Posts Tagged ‘business’
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Unfortunately, many people go through life without ever identifying what they want, where they want to go, or who they want to become. They wonder why they feel frustrated, never achieving anything significant. What they should realize is that the difficulty is in finding something you’ve never visualized, or returning from somewhere you’ve never been. People who have no goals, have no direction, and are almost always very busy, but rarely achieve what they want to achieve.
Now is the perfect time of the year to stop and evaluate what you have accomplished, and what accomplishments 2011 will bring. People who experience high levels of achievement and success have clearly defined personal and professional goals with specific action steps and benchmarks. As goals are achieved, confidence and knowledge heightens and expands; therefore, even higher goals become realistic. While there is no guarantee that you will achieve your goals within the given time frames, establishing them helps to ensure you will. The more passionate you are about achieving your goals, the less you will worry about possible problems, details, and day-to-day challenges. Having clearly defined goals allows you to have a sense of control over your action, your life, and your organization.
Developing personal goals that you are committed to as well as a solid plan for your organization will help to minimize setbacks. However, there will always be setbacks so expect them. Look forward to them and use them as springboards to higher levels of success. In adversity, there is opportunity. Successful people are those who have learned to face adversity with anticipation because they know that they are the greatest opportunities for learning. If you want to succeed, you must develop a positive attitude about failure. You only fail when you stop trying. In fact, failure can be your most important learning opportunity. Those that succeed are those who do the things that failures don’t like to do. Failure provides you with a chance to grow, learn, and to become better.
Creating focused and purposeful goals takes time and careful thought. It is not an exercise to be done quickly or taken lightly. It is only when you seriously evaluate what you want to accomplish, do, and become that you begin to see the future you want. Once the vision is in place it becomes much easier to create a goal and actionable plan. Start by asking yourself some seemingly easy, but often tough questions about your future.
- In 2011, what do you want to achieve for your business and for you personally?
- Where do you envision yourself personally in 1, 2, and 5 years?
- What qualities and skills do you need to develop in order to achieve your goals?
- What do you want your career or your business to provide you?
- Where do you see yourself in the next 20 years?
We are embarking on a new year full of opportunities and potential accomplishments, and they are not far beyond your reach. Define what you want and where you want to go. Develop specific goals to make that vision of your future a reality, and then create the specific action steps that will become your road map for success in 2011. There may be bumps in the road, wrong turns, or total course corrections but stayed focused. Your success is not a matter of chance!
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For more information visit http://www.resourceassociatescorp.com/ or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: 2011, achieve, action steps, business, career, goals, personal goals, planning, RAC, Resource Associates Corporation, Success
Posted in Goal Planning | No Comments »
Friday, December 4th, 2009
Is your business stuck?
Many businesses of many sizes have spent the last year dealing with the challenging times. Some businesses have failed, many are still floundering, and many businesses are just stuck. Often when we are defensively forced to deal with outside forces we get so ingrained in our defensive mechanics that we get stuck in that mind set. Defensive mechanics will not lead to positive growth and/or results. There is no question the business world is in the process of creating a new normal. The question becomes how is your business creating and defining its new normal? What will positive growth and future success look like for your company?
It has been our experience that creating a new normal requires going back to basics. Here are some thoughts to consider that have helped our clients get unstuck:
- What is the basic foundation and business philosophy of your company?
- Why are you in business?
The answer to these two questions will reconfirm or reestablish the reasons your business exists and provide a much needed guidepost. After you reconfirm or reestablish the reasons your business exists take the time to review your vision and values.
Tom Peters said, “A clear vision of the desired future state of the organization is an essential component of high performance.” Creating a new normal requires reevaluating your vision of the desired state. Based on the changes in the current business climate, what will your organization look like in the future? The vision statement provides focus for everyone in the organization. An understanding of the vision provides the foundation for day-to-day decisions. A vision energizes action, toward a future that is better than today. How does your company’s vision need to change? There is one universal rule in success: you will never be greater than the vision that guides you. Perhaps for your organization, getting unstuck requires revitalizing your company’s vision.
