Technology has long been used to drive efficiency in all corners of business but it’s been slower to make it into the boardroom. Traditionally, Board portals have been beyond the reach of most organisations but we believe we’ve found a solution that brings it back within reach.
ProcessPA is an Australian start up which has been funded by local venture capital with the goal of helping more organisations move their Board online.
Board Associates have adopted ProcessPA as our standard Board portal platform, allowing us to drive accountability, structure and efficiency in Board meetings for all organisations.
If you’d like to know more or try Process PA for your organisation we’d be happy help.
lf you are a Director of your company or someone else’s company these are difficult time for you. Here are things to think about:
CASHFLOW
Ensure the company is registered for the JobKeeper payments so you can keep staff on and receive this subsidy. Also ensure your BAS is lodged showing PAYG (if any) so you can receive the cash boost grant over the next 3 BAS quarters.
Perhaps talk to your bank about suspending any loan payments for 5 months. A client applied one day and had it approved the next so the banks are moving fast on this.
Check your cash flow forecast or projections (you should have one to review monthly) to see what the bank balance looks like for the next 6 months, including any government payments coming in.
EMPLOYEES
Manage your staff carefully and try to only stand them down rather than terminate. However with JobKeeper you should be able to keep them on the payroll at least. You do not want to have to find and train staff again when this is over.
There are Fair Work considerations to take into account when considering the duties they will perform during the downturn. A conversation with employees will usually arrive at a reasonable answer but be sure to document your agreement in writing.
DIRECTOR RESPONSIBILITIES
The Government have relaxed insolvency laws for 6 months so that Directors are not held liable if this happens. That does not mean you do everything you can to avoid this of course. Close monitoring is needed by all Directors at this time.
lf necessary the Directors should meet more regularly than normal to review the situation with corona virus impact and not leave it to the old meeting schedule and agenda. You are legally obligated to protect the company and its shareholders so put the time in.
Start planning for a recession later this year. Think about what that will do to your business and how you plan to survive that. Talk to your accountants and prepare for it. I think all well run businesses will get through the virus phase and the recession phase and emerge stronger in the future as the economy rebounds.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Have a clear policy about refunds and credits for your clients. lf you offer 100% credits that will be a liability on your balance sheet that you will have to honour next year and impact cash flow. The ACCC is ok about credits for less than they paid, less the true costs of that product or service. No refunds I suggest as you need the cash to survive. Make sure all your loyal clients know your policy about this.
PREPARING FOR RECOVERY
Think of this time as being useful to refresh your business, website and product/services range so you have an attractive offer when this is over. Review your systems and staffing too.
Depending on your business situation think about continuing marketing, maybe at a lesser rate. lt is important that you keep in touch with all past clients on your database and keep your brand out there for when we get back to normal. Plan now for new revenue after this is all over and not leave it until then. People will forget you.
IN THE WORDS OF WINSTON CHURCHILL…
“Never waste a good crisis”. Use this opportunity to re-evaluate, refine and redesign your business model and value proposition. With a little strategic thought, you have the opportunity (and perfect excuse) to create your next version of the business; one that will be stronger and more resilient than ever.
NEED A HAND PLANNING YOUR WAY FORWARD?
Contact us anytime if you need advice or help responding to the current crisis. Even if you are not a client, we’re happy to our bit to support all businesses at no cost.
https://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/covid-19.jpeg10001500Matthew Dunstanhttps://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BoardAssociatesLogoReversedNew.pngMatthew Dunstan2020-06-06 03:11:442022-12-20 03:13:23Corona Virus: To Do List for Business Owners
ON THE BACK OF A RECENT BOARD REVIEW, WE’VE JUST RUN A ½ DAY WORKSHOP BASED ON PATRICK LENCIONI’S MODEL OF TEAM EFFECTIVENESS (SEE HIS BOOK “THE 5 DYSFUNCTIONS OF TEAMS”.
LENCIONI’S MODEL PROVIDES A SIMPLE FRAMEWORK TO DRIVE EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH RIGOROUS DEBATE AND A SINGULAR FOCUS…BUT BUILT ON A FOUNDATION OF TRUST, SELFLESSNESS, MUTUAL COMMITMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY.
