A weekly note from Tim Kitching

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ―?Winston S. Churchill

This week….

This week I spent time with three of our clients, Andrews Meat, LIPA Pharmaceuticals and Kinross Farms and enjoyed every second of it! ? For those that know me here is living proof that I was wearing HighVis and a hairnet! ?My lessons from the past week are:

• Investing in training and development for your people is never finished. ?Always challenge them to be better as both people and in their roles. ?
• Every team member needs a key metric that helps them define when they have done a great job ….. and it can’t be their finish time.

What are we seeing….

We continue to see the current challenges in the business environment:

• Employment markets across both Australia and New Zealand continue to be tight with ‘A Players’ able to demand good salary packages AND great workplace cultures.
• Businesses that have failed to set themselves up for challenging times are suffering as our economy in both countries is multisided. ?Sectors that we see particular challenge in right now include Building and Construction, Retail and Hospitality.

Recruitment videos….

You have all heard me rabbit on about the critical importance of recruiting ‘A players’ ?into your businesses. ?This short?video? from Super Butcher is a classic. ?Super Butcher is a Scaling Up business that acknowledges that their people are the reason they will be successful. ?Key quote, “If it’s not fun, we won’t do it.”

Watch the Super Butcher video here

Valuation as a key measure - even if you are not selling ….

Reinforced to me this week was the concept that ‘Business Valuation’ is THE key measure of success, even if you are not selling. ?A true valuation that takes into account your P&L AS WELL AS the other aspects of a business like People, Culture and other Points of Difference enables you to truly measure how you and your business are going. ?Reply to this email if you wish to know more.

Verne Harnish publishes an updated Mastering the Rockefeller Habits:

Verne Harnish (only the best business coach on the planet!) has released an updated version of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. ?The original was release in the early 2000’s. ?This significantly updated classic is the?best first book?for every team member to read in implementing the 3 fundamental habits at the heart of a scaling business: Priorities, Data, and Meeting Rhythm. ?You can order by clicking on the button below. ?I get no commissions for this recommendation.

Order Rockerfeller Habits here

Have an NDH Policy and never retreat from it.

A NDH Policy (or No Dickheads Policy) is originally attributed to the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Team in 2014 when legendary Team Building Guru, Gilbert Enoka, was working with them. ?I dispute this! ?Working in Australia in the early 1990’s some employers I worked for had their own NDH policies and referred to them as such. ?Bottom line is don’t tolerate poor behaviour that is not aligned to your company values. ?If you don’t have a set of living company values then build some!

Critical Factors is a Boutique Consultancy specialising in high performance and growing and scaling organisations. ?We are accredited Scaling Up coaches and use a clear methodology and evidence based processes to help our clients. ?We can be contacted at [email protected] or visit us at www.criticalfactors.com.au .