There must have been something in the air last week. I was speaking with a colleague on the phone and he sounded rather flat, like the spring was missing from his step so to speak. When I asked him about it, he told me that lately he had begun to question his career and why he was doing what he does. Only a few hours later, I was speaking with another colleague who also told me that he just wasnít sure about what he wanted to do with his career from this point on. Now, both of my colleagues have been in their respective careers for quite a considerable period of time, they are exceptionally good at what they do and they have good reputations in their industries. I decided to offer them some input by reminding them that itís actually okay from time to time to question why we do what we do. Taking the time to remind ourselves of the value of our work and the rewards that we obtain from it is actually a healthy way to maintain incentive and motivation for what we do in life.
One of my colleagues said to me that he knew what he ìshouldî be doing and that he should just get on and do what had to be done and that reminded me of how much I hated the word should. When I have clients say to me that they should be doing this or they should be doing that, I always pose the question, ìWho says so?î So who is it that says that we should do this or that? I always encourage my clients to take the view that we either do something or we donít. And we do it because there is a reason for it, because it is part of a plan or because itís something spontaneous but attaching the word should to what we do for a living turns a career, profession or enjoyable employment into a task or a chore. So think about banning the word should from your vocabulary particularly if you are looking to maintain motivation for what you are doing. Viewing what you do as something you really should do as opposed to something you want to do is a surefire way to take the motivation, incentive and quite possibly even the enjoyment out of what you are doing.
As for the questioning of where you want to be, comments like that always remind me of a song from the nineties known as the Sunscreen Song. I love the lyrics from that song and have often used them with my teenage children as they were trying to work out what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives. The song is actually called ìEverybodyís Free to Wear Sunscreenî and I think it was written by Mary Schmich. The song in fact started as a newspaper column and was turned into a narrative song by Australian Film Director Baz Luhrmann and the line I always love from it is this ìDonít feel guilty if you donít know what to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didnít know at twenty-two what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting forty year olds I know still donít.î
Planning is always good and I encourage my clients to have a plan for the development of their business, to develop a timeline and to plan ahead but itís also very important to remember that plans donít have to be cast in stone and the very best plan should always leave the option open to keep an eye out for opportunities. Look at your dreams, set your goals, develop your plan and move toward it. It is what we at Red Monkey Coaching help our clients to do and itís what we love doing but we always remind them to keep an eye out for other opportunities that come along the way, whether they decide to take them up or not.
Questioning where you are now and where you want to be is a great way of simply reassessing the plan and re-examining your goals and once youíve done that and decided your goals are still fine then you can get back on track and keep heading in the direction that you seek.
Iím pleased to say that both of my colleagues took the time to do exactly that. They assessed where they were at, decided that their goals were still the same and jumped straight back into the plan. Reviewing your progress and reassessing your aims and strategies is an invaluable part of the goal setting and planning process so make sure that you take time out of your schedule to do it. Oh and trust me on the sunscreen!
Regards, Mark
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Red Monkey Coaching Goes Purple!
We are trying to raise as much money and awareness as we can for Purple Day for Epilepsy on 26 March 2010. Please click here to visit my fundraising page to sponsor me (it only takes a few seconds) and try to spread the word to as many people as possible.
Thank you very much,
Mark.
Thank you very much,
Mark.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Recovery and Optimism Returns in 2010
2009 saw most Australian businesses bear the biggest brunt of the global financial crisis. This crisis, like all other financial crisis before it, claimed some big scalps. Large businesses went into liquidation and closed their doors gaining extensive media scrutiny in the process. Unfortunately, some small businesses also failed to survive the crisis. Generally that didn’t get the media attention of the large failures but the pain and suffering caused to business owners, their families and their teams was just as real and is just as an important blow to the national economy.
2010 sees us in recovery mode. Optimism is returning and confidence is starting its climb back to its peak position. 2010, like 2009 will present some fantastic opportunities to small business operators. I feel very privileged to say that not one of my clients closed their doors or even contracted their operations during 2009. Some maintained status quo, but the vast majority actually grew.
Opportunities in recovery times, much as opportunities in recessionary times, will come to those who go looking for them. The reason my clients survived and even grew during more recent tough economic times and low business confidence levels was because they were always on the lookout for opportunities. They were brave but not silly. They took risks but not uncalculated ones. Where needed, they cut overheads, trimmed excess, eliminated wastage and ran as lean an operation as was sensible to do.
More importantly though, they were brave enough to push forward and to spend money on developing and growing their business, employing new team members and putting themselves strongly out in the marketplace. In many cases, this afforded them the opportunity not only to maintain their market share but to in fact increase their market share as competitors practiced more of a batten down the hatches mentality, such as cutting back on service delivery standards and making themselves less available to existing and potential clients.
