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"Progress!"
(Progress-U Leadership & Coaching) - Issue No5 / July 03
0. Opinion
Time to Think
1. Leadership
Strategy disconnected
2. Human Resources
Recruitment Tips:
The early bird gets the best worm
3. Coaching
View Point: Does
specific Experience lead a Coach to Consulting?
4. News
Seminars, New Articles, ...
5. Management Tip
Sales & Marketing Management:
"Want to boost your bottom line by 20, 50 or 100%"?
0. Opinion
Dear Reader in "Progress!",
There are days when I get home in the
evening and say to myself: 'too much said, too much read, too little
thought'. You can probably make this statement for yourself following
a self-analysis of a regular day at work.
We are overwhelmed by a huge wave of
information, data and impressions pouring over us via email; the omni-present
mobile phone; a flood of newspapers and magazines we definitely don't
want to miss; monitors in offices, airport lounges and airplanes.
Additionally there are advertisements wherever you go and music everywhere,
in hotels, shops, cars and many other places.
Certainly, I am one of the persons who
use modern communication tools quite frequently; there is hardly a
day I don't read my emails pouring in to five different accounts and
I feel almost "naked" when I forget my mobile phone at home.
Nevertheless, I start to develop more and more the "courage of
gap", i.e. by switching off my mobile for several hours or by
not attending to my email for 1 or 2 days over the weekend, I risk
being unreachable and eventually not up-to-date.
Interesting is that these breaks have
had very little to no adverse effects but to give me some time to
breath and "think". Sometimes one wonders what certain top
managers think of failed mergers, acquisitions and other adventures
of the past years? The answer seems simple as it is convincing: They
did NOT think but only reacted to the mass of information and impressions.
They saw a lot of trees but could not see the forest with its imminent
structure. They did not lack information but realization.
Just as information is important in
the modern global economy, it is as important to save yourself from
wrong information and wrong choice of media. Only by "switching
off" once in a while, one can find the time, peace and energy
to truly think. Be especially wary of falling into a habit of reactive
activity. If you always answer email messages immediately or if you
are being constantly called at your mobile phone, it is obvious that
you are not using these new media, but that these drive you. What
seems urgent but unimportant can wait, whereas one should use a lot
of thinking time for important and less urgent issues.
This leads to the conclusion that thinking
more is equal to meeting less, talking less, phoning less, reading
less, hearing and seeing less including watching less TV. This is
nothing new but unfortunately often forgotten.
Yours sincerely,
Charlie Lang
Executive Coach and Founder of Progress-U Ltd.
1. Leadership
Strategy disconnected
Strategy development is one of the most
important tasks for any leader. The strategy of an organization is
usually based on the vision of where to the organization wants to
develop. Also, the strategy must be in alignment with the mission
of the organization, i.e. its set of values. These are just the basics;
of course the development of the ideal strategy requires much more
than this. For example, in addition to the vision and mission, an
industrial company will need a lot of information on the markets (existing
position, reachable market share, development of the markets, competition,
etc.), the competencies of its employees (available skills, potentials,
etc.), financial resources, etc. in order to develop a successful
strategy.
However, the bigger the organization,
the more risk there is that the top management determining the strategy
is somewhat disconnected from the "reality" of the markets
and the actual HR potential in the company. More often than not, this
disconnection leads to false assumptions due to information "filtered"
by middle managers, thus giving an incomplete picture of the real
situation.
It highly depends on the leaders' ability
to create a culture of openness and trust within the whole organization.
This determines whether the information provided to the top management
is good enough to develop the strategy and thus the destiny of the
company. A professional executive coach can be very effective in providing
the leaders of a company with a reality check which is certainly useful
in daily operation and can become crucial when developing the strategy
of the company.
Conclusion: Developing
a successful strategy is usually a complex process for any organization.
It requires a large information base that is often not directly
available to the leaders who develop the strategy. A professional
executive coach can be of great value by providing a reality check
for the top management in daily operation and even more so during
strategy development.
