Leaders get distracted easily. Five of the leaders biggest timewasters are:

1. Getting the right information at the right time

2. Budgeting

3. Playing email tag

4. Sorting out stupid, senseless people problems

5. Attendance at internal meetings

In fact the above list is all management rubbish. Leaders get focused on the mundane stuff and quickly become less productive. In a small business that can result in limited growth. Five things leaders really should be concentrating on:

1. Creating loyal customers

2. Creating loyal, energised and productive people

3. Attracting new customers with little investment

4. Reducing costs as much as possible

5. Building the credibility and reputation of the business, perhaps that’s brand development

Looks a hell of a lot more exciting and stimulating to me. Which one adds more value? Which one actually makes a significant difference to business performance? Leaders need to be getting right off their backside/ass to focus their attention on the second list. Limited growth could just be a problem of the past!

Great video of a twenty minute seminar by Seth Godin delivered in 2003. It may be five years old but it’s still relevant…. click on the hyperlink below to go straight to the video

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/seth_godin_on_sliced_bread.html

I ride my cycle a lot. I’m used to numpty car drivers pulling out on me (if you’re a cyclist you know what I mean.) I don’t hang around, I cycle quite fast. This weekend due to a lack of patience a car overtook in the most incredible place and hit the vehicle coming the other way. Wing mirrors went spinning across the road. Cost, £300 all because one car driver just couldn’t wait a few seconds.

In the rush to get the job done, to get to our destination, or to get the business to grow, we knock things off. We knock people about…. whether they are customers, our people or suppliers and like the car drivers it costs money. People leave our business because they are not treated the right way. We become consumed by doing busy work rather than real work. We run round in circles, become less efficient and take our eye off the real ‘REAL’ ball.

It’s the equivalent of driving head down along the road without enjoying the ride, appreciating the view and taking the moment in. Business is a lot like that. We spend so much time trying to achieve but not understanding how to achieve.

The definition of patience is tolerance of delay. It implies self control, considering the options and sometimes just waiting. How many times have you jumped at a decision only to recognise later that delaying or self control would have put you in a better position or you would have made a better decision?

Just slow it down a little, think carefully, be patient, don’t rush it. Better to get there than never at all!

Leadership not management is now the key to driving out more production, outstanding creative work and new ideas. So why are we small businesses having so many problems? Well we’re selling more intellect and less material. The emphasis today is on managing the human imagination not production lines. Our peoples expectations have changed but ours haven’t and our customer’s expectations have changed but perhaps ours have not! Trust, respect and loyalty are missing and we only have ourselves to blame.

There are some key concerns….many small businesses have done just the opposite of what they should have done – order and conformity rather than free thinking and risk taking. Many small businesses could not have frustrated their people any more if they had tried to and as small business owners/managers we are so reluctant to let go. It all leads to limited growth and mediocre performance in many cases.

So, small businesses will need to be able to manage change better in the future. They will have to be less organised and less controlled by a single brain. Founders, managing directors beware! Growth will be limited not by production or developing the latest product but by your ability to recruit and retain the best people in the business.

The widespread trend towards interconnectedness will accelerate continuously leading us towards being more nimble, innovative and continuously self modifying. Small, autonomous, flexible businesses will be the ideal structure in the future and your people will have a share equity in those same businesses.

We’re going to have to share responsibility, demand accountability and drive towards common goals. Our jobs as Directors will be less about control and more about disrupting the status quo.

We are exposed to an average of 3500 brands a day. Brand orientated businesses are twice as likely to succeed. 80% of businesses with a strong brand focus have operating profits almost twice as high as the sector average. We’re shifting from profit generation to value creation for all stakeholders and we’re now operating in a world that’s no longer based on the manufacture and trading of tangible products but the creation and delivery of intangible services.

Some of the worlds strongest brands today were not even a twinkle in their creators eyes twelve years ago; ipod, eBay, Google, Innocent Drinks, Big Brother, Harry Potter. We are entering a new culture of mobile usage, organic, downloadable entertainment, male grooming and social networks.

It means instead of messaging people how good we are, we need to involve them. Instead of promising we need to deliver, interactive replaces passive, look and feel is history, it’s actually about experience. And finally, instead of having an audience as customers you have a community of customers!

What on earth is going on? Your most significant question at the moment; is your business strategy designed for a static world or for a changing one? And is it changing in a fundamental way?

Somehow we need to get a grip and work out how to make the intangibles tangible!

If you don’t want to do yesterday’s exercise try this one……in the next 10 days (okay it may take little more time to organise,) round up some of your colleagues and visit two ‘real’ businesses you admire. Hold an open minded discussion with them on what they do well, what they want to improve on, what their challenges are. How do they deal with some of the particular problems you have? What are their aspirations for the future?

