possibly find a HR name and address for. My thinking was that if I collected 100 rejections without any yes,then I would reconsider my career choice and guessed that it wasn't for me. I had a dedicated file for all the letters and numbered them, so I would know how I was doing... as one does, no?
Well the fact that the target was 100, the whole attachment to the outcome was gone. I wanted a job for sure, but at the same time in my chosen career geting a foot in the door wasn't easy. I did have a job, which would have been a stepping stone, but not quite what I wanted to do all the same, so I didnt have the financial pressure of having to find something in a hurry hanging over me either. What happened was that the company that held rejection letter 27, actually contacted me (after I received 35 letters) in a rush to have me starting on a project preferably the week after. So sometimes a no isn't quite a no, because requirements can change so quickly. The company had won an international project and desperately needed people with languages and a business brain, so that's how I got started.
If you are currently unemployed and looking for work, apply the same approach, although I do believe the days where they actually posted you a lovely 'thank you for your application, you were unsuccessfull but we we will keep it on file' is well and truly over. This means you may just need to keep track of all the applications you make in a particular sector and aim for 100 applications in a given career before moving onto another one. Oh, and hint hint to all of those companies hiring, if you want to make a lasting impression on applicants, do send them a nice printed letter (or a lovely e-mail should budget be too tight for letters, ink and a stamp), they won't expect it, but they will tell other people, which is positive PR free of charge. (In this economy free PR is always helpful).
If you run a business or work in sales, I challenge you to contact 100 new people in 100 days or less to speak about your business or company you represent in order to gain new business. If you just want to have better quality of life, do 100 things to improve your life, starting today. I also think everyone should have a list of the 100 fun things to do this lifetime and 100 places to visit and people to meet, etc. etc. whatever rocks your boat really. But for the last few, the time frame isn't nearly as important as for those that you want to have short term success with.
The time frame is of importance, 100 attempts over a lifetime may be very achievable but with large time gaps also rather inefficient. I tend to set the challenge for 100 days or less, and yes the overachievers reading this stuff you can do it all as quick as you can... just give it more than 3 weeks all the same... new habits do need nesting time. The minimum action is 1 thing every day, which is achievable in job searches, business contacts or life improvements. If you do nothing 1 day then double up the activity another day, especially in sales or business making good contacts at weekends may not be all that happening, even though they say a lot of business get's done on the golf course, sailing boats, bars, etc...so be open for opportunity.
The focus of the challenge 100, is to hit 100. You may have a sub-goal whether it is more business, a job, lifestyle change or other target, but the primary one is 100. By focusing on the activity number, you take away the emotional attachment to one rejection on its own. By remaining detached from the outcome, the odds are that you will hit your sub-goal a lot sooner and often from rejections that you had already written off, which was the case with my first job.
If you hit 100 rejections, then I would challenge you to examine seriously what it is you want and set out in a new direction with a new strategy. If 100 people in a row tell you clearly they do not want your business, then maybe it just isn't viable as it is, then maybe it is time for re-design of your service, product or exploring other options altogether and letting this one go. One thing is for sure when you keep track of your challeng 100 contacts or actions, you will also know that you have given it a good shot and if for whatever reason it didn't work after 100 good shots, then maybe it's just not meant to be.
There are two way to approach the challenge you can start by making a list of 100 people, companies, actions and tick them off as you go or as you make a new contact add it to a pre-numbered page. I typically choose the latter approach because new opportunities keep coming up and then when they really become dead leads I cross them out. Some of the items may remain on the list for a while and others will barely be added and then get crossed out, but as I said the aim is 100, so if 20 leads to nothing it is no big deal and who knows in time they may well change their mind.
Currently I have a challenge 100 going for myself and I am on number 20 since this morning, but may still hit 22 before I go to sleep all the same...damn the overachiever in me always has to do this...:-) ...
So now I ask you, are you up for the challenge 100????
What can a business coach do to help you through recession and some figures to back it up? by An Coppens
5/19/2010 6:18:44 PM
What can a business coach do for you in a recession and some figures to back it up? by An Coppens
Before I start this blog post I have to admit that I dislike blowing my own trumpet, hence it is only because I found some very interesting statistical data that I have decided to post this information all the same. As a business coach in practice for close to 10 years, I have seen ups and downs in both my business as well as that of my clients and most pertinent of all the change in the economy here in Ireland as well as globally. What I find fascinating that in a time of economic downturn, services like training, coaching, marketing, advertising etc, become some of the first to be cut, usually I hate to say it on advice from the accountants in this world. Now I don't for one minute want to tell you that you shouldn't look at your cost base, because when I coach small businesses it is also on the agenda, but often it involves looking at production processes, staff productivity and similar internal issues first before touching lead generating and business development related functions.
One thing a recession does is force businesses to look at themselves critically and they have to become more successful and competitive from the inside out. I remember an interesting conversation I had with a fellow entrepreneur in the boom times in Ireland and he maintained that anybody could run a business in a booming economy, but only competitive and well-structured businesses would survive a recession. I have to say at the rate that small and medium sized businesses are closing down, this statement came up in my mind and I tend to agree that survival of the fittest will once again prevail all the way from the animal world into business.
Research suggests that by using a business coach you can on average increase your profit margin by 46%, but close to 50% of businesses will never look for that external sounding board for their business. Often the business coach will assist the owner in looking at alternative courses of action for increasing the business and navigating through the pitfalls of a falling economy.
The international coach federation (ICF) surveyed 210 coaching clients about the values and use of coaching, below are some of the key findings of the study, which fascinated me and just compelled me to share them. Participants found
62.4% better goal-setting
60.5% more work/life balance
57.1% decrease in stress levels
52.4% increase in self-confidence
43.3% improvement in general quality of life
25.7% more income
33.8% better health and fitness
33.3% improved family relationships
25.7% stopped a bad habit
My clients tell me about their success stories all of the time and we do have a great track record in our business with clients, but when it is confirmed by an independent study I just wonder what will the business owners amongst you have to say the next time your accountant questions business coaching expenditure. I have employed a number of coaches over the course of my business life and continue to do so and I can happily concur with some of these findings from personal experience.
So the real question is, what are you doing to navigate through this recession?
Where is your support team?
What benchmarks and yardsticks do you use to stop the panic decisions?
If someone gave you between a 25% and 46% chance of increasing your income, by having a business coach, would it actually persuade you to have one or would you just muddle on regardless?
I have to say I have had some very interesting conversations with potential clients in the last number of months and the willingness to invest money in development of the owner and their team is often left to the last minute and I will admit I very subjectively with a vested interest question this! Business coahcing is not a quick fix or a panic solution and really works best when implemented sooner rather than later. Ironically all our clients that have continued coaching despite the economic climate change are hitting fantastic results accross the spectrum, but then I would say that I am their coach.
For good health the doctor recommends a minimum of 5-portions a day of fruit and vegetables, well I challenge you to a 5 a day business development actions for your business every single working day and if you work in sales this will work for you too. What 5 things are you doing every day to generate new income, new leads, new clients? What have you done today?
I also very strongly suggest whether you are a business owner, manager or employee in need of more income, better goals, less stress and increased quality of life and work/life balance, to bite the bullet and hire a coach. Oh, and don't just take my biaised word for it, the ICF found these statistics. In any case, we are open for business and ready to take on more clients, are you?
Making decisions is not always easy and clear cut, but sometimes it really is just a case of drawing a line and stepping over it to move forward or even drawing a line for others to know that they have reached the boundary of your toleration or patience. My coach tells me sometimes that when you reach a point of dissatisfaction in whatever scenario in life or business that this is an ideal point to examine the boundaries and maybe look at whether they need to be reset and adapted.
In the last couple of weeks I have had to make a few important decisions, which definitely stretched my comfort zone in terms of boundaries. So whether you have business decisions, personal choices or even staffing questions to answer, this may well be relevant to you and useful processing or questioning.
In this economy a lot of small business owners are facing important decisions regarding staff, investments etc. What was acceptable behaviour or at the most tolerated from staff in a boom economy, now has become obvious as non-constructive or even unhelpful. Because there is more management time for observation and analysis, clarity is coming forward often like a blinding flash of light. More and more frequently these days, I have conversations with clients regarding toleration levels and at what point to draw the line.
