Strategy – Page 34 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

6 Lessons Learned from High-Performing Lean Teams

April 29, 2019/0 Comments/in Books, Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

Lean strategies are a dynamic way to maximize efficiency. We surveyed the top performing Lean teams to find out what makes them successful.

Today’s post is by Jon Terry, Lean-Agile strategy at Planview and former co-founder of LeanKit.

Lean solutions represent an evolved method of approaching how business is done. It’s all about transparency, about your colleagues taking accountability into their own hands and maximizing efficiency ratings to bring the most value to your customers. At the team level, Lean processes help guide teams and individuals to optimize their efforts, accentuate the positives, and mask the negatives. A focus on analytics and agility in response to market changes are the name of the game.

In 2016, LeanKit set out to establish our first Lean Business Survey in an effort to learn more about how Lean tactics are being applied in knowledge work. Over the course of two years, the survey data has been compiled into the Lean Business Report. Through this report, we hope to tell the story of how the Lean business movement is spreading and transforming some of the world’s most competent and successful organizations, often one team at a time.

As we analyzed this data, one question became the central focus of our journey: What do the best and brightest Lean teams have in common? We were most intrigued by so-called “super performers”, or teams that were exceedingly mature in their integration of Lean techniques. With these insights in mind, we want to share with you some of the top lessons learned from high-performing Lean teams.

Why You Need a Wookiee on Your Team

April 17, 2019/1 Comment/in Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Leaders can learn a few things from Chewbacca the Wookiee. Leaders who have people that are loyal, team players, skilled, and action-oriented will be more successful than leaders with team members without these qualities.

Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS, LLC.

GRRNNHHNNNHHNN!

WOOKIEE!

Every great leader needs their own Wookiee. They’re extremely useful. They can carry around robots, knock out stormtroopers, and co-pilot wicked awesome smuggler spaceships. On top of that, they usually have long, luxurious brown hair (how has Chewbacca not landed a shampoo/conditioner endorsement yet?).

Some of you longtime readers have seen this post before, but it was time it be revived from the archives once more, it truly is that good. Read it again. It’s good stuff. New readers – read it. This is one of my favorite posts ever.

No, I haven’t lost it. All leaders need their own Wookiee. First, allow me to explain the characteristics of Wookiees that leaders will find attractive and helpful, especially for those of you who haven’t jumped on the Star Wars bandwagon in the last couple years. Second, I’ll explain how you can unleash those Wookiee talents for the good of your team.

When you figure out who your Wookiee is, let them know that, in a matter of speaking. You should share your assessment with them so they understand what you expect from them and how valuable they are to you as a member of your team. If you want to expand your Star Wars leadership skills beyond managing a Wookiee, you can read this post about what Han Solo can teach you about leadership (a real flashback for any of you who’ve been with around since the beginning).

There are five things you’re looking for in your Wookiee:

How to Figure Out Where You Should Focus

November 26, 2018/0 Comments/in Books, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

True business leaders stay focused. This is crystal clear. But how can you make sure you are focusing on the most promising business opportunities that can lead your company to success?

Today’s post is by Sharon Tal, co-author of Where to Play (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

In their best-selling book Creativity Inc., Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace present well known pieces of advice that lead you nowhere. One of them is “focus, focus, focus!” As they explain: “When people hear it, they nod their heads as if a great truth has been presented, not realizing that they have been diverted from addressing the far harder problem: deciding what is it that they should be focusing on. There is nothing in this piece of advice that gives you any idea how to figure out where the focus should be.”

Indeed, knowing that you need to focus is the easy part, but choosing which opportunities to focus on is a hard nut to crack. This is true for founders of a small startup, just as it is for managers of a large organization. In any case you will need to assess and prioritize your business opportunities to figure out what horse you are betting on.

Here are few tips that will help you to evaluate and compare your business opportunities in a systematic manner, so you can set your strategic focus more easily.

Spotlight on two key factors

Theories on motivation stress that a great goal should be desirable and feasible – both at the same time. A business opportunity is just the same: it should be highly desirable, i.e., offer a high potential for value creation, yet also highly feasible, i.e., bear limited challenges in capturing this value. So when you assess different opportunities for your company, make sure to evaluate these two key factors. Your aim is to focus on a high potential, low challenge opportunity.

Categorize your options

If you systematically evaluate the potential and the challenge of each business opportunity on your table, you can use it to categorize your options into 4 different types:

The Ultimate Sales Strategy is to Engage Your Employees

October 29, 2018/0 Comments/in Books, Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

There are three areas in which the leaders can focus their efforts in order to ensure exponential growth in sales, revenue, and customers: focus on the vision, drive open communication, and be a great mentor.