THE CORE PREMISE:
Lencioni’s model is built on the following premise:
Pursuit of a clear goal requires commitment and accountability from the whole team,
this won’t be truly present if there is a lack of buy-in from all members.
buy-in can only be achieved in an environment where the options have been fully debated and
open debate can only be achieved in an environment of trust, where people speak frankly and with full participation.
5 QUESTIONS TO DRIVE EFFECTIVENESS
Following are 5 key questions to ask your Board or Executive team (and some tips we discovered from running the workshop):
IS THE “JOB TO BE DONE” CLEAR?
This is a different take on the usual strategic planning approach where we work on a few priorities simultaneously and delegate these across the organisation. Instead, the idea is to select a single, short term goal which cuts across the organisation and which everyone needs to get behind.
This was a challenging exercise because everyone has a slightly different take on what is the “single most important thing”. What we found worked best was to set the ‘job to be done’ within the context of the broader strategy (ie: it doesn’t replace it). It also worked best when expressed as a business outcome rather than a financial goal.
For example, we considered a sales target, a production milestone and revenue goal. The actual goal selected was a channel development goal over the next 4 months which would then pull through (automatically) a number of other major initiatives in its wake.
2. IS THE TEAM HOLDING ONE ANOTHER ACCOUNTABLE?
The usual approach to the execution of the strategic plan, is to divide & conquer. Lencioni’s approach however says that in the case of the single overriding goal (what I’m calling the “job to be done”), everyone contributes. It doesn’t sit in a single silo or department. Instead it’s so important that everyone is on the hook for it and everyone is required to hold one another accountable for progress.
3. IS EVERYONE COMMITTED?
Patrick Lencioni makes the observation that it’s too easy for people to sit on the side line and say “that’s their goal, their department. I don’t need to worry about that”. Instead, this approach demands full buy-in from everyone around the table. There are no observers.
In our case, we were considering a $20m investment. We had to move the project (and our mindset) from 1 person’s responsibility for success (ie: a Department Head), to the group taking mutual responsibility for success. Interestingly, this also required the leader of the project to give up a degree of ownership and accept other people’s involvement.
4. IS THERE ENOUGH DEBATE AROUND THE TABLE?
Like many organisations, there was a degree of ‘diplomacy’ at work around the table (ie: people not wanting to rock the boat). As such, there was an absence of debate. This was creating an environment of limited buy-in to decisions and reinforcing siloed behaviour.
To break this habit we had to invite active debate. We forced one another to express and understand opposing views and when faced with easy consensus, tested that through questions such as “someone give me a contrary view here” or “someone make an argument against this”.
5. ARE PEOPLE HOLDING BACK?
If people are guarding their words or not sharing their real views, there can’t be full and active debate. This team was finding it difficult to separate the issue from the person. They were concerned that speaking their mind would come back and bite them at them at a later date.
This is a big hurdle and yet crucial if a group is going to fully debate and explore options for the ultimate benefit of the organisation. A lack of trust is a hard one to overcome and not something that can be fixed overnight, but it’s important to start the process. We began down this road by using a form of 360 degree feedback so that the group could reflect on and appreciate one another’s strengths.
WHERE TO START:
In an environment of increased focus on Board and leadership effectiveness, Patrick Lencioni provides a great approach to achieving results through better decision making, commitment and focus. More importantly, it gives a Board or executive team a common language to tackle the issues that get in the way of team effectiveness and begin the journey toward a high performing team.
“Board Associates takes a workshop approach to Board effectiveness, beginning with an initial review and then together with the Board, creating a development plan and agenda to work on over the following year. Contact us to find out more.
https://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/BOARD-EFFECTIVENESS.jpeg10011500Matthew Dunstanhttps://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BoardAssociatesLogoReversedNew.pngMatthew Dunstan2018-11-20 03:13:372022-12-20 03:18:05A New Model of Board Effectiveness
Yet another corporate collapse brings into sharp relief an issue which seems to be missing from the agenda in Boardrooms around Australia: Stewardship of Transformation.
