Business Blogs

Unlocking the true potential of your company, its never been more important than now

Thu, 9 Apr 2009 11:05:31 +1000

Every business leader on the planet wants their company to grow and maximise its potential to generate sustainable value for all stakeholders.
The way to achieve that is not rocket science. The actions and strategies to engage in can be found on the web, in text books, and through modeling the most successful companies inside and outside your industry.
SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
The business world has evolved quite significantly over the past 2 decades. The shift has resulted in six major problems arising that prevent you from realising your potential as a leader and your organisation’s potential as a vehicle for creating stakeholder abundance.
1. Leaders are Managing Behaviour
The behaviour management techniques developed during the past ‘industrial age’ focus on controlling people. When the ‘leash of control’ is placed on people today, the real talent and potential of individual employees is not realised. With the choices available to every person in our society, leaders must shift their approach and create a scenario where their people are totally committed to outcomes, and they participate in innovation and continual improvement. Controlled people are only engaged to a level of compliance and never unleash their talent to its full extent.
2. Reactive Psychology Underpins the Culture
Most people today live in reaction. So many demands are placed on them that they only work on their health when it is a problem, or their relationship when it starts to break down, or their wealth when they realise they are going to retire broke. This subconscious pattern of reactivity underpins the culture of an organisation, and proactive growth will always be difficult to achieve.
We find managers shift their focus to succession planning when they resign, or a supervisor focuses on waste elimination when a cost reduction initiative is rolled out, or an employee focuses on their safety after a work mate is injured.
3. Movement without Direction
Busyness does not produce results, yet far too many people in every organisation are extremely busy but not moving towards any specific outcome of value. The need to have direction permeate to the lowest levels of an organisation has never been greater, nor more challenging to achieve.
4. Compression of Time and Focus
With our maturity in the use of computers and modern technology, we now realise the 2 big lies told to us so many years ago - technology will give you more time and make the paperless office a reality.
Technology is now compressing people’s time and pre-computer time management techniques are no longer relevant. Prioritisation and personal efficiency methods must now being replaced by a new generation in personal leadership techniques that suit the modern world, and result in time and focus expansion, and working at the appropriate level in an organisation.
5. Misaligned Systems Create Internal Competition
Systems that create internal competition limit the performance of any organisation. Our goal now is to align systems more effectively so they create a state of collaboration on execution and growth, and joint benefit in the outcomes achieved.
6. Low Trust and Accountability, High Bureaucracy
The first five problems all contribute to a situation where trust and accountability will be low, and leaders get drawn into situation of action and behaviour management. The utilisation of bureaucratic methods to get things done to a level of satisfaction underpins the way a company’s meetings are conducted, how boss to employee conversations takes place and how upward reporting takes place.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF REMARKABLE COMPANIES
The characteristics of remarkable companies today reflect the successful elimination of these problems.
Fully utilised talent and realised potential at the individual level
Proactive improvement at work and at the home - a state of genuine work/life balance
Alignment of direction and clearly understood purpose across the organisation
Expanded time and focus, all supervisors and managers working at higher levels (less detail)
Aligned systems that drive collaboration towards similar outcomes and mutually beneficial rewards
High trust, high accountability and the elimination of bureaucracy
Can this be achieved in any organisation?
Of course it can - but not without change to the existing paradigms.
Worth thinking about. If you are a progressive leader and you would like to know more, give me a call on 61-7-3279 3070.

Good fortune my friend.
George Lee Sye

Dealing with the tyranny of distance in business today

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:27:46 +1000

Every leader today must be looking for ways to minimise or even eliminate the cost associated with distance.
Distance is almost always a burden for companies with offices and work sites dispersed all over the country side and even internationally. Loss of time and financial costs alone, particularly in today’s economic climate, should cause us now to seek out and understand value adding alternatives.
One such alternative offered by a company called Grouputer caught my attention recently when I read a paper titled ‘The Tyranny of Distance’ which is a case study of the company Pernod Ricard. I recommend you obtain a copy HERE and take a few minutes to read it. If you are trying to be more cost and time effective in your business, I know you’ll get something out of it.