Here is a good yardstick: we assume you are unhappy with a situation…
Ask yourself, what effect is this having on me, on my business, on my clients, on my time, on my health, etc.
Then establish your boundary line or the point at which you say ‘I have had enough’.
When you know at what point the line is reached, all you need to work out is how to deal with the changes that inevitably will have to be made. From the line forward you need a plan of action, whether this is parting company, giving up a business, a client, a supplier or letting go of a staff member. Once you know your options, the best course of action often jumps out very clearly in your research process. On rare occasions inaction is the correct approach.
I find that a lot of clients and friends are blaming the economy for not making decisions, because the impact it may have on other people, but they forget they are only ever neglecting their own boundaries. Crisis can lead to indecision and sometimes time and distance will lead to perspective. But let’s face it, the recession is going to be around for some time and it is very much a case of let’s draw the line of moaning about it and stepping over it and designing a plan of action for yourself as to what you will do from here on in.
Energy wasted on what-if scenario’s isn’t always helpful and if you are born with the analysis gene, be aware you could be affected by analysis paralysis just as easily. In actual fact the time for lining up ducks and crossing t’s is not a time of crisis, where really only decisive action is the way forwards.
It does mean gathering the courage to hold difficult conversations with people that have really stepped over the boundary for long enough and have gotten away with it for far too long. It also means sometimes embarking on scary new actions, when your confidence may be screaming out for the opposite to action. It may mean becoming a portfolio worker with more than one job or string to your bow. It may even mean moving to a different location, job, etc.
Only you can decide when you need to draw that line and enforce the boundary. Tolerating people pushing the boundary consistently is ultimately bad for you, your sanity and definitely long-term also your good health. It is perfectly justified to explain to someone that enough has been reached, just say it with calm diplomacy and a smile, even if in your heart you feel like punching or screaming their head off. It takes a bit of practice, but even I master calm diplomacy on occasion even when my blunt and direct approach is edging to come out. In my mind I try to see it from their point of view, which on occasion is hard to do.
When you are going through a particularly difficult time, you may find a lot of people come along who will offer advice willingly and with positive intentions or if like me you have quite a few coaching acquaintances you may find yourself in a full-blown coaching interrogation without an invite on your part. Drawing the line in this kind of scenario is vital. If you invite the advice, then take it for what it is worth, but never forget to process it under your own value filter. Trust your own ability to make decisions you will know what is right by you in the end of the day.
The fear of upsetting other people in the process of enforcing your boundaries is far outweighed by the freedom and sense of relief you experience once you actually go ahead with those difficult communications. Honesty may not always be the most comfortable approach, but it is way more liberating and healthy than tolerating things that shouldn’t be tolerated.
So for all of those caught in economic crisis one way or another, I dare you to draw the line and step over it. Accept it will be around for another while, accept that some bad things may have happened to you as a result, also accept that dwelling on them is not helpful forever, do your best to learn the lessons, but above all draw the line and focus on actions that will lead to a happier future.
A close friend of mine recently put it absolutely accurately ‘I don’t want to know the past shit, we are in the present now.’
I dare you to draw that line and claim your power back.
Are you the village gossip in your work place? by An Coppens
4/21/2010 11:32:46 AM
Are you the village gossip in your workplace? by An Coppens
Large organisations and small towns have one thing in common, namely the village gossip. We have all met them, that one person that is constantly going around trying to find out the dirt about other people or the latest on updates on whatever topic takes their fancy whether it is a company restructuring, internal relationships, bullying, promotions, you name it... they will know or find out about it.
I have often wondered what drives these people: is it low self-esteem, jealousy or begrudgery or even just an inate nosyness or curiosity about things that are quite frankly none of their business most of the time. They just can't seem to help themselves, it's as if it nearly a compulsion or something larger than them. They don't tend to spare anyone, not even their closest friends as long as it serves in the pursuit of more (mostly useless) information. And guys, if you are reading this, the most damaging village gossips I have seen in action have been men, but the ladies tend to be more devious and cover their tracks better, but neither gender is immune to gossip mongering.
The scary part is that some company cultures thrive on gossip and deceit and they make for very stressful places to work in. I have seen people reduced to tears, confidence and all perspective of self-worth eroded purely down to office gossips being let damage reputations of great individuals. When you don't know the source of the venom it is hard to counteract and manage your reputation and if then management buys into the rumours often not based on any fact, you become less and less trusting and in most cases you will start questioning yourself and your abilities for no reason.
What the village gossip doesn't realise is that people around the office soon or eventually find out who was the rumour starter and they become branded as someone that cannot be trusted. I always hope that at some level they have a conscience that balks at the horror of spreading lies and that when they get caught out badly enough they will actually change their ways. However if it is a compulsive mental disorder, there is only professional help and not just management that needs to intervene.
When I used to work in an office, I used to have great fun setting the village gossip up with outrageous things, to see how long it would take before it would come back to you, usually completely distorted and out of proportion. I don't suggest it as an approach to use as a rule, especially not if it can potentially hurt other people, but if the village gossip is the only one out of the information loop, they may actually learn the lesson.
Gossiping in general is bad for office morale, it encourages negative and political game playing and tends to only serve only those who start the rumours and it damages people's reputations and careers sometimes beyond belief. At the same time there is a distinction between gossip and genuine concern or frustration with situations and people, which is always the case in offices where a group of people work together.
So how do you avoid it?
As a personal policy, only ever go on facts as opposed to hearsay and ask the gossip distributor whether it is fact or fiction, they usually have no answer for it if it isn't fact. There is no better way to shut them up than to point out the facts objectively and calmly or just to question them whether they have it from a reputable source.
If you are the individual that is prone to gossip, my suggestion is a count to 10 silence policy and only when you have factual evidence to back up your communication do you allow yourself to talk. It may take a bit of lip biting and shortened sentences, but in the end of the day it is better for your personal reputation. Gossip tends to be seen as a sign of weakness and lack of backbone, so I guess it is a choice whether you want to be trustworthy or to be avoided as a person in your career.
As an office policy encourage 0 tolerance to gossiping and when and where you can intervene by calling the village gossip into your office and explaining that you don't tolerate rumours and ask upfront if they have an issue with you or in the office they care to share or vent about. Equally nip rumours in the bud by holding communication meetings both formally and informally to put an end to speculation. As a manager keep an open door policy for people to ask question regarding changes etc and answer them with facts. It may take a bit of effort to eradicate a gossip culture, but be proactive and reactive at the same time and stick to the factual evidence either way.
Leadership dilemma: are you being played? by An Coppens
4/8/2010 11:31:08 AM
Manager’s dilemma: are you being played? By An Coppens
In my work as a trainer and business coach to managers and teams in companies of all sizes, I often wonder whether managers realise how much they are actually being played. In some of my coaching I would equally equip corporate clients to manage both upward and downward. If you want to build a career in the corporate world it is an essential skill to learn, and if you are the manager then awareness of it happening to you is paramount as you may be drawn into someone’s agenda unknowingly.
I coach newly promoted managers in one multinational organisation and their biggest initial challenge is that they are no longer one of the team members. The fact that they gained a title and access to meetings where higher level decisions are made is the first factor that sets them apart as well as the fact that they may now have to give feedback to people they used to be very friendly with. The common ground of all being in the same boat has changed. It is sometimes the downside of stepping up and furthering your career.
In other multinational organisations managers join the company from abroad and have no network of friends in their new base, which makes work the only point of social networks and contacts. The challenge is to be a manager and to make friends at your own level, often I see managers becoming very friendly with team members, which invariably causes envy and an opportunity to be played by staff.
In my view the best and most objective approach to management is to clearly draw a professional line. If that means creating a little bit of distance between you and your former team or new team, it will put you in a stronger management position. It is easier to be objective and detached about business decisions involving people.
Wanting to be seen as one of the ‘boys’ is something I come across a lot in large companies and the after hours drinking or sports becoming the common factor. The risk with this is that in your drunken moments you do let out company confidential information or you become persuaded by your team members of an injustice even if the view is completely tainted by their personal opinions and circumstances. I have seen serious under-performers playing managers out of hours and when it comes to dealing with their under-performance managers don’t do it, which in terms creates a culture where as long as you are friendly with the boss, you can get away with just about anything. It is a breeding ground for bad practice and often bullying by the perceived ‘untouchable’ party.
