Growing Your Business From the Inside Out

Turning fear into action and weakness into strength, learning how to say no, building multiplex ties, and beware of perfectionism.

Transforming fear into growth

Fear of rejection can become a serious block to success for anyone who needs to ask someone else to take an action, like buying a product or even agreeing to a meeting. Facing this fear and seeing it as the signal for a worthwhile risk can help you transform fear that paralyzes you into action that advances your goals.  "If you’re here for growth and transformation, fear will come up over and over again -- a sign that you’re doing just what you set out to do."  Learn how fear can be your guide using a 5 step plan to embrace it.

It's a strength to know your weakness

According to this article, it's easier to identify your strengths than it is to identify your weaknesses.  With strengths, you can often point to concrete evidence of how your strength created success.  Weaknesses are more difficult to see.  They are more likely to be demonstrated by missed opportunities, which may not be as apparent.  While mild weaknesses may not have much impact on effectiveness, strong weaknesses can act as a fatal flaw that seriously hampers an organization and a career.  Read this article to learn how you can identify your weaknesses and take action to prevent a fatal flaw from limiting your success. 

Yes means yes and no means no

In a growing, thriving company, new ideas abound.  Entrepreneurial owners and employees are excited to experiment and discover. In early start-up mode, saying yes to all ideas leads to success.  As complexity grows, too many ideas, too many directions will swamp a growing business.  Saying no or at least not yet to new exciting ideas will ensure that business growth can continue in an organized and intentional manner.  In this article, HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan shares how he learned how, when, and why to say no as HubSpot grew from start-up to scale and provides guidance on how you can learn to say no too.

Networking Advice:  Beyond Asking "What Do You Do"

When meeting new people in a networking situation, our first instinct is to ask "What do you do?"  The authors of this article contend that this immediately narrows the contact to a focus on work and may not be the best way to develop the stronger connections that will best serve you in multiple arenas of life, including work.  "Research findings from the world of network science and psychology suggests that we tend to prefer and seek out relationships where there is more than one context for connecting with the other person. Sociologists refer to these as multiplex ties, connections where there is an overlap of roles or affiliations from a different social context."  Read this article to learn some new and interesting open-ended questions to try at your next networking event to make better connections. 

Perfection is a trap to avoid

Perfection is an impossible goal.  Yet, a recent study confirmed that many young people are trying to achieve perfection based upon unrealistic expectations about their career, the things they own, and how they look.  The focus on perfection is leading to an increase in depression, anxiety, shame, and guilt. Specifically, the authors found that between 1989 and 2016, college students’ levels of self-oriented, socially prescribed, and other-oriented perfectionism all increased by statistically significant amounts. Recent generations of young people are more demanding of themselves, perceive that others are more demanding of them, and are more demanding of others.  Coupled with research demonstrating the destructive effects of perfectionism on mental health, the findings are potentially a forewarning for schools, universities, and employers who may find managing the welfare of young people becomes increasingly important.This article includes tips for teachers, lecturers, and managers that might help create a culture to alleviate the impact of perfectionism.

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Spreadsheets vs Databases, Which Should I Use?

Most people wouldn't cut down a tree with a hammer, but many companies continue to collect and manage their data with tools that are ill-suited to the job. You might think, “well I know how to use a hammer and I don’t have a saw, so I might as well try the hammer."  How far do you think you’ll get?  Is the result going to be what you really want?  The reality is, whether you are chopping down a tree or managing your data, choosing the best tool for the job is the first step toward getting you where you need to go.

There are powerful, standardized data management tools on the market, some are at literally at everyone’s fingertips these days (Excel and Access come with the MS Office suite).  How do you know when to use a spreadsheet like Excel or a database?  How do you decide what sort of database you need?  Should you use a single-user database like Access or a multi-user one like SQL Server?  How do they all work together? Here are some tips to use to make sure you find the right tool for job!

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are excellent tools for combining and analyzing data.  Excel, probably the most popular spreadsheet program, has extensive capabilities for visualizing data (charts), analyzing data (statistical analysis), and summarizing data (pivot tables).  Its powerful and relatively easy-to-use formulas make complex calculations and logic possible, allowing you to link data from many sources to find the answers you need.

