Anthony Davidson

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What is your core competency?
Capability

What is your core competency?

To succeed in business, you must address a specific market need in a uniquely valuable way for customers that competitors are unable to easily copy. Most businesses struggle to achieve this because they lack the core competencies needed for competitive advantage. What is your core competency? What is a core competency? A core competency is the way that you deliberately organise, integrate and coordinate resources to differentiate what you offer customers. It provides the perceived value that competitors find difficult to imitate. These skill sets reside in your people and processes and reflect the way you operate your business. Some of the best examples of core competencies are Apple, Netflix, and Singapore Airlines. What does Apple do best that customers value? Outstanding design and marketing. Netflix’s core competency is convenient content delivery. Singapore Airlines is stellar service. How to develop it Creating a core competency is a great achievement. But how do you do it. The starting point is to consider two questions: 1) Who are our ideal or preferred customers, and why? 2) Under what conditions would these customers choose us exclusively, without considering competitors? If you know why customers prefer you and how this could lead to “sticky” customers that become brand loyal, your value proposition becomes clearer. Then identify the foundations that underpin this value proposition: the specific skill sets, processes, systems and interactions to optimise what you offer. In particular, look at what your business does best and how this could be leveraged or improved to increase perceived customer value. A core competency is embedded knowledge A core competency is a valuable resource that you can turn into a sustainable competitive advantage if you know how to leverage explicit, implicit, and tacit knowledge and embed it across your business. Just remember that a core competency must be a resource that is valuable to customers, hard to find but in demand, difficult for competitors to copy or imitate, and something you can organise into your systems, processes, structure and culture. Many business fail to develop a core competency because they do not take the time to understand what customers really value. Those that do find new ways to offer customers unique value. But it takes time to develop a core competency. And many businesses will be lucky to have more than one. Choose partners who have one Why not consider partnering with companies who have core competencies in areas you don’t. Apple isn’t a manufacturer but needs to create high quality products at scale. So it partners with the world’s biggest electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn. Your value proposition and business model may be more attractive to customers if you find the right partners. Identifying like-minded businesses whose skills sets are complementary enables you to create a networked enterprise that can create network effects. Customers are drawn to ecosystems where their needs are better met. #strategy #corecompetency #capability

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Effective board meetings
Governance

Effective board meetings

What creates effective Board meetings? Here’s five guiding principles: 1) Right mix of expertise; 2) Agreed rules of engagement; 3) Well-designed agendas; 4) Good preparation; and 5) Effective facilitation. Business owners often overlook the value of Board meetings because they are too operationally-focused. However, effective Board meetings provide the overarching framework for developing a great business. Last week I chaired the first Board meeting for a client as part of their rollup process into a new group. And we started to apply these five principles to create an effective Board meeting. 1. Right mix of expertise Before you form a Board, give some thought to the type of expertise you’ll need. As a minimum, you’ll need Board members with industry knowledge, financial literacy, and skills in marketing, HR, IT and legal. Also consider an external Chair who has no conflict of interest. This enables the Chair to act in the best interests of the business and be impartial when making decisions, especially in the event of deadlock. 2. Agreed rules of engagement For effective Board meetings, you need consensus about how to communicate and interact with each other as a Board. Ideally, these behaviours should reflect the values of your business and be formalised into a Board Charter. Then you are able to hold each other accountable for boardroom behaviour, especially when disagreement or conflict occurs. 3. Well-designed agendas Effective Board meetings have the right number of agenda items. Develop agendas aligned with the objectives and priorities for your business. Work closely with the management team to identify issues and initiatives for Board consideration. Prioritise agenda items in terms of importance and urgency. Ensure sufficient time is allocated to reach a decision. If an agenda item is important but not urgent, reschedule it for another time. 4. Good preparation There is simply no excuse for Board members turning up to meetings unprepared. Meeting technology makes planning and preparing for Board meetings easy. You can upload relevant discussion papers and reports well ahead of the meeting to give Boards members the opportunity to review and analyse. More importantly, you can record, notify, and remind Board members of motions, resolutions and actions. 5. Effective facilitation Well-facilitated meetings bring out the best from Board members and enable proactive and constructive thinking and decision-making. A good Chair is able to effectively engage members in discussions, encourage different points of views, challenge assumptions, and find common ground. Wrap up Obviously, there is a lot more to running effective Board meetings. But start with these five principles and you’ll be surprised. #board #meeting #effective #chair

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