Strong and skilled staff typically appreciates professional and supportive management with transparency in decision making and communication. They will challenge the poor variety and they will start playing the system if that is the only way up in an organisation or else when it really doesn’t reconcile with their values they will leave.
You can spot the influencers, because they always have a reason to come and talk to you both during working hours and outside them. You will receive the most random invitations from them. They will do their best to give inside information, which is intended to help you make better decisions, however usually some information will be subjectively tainted and would require objective verification on your part.
As a middle manager you are always the conduit in the middle of the conversation, you are doing your best to implement the messages from senior management as well as listening to the issues from the team. It is a delicate and often fine balance to be caught up in and when you are in this boat you have 2 sides that are playing you at the same time. The only way through is to find your happy medium and at all times do your own research so you can make an educated and objective decision. Most employees will enjoy working for a fair and professional manager, yet the statistics continue to read that the main reason for leaving an organisation is bad management.
At times being a manager can be an isolated role at any level of an organisation, because as a human being you want to reach your targets as much as the next person. You would like to be perceived as fair, objective and good at what you do; more often than not you are being questioned on those very things often by people with their own very coloured agenda’s. The biggest fear of CEOs of top companies is to be found out that they don’t know everything and that sometimes they are not so sure whether the next decision is the right decision, but they still have to sell the strategy and vision of where they want to go.
In my view as a manager what is key is to work with your own values in mind and some can be non-negotiable, I place a lot of importance on integrity and would have major issues when the wool is pulled over my eyes or in business dealings when other people are being compromised. I have to say what is on my mind most of the time, which is why I make an excellent coach as you will receive instant feedback, but as a manager this isn’t always the best policy. The other part of being a manager is staying professional and if that means creating a little bit of distance to allow objective decision making, just do it. In any case watch the players and learn the rules of the game.
The inner critic: are you managing yours? by An Coppens
3/15/2010 2:45:12 PM
The inner critic: are you managing yours? By An Coppens
We all have an inner voice, an inner critic which regularly distributes self-talk that is extremely far removed from being helpful or constructive. In a way it is a trained voice, which can take the shape of a previous boss, family members or relationships past or present. Whether it is circumstances or society at large that have shaped the words and viciousness of this unlikely invisible character, I am not sure of, but it is a powerful source that can stop us in our tracks at any given time.
Even with my most successful clients I am often amazed how much they still listen to that inner voice which often so fundamentally knocks them off their chosen path or destination. As their coach I am in the privileged position to point out that the inner critic is not necessarily basing its opinions on facts, but rather on perceptions or feelings and most often doubts and fears.
When you are working in the positive field of business coaching and training, it is often assumed that we don’t have those demons anymore and I can safely say that no coach and trainer is immune from the inner critic, whether they admit to having one is probably a personal choice, but we all have one.
The inner critic is massively powerful, it can stops us from achieving great things or even stops us from going after what we truly want, based on some irrational perceptions or fears. When you are really truthful and honest with yourself, what has the inner critic stopped you from doing? Did you still go ahead and was it as bad as your inner critic had predicted?
The level of ease with which we recognise when the inner critic is talking and the tools we use to manage this resource is what sets us apart and equally determines our level of success in the chosen field and in life in general.
Personally I spend a lot of time working alone even though it is with people and at some level we look for feedback or confirmation of our abilities, expertise, likeability, etc and when we don’t receive external responses or non-favourable responses, it is then that the inner critic has a field day. On those days managing that voice is essential.
What I do to manage the inner critic is write in a journal, which is not for publication or reading by anyone not even the closest of friends or family. Equally I do my best to regularly read motivational books, articles and surround myself with positive and supportive friends. In addition to these techniques I sometimes use recorded NLP techniques and I also have my own coach, who has my best interest at heart.
With my clients I often ask them to get back to the facts about themselves, when the inner critic has been particularly harsh. I ask them to make an objective factual list of all their achievements, qualifications, awards and things they learned since they were born and getting this list started often feels odd to people, because we are so pre-programmed to see the shortcomings and do our best to not be boastful especially not about ourselves. Yet, if you think about it, you have achieved an awful lot since you were born even down to simple things such as learning to walk, read, write, etc, I challenge you to write out the list. Then when you feel down, look at the list and check whether the feelings you are having are inner critic talk or based on facts.
Have fun managing the inner critic and never forget that it is perfectly alright to be gentle on you!
Whether you are a solopreneur or a large corporation political games will appear no matter what you do, the mere fact of interacting with other people inside or outside of your organisation is the starting point of political seed capital. I naievely thought leaving the world of management consulting firms and hierarchical structures would free me from all things inner politics and whilst it is hard to have a political argument with the boss in the mirror, networking and belonging to professional associations showed me in more than one sense that I was wrong and that politics are just part of business.
In my ideal world business should be based on merit and transactions, business decisions and negotiations transparent for all parties to have an equal chance. I would also base my judgements on integrity and ensuring the greater good of everyone is looked after whether this is staff, suppliers or customers; so I guess idealistically a little on the ambitious side.
It is funny though that intelligent people with great track records often have to resort to intentionally or not taking other people down either with them or on their own rather than dealing with the issue or the person in front of them. I have always tried to be fair and objective in my management of people and sometimes this has come accross exactly like this and for others it was a personal conflict, so there is the challenge even with the best managerial intent we may have a mixed or distorted response. In times of change and in change management I always reinforce the importance of communication and then follow-up on promises.
When I look at some of the larger organisations where I deliver training and their inner political game playing, I often wonder whether all children should have been thaught military strategy games in school in order to survive in today's corporate structures. I also wonder whether acting should maybe become mandatory so you can manage your way through to the corporate top by delivering oscar winning performances. Then again I also wonder whether lie detector tests should be part of team meetings some times. It is amazing how seriously inept management is often what remains whilst all the talented and great people leave in their droves.
I am bemused, amused and entertained by some of the things I see as an outsider when visiting companies, I am also one of the first to react and point it out when given a chance and when I was an employee I always challenged the status quo when I felt it was the right thing to do. I respect an honest manager that is willing to sit down and give me the hard message straight, but seriously doubted the wishy washy soldier which seems to prevail and hide behind non-communication and hierarchy.
Eric Berne in his book 'The games people play' described human interactions years ago and his transactional theory is still booming in most companies and organisations, I would even say that the recession has made the theory thrive in is application and widespread practice. Put a number of ambitious people in a room, set goals for them and then let them self-organise the achievement of those and without any effort you have a political game. The cause is not important it could be profit, service or just the greater good of mankind. The moment people collide the seeds and components are there to ignite a minor power struggle, a major work-to-rule scenario or even a flawless operation. In a funny way it's why I love people watching and often find myself smiling when I listen to the stories of friends in corporations in a detached manner, when it involves me I am usually just as involved, frustrated and animated as the next person, but I guess I will tend to gather information, weigh up options, talk it through with a trusted few and then communicate or act as fair and objective as I can (and maybe that is just me daydreaming about my ideal response).
One thing I learned early on in my working life and that is that there are always 2 sides to every problem, so when you can find out the facts at least then you have an educated view, if empathy is necessary apply it, but only when your point stands up go fight your battles. In networking organisations which is what I frequent as a small business owner, I always found that there are people you can trust from the get-go and then there are also power hungry who apply crab mentality whenever they see fit, as in if someone is on the way up they do their utmost to pull them back down to group level, so nobody would stand out as better or worse than the next person.
In my business coaching, the most stressful situations for clients come from political games and I often work with executives in helping them realise the rules of the game, uncovering the patterns and obviously examining their responses to it all. When you are in the middle of a political minefield it is easy to doubt your own ability and decision making, which will in turn show your vulnerability and opens up a chance for others to attack the core of you. In my work with clients I work on the issue they are dealing with at the time to start of with, often putting them into different perspectives and once they have a handle on the immediate problem then we look at the core individual responses.
