Is Your House in Order for 2023?
Despite the uncertain future, there has never been a better time to start a recruitment business or get serious about accelerating your growth over the next 3-10 years.?
I believe we'll see more growth in the next ten years than in the last ten years. Despite the opportunity for growth, plenty of lifestyle companies are content to stay low-key and earn a real income, which is fine.
There are, however, other business owners who are very ambitious and want to grow stronger and faster right from the start.?
The companies I consult with lie somewhere in the middle. They want to create a place where everyone can thrive, feel motivated, and live their full potential. Whether your business is a start-up, turn-around, or planning your exit, you'll want to be sure you have a clear direction and are focused on the markets and clients that generate the most cash and long-term value.?
Training your managers is essential when growing your business. With a competent management team, your business will succeed. However, before you invest in your managers, get your house in order first.
Get Your House in Order (GYHIO) is a robust strategic planning framework designed to help small to medium size business owners accelerate growth and ensure they are fit to win.?
The GYHIO framework will provide the roadmap for identifying the best sectors and growing technologies and finding insight into future trends.
This article will give insight into how you:
I HAVE IDENTIFIED FIVE INDICATORS THAT SLOW GROWTH (Other than cash flow)
LACK OF DIRECTION
Many businesses get lost in the semantics of what a vision, mission, or purpose means. A business leader must articulate the North Star to inspire change, create followers and take people on the journey. A weak management team that cannot execute the game plan will also stop the business from achieving its end game.?
UNCLEAR BRANDING AND MESSAGE
Many small recruitment businesses lack a clear identity, confusing employees and customers—the lack of clarity results in a weak candidate community and disengaged clients. The messaging is unclear and lacks impact. The business image does not amplify the business purpose, and the company does not have a well-defined niche.?
TOXIC CULTURE
A business without the proper habits in place will severely underperform. However, behaviour is more complicated than people think. It isn't just about selecting individuals with the right attitude; anyone can become a 'bad apple' if the environment isn't right. Business leaders and management teams that don't role model the business values are unlikely to create a high-performance culture.?
UNFOCUSED RESULTS
Many recruitment businesses focus on operational and individual objectives and do not have clear business goals to align their staff. Too much focus on turnover, while turnover may increase as headcount increases, it is at the expense of profit, which will limit reinvestment and slow growth. Businesses that don't focus on what matters and are not committed to the objective will fail to achieve their mission.?
LACK OF PROCESSES?
Strategies fail because the business needs to help employees work efficiently. Companies that implement active processes and keep the 'machine' running will grow stronger faster.?
HOW TO AVOID IT?
GYHIO will help you and your management team clarify your North Star and create an image that makes you stand out in the competitive recruitment space. You'll discover how to engage your teams by driving the correct values and behaviours. It will also assist you in identifying the right results to focus on and implementing processes for consistent business performance.
This article will take you through the five stages of the framework and provide insight into how I help a business develop its strategy so that you can follow the steps with your management team.?
VISION
Here we look at the purpose (why you exist) and your business's vision (where you are heading). We also explore if your management team is fit for purpose.?
IMAGE
During this part, we look at your unique selling point (USP) and how you live the business purpose in everything you do. We'll consider your niche markets, growth opportunities, and social platforms to access clients.
BEHAVIOURS
A business cannot achieve its goals without the right culture. Like sports, recruitment is won and lost in the locker room. We explore the type of culture you are trying to create and the values that underpin your business.?
RESULTS?
In this section, we look at your business objectives. We take stock and ensure you focus and deliver in the right areas. We will also look at how you align your people objectives to personal goals and create a 'golden thread' up and down your business.?
PROCESS
Here we look at how to deliver consistent results by creating consistent business and operational processes. Making the right processes will give you a competitive advantage, improve clarity and drive the correct type of activity to meet your business goals.
Growth = Performance + Engagement
Results, Process, Behaviour and Image, are essential factors in a strategic plan.?
The left side of the house aligns with Results and Process, representing Performance.?
The right side aligns with Image and Behaviour, which represents Engagement. The key to sustainable growth is focusing on performance and engagement without sacrificing one for the other.
I estimate that about 65% of business strategies fail. A strong argument for this, particularly in small businesses, is that game plans are often designed and developed by the business's personality.?