Disruptive consumer and competitive trends are not new and yet many fail to respond. I wonder then, how active this discussion is in the Boardroom? In my view there is a clear imperative to “re-tool” our organisations for the business models of the future. It is fundamental to the sustainability of our organisations and to our duty as Directors.
there is a clear imperative to “re-tool” our organisations
But what to do about it… I’d like to offer my own perspectives and “questions for the Board” as follows:
Board Composition: is there sufficient cognitive diversity on the Board? Are there skills & experience in innovation and new business models (not just IT)?
Market Sensing: Is the voice of the customer present at Board meetings (beyond NPS and satisfaction surveys). How are we detecting, reporting and responding to emerging trends?
Strategy Development: How are we leading or responding to disruption? Are we looking at ways to disrupt ourselves? Are we planning for transformation or resting on the laurels of past success?
Resource Allocation: Have we provided the means to foster innovation & experimentation? Have we invested sufficiently in our future selves?
In my view, the transformation imperative is clear and so to is the Board’s responsibility for the stewardship of that transformation. The challenge is that the skills to transform don’t reside in the traditional roles of marketing, HR or IT. Instead, new disciplines such as human centred design, lean and design thinking have emerged to confront this challenge; but few organisations have them and they certainly aren’t represented in the Boardroom.
I’ve been inspired by a recent HBR article on liberating and empowering teams (Carney and Getz). The notion of a smarter, more agile, more responsive organisation is not new and yet for most, it remains elusive. In fact, given the number of failed attempts I’ve witnessed, I would ask “is it even possible?”
Carney & Getz would say it is. In observing over 100 companies, they found examples of increased productivity, employee engagement and bottom line performance. In fact, in those organisations studied, engagement was almost double that of their peers. But if the benefits are there, why is it so hard for organisations to take this evolutionary leap?
creating a more engaged, productive and profitable organisation is at the heart of our mission
For Boards & Executives, creating a more engaged, productive and profitable organisation is at the heart of our mission. But before you go and hire the next ‘corporate guru’ for your annual offsite, there are some important realities (and uncomfortable truths) to think through:
Leadership: Unfortunately many of our leaders are now 3+ decades into their career and have some pretty firm views on how things are done. I’ve seen a number of examples where leaders espouse the new world order but a) can’t bring themselves to do it and b) undermine the change through their unconscious values & behaviours. Question for the Board: If we set the tone from the top, are our leaders playing in tune?
Culture: I’ve had some recent experience with organisations who talk the talk, but can’t walk the talk. Typically their organisational DNA is anchored in a past business model, culture and norms. Waving a wand or getting up behind a lectern doesn’t change anything when you’re fighting the innate nature of a human collective. Question for the Board: Will our culture embrace liberation or will there be an auto-immune reaction to it?
Management skills: Frankly, 90% of managers couldn’t manage or lead a liberated team. Putting ego aside and acting as a coach rather than a manager is a pretty advanced skill. It takes a lot of emotional intelligence and leadership acumen to guide people in flight without disrupting the flight pattern. The reality is, most managers don’t have what it takes and in the average organisation, this type of change would lead to chaos. Have you seen 5yr olds play soccer? Question for the Board: Do we have a plan to coach the coaches? Do we need a migration strategy to protect brand, customer and financial value?
Diversity: Sure a liberated team approach would suit some people, but other personality types find these environments difficult, ambiguous and in some cases a source of anxiety. If we’ve accepted the need for and benefit of diversity, we need to cater for that in different work styles & preferences too. Question for the Board: How will you protect the diversity of work styles as you move to a liberated team model?
There is no doubt that dynamic, self-organising teams can have benefits for competitiveness, customer value and long term sustainability. But to pursue a “corporate liberation” transformation you should definitely go into with your eyes open.
ISSUES FOR GOVERNANCE
This business model presents major governance challenges for an organisation. It requires transformation of the Board’s culture and processes as much as is required in the business. For example, how would the Board:
Manage culture when it evolves from the bottom up?
Balance compliance & risk management with entrepreneurial behaviour of teams?
Invest & allocate resources without centralised accountability and a common measure of performance?
Monitor leading indicators when they vary from team to team?
