Business in Motion: Insights from Business Leaders

Tal Dehtiar is a man who makes a difference. Some people want to - Tal does.



He is my guest on the Business in Motion radio show this week. His latest project is Oliberte. Read more below.







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Oliberté is the first to market premium urban-casual footwear made in Africa.
Our logo represents a new voice in footwear and for Africa. During a revolt, when rebels finally gain their freedom, they take the country's most important symbol, the flag, and rip out the middle stating that a new beginning is here.
Africa is more than just poverty and Oliberté is the start of a revolution that shows, through urban footwear, this is the real Africa!



With every pair of Oliberté you buy, you are making a powerful statement that Africa is proud, free and full of potential. You do this all while being a hero, because you are the reason men and women from Liberia to Swaziland to Ethiopia have a job, have food on the table and can send their children to school.



Oliberté is not a charity – it is a company that believes you can change how the world views Africa and help build lives every time when you buy a pair of Oliberté shoes that are made in Africa.


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Listen to Business In Motion Fridays at noon on 93.3 FM in Hamilton, Ontario or online at http://cfmu.msumcmaster.ca/

George Torok

Host of the weekly radio show, Business in Motion

Canadian Business Speaker

Labels: Business in Motion, change, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship

Listen, view and read these interviews

George Torok makes an engaging and provocative interview guest for your TV show, radio program or print article. He had appeared on dozens of TV and radio shows and has been quoted in hundreds of print articles. George Torok knows how to deliver a memorable interview because he is a communication specialist, radio show host and independent journalist. What's his style? What's his opinion?

What does he look and sound like? Check out the following video, audio and print interviews. To arrange an interview with George Torok call 905-335-1997

Video and print interview
Motivational Speakers
George Torok was featured in the Hamilton Spectator as one of four local motivational speakers. Read the article and enjoy the video. He is the fourth speaker on this video. He is worth waiting for - or you can fast forward the video.
Read the article and watch the video


Video interview
Entrepreneurs
Enjoy this 7-minute video interview with George Torok about the lessons he has learned from interviewing over 400 entrepreneurs on his weekly radio show, Business In Motion. The off-camera interviewer is John Robert Colombo - the Canadian prolific author and holder of the Order of Canada.
Watch this video interview.

Audio interview
Achieve an Unfair Marketing Advantage
"Do you want an unfair advantage over your competitors? You steely eyed entrepreneur, you. In the current SmallBizPod, the small business podcast no less, there's a ball-busting interview with the Canadian writer and marketing expert George Torok. George is one of those rich successful guys who chooses to share his success rather than rub it in your face. He gives away trade secrets and tells you how to make yourself into a brand you can sell. This podcast may sound boring, but the info is pure marketing gold dust. It will make you want to run out immediately and close a deal." (The Brits do have a way with words.) Listen to this audio interview

Print Interview
Secrets of Power Marketing
Interview with George Torok regarding the bestselling book, "Secrets of Power Marketing: Promote Brand You".
In this interview, co-author, George Torok discusses how individuals can harness the power of personal marketing and what big business can adapt for their success. This interview was prepared for your convenience. You may quote from this interview in part or whole.
Read this interview

An interview with George Torok George Torok is entertaining. He is an provocative, insightful and engaging interview guest. He can be topical, funny and pithy. As an experienced interviewer he is willing, able and eager to help you with your interview.

To interview George Torok call 905-335-1997

George Torok

Canadian Business Speaker

Labels: Business in Motion, business speaker, interview, news, success

Business Basics: How To Run A Meeting
By Susan Adams
Forbes.com

Dr. Nadine Katz goes to a lot of meetings. Some of them last so long the participants have to order in food or switch rooms.

About seven years ago Katz, who is associate dean, professor and director of medical education in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and women's health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, decided she'd try to figure out how to make those endless meetings more efficient.

Her study produced great results at Einstein. Though she doesn't like to toot her own horn--"I'm turning crimson right now," she says when asked how her meeting style has helped her career--she has improved a slew of committee conclaves at her institution. Two years ago she was promoted to associate dean. "You never know who's going to be in the room and who might be considering you for another opportunity," she allows. She even speaks to physicians' professional associations about how to improve meetings.

Katz's approach applies to meetings everywhere. Her tips go beyond the standard meeting advice, which pretty much comes down to start and end on time, set an agenda and stick to it.

Her number one recommendation:
Prepare, prepare and prepare some more. Not only does she lay out in advance a detailed agenda for a meeting and touch base with the participants to alert them to important points, she also surveys the physical space where the meeting will be held--down to details like the room temperature and whether there might be a flickering fluorescent light bulb. "I am someone who believes in overly preparing," she admits. When ordering refreshments, she even checks on individual taste. "If someone likes Tab, we order Tab," she says. Small amenities like that can help participants feel welcome and eager to participate.

Read the rest of this article at Forbes.com
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Clearly there is a lot more to running an effective meeting than just showing up. It's all about the details.

Over the decades I've attended way too many meetings and enjoyed very few of them. You might understand my feelings about meetings.

“There are three types of meetings – boring, complete waste of time and postponed.”

George Torok
Host of radio show, Business in Motion
Motivational Business Speaker

Labels: communication, leadership, management, managing, problem solving

Virtual Reality

“Virtual” is a word that is over used, misunderstood and misused.

In the simplest definition virtual means “almost but not quite”. Another word for virtual might be imitation.

Hence virtual leather is not leather but might look like or feel like the real thing. A virtual disaster is not a disaster. A virtual success is not a success.

When the boss asks if you are ready to present your report and you answer “I’m virtually there.” The boss knows that you are really saying that you are not ready yet.

When you ask you kids how they did on their exams – they tell you that “I virtually aced them.” You know there are some problems.

When you ask your doctor, “How do my tests look?” The doctor responds with, “You are virtually in perfect health”. You know it’s time for a serious conversation.

When you ask your spouse, “Do you love me?” And the response is “I virtually love you.” You know it’s time for counseling or divorce court.


But some people seem to like the word virtual and are using it.

Virtual Teams
What does that mean? Teams that look like and smell like teams but are not really teams? Apparently “virtual teams” is the phrase used to describe teams who are geographically dispersed. Are they really teams or just sales people on the road that occasionally touch base with head office? Are they really teams or are they just wandering minstrels that some head office wants to call teams?


Virtual Assistants
Not really my assistant but virtually. This group of entrepreneurs is providing assistance to other entrepreneurs. So what makes these virtual assistants virtual? I think it is that they pretend to be your full time assistant. So does the word virtual in this case mean pretend, phony or part time?

Sounds like outsourcing to me. Why not skip the phony title of virtual and just call it outsourcing?

And then there is the oxymoron of virtual reality. That’s like saying cold hot, bumpy smooth or fat thin.

Those phrases make virtual sense.

George Torok
Canadian Business Speaker
Toronto Business Speaker

Labels: business, communication, creativity, success

The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World

by Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, & Marty Linsky
Harvard Business Press,
Reviewed by Ian Cook

Dealing with change and problem solving–these tasks are at the core of what leader/managers do. But there are two distinctly different types of challenges that precipitate change and bring on problems for managers. The authors of this enlightening book lay these out right at the beginning:

1. Technical challenges – problems that can be pretty clearly defined and can be addressed with known solutions or ones that can be developed by a few technical experts. These fixes can usually be implemented using the organization’s current structures and procedures. No big impact on people here.

2. Adaptive challenges – these forces require significant (and often painful) shifts in people’s habits, status, role, identity, way of thinking, etc.For example, how do we change to put more decision authority in the hands of our front-line employees? Or, high tech communications and teleworking are transforming us into a virtual company but people feel they are losing touch with one another and with the corporate center.

Most managers come up through organizational ranks primarily on the strength of their professional or technical knowledge. Their strong suit is tackling technical challenges and solving them through analysis, logic, and experience.

This default response pattern will not work nearly as well on adaptive challenges, however, because these are less clear. They tend to impact the organization as a whole system of interrelated processes and human elements. They require the involvement of many or all stakeholders, especially employees, to come up with and implement an optimal solution. They call for an “adaptive leadership” which mobilizes people and units that frequently have different needs, priorities and perspectives toward new ways of working and ways of thinking.