I refer to it as 'unconscious strategic bias', which causes a business to operate in a certain way, such as an over-focus on delivering results or perhaps too much bias towards implementing strict processes.?
In some cases, the business has a more carefree operating style and lacks processes, which might be engaging at first but eventually feels like chaos. Ultimately the leader forgets to truly listen to external views and unconsciously returns to their bias.?
This type of narrow thinking will reduce innovation and slow down performance improvement. GYHIO will ensure your strategy is successful by making your game plan holistic and applying a whole-brain approach.?
A healthy game plan requires using both the left brain (Results and Process) and right brain (Image and Behaviour) thinking. The two hemispheres have long been neuroscientists' study and generated much debate. Due to recent technological developments, we can now measure brain activity to enhance business performance.?
There has been a lot of excitement in behavioural and cognitive neuroscience in recent years. Although it may appear as a new discourse in the world of personal and leadership development, there is solid research and science to back up the fact that the two hemispheres have hard-wired specific functions. Individual skills develop on either the left or right side of the brain. Having insight into this will affect how you and your management team develop a strategic plan.?
The brain's left side is analytical, logical, precise and time-sensitive. It is particularly good at conceiving and executing complex plans. Likely, a business leader who has more of a preference for left-brain thinking will focus on results and processes to achieve certainty.?
The left side is associated with being controlling and unfeeling, which can affect levels of engagement in business. The right brain is focused on being people-focused and, seeks harmony and consensus, tends to be more emotional and at one with the natural world.?
The right side of the brain likes to dream and empathise. It enjoys creativity and novelty. This strength helps increase innovation and win hearts and minds; it can create chaos and uncertainty if right-brain thinking dominates the management team. The whole brain must be involved in strategic planning.?
It's important to know that no one hemisphere of the brain is better or more valuable than the other; the two sides are complementary, which gives the brain its power. In the same way, it will give your recruitment business a competitive advantage by combining the left and right sides of the GYHIO framework. We will explore your strategic bias later in this eBook.
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WHAT'S YOUR VISION?
GYHIO starts with identifying your VISION.?
The biggest challenge isn't achieving the vision; the main problem and an essential skill for any entrepreneur are articulating the vision so that your management team and the wider business believe your vision for the future is possible.?
It must excite and inspire them to join you on your journey. More than agreement with an idea is required. The management team needs to own it, be accountable and feel emotionally connected to the vision.?
As a business owner, you must connect personally to the North Star. You have got to feel it yourself to inspire change in others. As part of your strategic planning, you'll also need to engage the rest of the business.?
A professional football team doesn't just win on the pitch; it happens in every area of the club and is the same in business. Your team would only be able to compete at their full potential because of the support functions, such as information technology, training, marketing, etc. All parts of the system are working together towards your NorthStar.?
If one part of the system underperforms, the entire business underperforms. A couple of hours in the afternoon won't define a business vision. Two days for a strategic planning workshop away from the corporate environment once or twice a year.?
Strong leadership skills are required from you to accelerate growth, but ultimately it is your management team who will execute the strategy, so you'll want to engage them from the onset.?
The quality of your management team is the difference between winning and losing in business.
An excellent way to develop your NorthStar with your management team is through images.?
It's a creative way to engage your team and align it with how you see the future. The pictures should stimulate an emotional connection.?
Examples could be sports teams, a formula one racing car, the Red Arrows, or whatever works for you; there is no right or wrong. The next step is to develop words that relate to the desired future. Here are some helpful questions to ask when formulating your purpose and mission:
STRENGTHEN YOUR MANAGEMENT TEAM
Now you can articulate why your business exists and what you want to achieve. Now you and your management team need to decide how you will make it happen!
Your business will only be as good as your management team, so you must ensure you have hired well, removed deadwood and feel confident your team will carry the business into the future. Investors will look to your management team before anything else.?
You can operate in the best markets and have a solid and unique selling point and a good name, but if your management team is underperforming, you're in trouble. Make sure it is fit for purpose.?
Performance improvement means knowing what great looks like and creating momentum to move away from the current situation. Leading change is a critical leadership skill for business owners.
Moving from good to great will require change, either culturally, tactically or by developing new processes. A company going through change may experience a dip in performance.?
Don't panic or revert to the old ways. Stay focused, and you will navigate change successfully with the right management team.
