Engagement Archives - Anthony Davidson

Engagement

Reset your business

A Business Reset is an opportunity to get clarity, focus and alignment within your business. But when should you reset your business, what is the best way to do it, and what is the best way to avoid it. When should you reset your business The pandemic forced many businesses to rethink their strategy and innovate their business model to deal with rapid change and uncertainty. However many scenarios exist where a business reset is required. Survival mode – when a business is just trying to keep its head above water. Doing more of the same makes no sense. It’s time to question why you are in business, whether you should be in business, and if the business can be turned around for the better. Unsustainable growth – when a business is experiencing rapid growth that is draining resources and profitability. Here the challenge is to find the economic sweet spot and focus resources on owning that market space and position. Turbulence – when a business becomes successful but very set in its ways. Success can often breed arrogance, leading to myopic vision, missed opportunities and even disruption by new entrants. A business reset challenges mindsets and assumptions and looks for better ways to do business. Key person absence – when an owner or leader loses interest, motivation or focus. Sometimes it can happen because of personal or family events. Other times it is the result of not having the skills or acumen to grow with the business. Either way, a business reset is required. The best way to do it A Business Reset is an opportunity to get clarity, focus and alignment within your business. It enables business owners and managers to: reflect on what is working well and what isn’t working well review performance, challenges, obstacles and roadblocks rethink strategies and business models for achieving goals recommit to the purpose and vision for the business reengage customers, employees and business partners The best way to reset your business is to take your leadership team offsite to explore, share and agree on the way forward. Last week, I facilitated a one day Business Reset with a business owner and his leadership team to review and clarify the vision for the next five years and refocus goals and priorities for the next 12 months to regain traction and momentum. This will enable each team within the business to set quarterly objectives and key results to achieve 12 month goals. The best way to avoid it While it is highly beneficial, you can avoid the need for a business reset with a clearly thought out engagement plan that reinforces your business purpose, goals and priorities. The engagement plan details that way that you will communicate and interact with key stakeholders. It often takes the form of a meeting structure to plan, enable or monitor business, team and individual performance. The challenge with meetings is that they often lack focus, direction and outcomes, or fail to effectively engage participants. Meetings must have a purpose, deliver beneficial outcomes, be time well spent, and logically link to other meetings that are conducted. To build clarity, focus and agility, I recommend a simple structure of meetings across the business: an annual retreat to set strategic direction, business priorities and KPI’s a quarterly plan to set team objectives and key results each quarter a monthly review to problem solve issues and plan the month ahead a weekly meetup to review progress and prioritise the week ahead a daily check-in to discuss the day ahead, any concerns or constraints Together with annual individual performance reviews and monthly one-on-one feedback sessions, this level of engagement can eliminate the need for a Business Reset.

Anthony Davidson October 11, 2022

Capability

Improving your business

How do you identify ways for improving your business and then successfully implement those changes? Any change will encounter resistance so you need to a framework for managing business improvement projects and an engagement plan to build ownership and adoption. Identifying ways for improving your business Your best starting point for identifying opportunities and priorities for business improvement is your business strategy. What are you trying to achieve? Which markets and customers are you focusing on. What are you offering and why does it offer unique value? Which capabilities and competencies do you need to do this? What type of management systems and culture will you require to support it. Then look at your current business model. How is your business set up and organised to do this? How different is it to the way your competitors operate? Where are the pain points from a customer, staff, supplier and partner perspective? Can you streamline, automate or eliminate processes or touch points? If a new player disrupted our industry, what would they do? Customer journey mapping and business process mapping are useful tools to shed light on ways for improving your business. Just remember your focus must be on how to build capabilities and core competencies that result in sustainable competitive advantage. Once you identify opportunities for business improvement, prioritise them in terms of impact, investment needed, and optimal timing. A framework for managing business improvement projects Most business improvement projects fail because they lack an effective Project Management Framework. Your Project Management Framework should comprises a Project Lifecycle, a Project Control Cycle, and a Supporting Methodology. The Project Lifecycle is the framework (stages and steps) you apply to all business improvement projects. Stages can include Project Initiation, a Project Definition or Scoping, Project Planning and Resource Allocation, Project Tracking and Control, Project Reporting, Project Reviews, and Project Completion and Assessment. The Project Control Cycle describes how you will plan and manage each stage. Based on a simple Plan, Do, Check and Act process, the project control cycle ensures that you have the appropriate plan, controls and corrective actions in place for each stage. The Supporting Methodology are tools and templates you use to execute the project. A Project Charter, Project Meeting Agenda, Project Report, Risk Register and Stakeholder Engagement Plan are common templates used for Process Control Documentation. So develop a Project Management Framework for your business. An engagement plan for improving your business Effective stakeholder engagement is critical for your business improvement projects. You need to get key stakeholders to appreciate the importance and benefits of proposed changes to build ownership. However getting key stakeholders to adopt these changes is your challenge. It’s not enough to communicate proposed changes to your people, customers, suppliers and partners. First, understand the context of the changes you are making. Who will be impacted and how they will be impacted? Think about how these changes will make it easier for people to achieve their goals. Consider the resources or new practices that will be required with these changes. Identify existing norms and rules that will prevent or inhibit adoption of these changes. Once you identify stakeholders directly impacted by the proposed business improvement and stakeholders who can influence the adoption of these changes, invite these people to be part of the solution. In other words, encourage them to be active participants in the design and implementation of the change. Cocreate a value proposition together with each stakeholder that gains their interest, trust and commitment. Different interactional strategies (bonding, bridging and linking) and influencing techniques can be used to do this. Your engagement plan details, maps and monitors interactions to maintain stakeholder interest, manage expectations, and build trust at each stage of the business improvement project. So ensure your Project Management Framework includes an effective Engagement Plan.