This book is a roadmap for individuals at any level who want to lead “adaptively” in response to a complex change that is being faced. Rich with suggestions and examples, it divides the topic into three logical sections:

1. How to diagnose your organization (it’s current structure, culture, political dynamics and ability to adapt) and the nature of the challenge you face.

2. How to mobilize the system (interpreting the challenge, acting politically, surfacing and managing the inevitable conflict, experimenting, and making effective interventions to generate change.)

3. Seeing how you, yourself, are part of the system (as a leader, you have your own needs, vested interests, fears, perceptions and biases, connections with key others in the organization, etc., that will influence how you look at the problem and forge potential responses)

I am going to highlight just a few of the authors’ ideas that particularly caught my attention and convinced me to recommend this book.

On the “Balcony” and “On the Dance Floor”The two perspectives an adaptive leader must have. The “balcony” (looking down on the “dance”) is where you get a larger perspective of what you’re facing and how you are doing with your response. From here you do your observing of patterns, reflecting, option thinking, analyzing and monitoring of the change.

When you take action and make an intervention, you have stepped onto the “dance floor” and are participating in the “dance.” For example, you convene a meeting, announce a strategy, create a task force, restructure, reassign some staff. The point is you need to shift back and forth frequently as you plan and execute your response to the adaptive challenge, experiment with strategies and assess the results, solicit input from opposing factions and deliberate on how best to deal with them.

The “Productive Zone of Disequilibrium”…with your “Hand on the Thermostat”
Since this is an adaptive challenge you face, you will, of necessity, be taking your people outside their comfort zone. But how much “heat” should you create for them? The authors’ answer: as much as they can take! You want to get their attention and keep the change moving forward without causing them to totally resist. With keen observation, the adaptive leader keeps adjusting the “thermostat” (applying more pressure for change or backing off temporarily) just enough as the process unfolds. This surely must be where leadership becomes an art.

“Authorizers”
We all have authorizers. They are anybody who grants us the authority (formal or informal) to lead. Your boss is an obvious one. She gives you your job description and decides whether to intervene when she feels that you have gone outside your mandate. Your staff, by their willingness to respond to your leadership, are authorizers too. A group of recalcitrant employees can really limit your influence to get things done.

If you decide to exercise adaptive leadership and you are not positioned at the executive level, here are three things you need to keep in mind about authorizers:

1. A big reason people resist your push for changes in their behavior, procedures, ways of thinking, etc., is that they feel loyalties to certain of their authorizers. For example, a resistant sales team may feel obligations to their own Vice President who is on record as opposing moving from a geographical to a product line organization.

2. How much latitude you have to intervene is greatly influenced by your authorizers above you. Being an adaptive leader means pushing the edge of your authority and taking chances, then asking for forgiveness (vs. permission) later on.

3. On top of this, adaptive leadership is all about challenging people’s expectations and comfort levels. That, of course, can include the expectations and tranquility of those powerful authorizers above you in the chain of command.

Signs that the challenge is Adaptive
Ron Heifetz and his colleagues offer some great indicators that the challenge you have taken on is indeed an adaptive one, one that triggers an emotional response in people:

• People’s talk about the situation sounds increasingly like complaining.
• Previously successful responses and/or the efforts of internal or external “experts” have not alleviated the situation.
• The situation festers or reappears following a short-term fix.
• Current, perhaps long-held, values or truths in the organization seem to be getting in the way.

Finally, this book drives home the point that adaptive challenges are about people changing…

Often they must shift their behavior from what up to now has been guided by by deeply-worn neural pathways. They may have to learn new skills, take on new roles, adopt new beliefs, honor new values, and so on.Conflict between different stakeholders and groups that is inherent in the change process must be coaxed to the surface, mediated in a safe forum, and resolved.Then there is the adaptive leader himself who must be acutely aware of what is going inside him–his own doubts, feelings of incompetence, fear of failure, and apprehension about possible retribution or punishment for stands he takes.

If you have never read a book on dealing with change, I would start with William Bridges’ Managing Transitions. It lays out a simple framework for the (human) transition process, from “Endings” through the “Neutral Zone” to “New Beginnings.” Once you understand Bridges’ basic roadmap, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership is a great next step.

Adaptive leaders are courageous leaders. And in this increasingly complex world we need a lot of them.
(1176 words)

Ian Cook, presenter and consultant, works with managers who want to increase their effectiveness as a leader and build a stronger team.

To book Ian for a training seminar, team facilitation or keynote presentation, call toll-free at: 1-888-FULCRUM (385-2786) or e-mail: Contact Us
For more articles and book reviews of interest to managers please go to: www.888fulcrum.com

Fulcrum Associates Inc. hereby grants you permission to reprint articles/book reviews, provided that you:
publish the author's byline and contact information exactly as they appear at the end of the article/book review and
You inform us of your intended use of the piece. Contact us toll-free at 1-888-FULCRUM (385-2786) or E-mail: Contact Us
You are encouraged to pass along to others and/or reprint these articles/book reviews for use electronically or on paper, as long as the following credit lines are included: This article/book review and others are available from Fulcrum Associates Inc. at: www.888fulcrum.com

Labels: book review, change, Ian Cook, leadership, management, problem solving

Want to lose your job. Keep buying foreign


That was the bumper sticker on the Chrysler pickup in front of me at the stoplight. I’ve seen that bumper sticker a few times before and was bemused by it each time.

I don’t remember if the other stickers were on Chrysler products. For sure it was one of the former big American three. When I saw the bumper sticker my immediate thought was ‘Red neck idiot”.

That bumper sticker reveals more about the individual then he might care to reveal. I say “he” because each time the driver was a male.

He is afraid of competition. His message screams – don’t buy from the competition because I don’t want to compete. I’m too comfortable with my highly paid job. If the only reason to buy your product is to save your job – how good can the product be?

How does he define foreign? Is it by geography? Does he care about the workers in the next city, county, province or state? Is Canada foreign to USA? Did he buy local produce at the grocery store? Are Florida oranges in his kitchen? Is he eating bananas from South America?

Does he abhor other countries’ products? I hope there are no TV’s in his house – because they are no longer made in North America. How serious is he about not buying foreign?

Better not be any computers in his house or office. Dell is an American based company but if you open any computer you will discover a map of third world countries on the mother board.

I just bought a light bulb at the Home Depot in Burlington, Ontario. It was manufactured in Mexico. Is that bad? Mexicans, Americans and Canadians participated in the delivery of this product. Does he feel threatened by that?

Clothing. What are you wearing? Better not be wearing Nike – because it comes from foreign nations. As a Canadian patriot you have very few choices for clothing.

Did this Canadian patriot ever buy or desire to buy a vacation in the USA, Caribbean or Europe? Did he promise to take his family to Disney World or his wife to Hawaii? Imagine how unpatriotic that would be. Why not vacation in Nova Scotia or the Yukon?

Did he enjoy a pizza, Chinese, Greek or other foreign dish lately? How committed is this red neck to avoiding the purchase of foreign?

Maybe this redneck is only worried about his own neck and just wants to keep his easy job. You can’t blame him. But you don’t need to listen to him or feel sorry for him.

I suggest that you buy the best deal that you get even if that is foreign.


George Torok
Host of Business in Motion
Canadian Business Speaker

Labels: business, business speaker, Canada, Toronto convention

It's the small businesses that are going to get America back on its feet again. Iconic entrepreneur Richard Branson explains in this video interview.



Richard Bransen in video interview about the role of entrepreneurs to end the recession.

George Torok

Host of radio show Business in Motion

Follow EntrepreneurX on Twitter

Labels: entrepreneurship, interview, leadership, recession, small business, video

July 20, 2009 Globe & Mail Harvey Schachter
Monday Morning Manager

Harvey Schachter's guide on how to handle everything from overflowing e-mail to meeting overload

NO BARKING, PLEASE

Burlington Ont-based consultant George Torok has coined a new word, barketing, which is a cross between marketing and barking like a dog: Barking, he says is often repetitive, annoying and loud, and always a one-way message. Barketing is marketing gone the way of dogs, as you annoy customers with your message attempt, try to outshout the competition, sound like the rest of the pack, and display no finesses. Avoid it says.
George Torok blog
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As appeared in the Globe and Mail

George Torok

Labels: business, business strategy, marketing, news

Evan Carmichael offers an article directory website that is a good resource for entrepreneurs. Lots of helpful articles plus motivational quotes and stories about inspiring entreprenuers.