Today’s post is by Shawn Casemore, author of The Unstoppable Organization (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

What if an investment in your employees was the single greatest contributor a leader could make in order to grow their revenue and improve customer satisfaction? I’m not suggesting hiring more salespeople, or investing in new marketing campaigns, but rather making an investment of time, energy, and even money to support the ability of employees who work in the organization to be effective in their roles.

Does this even sound reasonable?

According to the nearly one dozen CEOs that I interviewed recently, for leaders who are dominating their markets in terms of growth, revenue, and overall market share in their sector, an investment in people is their single greatest contributor to boosting their bottom line.

It’s long been thought that revenue and growth of any organization comes directly from the organization’s ability to both market and sell its products or services effectively. By investing more money and time directly into marketing and selling, an organization will grow, right? Unfortunately, this is not true. Sure you might invest in a new marketing campaign that will yield several leads, but the campaign itself doesn’t ensure that you can close the leads. An investment in developing a sales team might lead to closing more deals, but it doesn’t ensure that customers you sell to are and remain satisfied with your products or services, to the extent that they will buy them again and again.

There are essentially three areas in which the leaders can focus their efforts in order to ensure exponential growth in sales, revenue, and customers, most of which might come as a surprise as they are counter to what we’ve historically believed to be true.

Alignment with the Vision

First off, growing revenue starts in having all employees aligned with the vision of the organization. Where is it going, and what specifically does the role of each employee need to be in order to support reaching the vision? I once stopped by to see a client and asked reception how her day was going. She immediately identified that she had spoken with ten customers, four prospective customers, and several referral sources that day. Shocked at her response, I asked how she was so sure of the status of her calls. She responded quickly, saying, “My role is not to answer phones, but to be the first point of contact for all of our customers, existing and new, and ensure their experience is beyond their expectations.” She went on to share her strategies for connecting with people and learning of their connection to the company. My jaw was likely on the floor as she spoke, but it reinforced what I’ve heard from CEOs and executives of organizations that seem unstoppable when it comes to growth: connecting employees’ roles and responsibilities with that of achieving goals ensures everyone is placing their efforts and energy in the right direction.

Clear and Open Communication

Five Essential Leadership Skills for Entrepreneurs

October 22, 2018/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Becoming a great start-up leader takes work. Every entrepreneur faces a unique set of hurdles. Regardless of the type of enterprise, the five underlying leadership skills required for success are the same.

Today’s post is by Derek Lidow, author of Building on Bedrock (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Every entrepreneur faces a unique set of hurdles, depending on whether they want to sell sausages, software, services, smartphone apps, or whatever. But regardless of the type of enterprise, the five underlying leadership skills required for success are the same. No one is born with them and each requires work. They include:

Self-Awareness

The students to whom I teach entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurs who seek my advice are almost always surprised to hear that self-awareness is a skill. They assume it’s a trait you’re born with. But the fact is you can learn it—learn how to identify your capabilities and your personal modes of learning and self-improvement.

Mastering self-awareness requires that you understand what you are capable of achieving, given your combination of traits, motivations, and skills, all of which are interdependent. You cannot change your traits, but you can change your skills and some of your motivations.

Once you understand your traits, motivations, and skills you can adopt straightforward strategies for leveraging your strengths and mitigating your weaknesses. For instance, if one of your traits is headlong risk-taking you might hire a second-in-command who is by nature more cautious and analytical. Further, you need to understand your deepest motivations (and that what drives you may not drive the people who work for you). Confidence based on a clear understanding of yourself is empowering; delusional self-confidence is hubris, and it’s likely to be fatal to your business.

Build Relationships

Entrepreneurial leaders virtually never act alone in getting the world to adopt their ideas—they build strong relationships with the people who can help them. Unfortunately, relationship building is rarely taught in school, though you can read about in many places. Some life skills coaches know how to help people practice relationship building. One way to master it is to deliberately practice with people from whom you want cooperation. Set a goal of getting to know somebody, make contact, and then figure out how you can do it better the next time.

Motivate Others

How well does your organization assess its own capabilities versus competitors?

July 12, 2018/0 Comments/in Entrepreneur, Leadership, Poll, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How well does your organization assess its own capabilities versus competitors?

