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Five Essentials to Consider before venturing into Entrepreneurship

Five Essentials to Consider before venturing into Entrepreneurship

by | Jul 21, 2013 | Business, Career, Life, Managing Yourself

It has been a year since I went solo. Fifteen years into my career and I would rate this past year as the most satisfying and fulfilling year of my life. Hard work has been a common theme through all the years but nothing beats the satisfaction levels and the thrills of trying out something of your own and nurturing it to growth. However, entrepreneurship is not all fun and joy. There are ups and downs, small victories and big fails and we need a special mind-set and support system to ensure that we are not bouncing like a yo-yo along with our venture. Keeping the balance is absolutely essential.

I have written about the mind-shifts that I had to make within myself a few months after I plunged in an earlier post. For this annual event, I asked a very special woman, an amazing mother and a successful entrepreneur – Devina Mahapatra – who has been there, done that – to share with my readers and me on what helped her survive and thrive on her entrepreneurship journey. What are the essentials to consider before venturing into entrepreneurship, that we need to have in place to succeed? And here is her take:

A few years back, I found myself taking time off from the corporate world to dedicate to raising our kids. My goal: be home till the younger one is two. At this time, I was only expecting my first. While the joys of mommyhood is incomparable to anything else I had experienced, I got restless very quickly because there’s only so much you can fuss over an infant. By the time my first-born was a year old, I had started a business. And before I knew it, my husband had quit his high-profile IT position in a leading upcoming biotechnology firm to join the business. We quickly were living the entrepreneur lifestyle – very different from the regular 9-5 positions we had both held in the past. The accolades as well as the trials were rewarding. After seven years, our first business was sold, and my husband went on to start on his second, thereby entering the coveted group of serial entrepreneurs. Once you have a taste of being a business owner, it’s virtually impossible to turn back. However, I believe that without a few ground rules and work ethics, we would have burnt out before giving success a true chance.

Here’s my list of 5 Essentials to consider before venturing into entrepreneurship:

Essentials #1: Have unconditional support of your significant other –

By support, I mean holistic support – be it mental (challenging business strategy), emotional (provide encouragement when things are slow), physical (waking up to care for the kids at night) or public relations (keeping a calm composure and positive outlook when you just lost your biggest client). Confide in and communicate with your significant other – Err on the side of more than less. No one’s a mind reader. By unconditional, I mean in great times and terrible ones…alike.

Essentials #2: Don’t be a stranger to the facts –

Do research, and then some more. Know your competition. Know your product/service. Know the demand. Interview other business owners. Set a timeline target that’s realistic. Research goes a long way in saving you time and money.

Essentials #3: Know yourself –

Know your personality type. Running a business needs constant self-motivation in good days and bad. It takes an enormous amount of self driven discipline. Ask yourself if the business is enough motivation to get you out of bed every morning – for times to come. If yes, you’re a natural. If not, keep a motivation plan ready. Be accountable to yourself.

Essentials #4: Surround yourself with positive thinkers –

The easiest thing for people to say is no. Surround yourself with positive thinkers who emit positive energy. You will need it. Don’t hesitate to distance yourself from nay-sayers, mindless gossip and anything that doesn’t add value.

Essentials #5: Meditate Daily –

If you don’t meditate already, start anyway. Running a business will just get the universe as close to your soul as you allow. Meditation enables that. Practicing the art of maintaining peace and calm within yourself will pay off big time.

Are you thinking of going solo, starting a company or just taking a break to think about a career change? How are you preparing for this big shift in your life? What are the other essentials to consider before venturing into entrepreneurship ? Devina and I would love to hear back and learn from you.