If you offer a sevice or product to entrepreneurs then this is also a good site to publish your articles. When you publish your articles you get links to your websites or blogs and there is no cost to you - unless you join the elite program.

Check it out at http://www.evancarmichael.com/

Read my published articles at http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2700/summary.php

George Torok

Labels: article directory, entrepreneurship, experts, marketing, motivation

1. Personal mastery


2. Purpose mastery


3. Interpersonal mastery


4. Change mastery


5. Resilience mastery


6. Being mastery


7. Action mastery
   

• confidence in yourself and your purpose


• strong achievement drive


• ability to learn from your mistakes


• agility


• living a balanced lifestyle


• having a close support network


• the willingness to work with what you can control or influence, while accepting what you can’t
  

1. Publish the author's byline and contact information exactly as they appear at the end of the article/book review and


2. You inform us of your intended use of the piece.

Labels: book review, leadership

By Jim Estill

These are uncertain times. Many people and companies are facing hardship. This is a world of great economic turbulence. This turbulence has two effects on people - it can paralyze them so they do nothing and simply retreat into their shell and "complain" how harsh the world is to them. In others, it galvanizes them to take action.

The current conditions just are. Accept them. Use the harshness to create energy and action.

Not all actions are the right actions but taking some action is much healthier than not. This is a good time to "Fail Often, Fail Fast, Fail Cheap". Try new things. Some will work, others might not. To fail is not to be a failure, to not try is to be a failure.
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Read the rest of this article at Canadian Marketing blog.

Read Jim Estill's CEO Blog - Time Leadership.

Jim Estill was a guest of the Business in Motion Radio show.

George Torok

Labels: business, business strategy, CEO, confidence, leadership, recession, success

Happy Canada Day!

On July 1, Canada celebrates 142 years as a nation.

Enjoy this collection of articles about Canada and Canadians.

Proud Canadians
I travelled the world to meet other Canadians.

10 Canadian Whines
Yes, we can laugh at ourselves.

In Canada We Have Freedom
How a visit behind the Iron Curtain made me understand and appreciate freedom.

The Yukon Spirit: Perfect for Entrepreneurs
Why the Yukon is the perfect environment for nuturing entreprenuers.

My 10 Favourite Places in Canada
You might agree or disagree with my picks.

Canadian Quotations
John Robert Colombo included some of my words in "The Penguin Dictionary of Popular Canadian Quotations".

Famous Lasting Words, Great Canadian Quotations
Another collection of Canadian Quotations from The Great Gatherer, John Robert Colombo.

Happy Canada Day!

George Torok
Canadian Motivational Speaker
Canadian Business Speaker

Labels: Canada, entrepreneurship, motivation, Quotations

George Torok was the guest expert of Stephen Bell, host of Authors Unscripted Radio, the internet radio arm of the International Non Fiction Writers Association.

The topic was the bestselling book, Secrets of Power Marketing and how entrepreneurs can market themselves more effectively in these challenging times.

Enjoy this 60 minute interview in which George Torok discussed:

• How he was influenced by his mentor and co-author Peter Urs Bender
  
• Why more business owners need to realign their marketing strategy to sell to the greedy not the needy.
  
• The best form of marketing and how to get more from it
  
• The most common and costly mistake in advertising
  
• The three criteria by which to measure all your marketing
  
• The cost – value conflict and why entrepreneurs get fooled by it
  
• Marketing in the recession – mistakes and tips
  
• What small business can do instead of branding and why
  
• And more

Here is another unusual perspective that George Torok offered in this interview.

Why do we think that we only need to provide a better mouse trap? What did the Second World War do to taint the self marketing beliefs of baby boomers? What parenting mistakes they made in teaching their offspring about self marketing? Once you understand the reason for the mistakes you can break the curse.


Click below to listen to this engaging and insightful interview with George Torok on Authors Unscripted Radio. (The sound quality is not so good but the interview is fabulous.)

Or follow this link.

http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/WTjchPrx

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“George Torok is a man as passionate about running a marathon as helping your run your business and life well.

I had the pleasure of interviewing George during authors unscripted at www.infwa.com and I was impressed with his knowledge and how great of a speaker he is. If you want to take affirmations and the power you possess in your business to the next level George Torok is the man you need to listen to.”

Stephen Bell
Host of Authors Unscripted Radio
The Networking Masters.com
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George Torok
Business Speaker

Labels: business, business speaker, entrepreneur, interview

Enjoy this video interview with George Torok about what he has learned about entrepreneurs from his experience of interviewering over 400 business leaders on the radio show, Business in Motion. The powerful questions asked of him in this interview are from the prolific author, John Robert Colombo.

John Robert Colombo pulls some powerful tips and advice out of George Torok in this short seven minute interview.




George Torok

Business in Motion

Motivational Business Speaker

Canadian Motivational Speaker

Labels: Business in Motion, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, interview, success

What to Do When Your Team Gets “Stuck”:
7 Ways to Get It Moving Again
book review by Ian Cook

There is no question about it. A team can be a powerful vehicle for accomplishing a major project, guiding a unit to superior performance, or bringing together diverse perspectives to solve a pressing problem.

Have you ever been a member of a smooth functioning, high performing team? Those of you who have, no doubt, harbor fond memories of how energizing it is and how great that rush of pride feels when you achieve great things together.

The best teams, including certainly that great team you were on, are not just adept at driving outcomes. They also monitor their process,–how the group deliberates and makes decisions–the morale of the group and the well-being of the individual members. Therefore, the best teams are aware of how well they are doing during a meeting and, when necessary, discuss it openly right on the spot or in a debrief discussion at the end.

Getting Stuck
Do you remember the last time you were in your car when your wheels were mired deep in a patch of oozy mud (or, for those of you from a colder climate, in a bank of snow and ice)? How heavy it feels to be stuck. How helpless and frustrated you feel. You try to accelerate, spinning your tires faster and faster. If that doesn’t work, you try first revving up, then pausing, in an attempt to get a back-and-forth motion going so you can catch the next forward momentum and rocket out of the muck.

While even the best teams get stuck occasionally, most working groups experience this state more often than they realize or admit. I have seen some teams stay stuck for quite awhile, for days, even months.

Just what do I mean by “stuck?” Here are a few examples, when…
…A couple of people continue to dominate the discussion.
…After much debate, you still have two factions pushing their different solutions or goals.
…The discussions keep going off agenda and consuming too much time.
…Certain individuals hold up team progress by missing meetings or failing to deliver on task commitments they have made to the group.

The vast majority of teams either are not aware–or simply ignore it–when the team (which is, remember, a group of human beings) becomes stuck. Why? Because “stuckness” is a people issue, a so-called soft skills problem. It calls for courageously confronting the whole group or certain members and potentially bringing emotions into play.

The Cost of Remaining Stuck

You can’t afford to deny or ignore it for very long. When your team gets stuck, it can cost you serious money, in at least three ways:

The energy and enthusiasm around the table drops off. Team members become discouraged. They start to lose interest in the team’s goals. If the situation isn’t resolved, their off-line comments about the team turn negative. (“Man, what a waste that meeting was. We’re going nowhere. I wish they’d let me drop off this team and just do my regular job.”)
The extra time each one of you spends spinning team wheels constitutes an opportunity cost.

That time and effort could certainly be used more productively elsewhere.
Your team may end up squandering the time available for a quality decision on an issue or it may fail to meet promised deadlines. Obviously, poor decisions or missed deliverables can have serious negative repercussions for the operation and for the wider organization.
It pays to recognize when your team is stuck and then intervene quickly to get it humming again. But this still begs two questions: How do you know when your team is, in fact, stuck? What can you do to turn it around?