We drastically overestimate our capabilities.: 22.3%
We overestimate some of our capabilities.: 37.7%
We accurately assess our capabilities.: 28.6%
We underestimate our capabilities.: 8.6%
We drastically underestimate our capabilities.: 2.7%

A little overconfident. Overestimating your organization’s capabilities can be a huge strategic mistake. If you push your beliefs of greatness too far, you’ll create strategic blind spots that are easy for your competitors to exploit. Before you know it, the market will offer it’s less-than-flattering assessment of your capabilities. A rigorous approach to evaluating your capabilities is the key to staying humble and staying safe in a threatening market environment. Actively participate in these assessments on a regular basis. Question your beliefs about your capabilities. Challenge your assumptions. It’s best that you challenge yourself before your competitor challenges you.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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Proactively Dealing with Regulatory Changes to Keep Your Business Safe

July 11, 2018/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Regulatory and political changes can have a tremendous impact on your business. If you’re not aware of possible regulatory changes, you’ll be caught off guard and have to react to those changes rather than having the opportunity to prepare for them. The more involved you are in the regulatory arena, the more effectively you’ll be able to influence regulations and keep your business running smoothly.

Legislative and regulatory changes can cause massive upheaval for your strategic plan. Elections happen all the time. New rules and regulations are proposed, implemented, or repealed on a daily basis. Court cases can change an entire industry landscape.

To stay on top of all these changes and to prevent being blindsided by new developments, follow electoral races, regulatory initiatives, and landmark court cases that can affect your business. Build contingency plans for possible political, legal, and regulatory outcomes. I’ve seen legislation and regulations impact businesses in huge ways.

Make Your Perspective Known

One client I worked with was dealing with some massive regulatory changes in terms of how regulators were going to interpret the way their industry worked. This client was proactive. They got involved with the regulatory comment period. They put their perspective forward through experts, and got regulators to pay attention. The outcome was they were able to shift some of the regulatory interpretations that were going to affect their business.

Shape the Regulations When Possible

Another company that I worked for had regulators come in and define a new rule. The problem was, the regulators didn’t say how they were going to interpret the rule. We were a little bit confused. We said, “You’re putting in place a rule, but you’re not telling us how you’re going to interpret it?” What that did was give us an opportunity to offer our perspective on how the regulators should interpret it. We were able to shape that perspective. This approach had two benefits. First, we shaped the perspective in a way that would benefit our business. Second, we were also able to shape it in a way that would hurt our competitors. It was kind of a win-win – for us, at least. But the only reason we were able to shift these perspectives was we were on the front end of the interpretation guidance being created.

Make Changes Proactively

If You Want to Succeed, Use Your Team

June 25, 2018/1 Comment/in Books, Communications, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Business owners should take advantage of their team’s passion, talents, and knowledge to help the company becomes as profitable as possible.

Today’s post is by Robert Thomas Bethel, author of Strengthen Your Business (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

I have overseen the turnaround of 77 failing businesses in my 52-year career. For all the money and jobs that were saved, I take just 5% of the credit.

The other 95% belongs with the employees of the businesses I took over. Without their commitment to turning things around, none of those 77 companies would’ve made it.

Many of the owners who sold me their failing business did not take full advantage of the talents, knowledge, and passion of their employees. They kept them in the dark, fearing that if anyone knew how bad things had gotten, everyone would’ve been out looking for new jobs.

Nothing could have been further from the truth.

In my first day at a new company, I call every team member together and lay out the truth, warts and all. I’ve never had an employee quit after hearing how bad things have gotten. In fact, I’ve seen employees make personal sacrifices for the good of the company.

When I took over a large metalworking plant nestled among the hills and valleys of eastern Tennessee, an older machine operator approached me after our first meeting and sheepishly said, “I appreciate you telling us where we are. My kids are grown, and my wife has a good job. We’ve paid off our house and cars. If it helps, I can go without a paycheck for a month.”

That machine operator was willing to make a personal sacrifice because he was invested in the plant’s future success. He wanted to be part of the solution instead of running from a fight.

When people are invested in something, they’ll do whatever they can to help steer it away from failure and toward success. That’s what the previous owners never understood. They all selfishly thought that if the business failed, they’d be the ones most impacted.

Will you lead a revolution when you see change that needs to happen?

June 14, 2018/0 Comments/in Entrepreneur, Innovation, Leadership, Poll, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How likely are you to lead a revolution when you see change that needs to happen?