Ensure legal & regulatory compliance when teams exercise extreme autonomy?
Despite the challenges however, the benefits can’t be ignored. Some would argue that this change to employee expectations is inevitable. That being the case, now is the time to start considering these issues and their impact on our strategy, culture and our duty to drive performance and sustainability.
The focus of late has been on digital transformation but the imperative of organisational transformation is just as real. Trends such as corporate liberation are just the tip of the iceberg. Now is the time to experiment and invest, understanding the needs & trends of the future employee ecosystem before they are thrust upon us.
https://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Feeling-stuck.jpg467700Matthew Dunstanhttps://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BoardAssociatesLogoReversedNew.pngMatthew Dunstan2018-09-18 03:22:282022-12-20 03:24:36Does Your Organisation Need Liberation?
Why is it that we invest so much of our leadership capability at work but leave it at the office at the end of the day? Why do we not bring the best of ourselves back into our home and our community? Are they not more enduring and more important than any role we play at the office? And what of personal leadership? Why do we not apply these same capabilities to ourselves and our own journey through life? Do we not need to have our own house in order to be at our best?
“It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.
— Invictus by William Ernest Henley
On a recent sailing sabbatical, I was inspired to write a personal manifesto on the topic of leadership. The result was the culmination of the things I have learnt, I admire in others and that I aspire to myself. What also became evident was what I consider to be a gap in the way we view leadership and in particular, the need to move from a narrow, work based view of leadership to a more holistic, integrated and life-purpose led model of leadership.
WHERE WE GO WRONG:
In today’s society, leadership is focused on performance at work and concerned with activities which are designed to:
organise others
drive and manage performance
achieve a commercial or organisational goal.
As such, leadership is commonly transactional in nature and somewhat mercenary in that it’s only applied as a strategy to achieve performance (generally for someone else’s benefit!).
In contrast, I believe there is a leadership vacuum in all aspects of life and as leaders we have a responsibility to fill that gap for the benefit of all. What follows is my personal manifesto on the topic which I’ve called Purpose Led Leadership.
PURPOSE LED LEADERSHIP
I believe that great leadership:
is about service. Leaders should not be concerned with “taking charge but taking care of those in our charge” (thank you Simon Sinek). It is about building and developing individuals and teams to create something bigger and more enduring than ourselves.
should be practised at home first. So much writing, training and education is focused on organisational leadership and yet our role as a leader at work is one of the least permanent roles we’ll have. Our family and the communities within which we live are far more enduring than any team we may lead at work. They deserve the best of ourselves, not just what is left over at the end of the day.
needs to begin with great personal leadership. If we can’t lead ourselves, what right do we have to lead others?
should be an expression of our individual purpose in the world. We need different types of leaders for different occasions and contexts. There is no one formula for leadership and in fact imitating the stereotypical leader is ingenuine. Instead, discover, recognise your own unique talent and role in the world and express it through leadership. Be your own brand of leader.
THE QUALITIES I ADMIRE AND THOSE I ASPIRE TO
Self awareness: I need to understand the impact I have on others (good and bad) if I’m to serve them to the best of my ability.
Self efficacy: you can’t expect others to believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself.
Clarity of purpose: we all have a different role to play and a different set of strengths in life. We need to bring these to bear in the way that we exercise and express leadership.
Clarity of goal: leadership, as the word implies, is about leading in a particular direction toward a particular goal. If you’re not clear on the destination, where are you leading them to?
Authenticity: there’s no such thing as a leader for all occasions so don’t pretend to be one. Be yourself, admit your faults and ask for help. If you do, you’ll always be enough.
Humility: there’s no place for ego. It robs the people you serve from their opportunity to develop and shine.
Selflessness: it’s never about you and in fact it can’t be if you want people to follow you.
Confidence: there will be times when things get rough. Part of a leader’s role is to be the rock, the constant that people can rely on.
Courage: there are a lot of unknowns in life and there are a lot of unpleasant things that need to be faced. As a leader you have to have the courage to face those fears and do it anyway.