Seven Pitfalls and Seven Solutions

Below are seven situations that can cause your team to become bogged down and unproductive. In italics are suggestions of how to respond in order to give your team new found traction.
Lack of Agreement.We often proceed with the business of the team without everyone being clear and onboard about the team’s goals, priorities, tasks and time-lines. Have you ever held a discussion as a group to clarify everybody’s expectations regarding objectives, team operating rules and individual roles and accountabilities? Raise questions when you are not clear about something. Challenge the team to confirm that everyone is on the same page.

Lack of Commitment.
Sometimes people’s initial commitment to the team’s goals and agreed-upon priorities wanes. You can hear it in their voices and see it in their record of attendance, participation and delivery on promises made to members. When some people withhold their commitment, it can be a drag on the rest. Help each member identify benefits that will accrue to him or her personally from the team’s success.

Lack of Accountability.
Are all members following through on tasks they accept responsibility for and promises they make to the group? Take accountability for confronting–with respect and for the good of the team–a colleague when he or she does not (take accountability to) deliver on task commitments by the agreed-upon deadline.

Lack of Leadership.
Whom among you do team members rely upon to step forward and lead? Who keeps the team on target and on agenda? It need not always be the formal leader, the boss. Any member can take the initiative, when needed, to challenge, inspire or confront his/her colleagues. Ask the manager to be more directive when leading. At the same time, raise the issue with the team that none of you seems to play a leadership role. Or, try stepping in yourself.

Lack of Communication.
Communication is the lifeblood of your team. It is how the team makes decisions and gets things done. Are people being authentic when they speak in team discussions? For that matter, is it safe to say what you think, even if it goes against what the group–or the leader–thinks? Does everyone have a chance to contribute? Do members truly dialogue or do they just engage in dueling arguments? Ask everyone to be more conscious of listening, honoring all points-of-view and disagreeing constructively, with respect.

Lack of Collaboration.
Some teams, by their very nature, need to collaborate more than others. This is particularly true for groups, such as project teams, that have to share information, reach consensus decisions and integrate individual tasks into a collective outcome. This, of course, is less of an issue for a management team composed of department heads with little in common other than they report to the same boss. When collaboration is a must, alert everyone to be sensitive to what their colleagues need and how their own action (or inaction) can impact their team mates’ contribution.

Lack of Trust.
Leadership expert Warren Bennis calls trust the “emotional glue” that holds a team together. It underpins all six elements, above. For trust to be present in your team, members must feel safe to disagree with and confront other individuals or even the team as a whole. They must believe that their colleagues genuinely hold their interests in high regard. Be patient; trust builds slowly. Encourage everybody to demonstrate their trustworthiness by meeting their commitments and speaking authentically. In return, others will reciprocate…and trust will grow.

Whether your team is a project, cross-functional, matrix, limited life or a permanent one, it will from time to time become stuck. Look to the above seven factors for the key to pulling your group out of the mud…or the snow!
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Ian Cook, presenter and consultant, works with managers who want to increase their effectiveness as a leader and build a stronger team.

To book Ian for a training seminar, team facilitation or keynote presentation, call toll-free at: 1-888-FULCRUM (385-2786) or e-mail: Contact Us
For more articles and book reviews of interest to managers please go to: http://www.888fulcrum.com/free_resources.aspx
Fulcrum Associates Inc. hereby grants you permission to reprint articles/book reviews, provided that you:
publish the author's byline and contact information exactly as they appear at the end of the article/book review and You inform us of your intended use of the piece. Contact us toll-free at 1-888-FULCRUM (385-2786) or E-mail: Contact Us

You are encouraged to pass along to others and/or reprint these articles/book reviews for use electronically or on paper, as long as the following credit lines are included: This article/book review and others are available from Fulcrum Associates Inc. at: http://www.888fulcrum.com/free_resources.aspx

Labels: book review, business, leadership, management

10 Reasons Small Business Fail
From the Canadian Chamber of Commerece


Small Businesses fail:
· 36% of in the first 2 years
· 55% in 5 years
· 71% within 10 years


Ten Key Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail
Potentially Fatal Errors You Must Avoid

1. Lack of an adequate, viable business plan
2. Insufficient sales to sustain your business
3. Poor marketing plan: unappealing product, poor customer identification, incorrect pricing and lackluster promotion
4. Inadequate capital, misuse of capital and poor cost control
5. Poor management skills: lack of delegation, leadership and/or control
6. Lack of experience and knowledge
7. Lack of managerial focus/commitment
8. Poor customer service
9. Inadequate human resource management
10. Failure to properly use professional advice: i.e. accounting, legal, financial, etc
_________________________________________

An interesting list with no suprises. In my opinion the list is not a good representation of why business fails. And the points are not on the same levels of danger.

Number 2 ( lack of sales) is the symtom of the other points. You can do a lot of things poorly in your business as long as you generate enough sales. While not having enough sales will surely kill the business.

Number 4 (lack of captital and poor cost control) will quicken your demise. However if sales are pouring in you will enjoy a respite.

Marketing, (number 3) is the real maker or breaker of business. We've seen many business with many faults outdo better products because of superior marketing. And conversely, having a better product is never enough to succeed.

There are plenty of successful businesses with bad customer service. Lack of experience and knowlege never stopped the best entrepreneurs. Many are pioneering new territory. They learn and adapt as they go. The same observation applies to the business plan. Keep it simple and adapt it as things change.

In my opinion, more than any other reason business fails because of bad marketing.


George Torok

Host of Business in Motion

Marketing Expert and Author

Labels: business strategy, entrepreneurship, marketing, success

MEDIA RELEASE For Immediate Release
Friday, May 08, 2009

CHAMBER STRONGLY SUPPORTS JIM BALSILLIE’S HAMILTON NHL BID

Hamilton – The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce is strongly behind Jim Balsillie’s bid to bring the Coyotes to Hamilton, and is prepared to actively help sell tickets and boxes, and otherwise encourage widespread support amongst its 2,100 members, and throughout the broader region.

“We are more than enthusiastic about the potential for an NHL team in this City; not merely for the transforming effect that it can have to our Community, particularly our downtown;” says Ruth Liebersbach, President of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. “But more importantly because it just makes sound basic business sense to everyone involved, including the NHL, the City, and, more particularly, local entrepreneurs and their employees, indeed, all Hamiltonians. Hamilton is a hockey town and deserves the same level of hockey as enjoyed by their fellow Canadians in other regions; and that simply has not been the case in the past.”

Hamilton Chamber of Commerce had long advocated strongly for an NHL franchise for this Community, for many reasons, not the least of which is the business that it will attract to the City’s downtown core. They are convinced that the “trickle down” financial benefits will be tremendous for all Hamiltonians.

“It will be an economic shot in the arm to Hamilton of incalculable value. As former CFO for the Hamilton Bulldogs, I personally know the financial dynamics, and viability of this more than most!” adds Liebersbach. “This is more than a viable market for this team to operate successfully, and we enthusiastically applaud Jim for his Vision, Faith and Courage in driving this forward. We need entrepreneurs of this calibre; and I encourage all Hamiltonians, particularly our political leadership to get 100% behind him!”

“We need also to remember that an NHL franchise will be a Regional Team,” added Richard Koroscil, Chamber, and President-elect. “They will draw on a regional population of some 6.5 Million people – folks, who otherwise would likely never have a reason to visit our town. The jobs and prosperity opportunities for us are simply huge!”

The Chamber will open talks soon with Balsillie to determine ways that they can actively support his bid, including selling season tickets and boxes to Chamber members.

-30-

The HCC It is the oldest, largest and most broadly based business organization extant within the Hamilton economic region. Today, it comprises almost 2,100 individuals who represent about 1,200 companies and other organizations that collectively employ some 75, 000 Hamiltonians full time from all parts of Hamilton and indeed many beyond.
It has been the “ Voice of Hamilton Business” since 1845. Its advocacy and policy initiatives focus on Jobs and Prosperity for Hamilton.