Take care,
George

The real cost of workplace stress

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:57:52 +1000

The costs associated with workplace stress continue impact business in Australia and the rest of the western world.
It’s probably fair to say the level of stress people experience in business seems to be on the increase! It doesn’t matter if people are self-employed or work for a corporation, the story continues to be the same.
Most people are working extremely hard in a complex and competitive environment, and it appears that as a society WE HAVE ACCEPTED PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS AS NORMAL and a part of the day-to-day grind that we have to live with.
Research commissioned by Medibank Private has found that stress directly costs Australian employers $10 billion a year and is responsible for 3.2-days being lost each year per worker.
Read the Australian Institute of Company Directors Report HERE.
Is this the real cost of workplace stress?
From a business perspective it might be. But that’s not the most important perspective ...... what about the cost you and I pay personally, what is that?
To make this conversation a meaningful one, let’s define stress as it relates to the conversation. We have to this because not all stress is bad.
The stress we are talking about here is this: ‘Any emotional state that causes the body to respond to the release of the hormone cortisol.’ The body only operates in one of two states - growth or protection (survival). When the body is relaxed, in a state of well being it is in growth mode and all of the systems related to longevity are working. When emotional stress is present, all of the systems are not working!
One question you must know the answer to – DOES STRESS HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON YOUR HEALTH?
Another Inconvenient Truth
Stress is a natural response to certain stimulus and forms an important part of our survival mechanism. When you experience stress the chemistry of your body changes. The main problem with emotional stress is that the biochemistry that creates it DOES NOT SUPPORT A HEALTHY BODY!
The flow of blood and electrical energy is directed in such a way that it enhances your fight or flight ability in response to some situation. Simultaneously, certain automatic systems start to shut down so that energy can be diverted to where it is needed most. One of the first systems affected is the body’s immune system (which includes waste elimination).
People who live in prolonged periods of stress gradually experience a build up of internal waste which in turn leads to lower levels of energy and reduced performance. As waste and toxicity accumulates over time, it leads to illness and accelerated aging of the body’s building blocks – THE CELLS.
As the 75 trillion or so cells of your body age, you see the signs of age in the mirror.
When you finally realise that you have aged faster than you really would have liked, it’s already too late.
THE CONSEQUENCES of emotional stress and associated behaviours can be clearly seen in the poor health statistics we are continually exposed to and affected by.
• The World Health Organisation states that by 2020, depression will be the largest single cause of illness
• > 65% of the population now die of cancer or heart disease - that equates to some 14 million Australians who will die earlier than they need to
• > 65% of the Australian population are overweight or obese (> 3 million people) - I wonder if I’m the only one who sees the correlation with cancer and heart disease statistics mentioned above?
• Obesity related disease is costing Australia $22 Billion per year – twice as much as Medicare
• In America, spending on obesity related disease now exceeds $170 Billion per year
These figures are sending all of us a clear message – something must change if we are going to thrive as a community, and live a long, healthy, vital life.
Remember this:
‘You cannot do what 90 percent of the population are doing and expect something else to happen to you.’
Can you control stress?
Is it possible that you can control how you feel about what you do and continue to do similar work?
Is it possible you can do less and achieve more in both the personal and professional aspects of your life, including in the areas of health and wealth creation?
In every case, the answer is YES YOU CAN!
You have to decide if you want to be like 90 percent of the population, you have to decide if you want to wait until that ‘wake up call’ arrives on your doorstep or do something to really create an extraordinary life right now.
If you really are committed to being more effective as an employee and / or leader, if you are committed to your own health and maximising your potential longevity, if you really are interested in the psychology of peak performance and extraordinary living, if you truly are committed to living life according to a new set of standards, then do something for yourself.
I only know one way to break away from the stresses everybody else chooses to live, and this way is based on some key principles.
Work continually towards balance - this means meeting your personal needs both at home and at work (as opposed to enjoying one and not the other)
Get out of detail, stay focused on your higher level values - life is far less complex
Maintain symmetry in your life - this means you are moving forward and making progress in all of the important high level values you have
Only act with the knowledge of the outcome you are working towards, and the reasons why you want that outcome - the action becomes far more enjoyable
Is this really a practical solution? Absolutely, in fact we teach this to 1,000s of people in our Most Effective Leader on the Planet seminar. Why don’t you join us, it just might change your life!
Well my friend, that’s it for now. I really do hope you think about what I have said as this is a major contributing factor in people living life in a way that ultimately kills their emotions, kills their drive and causes the body to stop functioning far earlier than it needs to.
Until the next time we catch up, take care and enjoy life to the fullest.
George Lee Sye

