Granulating the Organization –

Loosing Spectrum of Leadership

Business / Leadership

Keep in Watch ‘The Early signs'

Lack of Leadership Skills:

Fuzzy Vision / High Bureaucracy / Poor Idea and Knowledge Management / Lack of Initiative / Poor Vertical Communication / Poor Cross-functional Collaboration / Poor Teamwork / Discouraging Culture.

Lack of Leadership Skills: - Fear of change, Leaders lack entrepreneurial spirit, Leadership style on the part of management is either too directive or too hands-off, Managers do not lead and don't manage change, they just administrate and micromanage, Weak leadership development programs.

Fuzzy Vision:  - Corporate vision and mission don't inspire people, Lack of strategic alignment, People don't know where the organization is going and what it is trying to achieve in the future.

High Bureaucracy: - Bureaucratic organizational structures with too many layers, High boundaries between management layers, Slow decision making, Too close monitoring of things and subordinates, Too many tools and documents discouraging creative thinking, Bureaucracy is tolerated.

Poor Idea and Knowledge Management: - Cross-pollination of ideas is not facilitated, No creativity, Idea and knowledge management strategies and systems "know-it-all" attitude,"not invented here" syndrome.

Lack of Initiative: - Employees are not empowered, Poor motivation and encouragement, People do not feel their contributions make a difference, Management fails to engage the organization effectively, People work defensively and not creatively, They do their job, and nothing more.

Poor Vertical Communication: - People have no clue of the big picture and do not feel that their contributions are important, Too much uncertainty, People don't know what top-managers are thinking and planning.

Poor Cross-functional Collaboration: - Functional mindset, Lack of cross-functional goals and cross-functional collaboration spirit, Functional, no enterprise-wide business process management, No cross-functional management committees, Lack of or powerless cross-functional teams.

Poor Teamwork: - No organizational commitment to team culture, Lack of shared and worthwhile goals, Weak team leaders, Team members who don't want to play as part of a team are tolerated, Teams are too large, Lack of shared rewards.

Discouraging Culture: - Corporate culture does not inspire people, No shared values, Employees are not energized, Lack of trust, Blame culture, Focus on problems Not opportunities, People don't have fun at work, Diversity is not celebrated, Failures are not tolerated, People lose confidence in their leaders and systems.

Leader IN You Start with Yourself!!

Be an example of what is wanted – you are the only thing in the system that you can absolutely change Learn from everyday events, treat every situation as an opportunity to learn and to gain some new choices and flexibility, Don't rely just on the feedback you receive, solicit feedback actively, Increase flexibility in your thinking and your actions.

Trust versus Credibility - Credibility is intellectual, Trust is visceral

"Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance."

Want your Sales to Sing …

Business / Leadership

Before any company can sell its product efficiently, the entire organization needs to learn how customers will acquire and use your product, thereafter modify the product, marketing, and sales approach accordingly. Realise this that the more you talk to your customers, the more product and market problems you solve, the more productive your sales staff will be. 

It's too late getting involved in sales strategy when you notice a gap between what you think your people should be selling and what they actually are selling this is what shows in research.

For this a company essentially needs to know the sales learning process, which involves all parts of the company from the executives to the engineers to all the departments of the company. On the engineering side, the learning curve in, business involves discovering what product features may be incomplete, and how well it interfaces with consumers.  Market learning includes figuring out how to properly position the product, find its true niche, and prove that it will provide the return on investment promised. For the sales force, the task is to hammer out the general guidelines for identifying, communicating with, and selling to any customer. It's a process some of the more established companies also have had to deal with. "When you finish product development, you actually have to go through a market development cycle." The information gathered through the sales learning curve period incrementally improves a products start up process, positioning, and only then the sales model is complete. By now the time to break even will be a little further out, but the cash to break even will be much less. The concept of the sales learning curve is proving to be a blessing to all new product launches and development strategies therefore understand what your consumer wants, desires and only then ask him to bless your product which by now should be a little above their expectations.

