Phil Olley

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Getting back "into it"


Sep 04 2009

If you aren’t organised, the summer can feel a disjointed couple of months. The ideal is to be busy when working, and very relaxed when off.

“Getting back into it” can be a challenge though.

One of my client sessions recently revolved around "getting back into it after the summer break", and I suggested a very specific method should be devised to help return to full steam ahead after any break:

    1. Polishing your Values and Vision
    2. Revisiting long term Goals
    3. Opportunities brainstorm
    4. New short term goals and ASMs (Awesome Special Missions) to get excited about.
    5. Business/ Professional Upgrade- items that need turning world class, and an action plan to accomplish it.
    6. Marketing Engine… what needs tweaking/ tuning up/ overhauling/ maintaining.
    7. Self upgrade, setting new groundrules, creating a fresh regime
    8. New Mindchanger cards

You will have your own method of getting back to business, I'm sure, but the tragedy for most people is that they simply jump straight back into the quagmire.
 
Don’t make that mistake. 

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Half-Time Team Talks


Jun 23 2009

Half-Time Team Talks

Ok, as we reach the mid-year point, how do you feel your year is going so far?

• a stretching soaring success?
• an incremental increase on last year?
• a “so-so”, business-as-usual kind of year?

Nothing worse I hope!

If you find yourself here half way through the year, as leader of a team which is the business equivalent of 2 nil down at half time, it’s time to make some changes. Time for a Half-Time Team Talk to:

a. Re-energise and re-focus.
b. Adapt to changed circumstances, new challenges, changes in the business environment. Good leaders and manages are reviewing this as the first half unfolds. They don’t wait till half time to review. But the result of their thinking is communicated and acted upon at this half way stage.
c. Set goals for second half of the year… what needs to happen so that at the end of the year you’ll be able to look back and feel it’s been a success.
d. Inspire and generate commitment to making it happen
e. Focus you and the team on specific tactics to enhance performance to improve results
f. Ensure there is absolute focus on the achievement of specific results, immediately. Such as, let’s get a goal in the first 15 minutes of the second half. That first goal becomes the priority.
 
It seems vogue at the moment to talk about the role of "coaching" in management circles. Many are treated it as some sort of new-fangled approach. Yet good coaching (and not the sort that is currently being proclaimed in many quarters, I must add) has always been a skill of a good manager. It is, in fact, management. A good manager will have regular contact with both the team, and individuals in the team... surely.
 
And a Half-Time Team talk is something that every leader is doing right now.
 
Right?
 
Right.


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Happiness and Luck- Est-il hereux?


Jun 18 2009
Happiness and Luck: "est-il hereux?"
 
Today is the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, at which Napoleon’s dream was finally ended. There is no doubt that he was one of history’s great figures.
 
When appointing his senior Generals, he is reputed to have always asked “Est-il hereux?” which translates as “Is he Lucky”. This, for him, was the difference between a competent general, and a great one.

Interesting that the literal translation is “Is he Happy?”  Our own phrase, “Happy –go- Lucky”, may come from this, I don’t know for sure. But I have noticed the connection between Happiness and Luck, and I’m sure you have too. You know, when you are in a buoyant mood, things just go well for you. Even the barriers and obstacles, the frustrations and niggles that arise seem easier to overcome when we are “on a roll”.

Message: Be Happy, and you’ll get lucky. It’s not the other way around.
To increase your Luck, increase your Happiness.


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The Procrastination Pandemic


Jun 12 2009

The Procrastination Pandemic

I’m declaring it official. It’s a pandemic.
It cripples businesses and takes lives.
We are all susceptible to it.
So how do you recognise the signs of Procrastination, and what’s the antidote?
 
Symptoms:
  • An increase in waiting: Wait Watching
  • And increase in displacement activity: Doing stuff that really doesn’t lead to the results you want.
  • Capability paralysis: belief that you can do everything, therefore you should try to do everything, therefore you grind to a halt under a deluge of inconsequential ACTIVITY.
  • Lack of direction: likely to stumble into anything that crops up, and flounder around without knowing which way to turn. Inability to work in a straight line.
  • Excessive Listing: too many lists of things to do, without ever tackling any of it.
  • Blaming and babbling: a lot of chatter and excuses about what hasn’t been done, and why it hasn’t, rather than doing things that need to be done.  
  • Chewing the Could: talking a lot about what could be done. Invariably leads to indecisiveness (camouflaged as “keeping our options open”, “staying open to opportunities in times like this”, and so on).
  • An increase in Static: inability to move.
  • Extreme Shuddering/ Should’a ing... as in “we shoulda done this, and we shoulda done that” and “I shoulda done this, and I shoulda done that”.
  • In extreme cases (and most cases are): can cause you to Be a Gonna... one day I’m Gonna do this, one day I’m gonna do that.