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2. Human Resources
Recruitment Tips:
The early bird gets the best worm
Are you looking for a highly qualified
person but are having problems getting the best talents to work for
you? Because you can't offer a big worldwide known brand name? Or
because your office is located in a less attractive area? Or.....
Of course, there are different ways
to improve the chances of getting high potentials to sign up with
you: big professional advertisements, use of headhunters, offering
high salaries, etc. All are more or less effective measures, with
one big disadvantage: these cost a lot of money.
Today I offer you a possibility to improve
your chances. The proposed method not only costs no money but also
saves you money and time. And here is the trick: surprise the applicant
with speed! Make sure that the applicant receives a response within
2-3 days at least to acknowledge receipt of the application. After
one week at the latest, you would have received minimum 50% of all
applications. Hence, choose half of the number of people you may want
to invite and arrange interviews within the coming week. By the time
these interviews are done, you should have received approximately
90% of all applications so you can now invite the second lot for the
next week. By the end of week 3 you would have made practically all
first interviews and you may want to shortlist 2-3 candidates to invite
for a 2nd interview in week 4. By the end of that week you might have
made a decision and signed a contract with the supposedly best candidate.
Four weeks and you are done! This fast
and efficient approach impresses candidates who are used to lengthy
procedures and who normally have very little understanding as to why
this must take so much time. Being different on this aspect will give
the potential employee a very professional impression of your company,
making it more likely that the candidate will decide to take your
job offer.
Of course, in order to be able to act
so fast, recruitment must be given a top priority and must be well
organized. Don't we constantly say that human resources are the most
valuable capital in an organization? So why don't we give recruitment
one of the highest priorities, then?
Conclusion:
Act quickly and professionally and you will be able to get high
potentials to sign up with you even if you can't offer one of the
big multi-nationals brand names. This fast and efficient approach
also helps you to save time and cost.
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3. Coaching
View
Point: Does specific Experience
lead a Coach to Consulting?
There is an ongoing
discussion on the necessity and the difficulties of a coach having
prior experience specific to the client's situation. For example,
some weeks ago the director of a bank asked me whether he should look
for a coach with relevant experience in the banking sector. The reason
for his question was that he was looking for a Coach to help him become
a more effective manager and leader. He also informed me that some
years ago he worked with a counselor on personal and professional
issues and he felt that due to the lack of relevant background there
was no fruitful input from the counselor, hence he stated "It
was a waste of time and money as she had no clue what I was talking
about when it came to my professional situation, forget about any
worthwhile input."
First we clarified the
definition of coaching and agreed that the coach is supposed to be
a specialist on the process of personal and professional development
of the client and not necessarily a specialist on the client's business.
We also discussed the role of the coach in the coaching process, that
is, that the coach helps to keep the client focused and helps to develop
and supervise an action plan, after having discovered in which direction
the client actually wants to develop. We also clarified the methods
a professional coach would apply, such as constructive questioning,
non-directive guidance, contextual listening without any prejudices,
etc. Further we agreed that coaching is different to consulting, i.e.
the coach does NOT advise what to do, but shares own experiences,
such that the decisions made by the client would be made with the
client's full ownership.
Then we returned to
the topic of specific background. After asking him what he thought
now he replied: "I still believe that it is important for the
coach to have a basic understanding of what I am talking about, especially
in case I also want to be coached on professional issues." "Why
do you think this is important", I asked. "Because then
the coach can comprehend more quickly and better what my issues or
challenges are and might be able to give me proper advice." I
replied that I agree to the first part of the reason but that the
second part is actually a "danger" of having specific experiences,
as this would not be coaching anymore but consulting. In fact, coaches
are at higher risk to do open or hidden consulting in case they have
specific experiences on the subject the client wants to be coached
on. Why should that be avoided? Because the concept of coaching is
based on the client's full ownership as it is proven that ownership
makes it more likely that the client takes the necessary action to
succeed.
