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HIGH POWERED TEAM

3/26/2015

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Your High Powered Business Team
Get the talents and skills mix right


If you get it right, you can’t go wrong! This seems like an obvious fact. But too often business decisions are made based on emotions.

Your point of view depends on your viewing point. A team discussion with input from different specialist points of view tends to lead to better decisions being made.   

A high powered business team should have a mix of talents, skills and knowledge that make decisions based on facts.   

The Team Leader
It is important to have an individual with leadership skills to lead the team. This is a person whom everyone will follow even when difficult decisions have to be made that have an uncertain outcome.

The team leader should be supported by consultants to assist in team recruitment and training. 

The Industry Insider
There is commercial advantage in having a person who has deep industry knowledge. The insider will be familiar with the cultural practices and personalities in the industry. This can help the business to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses in relation to competitors. Additionally insiders may provide a better understanding of the market that would help innovators design products and tailor services better.

The Big Ideas Person
To be sustainable a business needs to have a big ideas person to challenge the team to deliver quality that gives the business a competitive edge in the market. Many technology companies know they need to come up with the next big thing that will excite the market.

Information technology has now shrunk the personal computer into a smart hand-held device with software technology that enables small businesses to compete with giant multinational corporations.  

Recently, two business school graduates came up with the idea of a café that serves, “coffee leaves tea”. It has a similar amount of caffeine as more traditional teas. Now, coffee growers can harvest leaves for sale all year round and not just wait for coffee berries to ripen for picking just ones a year. 

The Star Player
Ideas are only as good as the capacity to do the work necessary to produce the services and products for sale at the right price. The star player is needed to get down to organising and running the operations that lead to production and delivery of products and services to consumers.

The star player is a highly skilled, highly driven person who is only satisfied when the job is done right.  

The Sales Genius
There is no business without sales that lead to profits. The sales genius has deep market knowledge and strong sales skills. This person understands human emotions and knows how to trigger a “buy decision”. This person will spend time understanding the essence of the business and the unique features of the products and services offered. The sales genius knows how to close a sale in a competitive market.

The Financial Controller
The bottom line should always be top of mind. The financial controller should be able to work out budget priorities based on input from the team members described above. This person needs to have cost accounting knowledge related to the industry in which the business operates. All industry sectors have peculiar dynamics when it comes to sourcing for supplies, human resources and marketing.

Identifying reliable stakeholders in the supply chain and being able to negotiate financial terms that lead to reliable delivery within budgetary constraints is an essential skill. The financial controller should be knowledgeable in preparing a financial plan that promotes investor and customer confidence. 

By investing in consulting advice you can assemble your high powered business team to sustain competitiveness and high growth.  

Siddha Param
International Business Consultant

Reboot your business plan for sustained high growth

Click For Link To:

CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE

BUSINESS EXCHANGE DIRECTORY

CONSULTING, TRAINING & PUBLIC SPEAKING

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Building a business

3/18/2015

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How To Build A Great Business
Profiting by putting people first


A great business can only be built with great leaders leading a team that delivers high quality.

To deliver high quality requires leadership skills in raising the aspirations of the business team. Leaders have to inspire confidence, energy and enthusiasm so the team takes the initiative to act.

At Infosys a global information technology company with more than 165,000 employees and revenue of US$8.25bn for the financial year 2014 the leadership make their people embrace the adage: “a plausible impossibility is better than a convincing possibility”.

Dreaming Big
An individual who is driven to succeed by a great leader will dream big, make sacrifices and achieve miracles. To sustain the drive to succeed you need a business plan and strategy that identifies, trains, empowers and mentors future leaders for the business. This you should do while still in active leadership in the business.

An Inspiring Vision
As a leader embrace, live and promote an inspiring vision that raises the energy level of your team. Generate enthusiasm and a sense of self-worth in every individual in the business team. This is best achieved by ensuring everyone benefits as individuals from the shared vision of the business.

Global Benchmarking
Customer expectations are increasingly influenced by global standards. To deliver quality to the satisfaction of your customers you should benchmark the business to global standards in all areas including operations & production, marketing & sales, human resources competencies, research & development as well as finance & profits.

Benchmarking creates a world-class business that attracts the best talents in the industry to join your team. A business is only as good as the quality of its people, management and leadership.  

Measuring For Improvement
To ensure benchmarks are achieved and exceeded you must constantly measure and improve the attributes of merit, fairness, transparency, timeliness, imagination and quality of performance in the business.

Siddha Param
International Business Consultant

Reboot your business plan for sustained high growth

Click For Link To:

CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE

BUSINESS EXCHANGE DIRECTORY

CONSULTING, TRAINING & PUBLIC SPEAKING

Do share this article on social media and with those interested

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business efficiency

3/11/2015

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How To Increase Business Efficiency
The importance of focusing on goals


All businesses need to evaluate their business performance periodically. This is necessary because competitors are constantly innovating and evolving their offerings in the market place. New products and services are continually offered and this is reshaping consumer expectations.