A myriad of studies, articles, and research papers all support the concept that employee engagement is a critical driver of organizational productivity, profitability, and customer loyalty and conclude that an engaged, motivated, and empowered workforce is far more likely to work at optimal levels than one that is dispassionate, de-motivated, and un-empowered.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Hence as long as we know how to manage the ‘work’ we would be on our path of glory. -Thomas A. Edison

Leaders Inspire - 21st Century

Business / Leadership

While the particulars of every case vary, Kotter has identified eight critical stages of successful change management. Mismanaging any one of these steps can undermine an otherwise well-conceived vision. These identified eight change paths can be addressed as in order are :

Establish a Sense of Urgency - Examine market and competitive realities, Identify and discuss crises, potential crises, or major opportunities.

Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition - Assemble a group with enough power to lead the change effort, Encourage the group to work as a team.

Create a Vision - Create a vision to help direct the change effort, Develop strategies for achieving that vision. Communicate the Vision - Use every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies, Teach new behaviors by the example of the guiding coalition.

Empower Others to Act on the Vision - Get rid of obstacles to change, Change systems or structures that seriously undermine the vision, Encourage risk-taking and non traditional ideas, activities, and actions.

Plan for and Create Short-Term Wins - Plan for visible performance improvements, Create those improvements, Recognize and reward employees involved in the improvements.

Consolidate Improvements and Produce Still More Change - Use increased credibility to change systems, structures, and policies that don't fit the vision, Hire, promote, and develop employees who can implement the vision, Reinvigorate the process with new projects, themes, and change agents.

Institutionalize New Approaches - Articulate the connections between the new behaviours and organizational success, Develop the means to ensure leadership development and succession.

In all Constructive Transformation is the key word.

"Leaders establish the vision for the future and set the strategy for getting there; they cause change. They motivate and inspire others to go in the right direction and they, along with everyone else, sacrifice to get there."

– John Kotter

The following is inscribed on the tomb of an Anglican Bishop in Westminster Abby (1100 A.D.) …

When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country. But it, too, seemed immovable. As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it. And now, as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realize: If I had only changed myself first, then by example I would have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country, and who knows, I may have even changed the world.

The Leadership approach –

Choose to be a Lion or an Elephant

Business / leadership

The story of the Elephant when he was King:
In a particular legend from Zimbabwe, begins to hint at why the elephant is an appropriate symbol of leadership to create sustainability.

     One year in Southern Africa, drought struck. The rains failed and the animals soon ran short of water. One by one, the water holes began to dry up and their plight became very serious. Such was their distress that King Elephant called a council of all the animals where they were all invited to come up with suggestions. Having listened to their ideas, he decided that their short-term solution to the lack of drinking water was to dig a large, new well in the nearby river bed. The water table had dropped drastically and the animals had to work night and day without resting. King Elephant worked hardest of all using his enormous tusks to dig deep into the river bed, while the others carried away the soil, mouthful by mouthful. Eventually Elephant reached water and the animals rejoiced, praising the strength and hard work of their wise king. Then the King Elephant made rules about the water hole so that the water should be shared equally and everyone could quench their thirst. He decided that the animals could only come and drink at sunrise and sunset.

    And then there was a twist to the story, one member the Lion disobeyed the rules and crept down in the middle of the night to drink his fill. He also had a bath and muddied the water. Then, in an attempt to discredit Elephant and usurp his throne, he gathered up some mud and smeared it on sleeping Elephant's feet. Fortunately, Lion's plan was neither well thought out nor cleverly executed. Not only did he forget to clean the mud off of his own paws, but his tracks were the only fresh spoor at the water hole. Lion was banished from Elephant's kingdom and King Elephant retained the trust of his subjects and reigned over them for a long time. The rains returned and life was good.

    Then many years later one day the old Elephant died, he was the most respected animal in the land. The Lion now had his chance and proclaimed himself to be King of the Beasts. After his takeover many things changed and the animals of the bush were no longer ruled by a fair and just leader. There was much grumbling and you would often overhear statements such as: "If only things were like they used to be, when Elephant was King!"

The Story ends in a sad note .. What if, in our modern society, Lion was no longer king? What if Elephant was king once more?