Anthony Davidson October 1, 2022

Capability

Knowledge without application is useless

The claim that knowledge without application is useless has been attributed to many people. But what does it mean in a business context? Knowledge is powerful if you can use it to change the way you think, act or operate your business. It can empower you and your people, especially if it is successfully applied. The challenge is overcoming the knowledge-action gap. Knowledge comes from different sources As individuals, we acquire knowledge from a range of sources. Family, friends, influencers and the media are important sources. Upbringing, education and life experiences also inform what we know and believe. In business, knowledge comes from your people, suppliers, partners, advisors, external consultants and customers. Knowledge with application is more valuable Knowledge is a valuable resource for individuals and businesses. It becomes even more valuable when we apply it to solve problems or make decisions. Storing knowledge until it is needed can be problematic. Individuals accumulate a lot of knowledge. Some of this knowledge is never used, lost, or difficult to remember. Business is the same. Knowledge is stored in our people, processes, systems and culture. Often when key people leave, the impact can be significant unless their knowledge has been properly transferred. In this way, knowledge without application is useless if it is not transferred or embedded. Overcoming the knowledge-action gap One of the challenges for business is knowledge overload, which causes a knowledge-action gap. We have access to lots of theories, frameworks, methods and tools for creating a successful business. Knowing how to leverage and manage different types of knowledge is essential for overcoming the knowledge-action gap. Let’s look at four types now. Explicit knowledge Explicit knowledge can be documented, transmitted, and learned by anyone because it is easy to share and understand. It can be stored in documents, books, video tutorials, whitepapers, and other forms of verbal or written communication. For example, when a new employee joins a business, the onboarding process and internal knowledge base is the way that explicit knowledge is transferred and shared. The greatest challenge is ensuring that people have access to what they need, that important knowledge is stored, and that the knowledge is reviewed, updated, or discarded. Implicit knowledge Implicit knowledge is obtained through experience and can be captured and transmitted. This form of knowledge is extremely important because business performance improves as people translate explicit knowledge into practice. For example, when onboarding new employees, it is not enough to just share explicit knowledge, you also want them to understand why it works and how it makes them more effective. Tacit knowledge Tacit knowledge is also gained through experience but cannot be recorded and stored like implicit knowledge. For example, great writing, pitching and leadership skills take time to develop and involve continuous training and coaching. Tacit knowledge is regarded as the most valuable source of knowledge because it can lead to to breakthroughs for businesses. But it is difficult to codify and store because it resides in the minds of people and their skills and expertise. Embedded knowledge Similarly, embedded knowledge is locked in processes, products, culture and practices. It can be embedded formally through management initiatives to formalise business practices, or informally through explicit or implicit knowledge. Both tacit and embedded knowledge provide the foundations for developing core competencies that lead to sources of competitive advantage. Next steps Start treating knowledge as valuable a resource that can improve business performance and lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. My Better Business Accelerator or Strategy Masterclass is designed to help businesses with this process.