For further information:

Ruth Liebersbach
President,
Hamilton Chamber of Commerce
(289) 308-6191

Or

John Dolbec
Chief Executive Officer
Hamilton Chamber of Commerce
W: (905) 522-1151, ext. 229
C: (905) 730-4224

Labels: Hamilton, Hamilton Chamber, Hockey, news release

Want Greater ROI From Your Meetings?
Six Questions That Will Make The Difference
book review by Ian Cook

First there’s the suffocating volume of e-mails. That’s complaint number one. But the next biggest gripe I hear from my clients is that they are spending way too much time in meetings.

Do any of these comments ring true about meetings where you work?

too long
no agenda (or, if there is one, we don’t follow it)
rambling, we get off topic a lot
little is actually decided
could have just circulated a memo
the boss does all the talking
no follow-through on commitments made

I can never quite figure it out? With people so strapped for time, it seems clear that excessive meetings consume a “mother load” of time that busy people today could put to better use. Why aren’t we “mining” time from our meetings?

If you agree with me and want to go after some of that precious time, adopt the following fundamental mind set about your meetings: treat every meeting as an investment. Attendees’ time and energy are valuable resources. When you call a meeting, always be thinking of how you can maximize the payback on everyone’s investment of time.

Here are six questions to ask yourself so your meetings will be productive and satisfying for all involved…and take less time!

1. Why am I calling this meeting?
It is an unfortunate fact but the most common reason meetings are convened is to exchange, collect, or pass on information. Be careful. This can be a real waste of time. If more than 25% of your meeting’s time is informational, there is probably a more cost effective way to accomplish this, such as e-mail or memo.

That said, here are some very good reasons to call a meeting. To…
ensure that all parties have the same understanding around an issue
surface new issues
develop strategies and/or action plans
address people’s reaction to new information, announcements or changes in plans
solve problems/make decisions
reconcile differences
assemble different perspectives and gain commitment
Be crystal clear about your overall purpose before you convene a meeting.

2. What specifically do I want to accomplish?
What are the actual questions or issues to be addressed?
What are the deliverables or outcomes?
Will the group be making decisions or just providing input?
Do we want to develop an action plan with time-line commitments or are we simply sharing updates on everybody’s activities?
Answers to these questions will determine the agenda, how long your meeting should be and how much time should be allocated to the various items.

3. Whom should I invite?
Consider the opportunity cost for someone attending your meeting vs. the benefit from his or her presence. Challenge yourself about whose attendance is truly essential and whose is optional? Also, does everyone need to be there for the entire meeting? Usually not.

Where it makes sense, let invitees know it is OK to attend only the part where they can add–or receive–value. Further in this spirit, make it absolutely acceptable for invitees to question the need for their presence before committing to attend. In so many organizations, if you decline an invitation, you are seen as devaluing the meeting…and often, by extension, the convener of the meeting.

4. What should I do prior to the meeting?
Always send out an agenda, in advance, even if it is just several short bullets in a quick e-mail. Solicit any items others would like included in the agenda. To save meeting time, distribute questions, issues, memos, articles, etc., for pre-reading and ask people to come prepared to contribute their ideas or recommendations. Remind specific individuals of any reports or presentations they have committed to make.

5. How should I run the meeting?
Start at or within five minutes of the agreed-upon time. This immediately acknowledges the value of the participants’ time and honors those who arrive on time.

It is a fact of organizational life, however, that some people arrive physically in the room at the appointed hour but are not immediately “present.” They are preoccupied, mulling over things that have happened earlier or worrying about issues they must deal with after the meeting. One sure sign is if their heads are still hunched over their blackberries.

To bring people’s conscious attention to this, try opening with something like, “Does anyone need to say or do anything in order to be fully present for this meeting?”

Keep your meeting moving along crisply, according to the agenda. Of course, the discussion may go off track or an item may need more time. If so, stop the conversation and bring this to the group’s attention. Obtain people’s agreement to deviate from the agenda.

Sometimes the group simply gets stuck, locked in a disagreement or struggling over a definition of terms. How do you recognize when it happens? The good indication–the group’s energy drops off. When this happens, interrupt the conversation and describe what you are observing. Say something like:
“I think we’re stuck” or “It feels like we’ve run out of steam”
“Does anyone else feel this way?”
“George and Sally, you’ve been arguing this same point for the last forty minutes. We need to move on.”

6. What is the best way to close my meeting?
Always wrap up with these two items:
“W3” – who will do what by when? This clarifies decisions made and invites people to take accountability for implementing them.

Then, shine the light briefly on “how” your meeting went, with a quick process debrief: “What did we do well today? What, if anything, can we do to be more effective next time?”

If you approach your meetings with these six questions in mind, everybody will appreciate it. Your hefty investment in meetings will yield greater returns. Your meetings will take less time.
And people who attend will have to find something else to gripe about…once they are exhausted from complaining about those infernal emails.


Ian Cook, presenter and consultant, works with managers who want to increase their effectiveness as a leader and build a stronger team.
To book Ian for a training seminar, team facilitation or keynote presentation, call toll-free at: 1-888-FULCRUM (385-2786) or e-mail: Contact Us

For more articles and book reviews of interest to managers please go to: www.888fulcrum.com
Fulcrum Associates Inc. hereby grants you permission to reprint articles/book reviews, provided that you:
publish the author's byline and contact information exactly as they appear at the end of the article/book review and

You inform us of your intended use of the piece. Contact us toll-free at 1-888-FULCRUM (385-2786) or E-mail: Contact Us

You are encouraged to pass along to others and/or reprint these articles/book reviews for use electronically or on paper, as long as the following credit lines are included: This article/book review and others are available from Fulcrum Associates Inc. at: www.888fulcrum.com

Labels: book review, business, business strategy, management

The Rypple effect
Dec 30th 2008 SAN FRANCISCO From The Economist print edition



A novel way to satisfy feedback junkies

ONE defining characteristic of the Net Generation is that it thrives on feedback. Just as they are used to checking their progress on leader boards when playing video games, so Net Geners want to keep close tabs on their performance at work, too. This can be a problem for managers who may be badgered weekly—even daily—for appraisal by eager young members of staff.

The creators of a new, web-based service called Rypple claim that it can satisfy Net Geners’ desire for frequent assessments while easing the burden on their supervisors. The service requires employees to establish a network of trusted peers, mentors and managers whose opinions they value. They can then send out short questions, such as “What did you think of my presentation today?”, to which their network’s members can respond online. The responses are kept anonymous so that, at least in theory, employees cannot tell who has made them.


Among other things, Rypple lets users ask members of their networks to measure their performance against a scale, so they can track how they are doing over time. It also lets employers see what “tags”, or overarching themes, are being used most often in questions. If, say, creativity is key to a firm’s success but there are few requests for feedback on employees’ creativity, then bosses can tell they have not done enough to communicate their priorities.


Daniel Debow, one of Rypple’s co-founders, says the system “reverses the onus on the demand for more feedback” by getting employees to build and manage their own coaching networks. Perhaps, but by making it easier for users to solicit assessments, managers could end up spending even more time fielding requests. And to older workers, Rypple may look like a Big

Brotherish way to track what is going on in the workplace.


But firms that have road-tested Rypple claim that such concerns evaporate once it is up and running. (The basic service is free, but a premium version costs $2-5 per user per month.) Tony Chapman, the boss of Capital C, a Canadian marketing agency, says both young and older workers at his company have embraced the system eagerly. He is even using it to solicit feedback from clients.


Rypple may not be perfect, but it is certainly better than antediluvian annual or semi-annual performance reviews. At a time when results are under pressure almost everywhere, anything that helps improve employees’ performance quickly can be a source of useful competitive advantage. Thanks to the rise of the Net Generation, services such as Rypple may well make a splash in the workplace.

Labels: business, communication, leadership, management, motivation

Hanging Tough
by James Surowiecki
The New Yorker, April 20, 2009

In the late nineteen-twenties, two companies—Kellogg and Post—dominated the market for packaged cereal. It was still a relatively new market: ready-to-eat cereal had been around for decades, but Americans didn’t see it as a real alternative to oatmeal or cream of wheat until the twenties. So, when the Depression hit, no one knew what would happen to consumer demand. Post did the predictable thing: it reined in expenses and cut back on advertising. But Kellogg doubled its ad budget, moved aggressively into radio advertising, and heavily pushed its new cereal, Rice Krispies. (Snap, Crackle, and Pop first appeared in the thirties.) By 1933, even as the economy cratered, Kellogg’s profits had risen almost thirty per cent and it had become what it remains today: the industry’s dominant player.