Guest Post author : Devina Mahapatra

Pic Courtesy : Sukanya Rath

Five Must-Dos to Improve Employee Engagement – Transform the Zombies into Humans

Five Must-Dos to Improve Employee Engagement – Transform the Zombies into Humans

by | Jun 30, 2013 | Business, Business Operations, Leadership, Management, Performance, Productivity

Did anyone watch any good zombie movies or shows lately? I did unfortunately and the thought running through my mind watching the zombies in there was that we have our own version of zombies in the corporate world. Think about it – some people leave their minds and hearts out the moment they check in at office – put in the hours, do what they are told to do, do their best not to get “committed” and definitely not care…and then there are some for whom work is personal, they care, they come to work to learn and grow, they build relationships at work and in general just have fun.. Employee engagement, also called worker engagement, is a business management concept. An “engaged employee” is one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about their work, and thus will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests. The opposite of employee engagement is a zombie employee. A zombie employee is a disengaged employee that will stumble around the office, lower morale and cost the company money. (Wiki). Valid analogy there, don’t you think? And that brings me to the topic of today’s post – Employee Engagement – Transforming the zombies into humans.

Concentrating on employee engagement can help companies withstand, and possibly even thrive, in tough economic times. Gallup researchers in 2012 studied the differences in performance between engaged and actively disengaged work units and found that those scoring in the top half on employee engagement nearly doubled their odds of success compared with those in the bottom half. Take a look at the table below from Gallup that clearly establishes the connection between employee engagement and critical performance metrics:

So what surprises me is why senior leadership often times just pays lip service to such an important aspect of business performance and growth. One annual engagement survey, a bit of brouhaha over the survey results if they are not good enough against benchmarks, a few actions handed over to the HR teams and then business as usual till the next survey results which of course will not be any different from last year or the previous year.

Employee Engagement initiatives must be enmeshed into the day-to-day operations of the company – I firmly believe that if you take care of the people, the company results take care of themselves. And when I think of the “people” factor of operational excellence, Tom Peters always come to mind. His “Excellence Now” philosophy is centred on People First and I will be quoting him liberally in the must-dos below. He says that an organization is first and foremost a “CATHEDRAL” dedicated to human development. So how do you build and sustain this cathedral on a day-to-day basis? Here are five principles that I have seen work:

Must Do #1: Hire for attitude and culture “fit” –

Adaptive organizations will have workforces which are hired for attitude and character and proven teamwork as much or more than for skill. In all my years of managing people, I have never had to give up on a team member for lack of skills. Skills can be developed, attitudes is another story. Your hiring process needs to build this focus into sourcing profiles; conducting interviews and doing reference checks (get tips in this post). Trust me, one talented terror in an influential position can throw cold water over all the good work done by other engagement initiatives. So, you have done a mistake in hiring or promoting a talented terror (a high performer with lousy attitudes), quick – go undo it fast!

Must Do #2: Be Transparent –

This ties in with trusting people and giving them respect. Build an environment of information sharing and transparency at all levels. Problems – share it across and enlist support. Mistakes – Admit it and gain credibility. Successes – Celebrate sooner rather than later, big or small doesn’t matter as long as everyone’s invited. Ask people the “What DO You Think” question often and then act on the feedback (while letting people know that you are on it) – simple way to show that you respect your team and the greatest source of wisdom for you.  Senior leadership should share a workable plan to support their vision and ALWAYs back up words with actions to inspire confidence and trust. Employees who don’t feel significant rarely make significant contributions.

Must Do #3: Create Policies and Processes with People First philosophy in mind –

If you want to WOW your customers then you must first WOW those who WOW the customers! There are so many ways to provide the best employee experience and not all of them will cost money (though your return on investment here would be much higher than say. capex investments) Offer competitive base salaries linked to value creation (ever heard the idiom, throw peanuts and you will get monkeys?), link variables to achievable business goals, have a great rewards programs that includes both cash and perks, provide tools and technology environment that help and not hamper employee productivity, take feedback from all employee levels when designing pay and benefits programs. CARE and be FAIR, in short.

Must Do #4: Help People Succeed –

Boss Job #1 is serving employees, helping employees not just “do good work”—but helping them succeed  and grow. This one is about people and leadership development and training – about providing career advancement and growth opportunities. Give self- assessment tools and self career management training for all employees so they move to becoming the CEOs of “YOU Inc.”  Build the ABSOLUTE BEST Cadre of 1st LINE MANAGERS … or BUST!   Provide alternatives to job growth ladders and create and maintain an effective and widely accessible internal job posting process. Create a strong mentoring/buddy culture. Design training programs as a game and fun for everyone. An organization can only become the-best-version-of-itself to the extent that the people who drive that organization are striving to become better-versions-of-themselves.