Some of the political games in business we instigate ourselves, I had one client who when he was bored just for the fun of it stirred up problems in other areas, when his management asked me to coach him, they also said he is the best in his area but if he could just leave the rest of the organisation in peace. So with him I addressed his boredom and guidelines as to when he could justify escalating or questioning other peers. Since we worked together his managers have come back and found peace and co-operation had returned in the office and everyone had become more productive including this manager. So some political games start with simple boredom.
In a project early last year I coached a number of middle managers reporting into what I would call a relatively dogmatic/dictatorial or old school senior manager. Each and everyone of the middle managers were intelligent, capable and seriously experienced in their respective jobs, yet the management style from the next level up had them distrust their own judgement, working late just to double check and make sure and also they felt isolated and unable to speak to each other, because each of them believed that they must have been the only weakling amongst the pack. I found that fascinating that dogmatic leadership had such a profound effect on what I found very intelligent and able people. Little by little they gained their power back thanks to my coaching and building up their confidence, when they did start talking and came together as a group they also managed to turn around the attitude of their senior manager which was an added bonus.
Always know who you are playing with when engaging in business politics and get to know what triggers you, how it shows up for you and whether the other side can actually harm you or not. When engaging in a fight at any level always look for one ally whether it is an internal or objectve party, politics is best done when you have someone that you can turn to for sanity. In politcal games there rarely are clear winners, so pick your battles wisely and note that some are just not worth fighting. If you give a sail wind, it will travel and gain momentum, take away the wind then the boat stop in it's tracks and sometimes this is the only way around a political situation.
If you are the one engaging in political warfare and you need an ally in your corner, we are happy to do this for you confidentially of course. In the mean time have fun observing patterns, discovering the rules of the game and being selective about the battles you take on.
Spaghetti and focus: what on earth do they have to do with each other? by An Coppens
2/22/2010 12:26:33 PM
Spaghetti and Focus: What on earth do they have to do with each other? by An Coppens
A lot of entrepreneurs in the professional service world are looking for their unique mission and purpose for their business and we deal with them when they face cross roads or changes of directions. In this economy it even is a case of crisis management or changing old ways because they no longer work or deliver the results from the past. Yesterday I heard a very apt saying in your quest for your mission in life don't get run over or sidetracked by others in search of theirs. Hence I decided to write this post about staying focused and how I work with clients around this topic.
Obviously the starting point is finding out what is you want to stand and be counted for. The very headline statement level, which if you were to have the misfortune of leaving the planet people will remember you for and they would say: 'Remember him.... he was totally focused on achieving..... or she was exactly this kind of person...'. So I guess if you don't know what you want to be remembered for, then this is the starting point and this goes for entrepreneurs as well as employees.
Once you have chosen your one headline that you want to be remembered for and for some of my clients that means becoming the best in their chosen field, some want to be recognised for expert knowledge others want to win coveted awards. Whatever it is for you, make the bold statement to someone you trust and write it down in your private goal book and then work backwards what actions are necessary to make sure you are recognised as that person. What in your words do you need to achieve in order to have 100% proof that you have hit your mission. So you can actually rest in peace or move on to the next challenge.
If this all sounds a little bit morbid, it's only intended to make you think. In my view we all arrived on this planet to share some of our talents and achieve something, what that is we have the liberty to decide on which is a great opportunity or some people's biggest fear.
Let's now assume that you have worked out your mission and ambition in your business life and now staying focussed on doing the tasks that will get you to your ultimate goal becomes your next mission, should you choose to accept it. In my business coaching work I often get asked how entrepreneurs can really remain more focused on their core goals as opposed to getting distracted and pulled away into other interesting projects. Most of the time my answer would be different depending on the person, because ultimately we all create focus in our own unique ways.
I did wonder all the same if I could come up with a visualisation or metaphor to help people get rid of distractions and remain completely laserlike in their mission to achieve. This is were my old favourite spaghetti comes in and if you can create this image just by reading this blogpost then I would say use it to your own advantage and let me know if it works for you as well.
Imagine yourself surrounded by all your distractions as if they are all planets floating around you in a magical solar system. Distractions can be people, annoying habits you have or others have, e-mails, phone calls, unhealthy habits, etc, etc. Just make sure the distraction can actually take a visual shape or form even if it is only a feeling, just have it represented in the physical imagery.
Now, imagine all those floating distractions attached to you as the centre of your universe with little strings of spaghetti, the more attached or annoyed you are the more spaghetti you have attached to that distraction. Then when you can see the attached spaghetti straps consciously cut the spaghetti straps with razor sharp, industrial sized kitchen knives and see all teh distractions disappearing like fireworks in the sky as if you were tying them down and now they have been released to splash their colour one last time and then they are gone. If you need to repeat the cutting of spaghetti ties to get rid of all of them, then do the same again.
You are left with a bowl of neat spaghetti ties which you fully own and control and this becomes your bowl of focus, you and only can decide what shape, what form or what time this bowl needs in order to develop into your goals. The bowl represents your business mission, your reason for existing and again your core focus that will ultimately get you were you want to be.
See yourself bringing the bowl to all the successful meetings you will have, all the conversations that need to happen in order to hit your target, all the e-mails, the contracts, the presentations, etc, etc that ultimately make your bowl the success gift from you to you. In order to be successful most of us need other people and that's why the bowl travels with you to share but only on our terms, in your time and with the people you consider to be of help.
I sure hope you enjoy spaghetti.... do let me know the results of your bowls of focus. Failing any better headlines, maybe people might jsut remember you for the person that enjoyed spaghetti analogies.
Recession brings new management styles, what's yours? by An Coppens
1/28/2010 3:31:47 PM
Recession brings new management styles, what's yours?
By An Coppens
The recession or downturn is showing up a few new and interesting management styles. As I travel to various companies for my business coaching and training work, I observe middle and senior managers as well as business owners with varying degrees of each of the following management styles. Maybe they always existed, but now they are really showing up due to the decision making effectiveness or it’s opposite they each carry.
The Ostrich Manager
You see them in and around the office, when there is any sign of difficulty or conflict, they become very quiet and whilst they may still be visible, sound could well be missing. The fear of having to make unpopular decisions or just plain decisions sends this manager into spirals of fear and it results in sticking their head in the sand. They become non-communicative, unreachable and unwilling to discuss the difficulties. I wonder whether they are silently hoping and praying that the problem will disappear over time.
The Happy Clappy Manager
This manager hasn’t yet entered the reality of recession and lives in blissful ignorance of even some of the most blatant facts in their spreadsheets. They speak of opportunity consistently and will tell all and sundry that business is booming and great. They will also be millionaires in the next lotto draw, for sure! This person doesn’t want to talk about downsizing, cost cutting or accounts for that matter and when asked they are focussing on the positives and getting the message out there. Challenges are not for handling, but for opportunities and if really pushed they sure can’t stand negative people and will avoid challengers at all costs because ‘they have issues’. Sure the economy is turning around, right about now, isn’t it?
The Hide and Seek Manager
It’s a case of ‘now you see me, now you don’t’, more often than not this manager is missing in action and if he is around he is in a meeting or on the phone. Do not go there with your issues, because he never solves them, they just join the enormous queue of things to do when there is time. If he can get away with skipping meetings, he will do his utmost and he pretty much delegates or rather abdicates anything to all around him. The theory being if he needs be involved there will be a boss on to him, if not he will just carry on being invisible and dodging jobs.
The End-is-near Manager
The cup is half empty and they can see the bottom falling out, if it isn’t already leaking. If you want to become up close and personal with doomsday then this manager is your best advisor. He has predicted that the economy will never be the same again and that the worst is yet to come. Any problem is justification that he is absolutely spot on with his predictions and they are all signs that really we should all retire into an early grave, because let’s face it there is no point in continuing on. In their moment of clarity they will work to rule or go by the book, but only because there is no better alternative.
The Parachute Club Manager
Like the parachute this manager appears out of nowhere stirs a panic, dumps large amounts of work and breezes out of the office again, off to their next big picture project. When questioned on who is in charge, they can be rather animated in their response that they had delegated the work and if it wasn’t done the parachute opens again and blame rolls off to someone else’s shoulders. If you do happen to be in their path on landing, be afraid to be run over or swamped, both are likely. They rarely take responsibility, but tend to have big picture opinions on everything.