I remember an accountant who spent a lot of his time creating his own accounting templates using spreadsheet software to help his clients organise their accounts. However, there are a number of accounting software packages readily available for purchase at an affordable cost. The same can be said of business management documentation such as business plans. Such software when utilized well can help clients to utilize the services of their advisers and consultants more effectively.

Status Reports and Benchmarks
It is essential to measure the status of your business periodically across areas such as finance, customer relations, product quality and relevancy as well as the efficiency of your business in delivering to customers.

Put in place realistic benchmarks to measure efficiency in delivering to meet your business goals. Get your team to identify any inefficiency and to make suggestions as to how best to overcome the identified inefficiencies.

Measuring Impact of Solutions on Business
Before deciding on solutions to identified inefficiencies, you need to measure the impact of the inefficiency as well as the impact of the suggested solution on the overall efficiency of the business.

A good business solution is one that both removes the inefficiency and improves the business performance overall. The financial cost has to be justified by the probable return on investments.

For example, a manufacturing company found that the fleet of delivery trucks it had was constantly breaking down, costing too much in down time and repair cost.

The possible solutions that appeared at a first meeting of managers were:
1) Buy a new fleet of trucks; or,
2) Out-source delivery to an independent trucking company.

After calculations and consultations with outside consultants and the staff in the trucking division a third solution was arrived at and acted upon.

The company would instead shut down the trucking division and, help the managers and staff whose employment would be terminated to start their own trucking business. The company would then become the principle customer of this new trucking business.

Stay Focused on Business Goals
In identifying and rectifying inefficiencies it is important to stay focused on the vision and goals of the business as set out in the business plan. In our example of the manufacturing company their core business was in manufacturing products not transportation.

By shutting down the trucking division the company was able to focus all its resources on improving manufacturing efficiencies thereby increasing their competitiveness in the market.

Siddha Param
International Business Consultant

Reboot your business plan for sustained high growth

Do share this article on social media and with those interested

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Risk Management

3/5/2015

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TAKING RISK FOR GROWTH
Focusing on Achieving Goals


Be The Change Agent
To promote high growth be the principle change agent in your business. To sustain high growth build a qualified and competent team with personalities that embrace change as a positive challenge.

The vision, mission and values of the business should promote change that challenges the status quo by providing innovative products or services that delight and satisfy consumers.

To be truly transformational, a business leader needs to establish open channels of communication within the organisation and across the supply chain from suppliers to consumers. The rank and file of staff and every team member should feel encouraged to give feedback and suggestions. Even the too often forgotten cleaning, security and delivery crew may have ideas worth noting.

Be constantly on the look-out for opportunities that enable you to seize the initiative by being innovative. In the book, “Global Productivity Mindset” (available on McNallyRobinson.com) the story is told of a lady in the United Kingdom who took the initiative to supply samosas cooked in her home kitchen to local food stores. This has grown into a multimillion Pound frozen food business that supplies major international supermarket chains.     

Communicate Relentlessly & Constantly
To be an effective change leader, inspire your team by constantly and relentlessly communicating your expectations and vision to them. Make sure all business activities are in line with the vision and values of the business.

A team with the right skills, knowledge and passion will be a team that enjoys the work they do. This can translate into sustained high performance and continual high growth for the business. It is therefore important to have fun in the work place while focusing on productivity.

You can delegate to the maximum by appointing the best people. This requires giving individual team members the freedom and encouragement to do their best work. This builds self-confidence and strengthens the business.

Get out of the office and have a meal or coffee with team members, suppliers and customers. Listen intensely to what they have to say. Make notes immediately of useful feedback and ideas that come to mind. Rich Branson of the Virgin Group does this and calls it his, “secret weapon”.

Communicating within the business and across the supply chain is the hallmark of a business that embraces change as an opportunity to grow the business.  

Plan Against Worst Case Scenarios
In challenging the status quo by proposing something better it is vital to manage the risk involved.

By encouraging your team to take on a challenge you are taking on risk. Protect the business from being impacted by negative factors by calculating the risk involved before taking on the challenge. There is always a possibility of failure. Only make a decision as to whether to take on a challenge after working out the probable losses for the business in a worst case scenario. This will prepare you and your team to face adversity if the worst happens.

Always measure and evaluate outcomes. Establish a realistic benchmark to measure against. Gather evidence as a project progresses so you can continually evaluate performance and, take corrective action to achieve expected goals.

Achieving goals is a powerful motivator that encourages individuals to keep striving for change that promotes growth.

Siddha Param
International Business Consultant

Reboot your business plan for sustained high growth

Do share this article on social media and with those interested

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