Must Do #5: Connect, Get Personal and Make Work Fun –

This is part of my company’s vision statement and something that I strongly believe in. Each one of us can get this right – it is simple. As Dee Hock, founder, Visa said – “Ph.D. in leadership. Short course: Make a short list of all things done to you that you abhorred. Don’t do them to others. Ever. Make another list of things done to you that you loved. Do them to others. Always.” Need I say more? We just need to keep this in mind in every interaction, every meeting, every communication that we have in the workplace. Give before you get. Appreciate people who do this always and encourage and participate in fun at the workplace. And the more of us who do this, the more this culture spreads getting engagement levels up slowly and surely.

To sum up, here is the leadership/management manifesto for Employee Engagement from Tom Peters himself: our job as leaders—the alpha and the omega and everything in between—is abetting the sustained growth and success and engagement and enthusiasm and commitment to Excellence of those, one at a time, who directly or indirectly serve the ultimate customer.

So what do you think?  Do you think Employee engagement initiatives are a waste of time ? How have you transformed zombies into humans in your organization or in your teams? What do you think I have missed in the points above? I would love to hear back and learn from you.

Five Tips to Navigate your Way Successfully through Matrix Organizations

Five Tips to Navigate your Way Successfully through Matrix Organizations

by | Jun 3, 2013 | Career, Managing Yourself, Office Etiquette, Productivity, World of Work

If you are an employee in a large organization, a freelancer or a consultant, you have probably worked in the matrix structure without being fully aware about it. A matrix structure is usually a combination of a vertical (product/service P&L Unit) and a horizontal function (Finance, Marketing, HR, IT, etc) and is implemented to facilitate balanced decision-making and flexibility.  In other words – welcome to working in complexity where you may have all the responsibility but without the necessary authority.

More and more companies are gravitating towards matrix organizations to deal with the increasingly dynamic and chaotic work environments. Gartner highlighted these changes in their predictions for the world of work in this decade:

“Work will become less routine, characterized by increased volatility, hyper connectedness, ‘swarming‘ and more,” said Tom Austin, vice president and Gartner fellow. By 2015, 40 percent or more of an organization’s work will be ‘non-routine’, up from 25 percent in 2010. “People will swarm more often and work solo less. They’ll work with others with whom they have few links, and teams will include people outside the control of the organization,” he added. “In addition, simulation, visualisation and unification technologies, working across yottabytes of data per second, will demand an emphasis on new perceptual skills.”

Sounds familiar? If you are in the business management/operations role like me, this style of working is the norm and not the exception and it needs some special skills and abilities to successfully navigate your way through the organization. Based on what has worked for me and what hasn’t, I have put together my five working tips that help in adapting and being effective (and happy) in working in roles that give you responsibility without immediately clear authority:

Working Tip #1 – Know what you need to achieve:

This is rule number one – Knowing what you need to achieve before you embark on an initiative involving different teams helps you to keep your eyes on your goal and not get blind-sided by the priorities of the other teams. Of course the ultimate goal would be the one that the organisation has set and has necessitated the working in the matrix structure and you need to be aligned to that  but you also are solely responsible for your part of the whole and that is why in every meeting or interaction, it is necessary for you to remember that. This helps you to ensure that the working plan is moving towards that goal at all times and give your inputs with that clarity when it is time for group decision-making (helps combat “groupitis” or death by committee scenarios).

Working Tip #2 – Let go of the need to be liked:

The desire to be liked, to be popular is a very strong human driver and this is quite normal. But be careful that this does not become a “need” that drives the way you operate at work. It leads to making compromises that you are not comfortable with because they are not aligned to your internal ethical compass. Don’t go with the herd mentality because you are afraid that speaking up or standing up for something will make you unpopular. Not everyone everywhere will like you and that’s okay – you are not at work to win a popularity contest. Just treat everyone with respect (the way you would want to be treated by others) and focus on the work. You will get more done and be happier too.

