The market has changed…

Customers aren’t buying.  Your business model isn’t working.  Expectations are unrealistic.

What do you do?

1. Do everything you can to grow the business
2. Make sure your are SEEN as doing as good a job

The main point I want to make is, really challenge yourself more than ever before on #1 AND don’t overlook the importance of #2.

Is the problem the business or you?

If you are in this situation, the last thing you need is people questioning whether the problem is the business or if the problem is you.  You need people to recognize that the business is indeed tough, and you are doing as good a job (or better) than anyone could.

Don’t burn career capital just because you are in a struggling business.

Instead use this as an opportunity to build career capital.  Stand out as the one making a positive difference when it gets really hard.

Driving Growth in Tough Times

Show that you have turned over every rock that has anything to do with revenue.

Where does your revenue come from? What has to be true for you to get the business? What are the 10 things that need to happen before a customer makes a purchase? What are the biggest levers that fill the funnel? What are the specific actions that move business through the funnel?

You need to evaluate your channel, your sales tools, your marketing, your product, your competition, your partner model, and your internal processes. For each one of those you need to know what is working and not working specifically with regard to enabling or accelerating revenue.

And where are the hold-ups, the conflicts, the issues, the weak-spots? What are the biggest obstacles that you put in your own way? How can you resolve them? This is a perfect opportunity to get support to drive internal change.

Show a plan with specific measures to drive revenue over short time periods.

If business is booming, you can get away with high level measures like quarterly revenue and cost, and leads in the pipeline. If all the numbers are right, the business is fine and you look good.

A colleague of mine recently put it well… “if the business is booming, it doesn’t matter what slides you show”!

But if the numbers are wrong, and business is declining, what you do, measure and communicate needs to be a lot more specific, and more frequent.  You need to show yourself as driving the things that are indicators and enablers of revenue on a very tight leash.

If you have a 12 month sales cycle, what has to happen each month in months 1 through 11? 

What specific things will you do now to drive business to close 12 months later? You need to be able to see, explain, and measure the leading incicators.   Don’t wait 6-9 months and hope things improve. 

What can you do to drive each one of them now? And next month?

Be the new guy

If you fail, they will put someone new in. So be the new guy.

Don’t get hung up on being an insider with personal investments and loyalties. Step back and think really clearly.

I use a thinking approach I refer to as the Parallel Universe.

Imagine that there is an exact duplicate of your business and the person in charge instead of you is smarter, faster, better connected, more experienced, and has better hair. What would they do?

What if it just doesn’t work?

What if your business actually is doomed? The Emperor has no clothes.

You need to SHOW yourself as proactively managing costs if the revenue is not coming in. Don’t wait to be asked.

You need to be tracking revenue and costs every day. Don’t just delay hires and minimize travel. Cancel magazine subscriptions and catering. Let people know you are serious.

Be the one to ask the tough basic question:

What do we need to believe must be true for us to continue our investment in this business? And do we believe it?

You need to show yourself as being willing and able to drive a restructuring and cost cutting agenda if that is what is necessary. Don’t get so hung up in your business that you don’t realize it is doomed.

Do everything you can to drive growth, but sometimes the most value you can add to the company is to be the one to raise your hand and re-structure.

Bad business doesn’t = bad job

Don’t check out because it is too hard.

You probably see a lot of leaders who are only used to managing growth and getting bonuses, who now appear hopeless and checked out. Don’t be one of them. Use this time to jump ahead in your career by being the one who digs in and makes a real difference.

Leading in tough times can make your career

Remember, anyone can succeed in a success. It’s not that impressive.

In a growing business in a growing market, it’s really hard to point to what you specifically did to drive success.  The business was probably going to succeed with or without you.  

In a struggling business it is much easier to stake out ground and do specific things that make a real difference.  So then you can say, the market was down 30%, but I implemented [these two specific things] that drove our margins up and stabilized our revenue, so our profits actually grew at 7% while most of our competitors lost significant ground…That is genuinely impressive.

If you show that you can really lead and drive change and eek out growth in a downturn, you will gain real business skills, experience, and resume gold for the future. 

You will be able to point to specifically what you did. 

You will blow away the competition for your next big job if they have only succeed in growing businesses and have never personally driven real change in a downturn.

This month our member Webinar was on Networking Online and Offline:

PODCAST AVAILABLE:

You can download a podcast of this webinar.