The Silent Plodder Manager
This is probably the most productive of the various characters and gets on with the job at hand. They don’t cause too much of a stir, they do deal with issues as they come up, they are often delegated to by peers up to the point where they are disgruntled but they won’t say anything. In any case you should be grateful to have work these days even if this characters probably does more than their job they do feel underpaid and undervalued, but will only move on or pipe up when it has gone way too far. If ignored for too long they also do a silent work to rule type protest, where nobody in the organisation really understands why things don’t function as they used to anymore.
These are only observations from my travels in companies and are by no means a complete or scientific evidence based account of management styles.
All joking aside, which one of these are you today?
Pj Coogan of Cork's 96FM (96fm.ie) summarised my key message from Confidence in Action as follows:
1/15/2010 6:59:27 PM
Pj Coogan of Cork's 96FM (96fm.ie) summarised my key message from Confidence in Action as follows:
Small and developing businesses in Cork
are being encouraged to make more use of internet sites like Facebook
to increase their presence and profile in the marketplace..
One of Irelands leading business advisors, Cork-based Ann Coppens
says while social networks are often dismissed as being purely for fun
they are in fact a powerful, and free form of advertising and promotion.
Speaking at a conference on "Confidence in Action",
she said even the smallest business or service can gain profile
and win customers, with a good Facebook or Linked-In page...
Listen to my advice by clicking on the link below:
Theory of evolution: the perception of success and comparing ourselves against benchmark reference points by An Coppens
1/15/2010 1:20:16 PM
Theory of evolution: the perception of success and comparing ourselves against benchmark reference points by An Coppens
Last week I was delivering training to sales agents in a virtualisation software company and we had a bit of fun trying to come up with innovative ways of describing virtualisation and things like cloud computing to people that have absolutely no technical grounding, understanding or background. We came up with some real fun pizza oven examples in addition to the existing laundry analogy from a few weeks prior; but at the same time it hit me that when we mention success we actually hit the same conceptual misunderstanding as virtualisation and cloud computing.
Think about it... what does success mean to you? Ask another 5 people that you know and they may all have a different definition and opinion of what it means for them. In actual fact I even think virtualisation has a more defined description than success for that matter. As I have been coaching clients this week with the start of a new year being a topical time for new goals and re-visiting of old goals, I also came accross a good few success stories.
One client doubled his income in what is called a recession and his is based on turnover alone and not just thanks to cost-savings and staff re-adjustments. Another client managed to remain calm and in control throughout a period of extreme conflict in her personal and business life. A person returning to work after an extended health related break due to bullying in the workplace managed to hold their first team meeting in a productive manner. A start-up client took redundancy and has hit the ground running in a completely new line of work.
This is just a flavour of what my clients call success. Today I had another interesting discussion about it with a client. She asked me is it just these days that we are so much more aware of what we don't have that we have this consistent need to achieve and change etc.? When I spent a few minutes thinking about it, I have to say we or better the human race probably always had reference points and pecking orders even in tribal days. Debating it even further we actually concluded that even in animal tribes this exists and that there is an innate drive to achieve or 'become the leader of the pack'. Our acceptance or rejection levels of leadership have in my view definitely changed, but I do believe we all came with an inborn need to achieve, why else would we bother to learn anything more than pure survival skills?
Going back to success as a concept for a business owner this once again has to be observed within the confines of a market place, an industry, the internal resources available, personal skills of the owner, etc.. So for a solopreneur in the service business global domination may not be the most realistic goal without team development, however they can probably achieve local leadership in the local market place. As one of my clients put it: 'do you want to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond?'
With all the pressure and overuse of the terms 'goals' and 'new year resolutions', I am asking all of my clients this year to pick one overal reason for existing in their business segment. What is your one big mission and purpose for doing what you do? Why are you here? Gone are the days where I encouraged people to look at all areas of their life and set equally big targets in each of them, most of them ended up disappointed. So I decided a few years ago to go back to basics with clients and help them set goals for as many areas as they felt were important and then to narrow it down to 1 or 2 key focus targets, which is easy to manage and deliver on. When thy achieve one, then I ask them to celebrate and move on to the next most important one or a new one as priorities often change over time and circumstances.
After the 1 big target has been chosen the actions to go with it become even easier to distill and staying on track is simpler to manage for the individual. It is also amazing when you set your sails to one destination how other random distractions become irrelevant.
My big target for this year is to be known to deliver results with clients in the professional service industry. What is your 1 big aim for 2010?
As a marketing graduate, this question was triggered by a facebook response on a marketing mailshot campaign, so here is the background: I received a mailshot from a company, which claimed I was in the 1% of special people to receive this e-mail and promotion, later that day I spoke to a client and he asked me are you also in the 1% of special people, which I could only confirm and I am sure a good few thousands of others were on the same mailshot. I then raised the question on facebook whether this was a form of deception, false advertising, me being cynical or just marketing lies? One of my facebook friends responded that all marketers are liars, so that prompted this blog post and question.
When I give workshops to professional service start-ups, they often ask whether they should fabricate their testimonial section and come up with some good stories. Personally I totally and fundamentally disagree with this approach and would recommend that people work on getting experience and results in what they do and then look for real testimonials. However I am aware that some marketing guru's may recommend and utilise his approach. It is very much a value call, whether you remain truthful or not, but it does raise the following questions for me: What is the net gain? What else are you lying about? What if you don't live up to the story? What if people find out after that it was fabricated?
Coming back to the original mailshot that triggered this line of reflection, I actually ignored the message as soon as I read you are in the 1% of special people that have received this e-mail. In my own mind, I had already smirked: 'yes me and all the others who happen to be on your database' and I had stopped reading and deleted the mail. Have I read too many empty promises or marketing lies to be de-sensitised by this or the opposite does it start the anti-craze in me? I wouldn't mind but that particular company have a lot of great products that I would recommend, however this campain I feel was off the mark and outright wrong. It is now a standing joke, that me and some of my clients are in the top 1% of special people; I guess if you take the world population we probably are in the top 1%.
It does show that what you say in your marketing is important and that if you have buyers that value integrity and honesty, you may actually lose them as potential clients by sending them lies or far fetched stretches of the truth.
I don't think every single marketer lies, but I do believe marketing often stretches and is liberal with the truth. In professional services I would say be careful where you draw the line and make sure you are willing to stand over and prove what you have sent out as marketing. A prospect that buys from you based on stretched truth and subsequently doesn't receive the result they were after, will be come an anti-prospect. Usually you don't have unlimited chances to redeem yourself and prove you are worth every penny they paid for their service.
We receive hundreds of maketing messages every single day, since you got up this morning just have a quick re-visit: did you turn the radio on, have you opened a newspaper, social networking site, e-mail box, watched tv, received phone messages? How many of these were marketing messages? Now reverse it, how many marketing messages have you already sent today? Did you speak to people in person, on the phone, by e-mail, letter, have you actively looked for more business?
Most of us are consistently marketing 'brand me' in our actions, communications and equally in what we don't do. In professional services people interested in buying from you will make assumptions and create perceptions that may be totally unfounded and not at all based on facts, yet vital in the decision making process of whether to buy from you or not. I know when I give talks that some people will like me for being direct and others will not, my clients feel that is one of my critical and unique sellign points. As a coach I would be doing them a dis-service by not pointing out what I believe is obvious, when their words and actions don't match. As an accountant, when the profit and loss account screams minus figures, you are rarely going to say to a client, that they are doing a great job, you will be looking for strategies from them to get out of minus figures.
The kind of marketing I like and recommend for service businesses is when it is kept real. Not everyone will be the number 1 company in their chosen field and if you are not there yet, whilst it may be your ambition, my advice would be to keep it real, put the ambition on the goals list and when you reach number 1 then use it in marketing. It is rare to have a 100% success rate with every single client, so only promote a real percentage, anything above 80% is high and good.
When you are marketing your expertise and choose to write a blog or articles, then let us know your opinions and how you think things should make difference. If all you are doing is regurgitating someone else's textbook, then just give me the reference to the original, I would rather read this and write your opinion on their book as a recommendation. Give people an opportunity to chose your ideas as the ones they want to learn more of.