BE UNIQUE
During this step, you'll explore what will make you stand out in the competitive recruitment landscape and identify what is truly unique about your business.?
Your branding is a representation of your business purpose.?
Simon Sinek says it best:?People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it.?
In a crowded market with low barriers to entry, it is crucial to challenge the status quo and disrupt the industry where possible. Otherwise, you may fall into the abyss or business graveyard.?
Not only does your website need to stand out and make people pay attention, but also the tone of voice across all content and branding; furthermore, your employees need to adhere to the branding, messaging and tone of voice in everything they do.?
Your business image must amplify your business purpose; furthermore, you'll want everyone in your company and your clients to amplify your message. The building of relationships with customers has never been more accessible with the use of social media.?
I am seeing how companies use Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter to engage with clients, using hashtags relevant to their niche market.?
Businesses today must have a solid social media strategy. However, you'll still need engaging content to build a loyal fan base and community.?
领英推荐
Many businesses need a strong marketing strategy. Today a marketing strategy is a sales strategy; the two are very close and aligned. Many of the traditional marketing and strategic tools apply to both.?
The most successful businesses focus on their strengths and core markets. They work in a niche with specialist features and benefits for their clients. As a result, they build loyal communities in their niche with a great content strategy backed up by excellent customer service.?
Growth comes from providing more services to existing clients. This marketing strategy will help your business generate profit, increase agility and enter new markets when the timing is right for your business.
I use the Boston Consulting Matrix to help our clients identify new markets with the potential for growth to compete.?
In 1968 Bruce Henderson created Boston Consulting Matrix to help businesses analyse their product line or portfolio. The matrix will help your company assess your markets in two dimensions.?
The first dimension looks at the general level of growth within a market. The second dimension then measures the market share of the largest competitor in the industry. Analysing the markets you operate in is a valuable insight into the possible opportunities and problems within a particular sector.?
Questions you should consider with your management team:
Exploring these issues in detail will ensure you are heading in the right direction with a focused marketing strategy.
CREATE THE RIGHT CULTURE
It doesn't matter how much skill or experience your team has; if the environment is toxic, your people will behave differently and underperform.?
Like a sport, recruitment is won and lost in the locker room.?
The job of you and your management team is to make sure people feel psychologically safe.?
You want your people to thrive, not just survive. When there is change, expectations are high, and people are expected to deliver high performance, they will either thrive in a challenging state or survive in a threat state.?
You'll need to get the right behaviours in place for your business to compete at its full potential. Focusing only on driving results and processes will work in the short term, but eventually, cracks will appear.?
You will need more than left-brain thinking by itself to engage your employees. You'll need to create an environment where people feel emotionally engaged and enjoy the workplace culture for them to thrive.?
Behaviour and attitude can account for as much as 80% of performance, leaving 20% between skills and knowledge.?
The business should focus on 80% if you want your people to execute your game plan, especially when hiring talent. It is much easier to develop skills and knowledge when someone has the right attitude.
While performance goals are essential, agreeing on behavioural and development plans is equally important. There are times to discuss objectives and critical results but remember to hold people accountable for the approved behaviours.?
It is the action that drives performance, not the other way around. You will achieve longer-term results in a consultant who exhibits the right behaviours with some level of talent than you will out of a highly talented consultant who doesn't live the business values.?
In team sports, it only takes one 'bad apple', no matter how good they are, to make the locker room dynamics toxic. Your business is the same.?
Take your time when hiring, and make it quick when you're firing.?
ACTIVITY: ABOVE THE LINE/BELOW THE LINE?
Keep things simple, especially when discussing behaviours with your team. Many leaders get stuck here. It may appear fluffy and hard to define, but identifying the right behaviours should never be underestimated.?
You can see clearly in sports how significant a change of coach can be.?
GYHIO focuses on two types of behaviour – Above The Line (what we want to see from each other) and Below The Line (what we don't want to see from each other). Once you get your management team to identify the above and below behaviours and engage them in the decision-making process, you are well on getting your business fit to win.?
The next stage is for your management team to complete the same exercise with their people. A workshop with everyone would be recommended if your firm has less than twenty staff.?
Great sports coaches are relentless in reinforcing good behaviour and ruthless in holding their players accountable for bad behaviour. Remember, people's actions drive performance; raise the bar on behaviour, and the results will follow.?
