What you pay attention to determines your business results

Every year, season and day is an opportunity full of new beginnings, potential and promise; or doom and gloom depending on what you choose to pay attention to.

Right now it is sad that companies are going into receivership, even sadder for the people who are facing uncertainty or job loss.  Yet for the leadership of each and every one of these companies, the state of their business can’t have been a complete surprise.  I think it is fair to say we’re in times of extremes, for every company that goes under there’s one that’s having its best year yet.  I truly hope you’re going to be in the latter category.

Now each year as I decide my goals, yes decision is an important factor in making them happen, I also make notes which will provide support or inspiration as I undertake the growth required to hit the goal.  Let me share with you a few notes I’ve re-written in my journal.  No they’re not new to me, in fact I share them frequently with my clients, but they’re so powerful and fundamental to success that on those days when everything seems to be going pear shaped, this is a very fast way of me getting back on track.

1) Your thoughts will determine your actions.

2) Your actions repeated become your habits.

3) Your habits determine your results.

4) If you don’t want to get the same results you’re going to have to change your habits.

Now the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.  So if I keep all the same habits I’m going to get the same results, if I don’t like these results then it’s logical to suppose insanity is the next step.

So when I want to get back on track quickly I pay attention to my thoughts.

What are you paying attention to, who’s voice are you listening to, who’s opinions are you mulling over?

All of this gives rise to thoughts, although in some cases we’re so busy we forget to think and just blindly accept, especially if the source is one of authority.

As a leader you set the tone.  Are the conversations the same you’ve been having for a while, has a habit of moaning, complaining, or expecting the worst set in amongst staff?

If things are really bad, if cash flow is poor, if customer retention is down, it’s a statement of the current position, which has arisen through previous thoughts, actions and habits.  It isn’t a guaranteed statement of the future, unless of course you keep everything the same.

Lastly may I wish you a dose of Good Luck

Here’s the recipe:-

1) Create and notice opportunities

2) Make decisions based on your intuition

3) Create self fulfilling prophesies through positive expectation

4) Have a resilient attitude

There is still time to have a phenomenal year.

Is Greed Ever Good? – Remuneration and Motivation in an Organisation

The business culture of the 80’s put a clear emphasis on personal reward on the basis that highly motivated individuals could transform organisations and societies.  This continued until the late 90’s  when we began to see some companies traumatised and bankrupted by the inappropriate use of remuneration as a motivator.   Now there rages a debate about the bonus’s paid in the financial sector, and the short term view or reward they encourage.

The notorious Barings Bank had individual traders on bonuses in the millions yet in the long term these motivated individuals were not fulfilling the company’s objectives.  Then of course there are the reward system’s based on appropriate performance indicators, resulting in the organisation’s success and yet problems arise from the large differential between salaries of senior people and those of middle management.

Wise organisations are therefore trying to reward and motivate all staff so that staff act energetically to further the corporation’s interests both short and long term and feel they have been treated fairly. However there must clearly be in place the link between the items on which they are being rewarded and the actions they are able to take to influence the desired outcome.

A wise organisation accepts that:

• It is reasonable for the individual manager to act in his or her own interests.

• Managers work for people not organisations and want to please the superiors closest to them, or failing that, their peer group.

• Managers want to achieve and will be attracted to those tasks at which they know they can succeed, usually favouring the short term at the expense of the long term.
The clear implication is that an organisation should be aware of the culture at play before relying on a remuneration structure to change performance and behaviour. In other words the management and organisation’s values must be in balance with the remuneration system.
There are 5 major pre-conditions to the installation of an effective reward structure.

1. Measurement: “If you don’t measure it you won’t get it”. There are various measurement systems of which Balanced Scorecard, which sets multiple objectives and is used by Tesco, is perhaps the best known.

2. Monitoring: If the performance measures are not monitored properly or only monitored in a review at the year end, it can give the manager signals that they don’t really matter or, worse still, that failure is acceptable providing all the managers fail together.

3. Control of the tools for the job: The organisation must ensure that the individual is not over dependent on factors outside his control to achieve the performance measures set out (this is the ‘how’ part of the equation).

