Category Archives: Uncategorized

Selling Your Business – Need an Elevator Pitch?

Business Skills, Project Planning, Uncategorized

Remember all of those networking events where people asked you, “What do you do?” We all had that ‘elevator pitch’ handy for those occasions.

We all asked ourselves the same question, devised and rehearsed an answer so that we appeared to be confident about our products and services.

Well equally, before selling your business up for sale you must ask yourself, “Why?”

Then you must devise and rehearse your answer to the question which will undoubtedly be asked by interested purchasers and time wasters alike.

You might question the objectives of selling from the points of view of owner, manager. You might want to consider why you are selling in terms of the business itself. You might have a workforce to take into consideration. Oh and don’t forget shareholders, stakeholders and any other interested parties!

Answers to these questions might include a need for investment in the company or in your own future. Your business might be your pension plan or a step to greater investment in future plans.

Basically, if you can’t answer the question ‘why’ then you haven’t thought it through. You haven’t planned properly, you will not look professional and customers will question your motives in selling.

shaking handsAnswer it and you will have a successful sale!

Better still you could use a tool such as MAPP Business Sale. Designed specifically for owners and managers it is based upon research with individuals and managers who have been there. Follow the link below to the MAPP Store and a successful, professional sale!

 

Straight Down the Middle – A MAPP Golfing Case Study

Case Study, Project Planning, Uncategorized

This case study is provided by John Harrison of Coaching 4 Success Ltd.

Background

The MAPP – John, what kind of company were you working with and how long had you been there before you decided to introduce them to MAPP?

John – The company provided golfing holidays and I had been with them for several months before the time was right to bring in MAPP.

The MAPP – Why?

John – Well MAPP is a powerful thought provoking tool that helps businesses put some structure into their on-going development. I have successfully used it with over twenty companies.

Process

The MAPP – How did you start?

John – Firstly, I explained the format of the workshop and then what I was expecting them to gain from the process.

The MAPP – Who did you work with?

John – I worked with the two directors of the business and within about 4 hours we had completed MAPP which was then immediately stuck on a wall in the main office for the team to see.

Results

The MAPP – How did the rest of the team react?

John – As I was leaving they were already asking questions about the content of their MAPP and could they know more from the Directors as to the aspirations of the business as detailed.

The MAPP – Was the MAPP plan taken down after the rest of the team had asked their questions?

John – No, MAPP is still on the wall of the main office and the directors have told me, ‘Not only has it provided clear focus on what the business needs but also clarity on how we are going to get there. Everyone has bought into the plan!’

What The MAPP Ltd says:

Firstly, many thanks to John for this post.

Secondly, as stated above by John, “MAPP is a powerful thought provoking tool”.

It provides an opportunity to control the direction an organisation needs to take whilst including the right people in the decision-making process. Inclusion leads to ownership of the project plan and a team that fully supports the changes needed to achieve any identified goal(s). It is one of the many strengths of a MAPP.

mappstoreIf you want to know more about MAPP tools check out the MAPP Store by clicking on the icon.

Not Going It Alone

HM Forces Resettlement, Leadership, Project Planning, Uncategorized

During a recent discussion on LinkedIn the point was raised that it is the skills of you – the Service Leaver (SL) – that are mostly considered when addressing the transition from Forces to Civvy Street.

But there are a substantial number of spouses and partners who are being forced to move on just like their serving halves. They have skills too and often a career path of their own to follow.

The original question on LinkedIn related to the choice made right at the start of the resettlement process. Do you go where the work is and risk accommodation problems and lack of wider familial support or do you go where family support and a place to live and risk not getting work?

But it was commented on that to concentrate on the SL might be missing a trick. A resettlement plan will impact on many people within your circle:

  • Spouses and Partners – the aim of this post.
  • Parents and parents-in-law
  • Girlfriends and boyfriends
  • Dependents The list is not exhaustive!

If others are impacted by your leaving then you must consider them even if you can’t involve them.

But, from here on, this post will address the SL and their spouses and partners.

The resettlement process supports serving members of the Forces as they make the transition between uniform and civvies. But do they in turn have the opportunity to share that process with their partners and spouses? I suspect that in reality there will be a range of situations some of which will be where service personnel in the resettlement process will:

  • Include their spouses and partners completely and fully in the decision making process,
  • Think that they do not need to include their spouses or partners because after all it is not them being discharged,
  • Not get a chance to include anyone else because there is no time or no opportunity.