You’d think that everyone would want to emulate Kellogg’s success, but, when hard times hit, most companies end up behaving more like Post. They hunker down, cut spending, and wait for good times to return. They make fewer acquisitions, even though prices are cheaper. They cut advertising budgets. And often they invest less in research and development. They do all this to preserve what they have. But there’s a trade-off: numerous studies have shown that companies that keep spending on acquisition, advertising, and R. & D. during recessions do significantly better than those which make big cuts. In 1927, the economist Roland Vaile found that firms that kept ad spending stable or increased it during the recession of 1921-22 saw their sales hold up significantly better than those which didn’t. A study of advertising during the 1981-82 recession found that sales at firms that increased advertising or held steady grew precipitously in the next three years, compared with only slight increases at firms that had slashed their budgets. And a McKinsey study of the 1990-91 recession found that companies that remained market leaders or became serious challengers during the downturn had increased their acquisition, R. & D., and ad budgets, while companies at the bottom of the pile had reduced them.

One way to read these studies is simply that recessions make the strong stronger and the weak weaker... Read the rest of this article

-------------------
The lesson seems to be - are you focused on the long term gain or short term avoidance of loss.

Where do you want to be in 10 or 20 years?


George Torok

Business Speaker

Host of Business in Motion

Labels: business strategy, marketing, planning, recession, success

Stimulate Your Business
and Prosper in a Brutal Market


Are you a business owner losing sleep over these turbulent times?

Are you a sales professional tearing your hair over vanishing sales?

Are you a team manager frustrated at the growing losing streak?


Have you noticed that tough times bring the worst out in some people and best out in others? Recessions do the same thing to business. What determines the difference? It seems to be a combination of character, decision making and constantly investing in yourself and your business.


Are some of these things happening in your business?

Running your business is more difficult
You are giving away too much money just to close deals
You find it more difficult to get your act into gear
You are fed up with hearing tales of gloom and doom
It feels like you are losing control
It is more difficult to make informed business decisions
The recession is clouding too many of your thoughts


Stop suffering and start celebrating.
Yes, celebrate because winners always celebrate. You can win in this recession.


It's Not your fault

The recession is not your fault. You can’t be expected to see what will happen tomorrow. It’s normal to feel anxious about the uncertainty. You can be forgiven if you don’t have all the answers.

But, you won’t forgive yourself if you don’t do something about it soon.


There will be winners and losers

You’ve heard about the massive job cuts at the big corporations. Smaller businesses like yours don’t make the news when they close. They just disappear.


Winners

Two types of business will prosper in the months ahead. The first are those recession vultures that feed on the mistakes, troubles and fears of the majority. That includes the repo man, collection agencies and bankruptcy firms.

The other winners in this recession are those visionary leaders, who recognize the opportunities, adapt for the changing currents and invest in the tools to weather and triumph in the storm.

You can take control by acquiring and using the right recession busting tools. When you do you will win more and find yourself celebrating.

Learn more about this special program.

Register for this summit in Burlington, Ontario.

Labels: business, business strategy, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, experts, success

James Burchill - Social Media Stategist - Today's guest on Business in Motion

------------------
Today (Friday April 3rd, 2009) I was the guest of George Torok noted author, marketing expert and host of the Business In Motion radio show on CFMU 93.3. And a few hours ago, George interviewed me about Social Media and Internet marketing. I had a great time and this short video journals the fun I had ... even with the rain and crazy driving.

More importantly, I thought you'd like to know that the content within the interview has direct relevance to your business. If you didn't hear it, don't worry - I'm getting the recording and will blog it soon.

During the information packed interview I explain WHY every business needs to embrace SOCIAL MEDIA and WHAT Social Media is. And if you think video is a gimmick, think again. Today was a perfect example of multi-modal marketing messages at work: Email, Social Media - Twitter, Blogging, Radio - Traditional Broadcast Media, and Video - YouTube

I'll be making the radio show recording available on my blog as soon as I download it, in the mean time if you'd like to watch a short 3 minutes video journalling my interview (or if you haven't seen George in a while) - click the video to watch.
----------------



George Torok
Host of Business in Motion

Labels: Business in Motion, experts, interview

IF at first you don’t succeed, it doesn’t matter that you tried.

This study was discussed in the New York Times.

That seems to be the message of a working paper prepared recently by a team at Harvard Business School. The study found that when it comes to venture-backed entrepreneurship, the only experience that counts is success.

“The data are absolutely clear,” says Paul A. Gompers, a professor of business administration at the school and one of the study’s authors. “Does failure breed new knowledge or experience that can be leveraged into performance the second time around?” he asks. In some cases, yes, but over all, he says, “We found there is no benefit in terms of performance.”

------------------------
You can read the rest of this article at the New York Times.

The article raises some questions about the validity of learning from failure.

I strongly disagree with the conclusions of this study because I know that my most memorable lessons have been my failures. And many of my radio show guests tell me about their early failures that later led to success for them.

How about you?


George Torok
Business Speaker
Business Networking Tips

Labels: business, entrepreneur, success

Unemployed? Lucky you!
Good luck, bad luck -- it's all how you perceive your lot in life

GEORGE TOROK
The Hamilton Spectator (Mar 18, 2009)

You lost your job -- how lucky can you get?

Luck is more a matter of perspective than it is the roll of the dice.

If luck is a matter of random chance then mathematically every one of us is equally lucky. Whether you think you are lucky or not is irrelevant. The real question is how lucky do you feel. Because, how you feel, will determine your actions and outcome.

Read the rest of this article as published in Hamilton Spectator.


George Torok
Canadian Business Speaker
Motivational Speaker

Labels: business speaker, confidence, hope, leadership, motivation, news, recession, success

BIM Corporation



Who is BIM Corporation?

There appears to be a company called BIM Corporation. And BIM stands for Business in Motion. It seems to be a network marketing company. What products it sells seems unclear, at least to me.


I (George Torok) am not associated in any way with BIM Corporation. At this time I have had not had contact with anyone from BIM Corporation (at least that I know of). I do not endorse BIM Corporation - nor do I have anything good or bad to say about them at this time.

Click below to read what CBC's Marketplace says:

More about Alan Kippax and BIM Corporation

Buying into the pitch to become rich

And here is the link to the BIM Corporation website


Business in Motion, my radio show was started in September 1995 on radio station 93.3 cfmu and has been broadcasting continuously since then.

Listen to my radio show, Business in Motion, Fridays at noon on 93.3 cfmu in Hamilton, Ontario.

George Torok

Business in Motion

Canadian Business Speaker

Labels: Business in Motion, business speaker, Canada, entrepreneur

Articles by George Torok on Evan Carmichael


How to Kill Your Restaurant Business Fast: Four Eulogies - Click To Read Article
One of the biggest mistakes that restaurant owners make is to believe that they are in the food business. Big mistake! Grocery stores are in the food business. Restaurants are in the experience business. The experience at McDonalds is very different from that at Boston Pizza from TGI Fridays from Ruth's Chris Steak House. Yet they are all in the same business - just different segments of it. Why do restaurants fail? It's usually not the food. Here are four restaurant failures that I witnessed recently in our neighborhood.

Presentation to the seven dwarfs - Click To Read Article
Every member of your audience is different. You can’t treat them the same and expect the same reaction from all of them. You must be prepared to connect on different levels and receive different reactions to your presentation. Consider this challenge. Imagine that you are presenting to the seven dwarfs. You might be tempted to think that they are all the same because they are all dwarfs and all working in the same industry. Think again. Consider these possible very different reactions to your presentation.

The fire alarm rings during your presentation - Click To Read Article
What do you do when the fire alarm rings during your presentation? I've witnessed this disaster happen to two other speakers and this week it was my turn. It's a lot easier to think logically about it after it is over. It might never happen to you - but perhaps you should be prepared for the fire alarm to ring during your presentation.

Networking Can Save Your Life - Click To Read Article
Networking is often touted as a powerful career or business development tool. But, have you ever thought about networking as a necessary skill to save lives? Can networking save your life - or the life of someone you love?

