 It’s that time of year again…my car is due its MOT.
I always think that they’ll find something wrong, and I sit there, like I imagine an expectant father must, waiting for the phone to ring. All those moving parts…they can’t all be in perfect working order, can they? So it’s always great when I get the ‘all clear’. Not that it’s ever that straightforward, because you’re then faced with the dreaded traffic light system: green for fine, amber for ‘will need attention soon’ and red obviously, for a fail. I don’t know about you but I hate getting an amber on a tyre. Is it a green-amber, or an amber-red? What if something happens on the motorway and I haven’t changed it? …so I invariably get a new one. I can understand why MOTs are mandatory, the roads are dangerous enough without a load of faulty cars on them. It does make you think though - how many other areas of our lives would benefit from a top to toe, annual health check? It would certainly be great for a business, and for a business owner - but where do you go to find a leadership MOT; to have the traffic light system run over your behaviours; to tell you what you’re doing well, what needs attention and what has to stop! If you have a team, a simple 360 degree feedback system can be effective. For example at their Performance Review (which you are doing, aren’t you?) ask them ‘what’s the most important thing you want from me as a leader?’ and at the next review ask them how you did. If you have customers, which hopefully you do, ask them too. ‘What are we doing well?’ and ‘What could we do better?’ A bit of self analysis doesn’t hurt either - getting off the hamster wheel once a month or once a quarter, taking the time to re-visit your vision and values, using the traffic light system and a healthy dose of honesty, to assess how you’re measuring up. And of course, there are plenty of us coaches and consultants who are more than willing to run the rule over your leadership behaviours and give you objective feedback. Do one thing: Give yourself a leadership MOT, and build what you find into your personal improvement plan for next year. Need a helping hand? Check out our Simple System - 'How to be a Leader' 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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 I read this week that workers in the UK are unproductive. Productivity is the new government watchword.
Of course we all want to be productive - but if you focus on productivity without any thought for quality, customer focus or value for money, you may well be productively doing all the wrong things. And ‘There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which shouldn’t be done at all.’ as our friend Mr Drucker would say. I’m a great believer that most people come to work to do a good job. It’s our job simply not to spoil that! Having a clear vision, consistent values and simple operating processes are a good start. Training and developing, challenging and rewarding - doing the right things well. How can we go wrong? Well, it’s not really that straightforward, is it! Not every team member is going to gel with you and your organisation; have the same enthusiasm, the same drive, be a positive cog in the wheel. Occasionally you may find that one of your team is not only unproductive but also negatiyely affects those around them. You may have someone like that in your team right now, maybe they’ve been like that for some time, maybe you’ve talked about them and the impact they’re having…but never TO them? A recent Chartered Management Institute survey found that UK workers would rather tackle a relationship breakup than tackle someone who’s performing poorly. And it can be a bit daunting to have to confront a bully, or a fast thinker who might wrap you up in knots. But it has to be done…and by you. You owe it to yourself and your team, and your customers. Gird your loins. Prepare. Focus on behaviour, have specific examples and be really clear about the positive outcome you want. You may decide that they can be turned around - you never know what’s going on for them until you ask. And if you decide that you need to part company, don’t procrastinate, don’t shelve the problem - solve it. What will be different in a week, a month or a year except probably, ‘more damage’? Bite the bullet now. If you want a team that is exactly that - a TEAM - then take the actions you need to, to build it and maintain it. A good team is not just great for business, it’s great fun too! Do one thing: Identify any potential bad penny in your team or, if you’ve known you have a problem for a while, take action today to resolve it. ps If you’re forever putting off difficult conversations check out our handy guide which will take you step by step through the process. How to Handle Difficult Conversations For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk  Life is full of little challenges.
My shower stopped working a few months back. No big deal, I soon found a recommended plumber who fixed it, and you’ll be glad to hear I’ve been happily clean for quite some time now. The thing is though, I still haven’t had the bill. I rang the guy after a couple of months and explained that I hadn’t received my invoice. ‘Oh, she hasn’t got round to it yet’ came the reply, ‘thanks for being so honest.’ I’m not sure who the ‘she’ is but whoever ‘she’ is, she still hasn’t sent it. What’s worse is that I offered to pay the plumber there and then…in cash. You know yourself how important cashflow is, and it’s left me wondering, if this lack of invoicing is the norm, how is he still in business? Inefficiency like this will surely send him under. There’s an old saying - never discuss money, politics or religion - but if you’re running a business, you have to talk money and the sooner the better. How much wealthier would this plumber be, if only he had a system that brought money into his customer dealings much sooner, and more consistently? A simple, logical and repeatable system for invoicing his customers - a template invoice, a simple spreadsheet to track the work done, a reminder system to send the invoice when work is completed, short 7 day payment terms, and reminders to keep asking until payment is made. Giving an estimate and getting a down-payment upfront, offering a discount for speedy payment and of course, knowing who has and who hasn’t paid their bill, are all tried and tested methods for keeping your cashflow healthy. For larger jobs, staged payments where you don’t move on to stage two until stage one has been paid for, also work well. You like to believe that people would be honest and pay what they owe, but how many of us, if not asked for payment, would think, ‘Well if you’re not bothered, I’m not bothered’. And then what happens? The likes of my plumber finally get their act together and send you an invoice, long after you’ve forgotten that you owed them money, screwing up your cashflow. It’s a lose-lose situation, and completely avoidable. As you’d expect, I’ll be chasing my plumber again today! Do one thing: Review your invoicing system, and make sure you're using it effectively. Don't forget that help in creating your system is at hand, via The Busy Business Owner's Guide to Developing Simple Systems 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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