{"id":2783,"date":"2013-11-29T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icebreakerexecutive.com\/?p=2783"},"modified":"2013-11-29T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"our-business-learnings-from-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winningthinking.co.uk\/?p=2783","title":{"rendered":"Our Business Learnings From 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Icebreaker Executive Learning and War Stories from 2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are You Aligned With Your Target Customers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

McKinsey surveyed 90 Fortune 500 businesses.\u00a0 They found that most b2b propositions were misaligned with what their customer’s valued.<\/p>\n

It is easy to lose that intimate and honest contact with customers and become blind to what is familiar?\u00a0\u00a0 This familiarity can disastrously undervalue the profitable core of our businesses…<\/p>\n

“Even though an aerospace business had earned huge technological competitive advantage they took their core business for granted and diversified from it. \u00a0They also undersold the value in their core business.”<\/p>\n

icebreaker executive engage with businesses that cannot see or need help to resolve their performance issues.\u00a0 Then implement the changes.\u00a0\u00a0 It follows that icebreaker engage in unfamiliar territory or in a customer blind spot?\u00a0\u00a0 If the customer is unaware of their scenario how do we define when to use us?<\/p>\n

“A print business lost sight of the aspects of their business that were difficult to replicate. These aspects defined the justifiable and defendable margin.”<\/p>\n

Since 2006 icebreaker has focussed on our differentiator “transforming capability concurrently with change or strategy execution”. \u00a0\u00a0 Icebreaker rely on communicating the extraordinary customer testimonies and sharing our learning to communicate what we do.<\/p>\n

Research shows 65% of the best executors of strategy have financial performance well above average.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

What do your customers value most about your offering and how do you derive value from it?<\/p>\n

“The Print, Aerospace, Building, and Electronics Business lost their focus on selling value which caused them ALL to focus on lower value add areas to the detriment of their core businesses.”<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Icebreaker Strategy Execution Survey Results <\/strong><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reflecting on the icebreaker survey results:<\/p>\n

“The How and the what:”<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The icebreaker survey illustrated that creating value during change is about the “HOW” not the “WHAT”.\u00a0\u00a0 And ensuring the right people are on the bus.<\/p>\n

“Creating more time:”<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Major strategic change depends upon concurrently improving productivity and the business process. \u00a0This improvement creates the space and time to execute change.\u00a0\u00a0 (Icebreaker as operations experts give this away free of charge!)<\/p>\n

“A large format print business lost control of the financials.\u00a0 This created such a distraction and stress which prevented them selling the business value and sustaining margins. The directors buried their heads in the sand working on the shop floor.” \u00a0The sales force were liberated, simple finacial controls established and business process put in and a 6m pipeline of high margin business was created in a few months. ”<\/p>\n

“A fast growth building company grew on the back of differentiated service but margins, people interaction and flawed business process made the service delivery unsustainable.”\u00a0\u00a0 The business process, financial governance and structure is now in place and roadblocks to growth removed.”<\/p>\n

“Humility and I am cleverer”:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 In terms of being effective at leading change – paradoxically humility is the key differentiator.<\/p>\n

“A major UK VC invited us to transform a culture in a VC portfolio business. \u00a0Their selection criterion for recruitment was centred upon verbal and numerical reasoning.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This internal norm reinforced the root cause of the very same cultural issue. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0“The culture I’m cleverer than you” was at the root cause of their cultural issue.\u00a0\u00a0 The VC had created this and was blind to it.\u00a0\u00a0 This is a fundamental catch 22 cultural issue. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The culture won’t change as they chose to continue to recruit in this way as per their norm.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The answer to changing the culture lay in bringing some different types of people into this business.”<\/p>\n

Engagement:<\/strong>\u00a0 The ability to transforming a business resides in recognising the complexity of executing strategy, how people: engage, their diversity and strengths, the organisation, and the way your people work together.<\/p>\n

“The executive owners’ management style and lack of structure in their electronics business prevented employees from performing and prevented them retaining or attracting the best staff. \u00a0 This caused sales to drop by 50% and huge month on month losses.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The answer was to get the organisation, trust and delegation right. The business returned to profit in 2 weeks, with a pipeline of work expected to improve the cash position by \u00a31m by year end.”<\/p>\n

Aspirations vs. capability:<\/strong> \u00a0 My experience shows that when you create the right environment, people’s capability becomes much the same.\u00a0\u00a0 What determined the people’s attainment is the level of their aspirations and the way they are managed? \u00a0 Every time I get the change and management process right to liberate the best from people, the most unlikely people (in the managements view) come to the fore and begin to excel.\u00a0\u00a0 Conversely those perceived to be the best tend to be found out and need extra support.\u00a0\u00a0 It is interesting to see how those who typically prosper in a business are often the talkers.\u00a0 A unbalanced culture often makes the most capable people dormant.<\/p>\n

