A number of years ago, and some of you may remember this story, NASA sent a space probe to Mars, and the high tech probe crashed into the planet it was supposed to be orbiting and observing. When a diagnostic analysis was taken as to the cause of the mishap, it was discovered that during a routine maintenance event, conducted remotely by computer, some of the basic orbiting co-ordinates were re-set incorrectly using imperial measurements (feet and inches) instead of metric measurements (it could have been vice-versa!). This caused millions of dollars- worth of space probe to crash. Ooops! Imagine being the guy who made that input (“I’ll get me coat”).

The story had a resonance. Isn’t it often the case that the seemingly obvious things get overlooked when surrounded by complexity.

And it’s a principle which many people miss, with a proliferation of techniques, of complexity, of sophistication which our modern 21st century seems to encourage.

SIMPLICITY

Yep… I’ve said it many times, and I still believe it to be true. In fact the more I observe, the more true it becomes! Success is SIMPLE… not easy… BUT DEFINITELY SIMPLE.

And the more you simplify life, the more you simplify business, the more likely to succeed you will be.

One of the keys here is our Goals. The problem for most people is not that they don’t know what they want. In fact, in our modern world we CAN, pretty well, HAVE EVERYTHING… we can certainly have more than any generation before us, and some would say we can have too much!
In many ways, the problem is that as well as not deciding specifically what they DO want, most people haven’t decided what they don’t want!

So when we set our goals, as well as identifying what we DO want, we are also excluding what we DON’t want, and that is very powerful. The process of setting goals also includes the process of rejecting/ de-selecting certain other possible goals. Once you focus on your goals, you are also able to decide not to have other things… and that helps to SIMPLIFY.

Once you have set your goals, properly, you can see what does not fit with that plan, and yet is draining time, energy, money.

Beyond the setting of goals, the ability to simplify is an ability worth cultivating, and it is a habit which you can also develop in all areas, … by being well organised, by being free of clutter (physically, in your environment, and psychologically). It always amazes me when someone tells me they are struggling to focus and I observe them working in a huge swamp of clutter. Their effectiveness is constantly hampered by this morass of fluff, stuff, and the detritus of their lives.

Have a look around now: What else can YOU simplify?  

Focusing on the simple can create marvellous breakthroughs, and in business too.
Some of the best business building ideas have been so simple:
For example… The Shampoo manufacturers who managed to double their turnover using one simple phrase on the bottle instructions… That phrase “Rinse and Repeat.” Simple.

Being uncluttered, and focussing on SIMPLICITY will also help you to be clear about what you personally need to do to succeed, and to see that you are either doing it or you’re not. In that sense you are “Thinking in BINARY” as one of our FOCUS Gym members refers to it. You are either sticking to your actions or you are not. There’s no in-between. So you are either doing those things which others don’t do, and which will make you a success, or you are not.

Sometimes, Simple means hard! It might be simple, but does need you to grit your teeth and get to it… rather than making it complex and easy. Most people make it complex as a distraction to avoid actually doing the thing which creates the results.

Are you one of those people who have Massive “to do lists”, for example?

Create a regime instead- and keep it simple- and focused on those few things that really do make a difference- on those SIMPLE things which generate success.

Often the solution to any challenge we face is in a SIMPLE form… it’s whether we grasp the nettle, and go with the SIMPLE (but often hard) solution that determines whether we reach our true heights.

Some time ago, one of my new clients echoed the thoughts of so many business people when he told me that the main barrier to creating a clear business direction is lack of time to sit down and really work it out!

When I suggested that we needed a “Hotel Day”, his eyes lit up…“What’s a Hotel Day?”

So I explained…
Well, it’s the opportunity to get away from the business environment to put together a strategic blueprint for the future of your business. Armed with a pad of plain paper to capture your thinking, you take a day out, preferably in luxurious surroundings, relaxed and with no interruptions.

For those businesses and business people who do have a clear business vision, the effect on their operations, their marketing, their clients and their own teams stands out a mile. They are far more focused, they find it far easier to make decisions, they add far more value for their clients, and they can transmit a far more compelling vision to their teams. They also find time to plan the next steps in detail. And it doesn’t just end with one Hotel day. There needs to be a regular review… so a number of Hotel days spread regularly throughout the year is the answer.

The frequency with which you hold Hotel Days varies for each person. However they must be regular… every three months, or even every month, depending on your personal style and needs. Every six months certainly seems too far apart for me, and for most others.
 
“Hotel Days” are now a regular feature in all my clients' calendars.
And they remain so in mine too... and that's what I'll be doing Monday.
 

One of my favourite Billy Connolly gags is when he says: “There were 400 Clydeside dockyard workers pulling on a rope. When the rope snapped, no one fell over”. Think about it.

This is what we call The Ringelmann Effect.

How does it affect you/ your business? Particularly if you lead a team of people, how might this be preventing you achieving your goals, how might it be blocking your Awesome Special Missions  (ASMs - those short term big breakthrough goals you are cureently working on)?

How to overcome it? A number of factors have been identified as means of overcoming The Ringelmann Effect.

Many of you will be familiar with the film The Shawshank Redemption. I don’t want to spoil it for those who may not have seen it (by the way, I can highly recommend it).
Lots of messages in the film… sheer persistence being the most obvious.

On a Day-to-Day basis, just as in The Shawshank Redemption, the Vision / Goal and your Stunning Plan become the key components of your Motivation. Your Motiv-Action.