Antidote:

  • Apply the FEVER formula (Focus, Energy, Vision, Enthusiasm, Reason)
  • Mindchanger techniques; take these once per day, and see the pandemic subside, and eventually free your life from it, like a cancer being cut from your body.
  • Write a Daily Action Plan (note: not a "to do list"). This is your personal prescription for overcoming procrastination.
  • Take one Bold Action every day. Generate a butterfly feeling in your stomach.
  • Every day, Focus on FINISHING 3 actions (however great or small) that relate to your goals.

 
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Your future journal


Jun 09 2009

Your future journal

The other day I happened across one of my old journals. Well, not quite “happened across”, as I keep them all in a specific place, so it’s not like I just stumbled into it! But whilst putting some new items away, I decided to have a read of one of my old journal entries.

What struck me was the goals I then had, and how they compared with life as it is now.

It’s interesting to read something like this and see how you, and your circumstances, have changed in 3 years, 5 years, 10 years. I was pleasantly surprised. Very surprised in fact.

Sometimes, as we are making changes and living life, we don’t notice those changes, or even some of the successes, as they happen. It’s only when seen in the context of what used to be that the change and the success becomes apparent.

Of course, this is one of the advantages of writing a journal (and I don’t mean a blog, because most people’s personal written journals are far more revealing and in-depth than their online diaries); the fact that you can see your story, and that you have a sense of writing your future. In fact, having this sense of purpose and significance is one of the traits of most successful people... a feeling of personal destiny. A story worth recording. So, perhaps that’s one of the main reasons to start writing a journal if you don’t already.

Anyway. Back to the real point...

I wonder how much you have changed. Ask yourself. Have I achieved what I set out to? Am I living the life/ running the business/ having the success I really wanted 3, 5, 10 years ago?

And, looking forward to 3, 5, 10 years time, what will your life look like? What will you want to be writing in your future journal?

Take a hard- backed notebook, and write a page on “my life in 2012” or 2014 or 2020! Why not even write this in your current journal. It will certainly make for interesting reading in the future. You’ll also be surprised at the impact it has on you right now...

 
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Keeping it Simply Significant


Jun 02 2009

Keeping it Simply Significant

Last week I read an article wherein a group of business people came to the conclusion that it’s all about Keeping it Simple.

Agreed, absolutely.

I know I'm not alone in that I have never liked the phrase KISS as used to represent “Keep it Simple Stupid"- after all, I don’t think any of us should be thinking of ourselves as stupid!

Someone once suggested to me Keep it Simple Sunshine, which seems much better.

I prefer,
Keep It Simply Significant.

Remember; Success is Simple, not necessarily easy.

In business terms, this means devoting time, energy, focus to those key things that create results which lead to success.

So, what results does your success revolve around? And what actions do you need to do (or does your business need to do) to create those results? These are your Key Result Areas. So, where is your time, energy, focus? Is it on those actions?

What are your 5 key result areas?… write them down, now. Keep them in front of you.

What percentage of your time, and energy, and focus was devoted to these last week?
What percentage is devoted to these in the week ahead?

Everything else is just commentary.


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Six degrees of separation, and a parachute!


May 28 2009
Six degrees of separation, and a parachute!
 
This piece recently featured in my “Business Dynamite” newsletter and got an incredible response, so I thought I would include it here on the blog for the rest of the world to see (on the grounds that not everyone in the world receives “Business Dynamite”… yet!).
On TV there was a progamme on 6 degrees of separation, (by the way, if you think that I’ve been watching too much TV recently, don’t worry, I don’t see any of these programmes, I just hear about them), and  the other day, I came across a piece I had written some time ago on this same subject (6 degrees of separation), and I thought it appropriate, particularly in the current business climate:

It is often said that we are connected with everyone in the world through a maximum of 6 degrees of separation, or six levels of acquaintance.
 
This is why networking can be so powerful as part of your marketing engine. It also explains the story of the man who built a hugely successful business and attributed it to just one key tactic: writing a thank you letter every day. Yep. Just one letter of thanks to someone every day does the trick.

When was the last time you wrote a letter, let alone a thank you letter?
 
Isn’t it amazing how people see the demise of personal service as a problem in business?

A problem? No… an opportunity, surely: No one else is doing it.

Whereas in our lives we used to be surrounded by personal interaction daily (post office, local shop, grocers shop, everyone knew everyone, “hello Mrs Miggins”, etc), now it’s all changed.

Most of our lives are full of transaction and no interaction!
 
So those businesses and individuals who do really interact, and offer top personal service stand out a mile. Great!
 
And here’s one further thought, sent to me by Dennis Jack of Textile Care Supplies…

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam . After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"

"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb..

"I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor." Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. He also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory -- he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachutes.
 