TOP 10 IDEAS
ON
NETWORKING ONLINE & OFFLINE

1. Standard Networking Rules Apply.
Network when you don’t need anything.  Give more than you take.

“Back Office” Work

2. Have a goal
Your networking strategy, presence, content and activity will be driven by your desired outcome.  What are you building your network for?

3. Assessment
What is the state of your network?  Evaluate your contacts.  Group them into categories for different types of communication and outreach.  How current is your network?  What is your current presence online?  How much have you given?

4. Your Personal Brand
What do you stand for? What do you want to be known for?  Your Personal Brand will come through in your online and real-world networking efforts.  It will drive your networking strategy.  Do it on purpose.

5. Craft your offer
Make sure you are not just talking about what you want, but about what you offer.  Describe what you DO and how you are unique. Package yourself.

6. Plan your Online Presence
Create profiles and accounts online.  Build your strategy for how you want to use twitter, Facebook, Blogging, websites, and email.

“Front Office” Work

7. Social Networks
Participate in social networks.  Get accounts, listen, watch and learn.  Experiment.  It’s OK to mix business and personal, just make sure the picture you are building reflects your Personal Brand.

8. Email:
Be really careful with mass emails.  Personalize as much as possible.  You can send 100 personal emails.  If it’s been awhile, do a “give” before a “take”.

9. No Dead Ends
Every  networking meeting has three goals: 1) Whatever your goal is 2) Get an introduction to someone else 3) Give something.   Don’t accept dead ends.  Grow your network through personal introductions.

10. Be specific
The more specific you can be about what you want and what you offer, the easier it will be for people to come up with ideas to help you and introduce you to others.

DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST

Download a podcast recording of this webinar here.

You’ll make a lot of decent hires, (and some bad ones)  but if you want to hire real stars here is how to find them.

Experience vs. Everything Else

Experience is the first thing we tend to look for but is never the primary indicator of  stardom.

Experience is only one factor in making a hiring choice, and in fact is one of the least important in gauging whether or not someone is a star — it can sometimes even be a red flag.

Experience matters, but be cautious to not be overly impressed if someone has a lot of experience in the area you are looking – and don’t make the experience the primary factor for your choice.

I learned this lesson very early in my career when I hired a guy for a telemarketing position which was a new function we were starting in the company.  I had no experience in telemarketing.  He had 20 years of experience in telemarketing.  I was impressed.

The problem was that the reason he spent 20 years in telemarketing is that he was not very good!  So he never advanced.

Stars don’t stay in the same role for decades.

Stars are talented and hungry.  They are on the move.

Hire based on potential not experience

Here are some of the important clues:

1. Advancement

If a star has been working for 20 years, they have held progressively bigger roles.  There are some big leaps and weird transitions on their resume.

When you look at their resume, you’ve just got to hear the story about how they went from working on a manufacturing line, to managing the procurement department, and then to running the customer service organization.

If you are interviewing a new-hire out of school, they have run the events program at their college, contributed articles to New York magazine, built a non-profit organization from scratch, or produced a radio show,  you get the point –They have a track record of doing things that were bigger than their job and more than their peers.

2. Mastery

If someone has spent 20 years in the same type of role, they can still be a star if they are a Master.  Look for proof.  If someone is a Master at PR, they will bring you many examples of how they created a market, got remarkable headlines, or drove web traffic exponentially.

If they are in engineering, they will be known for building or pioneering something important.  If they are in sales they will have a spotless track record.  All will have third party validation on their expertise, you will hear about them from others.

If someone is just telling you about their years of experience in the same role, and have nothing extraordinary to show you about their results, and no one else is talking about them, they may still be a good hire, but they are not a star.

Stars either move up or become a Master.

3. Ambition

Stars are ambitious.  They are going somewhere.  They don’t need you, they need a vehicle to get them to their next bigger or more interesting role.  (This is a good thing).

You don’t get to keep a star forever.

They will move mountains for you, and then they will move on.  Don’t be afraid of, or threatened by rising stars.   Stars are self-motivated to achieve great things for you.  Enjoy it while you can and then support them to move up and onward.  See also Are you smarter than me?

If you hire with the assumption that you want an experienced person who will stay in this job forever, that is what you will get.  But you won’t get a star.