Working Tip #3 – Sharpen your conflict-management skills:  

You have to be comfortable with conflict as it is a given in situations where people from different functions or roles need to work together. Understanding conflict management techniques is important to reach a resolution quickly (and with the least amount of blood-bath). To quote of one of my favourite leadership bloggers, Mike Myatt, from his post on workplace conflicts –

“Don’t fear conflict; embrace it – it’s your job. While you can try and avoid conflict (bad idea), you cannot escape conflict. The fact of the matter is conflict in the workplace is unavoidable. It will find you whether you look for it (good idea – more later) or not. The ability to recognize conflict, understand the nature of conflict, and to be able to bring swift and just resolution to conflict will serve you well as a leader – the inability to do so may well be your downfall.”

And also, you need to be wise enough to pick your battles with care.

Working Tip #4 – Escalation is not the best solution:

Don’t be trigger happy with hitting the escalation button. This should be your last option when working in a matrix organization and there are many reasons for this – the main one being that trust and teamwork is the foundation for a successful matrix organization. And a blame-game attitude poisons the foundation pretty fast. (Pardon me for all the “killing” analogies – it is a side-effect of working in the corporate world for so long :)).

Moreover an escalation may not work as the final decision-making authority would not be your immediate superior – in a matrix org, it is usually the CEO or a level lower than her and do you really want to go whining all the way there when you have other options to make things work ? Also by escalating, you let go of all the influence that you have managed to build so far – and influence trumps authority to get things done in complex organizations.

Working Tip #5 – Communication is key:

I have saved this for the last as it is a common thread for all the earlier tips. For you to be successful in a matrix organization – you have to get personal. You have to take the time to know every person that you are working with directly or indirectly – their strengths and weakness, their goals and needs. Strive to understand before being understood. And for that you have to communicate. Be open and transparent about yourself. Listen. Interact. Absorb. Empathize. Thank often. Criticize less. Give credit often. Build relationships. Pick up the phone when emails seem to be getting shorter and cc lists getting longer. Meet up/Video when you think phone conversations and calls seems to be getting you nowhere. Communication helps break down the vertical and horizontal silos, improves relationships and creates an effective “groupthink” environment that further promotes teamwork and trust.

I believe that these are skills that can be developed and honed and really help in leading and working in a matrix operating environment. And ALWAYS in your work, as Seth Godin says – Be open, generous and connected:

Open to new ideas, leaning forward, exploring the edges, impatient with the status quo… In a hurry to make something worth making.

Generous when given the opportunity (or restless to find the opportunity when not). Focused on giving people dignity, respect and the chance to speak up. Aware that the single most effective way to move forward is to help others move forward as well.

and connected. Part of the community, not apart from it. Hooked into the realities and dreams of the tribe. Able and interested in not only cheering people on, but shining a light on how they can accomplish their goals.

What do you think?  Have you come across any challenges while working in matrix organizations ? What makes you lose your cool and what helps you get your “balance” back? Have these tips worked for you ? I would love to hear and learn from you.

Pic Courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevecorey/7281531296/

Five Strategies to shift from a Cost Cutting to a Business Growth mindset through Operational Excellence – Business Operations

Five Strategies to shift from a Cost Cutting to a Business Growth mindset through Operational Excellence – Business Operations

by | Nov 20, 2012 | Business, Business Operations, Leadership, Management, Performance, Productivity

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Do more with less is a common refrain in any margin focused organization. But this management guidance should come with a big “Handle with Care” sticker. In the enthusiasm to meet cost cutting targets, sometimes organizations forget the “doing more” part and only focus on the “with less” part. By the time, the realization sets in that the growth engine has stalled, it is too late. And most likely, you are left with an organizational culture where “fear” rules supreme and “fun” is a word that belongs outside the work-place. Result – Bottom line improves in the short-term but starts declining after reaching a threshold. With stagnant or diminishing top-line, no amount of cost cutting can help improve profits dramatically after a certain point.

High performance is multi-dimensional – putting the entire organization’s focus on just costs is counter-productive. While margin improvement is crucial, good solid revenue growth is even more important to build a sustainable, profitable business. And these two goals should not be in conflict with each other. With some discipline and mindset changes enforced in day-to-day business operations, one can successfully do the balancing act so that the organization does not lose its focus on growing revenues while keeping a tight control on costs.