As a result of that thought process, some of my clients’ competitors did close their doors and my clients were then in the box seat to pick up that additional market share.
You might have read our newsletter article on our website titled “It’s All About the Little Things.” It is concepts like that which have helped successful businesses maintain their position during the crisis and it is those same “little things” that will help them to continue to grow into the future. Coaching is very much about staying focussed on those little things whilst we continue to aim for the lofty goals.
Regards, Mark
2010 sees us in recovery mode. Optimism is returning and confidence is starting its climb back to its peak position. 2010, like 2009 will present some fantastic opportunities to small business operators. I feel very privileged to say that not one of my clients closed their doors or even contracted their operations during 2009. Some maintained status quo, but the vast majority actually grew.
Opportunities in recovery times, much as opportunities in recessionary times, will come to those who go looking for them. The reason my clients survived and even grew during more recent tough economic times and low business confidence levels was because they were always on the lookout for opportunities. They were brave but not silly. They took risks but not uncalculated ones. Where needed, they cut overheads, trimmed excess, eliminated wastage and ran as lean an operation as was sensible to do.
More importantly though, they were brave enough to push forward and to spend money on developing and growing their business, employing new team members and putting themselves strongly out in the marketplace. In many cases, this afforded them the opportunity not only to maintain their market share but to in fact increase their market share as competitors practiced more of a batten down the hatches mentality, such as cutting back on service delivery standards and making themselves less available to existing and potential clients.
As a result of that thought process, some of my clients’ competitors did close their doors and my clients were then in the box seat to pick up that additional market share.
You might have read our newsletter article on our website titled “It’s All About the Little Things.” It is concepts like that which have helped successful businesses maintain their position during the crisis and it is those same “little things” that will help them to continue to grow into the future. Coaching is very much about staying focussed on those little things whilst we continue to aim for the lofty goals.
Regards, Mark
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Bad News is Good News
I understand the need for us all to be properly informed and it’s a purpose which the media serves particularly well. However, we also need to be aware that the media is required to generate sales and it is rare that good news will achieve that.
Mark Miller from Miller Communications Group often relates the story of a young boy starting in the newspaper business running excitedly into his Editor’s office to say that he has a great story about a dog biting a man. The Editor turned to the Cadet and said something along the lines of: “That’s not news son…when a man bites a dog, that’s news!” And so, everyday ordinary news items are not really what the media aims to report on.
And we all need to keep this in mind when we constantly read, watch or hear about the doom and gloom surrounding the current economic crisis. I recently had a conversation with Allan Pease who is appearing as a keynote speaker in our recession busting seminar in August and Allan told me that he simply refuses to participate in this recession but if he was given more notice next time he would think about participating in it then. This is a great attitude to adopt.
Obviously, everybody is feeling the instability of the current economic climate in business. We all understand that we are not in boom times however I can say that every single one of my clients is either maintaining their market share or in some cases increasing it. This occurs by simply refusing to listen to the doom and gloom merchants and also by making sure that strategies are in place to deliver on exactly what your customers are looking for from your business.
Remember it is the basic things that are going to make a difference. By delivering phenomenal service, maintaining high standards on products or services and continuing to ensure that team members have a positive service outlook, we can rest assured at the very least of maintaining our current market position.
It is important to make sure that we address issues such as cash flow and to cut unnecessary expenses where possible but it is equally important to make sure that cutting expenses is not the sole focus of our business management strategy. Although there is a lot of uncertainty about the recession and our current economic climate, the one absolute certainty is that it will end and clear skies will return. Let’s make sure that when that happens we are all here to enjoy it.
Kind regards, Mark.
Mark Miller from Miller Communications Group often relates the story of a young boy starting in the newspaper business running excitedly into his Editor’s office to say that he has a great story about a dog biting a man. The Editor turned to the Cadet and said something along the lines of: “That’s not news son…when a man bites a dog, that’s news!” And so, everyday ordinary news items are not really what the media aims to report on.
And we all need to keep this in mind when we constantly read, watch or hear about the doom and gloom surrounding the current economic crisis. I recently had a conversation with Allan Pease who is appearing as a keynote speaker in our recession busting seminar in August and Allan told me that he simply refuses to participate in this recession but if he was given more notice next time he would think about participating in it then. This is a great attitude to adopt.
Obviously, everybody is feeling the instability of the current economic climate in business. We all understand that we are not in boom times however I can say that every single one of my clients is either maintaining their market share or in some cases increasing it. This occurs by simply refusing to listen to the doom and gloom merchants and also by making sure that strategies are in place to deliver on exactly what your customers are looking for from your business.
