Brenda Eckstein International

Strategy, Leadership, Integral Coaching and Communication consulting

Using models for our business and private lives

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A business model which has a huge impact on my thinking emphasises that your likelihood of success in a specific type of business is linked to your:

  1. Passion
  2. Skill, knowledge, experience or ‘feel’
  3. Ability to generate the right amount of money in that field.

Some of the questions asked are:

  1. How much does the topic or that aspect of the business energise you?
  2. What is the extent of your skills in this area?  What is the depth of your knowledge?  How much ‘tacit’ knowledge have you built up?
  3. Will your involvement in this enterprise be able to generate the right amount of money for you in proportion to 1 and 2 above?

These three aspects must be ‘in sync’.  Let me give you two examples of what can happen where there is lack of balance.

A friend of ours was an expert in the field of intricate cake icing and specialised in wedding cakes.  When she immigrated to another country, she decided to set up a business in this field.  When we test her intention against the above model, she had the passion and the skills and experience.  However, number 3 was lacking.  The hours taken to craft the icing were out of proportion to the monetary amount she could charge for the cakes.  Hence, the demand at that price was limited and she could not generate proportionate income to align with 1 and 2.

Another friend used to run an office administration business in our city.  But she lost interest after many years.  Her passion (1) was gone.  She had the skills, the knowledge and experience (2) to continue running a very successful business and it brought in the right amount of money (3).  But she did not feel successful because 1 was missing.  So, she sold the business and moved to something that brought her success through 1, 2 and 3 being ‘in sync’.

I believe that being aware of the importance of these three factors (and their combined impact) can help us to make wiser decision in our business or professional lives.  We can also look at factors similar to this in our private lives.  Questions to ask ourselves are:

  • Are we engaged in those activities which make us feel ‘whole’?
  • How can we incorporate more of those sights, sounds, smells and kinaesthetic experiences that bring out the best in us?
  • In what way are we building, conserving and spending our personal energy?
  • What are we doing to use our existing skills to better advantage?
  • How are we continuously improving our skills?
  • What are we doing to ensure that our financial rewards are in proportion to our expectations?
  • How fair is our monetary compensation in relation to our enthusiasm, knowledge and experience?

So, applying business models can help us to make decisions that are more likely to lead to success.  Some models can also be adapted to enhance our private lives.  Reflection can help us align and build a stronger future.  So, how can you take the above ideas and use to build a stronger future?

Let People Know What Your Needs Are

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In networking, so often we forget to tell others what we need.  For example, if we are looking for a secretary with special skills, we should remember to tell others in our network what you are looking for. At one of my sessions, during an exercise which I conduct, a person mentioned that he needed indigenous plants for a new section of his garden.  The person he was talking to happened to have a friend who was clearing indigenous plants from his garden.  After the session, the ‘middle-man’ introduced the two men to each other.  The giver was pleased that he wouldn’t have to discard his excess plants and that someone could make good use of them.  The recipient was delighted that he could get plants that were difficult to obtain.  The ‘middle-man’ celebrated the success of his ‘networking’ initiative.  All three felt good about the outcome.  What are your needs at present? For example, do you need to buy a second-hand bicycle?  Would you like to know where to take clients for an excellent lunch?  If you are new in town, do you wish to know about networking events? Step 1:  Write down a list of needs - the type that others might help you meet. Step 2:  Next to each, write the name of someone in your network who could possibly give you the information you require, or suggest how you could go about finding it. Step 3:  Take action.  Contact the relevant people.

Ten Tips On Sustainable Customer Service

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During 2009, ‘Brenda Eckstein International’ in conjunction with ‘Leverage and Growth’ (Leon Grové) presented many ‘Sustainable Customer Service Strategy’ workshops and programmes.  These included a wide range of participants at workshops held ‘in house’ for various organisations, professions and businesses and also at ‘public’ workshops. One of the exercises during the workshop involves groupwork where each team produces ‘Ten tips on sustainable customer service’.  Obviously the consolidated input from each workshop varies depending on the focus of that specific audience.  Here we have captured the most frequently mentioned tips from all the sessions held during 2009.
  1. Develop and maintain a sound ‘Sustainable customer service’ strategic model and this should stem from and align with the entity’s overall strategy. 
  2. Implement ongoing customer service training for management and staff at all levels. Make customer care everyone’s responsibility. 
  3. Rotate staff so that they build relationships and become familiar with the different aspects of the organisation and appreciate the work that their internal customers do.
  4. Recognise and reward staff.  Motivate staff through offering relevant incentives. This could be recognition, time off, money or other rewards. Empower staff to make decisions.  This will not only motivate staff, but help with staff retention, too.
  5. Ensure that regular training improves knowledge of the company, its products, services and the way it operates. Educate and inform customers regularly regarding innovations. Don’t assume that they know there have been improvements.
  6. Make sure there is ongoing communication of a high standard internally and externally.
  7. Treat your internal and external customers as partners and adopt the attitude of being sales advisors or partners.  Show them that you are interested and enthusiastic about their business and their needs. Understand their needs.  Add value to them and their businesses, providing return on investment. Where possible, involve customers in new developments. 
  8. Follow up.  Send cards to say ‘thank you’ or make courtesy calls to show interest in meeting customers’ needs.  Where possible, phone or meet. Don’t over use e-mails. 
  9. Get feedback through customer surveys or other means.  Measure client satisfaction and act on suggestions and requests where appropriate and advantageous. Implement strategies to improve customer satisfaction.
  10. Attend customer care seminars to provide visibility, make contacts, keep motivated, obtain ideas and continuously improve. Market and advertise your company in all appropriate electronic and other ways.