Believe me you’ll learn a hell of a lot……

A little exercise……Sit down with two or three colleagues (preferably motivated ones) and launch informally into a discussion around:

WHO ARE WE?

WHAT DO WE STAND FOR?

HOW DO WE STAND OUT FROM OUR COMPETITORS?

WHAT EXPERIENCE DO WE WANT OUR CUSTOMERS TO HAVE?

Honest answers only please! With those same two or three colleagues map out what a great (the business your’e in) would look like? What should it feel like when customers engage with you? Make a list of what you need to do, then go ask some of your clients the same thing…….

Creative thinking can help generate lots of ideas, find new ways to make money, solve problems, re engage new markets or products, modify ideas or ways of doing things and ensure you are more competitive.

So what is creative thinking in business? Well it’s when you are looking at something that everyone else is looking at but you see something different, or you are looking at opportunities or possibilities others haven’t seen yet. Or you are challenging assumptions in different ways.

In fact, being creative is as much a core competence in small business now as leadership, financial management and marketing is. It may even be more important. Just have a look at the following two examples:

Reverse some of your most basic assumptions about how you do business. Do performance reviews at the beginning of the year not the end. Give the financial budget to front line people. Instead of you deciding what products you are going to develop, let customers develop products/services. Its about looking at the opposite to see if it generates any different thinking. Okay it these may not be the solutions for you but it gets you thinking differently.

Manipulation of existing and new ideas in business. Chose something you want to adapt or change or modify or whatever. Break it down, list what could be changed or variations on the service or product and then look at different combinations of development.

As an example, imagine you want to improve customer service. You break it down into four aspects or use the customer process such as politeness, responsiveness, delivery, referrals, after care, complaints handling. Then ask the following question:

What could be done to improve customer service in these four areas?

List the alternatives you come up with, get five for each and then try and connect them. Find useful improvement combinations. Try and think of different ways of connecting responsiveness with referrals or after care.

Think about it, if you list five alternatives for each of the four areas of customer service you can generate around 3000 combinations of development. If only 10% are useful, that means 300 new ideas for developing customer service. You don’t need me to tell you how useful that is!

Times are tough, the buzzword of the moment is recession and the strong economic climate looks like it’s taking a battering and for some time to come. Customer confidence is wobbling, cash is tight and we are all feeling more than a pinch. So its easy to take a knee jerk reaction and try to cut costs, yet perhaps thats the easy route and a route to nothing. So what are you going to do?

The best answer is before you do anything…….. ‘think.’ Here I offer some thoughts:

1. It’s a long haul - whilst there may be some quick hits you can implement, make sure you don’t cut costs too much, an anorexic business ain’t going to get you far in the long term. Being overstretched will only work for so long.

2. Understand what creates the true value in your business. Is it the staff? Is it employees? Is is your products? Is it your customers? Whoever provides the value, they are providing the profit and they need supporting it’s as simple as that.

3. Differentiate, differentiate, differentiate. Get to grips with why people buy from you, invest in marketing and sales tactics that communicate that and if you have creative thinkers…..these are the last people you get rid of in these tough times.

4. Lead your team through this period. Don’t make it tougher for your staff. Encourage, engage, motivate and inspire them to become better at what they do and more productive. If they are led with those words in mind they will come up with the solutions and make it easier for you. Keep morale high and don’t start slashing expenses, bonuses without doing it properly. Strong, clear communication is priceless.

5. Concentrate on customers even more. Identify your top 20% of customer performers ie: those contributing to profit, growth and cash and go visit them. The last thing you want to do is lose customers at this time because in the panic you forgot about them. Set targets for increased spend from these customers. If your top 20% of customers spend 10% more this next year, what difference would that make?

6. Do something now. Get on with it and don’t put it off…you don’t want it biting you on the bum in the next few months. Think, understand and prepare for the actions required. Don’t let decisions be forced on you and think long term solutions.

Looking back on these points, perhaps it’s timely reminder that tightening the old belt can sometimes be good for us!

Here’s an interesting question:

What will happen to your business in the future if it is defining itself by it’s products and results instead of its real competencies, ability and values?

Well, potentially you could run out of steam, all market places are changing faster than they have ever done before. Products die, become obsolete, old fashioned and you can’t adapt to that change quickly enough.

A company that defines itself by it’s values and ability grows. It can respond significantly to changing markets. It recognises and sells it’s competencies, it motivates the people it engages with both employees and customers. And, it sets itself apart by clearly stating its purpose, difference and beliefs.

Which type of company is yours?