Extremely: I’m the first one to call for big change: 18.4%
Very: I often take up new causes: 39.6%
Kind of: I’ll lead change but only if I’m really passionate about it: 39.0%
Not very: It would take a lot to get me to step forward: 2.8%
Not at all: I’ll always let others lead big change: 0.3%

Rebels with a cause. It’s encouraging to see 60% of you taking up causes you believe in. The question to ask is if your cause is having the desired effect. Does it pick up momentum and lead to real change, or does it tend to sputter out and be forgotten when you move on to the next cause? To have a real impact, nail down the core components of a revolution: find a big problem, find other people sick of the same problem, define the future state and galvanize the masses. If you’re going to take the risk of starting something, put the conditions in place to see it through.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How well are your incentives aligned with your strategy?

May 24, 2018/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Poll, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How well are your people’s incentives aligned with your organization’s strategy?

Very well: there’s a clear link between strategy and incentives: 14.0%
Well: incentives are generally linked to strategy: 30.5%
Not well: it’s unclear how strategy is tied to incentives: 37.8%
Not at all: our incentives have nothing to do with our strategy: 17.7%

Incentives drive behavior. Behavior drives strategy. An alarming percentage of you report there’s no link between your strategy and your incentives. That’s a problem. People do what they get paid to do. If you want your strategy executed, you need to align incentives with achieving those strategic goals. The stronger the link between strategy and incentives, the more likely you are to drive behaviors consistent with your strategic direction. When you notice misalignment between incentives and strategy, drive clarity quickly. Involve your compensation and HR teams in the conversation when you set strategy. If you don’t, don’t be surprised when people are working on things that have nothing to do with your strategy.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Want to succeed as a consultant? Pick the right revenue model

March 14, 2018/3 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

If you want to be a consultant and run your own firm, you need to have a good sense of your revenue model. There are many to choose from. Pick the right one and be very profitable. Pick the wrong one and you’ll be working like a dog for a tiny paycheck.

Your revenue model explains how you make money. You need to determine how to charge for the services you’re offering and what services you’ll charge for.

Consultants use three primary revenue models: fee-for-service, project-based, and per-unit. There’s a big difference between a fee-for-service consulting model, a project-based model, and per-unit pricing models.

Fee-for-Service

Fee-for-service gets you an hourly rate. You charge a specified amount of money for each hour or each day of services rendered. The upside of this model is you get paid for your time so if the project expands, you get paid more money. This is especially attractive in situations where there might be scope creep on your project.

The downside to this model is there’s pretty much a cap on what you can charge per hour. You get no benefit from being more efficient.

If you’re going to work on projects with a poorly-defined scope or if there’s no predictable amount of work you’ll be doing, consider using a fee-for-service model.

Project-Based

For project-based revenue models, there’s a one-time fee for the entire project. The upside of this model is if you’re more efficient, you’re more profitable. The downside is if the scope of that project creeps, your economics on that project could be terrible.

For example, if I have a very clear expectation that a project will take six weeks to complete and will require four days of effort per week, I can take my daily rate and multiply it by 24. I may even build in a 10% hedge to that rate. That would be the project-based cost I would charge the client. If I work efficiently and it only takes me five weeks instead of six, it’s a much more profitable project because I can now use that open sixth week for other client work. If, however, I didn’t estimate well and I let the scope of the project expand to seven weeks, I’m still only getting paid for the six weeks since it was a project-based quote.

Use a project-based pricing approach when you have a very clear sense of project scope and you don’t believe there’s much risk of scope creep.

Unit-Based

What’s the most dangerous mistake you can make when writing a strategic plan?

March 1, 2018/0 Comments/in Communications, Leadership, Poll, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: What’s the most dangerous mistake you can make when writing a strategic plan?

– Only pursuing small initiatives: 4%
– Only pursuing huge initiatives: 3%
– Only focusing on your core business and not new ones: 6%
– Lacking a coherent theme or direction for initiatives: 35%
– Pursuing too many initiatives at once: 52%

Get direction and focus. Strategy is about saying “no” and clearly that’s a big challenge for many of you. 52% of you are chasing too many opportunities. I’d venture to guess not all of them are big or strategic. In a world of limited resources, every minute you spend on something small or distracting is a minute you’re taking away from the big and meaningful stuff. Prioritize and narrow your list of initiatives. The way to do that is through a solid strategic planning process that helps you avoid common strategic planning errors. Spend time setting a clear direction for your organization. Once you know your desired destination, it’s easier to say no to distracting initiatives that aren’t aligned with your strategic objectives. These two approaches will solve the big problems 87% of you have identified as plaguing your business.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!