However, spreadsheets are not such a good choice for collecting and storing data.  Without robust access and editing control, it is easy for any person who is editing a spreadsheet to accidentally delete or overwrite existing data.  Even more problematic, if there are formulas in a spreadsheet, changing its layout can break them and result in incorrect calculations that are difficult to detect and fix.  Finally, the limitation of the flat sheet structure in spreadsheets makes it cumbersome to collect and store data that contains complex relationships.

Do: Use spreadsheets to combine data from multiple sources, analyze your data for a deeper understanding, and visualize and summarize your insights to communicate them to others.

Don't: Use spreadsheets as your data collection tool, your data storage solution, or when multiple people need access to the data.

Databases

Databases, in many ways, have the opposite strengths and weaknesses of spreadsheets.  With a powerful relational model, they can store the many, complex relationships that exist in today's data (e.g. a customer that is also a supplier and/or an employee; products with multiple configurations and styles, etc.).  Robust access controls and a server-based architecture provide simultaneous access to data by multiple people while ensuring that only people with permission can access and change the data.

Unlike spreadsheets, databases can be more difficult to use for analysis and reporting.  Their relational model splits data among multiple tables, and knowledge of special querying languages (usually SQL) are necessary to pull data out.  Most databases do not have built in reporting or analysis packages.  Though there are often related offerings that can bring that functionality (e.g. SQL Server can be used with SQL Server Reporting Services and SQL Server Analysis Services), they take special knowledge and experience to program.  Finally, databases do not connect easily with other data sources, which can make cross-source analysis difficult.

Do: Use databases to capture and store complex data, allow multiple people to access and edit data at the same time, and couple them with statistical and reporting packages to perform very complex analysis or reporting.

Don't: Use databases for ad hoc analysis and querying, charts and graphing, combining data from multiple sources.

Why Not Both?

Spreadsheets and databases both have their own strengths and weaknesses, but they are very complementary.  For day to day data capture and storage, you should use a database.  However, when it comes time to do analysis and dig into your data, making an extract of some of the data in your database and putting it in a spreadsheet is a good option.  The combination of these two tools allows you to collect and store your data in a reliable location while allowing you to dig deeply into your data to find other insights.

When choosing between a spreadsheet and a database, keep in mind their individual strengths and weaknesses and make sure you are using the right tool for the job!  Not sure how to choose for your specific situation?  Drop us a line and we're happy to point you in the right direction!

For Success, Start with People

Also included: creating peak moments, double loop learning, the banana principle, and more; click through to check out my latest collection of interesting business and technology links.  I hope they spark new insights for you!

Seven Lessons for Start-up Success and Beyond

Innovation, experimentation, and problem solving; customers, culture, and connection; examining bias, creating peak moments, and falling in love.  Seven lessons for Start-up Success has it all.  Even if you are not in start-up mode, these lessons apply.  

Go Deeper with Double Loop Learning

Effective retrospectives are sufficiently deep to challenge existing mental models, examine habitual thinking, and expand possibilities. Single loop learning asks “how can we do what we are doing better” while double loop learning asks” Why do we think this is the right thing to do?”  It involves scrutinizing values, thinking, and assumptions. It's the hardest work and the most important.  Learn the questions that can lead you and your team to this deeper level of understanding.

Human-Centered Company Culture Drives Operational Excellence

Moving your culture from command and control to one of collaboration is a major step on the road to an innovative and lasting business!  Using the GM/Toyota NUMMI joint venture as a case study, this article outlines three important tips for creating a company culture of partnership to drive excellence.  When leadership sees employees as partners, they cultivate a cultural obligation to actively improve the business.

In Meetings: Be Present and Listen Well

These two articles demonstrate the importance of being fully engaged during your interactions with others, providing tips to help you be more engaged.

If You Aspire to Be a Great Leader, Be Present

The first article demonstrates the importance of being present, both physically and mentally. According to the author, “research suggests that there’s a direct correlation between leaders’ mindfulness and the well-being and performance of their people. In other words, the more a leader is present with their people, the better they will perform.”  Learn how to be here now and other ways of being present.

Meetings Would Go Faster If People Took the Time to Listen

In the second article, the author’s tells how her experience coaching a client who is deaf sharpened her understanding of the importance of listening well in one-on-one meetings.  You can learn how to listen slowly and carefully using her four-step process and become a great listener to your employees, colleagues, and clients.