Recently I came accross another blog and the teaser headline was good and drew my attention, when I read it all I found it was just a sales pitch for a workshop that was going to tell me the secrets, which the blog was supposed to have revealed in the first place. That didn't instil me with any confidence that I was actually ever going to find out. In actual fact I commented and asked the question what the secrets were and apart from a rather defensive response from the original writer, I was still none the wiser. In my view I had given the author an opportunity to create an interesting debate about his chosen topic, we don't all have to have the same opinion, but at least have one. So again opportunity missed.
I don't know if from time to time you also sign up to great internet marketing offers and newsletters, I actually have a dedicate gmail account for newsletters purely because I know I have unleashed a marketing barrage of information. I believe newsletters are a great way of promoting your professional service as long as you give good information, but as soon as they start resembling pure sales and marketing copy I tune out and often unsubscribe. If I remain a follower it is usually for market research purposes as opposed to buying purposes, you have to know what your competition is doing.
Often rookie marketers and entrepreneurs, swipe and borrow good copy from those that have proven themselves in their field and apart from offering the same service but cheaper, you can nearly track back the source of their market research. If you are thinking the mile long 1 page e-mail marketing letter with 7 testimonials and 5 bonuses and the limited time price offer on it, works for professional services, I would seriously suggest to think again. I have very rarely seen this work, however regular free valuable advice then followed by a limited time offer, that I have seen work in the service industry.
Become known for what you do and what you offer and create an interest with your target market, which ultimately is what marketing is about. What are your actions and communication saying about you that people can get to know you, like you and trust you. At least make your message unique to you and difficult to duplicate. If you have a strong opinion, the next person can agree or disagree, but it is very hard to copy it without it being trace-able.
In this marketing age, where an image is so easily built up and open for the world to see, keeping it real is essential (that's my opinion anyway). If you can make the marketing message yours and uniquely yours, if you are looking to become the recommended expert in your chosen area then do share your opinion, the more contentious the bigger chance of it being read and it sticking to you. In any case you will win some and lose some, but you don't have to lie in order to be a good marketer, that remains a value choice.
The triple A of emergency management - by An Coppens
11/26/2009 4:22:55 PM
The triple A of emergency management - by An Coppens
With the recent floodings in Ireland and the UK, I have been pondering on the topic of crisis management quite a bit, because my heart goes out to all the people whose home and business has been destroyed by flooding. Having walked barefooted through kneedeep water really being the extent of the personal effect it has had on me and the B/Right businesses, I really can't imaging the emotional turmoil entrepreneurs go through when their business becomes flooded with water. If you follow me on facebook you can see for yourself how much devastation was caused in Cork, but I believe a lot of cities throughout Ireland and the Uk had an even bigger flood to deal with than here.
To bring it back to business though, what can you really do when this happens? We came up with the triple A formula for emergency management:
A1 - Assess the damage and what is left
A2 - Analyse your options
A3 - Adopt a plan of action
Let's look at each step in a little more detail.
When the water retreats, to take the flooding as the core example throughout, seen that it will be relevant to quite a number of people, the first step is to return to the premises and see what is left, what was saved and what is irretrievable. If you are insured it is important to make sure the loss adjuster sees it in the state you found it. At this stage the key is to inventorise everything that you have lost or will be beyond repair as a result of the water damage, the next phase then is to make list of potentially retrievable items and to make sure those items that weren't damaged are put aside in a dry room, so that the clean up will not cause any further damage. Then the cleaning up part starts...
After you have finished cleaning up and clearing out the damaged floors, furniture and other equipment or stock, that's when you will truly realise the extent of where the business is at. This is when you start looking at the hard questions: how much will it cost to replace everything, is it an opportunity to change, do we have to close, what will it take to start again, do we keep our staff, are orders damaged, etc..
Once you have a clear picture of the actual damage done, it is then a case of analysing your options. You will still have options no matter how bleak the picture looks. With an uncertain economy it may well mean closing your business or relaunching it with completely different offerings or even completely online? The key is to brainstorm ideas with all the key decision makers in the room and to also seek input from suppliers (will they be supportive, etc.) , employees and customers. You can use the floods as an opportunity to completely change your business and make improvements you may only have been contemplating before. In a way it is a white wash or a clean slate (if the water analogy is too close to home), so there is opportunity in this. My advice would be to have as many options on the table as possible and then one by one examine them for ease of implementation, real cost and benefit.
Factors to look at when examining your options are whether as soon as possible is a realistic time frame to re-open and if you are in retail and need to re-open after Christmas what will that mean in terms of business missed, what is the minimum and ideal you need to be back in business in a small time frame, how can you minimise costs of repair, are you able to start back on a shoestring? A lot of questioning will be the name of the game, in this economy I would say only move forward when you have an actual realistic plan in place, which includes numbers and campaigns to recover the losses made. This business plan can serve a double purpose namely as your action plan, but equally to go to the bank and state your case in the hope that they do live up to the promise of supporting businesses after they have been bailed out.
The final step in the triple A approach is to pick your course and take action. Implement your plan and look at it as if you are starting a brand new business. Remember the days when you started out first time and how exciting it was, well do your best to re-invigorate yourself and your staff with this new positive clean start type of energy. It is only through hard work and regular action that business have survived. If you think of all the multi-millionaire stories, all of them have seen hardship at one point or other.
We wish you all the support and belief you need to succeed and if you are running low on either of those, we know some great coaches that can help you through.
Become a meaningful specific as opposed to a wandering generality! by An Coppens
11/11/2009 11:07:49 PM
Become a meaningful specific as opposed to a wandering generality! by An Coppens
In the professional service industry, standing out from the crowd is vitally important. Most services are already available in one form or another, none of them are vastly unique. If you take the coaching industry for example, in the boom times, every second person and their dog was a life coach, thanks to the recession a lot of wannabee coaches are leaving the industry and those that truly mean business are still around.
The difference between working hard and working smart in the service industry is making sure people know what you are offering and who you are aiming at. We at our office recently looked at the services of B/Right Business Coaching and found in our niche audit that we were not specific enough and offering confusing services to a wide base of businesses. Hence our splitting the offering into 3 key areas and this one specifically targeted at start-up service businesses.
How did we make that decision? Well, our client base was already mainly service companies from one-man working from home type businesses to well established multi generation professional service companies. We have built our expertise in this area and have a great track record with start-ups, where we actually beat the statistics of companies making profit in their first 12 to 18 months as well as still being around and thriving after 3 years. So, when it comes to start-ups we know what they need, all we ask of our customers is that they are teachable and implement the suggestions in their companies.
If you are brand new to your service, you have the ideal postion of choice. You can choose who you enjoy working with, what kind of people you want to do business with and the kind of attributes they come with. The sooner you become very specific about your target market, the easier it is for people to buy from you and refer to you. The funny thing about being specific and putting your name to a particular type of work, means that you have an opportunity to have a good profit margin.
The challenge when I give workshops on marketing for professional services, is that business owners are afraid to be specific about their target market and their service, because they feel they might be losing out on other business if they go narrow and specific. In actual fact the wider and more general you remain, the more difficult it is to make money. Crazy fact!
So I guess, if you prefer to make less money, by all means stay general, but the risk of being very specific is that people recognise you for you do and cna refer business to you and you have the door wide open for profit. Funny enough, by being very specific, the other 'general' queries still come in and you can choose to take them on or not.
We sell on 3 key points: productivity and focus for high achievers through B/Right Focus Coaching, work/life balance and time-management hrough B/Right work life balance and start-up advice for professional service companies through this site B/Right start-ups. The commonality is that each service involves business coaching and is targeted at the professional services industry, but each have very distinctive needs and demands, hence a niche is available. We had this challenge of making 3 niches, because we decided to become more specific after a number of years in business.
How do you select your niche? First of all look at the various areas of experience you come with, your CV is a good starting point, even if it is an ecclectic mix of odd jobs, there may well be themes and generic trends that are unique to you. You can draw on personal experiences, because if you have personally experienced how to turn particular situations around for the better and you have designed a service around this, it may well work. Basically you are looking for a hook or angle to promote your service to a target market that is identifiable. Take start-ups for example, they are identifiable they tend to go to start your own business events, they can be found in enterprise competitions, they hang out in incubator centres, which is quite specific. Business coaching potential clients however as a target group is wide, varied and very non-specific, so also very hard to find or refer on to you.
