Your Ultimate Motivational Resource for Business Strategy and Leadership

With the amount of uncertainty in the business environment at the moment, it’s easy to sit back and wait for things to settle down. The “she’ll be right” attitude has already seen some businesses close their doors.

It appears that the start of a new decade and a new year has created a mindset shift... and more business owners are making more strategic decisions. So what does this have to do with strategic leadership?

Are you the micromanagement specialist? Team members want leaders & owners to trust them enough to give them some direction and let them get on with their jobs....not to feel they are constantly being scrutinised.

Our focus has gone from the strategic management of our business to managing the day to day. As leaders, it's key for us to be looking for opportunities to keep an eye on the big picture. Constantly being in the weeds will make delivering our desired vision challenging.

Leading your team takes an understanding of those in your organisation and being prepared to treat them like humans... we all want to feel part of something that matters.

By running strategy days and helping businesses get clear on what they want for 2020, we get exposure to different leadership styles. Some have teams inspired to do whatever is needed to deliver success. These teams tend to be made up of leaders, taking ownership of their own standards and performance, which in turn adds value to the business.

How do we put down that list of business goals and relax?Ask most and they will say this year has been hectic again. Filling already busy schedules with even more activities, building businesses, managing teams and their performance, striving to deliver exceptional value, more travel and time in the office, pressure to exceed expectations and aiming to smash targets and taste success.

The drama that engulfed the team and Cricket Australia led to a far reaching and brutally honest review highlighting failures in leadership and culture.

From the politicians trying to work out who's at fault.... to the firefighters at the front line saving humans and homes - both are exhibiting leadership with different degrees of effectiveness.

"From my experience, the best advisors help in three ways: encourage you to look at the problem or opportunity from multiple angles; help you balance the tug of the short-term with important long-term priorities; and ask the tough questions you need to know to reach the best solution".
Margo Georgiadis

So how can we get strategic about what we want to achieve and ensure we are setting ourselves up for great things in the coming years? 

"I'm frustrated that the people i'm supposed to be working with don't get it and I have to keep pushing them to get the message across. It's taking up a lot of my time and it's easier to just do the things myself". This is the most common frustrations that come up in Business Strategy sessions...

“I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand”. We do things for a reason... take on more responsibility, help others grow, volunteer to help those in need.

We are constantly being asked, either by ourselves or others, to make decisions. The impact of making those decisions is one which is generally discounted as "just something that you do". But are we getting the most out of our decisions?

Over the past week there have been moments where quality leaders, successful in either running a business or their career, have confessed to losing track of the path they were on. They were wrapped up in comparing themselves to others and not focussing on what was happening in their lane.

Are we producing the right content so our ideal customers jump at the opportunity to work with us? Am I providing the vision that those around me need to get where we are heading? All great questions that have come up in conversations over the past week.

Often, if there's something that I want to do, but somehow can't get myself to do, it's because I don't have clarity. This lack of clarity often arises from a feeling of ambivalence - I want to do something, but I don't want to do it…

What is the difference between this and how we interact with those within our businesses? Where we have teams, do our team members crave the feeling of "being part of the team", spending time with the boss, learning from someone they look up to and who inspires them.

Businesses are now seeing the financial and personal cost of stress. More businesses are operating with fewer resources and staff are working often harder and longer hours.

Over the past month I've spent a lot of time speaking to business owners and leaders. The consistent message has been that the past six months has been challenging.

"It's easy to forget, as a leader, that when employees don't get the wide view, not only does the point of their work escape them, but it can also forge frustrated leaders. It's hard to feel pride and ownership when you don't understand where things are going." Jason Fried

Teams that consistently perform at the highest levels are able to come together and be unified across the organization - staff, players, coaches, management, and ownership. When everyone is on the same page, trust develops, and teams can grow and succeed together.

Have you ever worked in an environment where people seemed to be out to get everything they possibly could.... sometimes at the detriment of others in the business? It creates friction and a divergence from the goals of the business.

It made me reflect on how often, as business owners and leaders, we choose to overlook making time to get clear on where we are going on our journey. Without a clear target or ultimate outcome, we make it tough to know what we are striving for and whether we are on track.

"Whether we're talking about sports mentors, leadership, teamwork, or client service, there is no more powerful attribute than the ability to be genuinely honest about one's weaknesses, mistakes, and needs for help."Patrick Lencioni

To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch.

Practice self-awareness, self-evaluation, and self-improvement. If we are aware that our manners - language, behaviour, and actions - are measured against our values and principles, we are able to more easily embody the philosophy, leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do.