In addition to a clear vision a successful company needs to communicate values and principles by which they do business. Values represent your philosophy for achieving success and they serve as important guidelines for everyday behaviors and decisions. How have recent changes in the business world impacted your values and principles? What does your organization believe to be true and non-negotiable today? As Peter Drucker said, “The purpose of an organization is to attract and maintain customers in order to generate profits and viability.” Issues such as current customer’s expectations, product quality, and service should be taken into consideration in your values statement. Your values should take into account how you feel about and the value you place upon your customers, your employees, your suppliers and vendors, stockholders, the community and all others with whom you interact and do business.
Re-evaluating your vision and values are the first two steps to revisiting your strategic direction. We have found in these ever-changing times that strategic planning is no longer a discretionary decision, and it provides the impetus to getting unstuck. Create your business’s new normal by re-evaluating your strategic plan and implementing the critical success factors that will propel your business forward. There is a very high likelihood that what you are doing today and what you did yesterday will not produce the results you want to see tomorrow.
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For more information visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: business, Management, new normal, Peter Drucker, Strategic Planning, Success, Tom Peters, Values, Vision
Posted in Business Management | 6 Comments »
Friday, October 30th, 2009
Are you inspired? Does your life currently hold within it surpassing brilliance or excellence? Are your dreams becoming a reality?
All accomplishments begin with an idea, a seed, or a dream. It is impossible to emphasize strongly enough the power of a creative and uninhibited imagination. Every achievement has emerged as the end result of a dream, a vision, or what may even have seemed to be a far-fetched idea. When is the last time you exercised your inspiration?
It is so easy to get caught up in the function of business and life that often times we forget to stop and think about what we are really working for or toward. Our daily routine becomes just that … a routine. We get used to going through the motions, and our dreams and inspirations start to take a back seat to the job, the career, and the family—and then slowly slip away into oblivion.
Have you ever created a Dream Inventory©. A Dream Inventory is a continuous, life-long list of ideas and dreams no matter how extravagant or insignificant. It is a list that contains everything you ever wanted to do, to have, to be, and to become. It is an exercise that allows you to take off the blinders of probability and possibility and throws out the filters of whether you need it, deserve it, or are worth it. It is lifelong exercise that gives you permission to exercise your inspiration.
Create a personal Dream Inventory and fill it in spontaneously. It will later provide clues to the kind of things that will motivate you. Many of the dreams that you put on your inventory may seem totally out of reach and that is okay. As you begin to grow and achieve, some of your dreams will become goals and some never will. Keep in mind that this is an exercise of dreaming and inspiration so give no thought to your ability to obtain the dreams. Many of your dreams may seem too small or insignificant to list in your inventory but list them anyway. There is no such thing as a small dream. If a dream has value to you, it is important.
I filled out my first Dream Inventory in 1985 when I started working for my current firm. In 1996 as I was updating my Dream Inventory, I listed I wanted to become President of my current firm. I listed it with really no thought as to a specific action plan, but I knew that role was what I was inspired to become. In 2002, I became President of the firm and remain in that role today.
The power of capturing your dreams and inspiration is life altering. The power of capturing an idea in writing, placing the thought in your subconscious, and letting your subconscious work on the action plan is a science we are only beginning to understand. What we do know is many inspired individuals throughout history have harnessed the power of dreaming to create surpassing brilliance and excellence! I challenge you to create your Dream Inventory today!
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For more information visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: business, Dream Inventory, dreams, imagination, Inspiration, Leadership, Management, Motivation, subconscious, Success
Posted in Goal Planning, Personal Development | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Building your business and developing yourself are both growth processes that will occur over time. Building a business implies having to develop your skills and/or manage other people who can build the necessary processes to perform necessary business functions. While many people equate success with working, truly successful people attribute their success to working smart. In the beginning, you will need to do both. And if you do both, in the end you will find you have built something that will endure.
