Strand-Ridge
  • Home
  • Biz Services
    • Biz Consulting
    • Strategy Workshop
    • Public Speaking
    • Biz Training
  • StrandRidge Academy
    • Sustaining High Growth For Long Term Success
    • Global Productivity Mindset
    • On-Demand Video Archive
  • Biz Exchange Mall
  • Global Trade Promotion
  • Contact
  • About
  • Motivation To Succeed
    • Motivational Videos Archive
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • North East Business Exchange
    • ARCHIVES 1
    • ARCHIVES 7
    • ARCHIVES 8
  • Leadership Insights
  • Strand-Ridge Cafe
  • Consent To Receive E-mails

Operational Leadership

2/25/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Perform With Team Strength
Delegate and retain control

 
A young lady with an entrepreneurial spirit was dissatisfied with the taste of Asian foods in her town. She decided to make her own meals which she supplied to local fish and chips shops. The manager at the local supermarket loved her meals so much that he offered to stock her frozen easy to reheat meals if she could deliver sufficient quantities on a weekly basis.
 
When word got to the head office of the supermarket chain as to the popularity of the frozen meals the head office offered to stock the entrepreneur’s frozen meals in all their stores nationwide.
 
To supply in bulk, the young entrepreneur had to scale up her business by setting up her own commercial kitchen. A business consultant helped her to prepare and implement an action plan.  
 
Operating a business and managing a team was something new to her. She got consulting advice on hiring, training, managing and leading her business team. She engaged specialist in finance and business operations to get production off the ground while she honed her leadership and public relations skills by attending presentations and networking events.  
 
Her vision was, to deliver tastes just like home cooked meals. Her grandmother’s belief that preparing food was a family activity shaped her values. This defined the business culture and inspired frozen meals that tasted like fresh home cooking when reheated.    
 
The entrepreneur worked at developing competitive leadership knowledge and skills in finance, marketing, operations and motivation. Sher encouraged her business team to be innovative.
 
The food preparation business operates in an environment of continual change in consumer taste and choice. This requires leaders who respond to change in contrast to managers who focus on maintaining the status quo.
 
Our entrepreneur succeeds because she knows that today’s leaders have to be visionary. They have to be good at continually learning and teaching new ideas and practices. They need to understand paradigm shifts in society and maintain strong values to sustain integrity in their team.
 
To achieve goals, leaders should delegate task for execution by a team. Delegation should be done in a manner that encourages team initiative while the leader remains in control.  
 
To be effective team leaders we need to develop and strengthen the following attributes:
 
Psychological Strength
Have positive values that guide us in dealing with stress and overcoming adversity. This we can do by identifying and implementing solutions to overcome obstacles to achieve our vision. Have the confidence to assert our will and inspire our team to implement a plan of action.
 
Positive Energy
Health is wealth and as leaders we need this to remain energized so that we can infuse our team with a sense of enthusiasm and optimism to act decisively.
 
Sense Of Duty
Act based on a sense of duty to implement decisions that measure up to high standards of professional excellence.
 
Fact Driven Action
Take calculated risk by making decisions and taking action only after evaluating all available facts.  We must avoid reckless action where no facts support the decision.
 
Self-Confidence
Have the determination to continue taking action based on lessons learnt. Be undeterred by past failures.
 
Leadership attributes can be acquired by anyone who works at developing emotional resilience and intellectual knowledge. Read for pleasure and knowledge. Interact with people who have a positive outlook on life. This can help to boost our self-confidence and increase our stamina so we become effective leaders.
 
To succeed in business over the long term we need to pursue excellence relentlessly.
 
Siddha Param
International Business Consultant

Reboot your business plan for sustained high growth

Click For Link To:

BUSINESS SERVICES

CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE

BUSINESS EXCHANGE MALL CONNECTIONS

Do share this article on social media and with those interested

0 Comments

Market Leadership

2/18/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Market Focus And Sustained Innovation
Embracing A Culture of Transformation

 
The bakery opened for business with a market focus by putting customers first through product innovation. But as it grew, it shifted to putting profit first.
 
