Security…protecting your customers, staff, cash and assets

In these recesionary times, security for one’s customers, staff, cash and assets is a  very serious issue…and one that should be regularly reviewed.

Prudent safeguards and planning for security breach scenarios makes sense. Business transformation is a holistic process…and one that should cover off all the risks.

The four issues I  first focus on when helping organisations are cash, creditors, customers and staff.

And the question I apply is…are we secure? It focuses the mind.

Maybe we can help you transform your business to higher profits?

Email me for a quick chat around the issues that are currently generating corporate pain.

cheers!

Pete

Pete Jeans

Director

SMO Sydney ( Australia)

E-mail Me!

5000 plus views and growing

I’m just delighted to report that we have hit our first milestone with more than 5000  leaders around the world having read this blog.

It’s taken about 20 months…and has vindicated our research and beliefs that we’re adding value…so thank you very much…and please keep reading and emailing.

We’re not a big player…but we’re in the very top few serious blogs on business transformation ( according to blog tracker Technorati ).

That means we’re relevant.

Maybe we can help you transform your business to higher profits?  Email me for a quick chat around the issues that are currently generating corporate pain.

Pete

 

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney (Australia)

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses

We’re going green…but do the colour differences matter?

Corporates are  rapidly embracing the csr, marketing and pr benefits of greening up their businesses.

But authoritative  green commentators and the media are calling for some standardisation in the carbon debate.

Is it possible that benchmarks for industry sectors could be useful…or is it a pipedream…given the diversity of operations.

One might argue that any incremental gain in C02 reduction is a step forward. It makes sense…as long as governments put incentives in place to raise the price of carbon generation to reduce supply long term.

Marketers have known for a long long time that the environment is the biggest issue we’re facing. And, consumers know it too.

Does it matter that there are different shades of corporate greening…or should we all just get on with it?

If you can’t measure it, how can you manage it?  I’m all for measurement.

We owe it to our kids.

cheers!

Pete

 

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses

Leading the development of effective teaming…what works and what doesn’t

Teams judge leaders…and leaders judge teams.

It’s human nature.

If you’re a leader, it’s only because you’ve been part of an effective team first. Even so, you’re being judged on your performance every minute of every day.

So, what works in the development of effective teaming?

Firstly, my view is that…

Effective teaming means team-creation and management…. which delivers desired output and results.

• Teams want leaders that clearly communicate objectives, policies, standards and expectations
• Teams want leaders that don’t interfere operationally; unless it’s critically essential or things change
• Teams expect to be adequately resourced, trained and supported
• Teams expect respect for their initiative and recognition for their hard yakka and ideas

What doesn’t work is the inverse of everything above.

And importantly, teams expect leaders to maintain the positive dynamics of the team…that is, the leader is responsible for creating inter-dependencies between team members…so that each member’s input contributes valuably to other team members’ output.

It’s simple…and it works. Amazing that such uncommon sense is often mislaid in some businesses today.

What are the effective teaming issues that work in your business space?

Comment below and I’ll publish them.

Cheers!

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses

Who should drive new product development?

In my view, the CEO should have a key driving role in new product development processes.

If customers are a business’s lifeline, then new product development is the store of lifejackets.

New product development is too important to be left to the marketers to enact. They can do the analyses…but the process management needs to be monitored closely, if not led… by the boss.

This minimises the risks of time delays, budget blowouts and lack of speed to market.

Give the process to the technical wallahs…and the outcomes will be frustratingly slow.

Put the new product development process reporting responsibility on the CEO’s KPI list so that it becomes a Board item…and things happen.

Blunt commentary…sure…but you need a store of lifejackets that float… for future certainty of new revenue contribution.

Cheers!

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses

There’s a malaise emerging in the business world

For some time now I’ve been watching an emerging phenomena in the business world. Simply put, people are not making decisions as fast as they used to… even compared to five years ago.

So what’s driving this suspected malaise?

Is it the case that popular matrix reporting structures are so diversifying responsibility… that accountability for making decisions has been lost in the politics of teaming?

Is the speed of the competitive race nowdays so fast… and the impact on leaders so consequentially risky…  that a reluctance to react seems to be a safe  option that results in slow decision-making?

Or are we seeing more new leaders take the helm who are more conservative than the boomer CEO’s who have ruled for the last decade or two?

I’m not sure what the reason is…but I do know that slow decision-making can be dangerous in competitive markets  when you’re up against competent, professional, agile and ambitious organisations who don’t like losing.

Cheers!

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses

The rockface always exposes invaluable gems

Leaders have a responsibility to work at the rockface from time to time…particularly at times when things are changing….or haven’t changed for a while.

And the added-value from investing some time alongside the troops in front of customers …as well as being a prisoner to your own processes…means you can experience the first-hand feedback and the frustrating anomolies….and fix them quickly.

The gems at the rockface are those simple things that can save and make you money. For example, packaging that fails easily during shelf-stacking…or bar codes on stretchfilm wrapping that don’t scan properly…or poorly stacked pallets that are inefficient to store or deconsolidate.

Here’s some more raw diamonds that may need polishing:

• distributors’ sales staff whose inadequate product training fails to deliver your key brand-benefit messages
• sales promotional instructional guidelines that are complicated to understand and cause confusion with consumers
• internal reporting processes that are followed inconsistently by different members of the same sales teams
• demotivated staff that deliberately or ignorantly create conflict and unrest

No matter the scale of your enterprise, at point-of-sale the challenge is creating customer satisfaction on a scale of one-to-one.

If your business scale is large…and your processes, systems and people are failing or not up to par one-to-one…your risk is exponentially more serious.

So get in the trenches regularly. Odds on your competitors ’senior management are there already if they’re smart.

Cheers!

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses

A lesson for all organisations?

There was a vibe in the place…

Recently I had a salient reminder in what makes a successful business tick.

It was full of great people who were placed in roles that took advantage of their style and customer service skills.

Their systems were appropriate…not cumbersome…and very practical to extract information easily and quickly.

Their product ranges were complete and competitive and priced right to build customer loyalty.

Their management were accessible and customer-centric…but very importantly, let their line staff do their job without unnecessary interference.

Their policies were well-known but flexible… so that opportunities weren’t missed going forward.

But most of all, there was a vibe in the place that said welcome to the team…you’re part of us.
Work hard and smart…and pitch in with your colleagues…and you’ll grow with us.

Refreshing!

Could there be a lesson in this for all organisations?

Cheers!

Pete Jeans CEO SMO Sydney

Email Pete Jeans or click on SMO Sydney to learn more about our experience and advantages in building successful businesses