What We Believe
What we have discovered about growing profitable lasting businesses.
The Global Credit Crisis has forced many leaders to make big changes within their organisations. Many leaders have no choice but to create organisations that learn and evolve. Once they have achieved this it occurs to them that the state of continuous change allows them to keep pace with customers and users needs - a more effective way to operate a lasting business.
Evolving and learning is not a process that fits easily into cookie-cutter or paint by number recipes. Building profitable businesses through continuous change involves a degree of leadership experience because moving into the future requires a balance between learning and generating profit.
Today we observe a greater appetite amongst leaders for becoming really serious about delivering higher value to customers. There is also a heightened desire amongst leaders to measure performance according to what profitable customers value. Continuous learning and evolving was once difficult to put into practice. Today it is both easier and necessary.
If I were a business owner/leader what would I do? I'd face the fact that things are not going to return to the 'good old days' and that I can find a way to take what the organisation is good at and evolve it to become a deliverer of customer value. This may require the owners to step back and see their organisation's place in the world afresh. It may mean that only a small part of the organisation needs to change.
^ top
Money, profit and business value
Everything we do is about increasing profitable revenue and shareholder value.
“Profit is the applause you get by taking care of your customers and creating a motivating environment for your people.” Ken Blanchard.
We have never seen a company that has met its long-term strategic goals by focusing exclusively on maximizing profit.
However we have seen many companies exceed their profit targets by focusing on growing a healthy well-balanced business.
There are many reasons why a business fails to deliver the shareholder's revenue expectations and Corporate River is good at finding out why.
Unlocking the full potential and value of a company whilst achieving revenue growth requires a focus on a range of critical performance factors across the whole organisation. A business that liberates its leader from day to day operations to focus on bigger opportunities is also a business that is very attractive to investors.
If I were a business owner/leader what would I do? I would find an appropriate world-class business map and lay it over my business so I could quickly identify the strengths and weaknesses of my business from end to end. Next I'd gather my senior team and ask three questions: 1. Are we all prepared to face our current reality? 2. Are our strengths appreciated by those in the market place who can afford to buy? 3. Do our weaknesses mean we are not as profitable as we would be if we didn't have these weaknesses? Every business can improve it's profitable revenue in some way so don't accept “No, we are doing OK” as an answer.
^ top
Leadership
Good leadership cannot be acquired along with a new title. Neither is it something arrived at. Good leadership is a lifelong commitment to helping others grow something that is worthwhile.
Once organisations thought it best to have a charismatic leader at the helm. Today many styles of leadership are found at the top of successful organisations. Each style determines the organisation's growth path in a different way.
Broadly these styles are:
- Leaders who ‘tell’.
- Leaders who ‘consult’.
- Leaders who ‘co-create’.
Leaders may use a mix of all three styles or just one style only. Over time the predominant leadership style influences the effectiveness of the organisations being built.
For example: ‘consulting and co-creating’ styles build different work cultures to the ‘telling’ style and set the organisation on a different growth path. Good capable people will leave organisations that take paths that are not conducive to self-development. People who need constant managing will not be happy in organisations that press them to take responsibility for their output.
If continuous growth is the goal, leaders will find it easier to grow organisations through capable people understanding it is easier to unlock their company's potential if they have people around them who take responsibility and make good decisions.
The leader who builds a team that liberates the leader from day to day operations will be free to pursue and seize new opportunities. Such an organisation will reach their strategic goals a lot sooner while encountering fewer challenges along the way.
Leadership is continually learning to become a better leader in many areas.
- Lead your business to a much better future.
- Lead your teams to become more effective.
- Lead your customers to your organisation and to a greater appreciation of the value you provide.
- Lead your suppliers to a better understanding of what your expectations are.
- Lead your self to constantly be a leader of vision, courage, ethics, and to face reality.
If I were a business owner/leader what would I do? I would stand back from the organisation and clearly identify the business opportunity and decide what the business needs to become in order to maximize that opportunity. If the opportunity requires the business owner to become more liberated from day to day operations then the organisation needs to be grown through team members who are capable of carrying responsibilities and making operational decisions without the leaders input. A CEO with a ‘telling’ style would find it difficult to build such a team. But a CEO with a consulting or co-creating style will find it easy.