The starting point is your own life and business experience and then you bring in the types of people you would like to sell to. I chose professional services, because it's an industry I have pretty much always worked in from my management consulting days up to now. If your background is in retail, music, sports, etc. there may well be a potential niche angle of people you would like to work with and understand. Narrow it down to their attributes, which are things like teachability, having budgets, innovative, etc. The more specific you are, the easier it becomes to find these individuals.
Once you know your specific service and your specific target market, then it is a case of going out to find them in big numbers, which if you managed to define previous part in great detail, then they should be easy to find. Next step then is to go and spend time with them and truly understand their behaviours.
The real message here is to pick a niche that you know you will enjoy, identify the kinds of people you want as your clients and then go make your mark in this corner of the market. One of my mentors came up with a saying 'A niche will make you riche' (imagine a french accent at the end) . Become a meaningful specific in order to be profitable in your service business.
Do you feel like screaming – STOP – leave me alone! I need more time!?
10/30/2009 11:51:47 PM
By An Coppens
Owner managers of small and medium sized businesses have an interesting balancing act to work in order to keep ahead of their schedule, they often have to be the king or queen of multi-tasking and in the end of the day all responsibility and accountability stops at their door, hence the person under most time pressure tends to the boss.
In my experience from dealing with entrepreneurs, the following scenario is quite common and really crept up on these people over time, unplanned and by accident, read-on to see if you recognise anybody.
It is Monday morning 7am and the owner has arrived early, before all the other staff comes in and before the phone starts ringing off the hooks, clients, suppliers and employees start taking over your schedule, so you could just get some work done. It is your favourite time of day without interruptions. As soon as 9am passes, all hell breaks loose and welcome back interruptions galore. You have some great people working for you , but yet somehow the receptionist doesn’t manage to fend off those telemarketing interruptions and finance is now also passing you account queries, not to mention the fact that all difficult clients always end up being referred to you. At times you feel as if all you ever do is answer phones, deal with people conflict, staff not performing or taking liberties, in all honesty you sometimes even question whether they are committed to the same company goals as you or whether they ever considered that their job description actually entails the duties they were supposed to perform. Anyhow as soon as 5.30pm arrives, you can relax again and work in peace for at least another hour or two to finish off that one urgent request and look into your jam-packed e-mail inbox. The next time you look at your clock, it reads 9pm, no wonder you feel drained, tired and hungry and you finally decide to call it a day and vow to make up for it at the weekend. On your way home you question, why being in business is great? And sometimes you even dare to contemplate that your nastiest alter ego, came up with terms and conditions for the owner manager work arrangements.
Does this story sound all too familiar?
The reality is time management is vital for every owner/manager and whilst days like the one above will probably happen to even the best time-keeper under the sun occasionally, they should never be a regular working pattern. In my work on the RTE show ‘How long will you live’ I am invited when business owners are not managing their time and due to the stress that they put their bodies under, they are likely to shorten their lifespan and attract all sorts of stress related illnesses, anything from high blood pressure to heart conditions etc. Obviously the participants tend to have one thing in common, definitely never making time for themselves or even to look after their own health. As busy owner managers, they often forget to look after the one resource that drives everything; you wouldn’t expect your car to continue working if the fuel ran out or the engine gave up, so why expect it from our body?
The start to resolving lack of time management is always to become aware of how you currently spend your time. With my clients I would ask them to track every 15 minutes of their day from start to finish for 2 weeks, including breaks and interruptions and I ask them to note who interrupted them for what reason, to establish trends. When you are aware of where your time is going, you can actually take charge and change it. The tracking exercise will show some very interesting trends regarding quick coffees, quick questions, communication deficits with staff, training issues and delegation problems. So in order to start resolving the problem with time, analyse how you spend it at the moment.
The next step then is to list all your tasks, roles and regular occurring responsibilities, start with annual items, then narrow it down to quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily tasks. On a year planner you can map out expected peak times, where you need to allow for more staff, more delegation and plan to have time for yourself. With the various lists identified, I then ask clients to translate the list of duties into an ideal week plan, where if they had full control over how they spent their time this is how they would use it. I ask them to map this out on an A4 sheet, broken down in hourly blocks, whilst taking into account when they are most alert and work best on difficult or complex jobs, in the least alert body clock time of day I ask them to schedule meetings, because you always pay attention with a person in front of you.
Once you have your ideal week designed, then the goal is to work 1 perfect day as planned per week, not 5 just 1. If you hit 1, then aim for a second perfectly planned day. If you don’t hit 100% any given day, don’t worry, most of us will find that if you work at an 80% as per planned time, your satisfaction and productivity rate is well above average and you start sensing feelings of accomplishment and getting things done. Also be aware that there are odd days where only 40% goes according to plan, these are the ones to accept as exceptions and learn from for future reference.
The rest is a case of choosing between the typical time management actions: Do, Dump, Delay or Delegate!
If you are curious on how you could improve or fine-tune your skills, fill out the wheel of success in time management. For each spoke on the wheel give yourself marks out of 10 of how well you perform on this element (1 meaning very bad and 10 meaning there is no room for improvement, you have mastered the art already). At the end connect the points and hopefully your wheel can actually drive your business forward, if the shape looks no-where near a wheel and has lots of edgy points, then you are in for a bumpy journey. The good thing is though that you have identified your areas for improvement.
How do you know when you have moved on and made true progress towards your goals and away from those things that you so desperately want to avoid?
That's a question I often ask myself and also for my coaching clients I often need to point out.
Events in the past few weeks for me pointed out my own progress, hence i wanted to share some of these, just to illustrate how you can find feedback on your progress or lack of it.
About three years ago, I was at frustration point with my business and was looking for other ways to get to the next level. I had recovered from a seriously unwise investment decision which had lost me a lot of money and I was now riding the highs of my new business coaching business, yet had very little time for myself and I was still working all the hours I had. I was looking for an easier way, another way, something that could help me, because I sure hadn't hit or found happiness in the process, even though I knew i was working in a field that I really enjoy.
Somebody, who I still don't know, sent me tickets by e-mail and by post for a seminar called 'breakthrough to success' in London, by a person called Chris Howard, whom I had never heard off. I reluctantly went to the seminar thinking I have nothing to lose, I will check it out and can always visit my London based friends or go shopping in case I don't like it. The seminar did delve into some core personal issues as opposed to my business frustrations to start off with, which took me by surprise but the seminar also showed me how to run a business of my kind at another level. So at the end of the first day I knew I had to get to know the person behind the seminar Chris and find a way of learning from him directly, they then announced form stage the only way to do so was to join the Billionaire Adventure Club, which is exactly what I went after. If I had a financial controller or advisor they would have boycotted that idea, so call it a massive stretch.
At the same seminar I met two ladies who I managed to become friendly with and had lunches and breaks with, they had ambitious business ideas and we had a great time sharing experiences. How does this all lead to where I am today?
Well last week I met the two ladies again for the first time since the original seminar, their business has taken off and their comment to me was 'wow, you have moved forward and look so calm, happy, focussed, healthier and generally different in all possible positive ways.' I do have a coach and I sometimes ask him the question too, what change do you see and invariably he tells me I am calmer and more focussed. Personally I do think I have solved a whole lot of inner turmoil and I do feel calmer, recent diet changes definitely make me feel healthier and yes, I do know exactly what I want to achieve and I am moving towards that. Getting the mental part of me to catch up with the ambitious driven side of me was the hardest part and if anything trips me up, it is the mental side going nasty on me (in technical terms: beating the crap out of myself). I have a coach for that reason and often learn from other people along the way that make significant comments.
This week then I was at a seminar to instill confidence in people in Ireland regardless of the economy and I met some people that would be called the movers and shakers of Irish business, Bobby Kerr from the Irish dragons den and Insomnia coffee. In previous years I would have listened to the seminar and never managed to have a conversation with them, this time I was comfortable chatting about sailing to the man. I also got to spend time with Mark Pollock, who I wanted to meet after reading his book 'Make it happen' last Christmas. I you think you have a challenge, find out this guy's story, he had everything going for him olympic sporting career, top class degree, great job lined up and then turned blind. He has since gone on and completed several adventures from trekking marathon distances for days on end in the Gobi desert to a south pole expedition. He is incredible and I am really grateful to have firstly completed another goal, to meet him, but equally to find out the guy has great heart and allowed me to spend a little bit of time with him just chatting. When someone makes a great impact in your life, let them know and be thankful for it. Thank you, Mark!
