 If only we realised that we had all the right ingredients in our business, to make the leap - to spring forward to success.
It’s that time again. The time of year we all look forward to. Lambs leaping and bleating in the fields! Daffodils brightening up every green strip of land with their gorgeous yellow trumpets. Rabbits doing what rabbits do… Spring is in the air! And for many of us that means being overcome by a strange urge to spring clean; to de-clutter and spruce up every area of our home and garden; maybe even to decorate - hoping we’ll keep it that way for twelve months (or twelve days if we have children or pets!). So, what about your business? Doesn’t your business deserve a spring makeover too? D’you know what, maybe you’ve had a successful year. Maybe you’ve worked your socks off and done ok, but you’ve lost a bit of your mojo. Maybe you feel like you’re just repeating the same year over and over; doing good, but not really evolving - not taking that big leap forward? We all know it’s difficult to grow a business and still have a life. Success undoubtedly means more money, but it can all too often mean less time - sometimes no time, to enjoy it - you’ve heard the expression ‘cash rich but time poor’. Success means a bigger team, bigger challenges, more sleepless nights. Success it seems, is not all it’s cracked up to be. But it could be, if only we took the leap. If only we realised that we had all the right ingredients in our business, to make that leap - to spring forward to success - to be time and cash rich - to have a team that performs brilliantly whether we’re there or not. We have the money. We have the people. What we don’t have is the systems. And it’s the systems that will form the platform. I learned that at McDonald's, where systems run the business and people run the systems. Get your planning system focused on your destination, develop a plan to take you there, and you have a route map for your people to follow. Create Simple Logical and Repeatable systems, and train your people to use them, and you have a team who can work consistently every day to your high standards. Set up a performance management system that keeps them on track, inspires and motivates them, and you you free yourself to work on your business. Yes, spring is a perfect time for a new start, a makeover, a leap forward. Is it time for you and your business? Do one thing: Spring into action NOW and sign up for our free online training - 31st March 2016 at 1.30pm (GMT). Learn the four essential systems that have been the foundation of McDonald's success, that have turned their employees into a high performing team, and given them the consistency and reliability that we all envy. Learn how these 4 simple and straightforward systems will do the same for you and your business. Learn how to remove your people pain, and get your life back! Sign up HERE, and transform your business, forever. ps. Our makeover’s for life not just for spring! pps. Don't forget to find out more and register HERE For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk
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 ‘Not suggesting we recruit in our own image and likeness … but we must be a good match.’
It’s coming up to the wedding season again. Most people think of a day that will suit - best chance of good weather, not clashing with any big sporting event - that sort of thing… and then they work back from there. Some will then mind map or write lots of lists to make sure they cover all the bases. And then the planning starts - the challenge of syncing the venue, reception, minister, flower arrangers and on it goes. Sometimes this can be as far as two years in advance. The saying: ‘Many people spend more time planning the wedding than they do planning the marriage’ is way too close to the truth. Hiring a new team member will rarely be planned two years in advance, but it should be planned with (almost) as much care, and there are some fundamental questions to consider: Does this person buy into your business vision? Do they share your values? Are there any deal breakers e.g. do they have the skills you need, will they be a good fit for your team? Do they share your work ethic and that of your team? I’m not suggesting you recruit in your own image and likeness - you may be an ideas person needing to hire a details person for example, but you must be a good match. Recruiting and training someone is a big outlay and you want to get it right first time. Yes of course you’ll have a probation period, but you really don’t want to have to let someone go because you didn’t suss out up front that they didn’t share your values, or that they don’t have the right skills, and then pay to go through the whole process again. Sometimes you have to hire in a hurry - maybe you’ve just won a big contract, or someone has left the team unexpectedly and you need to replace them. My advice…DON’T. Remember the phrase ‘act in haste, repent at leisure’? The world is full of businesses who have the ‘wrong’ employees - people with the wrong skills, the wrong values, the wrong attitude, for the business they are in. Don’t ever hire in a hurry. Fill the gap by outsourcing, bring in temps, find an intern, and take your time to find the perfect match for YOU and your team. The sort of person you’re looking for will:
Do one thing: Join us on March 31st 2016 at 11am (GMT) and learn How to Model McDonald's to Build a High Performing Team, in our online training session - Remove your People Pain [ps Register HERE now] For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk  A good business operation should flow like a flat race but in reality how many are more like a steeplechase, with obstacles and risk at every turn?
