Is it really the last Friday before Christmas?!  Where has this year gone? And how ready are you for the one that’s about to begin?

I’m sure that, with so few days left before the big day, your mind is way too full of all the things that you have to get done...for both your family and your business...to read a long post from me, so I’ll keep this brief.

I have two simple suggestions for you, which I believe will not only make your Christmas both merry and bright...but will also set you up brilliantly to roar into 2014 with renewed passion and energy.


Suggestion number one...

Take time off over Christmas and the New Year...and I don’t just mean Christmas day!  Take at least eight consecutive days from Christmas Day through to Jan 2nd to relax and think of nothing but yourself and those around you.

If you can avoid checking e mails...do!

If you don’t have to write a blog or post on social media...don’t!

Take long walks, watch trashy films, spend way too long over breakfast and dinner putting the world to rights.

Eat, drink, and be merry...the business will still be there when you come back to it.

And what’s even better...while you’re ‘not thinking’ about your business, you’ll have some of your best ideas!  You’ll be able to see the big picture, and get clarity on those issues that have been your bug-bears over the last few months when you’ve simply been too busy to think.

The coming year will seem less daunting, more exciting, full of opportunity...and you’ll come back to the game knowing what you have to achieve...and why!


Which brings me to suggestion number two...

Before you switch off, spend a few hours, maybe an evening, with a glass of wine and a notebook pondering the question:
‘What am I trying to achieve...and why?’

It’s a hugely powerful question for planning - whether you’re looking at the next year of your life, or the next hour - forcing you to focus on what’s really important...your meaningful priorities.

Then, while you relax and have fun with your family, your subconscious will work its magic, just as it often does overnight when you’ve posed it a problem before drifting off to sleep.  When you come back to plan the year ahead, you’ll be amazed at how clearly you see the year laid out before you...not only what you’re going to achieve...but why...and how.

Of course we all know it’s not magic, just like we know that Santa doesn’t really come down the chimney...but even so, the presents still end up under the tree! So maybe it’s worth giving it a try.  What’s the worst that can happen...?

Have a fabulously fun and festive Christmas, and a hugely prosperous and successful new year.

God bless us...every one!

For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk

If you’re anything like me, you like to think you’re right...that you know what’s best...that if only people would listen to you they’d be so much better off.  And of course that’s true :)

But what I’ve learned over the last few years is that businesses who tell their customers what they want, and how they want it, rather than listen to them, can very quickly lose even their most loyal following.

Negative capability, a phrase first coined by Keats no less, is I believe, the answer!  Having the ability to ‘negate yourself’...to take yourself out of the equation...to stop focusing on what you think, feel, believe, and start focusing on, or in some cases, get back to, what your customer needs...will help you to grow your business.

Throughout history, big companies have lost their way by taking their eye off the ball, becoming arrogant, taking their customer for granted...success can do that to people.  But for me it’s the small business owner who is most at risk because their passion for their programme, product, service...their big idea that led them to start-up in the first place, often doesn’t even involve the customer, until it comes to the selling bit.

‘Buy my lovely product! I made it just for you!  I didn’t ask whether you needed it, or whether you wanted it to look like this/ work in this way...but I know you’ll love it...why wouldn’t you??’

Of course I’m not saying anything you don’t already know here.  We all know that we should talk to our customers early on...find out what their problem is and how they want it fixed, and mould our product into a solution for them.

The difficult bit is getting ourselves out of the way...removing ourselves from the centre of everything we do...and putting the customer there.

Start with WHY?...absolutely!  But then ask WHO FOR? ...and focus all of your attention on them.

It’s really not about you!
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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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Some of you will have seen the tv reality show, The Choir; it’s been going for a while now and I’ve always enjoyed it, as much for Gareth Malone’s enthusiasm and empathy, as the music...I find the whole programme uplifting.

What I’m noticing in this series, much more than I did in the first though, are the workplace relationships within the organisations featured.  Almost all of them are fractured to some extent, with workplace hierarchies appearing to have a very real impact on the self worth issues of those at the bottom of the pecking order.

Even in the fire service, which for me was the most united by a common cause, we had a ‘them and us’...the fire fighters and the support staff...with the latter clearly feeling in some way ‘less important’ than their more heroic colleagues.  Interestingly it showed up in the power of their singing too.

The programme featuring Sainsburys was the most fascinating, so diverse was the workforce, and so disjointed...and Gareth really struggled to unite those from the ‘Ivory Tower’ of head office, with the shop floor workers and the warehouse guys. The hierarchy...or was it the culture...appeared so firmly entrenched that the 3 groups didn’t appear to think they should talk to one another, let alone know how to.

Of course these are all big organisations, and it’s easy to see how these fractures develop.  It can often be because those on their feet all day, doing what they consider to be the ‘hard work’, and the unsociable hours, can grow resentful of those who they perceive to be sitting on their backsides all day in the office, drinking coffee...and taking home more money. 
That’s an over-simplification, but you get my drift.

So what about our much smaller businesses?  Are our teams fractured in the same way?

If the culture of any organisation is built around the beliefs and behaviours of the leader, which is my view...what are we doing day to day to ensure that all of our team is united around ‘our cause’?  How are we promoting the value to our business of everyone who works for us; making sure that each individual knows that their contribution is key to the whole team succeeding; that no one is more or less important than anyone else?
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What would Gareth Malone find if he came to our business to build a choir?

For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk