Archive for the ‘Delivering Results’ Category

As we start out on a new year, we all have great plans about what we will achieve in the year ahead. Having recently surveyed my subscribers, there seem to be 8 key barriers they highlight to achieving in 2012.

So what were the 8 most common barriers and what do I suggest they do to address them?

Barrier 1: Time

One of the most common barriers was the idea that people don’t have the time. The reality is very different. The truth is the reason why people don’t have the time is they fail to make something a priority. We all have to decide what we want to do with the 24 hours we have available in each day.

Barrier 2: Poor Communication Skills

Communication for me is about getting your point across effectively; both verbally and in writing and, even more importantly, learning to listen. There is an abundance of support in this area if you just seek it out.

Barrier 3: The Economy, Availability Of Resources And Opportunities

Let’s not pretend that the global economy is in good shape; we all know it is not. At the same time perhaps this is the time to take control of your own destiny. If you always wait for someone else to sort you out, you might miss the boat and end up staying stuck for ever. Take control of what you can influence.

Barrier 4: Clarity And Uncertainty

If we are not clear about what we want, it is always going to be difficult to achieve it. Take the time to get clear and then do something to move forward even if you are uncertain of the outcome.

Barrier 5: Finding Fault In Others

It is easy to look externally to justify your lack of progress. This might be the case some of the time but often it is seeking to blame someone else for what you are not willing to do.

Barrier 6: Throwing In The Towel

Success and achievement is a marathon, not a sprint. If you are not willing to persevere and persist, you will never reach your peak.

Barrier 7: Lack Of Skills

Whenever you have a skills deficiency you have two choices. Get the support to get the skills or accept you are not going to progress. The choices you make determine your results.

Barrier 8: Procrastinating

My experience is that procrastinating just delays, gets you frustrated and stops you achieving. Get off the fence and start taking decisions and action now.

The Reality: It is easy to come up with 101 excuses for not achieving. In truth, if you keep taking decisions, taking action, get the skills and support you need, you greatly increase your chances of success.

Duncan Brodie helps professional people to fulfil their career potential so that they get the rewards and recognition they desire. Sign up for his free audio masterclass at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

Circumstances always exist; it’s a fact of life.

What I have noticed is that managers sometimes fall into the trap of complaining about the circumstances.

While it might be tempting and make you feel good in the short term, does it really achieve anything long term?

As a manager, you are employed to deliver results. Achieving results requires you to take decisions and then act on those decisions.

So where are you focusing your attention as a manager? On complaining about the circumstances or on taking actions to achieve results?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

You want to be a successful leader or manager, right?

Of course you do but, despite this, it is surprising just how many people stop themselves from being successful.

So how can you start achieving more success?

Start taking DECISIONS (the ‘D’ in DAR)

We all have lots of choices available to us. Choices are great but it is decisions that get things moving. So if you want to get more success, start taking DECISIONS.

ACT on decisions

Decisions are great and can be hugely invigorating and motivating but the key thing you must do is take ACTION. It is the actions which move you forward, provide the channel for feedback on what is and what is not working. Make a habit of taking ACTION on DECISIONS if you want more success.

REMEMBER: DECISIONS + ACTIONS = RESULTS

RESULTS don’t happen by chance. They are a direct consequence of the decisions and actions you take. If you don’t stop using temporary staff for example, your outlay on salary costs is never going to change. Similarly, if you have a great idea for a product but never take it to the launch stage, you are never going to generate revenues.

The Bottom Line

If you are struggling to deliver as a leader or manager, take time out to review whether you are really taking decisions and then acting on decisions. You might be surprised what a difference simple changes can make.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

If you are a manager you are likely to have to produce reports from time to time.  This might be a report on performance of your function, division, team or project.  Alternatively it might be a case for resources.  So what questions do you need to ask when it comes to preparing a report?

Question 1: Why am I writing the report? 

Seems like an obvious question but one that is often overlooked.  Is you report to inform, provide evidence, get a decision, influence others or something else?  Always start by being clear on the purpose of the report.

Question 2:  What does the recipient want to know?

Step into the shoes of those who are receiving the report.  Ask yourself, if I was sitting in their seat, what would I want to know?  Write down all of the possibilities until you cannot think of any more and then make sure your report answers them.

Question 3: What’s the best way of presenting the report?

Is it best to have a written report, several pages long with an Executive Summary at the start or is it better to have a simple dashboard?  It will depend on the circumstances and the easiest way of finding out is to simply ask those receiving the report what they would prefer and then provide it.

Bottom Line – Reports are often produced with little thought about the purpose or the audience.  You can easily avoid this trap by asking and answering these 3 simple questions.

1.  Be actively involved in setting a budget

2.  Be clear on your assumptions

3.  Work with your accountant 

4.  Share the budget with your team

5.  Take responsibility

6.  Monitor performance and take action

7.  Focus on the most important numbers

As a manager or leader, chances are that you will have to manage one or more projects.   These projects could range from a small scale internal project to a significant change project.  So how can you become more effective at managing projects?

Tip 1: Set clear goals

Projects are often established in response to a particular challenge or may be in response to a particular new development.  Whatever the reason for setting up a project, make sure goals are clear.

Tip 2: Develop clear plans

You would not set out to make a trip without some form of plan.  So why would you try to complete a project without clear plans.  Make sure that for every project, no matter how small or large, you have clear project plans.