It may have passed you by, but it’s the Grand National tomorrow! My grandad who lived with us, was a great fan of jump-racing in the days of the mighty Arkle. He loved watching the team that is a jockey and their horse, tackling those fences at speed, with no fear - willing to take the risk to win the race. He loved it even more when he had a bet on the winner - and so did we, as it always meant a little supplement to our pocket money! Obstacles in any race mean greater risk, a greater challenge, and more excitement for the spectators. But as business owners, running our own particular race, do we really need or want that sort of excitement in our business? You masochists apart! A good business should flow like a flat race, but in reality, so many more are like a steeplechase with obstacles and risk at every turn. At the start of our race it was all about the set-up, dealing with the tax man, getting an accountant in place, finding those first customers. The ground was good, the fences were low and we hurdled them with ease. It was FUN! We gathered pace… The business grew, the team grew, and with the arrival of people, the fences began to come thick and fast. It was tough but we coped. In fact we were really successful, life was good. And then we reached the Grand National - considered successful, though still small. But now we can’t even see the size of the next fence, or the next big ditch, because the one in front of us seems so overwhelming. The biggest obstacles every day? People problems - mistakes, grumblings, people not showing up, people leaving. ‘Why can’t they get it right!’ ‘Late again?’ ‘But I’ve told you already…’ ‘What on earth did you say to Gill?’… It’s so frustrating - we have a great horse (business) and we’ve made it to the big races on the back of our hard work and our willingness to take the big risks, to take on the big challenges. And now we’re just stuck in the mud, our day begins and ends with trying to deal with people; we react, we fire-fight, we never get to the root of the problem. Imagine how good life would be if we did. If we were tackling the cause and not just the symptoms. Imagine our business flowing like a flat race with obstacles few and far between. Imagine our people being our greatest assets rather than our biggest obstacle to success and time freedom. There’s a saying I love, ‘If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got’ Ask yourself: ‘Am I ready and willing to change’? ‘Do I want to run in the Derby rather than slog round the National? 'Do I want to Remove my People Pain'? And if you do… Do one thing: Download The McFreedom Report and begin to discover how to Model McDonald’s to build your High Performing Team, and Remove your People Pain For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk  Feedback is weird - you either love it or loathe it depending on why you are giving it.
But we all know that ‘Feedback is the breakfast of champions’, as Ken Blanchard put it, essential for any successful business owner wanting to build strong relationships and develop a high performing team, so what’s the problem? I was discussing this very thing with my Masterminding buddies the other day, and to a man they said, ‘It’s the confrontation’. Nobody wants it. We’re all too worried about the reaction, and how we’ll deal with it.’ So what happens when it comes to delegation? We give someone a job, but then we don’t tell them how they did? Did they do it well? badly? at all? Feedback really is essential, and there are four different types.
You want to build a high performing team, where individuals grow and flourish? Don’t skip breakfast! Want to know more about getting the most from your people so your business runs without you there? Want to know how McDonald’s get the most out of theirs? Then download our Busy Business Owner's Guide to Achieving Consistently Excellent Performance, and learn how to model McDonald’s and build your high performing team. Click HERE to download. For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk  Does your spouse complain that they see too much of you?