According to the theme of this article, let us now explore some of the Elephant traits in more detail.

    Elephants are not predators. They are complete vegetarians living from the land, not off their fellow-creatures. They have no natural enemies other than humans and are seldom seen in violent encounters with other species. In fact, bush-lore has it that despite their tremendous size, elephants in the wild go out of their way not to harm any other animals in their path, no matter how small.

    As a rule, the elephant's relationship to other species and Nature is highly cooperative and symbiotic. For example, elephants often provide the lifeline that other animals need in the dry bush land by digging for water, or enlarging existing water holes. Their eating habits, which often appear destructive, simultaneously open up the forest canopy to allow young growth better access to the sunlight and make previously inaccessible vegetation more widely available to other species.

   They also fertilise and distribute the seeds of a large variety of plants, earning them the nickname of 'gardeners'. Not only are they the plumbers and gardeners of the wild, they are also the road-builders, leaving a vast network of trails that give other creatures pathways through sometimes dense habitat. Elephants' cooperation with humans is also legendary, from the storybook tales of Tarzan and Mowgli, to the real life war-elephants of Hannibal and the hardworking domesticated animals of India and Africa.

    Is it easy to create wider accountability in the present world we live in, businesses need to learn survival tactics not by tactics to kill or hunt but by the capacity to identify, nurture and sustain cooperative relationships. Like an elephant, this behaviour among the dominant countries or companies will be a must because of their great size and power in the modern world.

Some of the Traits of these Gentle Giants : Icon of Leadership, Master of Survival, Benefactors of Cooperation, Inspirers of Greatness, Leaders of Compassion, Champions of Communication, Keepers of Wisdom.

Some Traits of the present King of the jungle : Lion-like people or institutions or nations stand in marked contrast. Although proving themselves to be extremely innovative and flexible when dealing with highly visible threats constituting typical fight-or-flight situations, they have a very poor radar system when it comes to picking up and responding to more fundamental, invisible changes over long periods of time. For example, the modern capitalist corporation, especially the multinational, is for the most part less than 100 years old and already it is threatening to destroy the very social and ecological fabric on which it depends.

    Having spent many years in the corporate world, I believe that experience is a better teacher and the ability to unlearn and relearn with the humbling attitude is the key to success in the real world.

The former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam once said, "A Leader Should Know How to Manage Failure, Learning gives creativity, Creativity leads to thinking, Thinking provides knowledge, Knowledge makes you great and Peace comes from strength because strength respects strength." In a recent interview to Wharton Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam among India's best-known scientists before he became the country's President said, "one of the important lessons I learned in the space and missile program was not just how to handle success but how to deal with failure. I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience."

As the world looks back to the road ahead, nothing could ring more true today than Alvin Toffler's prophesy: "The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

We are going to need to learn, what it means to survive epochs, and symbolic ice ages, and the mighty elephant can lead the way.

Leadership Challenges -

Be aware of a Leading Company

Business / Leadership

    An old Indian Fore lore goes like this, an Indian maharaja who would engage in a bizarre morning ritual every day, immediately after waking up, he would celebrate his own funeral, complete with music and flowers. All the while, he would chant, "I have lived fully, I have lived fully, I have lived fully."

At first I could not understand this when I first read this, I could not understand the purpose of this man's ritual. So I asked an old Indian sage to enlighten my thoughts on the story. His reply was this "Son, what this maharaja is doing is connecting to his mortality every day of his life so he will live each day as if it were his last. His ritual is a very wise one and reminds him of the fact that time slips through our hands like grains of sand and the time to live life greatly is not tomorrow but today."Unknown

In this issue one will be able to see what great companies in this world have much in common. They continue to succeed, to grow in revenues and profits, to adapt to change and opportunity, and to inordinately influence society and their industries.

These Great companies have the highest rates of return on assets and equity in their industries. These are the hallmarks, the guiding principles, of these companies, some Pointers given below.

VISION-
Great companies plan with very clear, measurable specific goals… and not just short-term, one year goals, but those of strategic vision.

To reiterate, they have a clear market vision. They know what business they're in. They know what customers want. They give customers what they want.