Lessons Learned From Oranges and Bananas

Groups of people offered a choice between a banana and an orange, are much more likely to go for the banana simply because bananas are easier to peel.  Learn how you can apply the banana principle to bring people together and keep people focused. Also, find out why teenagers will scatter when exposed to pink lighting.

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Strategy and Execution Must Be Integrated...Data is the Glue That Holds Them Together

The Strategy-Execution Gap is the disconnect between a company's expected performance based on its strategy and the actual performance when the strategy is implemented.  In many cases, when implementing a new strategy, the results are neither what's expected or desired.  The Harvard Business Review has written extensively about the phenomenon, here, here, here, and here).  The gap can occur when leaders:

• Implement a new business strategy without paying sufficient attention to the underlying organizational changes necessary for success
• Ignore internal feedback during execution and miss the opportunity to adjust accordingly
• Fail to recognize and/or respond to changing market conditions

Often, leaders, in the belief that they have an analytically sound strategy, attribute failure to under-performing employees.  However, employee under-performance is rarely the root cause. If leaders are able to recognize unexpected and undesired results as an opportunity to revise strategy and/or execution, results may improve and the success they had initially predicted may ultimately be achieved.

The Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal is a great example of the Strategy-Execution gap.  In this case, Wells Fargo leadership developed an aggressive sales strategy of cross-selling.  However, in implementing the strategy, they ran into several problems.  First, they had not correctly predicted or possibly considered the limits of their customers' wallets.  Second, they had set unrealistic performance targets for branch employees and put intense pressure on employees to meet those unrealistic performance goals.  Third, they failed to recognize what was happening and continued to implement a flawed strategy for a number of years. As a result, thousands of employees "met" performance targets by opening fake accounts because they were unable to meet them with real accounts and the consequence for missing targets was termination. Ultimately, Wells Fargo was fined millions of dollars, employees were fired, and the CEO resigned. It's hard to believe that this is what they had initially envisioned as the outcome. Perhaps, improved feedback between the executives who designed the strategy and the leaders and employees responsible for implementing it would have led to a more desirable outcome.

Strategy is a Hypothesis

Fortunately, the Strategy-Execution Gap can be overcome with flexibility in managing both strategy and execution.  Particularly, you should think of your strategy as a hypothesis to be tested.  By taking a strategy as learning approach, senior leadership can continuously compare results with their expectations; and investigate when they don't align.  The reasons for a gap are many.  Perhaps customers behave differently than expected.  Maybe a competitor has made an expected move.  Alternatively, the rest of the organization might not understand the strategy fully and may not be making the right choices to implement it.  Still another possibility, the people in the company are actually under performing.  Any or all of these factors could be at play.  This is why companies must continually measure performance, learn, and adjust.

Strategy is the hypothesis and the scientific method can be used to evaluate its implementation.  In the business world, we refer this method as the plan-do-check-adjust cycle.  For strategy and execution, the cycle is as follows:

The Right Data is Key!

The key currency in the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle is data!  As you execute a strategy, collecting data about what you did and what happened is critical to evaluating how the strategy worked and how you should adjust based on your new knowledge.  The data you'll need to evaluate your strategy, learn from your experience, and adjust comes in three main flavors.

Data about what happened

Probably the data that people think the most about is data about what happened.  What were the results?  How many widgets were produced?  What happened to sales, revenue, expenses and profit?  Did market share change?  Ultimately, these are the data points that you will use to determine whether your strategy is being successful.  Thus, you must carefully define what success looks like for the strategy.  Is the purpose of the strategy to increase market share?  Reduce expenses?  Improve production?  Whatever the overall goal is, the data you collect must allow you to evaluate whether the desired results were achieved.

Data about what you did

As important as data about what happened but not nearly as obvious to people is the data about what you did.  Understanding the actions that the organization took to implement the strategy is the other half of determining cause and effect for your strategy.  Gather data about how the business processes changed in implementing the strategy.  Did marketing change their social media strategy?  Did sales offer more discounts?  Did production run more shifts?  This data can be connected with your data about the outcome of your strategy and help you understand how various changes to your business impacted its overall performance and the achievement of the goals of your strategy.

