Advisory No 6 - UNDERSTANDING YOUR TEAM'S FEAR OF SUCCESS

You have a high performing team, they’ve helped you grow and mature from start-up to a healthy and profitable operation.  So when it’s time to take the next step in the growth of your business, why is it that when you introduce change, it's sometimes the very people you’ve relied on to support your success who seem to be undermining your future growth?

It’s counter-intuitive but for many people, the fear of success is much bigger than the fear of failure.  When we fail at something, we know what to expect. We’re coached from childhood to handle failure.  We process, we analyze and we do our best to avoid repetition.  

Success is an unknown.  It represents a future that can be intimidating, we see it as an entitlement so we rarely give it the analysis that makes it part of our process. 

If you launched your business with skilled experts then the chances are that your team is confident in their area of expertise but very uncomfortable outside of it.  This team can be highly skilled in a very narrow subject area and at start up may have been essential to help give you the credibility you need to develop your business and deliver revenue quickly.  

Your people may not fear change itself, they fear their place in an environment that they don’t fully control and understand.  They know how to excel but they may not be accustomed to working in an environment where they need to develop new competencies. 

They don’t know how to be second best.

The solution is to adopt a coaching style. People are always scared of what they don’t know.  You can never over-communicate to your team in times of change and your success is dependent upon it.  You have to affirm all that has been achieved by your team to date and talk to them in detail about their place in the new environment; challenge their doubts and help them overcome their anxieties. 

Help your team to understand that the only difference between under performing and high achievement is learning and tell them that you’re here to help. 

Counteract their inward focus and remind them that they are part of something bigger.  Present your strategy, the opportunity, the challenge and their critical place in the big picture.

Tell your team that you believe in them and that your business change process is part of a new area of expertise that you know they’ll excel in.   

Then watch what happens.

Contact The Advisory Partnership to learn more about our experience in unlocking growth potential through structural and operational reviews for international businesses.

The Advisory Partnership assists its broadcast and creative services clients with operational strategy and review, delivering outputs that are sustainable and scalable to meet the challenges of technological change and international growth.

Post by James Douglas

www.theadvisorypartnership.com

More from us:

International Growth Cheat-sheet

Over Promise, Under Deliver
Partner Smarter, Grow Faster
International Strategy - How to Get an A in Geography

ADVISORY No 5 - Hire quality over quantity in your start up teams

When we take the next strategic leap in our business, introducing new services or extending into new markets, we’re sometimes tempted to substitute smart strategic planning for increased staffing. 

You see, all too often we see a business changing initiative less as a change process and more as a problem to be solved ... and you solve problems by hiring additional staff right? ... Not necessarily.

We are so busy with our day-to-day workload that we rarely have time to take on the new projects that help us grow.  We complain about headcount restrictions and what we could achieve if only we had a bigger team.  We think that reassignment or appointment of new staff will be the difference between success and failure.

When we pin our success solely on additional people rather than improved process, we neglect to factor in our duty as leaders to build and articulate a clear vision for change.

Without vision, no amount of staff will get us to our goals.

When we throw people at a problem, it rarely goes away.   We only postpone the problem for later.   We forget that when we appoint inexperienced and untrained people at any level, they need to be managed into the business and trained or briefed on the new project. 

This not only takes up our valuable time but in doing so, we’re entrusting the future of our business to an under-qualified or junior team.  This is not the best foundation for any business-changing initiative.

Whether it’s an operational problem, a new strategic initiative or an expansion plan, this is exactly the time when we need a qualified, trusted and experienced team around us.  Often fewer more experienced people will deliver more for our business in the long run.

It is our role as leaders to take the extra time to think, plan and articulate the change we are introducing to our business and then to ensure that we have the best people with the right skills for the project in hand.

Contact The Advisory Partnership to discover how we assist start-ups and developing media businesses with structural and operational reviews that remove the barriers to growth.

www.theadvisorypartnership.com

Post by James Douglas

Advisory No 4 - REGIONAL STRATEGY - DON'T DITCH THE DETAIL

In the global economy, it is essential that we think about extending our reach.  Our job as leaders is to plan for growth in lucrative new markets whenever and wherever we can.

All too often in business though, we talk about our APAC strategy, our BRIC Strategy or our LATAM strategy. We have big plans and confident budgets but have we thought through the detail?

There are many emerging markets opening up for new products and services around the world and they can represent huge leaps in the growth of our business.  If we skip the detail however, it will have a huge impact on our bottom line with unforeseen costs, delayed revenues and much shareholder concern about how far away we are from those ‘rivers of gold’ we were promising just a few months prior when we submitted the business plan.