It requires a lot of
self-control and skills to put these experiences aside and to avoid
guiding the client to a solution which the coach already has in mind.
That would not be coaching but hidden consulting. Coaching however,
allows that the coach shares his experiences AFTER the client completes
his thought process as it eventually provides the client with some
new perspectives he may not have considered so far.
To answer the question
of the bank director: Yes, relevant specific experiences can be beneficial
to the client provided that the coach adheres to the basic coaching
principles. This may be more difficult in areas of special experience
and knowledge.
Conclusion:
Specific experiences in the area the client wants to be coached
on, pose a risk to the coach of shifting to open or hidden consulting.
However, a professional coach will realize this risk and stick to
the coaching principles. That means the coach will use his experiences
to the benefit of the client through a faster understanding of the
client's situation and through sharing what worked for him or others
in similar situations, yet granting ownership to the client.
Back
4. News
June 14, 2003: Short
report from the Personal Inspiration Day
Charlie Lang of Progress-U Ltd. was
one of the five coaches who facilitated the Personal Inspiration Day
organized by the Hong Kong Coaching Community on June 14, 2003. In
his workshop he focused on change management, discovering with the
participants different aspects of change. It also included a short
live coaching experience: the participants experienced being coached
as well as trying to coach in role plays, thus becoming aware of the
effectiveness and the skills necessary in coaching.
"Positive goal-reaching,
more technical for the power executive. Excellent!" (Statement
of a participant regarding Charlie's workshop)
For
upcoming seminars & events please click here:
http://www.progressu.com/Seminars.htm
For
recent Articles on Coaching please click here:
http://www.progressu.com/ArticlesonCoaching.htm
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5. Management Tip
Sales
& Marketing Management: "Want to boost
your bottom line by 20, 50 or 100%?"
Do you want to improve your profitability
in no time? Of course, everybody does! What are the standard methods
to do so? Following the simple and true formula that profit is sales
minus cost, the main efforts to improve profitability are usually
made by either trying to sell more through promotions, advertising
or other marketing efforts. The other strategy would be to cut cost.
Sometimes both are being combined.
Both methods have their "side effects"
which can destroy the chances to achieve a higher profitability. In
the case of increasing sales through marketing activities, there is
the problem that one must first spend money, i.e. increase the cost
before - hopefully - achieving a higher sales figure without knowing
whether the margins from the higher sales figure will cover or outnumber
the marketing cost.
In case of cost cutting there can be
short-term adverse affects on the sales figures and more often than
that, long-term adverse affects on the whole operation.
There is, however, another possibility
to improve profitability that is rarely thought of: The introduction
of value-oriented pricing affects the bottom line directly. For example,
assuming your company today achieves a profit to sales ratio of 4%,
an average price increase of only 2% will lead to a 50% increase in
profitability.
Research on a vast number of companies
revealed that a comprehensive pricing strategy is a rarity. More often
than not, the pricing "administration" is delegated to a
3rd or 4th level employee, who is thus given an unbelievably powerful
lever to the profitability of the organization.
Many companies base pricing on the so-called
"cost plus" calculation, i.e. considering the cost involved
for a product or service, adding a profit and eventually negotiation
margin. The key problem in this approach is that the market value
of such products/services is not considered. Shifting to the market
value pricing method will lead to either better prices and thus higher
profitability (provided that the benefits for the customers have been
clearly worked out and highlighted) or, in the worst case, leads to
re-engineering or discontinuation of the product/service - another
healthy effect of this procedure.
There are various examples of companies
who boosted their profitability by 100% or more after the implementation
of a value-oriented pricing strategy. What about your company?
Conclusion:
Reworking the pricing policy of any company usually leads to a considerable
improvement of the bottom line without the pains involved in cost
cutting or the risks to be considered in launching cost intensive
sales & marketing campaigns.
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