The entire business framework that you work in can be used to influence changes in the right direction. Here are five strategies that I have seen business leaders use successfully to shift the organization to a revenue growth mindset in no particular order:

Strategy 1: Budgeting – Put your money where growth is – The key to building a high-performance and growth focused culture is to make sure you consider “‘what“ and “how“ you will get to your destination – the clear guidelines of what you need to do now to reach where you want to be in a specific timeline. And, what better place to define this than in your annual business budget. For example what are the core competencies that you need to develop in the current year so that the growth for the next two-three years are secured? What investments of the previous year have not achieved desired results and needs a change in strategy? What partners and channels needed to be cultivated in current year to be able to stay competitive in the market? While a lot of attention is given on the cost items to achieve the top line for the current year, not much attention is given to the few investments that are needed to accelerate the growth for the longer term. Budgeting is a great tool to ensure that the organization is well prepared and aligned for growth.

Strategy 2: Granularity of Growth – Identify the Growth Drivers –  Research shows that having multiple avenues to growth pays off during good times and bad.  In the book – Granularity of Growth (Wiley, April 2008), the authors identified that increased market-share is seldom a driver of growth. They contend, instead, that growth is driven by where a company chooses to compete: which market segments it participates in and how much merger-and-acquisition activity it pursues in these markets. The key is to focus on granularity, to breakdown big-picture strategy into its smallest relevant components. To uncover pockets of opportunity, executives need to dig down to deeper levels of their businesses and organizations. And of course, get the execution plan in place for the opportunities identified.

Strategy 3: Clarion Call – Aligning the Organization to the Vision – It is critical that every employee knows and understands the vision of the organization and the strategy for growth. Re-orienting people is not an easy job but it can be done if the leadership can clearly articulate the problem statement behind the vision and the urgent changes that are needed to get everyone on the board. The idea here is to get people really involved and committed to growth – logic and reason have their place, but in initiatives like this the emotions of people have to be tapped. Hence the need for a clarion call (en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clarion_call – Appeal, urgent call to action).  And also the need for a re-organization too – to move your best people (sales, operations, delivery) from low growth or stagnant business areas to high growth areas to leverage your talent and shake off the inertia.

Strategy 4: Platform for Ideas – Make Innovation more than a buzz word – Innovation is the Petri dish for exponential growth. But without a specific team accountable for innovation (which could be new product ideas, new business models, new markets, new acquisitions or new competencies) the focus on exponential growth is lost in the day-to-day block and tackle for meeting the short-term business targets. One person in the senior leadership should have the mandate to lead this team and the authority to champion and approve initiatives that are separate from the company’s core business and to execute on these initiatives. This provides an ecosystem of a structure, time and resources for a “start-up” within the larger organization to help move beyond the comfort zone and also future-proof the business against risks to existing business.

Strategy 5: Metrics and Rewards –Targets breed Performance – Coming to my favorite topic, setting metrics and commensurate rewards is an important lever to quickly drive and arrive at the behavior needed to go beyond just incremental growth.  For example – setting a target of 5% revenue growth year on year with a slightly higher target for profits is quite acceptable but this can be achieved by a little more push on existing services or products. There is no compelling need to look for completely new sources of revenue or new business models. What is needed here is BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals), metrics that can be used to track and measure not only the results but the investments, resources and behaviors that are needed to achieve the goals and of course, equally Big rewards to excite and enthuse the teams to think differently, get out of their comfort zone and act like entrepreneurs.

Profitable double-digit growth can become a possibility and not just a fluke. By thinking proactively and building growth into day-to-day business operations, the cost cutting trap can be avoided. A growth oriented mindset can indeed become part of the organization culture when the management plans and puts in place the systems to ensure that growth opportunities are identified and pursued as diligently as costs are controlled.

What have I missed? What growth strategies have you seen work? How and what have you factored in your plans for next year to enable double-digit growth? I would love to hear back and learn from you.