Remember it is the basic things that are going to make a difference. By delivering phenomenal service, maintaining high standards on products or services and continuing to ensure that team members have a positive service outlook, we can rest assured at the very least of maintaining our current market position.
It is important to make sure that we address issues such as cash flow and to cut unnecessary expenses where possible but it is equally important to make sure that cutting expenses is not the sole focus of our business management strategy. Although there is a lot of uncertainty about the recession and our current economic climate, the one absolute certainty is that it will end and clear skies will return. Let’s make sure that when that happens we are all here to enjoy it.
Kind regards, Mark.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Don't Believe the Hype!
At the moment the newspapers seem to be full of gloom and doom articles about the coming recession and even most of the business blogs are talking about recessionary times ahead. The interesting thing about these times is that tightening business markets present the most wonderful opportunities. Whilst your competitors are focussing on maintaining a "batten down the hatches" mentality you may find that they are cutting back on the very things which have given them the competitive edge over time.
There is no doubt that these times call for a close observance of cash flow and expenditure but there is similarly no doubt that focussing on those issues alone can see you running the very real risk of being left behind. In these times businesses which focus purely on financial issues will often forget to deliver the superior quality products and or services which have put them in good stead in the past. Clever use of the resources which you have available to you however, may very well put you in the position of being able to take advantage of the inaction on the part of your competitors. So whilst I would encourage you to keep an eye on the bottom line, I would also encourage you to spend time, effort and resources making sure that you continue to deliver your usual or even higher quality of product and or service and that you spend time, effort and or resources focussing on delivering phenomenal customer service.
As tightening markets start to even out the playing field with respect to price and range, businesses which are able to deliver superior customer service will stand out from the crowd and continue to thrive and prosper. History has repeatedly shown businesses that focus on customer service and on spending time on developing their business in tightening markets often secure a larger market share than they had previously when times were good.
Some businesses won’t survive these times but then again some businesses don’t even survive in good market conditions. There is no doubt that the tightening market will sort the performers from the pretenders. Now is the time to make sure that you and your team can perform and deliver exactly what the client is looking for. Remember if you can survive this market then you will be in the box seat to take advantage of the conditions when they improve.
Businesses which have focussed on cutting expenses, cutting service, cutting product and generally diminishing what they can make available to their clients will have to play catch up from a market share perspective once the business economy improves. If you don’t want to be playing catch up then you need to make sure that you stay in the race now.
Regards, Mark
There is no doubt that these times call for a close observance of cash flow and expenditure but there is similarly no doubt that focussing on those issues alone can see you running the very real risk of being left behind. In these times businesses which focus purely on financial issues will often forget to deliver the superior quality products and or services which have put them in good stead in the past. Clever use of the resources which you have available to you however, may very well put you in the position of being able to take advantage of the inaction on the part of your competitors. So whilst I would encourage you to keep an eye on the bottom line, I would also encourage you to spend time, effort and resources making sure that you continue to deliver your usual or even higher quality of product and or service and that you spend time, effort and or resources focussing on delivering phenomenal customer service.
As tightening markets start to even out the playing field with respect to price and range, businesses which are able to deliver superior customer service will stand out from the crowd and continue to thrive and prosper. History has repeatedly shown businesses that focus on customer service and on spending time on developing their business in tightening markets often secure a larger market share than they had previously when times were good.
Some businesses won’t survive these times but then again some businesses don’t even survive in good market conditions. There is no doubt that the tightening market will sort the performers from the pretenders. Now is the time to make sure that you and your team can perform and deliver exactly what the client is looking for. Remember if you can survive this market then you will be in the box seat to take advantage of the conditions when they improve.
Businesses which have focussed on cutting expenses, cutting service, cutting product and generally diminishing what they can make available to their clients will have to play catch up from a market share perspective once the business economy improves. If you don’t want to be playing catch up then you need to make sure that you stay in the race now.
Regards, Mark
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Neuro Linguistic Programming
Neuro-linguistic programming refers to the ecology question. Essentially, that ecology question says “When you are determining which action you should take then there are three ecological questions that you need to ask. They are:
1. Is it good and safe for me?
2. Is it good and safe for others?
3. Is it good and safe for the universe?
This concept can be equally applied to business and, in particular, the way in which we manage teams. In determining the actions that we will take for the direction of the business and the processes that we will adopt in relation to the management of the team, the expectation of the team, the review and performance appraisal of the team, and the direction of the business at large then a similar approach ought to be considered.