The Van Gogh Syndrome can kill your business - Click To Read Article
If you consider yourself a professional, technical expert or artist, learn from the mistakes of Van Gogh - quickly - if you want to grow your business. When I research and work with these folks I often find that their business is suffering because they are reluctant and uniformed in marketing their business. They mistakenly believe that being good at their craft is enough. Poor fools.

Labels: business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, experts

Labels: business, Business in Motion, business strategy, radio show, recession

Monkey see monkey do

Remember that old expression? Some folks might not like the analogy but it expresses this lesson in management well.

If you want your staff to focus on a particular behaviour – you need to focus on it yourself.

Follow these three steps to getting the behaviour that you want from your staff.

1. Let them see you doing what you want them to do.

2. Make the desired behaviour a regular agenda item.

3. Encourage and celebrate the desired behaviour in your staff.


People, like animals, will tend to behave in a manner that rewards them.

Imagine that you want to take a customer centric focus in your business. That is a smart strategy to follow in these challenging times.

As manager or business owner, what could you do?

Here are some ideas for you.

Treat customers as king and queen and mean it. No snide remarks behind their backs about your customers.

Start every staff meeting with a customer story. Invite staff to bring and tell their best customer story at each meeting. Make it a contest among your staff.

Collect more customer testimonials and display them for all to see.

Tour customers through your facility more often.

Name your customer of the month, week or day.

Give awards to your staff for customer service. Ask your customers to vote.

Allow and encourage your staff to make direct contact with your customers. Don’t be the buffer between them.

Consult with your staff for more information about your customers. Don’t be the source of information. Be the one asking questions.

Brag about your staff and their customer success stories.


Go ahead and peal that banana and remember - the rest of the monkeys are watching you.


George Torok

Host of Radio Show, Business in Motion

Motivational Business Speaker

Labels: business speaker, business strategy, leadership, management

Down the Slope and Up Again:
Seven Strategies to Lead Your Team through the Recession
by Ian Cook & Scott Campbell


Wherever you look, news about the economy is bad.

Layoffs abound. Pfizer, a pharmaceutical giant, recently announced 8,000 job cuts. Home Depot, the biggest home improvement retailer in the U.S., said it will eliminate 7,000 jobs. Even the State of California is letting 20,000 go. The economy lost 2.6 million jobs last year, the most since 1945, and it shows no signs of improving in 2009.

Large companies are hemorrhaging. General Electric Co., a bastion of the economy, posted a 46 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings. Aetna Inc., the third-largest U.S. health insurer, reported a 57 percent drop in profit. Coca Cola, American Express, and J.C. Penney…the list goes on.

Small businesses are similarly feeling the pain. So too are non-profits, where corporate and
individual charitable givings are down significantly while demand for services such as employment assistance, food banks, and shelters are growing.

It’s tough out there. For everyone.

Your employees, no doubt, are feeling the pressure along with you, adding to the challenges you face as a leader. At the very time when you need your people most focused, productive, and engaged, anxiety and stress preoccupy their attention.

Worried about their future with the organization, people gossip and commiserate around the “water cooler,” discussing “what’s really going on with the company,” reinforcing a downward spiral of negativity and pessimism. As job cuts become a real possibility, morale plummets and productivity declines. Following a layoff, those who remain are often overburdened with work and worried that they are next on the chopping block. Stress mounts, and people begin to forget facts and appointments, miss deadlines, and exhibit poorer judgment in their decisions.

What is a business leader to do?

The answer: provide highly effective leadership at all levels of the organization – leadership that keeps employees engaged, focused, and productive in the midst of turbulent times.

Here are seven leadership responses that will help you provide that kind of leadership:

Pay attention to the messages you are sending.
During high stress times, trust in your leadership is challenged. Your employees question your messages, wondering whether you are telling them the truth or have a hidden agenda. They monitor your level of confidence and your attitude towards the crisis. Even if you don’t express it out loud, what you believe and feel will leak out through your behavior. It is what you do, not what you say that employees tune in to.

So, take a good look at your own beliefs and feelings (anxiety, anger, fear, etc.) around the challenges your organization is facing. You may need to work hard at reframing your concerns and worries into positive talk and galvanizing action. Focus on a positive vision for the post-crisis world. Stress to your employees what is still working, highlight your company’s strengths, and proclaim your confidence in your people. Finally, remember that the decisions that senior leaders make must be perceived as fair to all. It is very difficult for employees to see co-workers let go while executives maintain their pay levels and perks. Pain needs to be shared between all in tough times – and it must be perceived as shared.

Make the tough decisions quickly but don’t just react.
Times of economic crisis do require tough decisions. Reducing the number of employees may be absolutely necessary. The same holds true for deep budget cuts, reducing spending, letting go of non-core parts of your business, or cutting back on training.

Once you make a tough call, announce and implement it as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the normal company grape vine will go into overdrive. Rumors will spread with lightning speed, with little concern for getting all the facts straight. Anxiety will spike, resentment build, commitment decline and that all-important trust will rapidly erode.

This said, pressure and worry can prompt us to “just do something.” The temptation is to go into reaction mode and not think about the long-term impact of our decisions.

This is particularly true with layoffs. Reducing head count as a first response to crisis undeniably saves money, but it can be costly in other ways, including:
the loss of good people
increased anxiety and resentment on the part of those still employed
greater stress from increased workloads
lower levels of service

Smart leaders use layoffs as a last resort. First, take a good look at alternative measures such as reduced work weeks or job sharing. This will boost employee goodwill, loyalty, and commitment – the very elements you need during an economic downturn.

Wise leaders act, they don’t react.

Focus on the vision.
The effective leader is able to pursue her vision in the midst of adversity. There are three key elements to this.First, she balances crisis-driven short-term decisions with her long-term, strategic objectives. This ensures that the organization both survives (in the short run) and is positioned to take advantage of better conditions when they arrive.

Second, she uses her vision to be alert to opportunities that may arise in the midst of the crisis. For example, if delivering an outstanding customer experience has been part of her competitive strategy, diverting precious limited resources to maintaining that level during the downturn will garner even deeper customer loyalty, securing her competitive advantage in the long-term.

Third, she and her leadership team provide direction and hope to her employees by continuing to emphasize the vision. This frees up workers psychologically to focus their energy on the work that needs to be done today.

Keep people informed.
Based on a genuine desire to protect your people from anxiety and keep them focused on their tasks, it is tempting to hold back information about what difficult decisions you are planning on making, or on how the firm is really doing, or who will be impacted by your decisions.Yet, communicating openly, frequently, and as candidly as possible has never been more important. During difficult circumstances, employees want and need to feel a closer connection to their leaders. People prefer difficult news to no news.So, ramp up the degree and frequency of communication. And make sure it’s two-way! Here are a few suggestions:

Increase your leadership team’s visibility and accessibility. Walk around more than usual.
Use email, company intranets, newsletters, and other means to keep people in the loop.
Hold town-hall meetings, department meetings, and lunch discussions to provide a format for people to ask questions and have their emotions and concerns heard.

Acknowledge, without minimizing, what you hear about what they are feeling.
When people grossly exaggerate the likelihood of a negative outcome, calmly suggest that the possibility is very remote.

Involve people with today.
The busier people can be, the less they will be inclined to dwell on worries and “what if” thinking.

So keep a shorter term focus than normal:
Recognize and celebrate small victories and accomplishments, even completed pieces of a larger project. It builds morale and creates a sense of momentum and progress.

Place special emphasis on places where people touch the customer.

Encourage employees to look for opportunities everywhere to do things more efficiently or try something new. This keeps everyone thinking about “what’s possible, instead of “what’s wrong.”
When you hear someone complaining about something, gently reframe their thinking by first acknowledging, “Yes, it is frustrating.” Then, ask them, “what can you do about it?” You are refocusing them on things they can either influence or control. This builds their sense of empowerment.

Demonstrate caring – even when letting people go.In global research conducted by the Towers Perrin group, the number one driver of high employee engagement is a sense that the leaders of the company genuinely care about the well-being of their employees.