Thanks Dennis

 


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Getting Engaged


May 26 2009

Getting Engaged

A friend of mine recently got engaged. Engaged. There’s an interesting word. Implying intention to act, to fully commit, to make something absolutely certain, to focus on one thing (person), to be devoted to.
 
Over the few weeks in the summer, we become engaged in World Cup Fever, Ashes Fever, or Olympics fever, or whichever sporting event gets us enthralled in a particular year.
 
For others, it’s “Springwatch” Fever, or “Big Brother” Fever or “Britain’s Got Talent” Fever on TV.
 
Whatever, the event, the media are great at stirring up a Fever. And we tend to lap it up, get involved, become obsessed with it. We become, at varying levels, Engaged.
 
So, if such passion, and energy and focus for these things (in which we are mainly observers) can be whipped up, are you doing the same for your own life, your own business, your own goals and missions?
 
First: ask, "Am I Engaged?"
Second: Remember the FEVER formula.
(Focus, Energy, Vision, Enthusiasm, Reason)

 


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Meetings: The 46/60 Rule


May 21 2009

Meetings: The 46/60 Rule
 
One of the “bugbears” for most people in business is “meetings”.
I am often asked to help people in business to improve the effectiveness of their Meetings (in particular I am thinking here of those internal meetings held within an organisation/ company) and I am always fascinated by the time allocated to a meeting.

Why is it that business meetings are so often scheduled to last an hour (or one-and a half hours) whether it’s needed or not, and whether that timescale is allocated explicitly or subliminally (sometimes it’s just because the electronic diary is set up that way!!!). The upshot is often that the meeting fills out to the time tacitly allocated.
And we end up wasting time that would be best spent elsewhere.
 
It also surprises me how few people go into a meeting really well prepared and focused on the objectives of the meeting (normally time pressures, traffic, urgent this and that, etc, mean several attendees will be running late… and very few meetings actually start on time). And the biggest complaint from so many people in business is that so few of the actions agreed at meetings are carried out.
 
Solution?
Take your one-hour meeting and divide it into three sections.

First section, is the first 7 minutes. During that time focus on making sure the objectives of the meeting are crystal clear, and provide an outline of the running order and conduct of the meeting, who is going to present what, when (eg figures, reports, etc), and ensuring that you can cover the points you need to make in the most effective manner.

Second step is to hold the meeting, in 46 minutes.

The final step is the last 7 minutes of the hour, where each person invests that time carrying out at least one of the actions agreed upon at the meeting, or at least getting the ball rolling by making the contacts necessary to set things in motion.

This means that without altering the time allocated to the meeting (60 minutes), you have a much more profitable and productive outcome.

This also helps to overcome the Back-to-Back meetings syndrome, where one meeting is immediately followed by another, and so on, which means that there is no time to actually do the things agreed before the mind has to switch to something new, and the impetus gets lost.
 
On a separate, but related, note:
To really get people thinking differently, schedule a meeting to begin at 1006; or 1137; or at any “odd time” and see what happens! People are far more precise about turning up on time, for a start.
 
Perhaps the vagueness of 10am and 2pm start times encourages a slackness of arrival. When people say 10am, that is mentally translated by many as “about 10”! And that’s exactly when they turn up… about 10. depending on their time paradigm, that could be ten to ten, or ten past. Not very helpful.
 
The same could be said of the “5 minute leg-stretch break”, a feature of many longer meetings. Have you noticed how these get expanded to 10-15 minutes?! So, what about a 4 minute stretch break?

And 15-minute coffee breaks on day-long courses normally extend to 20 minutes don’t they. Now, a 13-minute break has a different ring to it. Experiment and you’ll see.

 


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The Power of De-selection


May 19 2009

The Power of De-selection

Advice for someone this week who was clinging to something that was not only no longer working, but was now actively dragging them back. And I’m sure many will know what I mean about this…

“You have to let go of something lower down, in order to reach for the next foothold on your mountain!”
 
Letting go is about decision-making. Decision-making is made easier when you know where you want to get to. Success is simple, not easy. And sometimes you need to grasp the simple “inside the box” solution, rather than looking for the more complex/ easy solution.
 
Anyone who has heard my joke about the goat will know what I mean by this.
 
You have to let go FIRST, before you can take the next step. In fact, the test of whether you are ready for the next step is whether you have let go of the previous handhold yet.

De-select those activities that don’t allow you to move up your mountain.

In the same way your marketing should be designed to de-select; to not only attract the right type of customers, but also to deter the wrong type.

Most people and businesses forget this and simply focus on getting as many customers as possible… ok if you are a global brand. But for many smaller businesses the problem is not that they have too few clients, but that they have too many non-profitable clients. If you have to that means letting go of some “customers”. And in these times, that can almost feel an alien concept!

Are you holding onto something which is in turn holding you back? In life? in business? Have the courage to let go and reach higher up on the route you really want to take.


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