Do your kids groan at your taking them out for the day, again? Are you the number one invite on your friends’ social calendar? Do you never take your laptop on holiday with you? No? So you’re telling me you don’t have all the time in the world? Then let me ask you this… do you own your business, or does it own you? We had a meeting with a new client, John, recently, and we asked him how he felt about his business. He paused for such a long time I can remember thinking ‘this is going to be a loooong day’, and then he said just one word: ‘Resentful’ ‘This ‘job’ - that’s what I call it that now, totally owns me. It dictates my mood; my appetite, my energy levels. I think about it all the time. I lie awake fretting about it. It feels like my entire life is being sucked into a big black hole. I went out on my own to have more freedom - to spend more time with my wife and kids, and look at me now - working every hour God sends. Everyone told me I needed a team, but all that’s done is increase my workload - the tax, the paperwork, keeping on top of them. I’m sure right now they’ll be glued to their phones cos I’m not there. Arghhh… the thought of it brings me out in a rash.’ Of course John’s not unusual. In fact he could be a poster boy for the small successful business owner! Maybe he’s just like you? You started small, right? Built a really great business, had loads of fun doing it, started taking people on. It was all ok for you too at first, and then…the wheels came off. You lost your consistency, you lost your belief that people would perform for you, you began to work longer and longer hours to keep on top of everything. But, and this may surprise you, even ‘the youth of today’ don’t come to work with the sole purpose of pissing you off. Nobody plans to have a bad day or do a bad job, especially not the people you hand-picked for your business. The change you’re looking for doesn’t start with your people, it starts with you. You want freedom, particularly time freedom? Then build strong foundations, that free your people first. Strong foundations built around: Your Plans - showing your team what the destination is, and how you’re going to reach it together - the route map for them to follow Your Processes - having a set way of doing what you do - a system for everything Your People - only hiring people who match your values, and fit your team, and then training them to follow your set way of doing things Your Performance Management - taking every opportunity to give constructive feedback, to correct, to praise. Having regular performance reviews that reward excellence Successful business is built on the consistent performance of high performing teams who know where they’re going and follow the business systems to take them there. Look to McDonald’s, to Virgin, to Apple if you doubt what I’m saying. And you can have this too. Put your energy into building your foundations, and you will find your freedom. For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk  Can you remember back to your school days?
I’m sure for some of us it will be easier than for others ;-) Remember how you’d answer a question, but even though it was technically right, it wasn’t the one the teacher was looking for? Q. What is ‘hard water’? A. Ice (of course!) See what I mean? There was only ever one right answer at school - imagine what that did for your creativity and your confidence. Many people, and you may be one of them, grow up believing that they’re not creative, but I’m a strong believer that trying to be creative makes us creative. It gets the under-used side of our brain up and running, the side that’s been lying dormant possibly since childhood. I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said,’ We don’t stop playing because we grow up, we grow up because we stop playing’. Of course, I’m not suggesting you go out french skipping at lunchtime or kicking a ball against a wall (although, why not?!) but start playing at work; playing with ideas. Brainstorm how you can improve your Customer experience maybe? Or how you can attract more of your perfect Customers. No ‘wrong’ answers just as many ideas as you can think of, sane or whacky get them all down and then pick out the gems. Mindmaps are a great way to generate new and creative ideas, so wish I’d known about them when I was at school. Such a great tool for revising and particularly for generating ideas when you’re planning. A mind map gets us thinking in almost a chaotic way, allowing us to go off in all sorts of different directions, like a spiders web (in fact I often call them a spider diagramme) whereas creating a list of ideas is more ordered and restrictive. I bet you know someone who you think of as an ‘ideas’ person. Well the truth is we are all ‘ideas people’, we just need to give the creative side of our brain a bit of regular exercise. Just make a start and keep practising. I’m telling you, you’ll be amazed. I wonder where the creative children who gave these ‘wrong answers’ are now…? Q. How can you delay milk turning sour? A. Keep it in the cow Q. Explain what you most like about Kipling? A. Almond slices Q. How do you change centimetres into metres? A. Remove centi Do one thing: Have some fun today! ps Great systems are a great foundation for you and the creative people in your business pps If you want help with Planning, check out our Busy Business Owner's Guide to Planning for Freedom For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk |
AuthorMarianne is the author of three books, and is currently working on her fourth, whilst regularly writing her blog, we hope you enjoy it :-) Archives
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