Motivation: you need to be able to build and mobilise a great team. To do this you have to be able to paint a compelling vision of the future, attract people to the cause and mobilise them all in the same direction. The most rewarding thing is to create a team and a momentum that endures after you’ve gone.
WHEN LEADERSHIP FAILS:
Even with the best of intentions, leaders can unwittingly fail their people because they’re not getting the job done. Here are some of the traps I’ve observed over the years which will let you and the team down.
Leadership fails when you:
Focus on yourself and what you want
Neglect your people
Fail to create progress
Breakdown, collapse or loose heart
Are inconsistent or frequently change direction
Disempower people by over managing or doing it yourself
Fail to create a breakthrough. All efforts reach this point and the leader has to help the team push through it
Fail to surround yourself with those who fill the gaps and compensate for your weaknesses
Fail to build a high performing team
Fail to manage performance
Fail to address conflict constructively, if at all
Can’t get out of the detail and obsess over the small stuff
Fail to manage external stakeholders and gain support for your team
Know everything, are not open to learning and can’t hear what your team is saying
Make bad decisions and fail to draw on the collective wisdom of the team
Perfecting the attributes of leadership however is only part of the job. The other question to concern ourselves with is “where to apply purpose led leadership?”
THE 4 REALMS OF PURPOSE LED LEADERSHIP
Somehow we’ve focused all of our education and leadership wisdom on the workplace, but how many leaders do we know, who are inspiring at work but who’s personal life is falling apart?
I believe there are 4 realms of leadership which allow us to bring the very best of ourselves to the game in an integrated, authentic and holistic way.
Purpose Led Leadership a) starts with leadership of the self, b) prioritises leadership at home, c) serves the interest of the communities we are a part of and d) are excercised at work.
When anchored in an understanding of our purpose, our special gift or place in the world, we are able to express a unique brand of leadership in all areas of our life. This takes our performance to a whole new level which ultimately is more beneficial and rewarding for all.
“Leaders recognise the value of the journey is often greater than the prize. The destination is just the incentive for you to undertake the quest at all.
— Matthew Dunstan
ADVICE I WOULD GIVE MY YOUNGER SELF
Relax. You don’t need to be perfect and shouldn’t pretend to be. Authenticity is more powerful than perfection.
You don’t need a title. Leadership is awarded by those who choose to follow you.
Lead from behind. Its just as important to support a leader as it is to be the leader. Leadership can and should be a collaboration of complementary minds.
It’s not about you. It’s about service, not about ego. Concern yourself with the fingerprint you leave behind, not the prizes that you take away.
People have to want to be there. Keep it fun. Life isn’t really all that serious and even when you’re working hard, there’s no rule to say you can’t have fun while you’re doing it.
LEADERS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO CREATE A BETTER WORLD
My personal aspiration is to create a better world by inspiring a better kind of leadership. I believe that together, we can have an amazing impact on the lives of the people we touch. In turn, they will go on to be amazing leaders in their own right.
If you, like me aspire to be more of a Purpose Led Leader, then please sign the petition below. Together we can all leave a better fingerprint on the world around us.
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https://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/sextant.jpg265670Matthew Dunstanhttps://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BoardAssociatesLogoReversedNew.pngMatthew Dunstan2017-05-26 03:25:002022-12-20 03:31:56Purpose Led Leadership
Goal setting is a hard one for a lot of people. They either don’t know what goals to set or they choose goals they don’t really care about. If this sounds familiar, you might like to try my favourite goal setting exercise when you pause to think about the year ahead.
“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.
— Nido Qubein
The trick to goal setting is to choose goals we are naturally motivated to achieve, rather than those we think we should have. For example, many people set goals to be fitter, wealthier, more successful, more loving. But if these things aren’t actually bugging you, if you have no motivation to work on them, then they’ll become just another empty New Year’s resolution.
Unfortunately it can be hard to tap into our true motivations. They often exist at a subconscious level and as such, we’re not really aware of what we want. The answer though lies in the power of critique – something that we’re all a little too good at. Here are 5 steps to help you identify, set and pursue the right goals in the New Year.
Step 1: Vent!
Get out a piece of paper and start with phrase: “I wish the following were different…” and then unload! Don’t pause, don’t analyse, don’t edit or judge. Just write.
