Imagen Consulting

Strategies to Help Leaders, Businesses, and Teams FOCUS and THRIVE.

Want Change? Try A New Path

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As I was drooling over the new iPad2 the other day, I started thinking about the original iMac that is sitting somewhere toward the back of my storage unit. Enormous (and soooo heavy) by today’s computing standards, my bright blue iMac (along with millions of green, orange, pink, purple others) changed Apple’s trajectory. They started down a new path. They did internally exactly what their tag suggested to their customers: “Think Different.”

Yet, far to many change efforts fail because of their lack of willingness to go down a new path. We try to “change without really changing” or plan change without making any provision or sacrifice to make it happen.

Here are the six most common errors made in change or reengineering efforts:

  1. Trying to fix a process instead of changing it
  2. Trying to make reengineering happen from the bottom up
  3. Skimping on assigned resources
  4. Trying to make reengineering happen without making anyone unhappy
  5. Neglecting people’s values and beliefs
  6. Being willing to settle for minor results

In a business environment with so many challenges, you can’t afford any more failed change. Maybe it’s time to “imagen“ a new way forward. Contact us if we can help.

Those Pesky "New Year's Resolutions"

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Valuable Lessons In Planning from Our Favorite Planning Pastime

As you may have found out already, most people fail in adhering to their stated New Year's resolutions. Specifically, 22% fail after one week, 40% after one month, 50% after three months, 60% after six months, and 81% after twenty-four months (Norcross & Vangarelli, 1988, as cited by Koestner 2008, p. 60).

And the three major reasons for the high-rate of failure? (1) Unclear or vague goals; (2) failure to gauge progress; (3) lack of will when facing challenges. (Note: Think about the implications on your organization’s strategy and future!)

Find Your Business's Future

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I spent time yesterday with a very distressed friend. 2009 had been an awful year for his business, and he was no reconsidering everything – his business model, his aspirations, and his future.

My guess is that many of us resonate with him, and have enterered 2010 a little unsure of what “moving forward” looks like. For those still trying to get a handle on what comes next, here’s a series of questions from Seth Kahan that I found very useful.

As you reflect on your business’s past, ask yourself these three questions:

  1. How did this service/program/product come to be?
  2. What factors in the environment made it possible?
  3. What new context emerged that gave birth to my initiative as a solution?

Now, transport your answers to today and ask these questions:

  1. What has changed?
  2. What do these circumstances look like today?
  3. How are they the same and how are they different?

And finally, to squint and look into the foggy mystery of tomorrow, ask:

  1. What appears to be forming?
  2. How can my service/program/product best address the emerging needs?
  3. What needs to change to sustain relevance?

2010 has opened a new chapter for business – a post-recession, post-hierarchal, globally-competative, social-media-rivetted, community-driven era of business. This is not business as usual, or a return to an earlier system of business operations. It’s the beginning of something completely new. And we’re here to help you navigate it, strategize for it, and build the engaged and change-ready organizations that can embrace it.

To get started, we’re offering workshops (live and vitural) through February to help business leaders and owners craft a vision-driven, values-based, and innovation-driven business plan for 2010. Email me for dates and more information.

Idea: Five Ways to Boost Profitability in 2010

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Here’s a great article by Roberta Matuson with five easy ideas/strategies for boosting profitability in 2010. (I’m especially a fan of ideas 1, 3, and 5. Let me know if we can help you!)

Five Ways to Boost Profitability in 2010

#1. Pick One Idea to Move Forward

If you are like most executives, there are at least 20 ideas on your 2010 ”to-do” list. Picking the perfect place to begin can take weeks or in some cases months. That’s just time wasted. Pick one idea from your list and move forward. Don’t second guess yourself for even a minute or you will be right back where you started.

Put the majority of your resources behind this idea so that you move one thing forward a mile, rather than move ten things a quarter of an inch. At first you may feel uncomfortable abandoning everything else on your list. This discomfort will dissipate as you see how quickly you are able to achieve results by remaining focused on the task at hand.

#2. Drop the dead weight

I’m not talking about the few pounds you might have put on during the holiday season. I’m talking about your non-performers whom you’ve been hanging onto because you didn’t want to fire them at Christmas time. Then, of course, you didn’t want to let them go for a myriad of other reasons throughout the year.

This is the year to be lean and trim. Excess weight slows down the organization and in some cases can be the death of companies. Don’t let this happen to you. Identify the people or positions that must be shed and then make it happen. You will be surprised at how easily you can outrun the competition now that you are in shape.

#3. Increase communication

One of the most common complaints that employee surveys keep bringing to light is the lack of communication between employers and their employees. Employees want to do a good job for their employers, yet they feel like they are operating without a roadmap. They no longer know which direction the company is headed, and are having a difficult time figuring it out on their own.

The price to increase communication has dropped substantially over the years. You no longer need to hire a PR firm to craft messages, nor are company intranets only reserved for Fortune 500 companies. Companies of all sizes are using technology to get their messages out to their employees. Some are using webcasts or weekly teleconferences. Others are using a company blog on their intranet that allows executives to immediately post messages to ensure employees stay connected. Finally, do not discount the importance of face-to-face meetings, which are affordable for organizations of all sizes.