Ten Steps To Effective Delegation

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There are many people who hesitate to delegate for a number of reasons. For example, they may have had bad experiences in the past when they have tried to delegate.  However, by following the simple ‘Ten steps to effective delegation’ which I have built up and refined over the years and cover in my workshops, and practising these steps diligently, many participants in the workshops have had outstanding results.  Their ability to delegate effectively has improved greatly.

By delegating effectively you create time for activities which are of higher importance to you at that specific time.  For example, you may need to devote more time to strategic issues. Or the requirements of the task you are delegating may help the other person to accept more responsibility and grow in different ways.

  1. Choose the right person
    Match the requirement of the assignment with the person’s needs, potential, skills, interests and motivation. (You want success!)
  2. Explain why you are asking
    Tell the person why you feel that he or she is the right person for the job and why you believe they will be successful.  In other words, articulate the points you have considered in 1. above.
  3. Define the required results
    Focus on the outcome which the delegated task will require (rather than on the tasks to be performed to achieve the results). Introduce a measure of success.  You want the best.
  4. Emphasise the benefits
    Mention the benefits to the organisation (of achieving the required results) and to the individual. (What’s in it for me?)
  5. Explain the resources
    Ensure that there are adequate resources and explain these to the person.
    (Remember to mention all resources – human, financial, supplies, time, transport, information etc.)
  6. Provide parameters
    Explain that he or she needs to develop a ‘plan of action’ for your approval and that this should include time limits.
  7. Introduce control systems
    Develop and discuss control systems and show how progress will be monitored and deviations dealt with.  Allow for different work styles and minor mistakes.
  8. Ensure that the person understands…….
    the rules, regulations, limitations and policies with which they will function.
  9. Empower with sufficient responsibility and authority..
    to achieve the best results.  (Don’t abdicate.)
  10. Conclusion
    Invite questions, summarise, make sure the person has accepted the assignment, indicate your availability to support and say ‘thank you’.

Follow these ten steps and you will delegate effectively.

Organise Your Thoughts & Your Information

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Often we procrastinate before providing a written or verbal message.  A possible reason is that we don’t have a quick, effective way of organising our information.  There is just too much information, or we don’t know how to knock it into an appropriate, usable pattern. 

There is a solution:  practise organising your information effectively and you’ll be more motivated to communicate timeously and effectively.

Let’s look at the background:  in preparing a message remember ‘GAPS’.  We need to Gather information either from searches, through speaking to people in our network or from our own experience base.   We must be able to Access that information when we need it.  It’s pointless having the information if we can’t find it or access it.  We then need to Process the information in order to Share it.

Our emphasis in this article is on Processing the information and this involves developing a clear message which is logically presented and which your audience or readers can follow.  In order to do this, you need a systematic sequence which will enable the listener or reader not only to follow, but to remember what you have said. (Sharing)

The following are some of the many patterns for organising your ideas and materials for the body of your message.  In reality, most of us use a combination of these methods.  However, we often get stuck in the ways we use automatically and we can possibly improve on those.  So, try experimenting with new ways of organising your information.

  1. Chronological (time) order
    Yesterday, today, tomorrow (past, present, future) or
    Historical sequence – 1st period, 2nd period, 3rd period or
    Recurring sequences - summer, autumn, spring, winter
  2. Criteria order (ascending or descending)
    complexity (simple to most complex) or
    importance (least important to most important) or
    urgency (least urgent to most urgent) or
    other criteria (an example could be - necessary to know, should know, nice to know)
  3. 1st 2nd 3rd  - articulate each
  4. A B C (could be used similarly to 1st, 2nd, 3rd)
  5. Letters spelling a word
    e.g. PMB, CARD, ACE, aeiou, your initials
    For example, PMB could stand for ‘people’, ‘marketing the city’ and ‘business developments’.
  6. Journalistic – Who? How? When? Where? What? Why? Which?
  7. Response or feedback
    The same order as the document to which you are responding or
    Any of the methods mentioned in number 8 below
  8. Problem solving, how to improve or clarifying issues
    Strengths, weaknesses, how to improve or
    Define the problem, explain, offer a solution or  
    Problem, possible solutions, best solution or  
    Symptoms, prevention, cure or
    Cause and effect  or
    Resemblances, differences or
    Stop, start, continue or
    Theory, practice, demonstrate or 
    ADO – advantages, disadvantages, other
  9. Random categories  
    Thinking, feeling, doing or  
    Auditory, visual, kinesthetic or  
    Stop, look, listen or
    Different categories (or aspects) or
    Different perceptions of an issue

Organise your information effectively.  It will help you to clarify what you wish to convey and make it easier for your audience to follow and remember your message.

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Contact Brenda

Phone:+27 (0)33 342 5432
Fax:+27 (0)86 5188 205
Mobile:+27 (0)82 499 3311
E-mail:brenda@strategy-leadership.com

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