Keep the list broad too. Don’t try to keep the topic to work or family. Let your mind roam free and write down everything, in every aspect of your life that’s bugging you.
The list will be long but you’ll start to see some common threads…even a few surprises.
Step 2: Flip the List
Once you’ve run out of things to write, go back to the top of the list and flip each statement from a complaint into a goal. For example I might start with:
“I wish I didn’t wake up feeling sluggish every day” becomes the goal “Improve my health so I wake up with energy & vitality every day”
“I wish I didn’t spend my day putting out fires all of the time” could become the goal “Enjoy my work by spending more time on creative projects.”
Step 3: Cluster and Strategise
You’ll find that once you do this, there are a number of goals that automatically relate to one another. Group these together and start to think of actions you could take to address the grouped goal.
For example the last time I did this, I had a number of health related goals such as waking up with more energy, having better posture and more muscle tone. I grouped these together into an overall goal of improving my physical health by eating more vegetables, drinking less alcohol at night and exercising more.
Step 4. Make it actionable and realistic
By this stage, you know what you really want and broadly how you could get it. Nothing happens without implementation though so you need to take the ‘how’ and make it actionable.
For example, it’s wasn’t enough for me to say “exercise more”. I had to commit to finding an exercise buddy and setting an alarm to wake up at 5am, 3 times a week.
Where a lot of people come unstuck is when they set an action that isn’t really going to happen. Something that just isn’t realistic for them. You need to be honest with yourself and ask “is this really going to happen?”. If not, come up with a different action.
Step 5. Hold yourself accountable
Of everyone who’s ever done this, the single biggest point of failure lies in a lack of accountability. They set the goal and then forget it.
I like to review my goals every 2 weeks and ask myself “how am I going?” It’s often surprising how quickly you’re able to tick items off.
Other ways you can drive accountability include putting your goals on the fridge or my favourite, sharing them with others. There’s nothing like public shame to get you motivated!
Goals for Couples, Teams and Families
The above 5 steps are great at an individual level, but it you want to take things a step further, I’ve seen remarkable outcomes by getting people to share their list after step 2 and then completing the process together.
Last year on our family vacation, my wife and I did this exercise and found that (surprisingly!), we shared a number of concerns, aspirations and goals. It was a great exercise that set our family up for success for the following year.
Likewise, I’ve done this with partnerships and leadership teams – groups that sometimes are at odds with one another on a day to day basis. They find the process a great communication tool and the following planning and action steps bring people together in terms of buy-in and commitment to the solution.
For some reason we’re much better at critiquing than we are at creating. This exercise allows us to tap into what our hearts most desire, those things that we are truly motivated to achieve. So these holidays, forget the New Year’s resolutions and instead, tap into the things that matter to you most.
https://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/5-Steps-to-Choosing-the-Right-Goals.jpeg10491500Matthew Dunstanhttps://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BoardAssociatesLogoReversedNew.pngMatthew Dunstan2015-12-08 03:32:352022-12-20 03:34:405 Steps to Choosing the Right Goals
For all of our skill at planning and driving success, Lady Luck wields the power to put the wind in your sails or dash your hopes against the rocks.
In business school, we don’t talk about luck but the reality is, it’s inevitable. Surprisingly, Collins and Hansen have come up with an approach to harnesses it.
“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.
— William Shakespeare
HOW DO YOU PLAN FOR LUCK?
It sounds like an oxymoron – how can you plan for luck? But in “Great by Choice”, Collins & Hansen’s 9 year research project, they’ve found that what drove great performance was not being in the right place at the right time, but what you did with those events that counted. They found that your ability to generate a return on luck is one of the key factors that distinguishes the great from the average.
The concept is this: everyone has their share of luck over time, good and bad. Most people accept these events as outside their control and roll with the punches. They might acknowledge it, but rarely do anything specific in response to it.
The opportunity is not to take a passive role when luck arrives but rather to recognise the situation and ask “how can I amplify or make the most of this?” – even if it’s bad luck
DRIVING ROL (RETURN ON LUCK)
Reflecting on this concept, I decided to try it out on myself and asked “what luck events are present in my life right now”? I came up with the following:
Good Luck: I landed a role working with a prestigious consulting firm.
