Business Networking

You know your business inside out and are confident and capable enough to take that leap into the world of starting your own business. What you do not know so well is the business world and all that it entails. You seek wise counsel and sometimes receive it; though more frequently you will encounter or find a plethora of not so wise counsel - the army of the "you don't want that you want this" experts. Try to find a new start up who is entirely satisfied with their web designer and website and you will begin to understand where I am coming from. Slightly off piste; however, we all know how absolutely vital networking is to building a successful business - don't we?

I have been successful in several sectors/industries at various levels of leadership and management and networking has undoubtedly been key to both personal and professional progress. My experience has been (that) informal social networks have provided many leads and much needed peer support. Whether this networking took the form of sporting activities, social clubs/groups or simply a regular drink at a favoured 'watering hole', the net result has always been the same; company, advice, support and guidance. I would not like to guess how much of it was good quality and sound, though I know a lot of it was and it was all, more or less, well intended and largely motiveless. Not to mention, frequently to my benefit. Thus I have been positively disposed to the consensus of opinion I have encountered since starting up a business that networking is an essential element of making headway in business.

Well, some months on and I have a few observations regarding the formal business network scene I have encountered. The social aspect is as varied as the social mix of groupmembers who are generally drawn together by less natural motives than simply to seek the company of similar types. One interesting and noticeable consequence of this is the prevalence of stilted, almost forced conversation and interaction. The 'fiscal focus' (for want of a better phrase) is another interesting aspect in so far as the effect this has on the mechanics of a network group. In business money is God and expenditure rightly demands return on investment. This inevitably leads to individual members constantly, or at least regularly, monitoring and evaluating the value of business they have apparently gained by being active members; measured against the cost of membership fees. The formal administration and management of the groups are driven by the fact the network is usually a business in its own right and therefore in turn must generate income and profit - hence members come under scrutiny and, well we know the rest. Usually we don't care either, because 'you have to put in to get out'. After all that's only fair - isn't it?

Well, I am becoming increasingly unsure about organised business networking. I still socialise actively with people I am like and whom I like. I still enjoy their company, receive their unquestioning support and unmotivated advice. It is still as variable as it ever was - and you know what? It is as good and sound and beneficial to me as it ever was. So, I'm off to play (read hack) a round of golf with a bunch of mates in different jobs and we'll finish the day with a few pints in a favourite pub talking to more mates who have other jobs. And you know what? I bet I will get more leads than I have over the last three weeks at all the network meetings I attended. Mmmm. I wonder. Who benefits most from organised business networking? Surely not the franchises or network organisations themselves?

Leading and Empowering in Today’s Business World

A key duty of any leader is to develop the team below them; this can be done in two ways through work experience or through learning. Learning is so important to an organisation today, particularly one that is keen to maintain progress rather than wither on the vine. Yet it is all too often neglected particularly when time becomes available to undertake it as business slows. Prepare during a recession for the good times ahead, for if you don’t those good times will never come. As organisations cut costs one of the easiest things to cut is training and yet in the good times, when people are busy, there is no time to train; that is why effective training or learning rarely happens.

Return on learning to an organisation is all too often ignored and hence the case for training pales into insignificance when compared to the far more tangible return on technical investment. So what does learning give an organisation and its employees?

When people learn they develop and self development is a key component of satisfaction and self fulfilment. Both of which are constructs of personal happiness. Happy people work better and, as attitude is infectious, they help others work better.

Happy people don’t seek opportunities elsewhere. They are loyal to their contemporaries and to an organisation even with promises of greater financial remuneration elsewhere. Happy people exploit opportunities and optimise their initiative and potential for the good of an organisation.

Organisations with a learning culture are organisations that believe in their people and they invest in the development of their people to invest in their business. It takes about a years worth of salary to replace an individual in terms of recruitment, knowledge development and organisational understanding according to Price Waterhouse Coopers. Keeping staff happy and loyal is obviously a sound investment. In addition individual learning contributes to an organisation’s continuous improvement and that is essential to fend off competitors. Furthermore strategically individual learning underpins longevity as succession strategies are planned and trained for throughout an organisation’s structure.

UK companies that want to maintain or enhance their business position need to take learning far more seriously. They need to consider it as part of their overall return on investment; because people and knowledge have become an organisation’s principal assets, as technology now gives a shorter lived and more expensive return on investment.  The time is right to start taking training seriously if businesses are to empower their people to exploit the post recession opportunities! 

THE DRIVE TO SUCCEED

So you have the plan, you have the people and the resources. You decide to implement the plan and it all starts wonderfully well then you hit your first problem. People begin to lose their optimism, some vote with their feet. The problem is overcome and you are on the road to success again. Quickly you become aware that a competitor is a little more advanced and on the same track. Just another problem you need to overcome by increasing speed and in increasing speed you increase pressure on yourself  and your team. You overtake and boom. you hit a technological problem that requires a redesign. Some of your staff can't take the increased pressure and leave.

This scenario is a common one and it often causes undue problems  and sometimes project failure because people are stuck in the present. There are two ways to help overcome the lack of drive. The first is maintaining and strengthening the vision as you progress. the next  which is as important and often forgotten is to regularly review how far you have come.

The drive to succeed has lieutenants known as the past and the future and the clever leader will optimise both.

Talking Ourselves into Recession

I wonder how much of the lack of business confidence in our economic prospects at present can be put down to the government's public persona and (for this matter only) its sergeant at arms the media.  The Government is feeding us the worst possible case in order to sugar coat the real news on cuts when they come; the media are all for a bit of bad news as good news rarely sells papers. Unfortunately the two combined have a pretty powerful influence over our complete society.

 Hope has to come from somewhere lest we drown in our own self pity and depression. When you are swimming at the bottom of a well there is one thing you can do to improve your prospects of survival and that is start climbing and keep on climbing until you get out! It is only  true self belief and optimism  that will enable you to survive and that is what this country needs now more than ever. Begone you doom and gossip mongers!

TRUE EMPOWERMENT AND ENGAGEMENT

How many times have you feel totally powerless and ineffective as a result of the scale of the problem and the lack of understanding what it is that is required of you. Empowerment can only be effective if boundaries, expectations and a common understanding of the current position are shared between the empowering individual and the person being empowered.
Surprisingly one of the best examples of true empowerment is evident in the UK's Armed Forces with their mission command, doctrine and shared ethos. Mission command is all about telling someone what you want them to do rather than how to do it. Explaining the outcome required and attributing the correct resources to achieve the expected outcome.  It is also about constraints and boundaries. To put it simply it is 'empowerment within a box'. Such empowerment  affords total freedom of manoeuvre within the set area whilst allowing adventure outside the box if the opportunity presents itself, that is providing that the empowerer knows as soon as possible.
Ethos and doctrine in the Armed Forces are developed through training and operations and these are things which are often neglected within Britain's major businesses. For it is doctrine that gives the common understanding and it is ethos that generates the mutual trust that enables an organisation to meet and exceed the speed of modern life and business. Ethos requires development and if companies are to truly empower their workers and to really engage their people they need to invest far more in it.  Selection and training save money and create ethos and facilitate a common doctrine. Ethos enables trust but it is doctrine that gives the commonality to processes that underpins that ethos and enables a company to continually improve.