Decision making is very often flawed<\/strong>:\u00a0 How do you rationalise your disagreements with others?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. “They are ill informed and you can persuade them otherwise?”<\/li>\n
  2. “They have a selfish desire and refuse to see the truth?”<\/li>\n
  3. “You are unable to take on board what they are saying?”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0Humility:<\/strong> \u00a0 The hardest way to disagree with someone is to recognise that they might understand the scenario differently?\u00a0\u00a0 This requires courage and remains the biggest management challenge. \u00a0 ( Recognising these gaps requires an external catalyst. )<\/p>\n

    3. The top 12 School Boy Errors Executing Change<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0“Project management drives successful change”<\/strong> and managing change\u00a0 should be separated from the business as usual.\u00a0\u00a0 No! This is unfounded because it is only ever front line management that execute and lead change. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No value is created on a project plan. \u00a0 The key to successful change is to enable l\u00a0 ine management.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0“Content free coaching is the panacea for performance”.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 No! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You need a depth and breadth of business skills and experience as well as coaching skills to transform a business. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Employees often too run out of skills.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0“Internal staff can do it.”<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 Agreed but No!\u00a0 Staff eventually become blind to the familiar, and need help to see and remain honest to the challenge.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0“Recruiting the brightest people”.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No!\u00a0\u00a0 “I’m cleverer than you” is a de-motivating starting place that creates a very unproductive culture with adverse PR.\u00a0\u00a0 Most people have basically the same ability. \u00a0The challenge is to raise employee’s aspirations, and create a climate in which people excel.\u00a0\u00a0 Then use this culture platform to attract the best.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0“Emotional intelligence does not deliver hard financial results”.<\/strong> \u00a0 No! \u00a0 People are spiritual creatures completely driven by our emotions.\u00a0\u00a0 Emotional intelligence and our natural attributes therefore differentiate the effective from ineffective.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0“Leaders should be Charismatic”.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 No! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Selflessness, self awareness and humility are the key drivers – charismatic leaders create worshipful followers. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This detracts from the business best interests.\u00a0\u00a0 People are made to worship, improve relationships, recognise our own and our peers unique worth.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0“Focus on the financials”.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 No! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The financial performance of a company is a LAG indicator of activity.\u00a0\u00a0 Strong cash flow is a product of effective teamwork and financial controls.<\/p>\n

    “Neuroscience is the last bastion”.<\/strong> \u00a0 No!\u00a0\u00a0 Whilst there is much value in executive coaching skill it is only one tool in the tool kit.\u00a0\u00a0 Coaching without common sense is nuts.\u00a0\u00a0 Knowing when and how to switch ones style from coach to mentor to director etc is more important.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0“Delegation loses control of risk”.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 No! \u00a0 Even in critical engineering environments, not trusting staff is the only sure route to unpredictable results and losing control of risk.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0“Businesses don’t need mavericks”.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 No!\u00a0\u00a0 Mavericks are essential internal catalysts for change. Organisations tend to try and change mavericks into clones and they leave.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0“Inward migration to the EU is a problem”<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 No!\u00a0 Skills will drain from Europe into emerging markets not the other way round.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0Indirect staff productivity is OK?<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0No! \u00a0 Indirect productivity is normally about 20%. Furthermore indirect functions often don’t recognise internal supplier customer relationships, so their effectivess is further reduced.<\/p>\n

    There is a pressing requirement to get the best out of our scarce people resources, show employees far more grace<\/strong>, and get our young people into work.<\/p>\n

    Worth a discussion?<\/p>\n

    Tom Pickering CEO<\/p>\n

    T: 0207 1935518<\/p>\n

    E: office@icebreakerexecutive.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Icebreaker Executive Learning and War Stories from 2013\u00a0 1. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOur Business Learnings From 2013 - www.winningthinking.co.uk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/winningthinking.co.uk\/?p=2783\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our Business Learnings From 2013 - www.winningthinking.co.uk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Icebreaker Executive Learning and War Stories from 2013\u00a0 1. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/winningthinking.co.uk\/?p=2783\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"www.winningthinking.co.uk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-29T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ionostest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ionostest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winningthinking.co.uk\\\/?p=2783#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winningthinking.co.uk\\\/?p=2783\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ionostest\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winningthinking.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/018fe961d8c94a6bd8f767d89aff5614\"},\"headline\":\"Our Business Learnings From 2013\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-29T14:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winningthinking.co.uk\\\/?p=2783\"},\"wordCount\":1344,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Uncategorized\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/winningthinking.co.uk\\\/?p=2783#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winningthinking.co.uk\\\/?p=2783\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winningthinking.co.uk\\\/?p=2783\",\"name\":\"Our Business Learnings From 2013 - 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