Bad Luck: My landlord told us they were selling the property we loved and that we had to move.
I then asked “how could I capitalise on these events to really make the most of them?” I came up with the following:
New role = opportunity for new networks, knowledge and income
Having to move house = opportunity to purchase a new home – an opportunity to invest & add to our portfolio.
I hear you say “well of course, that’s not revolutionary” but it’s the next step that delivers the return.
Like most people, I could have said “phew, that was lucky” and then mentally moved on. Instead, I took it a step further and asked “what do I need to do to capitalise on this luck?” So I put the following in place to maximise my ROL:
I contacted the bank and started looking for a property which met both our housing needs AND represented a good future investment.
I studiously connected with and looked for opportunities to add value to my new network of clients & partners, nurturing this long term asset. I’ve scheduled time in my diary to invest 30min in this each day.
I’ve put aside a weekly time slot to reflect on the things I’ve learnt and incorporate them into my own body of knowledge (another long term asset). In these sessions I expand and refine my models and IP.
Before learning about “return on luck”, I probably would have taken these luck events at face value and been happy to accept the cards dealt to me. Now, I have a plan in place to make the most of them, giving life and fortune a little boost in the right direction.
DEVELOP A STRATEGY FOR ROL
Here’s a Return on Luck exercise for you to try: List the luck events going on for you right now (good and bad). Ask yourself the following (you might have to distance yourself from them a little to get an independent perspective):
How could I make the most of these?
What opportunities do they present?”
What would it take to turn a bad luck event into a positive outcome?
Plan a set of actions you can take to make the most of these opportunities
Hold yourself accountable for execution. Put time aside in the diary. Add them to your priority list – whatever works for you.
The biggest lesson here is that luck happens to everyone, in both business and our personal lives. It’s not the absence or presence of luck that counts, it doesn’t even matter whether it’s good luck or bad. The decisions you make and what you do as a result will determine your fate.
Image Credit: mentalfloss.com
https://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Why-you-Need-to-Plan-for-Luck.jpeg430640Matthew Dunstanhttps://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BoardAssociatesLogoReversedNew.pngMatthew Dunstan2015-10-18 03:35:402022-12-20 03:39:25Why you Need to Plan for Luck
Leading in a volatile environment we think being fast, bold and innovative is what drives success. This week I’ve been reading “Great by Choice” (Jim Collins & Morton Hansen) and interestingly, the evidence suggests otherwise.
Instead of innovation & agility, the research shows that a consistent and methodical application of a proven recipe is what drives success – not fast paced innovation & entrepreneurship.
“The only way to remain great is to keep on applying the fundamental principles that made you great.
— Jim Collins
A DOSE OF SMAC
Collins & Hansen encourage us to define and implement a SMaC recipe – a specific, methodical and consistent set of ingredients, practices or principles. They don’t have to be bold, they don’t have to be sexy. In fact, when doing this exercise myself, I found that my 10 point recipe was actually quite ‘pedestrian’. There were no super human efforts required, no super powers or clairvoyance. Just a set of activities which come quite naturally (to me at least). It gave me a greater sense of certainty and a simple framework for how I plan to move ahead.
WHAT’S YOUR RECIPE FOR SUCCESS?
My challenge to you this week is to spend 15min on defining your own SMaC recipe. Think about what has driven your success to date and list the 10 things you attribute that to.
Are you still doing them now?
Have you embedded them into your organisation?
Do your team and partners know and understand the recipe?
Do you have a rhythm for their implementation on a day to day basis?
As someone who loves entrepreneurship and innovation, repeating the same things day in day out can seem a little mundane…but then again it’s sometimes nice to have a little more predictability in my day too. The challenge is to hold myself accountable and keep chipping away at the small things that make a big difference.
https://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/10-POINT-RECIPE-FOR-SUCCESS.jpeg280515Matthew Dunstanhttps://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BoardAssociatesLogoReversedNew.pngMatthew Dunstan2015-09-08 03:39:302022-12-20 03:41:1510 Point Recipe for Success
There’s a pervasive thought that’s crept into our business psyche over the years and it’s all about ‘the deal’. We’ve become obsessed with thinking up ways to make money, earn a passive income, clip the ticket… but tell me, where is the discussion about creating value? Why isn’t this on the management agenda or taught in our business schools?