^ top
A mindset of wisdom
Wisdom has a significant part to play in the success of every great business leader. The problem with wisdom is that it is easier to identify with the benefit of hindsight than with foresight.
When an organisation changes its CEO its fortunes often change. While new leaders may have similar qualifications and experience to the previous leader they may operate at a different level of wisdom.
A mindset that seeks and values wisdom directly influences the path that the whole organisation is on which in turn influences the level of success. This is as true for small and medium sized companies as it is for large organisations.
To illustrate this consider:
- Some leaders get up each day and wonder what they can do to drive others in the business to achieve better results.
- Other leaders get up each day and wonder what they can personally learn that day that will make them better at growing their business.
A mindset of continuous self-learning, curiosity, wisdom and commonsense is enormously helpful in building any enterprise.
If I were a business owner/leader what would I do? Each evening I'd spend some time reflecting on the any new lessons learned that day. Any acknowledgment of a small new understanding each day amounts to significant change of knowledge and wisdom over several months.
^ top
Build for success from the beginning.
Choose to grow a business by design, not by chance. Leaders that anticipate business challenges are less likely to be overwhelmed when their business begins to grow rapidly.
Growing organisations place big demands on leaders as they face an increasing number of challenges. Some leaders say that they “can't possibly spin any more plates” even with a small business.
We believe in focused action but it doesn't pay to cut corners in some areas. If good business foundations are put in place early on leaders can confidently build on top of what has been built. These leaders rarely have to go back and undo any of the effort that has been invested. When the right foundations are in place everything else that follows flows a lot better.
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Peter Drucker
Many business owners/CEO's take a considerable amount of time turning their first business into a profitable one. If they move on to another business they invariable spend far less time building profitable performance. What is it they have learned that makes the difference?
The order of building is critical as it is with all construction projects. No matter how big the business, there is never enough money to execute everything immediately. It's a matter of doing what is right for the organisation for the stage it is at.
If I were a business owner/leader what would I do? I'd become really curious about what makes good lasting organisations. I'd make a study of the CEO's who have created lasting profitable businesses. Once you understand where your company is on its journey in comparison to what others have built you can lay a ‘good’ business blueprint over your whole company. This allows you to ‘suddenly see’ your organisations strengths and weaknesses and priorities stand out.
^ top
Building teams
A good leader works to make the team around them as smart as possible. Grow leaders not followers.
There is no good reason why employees can't take on the responsibility of growing parts of the business and do so happily without the need for constant management. There is also no good reason why capable team members shouldn't continually meet or even exceed the leader's expectations.
We believe there is a point in business growth when leaders need to move from a 'beginning' mind set to 'mature business growth' mind set. This generally involves moving from a 'me' centered organisation to an 'us' centered organisation with an emphasis on growing the organisation through capable people. This view is needed sooner in an organisation's life than most leaders realize.
Unless the leader takes a similar objective disciplined approach to team building to say a sports coach of an A grade team, they will struggle to unlock their organisations full potential.
Disciplined recruitment, induction and people performance management processes are critical to allowing businesses to grow unhindered.
“Alone we travel faster but together we travel a lot further. Together we achieve a lot more”.
If I were a business owner/leader what would I do? It depends on the phase my organisation is in. If at the start of a growth phase I'd place around me a few of the most capable people that I can afford. The ‘best’ people for your business will share similar values to you, be good team players, outcome minded, customer focused, self-disciplined and quickly ‘get’ the organisations vision. Leaders should strive to get the right people in the right roles doing the right things at the right time as soon as possible.
^ top
Attitude towards Customers
Customers want a buying experience that demonstrates that you already understand what it is they value – without them telling you what it is.
Business is a simple concept – make the right promise to the right people for the right price and then deliver on that promise. Getting customers to return to buy requires a special promise and the delivery of unique value.
Many organisations suffer from a customer ‘disconnect’ caused by internal silos. While the will of those in boardrooms and at the customer interface is to deliver value to profitable customers, a preoccupation with internal challenges prevents the delivery of what customers consider are value-filled experiences.