Picture courtesy : http://www.flickr.com/photos/ytueresburroyyomemonto/2687124044/

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Five Actions that can make your Sales Forecasts a Hit – Business Operations Performance Management

Five Actions that can make your Sales Forecasts a Hit – Business Operations Performance Management

by | Oct 21, 2012 | Business, Business Operations, Leadership, Management, Performance, Productivity

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A good forecaster is not smarter than everyone else, he merely has his ignorance better organized ~ Anonymous

If you are in business or sales, this time of the year is tough. It is the season for budgets and forecasts.  You are either looking back and thinking what went wrong or taxing your brains on how to get it right for the next year. Or you could be one of the lucky few who raked in more, much much more than you forecasted. Either ways, this is not a good situation to be in. Predictability is key to successful business outcomes. You cannot decide how much to spend and where to spend unless you know with great accuracy how much and where your revenue is going to come from.

What usually happens in the forecasting process is that the senior management asks their sales leaders for a forecast, the sales leaders check with their reps for a “gut feel” number. The sales reps come up with a number (maybe 10%-20% lower than their gut feel number, to play it safe). The numbers roll up to the senior management. At this stage, the management takes a look at the numbers and checks it with the number they have in their minds (the number that will satisfy the investors/owners), then either discards the sales numbers completely and make up their own numbers or if you are lucky, the numbers get approved. This is quite a hellish process as you can see with lots of stress and heart burn at every stage but no guarantees that the end result is the most accurate version of forecast.

Accurate forecasting is an art – there is no foolproof method or formula to get it right but there are a few steps or actions that business/sales people can keep in mind that can improve the accuracy of the forecast and make the process easier:

Action #1 – Understand what Forecasting Is and Is Not – A forecast is not an aspirational goal, nor a “quota” or a “crowd-pleaser” number, nor an administration activity nor a computer program output. It is rather a Projection of ACHIEVABLE sales revenue, based on historical sales data, analysis of market surveys and trends, and salesperson’s estimates. Many people at this stage confuse a sales plan with a sales forecast – this is disastrous as it affects the entire chain of the business cycle which depends on the achievable number to do its planning to delivery on the forecast.

Action #2 – Collaborate to Win: To make forecasts more effective, there must be a free-flow of information between all the functions to prevent duplicacy or contradictory data. There has to be respect for different point of views. Each function has its own insights – delivery timelines, ramp-up plans from engineering, capacity constraints from operations, campaign or events plan from marketing, customer satisfaction scores from customer support– all of these could have an impact on the end revenue results. Hence, it is important to have a strong mechanism in place to efficiently bring together different organizational functions to contribute their inputs in a spirit of collaboration.

Action #3 – Joining the Dots: A good forecast is never stand-alone. It takes into account trends from the past too like the previous year(s) sales in the same time period to account for the impact of seasonal buying patterns, a similar state of the economy, currency exchange rate fluctuations, availability of resources, marketing campaigns, etc. As Eugene O’Neill famously said – There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again, now. Given that a forecast has to predict the future, it makes good sense to base it on what is known – the past.

Action #4 – Reward Accuracy: Like in other management areas, what gets rewarded gets done. Sales people often have the mindset that their job is to sell and not forecast. This mindset is disastrous for the company bottom-line. Accurate forecasts have a huge impact on the company margins so why not put some of it back to reward the source of accuracy. It is important to put in place policies and practices particularly in the job performance evaluation criteria to reinforce the fact that forecasting is important for business success.

Action #5 Track and Improve: At best, a sales forecast is an educated guesstimate built on the basis of certain assumptions. And the basis for assumptions as well as the assumptions themselves change rapidly in the business world. Hence it is critical to review the forecast on a regular basis (fortnightly at the very least) to check if the assumptions still hold good. Measure your forecast accuracy, develop mechanisms and metrics to identify and eliminate the sources of error and plough the learning back into your sales forecasting process. This will ultimately help build confidence in the forecasting process and improve the accuracy so that the entire organization can benefit from better planning.

“Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the future; it is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight.”

Henry R. Luce (1898–1967), US publisher

What process or mechanism do you use to generate accurate forecasts? What other steps do you take to improve the predictability of your business? I would love to know.

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