Anthony Davidson September 14, 2022

Customer Experience

Focus customer experience initiatives

While customer experience remains a top business priority, many CX initiatives continue to fail because of poor design and process. MBA students had the opportunity to learn and experience the Human-Centered Design approach to CX with expert Bartley Hassell from 3RD View Consulting. Bart was kind enough to share the methodologies developed by 3rd View to help organisations focus CX initiatives to ensure that problems are properly defined, projects have full buy-in and endorsement of leaders, and stakeholders are effectively engaged. At the heart of these methodologies is a commitment to understand complex human systems and find solutions that improve the human experience – whether it is from a customer or employee perspective. Many CX initiatives fail because they are too broad or too focused on quick fixes. Taking the time to properly understand and define the real problem to be addressed is the starting point. Ideation can then be used explore a range of possible solutions for prototyping and testing to determine the optimal solution for enhancing customer experience. So design is critical but so is process. As we found out through a live demo facilitated by Bart, customer journey mapping can be a powerful tool for understanding and learning, as well as disrupting. Thanks for a memorable experience Bart. Great session! #CX #HCD #3RDVIEW

Anthony Davidson July 27, 2022

Engagement

Spin or Engagement

Australia’s Federal Election on May 21 revealed some great lessons in marketing, especially the merits of spin versus engagement. Three lessons are worth noting: Don’t take your customers (voters) for granted and use spin or false claims to manipulate them – eventually you’ll be caught out and they’ll turn. Properly address the concerns/issues that customer segments (different constituents) face and offer a real alternative through the way you engage them. Invest your campaign money wisely and you’ll get a better than expected result. The success of the Independents and Greens demonstrates the effects of good marketing and engagement with well-directed spend. In contrast, the UAP only increased its national vote by 1.4% on a $100 million plus spend and lost the seat of “our next PM” Craig Kelly, showing the folly of spin, misinformation and poor marketing practices. I’m not going to miss those annoying ads and invasive text messages! #marketing #spin #engagement

Anthony Davidson May 23, 2022

Engagement

Giving Memorable Presentations

If you’re one of many presentations, how do you engage the audience and make it memorable? Start strong, show your passion, make the story relatable, keep it simple, and use your voice and eye contact to connect. This week my MBA class delivered eight back-to-back presentations over three hours. Each team had ten minutes to present their campaign dashboard, analysis and recommendations, followed by 5 minutes Q&A. Each team focused on a recent campaign undertaken by an organisation of their choice and critically evaluated the effectiveness of the campaign. As part of the analysis, key campaign metrics were identified and a campaign dashboard created to demonstrate how campaigns should be monitored. What were some key learnings from this exercise? Context is everything – engage the audience by making the context of the campaign relevant and interesting Quality, not quantity – the ease with which an audience can understand information and gain insights is all important Dashboards are powerful but only if they make sense – explain the power and relationships between different metrics Questions are a blessing – take advantage of audience interest to encourage discussion and reinforce key points Don’t fluff – be confident and convincing because you know your content Congratulations to all teams on a great effort. #marketing #presentations #campaigns #dashboard

Anthony Davidson May 19, 2022

Engagement

Pitch Your Business

If you think pitches are just for startups, think again. This week I worked with 16 business owners to pitch their business to other owners. Pitching is a skill that business owners need to have, regardless of how successful you are. Sometimes you need it for networking. Other times, you need it to attract important customers, partners or talent. Regardless, you have to be able to engage your audience in an authentic, personalized and memorable way. This involves being clear about what you want to say and how to say it. What are the key messages you are trying to communicate? How do you want the audience to respond? What is best way to deliver these messages so they resonate with the audience? A good pitch gets people’s attention right from the start, keeps them engaged, and has a strong finish or conclusion that leaves an impact. Story telling can be a powerful technique for achieving this, especially if you have an interesting story to tell. Humour can also be effective if used appropriately. Remember, the goal is to stand out and be remembered for the right things. Many people are uncomfortable pitching because it’s a learned skill that requires practice. Practising your elevator pitch to different audiences builds confidence and improves your overall communication skills as a business owner and leader. #omp #pitch #storytelling

Anthony Davidson March 17, 2022

Weekly insights to help you run your business.

Reset your business

Improving your business

Knowledge without application is useless

Focus customer experience initiatives

Spin or Engagement

Giving Memorable Presentations

Pitch Your Business

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