4. Really Smart

There is no substitute for raw intelligence.  Sure you need emotional and people skills too, but stars typically have both.  Raw IQ points count for a lot.

Stars are motivated by learning, and have a track record of learning on the job (fast) and advancing beyond peers.  One year of experience for a star can equate to many years of experience for someone else, because stars learn so much faster, and just go faster than everybody else.

5. They have a life.

It has always been interesting to note that every star I know and have worked with has had a life outside of their job.  People who are fully consumed by their work are usually not the stars.

This is true of both big executives and gifted contributors.

Stars find the technique to contain the job and get in done in less time so they make room to do more. They use some of the time to enjoy their life, and some of the time to do a bigger job – which is one of the things that makes them a star.

This topic of making room, and not getting fully consumed by your job is a critical factor for success and an underlying theme in my upcoming book – Off the Org Chart.

Stars are not easy hires

When I’ve had the opportunity to hire stars,  they have always had less direct experience in the job than their competition. But they had at least a few of the traits describe above.

It is tough to get them on board because stars always have other choices and multiple offers, AND your hiring committee will think you are taking a big risk.  So no one is helping you get them in the boat.

The star is saying “I don’t need you”,  and your stakeholders are saying “we don’t want him”. You need to sell both parties, to get the person in the door.

It is very important that you are prepared to fight for them.

Eyebrows will raise when you choose  the less “experienced” individual, but if you choose a star, they will come up to speed very quickly and everyone will quickly and ultimately be impressed and appreciative at what a good hire you have made.

Stars are not easy to find

It is not realistic to think that you can hire 100% stars.  There are just not enough of them.  There are lots of talented people out there who will do good work, and you will need them on your team too.

Stars are hiding either because they are already working, or they don’t realize that they are stars.  You need to seek them out.  Sometimes you need to convince them that they can do more than they think.

The best way to find stars is to never stop looking.  Don’t wait for a position to open up.  Keep your eyes open for them, build relationships with them (you can’t have too many stars in your network at any level), and recruit them whenever you get the chance.

I have made it no secret that I believe that success comes from doing things on Purpose.

But Action requires the inspiration to get started and the motivation to keep going.

Where do you get your Inspiration and Motivation?

This blog post is a departure from my typical articles.  In this post I’d like to accomplish two things.

First I want to share some examples of things that inspire me, and second I want to share some Azzarello Group news.

I’ll be back next week with practical ideas on finding your inspiration and motivation, and building your business and career success on purpose!

But for now, enjoy these, and check out the news below.

Fran Woofenden, an 83 year old water skier.

Just watch the first 15 seconds, you’ll see what I mean.

and…

Matt Harding: Where the hell is Matt?

This is one of the b

est things I have ever seen on the internet.  Matt Harding has reminded me with this project and this fantastic video that:

• The World is Big and Interesting and Beautiful
• It’s Important to Enjoy Life
• We All Share things as Humans

Azzare

llo Group Updates

I also wanted to give you some updates about Azzarello Group.

This BLOG:

First thank you for all the comments and feedback on this blog.  I really appreciate it!

People ask me all the time, “Is it OK if I forward your blog to others?” YES!

I write this blog to share the useful stuff I have learned about building business and career success, and I want to share it with all who would benefit.

If you want to get  my blog updates emailed to you or in your RSS reader, just click here to subscribe.

And please pass this on to your friends and colleagues and encourage them to sign up too!

My Book – OFF the ORG CHART

Many of you who read my blog have asked me “When are you going to write a book?”  The answer is I am doing it now!

You can check out a preview here.

I’d appreciate your vote of interest, so please let me know by getting notified when it’s published. (There is no obligation.)

Membership Update

Membership is FREE to Everyone until Oct 1, 2009

Those of you who are members of Azzarello Group have been enjoying access to a valuable set of resources targeted at helping you take action to grow your success on purpose.

Monthly webinars, podcasts, presentations, worksheets and a Coaching Hour with me help you keep focused on on those important topics which make the difference between getting ahead and just working really hard.

If you are not yet a member and you would like to join, you can learn more or Join here for free.

Get Free Membership till 2010

To continue delivering this value into 2010 and beyond, I am going to start charging for membership on October 1.

If you purchase your membership by October 1,
you will get the rest of the 2009, 3 months, FREE!

Participation in the live webinars will remain free to everyone in 2010.