In some circles this approach is known as TBL or Triple Bottom Lines. Simply, it is the three P’s they are:
1. Profit
2. People
3. Planet
In essence adopting a direction which keeps in mind those three P’s as the basic and underlying criteria for determining a course of action is a certain why of ensuring not only recognition as an individual leader but recognition for the business as a leader in its field or within the business community generally. So, the simple question can be asked at the fork in the road, the turning point or the critical decision making time and that is:
Is it good for profit?
Is it good for the people?
Is it good for the planet?
If the answer to this triple P question is “Yes” then the direction is an appropriate one to take.
1. Is it good and safe for me?
2. Is it good and safe for others?
3. Is it good and safe for the universe?
This concept can be equally applied to business and, in particular, the way in which we manage teams. In determining the actions that we will take for the direction of the business and the processes that we will adopt in relation to the management of the team, the expectation of the team, the review and performance appraisal of the team, and the direction of the business at large then a similar approach ought to be considered.
In some circles this approach is known as TBL or Triple Bottom Lines. Simply, it is the three P’s they are:
1. Profit
2. People
3. Planet
In essence adopting a direction which keeps in mind those three P’s as the basic and underlying criteria for determining a course of action is a certain why of ensuring not only recognition as an individual leader but recognition for the business as a leader in its field or within the business community generally. So, the simple question can be asked at the fork in the road, the turning point or the critical decision making time and that is:
Is it good for profit?
Is it good for the people?
Is it good for the planet?
If the answer to this triple P question is “Yes” then the direction is an appropriate one to take.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
File Away
Everything that happens in our life, every moment and every person we encounter has an effect on our life. These events and people shape our experiences and those experiences in turn shape who we are. The end result of course is that we bring who we are to what we do and that is as true for those in their own business as it is for anyone else.
Who we are then, affects how we relate. It shapes our perspective on the world, our view. It supports our opinions, our ethos and our strategies. In business, it affects our relationship with clients, team members, suppliers and even fellow business operators.
The truth is not how our experiences and life contents have shaped us as much as it is about how we use that shaping. So it is about looking forward, taking the experiences we have had, the people we have met and the lessons we have learned and actually using all of those to shape our future from this day forward.
Rather than living as a passive player in the game of life, we can take the experience we have (both good and bad) and shape it to make the person we want to be, the business we want to have and the future we desire. This is a process of taking each experience, wringing it out and taking each drop of lesson from it and then using that lesson how we want. In that way we choose to learn from each experience, to grow and develop and that ability will have a profound effect on those who you deal with. In a way there is no longer good and bad experiences, they just all become experiences.
I had a friend tell me how much she hated a certain person’s name because the name reminded her of someone who had betrayed her years before. The lesson my friend took from that experience was to associate the name with the betrayal and to hate the name for evermore.
This was a bad experience which had shaped her future. Perhaps the lesson to have learnt from the experience was to have been careful with trust rather than to dislike a name. This is a classic example of learning to take the very best lesson from an experience and to not allow the experience to shape us in an unhelpful way.
What we can do is to learn to place those experiences in the filing cabinets of our mind and to reach in and use the particular lessons to help us to deal with future hurdles.
Happy filing, Mark
Who we are then, affects how we relate. It shapes our perspective on the world, our view. It supports our opinions, our ethos and our strategies. In business, it affects our relationship with clients, team members, suppliers and even fellow business operators.
The truth is not how our experiences and life contents have shaped us as much as it is about how we use that shaping. So it is about looking forward, taking the experiences we have had, the people we have met and the lessons we have learned and actually using all of those to shape our future from this day forward.
Rather than living as a passive player in the game of life, we can take the experience we have (both good and bad) and shape it to make the person we want to be, the business we want to have and the future we desire. This is a process of taking each experience, wringing it out and taking each drop of lesson from it and then using that lesson how we want. In that way we choose to learn from each experience, to grow and develop and that ability will have a profound effect on those who you deal with. In a way there is no longer good and bad experiences, they just all become experiences.
I had a friend tell me how much she hated a certain person’s name because the name reminded her of someone who had betrayed her years before. The lesson my friend took from that experience was to associate the name with the betrayal and to hate the name for evermore.
This was a bad experience which had shaped her future. Perhaps the lesson to have learnt from the experience was to have been careful with trust rather than to dislike a name. This is a classic example of learning to take the very best lesson from an experience and to not allow the experience to shape us in an unhelpful way.
What we can do is to learn to place those experiences in the filing cabinets of our mind and to reach in and use the particular lessons to help us to deal with future hurdles.
Happy filing, Mark
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