The bakery produced artisan breads and pastries using flour and other ingredients from local family farms. They charged premium prices and found a loyal following of consumers for their fresh bakes. As consumer demand grew the bakery started to add a greater variety of products such as pickles, jams, frozen soups and dinners made fresh daily.
 
Then the bakery made the decision to go wholesale supplying artisan stores and cafes throughout the city with their products. This required buying ingredients in bulk from certified all natural mills and wholesale suppliers. Some of the loyal early customers complained that the products were no longer as tasty as before. Added to this was the fact that prices had gone up to maintain profit margins as the bakery shifted from retail to wholesale production.
 
The bakery’s focus began to shift towards growing market spread. More employees were hired to cope with increase in production. While business flourished, the work culture changed. Its’ philosophy of selling artisan baked products for a niche market changed to selling natural products to a wider market segment.
 
The shift in work culture resulted in many of the bakery’s early customers leaving as they no longer considered the bakery’s products truly artisan..
 
By growing a business at the expense of losing its’ original identity and brand value the business created a vacuum in the niche market it served at inception. This shift away from the niche market has created an opportunity for a new business to enter the market and grow.
 
Can a business grow without abandoning its’ founding values and original niche market? It is difficult to say we are market focused when financial profit is a vital part of business growth and survival.
 
Social and technological advances are constantly causing shifts in market expectations. To remain competitive a business must continually innovate to meet changing market demands.
 
Market Focus
A market focused culture encourages a business to use consumer feedback to stimulate innovation to serve the niche market better. This leads to high performance which sustains business growth.
 
A market focused culture requires putting the customer at the centre of conversations and decision making in the business. This is a challenge as the interest of other stakeholders such as investors, suppliers and team members need also to be addressed.
 
There has to be an acceptance of the culture by all levels of the business from the top leadership all the way down to the delivery personnel. This can only be achieved through open communications across work functions.
 
The market focused culture should also be communicated to consumers so they become advocates of the culture in a way that translates into brand identity for the business.
 
Organisational Change
Some technology manufacturers are shifting from manufacturing hardware to designing software as the hardware market fragments with multiple devices becoming internet access points. For many such manufacturers the race is into cloud computing innovation to retain customers.
 
Innovation therefore is an integral part of a market focused culture that keeps pace with the evolution in customer expectations. Market focused businesses invest in developing a customer centric work culture that drives the team to think of innovative solutions in response to customer expectations. The aim is to create and satisfy market demands.
 
Business Transformation
To bring out the best in your team invest in consulting and the acquiring of new knowledge to transform the business into one that is responsive to changing market realities.
 
Do this by introducing fresh knowledge into your team’s conversations to stimulate innovative thinking. Many successful businesses invite authors and consultants to conduct monthly presentations.
 
Market focus and customer first should be part of the sales pitch by the top leadership internally with the team and externally with other stakeholders. Market focus orientation requires encouraging new thinking about changes in the market by your entire team. Embracing continual learning is a great way to start the transformation towards serving the market better.
 
Siddha Param
International Business Consultant

Reboot your business plan for sustained high growth

Click For Link To:

BUSINESS SERVICES

CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE

BUSINESS EXCHANGE MALL CONNECTIONS

Do share this article on social media and with those interested



0 Comments

Market Leadership

2/11/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Local Business Knowledge & Experience
An opportunity for global market growth

 
In every city we find local business leaders who understand the local market better than those who have newly arrived. That is why multinational franchises prefer potential local franchisees who demonstrate an ability to succeed in the local market.
 
A couple in Vancouver started selling their healthy artisan cereal mix at Granville Island from a small kiosk. When they adopted a catchy brand name sales grew rapidly amongst health conscious consumers. This is a fast growing market segment in Canada. They gained media attention and today have become a significant player in the cereal business dominated by big multinational brands.
 
Success in business requires good leadership and a deep understanding of the local market.
 
Here are three reasons why local businesses succeed:
 
Leveraging Global Technologies And Local Market Knowledge
Successful local businesses utilise global technologies to leverage on their deep knowledge of the local market. The artisan cereal company used a popular local market to reach a wide segment of consumers.
 