Data about the conditions around you

As important as understanding what is happening within your business, it is equally important to understand the conditions in which you are operating.  Your business does not operate in a vacuum.  Thus, accounting for changes in customer behavior, competitor actions, and larger economic forces are key components of successfully formulating and implementing your strategy.  Data about competitors and the market as a whole is often the most difficult to come by.  Sources include research firms, trade journals/associations, and your own company's research.  Regardless of your source, it is important to carefully integrate your internal and external data to provide the full picture of your business environment. With this full picture, analysis of your strategy can offer much stronger conclusions about what worked, what didn't, and—most importantly—why.

Analytics Makes Sense of it All!

While it is clear that data is vital to evaluating your strategy, doing it consistently can take a lot of effort, especially if you are doing it manually!  Larger companies, with a multitude of data sources and many people, have been using analytics to make sense of their data for years.  Fortunately for smaller companies, newer analytics and reporting tools can quickly integrate data from multiple sources, making it easier than ever for small companies to take advantage of the power of their data!

For simple data analysis, I typically use Excel because it is quick and easy.  However, as soon as there are multiple data sources involved I tend to use more powerful tools like Microsoft's Power BI.  These tools allow me to pull data from multiple data sources, clean the data, and define how the various sources relate to each other.  Then, digging into the data is as easy as drag and drop to create visuals and slice the data every which way!

You can do it too!

It's tempting to think everything I've talked about only applies to big companies, but it's simply not true.  In the age of eCommerce, Amazon, and rapid changes in the marketplace, staying on top of your strategy and making sure it changes as you learn are vital for the growth and success of companies of all sizes.  We can help you build the learning process into your regular routine and be your partner for working more efficiently, choosing and implementing the right technology for you, and unleashing the power of your data to make better decisions.

Contact us below to find out more about how we can prepare your company to compete and grow in today's fast paced business climate!

Changing strategies? Make sure you've learned the new capabilities you'll need for success!

Also, networking, taking care of yourself, and Scrum at home; check out my latest collection of interesting business and technology links.  I hope they spark new insights for you!

New change strategy requires new capabilities

Successfully implementing critical strategic changes requires building the skills, knowledge, and processes needed to carry out and sustain them. These capabilities lie at the heart an organization’s ability to achieve results.  Yet some businesses miss this important step in change management by either assuming that if the strategy is logical, then people will figure out what to do or being so prescriptive about what to do that employees give up and revert old behavior.  Developing capabilities requires experimentation, trial and error, and iterative learning to figure out what will work in each organization’s unique culture, functional structure, and environment. This article includes valuable tips and stories that will help you learn more about how to successfully build new capabilities to support the changes you want to see.

How to connect with the right people, even if you don't know them now

The old adage "who you may be more important than what you know" still applies today. Networking to meet business contacts is a critical skill for success.  Whether you are starting your network, adding to it, or trying to take it in a different direction, this article provides insight into three proven strategies. The first focuses on how to get specific about the type of people you’d like to meet in order to guide your existing network in identifying connections they can help you make.  The second focuses on how to work your way towards connections that may seem unattainable at the outset. The third focuses on connecting far and wide through content generation.  Learn how the author built a successful business using all three techniques.

Working through a Personal Crisis

Continuing to perform at work can seem insurmountably difficult when we are experiencing a stressful life event or personal crisis. Fortunately, there are many useful strategies that can help you maintain your balance and your work performance during difficult times.  The key is determining what you need to make it through and then communicating your needs to those at work who can support you, like your manager and co-workers.  Knowing how to do this in a way that protects your privacy and your boundaries will further help you comfortably navigate relationships during this sensitive time.  This article details the steps you can take, principles to remember, and case studies that show how it all can work.

Turning off work at the end of the day

There are many reasons why turning off work is a good thing to do each day.  We all know that it's getting harder to do as electronic devices have made us available 24/7.  This article outlines a five-step disconnection strategy requiring only 10 -15 minutes per day. According to the authors, "While some of the tips and techniques may not seem new, we’ve found that they can be highly effective when used in sequence and combination, greatly reducing feelings of stress and improving work-life balance.'.  Read more and try it out.  Let us know how it works for you.  

Love work so much you want to bring it home? Every household could use some Scrum!

This author's family has been using Scrum to manage their housework for the past year and a half. Is their house cleaner as a result?  Find out more about how Scrum can work at home and learn lessons that can improve your Scrum in the workplace.

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