There will be other situations. But too many where spouses and partners are left outside of the process.

It is a basic premise of change management that everyone who is impacted by a change is involved in the decision-making process. It leads to them taking ‘ownership’ of the change and not being left isolated and hurt.

So when making that choice about where to head – for work or home – consider the skills of your partner or spouse. They might find it easier to get work and provide a buffer whilst you make the move in your head as well as in reality.

Don’t just conduct a SWOT yourself get your partner or spouse to do the same. They might surprise you. They just might make the transition so much the easier.

If you have included them right from the start and in everything that is done they will see the plan as theirs as well. This is called ‘ownership’ and it leads to a greater margin of success when going through a change.

Using an on-line tool like MAPP for Resettlement can provide you with the lines of communication and structured tasking that means whilst you are away your partner or spouse can continue with to process of resettling the family or even just the two of you.

Our advice is to include all those affected by your move. It will make the transition to Civvy Street smoother and more likely to be successful.

MAPP for Resettlement can be found at the MAPPStore – just click on the links below:

Feel free to try the ‘1st Steps’, but if you want to have more support then go to the MAPPStore and buy the full version of Resettlement MAPP for just £8.00p.

 

Organisational Culture Change

Business Skills, Creativity, Leadership, Project Planning, Uncategorized

“The hardest part of a business transformation is changing the culture – the mindset and instincts of the people in the company. “

“In the end, management doesn’t change culture. Management invites the workforce itself to change the culture.”

Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM

These two quotes tell it all – for culture to change and remain changed it needs the entire workforce to be involved so that they can take ownership.

Change of any kind has some basic rules that lay the foundations for success:

• Change relies upon people wanting to change.
• Those impacted by the change must be included in the decision-making processes. Even if they don’t want to change at first inclusion can lead to understanding then to ownership.
• Communicate everything. Bad news is better than no news! Don’t tell people what is going on and they will make it up. And what they make up will be far worse!
• Select ‘Champions’ that really believe in the change. They can keep it going even after the change project programme is complete. Mick Cope refers to ‘stickability’ through the use of change champions in his excellent book ‘The 7 C’s of Change’.

The first two key stages are to:

1. Have a destination in mind. All screen writers will tell you that the ending is where you start.
2. Understand exactly where you are – not just the symptoms if there are any! Even if change is required to move to the next stage in the development of your organisation and everything is going swimmingly anyway you need to understand what makes it tick.

The analogy with a screenwriter and a film is a good one.

You have a hero (your organisation) that needs to move towards the vision (new culture). But there will be conflict on the way. The screenwriter puts that conflict in the way of the hero – you have to discover what conflict presently exists and you need to plan to deal with the conflict that can occur.

More on ‘sticky’ cultural change can be found at http://hbr.org/2012/07/cultural-change-that-sticks/ar/1

mappstoreA new MAPP tool for Culture Change will soon be available via the MAPP Store. Watch this space or see what other MAPPs are available by clicking on the MAPP Store icon.

 

How to make the 21st Century virtual team more effective

Business Skills, Leadership, Project Planning, Uncategorized

Technological advances have changed the way in which we used to perform in the past. Right now most people who are into ERP Consulting at some point on occasion work with the Global Teams, sitting at locations spread out all over the world. This kind of phenomena developed some years back and is now witnessing great success. Eventually because of the progress for Virtual Consultancy for IT particularly in circumstance of Oracle definitely seems to be un-stoppable.

Whereas once upon a time virtual teams were a rarity – they had to communicate using poor internet and Intranet, snail mail and sending each other floppy disks. It’s a different story today – companies have teams spread across the world and deal with language, cultural and time-zone differences.

It is important that managers not only learn new skills to deal with these teams – and it should be stated here that these differences are often more complementary and creative than problematic – but they must have the tools with which to pull their teams together.

John Adair brought our attention to ‘team, task and individual’ telling us that as managers and leaders we need to ensure that individuals feel part of and contribute to the team. They need to take ownership of the task and their part in its achievement.

To take ownership of a plan or task means the inclusion of all team members in the decision-making process. MAPP is a perfect way to include team members on-line and in real-time. And real-time means dealing with problems as they occur not when the post arrives.

Task managers and team leaders can include all individuals, create a team – and as John Adair tells us – allow the task to be achieved. This is what MAPP is all about – inclusion, spontaneity, achievement!

mappstoreClick on the MAPP Store logo to access tools that can support your virtual teams.