Customers were able to continue buying by simply going online to make purchases on their website. By placing products in local stores strategically located throughout cities across the country they were able to reach an even wider national market.       
 
Ability To Respond Rapidly to Local Market Changes
Every city has a local culture which local business leaders understand better then business leaders coming from outside the city.
 
A distributor of electronic products makes it a point to attend business networking and local community meetings whenever he visits a city or town. He identifies local retailers who dominate the market. These are the people he will encourage to distribute his products. The reason these individuals succeed is because there know how to respond rapidly to changes in the local market.
   
 
Local Teams Drive Local Change
Local businesses are in the best position to drive change in local consumer demand. Successful local businesses tend to have a local team whose views are trusted by key consumers and brand advocates. These teams know how to get the word out to the local community as to the merits of a new product or innovation within an industry.
 
A local business leader makes sure a member of his team attends local business and community events to support local initiatives and to invariably educate those attending as to the merits of buying a new product they offer.    
  
The main takeaway for us is to invest in learning the latest in leadership thinking and technology while spending time connecting with local business and community groups.
 
Siddha Param
International Business Consultant

Reboot your business plan for sustained high growth

Click For Link To:

BUSINESS SERVICES

CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE

BUSINESS EXCHANGE MALL CONNECTIONS

Do share this article on social media and with those interested


0 Comments

Business Leadership

2/4/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Foundation For Leadership
Driving sustained performance

 
With just a few weeks of basic training the military can turn unskilled individuals into war heroes. Soldiers don’t just learn the skills of how to blow up bridges they also know how to build them.
 
Business consults and trainers apply similar methods such as simulations and role play studies that re-enforce new knowledge and hone skills through practical exercises.
 
Competitive leaders are good at organising highly skilled and deeply knowledgeable individuals into a team to implement their vision and values in a practical manner to achieve goals.
 
Successful businesses create highly efficient systems by formalising effective work relations that emerge from team activity.  
 
When Raymond retired from the military he established and grew rapidly a transport company with a fleet of trucks that could deliver goods across the country. When I met him he was in the process of computerizing the monitoring of his trucks in real-time so that he could more effectively deploy his trucks to ensure maximum utilization of his resources. This required introducing to Raymond a total logistic management consultant to work with the computer software engineer to create the system. His goal was to improve productivity and reduce turnaround time for his trucks so they could make more deliveries. Raymond believed this was necessary to maintain his profit margin while keeping out competitors from across the border.
 
It is necessary to build a solid foundation for sustained success. The following are the 7 pillars that form the foundation for sustained business success:
 
1. Leadership
Effective organizations have strong leaders with vision and clear goals. Strong leadership is built on the foundation of positive values that inspire team members to give their very best.  . 
 
2. Management
To achieve organisational goals it is necessary to have managers with a mission to achieve goals in a way that expresses the vision and values of the leadership
 
3. Market
It is necessary to identify and cultivate the market for what the business offers. This requires investing in identifying the niche market that is willing to buy.
 
4. Head Office
This is the command centre from which the leader gathers all information for analysis in order to stay in control of the business even as the leader delegates duties to others.
 
5. Capital
Human and financial capital are necessary to run the business. Hire the best and utilize financial capital to get the best return on investment.
 
6. The Team
 The talent pool within the business needs to be a group of specialist who can be motivated to work together to achieve common goals.
 
7. The Consultant
This is the person who acts as the leaders trusted adviser and who gives objective advice. The consultant gets leaders to face the hard facts of when to invest more, when to shift strategy and when it may be necessary to exit from a venture.
 
Siddha Param
International Business Consultant

Reboot your business plan for sustained high growth

Click For Link To:

BUSINESS SERVICES

CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE

BUSINESS EXCHANGE MALL CONNECTIONS

Do share this article on social media and with those interested


0 Comments

    Archives

    September 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    STRAND-RIDGE news provides free business knowledge articles.

    Categories

    All
    High Growth Planning

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.