The value of your business lies not in what it can do with you, but in what it can do without you. If no one else can do what you can do, then you don’t have a business that will endure. You have a business that is restricted by its inability to use its creative juices and expand into something bigger and more successful. Business is and should be a systematic series of processes linked to the overall goals of the organization disciplined to exceed internal and external customer expectations. Each aspect of your business should be process mapped, so that in theory, other people could perform it. These functions and processes should be crystallized in writing.
When activities can be accomplished by others or the process is systematic, then your creativity can be utilized for continuous improvement, increased sales, improved market share, and new business development. Recognizing an opportunity and being in position to take action is one of the keys to success. If you are busy doing, you may be too busy to take advantage of opportunities, and chances are you working harder and not smarter.
The benefits of planning are many. Planning helps to prioritize your activities. You already know you will be wearing several hats and the functions you will perform under each hat are different. Planning helps you to see beyond the immediate issues and remain focused on the desired outcomes. This will help to ensure that day-to-day activities are in line with your long-range objectives and vision. It will help you avoid getting involved in seemingly endless crises, and even prevent crisis-stimulated activities that seem to be important and necessary but in fact may be neither. With this understanding you are better able to focus your energies on getting where you want to go. A comprehensive plan is the important tool you can utilize to build a successful business.
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, leadership development, executive coaching and youth leadership. For more information visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: Building, business, develop, goals, manage, plan, skills, smart, Success
Posted in Strategic Planning | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
As we enter the second half of 2009 it is time to reflect on where your business is going and how are you going to achieve those objectives. A number of significant events have taken place in our global environment that may be forcing you to look at your business much differently than you did a year ago. Take some time to reflect on the following questions and honestly evaluate where you are, where you are going, and how you plan to get there.
Are you on target to achieve your 2009 business objectives?
Have you already achieved your 2009 goal?
If you have not achieved your 2009 business goals, what is standing in the way?
Are your marketing activities generating the necessary results?
Are you working with enough clients to achieve your goals?
Do you enjoy working with the clients you have?
What are your goals and key objectives for 2010?
Are you looking to expand into any new markets? Why or why not?
However, business is not just about numbers, activities, strategic plans, objectives, and revenue. All of these things are important and in many cases critical to build a sustainable business, but they are only one-half of the equation. The other half of the equation is you. Your personal ability to grow requires honest reflection. Look at yourself and your experiences this year with as much objectivity as you can. Reflect on you and your contribution to the success of your business.
What did I learn – new skills, knowledge, insights, etc? (List them all.)
How have my newly acquired skills, knowledge, and insights contributed to the success of my business?
What did I accomplish? (List all your wins and achievements.)
How did those wins or accomplishments impact the success of my business?
What would I have done differently and why? (Be specific and honest with yourself.)
What were the most significant events of the year thus far? (List the top three.)
What did I do right?
What do I feel particularly good about?
What was my greatest contribution?
What were the fun things I did?
What were the not so fun things I did?
What were my biggest challenges, roadblocks, or difficulties? (Be specific.)
How am I different this year than last?
What will I do differently as 2009 draws to a close? (Be specific.)
For what am I particularly grateful?
Feel free to add additional questions that may provide meaning for you.
As you can see, it is very difficult to ignore the power of the I’s and the my’s in those questions. You are a critical component to the success of your business and an honest, objective evaluation of where you are could be the difference between success and failure. Your ability to achieve your desired goals and build a sustainable business begins and ends with you. There will always be outside forces generating obstacles or pushing and pulling your business in different directions. The most powerful asset you have is you. Make a commitment to honestly evaluate your contribution as a business asset and make the commitment to reinvest in yourself and grow. The success of your business depends on it!
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, leadership development, executive coaching and youth leadership. For more information visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: business, Economy, evaluate, how to get there, plan, questions, reflet
Posted in Strategic Planning | No Comments »
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