Tip 3: Set milestones

Milestones are stepping stones along the way which allow you to track progress towards completion.  Using our analogy of the trip, you would need to research travel options, possibly book flights, arrange accommodation, pack your suitcase to name just a few.  These are all milestones along the way to a successful trip.

Tip 4: Review regularly and act

All projects have review processes but one difference between those that succeed and those that don’t is that action is taken when things are off course.  They also follow up to make sure that the actions are taken.

Tip 5: Keep project reporting simple

Have you ever received project reports in the form of huge spreadsheets?  While this level of documentation is essential at a project office level, those at a higher level need high level reports on the critical areas.

70% of projects fail to deliver the benefits anticipated at the outset.  By taking some simple but highly effective steps, you can greatly increase the likelihood of creating and delivering successful and sustainable projects.

Many businesses say that people are their greatest asset.  They are certainly the biggest area of expenditure for most businesses and people can be the catalyst for exceptional performance.  So how can you make it happen?

Recruitment

Getting great performance through people starts with recruitment.  Having the right people with the right skills, knowledge and attributes is essential.  Many businesses fail to take this area seriously and as a result spend thousands in continually filling posts.  Make sure this does not happen in your organisation.  Make the investment to train those recruiting and get the right person for the job.

Career Path

If you want to be an employer who recruits and retains the best people, you need to develop clear career paths.  Those that deliver exceptional performance want opportunities to grow, develop, gain new skills, knowledge and experience.  When they know that these opportunities exist they are more motivated and deliver higher performance.

Appraisal

We all need feedback, praise and acknowledgement of the areas where we do well, identification of what we need to work on and the help to make progress.  Appraising someone twice a year takes about 6 hours of time, yet many managers and leaders fail to make that investment.  What’s the cost to you, the team and the business of not making the time for this?  As an example, if you lose someone who is paid £40,000 and you have to pay a finders fee of 25% of the first years salary to a recruiter, that’s £10,000.  What would you want to be known as?  The manager who takes £10,000 off the bottom line or adds £10,000 to the bottom line?

Salaries and Rewards

Contrary to what most managers believe, salary and benefits is not the number one motivator but they are certainly in the top 5.  If you want to deliver exceptional performance, you need to ensure that the remuneration strategies are aligned with this goal.  This does not mean you need to be paying the most, just being competitive.

Skills and Training

The vast majority of employees are interested in growing and developing.  Offering employees the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge or attributes through a development programme is not only a positive motivator but also minimal cost to the business.  Yet I have seen numerous examples of organisations trying to make major change allocating little or nothing to developing people.  In many businesses without people there is no business.  If you want exceptional performance you need continued investment in people.

All businesses need to deliver good performance to thrive in today’s competitive and demanding business environment.  People can be the catalyst so what would have most impact on delivering exceptional performance in your organisation?

If you are a manager you are likely to have to produce reports from time to time.  This might be a report on performance of your function, division, team or project.  Alternatively it might be a case for resources.  So what questions do you need to ask when it comes to preparing a report?

Question 1: Why am I writing the report? 

Seems like an obvious question but one that is often overlooked.  Is you report to inform, provide evidence, get a decision, influence others or something else?  Always start by being clear on the purpose of the report.

Question 2:  What does the recipient want to know?

Step into the shoes of those who are receiving the report.  Ask yourself, if I was sitting in their seat, what would I want to know?  Write down all of the possibilities until you cannot think of any more and then make sure your report answers them.

Question 3: What’s the best way of presenting the report?

Is it best to have a written report, several pages long with an Executive Summary at the start or is it better to have a simple dashboard?  It will depend on the circumstances and the easiest way of finding out is to simply ask those receiving the report what they would prefer and then provide it.

Bottom Line – Reports are often produced with little thought about the purpose or the audience.  You can easily avoid this trap by asking and answering these 3 simple questions.

Decision making is a key role for any manager or leader.  Surprisingly many people struggle when it comes to taking decisions.  This might be due to:

• Fear of failure

• Lack of a structured approach

• Procrastinating

• Lack of clarity

Whatever the barriers, there are 6 steps that you can follow when taking any decision.

1. Problem Definition

Before you can start to take any decisions, you need to be absolutely clear the problem you are trying to reach a decision on.  One simple technique is just to write out in a sentence what the problem is that you need to take a decision on.

2. Assess the implications

All decisions have implications.  If it is a decision at work, it has implications for you, your peers, your team and your superiors.  Depending on the decision (e.g. a promotion at work) it may even have implications for your family, especially if it involves relocation.

3. Explore different perspectives

Perspectives are simply different lenses through which you look at the problem.  By exploring different perspectives you start to get a feel for those that you are most attracted to.

4. Get clear on your ideal outcome

When you are faced with a big decision, it is easy to get lost in the detail and circumstances.  An alternative is to get clear on your ideal outcome and use this ideal outcome to inform your choices.  Imagine you aspire to be a CFO of a Top 100 company.  By having clarity on your outcome, you can make choices on promotions and experience linked to this ideal outcome.

5. Weigh up pros and cons

Another way of looking at a decision is to consider the advantages and disadvantages of each of the options open to you.  Simply listing the advantages and disadvantages of each option is a powerful way of moving forward on decisions.

6. Decide and act

Once you have gone through the previous 5 steps, commit to a choice or course of action and start to make it happen. To avoid procrastination, give yourself permission to be okay with any failings that might arise.

At the end of the day there is no magic formula for decision making.  Following some simple steps and acting can however move you into the realm of effective decision maker.