I’ll let you know later how to purchase your 2010 membership, what the program includes, and how it will all work so stay tuned…

Thank you again for all your interest, feedback and support!

.
Leading change so it works

In my experience with my own teams and advising other executive teams on getting their strategy implemented, there are five major obstacles that you need to overcome. 

As a leader you need to do these things on purpose if you actually want to get your strategy implemented and get your team to do the things you all keep talking about.

1. Lack of Clarity

Everyone is clear on the big picture, but really fuzzy about what specific actions to take, what projects to prioritize and what things to measure. 

They might be talking about “beating the competition” or “improving the product”, but there is no clear definition of what that means they need to go do. 

They are all inspired to win, but there is no concrete plan as to which product plans will be prioritized, and if the winning approach is indeed different products, of if it’s more sales training, different pricing, or changes to channel policy. 

Lack of clarity = lack of momentum

Everyone leaves the room with the mission of “Beating the Competition”, but nothing different happens.  Everyone is already doing good, important work, so there is just not enough reason or motivation to do something new.

2. Weak Support

Every business faces dilemas — persistent, unresolved questions — things that block action until they are decided.  And there are typically widely differing opinions about how to resolve them.  

Are we a service company or a product company?  Will we hurt the installed base by launching a new product? Should we raise or lower prices? 

Is your strategy any good?

Once you have your strategy in place, how do you know if it is a good strategy?  Are you certain that everyone on your team is bought in?  Have you closed all the unanswered questions? Have you had the debates? or have you assumed people are ready and on board?  

“Gracious Non-Compliance”

Generally it’s just much easier to sit in the meeting and nod your head, than it is voice your concern or disagreement…

…It’s better to just get out of this meeting than to drag it out even longer by disagreeing… my opinion won’t change anything, and it won’t matter anyway because we never follow through with these kinds of things.  Why not just be pleasent about it during the meeting so I look like a team player, and save time?

3. Fuzzy Resources

Once the team agrees something specific is important, then comes the directive to go “make it happen”.  I have never seen resource shifts between projects happen by asking the team to go do this offline.

Even if their intentions are good, they will come to the resource trade-off discussion with their peers, with the point of view that the resources for the new thing were supposed to come from somewhere else. 

You as the leader are responsible for trade-offs. 

You need to assign resources to the new thing and take them away from the existing stuff.  Your team members each need to figure out how to best deal with less resources for the old stuff.

But don’t expect them as individuals to give up resources, or as a group re-align resources  to do new stuff.  It just doen’t work.  That is your job.

4. Poor Communication

You can’t over communicate.  Once you have (really) agreed, and articulated your strategy, and have your specific, concrete, priorities and tasks defined, communicate them over and over again, every chance you get throughout the organization. 

Consistency is a big lever.

Start and end every team meeting with it.  Start and end every all hands meeting with it.  Start and end every 1-1 meeting with it.  Unless you are completely bored with articulating your strategy, don’t fool yourself that the organization at large has even begun to hear it.  People need to know you are serious. 

Values and Socialization

Often, not only behaviors and skills need to change, but values need to change – to be more customer focused, quality oriented, tough on spending…  Have you done what it takes to engage your organization with the new values? 

Socializing the new approach, talking about how “this is the way we do things now”, is a critical component to make sure people know that is it OK to act differently than they used to.  If it is not being socialized it will not live in the minds and actions of your organization. 

It needs to be the new “cool” way of working if you want to maintain action.

Repetition, Repetition

There is well studied marketing information on communicating messages to your target audience.  It takes your audience seven exposures to your message for them to internalize and act on it.  For each of the seven, they need to see or hear your message three times. 

That’s 21 times to get across,  ”Buy this digital camera“.  So for certain, 21 times is not overkill for “Buy these 5 points of my strategy and understand what you need to do about it” —  Think more like a few hundred.

5. Lack of measures

Even if you strategy gets off to a good start, you won’t gain momentum unless you have a set of measures, tracking and review process that are set up specifically to support progress on the new strategy.

You need to identify the few key metrics which will drive the change, and make them very visible througout the change process.

Don’t leave anything important to chance.

Don’t assume progress will happen because it was agreed. Make sure your whole team remains focused on the few critical things that change the game.
 
CARTOON CREDIT: Gary Larson: The Far Side