#4. Connect with a trusted resource

It is no secret that 2009 was a tough year for most, and it looks like 2010 will be starting off the same way. As you probably have figured out by now, it can be very stressful trying to work through challenging times without a trusted resource or a peer group with whom you can share your thoughts and ideas. Why go it alone when resources are available?

Find a CEO group, an executive group, or whatever group will have like-minded people in attendance. Ask a trusted colleague for a referral to an executive coach or a mentor. Just do something so that you have access to a trusted resource to help push your thinking to a whole new level.

#5. Be the leader everyone wants to follow

How liberating it must be to be a company like Google or Apple. You are so far ahead of the competition that you don’t even have to look in your rearview mirror before changing lanes. Few companies ever reach this position because they are so busy trying to catch up with the competition. These companies move slowly, analyze everything to death, and kill innovation before it even has a chance to germinate into something big.

Imagine what your organization could accomplish if you charged ahead with little regard for others in your industry, took calculated risks, encouraged innovation, and rewarded employees who joined you on this ride. You might create a product others have only dreamed about or build a brand as strong as Coke. You could accomplish some amazing things, which sounds a lot more exciting than breathing the exhaust fumes from your competitors as they zip by you.

A new year is a gift. We have a chance to begin again and to do things differently. How will you proceed? Here’s to a great 2010!

7 Steps for Crisis Management

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Crises can arise at any moment. I recently heard about a company holiday party that went afoul, ending with an older female employee doing some pretty inappropriate things with a younger (and very drunk) male coworker – and taking pictures! Needless to say, the pictures got out, the clueless male, now sober, was ticked. And things went from there.

Whatever your crisis situation, The Forbes Group, a 20-year-old strategic management consulting firm, recommends organizations adopt a seven-step crisis management formula:

  1. Define the scope of the crisis.
  2. Establish unified response.
  3. Create a central information service.
  4. Act promptly.
  5. Establish media response policy.
  6. Document everything.
  7. Conduct a post-crisis review

And for thoughts about dealing with internal conflict and crisis, see my Super Human Conflict Resolution post.

Hold a Year-End Strategy Session

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Here’s a good strategic year-end reminder from Seth Kahan. You can learn more about Seth's work at VisionaryLeadership.com

Use the End-of-Year to Create Your New Year Strategy

You must engage in periodic strategic reflection. It is the only way to consistently increase your effectiveness. After all, you are the only one who lives your life, knows your experience, and is capable of truly changing yourself for the better. The end-of-the-year is the perfect time for strategic reflection. The calendar's conclusion is a natural time to look back.

 

Here are five simple and effective ways to make the most of December's end to improve your life and business:

 

1. Do a Day-by-day Review of the Year. I pull out my calendar for the past year and write down every engagement I had, listing them all on a single sheet of paper. For each I include (a) the length or date of the engagement, (b) my client's name, and (c) what I earned. Then, I look at the whole sheet and ask myself what I want to do more of and what I want to do less of. I put little pluses (+) next to those that represent what I want to do more of. This is part one of my New Year Strategy.

 

2. Identify A New Area You Want to Master. Two years ago it was writing for me. I found writing a challenge, difficult. My first 1400 word article ruined a perfectly good week-long vacation with my wife. I really struggled. But, I knew that writing was an important way to communicate and I determined that I would master it. Today I write 12 blog posts per week in less than 3 hours, keep a personal poetry journal, publish the FreelanceFortune newsletter twice per month, and I just finished the final edit of my first commercially published book, coming out this May. I wrote the book in 2 1/2 months of disciplined writing, about 90 minutes in the morning 5-6 days/week. It is not always easy. But, I have watched myself improve steadily. I am not yet where I want to be, but I have made real progress. What will you choose? Pick something that you want to master and make the commitment. This is part two of my New Year Strategy.

 

3. Identify Your Business Growth Intentions for the First Half of the Next Year. I like to work with a six-month timeline because I find it manageable. In order to achieve my goals I have 2-3 months to ramp up and 3-4 months to get results. In the second half of 2009 I focused on reaching two groups: association CEOs and Independent Consultants. I now have significant and growing penetration with both. What are your growth intentions for the first half of 2010? This is part three of my New Year Strategy.

 

4. Use Downtime over the Holidays to Reflect. I count on slow moments, naps, reading quietly, early morning walks, bird watching, and special times with family to bring me the distance and peaceful joy I need to take a wider view of life. I look forward to these personal experiences, knowing their power to be both immense and subtle.

 

5. On New Year's Day Create a 2-page Document that Pulls All This Together:

  1. The one-page list of all your engagements 
  2. A new area to master 
  3. Business growth intentions for the next six months 
  4. Personal reflections on life 

This short doc is a great reference for going forward. There is something powerful about the simple act of documenting your intentions. In fact, each of these five simple acts is profound in its impact and the synergy of the collection is extraordinary. Time to reflect and listen to your inner wisdom is irreplaceable - you must do it. To achieve an exceptional life, reflection is mandatory. The time when the end of one year meets the beginning of another is perfectly fitted for it.

 

This work is deep and elemental, with a quiet power. Draw on the natural rhythm of the calendar and use it to your benefit.