One of my clients, let’s call him Jim, recently told me that as a relaxation he had decided to return to playing a musical instrument, an instrument that he hadn’t picked up for 4 years. In fact, Jim had only played this instrument for 3 months in 2007, initially for about 15 minutes a day, but after a couple of weeks this became sporadic. Then, like so many resolutions, it seemed to whither, for whatever reason.

Secondly, he thought… “How good could I have now been, if I had just kept on going with it over those intervening four years… just for fifteen minutes every day?”

Isn’t that like so many things in business too?

How much more business could you have got, just by doing the little things on a regular basis. Often it’s the simple things which make the big difference. And success is often Simple. But not easy!

And in 4 years’ time what might you look back on and think, “If only…”
Make this the year of doing the “If onlys”.

“It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you don’t stop.”
Confucious.

One of the issues I am most often asked to help people in business to improve is the effectiveness of their Meetings. Yes, of course, we know meetings must have an objective. But is there something more that can be done structurally to ensure meetings are more effective?

I am always fascinated by the time which is allocated to a meeting (if at all). 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 is that timescale allocated explicitly or subliminally? Whether that's just because it's the way our electronic diary systems are set to appear, there appears a tacit understanding that an hour is required. But is it? And if it is, does everyone know that, and is the hour structured correctly?

The upshot is often that the meeting fills out to the time tacitly allocated, frequently beyond the time allocated by some people, becasue timings weren't necessarily made explicit. And we end up wasting time which 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, 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 seven minutes. During that time, everyone focuses on final preparations for the meeting. Making sure you know what the objectives of the meeting are, and that you can make the points you need to make in the most effective manner. Remember when it comes to setting out the objectives, the meeting’s purpose is not “to discuss x,y,z”. Discussion is the vehicle. The objective is to decide x, y, z.
• Second section is to hold the actual meeting, in 46 minutes.
• The final section 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, making the key phone call, etc.

For many years I have kept an “Awesome/ Awful” log to record both ends of the service spectrum, and ask how to apply the lessons to both my own business and to my clients businesses. I start the Awesome lessons from the front of the notebook, and the Awful ones are page by page in from the back. It’s a simple system that requires just a single notebook and your eyes and ears.

If you travel and get to see businesses at the frontline (and I know many of you do), why not just jot down a quick note on what you see when it’s awesome, or awful. And then ask: “What is the lesson here?”

On a recent drive south from my home in Scotland, for a series of meetings and events (taking the car was the only convenient way to do it), about an hour into the 7 hour journey on day one I noticed a slight squeak coming from the car. Not one of those squeaks that’s enough to make you stop and seek immediate roadside assistance, but it was there. And it got gradually worse. I reached my destination at the end of day one, checked in for a relaxing night, before I would drive the 20 miles next morning for my first meeting…But I didn’t sleep well thinking about the noise, the hassle, the likely cost. As we know, cars are fine when they are working well, and you are confident in them.

Day two saw me rise early, conducted the FOCUS Gym broadcast down the line from my hotel room while Liz, back at the office did an online check for garages in the vicinity of my first meeting and phoned around to get me checked in for a quick look over the vehicle.

I made my way to the most convenient garage and was met by Jeff, the proprietor. He came out for a test drive, listened intently to both what I had to tell him, and to the now pretty evident squeaking noise. He hardly spoke as we toured the local housing estate.

He also appreciated I was on a tight schedule, a number of meetings in a number of towns up and down the M1 corridor for a few days. We returned to his garage.

“OK, Sir. Now, I’ve got an idea what it might be, but I want to put her on the ramp.”
Hmmm. A one ramp garage, with at least 6 cars ahead of me on his work schedule, and all packed into the small yard, so how was this going to work.
“Don’t you worry about that Sir. Where’s your first meeting? OK, well, we’ll get you to that no problem, even if your cars still here.”
Then, whoosh, and it seems mechanics and hired hands are everywhere, reversing cars out of the garage compound and off the ramp, to allow me to drive on.

Ramp up, me standing with bated breath (but by this time I have a coffee in my hand courtesy of one of the helpers).
Quick check over. And without the archetypal sucking of air through clenched teeth to make me fear the worse. Phone call, parts ordered. On their way. Will arrive in about 30 minutes.

Meantime… we can see you’re busy Sir, do you want to have a seat in the office, make any calls, etc…
I do, and enjoy the banter in the background about Leicester City’s footballing fortunes, the state of cricket at Grace Road (where Leicestershire play) and the latest on the rugby (Leicester Tigers).

Parts arrive, and work begins. In reality, work has already begun, dismantling the faulty parts from the car… wheels are off, and there’s gear everywhere. Every few minutes I’m given an update by Jeff, and shown what is happening at every stage.
 
Ninety minutes later I’m on my way, with new brake pads, full set, front and back, and a test drive done. Crikey, they have worked at Formula 1 Pit Stop speed to get me sorted. And the price… well not even a couple of hundred pounds. Brilliant.

OK… straight in the Awesome part of the journal.

And never had Jeff, or his assistant Chris, or the garage “old boy” (every garage should have an old guy who is past retirement but just likes hanging around, getting the morning papers, milk and rolls, and is ready to exchange happy banter with the customers) done a customer care training course in their lives. Never had they looked at a poster of a Lion with the words “Remember, the customer is king” underneath. Never had they used the platitude “There’s no I in Team”. Never had they had brainstorming or break-out sessions, or role-plays on how to make the customer journey a “satisfactory experience”.
They just focused on sorting my problem, minimum fuss, maximum speed, to get me back on the road. And they genuinely cared that they did a good job and that I went away happy. No, not just happy. Delighted. I did.

So, if you are in the Leicester area, and need a garage… Jeff is at G&D 4x4 specialists…
0116 277 4111