"People are remarkably bad at remembering long lists of goals. I learned this at a professional level when trying to get my high-performance coaching clients to stay on track; the longer their lists of to-dos and goals, the more overwhelmed and off-track they got. Clarity comes with simplicity". Brendon Burchard

Authenticity is everything! You have to wake up every day and look in the mirror, and you want to be proud of the person who's looking back at you. And you can only do that if you're being honest with yourself and being a person of high character.

Always trust the process. I'm a firm believer in that. You know, you keep your eyes on the destination, and of course there will always be detours, but if you're moving towards it, you will always get there

The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) did a study on accountability and found that you have a 65% chance of completing a goal if you commit to someone, and 95% chance of success if you have a specific accountability appointment with a person you’ve committed to.

You have to build trust among team members so that people feel free to admit what they don't know, make mistakes, ask for help if they need it, apologise when necessary, and not hold back their opinions

Greatness comes by doing a few small and smart things each and every day. Comes from taking little steps, consistently. Comes from a making a few small chips against everything in your professional and personal life that is ordinary, so that a day eventually arrives when all that's left is The Extraordinary. Robin S. Sharma

Recently we facilitated a workshop focussed on the Customer Experience....breaking down the lifetime journey of a customer and their experience throughout. The business already runs a very successful operation, yet chose to review things to ensure they were delighting their customers every step of the way. 

Giving up control of those things you yourself have developed and worked so hard to perfect is challenging. Having someone else take on these activities, someone who won't do it as well or as quickly as you do…     

Leadership contains certain elements of good management, but it requires that you inspire, that you build durable trust. For an organisation to be not just good but to win, leadership means evoking participation larger than the job description, commitment deeper than any job contract's wording". Stanley A. McChrystal    

Clarity is the most important thing. I can compare clarity to pruning in gardening. You know, you need to be clear. If you are not clear, nothing is going to happen. You have to be clear. Then you have to be confident about your vision. And after that, you just have to put a lot of work in. -  Diane von Furstenber

"Success isn't always about greatness. It's about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come" Dwayne Johnson    

Sitting on my balcony this morning and I overhear this conversation from across the road mentioning a local business: “Yeah the painter hasn’t finished yet and will be here until lunchtime... so I’ll have to come back tomorrow when he’s done”

“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation”. Brian Tracy

As a business strategist, it’s generally us who are expected to have answers to the challenges faced by business owners. “I’ve never had a forecast before, my cashflow is inconsistent, I’m not sure what my margins are, adding Net Profit requires major changes”... these are common pain points for businesses which we help find solutions for.

What we need to do is always lean into the future; when the world changes around you and when it changes against you - what used to be a tail wind is now a head wind - you have to lean into that and figure out what to do because complaining isn't a strategy

It's extremely instructive to realise that you cannot control everything. You need to delegate, to find experts, to consult with them. A big part of the job of directing is knowing when to take something on and when you shouldn't

As far as self-confidence goes, so much of social media is about approval, getting likes, comparing our lives to others' - meanwhile, confidence is an inside job: it's about how you feel about yourself regardless of what anyone else does or thinks.

One of the top challenges faced by businesses is cashflow management. The business seems busy and there’s heaps of activity going on, yet this doesn’t seem to translate in to a healthy bank account. Sound familiar?

When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had. And it is only when we are faced with failure do we realise that these resources were always there within us. We only need to find them and move on with our lives

Slopey Shoulders syndrome is where a person consistently attempts to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions or those around them. Most of us associate it with a lack of care factor, a fear of taking on something that may get negative feedback, or an easy way to avoid making challenging decisions relating to work that you may or may not be responsible for.

“What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are". Tony Robbins     

Have you ever noticed some people are able to stay organized while getting a massive quantity of work accomplished, while others appear to be busy but never actually produce results? Time management is the key to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Clay Clark

"Change can be frightening, and the temptation is often to resist it. But change almost always provides opportunities - to learn new things, to rethink tired processes, and to improve the way we work". Klaus Schwab

"Directions are instructions given to explain how. Direction is a vision offered to explain why". Simon Sinek

"The only thing you sometimes have control over is perspective. You don't have control over your situation. But you have a choice about how you view it". Chris Pine

"Never change the person that you are just to fit in. You'll find your true friends that like you for you, and if you are happy with doing things that you genuinely enjoy, it shouldn't matter what other people think". Nicole Anderson

Procrastination is something that happens to us all, causing a lack of success, frustration, overwhelm and creating the perception of not having enough time. By putting off certain activities, whether through fear of getting an unfavourable result, not being able to do the activity or not knowing what's expected...