Shifting paradigms for modern day leaders

Fri, 5 Sep 2008 08:20:05 +1000

One of the greatest personal challenges for us as leaders today is in changing the way we think. It’s difficult to do for someone as their coach, it’s even more difficult to do it to one’s self.
However, here’s the reality. If we are going to move our lives and our companies to the next level, obviously we can only do it through a change in our paradigms. The reason it can be so difficult is because most of these are driven by mental patterns at a subconscious level.
Traditional leadership models seem to have a tendency towards organisation structures or personal characteristics or leader behaviours. While they fill the pages of management text to the point of overflow and line the corridors of corporations intent on growth, models don’t get results. Models create a framework for having meaningful discussion and help embed an idea in visual form in one’s mind. However, when it comes to the crunch you can teach as many models as you want but results may never eventuate. So let’s forget about models for a bit and think about thinking.
Flexibility in Leader Thinking
Effective leaders today must have flexibility in the way they think, flexibility in their paradigm or the framework through which they view the world in different contexts. For example, a leader can’t be so fixed on cost that cost becomes the only paradigm for decision making. When a consultant comes to them and says she is going to charge $50,000 per week, the response should not be: “That’s way too much, what’s your best price.” That leader must also be able to shift to a value paradigm when needed and in this case a more appropriate response might be: “What return will you deliver to me for that outlay?” If they return a bottom line impact of $70,000 per week, cost was not the issue.
With the cost paradigm, as with all others, it was quite correctly learnt in one context (e.g. budgeting, things were tight, purchasing something that doesn’t generate revenue etc). However, it is inadvertently utilised in other situations some of which are not appropriate (e.g. revenue generating purchases).
I am convinced that the most common shifts in thinking (with respect to specific contexts leaders operate within) leaders must be able to engage in consciously include these.
Making the shift when relevant between ...
Cost (how much you pay) and Value (what it returns to you)
Behaviour Control (you controlling them) and Employee Release (letting them explore their own talent and potential)
Authority (they do it because you are the boss) and Influence (they do it willingly)
Answers (content knowledge) and Questions (extracting answers)
Actions (what to do) and Results (what to produce as an outcome)
Fixing (in reaction) and Improving (before things break)
Solutions (the how to improve now) and Scenarios (what we might have to improve for)
Flexibility of Time Span
Not only is flexibility a necessity from a paradigm perspective, it’s vital that leaders understand the shifts they must make from a time span perspective.
One of the most significant barriers in business thinking can be observed in the meetings held at various levels in the company. ‘Replication of Time Span’ is so common I now expect to see it when I visit a company.
Permit me to give you an example of what I mean. The business leadership team meets and their discussion is focused on what happened last week and what has to happen in the coming week. The content is regurgitated at the department level meeting - last week and next week is the focus of discussion. And so on ....... each level of meeting replicating the span of time that dominated the previous conversation.
Not good!
The strategy of ‘cascading objectives downward’ into a company is understood in principle, but the mental inflexibility embedded through this type of time span replication limits the ability to actually make the strategy come to life.
Time Spans of Relevance for Leaders in Business Today ...
1 to 5 year horizon (the big picture about where you would like to be in the future)
1 year (the specific business objectives you have to hit to make the numbers)
Quarterly (the milestones you must achieve in order to move closer to the 1 year objectives)
Weekly (the results you must get in order to move closer to the quarterly milestones)
Daily (right down to the specific activities that must be undertaken to get the specified weekly results)
Different levels of leadership must not only think at different levels of detail, they must also have the mental dexterity to shift focus to different time spans relevant to their level in the organisation. But ..... how many business leaders would be comfortable with only talking about progress towards some milestone a quarter out, and not worrying about what’s happening next week?
I hope I have stimulated some thinking with this little piece of information from a 2 hour keynote session I sometimes deliver. I realise that I probably raised more questions than answers with this, so if you would like to know more, don’t hesitate to let me know. ( home@soarent.com.au )
Have a great day
George Lee Sye

High performers come together for seminar hosted by HBOS Australia

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:09:36 +1000

HBOS Australia hosted a tremendously successful 3-day personal leadership seminar titled ‘The Most Effective Person on the Planet’ during August 2008 at the Perth Convention Centre.
Even more pleasing for us as the company delivering the content, was the attendance of high performance personnel from BHP Billiton Iron Ore and Woodside Energy.
This is the first time we have had 3 of the major companies in Perth come together to participate in this event outside our usual public seminars. I’ve been told by business leaders in the past they would prefer to do this event in-house and they have plenty of money to do it, so cost reduction is not the issue.
What they don’t realise is the level of other benefits that come from this type of coaching in an environment where we have larger audiences and people sit with strangers.
People will behave far more conservatively and tend to be more self conscious in the presence of people they work with, they tend to behave more openly (as a generalisation) in larger groups comprised mostly of strangers
New ideas come from outside the organisation - old ideas come from within (mostly)
With larger audiences, the level of energy is much higher
With more participants, more resources can be allocated to the event content - it becomes a bigger show from a visual and auditory stimulation perspective
The more emotionally significant an experience is (whether the whole event or learning pieces within the event), the more it sticks and can be recalled from the subconscious mind later - learning can be significantly magnified
There is tremendous opportunity for more company collaboration in the future when it comes to educating people in the skills of life mastery, leadership and business growth.
I’d like to see more of it.
George Lee Sye