What we must always keep in mind is that regions like APAC and LATAM are not places in their own right.  Without exception they are a spectrum of cultures and behaviours with vastly different technical, educational and professional maturities.  No country in a region will automatically behave in the same way as its neighbour and we’d be foolish to plan in that way.  

The mistake of any emerging market business plan is to budget on the region rather than taking time to prioritise, research and analyse the individual markets themselves.  

It’s only by avoiding a generic view and understanding both the commonalities and the differences between countries that we can hope to operate successfully and understand markets so different from our own.

If you are rolling out a new regional strategy, take the time to do your homework, knuckle down on the detail and you’ll watch your business grow step by step with fewer unforeseen surprises.

The Advisory Partnership supports broadcast media businesses with their strategic and operational expansion into new markets. 

www.theadvisorypartnership.com

Advisory No 3 - WHY PROJECTS SINK

The Titanic had a plan to get to New York as fast as possible; sometimes we need to take the time to look at what’s in front of us and make small changes to get to where we want to be.

All too often I’ve come across the directive to meet a project deadline against common sense; research has revealed flaws in the approach and the risks have been clearly articulated but for many reasons we have had to proceed regardless.

Projects in their nature rarely go according to plan.  Their success depends on how quickly and effectively we react to changing circumstances.

As leaders, we must have a clear strategy that takes the long view but we must have checks and processes in place so that we can take effective action when circumstances start to indicate that we are on the wrong path.

Like our luxury liner, our business strategy and our operational projects cannot and should not make sharp turns at the first sign of trouble but continuous fine-tuning of our direction can be the difference between success or disaster.

The Titanic received 5 warnings over 12 hours but kept to course and maintained normal speed in a blind attempt to meet its deadline.  If the ship had been travelling more slowly or on a fractionally different path it would have averted disaster and become a hugely successful travel brand and business success.

Our icebergs are out there.  

Review your position regularly, heed the warnings from your team and your partners and don’t be afraid to change direction when it’s the right thing to do.

www.theadvisorypartnership.com

Advisory No 2 - HOW TO GET AN 'A' IN GEOGRAPHY (PART 2)

The complete guide to expanding your business to new and emerging markets. 

(For Part One Refer http://bit.ly/ZsHi8a) 

   

Location! Location! – Are you in the right place?  In your initial research you should have established the right place for your business but sometimes you need to be fully operational before you discover that you’ve picked the wrong location.  Your concerns may be practical, operational or that it’s just too hard to get out and meet your customers.  If you’ve made a mistake, fix it if you can and fix it fast!  Our customers judge us by our location and a good location allows us to literally bump into clients leading to new business wins and assisting with customer retention.

Make it work – You may have a product or service that has been hugely successful in your own market but you need to be sure that there aren’t regional variations that may completely negate the effectiveness of that product in a new environment.  For example, a hugely successful user interface in Western countries may become ineffective when it is subject to the regulation and censorship restrictions of the Middle East and Asia.  Be prepared that your tried-and-tested product or service may still need to be adapted to cater for the requirements of a new market.

There is no flat world.  Make no assumptions about technology; particularly if you are in a digital or online business.  Public Internet and business connectivity are not a standard experience worldwide. If you are entering emerging markets particularly with a new technology product be mindful that paperwork, couriers and hard-copy media are alive and well due to poor Internet performance in some countries.  Be careful to test the local reality against your marketing proposition.

False Economies.  You may think it’s cheaper to build equipment at home and ship to site but be warned, head office sourced hardware and equipment may incur taxes and customs delays that completely offset your planned savings and can delay your ability to go live.  Taxes in some markets can be as much as 65% of the retail price and your equipment may be tied up for months with hopeless red tape.  This can limit your ability to operate and may sabotage your business plan.

Timeshift – To protect yourself from a disappointed board and shareholders, the smartest thing you can do when entering a new market is to take your best case business plan, push it forward 3-6 months and you’ll probably be right!  The odds are against any plan for a new market succeeding when it is completed from the comfort of head office.  It’s best to be proactive here and spend as much time as you can on location. You will undoubtedly make changes when you are closer to the action onsite.

Growing your business into new markets can be one of the most rewarding things you can do in your career but keep in mind that whatever new market you enter, it’s is not your home territory and as long as you continually compare your strategy against operational reality, you’ll have the best set up for success.

The Advisory Partnership works closely with its clients to provide scaleable operational solutions for their international expansion strategies.

www.theadvisorypartnership.com