CUSTOMER ORIENTATION

Great companies believe, the customer is always right.

Top managers are all customer-oriented.

All top managers regularly make calls on customers.

Consequently, they are constantly segmenting their markets and executing the segment plans meticulously.

There is constant contact with customers. They always observe with clarity customer behaviour, changes in behaviour, and emerging customer needs. They do lots of listening.

The whole company serves the customer culture… not just the sales and marketing people, but production, financial, and research people as well.

They work hard to create customer franchises.

They seek lots of opinions, especially from current and lapsed customers, suppliers to their industry, and from their people.

MARKETING and SALES

There is a total company marketing orientation. Everyone in the company understands that marketing is the only renewing activity. Every employee values the customer.

Application case histories and successful customer incidents are constantly communicated throughout the sales forces.

The sales function is considered part of the marketing mix and is overseen by a marketing manager. These companies understand that selling or advertising is not marketing, rather a marketing function.

They do not get surprised by changes in the market. They usually influence the market.

They sell benefits, not features. They sell benefits, not technology.

They combine market data with intuitive marketing common sense.

They provide good, customized and consistent sales training.

They do not price products too low, rather they sell on price-to-value, not to cost.

They reserve opportunity money to take advantage of unplanned opportunities.

COMPETITION

There is a constant review of competitive activity. They realize that competitors are after their slice of the pie. Therefore, they invest more in marketing than their competitors.

MARKET SHARE

Achieving and keeping dominant market share is their priority. These companies fully understand that Leadership, strong market share is the fundamental common denominator of profitability.

They know that their No.1 market share status as a leaders almost always have No.1 profits, No.1 awareness, strongest customer franchise and loyalty, and highest prices. This allows them to invest more in market research, more in R&D, and more in gaining share advantage over their competitors.

They focus on market volume share more than market value share which would come naturally.

Understanding the importance of market share leadership requires a sharp awareness of what business the company is really in -- from a customer perspective -- and what that translates to for positioning and niches. That's why great marketing companies think about marketing strategy and execute that strategy relentlessly.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Manufacturing and marketing people meet often, once a week ... to discuss costs, forecasts, production, new products, new processes, etc.

R&D is rewarded for commercialized successes, not just technical ingenuity it's the nomenclature of the company. They reduce uncertainty with homework and research.

BRAND MANAGEMENT

They truly understand the importance of brand names, and constantly work to keep the brand names known and untarnished.

CHANNEL PARTNERS

They do not make decisions based on the short term shouts and pleas of the distributor or channel.

They see trade channels as partners, not customers.

QUALITY STANDARDS

They are maniacal about product quality, as quality is defined by their customers, not by manufacturing or quality assurance.

“There is no such thing as limits to growth, Because there are no limits to the human capacity for intelligence, Imagination, and wonder.”

Roland Reagan

4 High Powered Steps to Excel at High Ticket Marketing

Struggling to sell your high ticket offerings in the online arena?

Then, struggle no more with these high powered steps:

1. Host teleseminars.

One of the best ways to capture the attention of your target market is to offer them with free information.

You can do this by inviting them on your free teleseminars.

You have the option of discussing a particular topic or answering your audience questions.

Your goal here is to convince them that you are an expert and that your high ticket products are worth every penny.

2. Cold calling.

Make time to call those people who have shown interest over your high ticket products and services.

Prepare a compelling sales script and be prepared to answer common objections.

Keep in mind that your goal in cold calling is to not make an outright sale but to ask for an appointment where you'll have more time to discuss your offerings with your prospective buyers.

3. Offer freebies.

You can get your target market to pay your website a visit if they know that they'll get something in return.

Offer them with short newsletters and ebooks.

While you are at it, make sure that you properly pitch in your offerings.

Communicate the benefits they can offer and the things that separate them from the rest.

4. Email marketing.

Capture the email address of those people who have paid your site a visit as they are most likely to get interested on what you sell.

Then, send them compelling email ads.

Get them to contact you and give them incentives for doing so.

After that, you can work your magic to convert these people to buying customers.