When you must lay employees off, how they are treated is crucial. Those who remain will respond to the thoughtfulness and caring demonstrated in your downsizing process with increased commitment to your organization. People know tough times require tough actions, but they want to know that their former colleagues have been treated with as much consideration as possible.

Invest in your leaders and key players.
It is easy to ignore your best performers during tough times, relying on them to do their jobs while you focus on managing the crisis. This is a mistake. If your A-players feel ignored or taken for granted, they may consider greener pastures elsewhere, either during the downturn or certainly when times are good and competitors come calling.

Make sure that you stay connected to these individuals, keeping them enthused about their prospects with your company and about the organization’s future. Due to their professionalism, top performers may not complain to you, but rest assured, they experience the same anxiety and doubts as your other employees do.

As for your top leadership team, spend some time, perhaps in a low-profile retreat meeting, to build cohesion so that team members address their own fears, affirm their belief in the enterprise, speak with one voice and together commit to successfully bringing the organization through the dark times to a brighter future ahead.

Coach your mid-level managers and supervisors on how to talk to their direct reports when negativity, resentment and despair arise.

Taking care of your leaders and your top talent will give your organization an immediate and enduring edge over your competition – who may well be floundering, searching frantically for a tactical solution to turn things around in the short run.

In Conclusion

Tough times do end. That’s the good news.
But until they do, effective leadership is one of the few keys you have to surviving and ultimately thriving.

These seven leadership responses offer a roadmap to navigating this tumultuous environment and arriving at the best possible destination on the other side.
1 Towers Perrin White Paper, Managing Amid Market Turmoil: Top Priorities for Business and HR Leaders.
(1636 words)

Ian Cook, presenter and consultant, works with managers who want to increase their effectiveness as a leader and build a stronger team.

Scott Campbell is an accomplished speaker, trainer, and author, with clients throughout the world. He is the President and founder of Personalities At Work, a leadership development consortium.

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Labels: book review, business, business strategy, recession

News
Hamilton Spectator, Febraury 14, 2009
Meredith MacLeod


Motivational speakers are in demand more than ever and they're up to the task to encourage people to share their optimistic outlook and to provide the spark that gives them the courage in hard times to pursue their goals and dreams.

George Torok

George Torok initially rejected the title 'motivational speaker.'

"I thought no, I have content. That term is associated with fluff and nothing being real."
But after 12 years of speaking to entrepreneurs, executives and employees about marketing and presentation skills, Torok realized that's exactly what he was.

"I have content packaged with entertainment and motivation. Content without motivation is useless because nothing happens without motivation."

He finally started calling himself a motivational speaker.

"In times like these, people need motivation more than any other time. But people don't always buy what they need, they buy what they want."

And in times like this, it's a tough sell to encourage people, who are watching their co-workers get laid off, to work harder, increase sales, cut costs, do things differently.

"There is definitely resistance but people eventually come around."

Calls are up for speeches and for one-on-one coaching in presentation skills. Torok typically does close to 100 speaking or training engagements in North America each year.

He says people see the thousands he gets paid for a speech and think it's a glamorous life. Torok says they don't see the hours going into writing and rewriting material, researching a company, making calls, writing articles.

"It's constant learning. If I'm going to teach people, I have to know 10 times what they know or it's not useful to them.

"Then it's about what you can say that will help the company make that money back."

Read the rest of this article at the Hamilton Spectator.

View the video. (George Torok is fourth on the video and worth waiting for.)

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George Torok
Motivational Business Speaker
Canadian Motivational Speaker

Labels: business speaker, motivation, news, success

Thriving in a recession: Part 2
by Mark Elwood


WATCH YOUR CASH FLOW

Any business can run out of cash, even a profitable one. As an example, says marketing expert Ian Mishkel, small retailers can get pinched when they have to buy inventory that does not turn into cash for a while. Cash is king, so plan your cash flow. Start with a simple spreadsheet. In columns across the top, enter the months of the year. In the rows down the side enter your sources of revenue. Below these, list all your major expenses into the future. Be sure to include your own salary, plus a provision for taxes, as well as reserve funds. At the bottom subtract expenses from revenues each month to obtain your month-end balance. This becomes your opening amount for the next month. It sounds basic, but few entrepreneurs do it.

Under normal conditions, you might estimate about three months out. In tougher times, consider projecting your cash for up to a year. At some point during this period, expenses will continue, but revenues will stop. Your projection will show a shortfall. That’s where you will need to dip into your savings, or take advantage of a line of credit. Include those in your cash flow. Then, any new business that comes in will be a bonus, and will reduce the need to dip into savings.

Here is what is important about this approach. By making a decision now that you will borrow six months from now, you remove the pressure of having to make a sale this month. The result is that you can remain cool and calm, knowing that your cash flow plan will sustain you through the year. This minimizes short term worrying. As Toronto based chartered accountant Rubin Cohen says, “When you maintain your composure, you are more successful than when you are desperate.”

BEWARE OF EXPENSE LEAKAGE

Financial planners such as Michael Chow from Stonehaven Financial Group and Derrick Lahey from RBC Dominion Securities warn about expense leakage. All the minor daily expenses that we pay little attention to create leakage. Together they can be a real burden, because nothing adds up to much, but everything adds up to a lot. Consider how much you spend on coffee, cigarettes, chocolate bars, muffins, road tolls, cell phone calls, your Blackberry, coffee, your cable bill, credit card interest, coffee, and newspapers. Oh, and did I mention coffee? When you track your expenses for a month, you will be surprised at the impact of small expenses. Cut out the things you thought were essential, but really aren’t.

There is a different kind of leakage at the other end of the financial scale – big expenses for the cottage, private school education, a second car, the kitchen renovation, membership dues at the club you rarely use, outstanding credit card debt, a home theatre, and many others. These are the big-ticket items that are harder to cut in the short term, but also create a financial strain.

The minor daily expenses are mostly just stuff. The big expenses are mostly just possessions. But what many people really want are the things that cost somewhere in the middle. They want more experiences in their lives. They want dinner dates, trips to the zoo, vacations, lunch with a friend, a day at the spa, and theatre tickets. Creating experiences is also about purchasing time for them by hiring others to free up time. Someone to clean the house, a virtual assistant to conduct clerical tasks, baby sitters, and handymen. By controlling the big expenses and the small ones, you’ll have more money for the medium-sized expenses that pay for great experiences. Do what you do best, and delegate the rest.

Another aspect to money management is saving. Are you having trouble putting money aside? Dump your coins into a jar at the end of each day. They will add up fast and you can use what accumulates for “mad money” – a special treat or a night out once in a while to celebrate.

SMILE AND BE GRATEFUL

When you look back at the past, there is often temptation to be regretful or wish longingly that things had turned out differently. Unfortunately, you create negative energy when you use phrases like these:
· “I should have cashed my stocks…”
· “I missed a chance to buy that house…”
· “If only I had followed his advice…”,
Regret drags you down. You should learn from you mistakes, not dwell on them.

Looking in the other direction towards the future, anxiety can be just as much of an energy drain:
· “I’m worried I won’t have enough money”
· “My health might not last.”
· “I might lose my job.”

Gratitude on the other hand, is appreciating what you have right here and right now. If you are healthy, if you have a family, if you have customers, and if you have friends, then you have everything to feel good about. Gratitude trumps regret and anxiety any time. So pause, reflect, and find joy in all that you have. The moment you are in now is pretty special. Remember – some day, these will be the good old days. Celebrate your success.

Thriving in business is about getting sales, but it is also about having a positive outlook. We are entrepreneurs. We make choices for ourselves. We choose our own path. We succeed where others can only wish. So go out and thrive. Do the things that are nourishing, productive and positive. And keep smiling. After all, your time is worth it.


Mark Ellwood is the president of Pace Productivity Inc., a consulting firm based in Toronto, Canada that shows employees how to gain three hours per week on their top priority activities.

Labels: business, business speaker, business strategy, entrepreneurship, small business, success

A good recession is like a warm enema.

You will be uncomfortable anticipating the event, strangely stimulated during and feeling much better after.


George Torok
Host of Business in Motion
Motivational Business Speaker

Labels: business, business speaker, Quotations, recession