Mentoring for Employees - “Employees that feel known and they feel like they know why their job matters and they have a sense of measuring it stay later, do extra work, and are committed to the organisation above the requirements that they have. Patrick Lencioni

Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfilment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them. Jack Canfield

"Sometimes we make the process more complicated than we need to. We will never make a journey of a thousand miles by fretting about how long it will take or how hard it will be. We make the journey by taking each day step by step and then repeating it again and again until we reach our destination". Joseph B. Wirthlin

"Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains." - Steve Jobs

"Confidence and empowerment are cousins in my opinion. Empowerment comes from within and typically it's stemmed and fostered by self-assurance. To feel empowered is to feel free and that's when people do their best work. You can't fake confidence or empowerment".

Talking with multiple business owners over the past week, predominantly about what they wanted their business to look like in 12 months, bought up a number of challenges being faced.

The constant placement of bright shiny things in our view can bring a feeling of disillusionment, causing us to take our eye off the ball. This is where the art of the re-focus comes in to play and is a very valuable tool.

"It all adds up...never discount your efforts, because small efforts build big things. One word doesn't make a novel, but one word does begin a novel, and from that small beginning everything else follows. Even if it's just 'The', write something on that blank page". - Laurell K. Hamilton

Accountability is the obligation of an individual or organisation to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to openly disclose the results.

Traditionally, a leader has seen their role as being the one who delivers results, mostly from the corner office having very little contact with those on the ground. Making the decisions in isolation that drive growth, with the organisation expected to ‘follow the leader’ and get on with helping the company grow.

Over the next 4 weeks, we in Australia experience a number of short weeks which include public holidays. That's awesome some would say, a chance for getting ahead or an opportunity to recharge the batteries and catch up with family. 

“Getting Clarity is not found through intellect, but experienced through stillness.” Picture this. You are standing on the blocks of a swimming pool with eyes closed, ready to swim a length. Diving in, you swim flat out until you hit something hard.... when you open your eyes you are at the side of the pool. Does this sound like where you are in your career or your business?

Over the past few months I have been invited to join a number of organisations in varying capacities. Team Building, Board Member, Business mentor and forecasting specialist, Head Coach... adding to existing responsibilities of son, grandson, godfather, brother, fiance and my favourite.... fun uncle!     

So how does backing your own judgement help you achieve even more success? Sunday mornings are allocated to recharge the batteries and invest in me.... spending time in an activity I love, that's not directly work related, surrounded by other quality people doing the same.  

“There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen ie; make your move, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.” - Mark Kay Ash

The first few weeks of 2018 has been hectic... follow up meetings from 2017, proposals, board appointments and proud moments where businesses have seen the value that can be created when we focus on thinking bigger than we currently are. So what’s your strategy?

"Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be, and embracing who we are" Over the course of the past week I have met some amazing people and had many conversations that have reinforced the belief that being yourself is so much easier that trying to be something you are not. 

Have you ever thought how to make a lasting impression on someone? While waiting in line for a coffee this morning I found myself watching the line of people in front of me be served and shuffle off to get their coffee.

Having had an opportunity to relax, reflect, and reconnect over the holiday period, it has reinforced the idea that it's your time, your journey that you’re on and it's up to you to drive the direction of your own journey.

This time last year I was one year in to a new business, nine months into a new relationship with a great friend and thought I had 2017 lined up to be a huge year in every area of my life.... "2017 I will own you".

Having recently accepted a head coaching role, it became apparent that I was now the one who was responsible for the direction of the team. Simply being a member of the team was not an option, unless we were setting out to get average results. Leading by Example was the only way forward.

Having spent the past week travelling around the the Islands of Hawaii, I've found myself coming back with a renewed energy and focus on how to create even more value and be even more productive.

During this past month, I had the opportunity to present to a group of legal professionals and industry professionals. I spoke to them around the question of You are on the road to Where?

This week has been habit forming in our household - me getting to PT sessions at MP STUDIO (www.mpstudio.com.au) while Cass goes for a run on the same mornings. Previously the "when I feel like it I will go" habit had formed with the expectation of little results.
 

This past weekend was one of concerts, building relationships and a huge success that was a long time coming. With all these events, one of the common underlying themes was being selfish.... putting yourself first, looking after number one to create success. But doesn't this go against all we are told growing up... don't be selfish?

Over the past month i've spent a lot of time surrounding myself with some resilient inspirational people. Whether it was a CEO, Professional sportsman, Men's Coach or a Farmer.... each had their own story of their journey. 

Take Action - without taking steps to get a result we limit our ability to get the result. If I don't knock I won't get to know if the bathroom is free

One area in line with other conversations I had had during the week was getting clarity on what you are trying to achieve and streamlining your processes to get there whether it be in your life, your career or your business. Situations where there was a lack of clarity meant the results being achieved were well under what was possible.  

The study found that nearly two-thirds of business leaders don't receive external leadership advice and support or coaching. However, almost all admitted they would be “receptive to making changes based on feedback”.

In this week's video we give you an insight in to the benefits of controlling your focus on things you can benefit from.