Then yesterday I visited the seminar again that started off some of this journey, and one of the exercises asks you to look at the things you are frustrated with and hand on heart apart from wanting things to move quicker, which is my impatient nature coming out, I actually finally found a place where I am generally confident, happy and know that I am heading towards the right level whilst doing things I totally enjoy doing. By joining the billionaire adventure club at the time, I did get to know Chris and some other great mentors such as Dave Lakhani and Keith Cunningham, which I still contact for advice and some great fellow travellers, which have become good friends. We also did some incredible things for a small community in Peru and children in Cambodia with Friends International. Friends International is one of my favourite charities and I am promoting their Childsafe campaign through our Rotary district in Ireland and Northern Ireland, which I chatted about to Chris during one of the breaks.
So how do you know you have made progress? In my view it's the people you meet, new peer groups (sometimes you may need to upgrade them as you move forward) will give you an insight in your levels of confidence and the change in you. Equally trusted friends and ideally your coach will have seen you progress. My clients know they have the biggest cheerleader in their corner when they hit the results they work towards. Revisiting the seminar to me pointed out how much I had moved, not just small things, but actually massive stretch leaps forward, which took a good bit of faith, sometimes tears, desperation and serious frustration to work through, but I coulnd't help but feel a little proud of myself for trusting the process and seeking out mentors & coaches along the way.
Thank you guys, you know who you are. If there is one thing I would recommend you to do to move forward, find mentors that are ahead of you in business and a coach that you can trust and then follow their advice and go with their tools. My clients that have the best results trust my tools, which are not always straight forward business systems, yet I only use what is right for the client and when I have tried it before and it has worked. Don't forget to have fun on your journey, I have had tears, but equally some incredibly fun experiences so far and I am sure there are plenty more to come, fun experiences that is!
In a networking group someone floated the idea of living in a pre-boom economy, namely that we are now preparing for the next boom time. I think this a great way of looking at the situation from a creative point of view.
Imagine you are setting out on a trip around the world through all continents and you have a bit of time to prepare.
You will start doing some research on the places you would like to visit and the places to avoid that are maybe to volatile. You might look things up on the Internet or go to seminars and meet with people that have gone to these areas before you. In business terms research your market, where is the potential and where are the dangers. Speak to others in your market place and observe what they are doing or even businesses in similar market segments with similar customer. Now is a good time to analyze and learn what works and what doesn't.
To prepare for your trip around the world you may have to work at your own fitness, the kind of equipment and clothes and even medication you may need, some places may even require injections against diseases. To make sure you enjoy your trip, you will take all the necessary action in the build up towards the journey. In your business it is equally important to look at what you have inside from people to processes to equipment, do they need to be brought up to speed in order to make it to the next boom. Does your business need an injection of customers, cash, skills, etc? If the answer is yes, then it's time to look at an action plan to make it happen and work the plan. In Nike's words 'just do it'.
In your preparations for your world travels, undoubtedly the thought will cross your mind whether you are actually mentally fit enough for the journey. For some people this is the actual show-stopper and they will quit for fear of not making it all the way or running out of money or not having people to support them or home sickness. When I work with entrepreneurs mental readiness and ability to carry on even in tough situations will differentiate the successful ones from those that don't make it. It is vital to build a support network that you can turn to and trust when you need advice or even just a small word of encouragement, who holds you accountable if you are the owner and are they supportive.
Then when you start your travels, there will be unforeseen circumstances that may send you on a detour such as a local train strike or natural disasters. whilst you are travelling you take them in your stride and deal with them as you go. In business it is exactly the same, customers may decide to go elsewhere or even close their business, staff suddenly leaves or strategies that used to work are now outdated and no longer deliver. The key is to analyze what the cause is and then to adjust your actions and take a different direction. It may sometimes mean parting company with people, clients or suppliers and whilst these decisions are difficult to make reaching the destination may require the tough decision.
On your world tour you will also meet interesting characters, visit beautiful places and experience wonderful things, so in your business equally make time for the good stuff and have fun along the way.
Are you the upstart that will kick-start this economy?
In times of economic recession the small indigenous businesses will be the ones driving economic growth and change. Why? Because big companies will take a while to adjust and small lean organisations can adapt and change to go with the flow of new demands a lot easier.
For large organisations the focus will be on cutting back and increasing efficiency from within, most of them will face redundancies as we can already see in our news reports. Change is typically slow and will receive a lot of resistance despite obvious market conditions. It is also that time when new ideas will hit the market and some of the people looking at redundancy packages finally going after the dream or concept that could be the next big thing.
In my view small adaptable businesses will be the ones to bring our economies back to life and as well as the new start-ups that are yet to find their way to the market. Will it be IT driven, environmental or green theme, cost saving or older generation focussed? That is crystal ball material. However we do know from historic fact that each recession has seen new businesses emerge to become the future employers and giants in local communities.
So if you are the person with that great idea, what should be your focus right now? The first thing to find out is whether there is a market for your product or service. The most frequent failure is that your great idea doesn't actually relate to anybody else in the market place and when you are doing market research do go well beyond asking your family and friends, who may well just be trying to be nice to you and support you in your madness. If you have watched the TV-programme 'Dragon's Den', the first thing investors look for is market potential and not just finger in the air material, but hard concrete numbers, contracts and sales facts. In an ideal start-up you sell your product or service before you actually go about producing brochures, leaflets, websites, or product for that matter.
The next step is to find out what people are willing to pay for your product and service. In this climate with tightening purse strings you may need to test a few price ranges in order to find the one that will make you profit. Profit is one of those areas to focus on from the start, you need to factor in all your costs and price your product and service in such a way that you at a minimum cover all the costs and have some spare margin for profit. I meet entrepreneurs all the time that forget to do this and after 12 months of hard work they are still not making any money and wonder why, when you look at their costs and pricing structure the 2 often live in a world apart. If you can appeal to different parts of the market for example with a low -end non-branded product and a then a high-end top of the range branded product with all bells and whistles you have an opportunity for bigger profit from one-side and bread-and-butter business on the other. In my view both need to cover all costs of production including wages (even if for now as the entrepreneur you are not taking any money out).
Once you have priced and sold your first items, you are basically in business and in service delivery or production. From here a focus on consistent sales, good customer service and delivery will be critical to your success. To ensure that this happens, you need a plan to work with. Not a business plan that will gather dust in a drawer, but a very basic action plan of daily, weekly, monthly and annual targets is good enough. Basically target figures that will tell you whether you are making money or not. Always know your break even point: where costs and and money made meet and any excess becomes profit.
In this climate most of our conversion rates have come down or slowed down, in other words the number of potential buyers we need to meet in order to generate sales will be slightly higher and slower to make a decision than in a boom market. So be prepared to jump over a few hurdles to make the sale. In our line of work we have started offering a counter proposal to potential buyers, where we will make an offer and if they are not happy they can come back with a counter offer. I then evaluate if we can deliver within these boundaries and based on some of our internal business guidelines, more often than not we proceed with the business. In my view having the business at a rate that both parties can afford is essential to survival of both businesses.
When sales are coming in on a regular basis, keep a close eye at all times on costs and what the competition is doing out there or even alternative services or products that have sprung up, which could potentially take some of your client base.
Remember though if at first you don't succeed, you may need to tweak or change your practices in order for it to work. In some instances it may mean going back to the drawing board and start from 0. In the USA the average successful business person that receives venture capital investment has failed 3 times. I am not promoting that you fail, but I am promoting that if it doesn't work the first time and you stumble, to dust yourself off, learn the learnings from your first experience and go again with an adapted plan.
In this climate seek out fellow entrepreneurs and share some of the positives, support each other, and work together to turn this economy around. In a boom economy anybody can make money, in a downturn only those with a solid product & service, some vision and a plan will succeed as long as they have the courage to start and stick with it. So here is the question, are you the upstart that will kick-start the economy or are you the muppet in the balcony that knew it wouldn't work?