4. Consistency: Ensuring that short term organisational factors don’t over-influence managers or drive them from their real objective. The organisation must also ensure that its own design (be it bureaucratic or loose) is appropriate to what is being asked of managers.

5. Reward and strategy in line: An organisation’s achieving a clear strategy is not an event that will take place in the future; it is a journey. A remuneration system can be put into an organisation even when it has a relatively muddled strategy providing that organisational and management disputes are resolved by reference to strategy and the “balanced score card”. Only then will there be pressure on the organisation to refine its strategy, structure and remuneration systems.

Based on these 5 pre conditions, there is a checklist of 10 factors that the effective remuneration and reward structure must achieve:

1. Support the business strategy

2. Encourage the desired behaviour

3. Reward relevant performance

4. Be fair

5. Be substantial

6. Be tax efficient

7. Be timely   (The reward must take place close to the achievement)

8. Incorporate non financial rewards (Recognition can be as important as cash)

9. Be firm   (A bonus lost through missing target should not be recoverable whereas a salary increase should only be delayed until target is reached)

10. Be crystal clear

The Benefits of Aligning Corporate Mission with an Individual’s Purpose

A company with a well-defined purpose and passionate employees who share it can unleash a massive boost of employee enthusiasm that can only be born when purpose and passion align.   Unfortunately, this is a ‘free’ resource that most companies of all sizes are not tapping into nearly enough.

Wayne is among a growing number of talented individuals who have struggled with finding a role in their organizations in which their purpose and passions could flourish.   Moving up the career ladder he eventually felt so disconnected with his profession he wondered what it was that even attracted him to it in the first place.  At this current phase in his career he was spending more and more time with politics and less on building meaningful relationships, making a difference and achieving any kind of success or results.  “I began to wonder why I turned up, each day I felt a little more of my energy and enthusiasm disappear.  I was also getting more frustrated at the lack of authenticity within the company, what it said it stood for and what it asked for / rewarded where very different.  At this point I decided enough was enough and I needed to take action.  The very first action being to take time for myself and consider my future, so I hired my coach.”

This phase of reflection helped Wayne to see just how inauthentic he too had become, slowly his values and strengths and passion had been eroded and he had to accept that he’d let that happen.  However the coaching also helped him to reconnect to what was really important, both in terms of why he’d originally chosen that profession and also what was important to him now.  This discovery process enabled him to connect not only to his purpose but back to his real self.

Then came the review of his current job and company.  Armed with what he knew about himself and what he wanted for his future he could evaluate his next steps and his relationship with the company.  In Wayne’s case he decided that the company was no longer the right environment for him, realising he’d be asked to compromise again in order to fit in and get on, yet this time he’d be doing it consciously which was even worse.

Interestingly when he went to resign the organisation came back with a salary increase, he promptly refused, but they said they really valued him and so offered an even bigger financial package.  “At that point I had an insightful discussion with my boss and explained just how much either he or the company didn’t understand me.”

Many talented people we speak with mention that within their career or job it is core that they can express themselves and have a sense of fulfilment.  That success without this is no longer real success.  Of course they have mortgages to pay and people to feed, at least one being themselves.  Yet they very often take the most courageous decision of all, push through the fear and pursue this intrinsic desire for a life and career filled with meaning and purpose.

Wayne moved on to a role and company that played to his strengths, shared his values and their corporate mission was aligned with his purpose.  “I’m invigorated, what I achieve in a day is phenomenal compared to before.  Yes there are tough days and occasionally I still ask myself why I’m doing this, but the difference is now an answer comes back and it gets me going again.”

Many large organizations do take the time to define a corporate mission that underpins their vision of the future.  The short sentences can be used as a guiding compass and a decision making tool for everyone’s actions.  This enables those that are considering joining to decide if it aligns with who they are too.  If these sentences are a shell then the worst that happens is they recruit someone who buy’s the shell and within 6 months finds it’s hollow.  Then it becomes an expensive business as they move on or even more expensive if they decide to stay.   Mission, values, vision and purpose are valuable leverage points for both an organisation – whatever the size and an individual.  When they coincide the payback for all is huge.  As Wayne’s story shows there are some things you just can’t buy.