In this week's video we give you an insight in to how spending some time in all areas of your life will bring you balance.

In this week's video we give you a couple of tips to help you create momentum for you, your career or your business.
This week I had a conversation with a business owner who had been preventing themselves from getting closed business and creating the momentum they were wanting.

In this week's video we give you a couple of tips to help you keep ahead of the curve through leadership and it’s growing trend of workplace flexibility.

In this week's video we look at a couple of tips to building rapport and ultimately trust.
Do you want to be that person who has the ability to consistently put themselves in unfamiliar situations and be able to build rapport with others easily?

In this week's video we look at just how easy it is to lose our focus, even when we are doing things we love.
When things aren't going for us, and these times will happen, it's very easy to look at everything around us before we look at ourselves.

In this week's video, I recognise that over time we delete, distort and generalise the way in which we see things.... based on past experiences.  

In this week's video, I recognise there are different styles of leadership. Recognising your style and matching it to your teams is key to being effective.  

Do you feel you need more time to get through your workload ? 

Here are a couple of ideas that might help. 

The Opportunity to Change: Sitting in a coffee shop on Saturday morning, I overheard a couple of business owners discussing their past 6 months. “We had three people leave due to the new operating system we brought in… we thought they would embrace the change as it was going to save us money”.

This week look at the decisions you are facing, and where they appear to be negative, ask what will I do to get a beneficial outcome out of this situation.

When looking at changing behaviours, there are a number of methods that can be effective. One of the best is modelling behaviour… looking at the behaviours of those who are getting the outcomes you want and following their path and activities.

Can you say that your boss is truly getting the best of you? Do love your job or the business you are in? Not likely, according to the research.

Australian Davis Cup Tennis team is leading 2-1 against the USA in Brisbane and they are leading two sets to nil in what could be the deciding rubber. You would think this game was won and it was time to make a hasty dash for the exit, so as to beat the traffic.

How can we adjust to being fully present to build our Resilience? "Are you listening to me" or "did you hear what I just said" are phrases that we hear all too often as we are growing up. Is it intentional that we are not focussing on the person in front of us, or is it simply somewhere else we would rather be than doing our homework?

We all go through times where we experience periods of change and challenge, sometimes making decisions resulting in less than satisfactory outcomes. Some wish they could dig themselves a deep hole and hide, others accept the result and get back in the ring to take on the new challenge to get things back on track.  

Throughout a successful corporate career spanning more than 20years, there have been many times where I have chosen to ignore my self belief to deliver on expected outcomes.

Just do it! …With so much marketing and online content these days, it's easy to get wrapped up in slogans. From Amazon's "Work hard, have fun, make history" to McDonalds "I'm loving' it" they have their place in getting us to do something.

"Do all those around you know how they impact your ability to be successful?" Over the past week, I have been fortunate to have conversations with a lot of people involved in either running events or pushing themselves to drive and be even more successful in their lives.

What's your WHY?…..I am blessed with a family who cares about each other and who have grown to embrace the work I have been involved in.

Where is your passion? ….Having now had time to rest, reflect and appreciate all that 2016 was, I have found myself looking at 2017 in a very different light.

Time to take action...but what action should that be? …. Over the last week I have had a chance to switch off from being in business mode 100% of the time and it has been refreshing.

Over the course of the past two weeks I have learned a LOT about how we treat this thing we can very easily take for granted.... Life.

We are constantly being asked, either by ourselves or others, to make decisions. The impact of making those decisions is one which is generally discounted as "just something that you do". But are we getting the most out of our decisions?  

Your team is your success….Over the past three days I have been fortunate enough to attend a business retreat on the Sunshine Coast. The purpose was to review 2016 and look forward to 2017.  

Is it your time to shine?… Throughout the past week i've been busy meeting up with a LOT of people. Fortunately for me, I love coffee and having a chat so it was a great week.

Here’s what to do if you don't make it to the gym or chose to sleep - give yourself 3 bits of gratitude to get your week/day off to a running start.  

From discussing new and exciting business opportunities, to becoming a godparent for the second time, to visiting the local RSL for the members draw, the people you are surrounded by form your "family" or your "tribe".

We can choose to spend the extra day topping up the family time, which may suffer from long hours in the office or travelling.

Whether it be amongst peers, networking events, social occasions or your team, be willing to put your ego in it's box and get on with learning from the excellent.

What does leadership mean to you? For some, a leader is one who is at the top, making the big decisions and leading from the front. They sit in the corner office on their own and provide the strategic direction for the company.

Be grateful for the opportunities afforded to you and others around you - take note of the great times and pull on these in the not so great times. 

This past weekend has been dominated by sport... Rugby finals, the Rio Olympics and the regular Saturday sport for those with children. Throughout all of this, a common theme was present relating to more than the sporting arena. 

There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.