All organisations can make their customer's buying experience more unique and while it's easier to plant the right customer thinking throughout the company early on in the organisation's life, mature organisations can realign internal processes with the profitable customer at any stage. An increase in performance, profitability and lower cost to serve customers is the result.
If I were a business owner/leader what would I do? Set up customer feedback loops as soon as possible. The faster you can test your offering in the market the faster you will confirm your market target and understand what it is that they value. If you are genuine about delivering authentic value to profitable customers, then the more you can look back in at your business from within your customers shoes the earlier you can begin delivering a sustainable, competitive point of difference.
^ top
Successful change and transformation
Once change was something an organisation only undertook when something big threatened the way business was being carried out. Today most businesses are in a continual state of change as they keep pace with rapidly changing customer views about value and service.
Anyone who invests time, effort and money into an organisation wants the future to get better not worse. Every leader wants to build on what they have built. Change, especially transformational change, suggests that the future may be different than what people have become used to, and that brings doubts about change.
Facing and dealing with the reality that is forcing change is difficult for leaders who have worked hard and long to build something substantial. What we have observed is that when people focus on the benefits that change brings, and they make sense of the steps to get there, fear of change diminishes.
Successful organisational change requires a mix of both transformational and transactional leadership. Transformational leaders are future focused and so quick to see the big picture and the benefits of change. However they can have problems executing the details of the plan.
Transactional leaders are good at implementing the steps with their people. However they can have trouble envisaging a future state and holding the big picture throughout implementation.
The correct mix of transformational and transactional leadership provides the complementary approach needed to stay on course and see the organisation transformed.
If I were a business owner/leader what would I do? Before beginning I would be clear on the reasons for change, the benefits after change, and the steps the organisation will need to go though. Or contact Corporate River as early as possible.
^ top
Business vision and strategic planning
Master builders won't begin to build a house without a plan. A captain won't begin journey without a plan to a destination. Top sports people don't prepare for a major event without a plan. Wherever there is a journey to a major destination to undertake and where there is a lot at stake, experienced people know a stepped plan increases the chances of success significantly.
Vision is the ‘what we are all building here’ and strategy is the ‘how are we going to build it’.
The test for a worthwhile vision is that it is considered daily. It doesn't sit in a file in the bottom draw. It should sit in the hearts and minds of team members. Vision provides a constant guide for decision-making. “Will this decision take us away from or towards our vision?”
The test for a strategic plan is that it is lived daily. It leaves team members in no doubt about what they are building and how they are all going to build it. Every day is a test for the Strategic plan. “How is what we are doing right taking us closer to completing the next step in our strategic plan?”Organisations are generally in one of four states.
- They have no step-by-step strategic plan.
- They believe they have a strategic plan but it's really a shopping list of desired goals.
- They have a strategic plan but it is not commercially viable.
- They have a plan that explains what is being built and how it's going to be built in steps.
In the first company, people, lacking any guidance will try and improve the company according to what they know from their own experiences. The risk is that they never align and pull together in one direction. Conflict, inefficiencies and wasted effort lead to a lost opportunity.
People in the second company will strive to meet the stated goals, but lacking the 'how' will try lots of different paths. When goals are not reached leadership tries various methods of external encouragement. Strategy fails.
People in the third company work hard on the plan and when early steps don't bring the expected results their confidence diminishes. People get tired, capable members leave and the strategy eventually fails.
In the fourth company, people align towards the vision and focus on each step. Everyone agrees it makes sense to 'eat our elephant one bite at a time'. Because the steps in the plan makes sense, team members can tell when things are not going to plan and are quick to suggest solutions. The future state has the highest chance of being reached.
Working to a strategic plan does not lock the organisation into a fixed destination. It's not like being on a railroad. It's more like a freeway where the destination can change if a more worthwhile one is discovered along the way.
If I were a business owner/leader what would I do? This is an area where there is much well-meaning but ill-founded advice. I would articulate a worthwhile vision and set goals that make sense to everyone. I would build a core team of capable people who believe in the vision to make the journey with.
^ top
|