Instead of focusing on how to increase prices, engineer the market or create the next useless app, let’s instead talk about the problems we can fix and the people we can serve.
“Earn your success based on service to others, not at the expense of others.
— H. Jackson Brown Jr.
BE A GO-GIVER INSTEAD OF A GO GETTER
I remember having this exact conversation with a fellow manager. She asked “imagine what we could accomplish if we focused all of this intellectual horsepower towards something important?” It’s a thought provoking idea…
One of my favourite books is “The Go Giver” by Bob Burg and John David Mann. In this book, the central premise is that if you want to earn more money, find a way to serve more people. And let’s face it, there are a lot of problems out there to fix and a lot of people we could serve.
CHANGING THE MANAGEMENT AGENDA
But how do we change the conversation? Here are a few ideas which I think would get the ball rolling:
Focus on the problem instead of the product: Understanding the true problem you’re solving is surprisingly difficult. The tendency is to define it too narrowly and in only rational terms. The reality is that most problems you’re solving are a symptom of a bigger and deeper problem. Solve this and you’ll deliver more value and have the opportunity to exchange more value.
Be clear about who you’re solving it for: We don’t like to say “no” to business. The temptation is to say “we service all markets”. But it’s important to know who has the problem you’re addressing. Once you know who they are, a lot of other things become clearer too. You know where to find these people, how to reach them and how to speak to them in a clearer and more compelling way.
Build a strategy to serve, not sell: Business strategies are always about how to make more money. Try flipping the conversation and instead come up with a strategy designed to reach and serve more people. Ask yourself “if we serve and solve this problem for 50 people today, how can we help the next 500?”
Change the management conversation: Are you spending all your time analysing the P&L or do your management meetings focus on value creation and delivery? Develop metrics that allow you to track the value you’re delivering and the people you’re serving, as well as the money you’re making.
Here’s an example of how I define these things for myself:
The problems I solve are about direction: I help people define where to go, how to get there and what to do first.
A lot of people have these problems in life and in business but I’m not a life coach. The people I serve are entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders, but even that’s too broad. More specifically, these problems arise when people are just starting something new, changing course or have hit a plateau. The people I serve then, are those saying to themselves “I need a plan, but I can’t see a way forward right now”.
At a deeper level, the problem isn’t just about defining a path forward. It’s solving a more fundamental and personal set of concerns:
“This needs to work, there’s a lot riding on this.”
“It’s my job, my responsibility – I have to fix this.”
“It’s all on my shoulders – everyone is looking to me for an answer.”
I find in these situations, creating hope for the future, a plan to get there and concrete actions to get started, is not only good for the business but relieves a lot of anxiety for the person responsible. So at one level, I help people with business plans but at a deeper level, I’m helping people regain confidence in themselves and their ability as leaders and entrepreneurs.
CHASE THE OBJECTIVE, NOT THE OUTCOME
It can be a difficult shift to get your head around. Particularly if like most, you’ve been brought up on the ‘Gordon Gekko’ school of business. But we need to stop idolising these soulless models of business and so called “captains of industry”. This is not to say that profit isn’t important – it is, but it should be the outcome, not the objective.
If you’re delivering genuine value then customers will find you, love you and share you with their friends. You’ll create a community rather than a customer base and profit will be the natural result of the exchange.
I’m not sure why we exist on this earth, but I’m pretty sure it’s not about making a buck for its own sake. The world existed a long time before the stock market and I believe that life is about more than creating an uptick on a stock chart.
https://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/TO-MAKE-MORE-MONEY-FIND-A-WAY-TO-SERVE-MORE-PEOPLE.jpeg598901Matthew Dunstanhttps://www.boardassociates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BoardAssociatesLogoReversedNew.pngMatthew Dunstan2015-06-28 03:41:362022-12-20 03:43:44To Make More Money, Find a Way to Serve More People