GET A FLIPCHART!
Draw a line horizontally to create a top and bottom half
RESULTS: IDENTIFY YOUR BUSINESS GOALS & KEY RESULTS
Taking stock and slowing down before you speed up is essential at this step.?
It is an opportunity to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the business. This data will help you and your management team develop business objectives for the next 12 months.?
It is also worth breaking the 12-month goals into the 90-day plan. Shorter goals enable you to stay on course, celebrate wins and increase the belief that you are on the right track.?
You'll be able to talk about current performance and discuss the opportunities for improvement.?
Many companies I work with are rushing to drive the bottom line and increase profit, which is essential for growth.?
In our recent survey using a neuroscience-based psychometric called PRISM Brain Mapping, we found that over 50% of business owners had an unconscious strategic bias towards results.?
Working at pace and making quick decisions is a strength when delivering business goals. However, it can also hinder performance and slow down long-term growth. Results-driven players in team sports become so focused on winning (the goal) that they become too focused on scoring (results) and the goal and often neglect implementing the tactics.
The same happens with high-achievers in business when leaders become so focused on achieving the results that they become frustrated and impatient when they don't get what they want.?
They continue to do more of the same, wondering why they keep getting the same result. I refer to these leaders as busy fools!?
Once you establish the business objectives that will make your vision a reality, you'll want to align the team leaders and your employee's goals with your business goals. Aligning your employees with the business goals is an excellent way to achieve a 'golden thread' top down and bottom up.?
Everyone is working in the system towards the North Star.
Identify three 90-day business goals that will help you achieve your NorthStar.?
This step is an exercise in saying no.?
Business success happens by focusing and delivering on what is genuinely required. Because goals & tactics are used to align all teams with the business's top goals, your entire company's goals & tactics are only as effective as the ones you set at the very top. Therefore, it's vital to ensure you're setting your goals effectively.
To help set effective executive-level goals, here are some examples of goals and tactics you can refer to.
Goal: Sell ￡2M in sales
Key Results:
CREATE PROCESSES THAT DELIVER GOALS AND DRIVE RESULTS
Your NorthStar has been broken down into Goals, Results & Tactics. You have identified your niche and how to communicate it t your market. And you have agreed the line and below-the-line behaviours with your management team and staff, and beginning to shape your culture.?
The next step is to create a consistent process to deliver consistent results.?
The most important thing about implementing a process is ensuring your team understands why the process exists. Imagine working in a car factory, incentivised to screw 1000 bolts into holes daily.?
It may keep you engaged in the short term, but you're likely to lose motivation if you don't know that you are building a car.?
Often consultants are given a process to follow without seeing the result. I strongly recommend driving activity in new consultants for the first 90 days before they move to recruitment mastery and the psychology of recruitment.?
A robust onboarding process is critical for creating top billers and essential for driving business growth. Align your processes to each of your objectives. Your employees need to know the activity aligns with achieving the business vision. People want to know they are making an impact; they want the line of sight up the company, so they matter to the business. Many operational strategies fail to help people understand why they are doing the activity and how it aligns with the bigger picture.?
Your key processes answer the question: "How will our business generate value?" When you know your critical business processes, you know exactly where to focus your investments and energy.?
Given the financial strain of a potential recession in 2023, identifying the processes that matter is more important than ever.?
Typically, key processes are operational processes that drive each area of the GYHIO framework:
Each of the above is a big-picture Process & Systems category. Identifying key processes requires digging into each category to understand where you have a competitive edge that you need to preserve and what weak spots you need to improve.
Several business processes are essential for the efficient running of your business, regardless of its size, location, or industry.?
The most crucial business process is impossible to answer, but there are a few core business processes that all businesses need.
Here are some questions you should consider when developing your processes. I recommend involving your management team in what they believe to be the best process and level of activity to help achieve Goals & Results.
Engaging team managers in the process will encourage ownership and accountability. People processes should be reviewed and changed to ensure the right levers are being pulled to deliver business results.
Spending time on these questions with your team or a coach will make a significant difference in achieving your goals.
About Andrew
Andrew Sillitoe is a business psychologist, performance coach, public speaker and author from London, England. Blending 20 years’ experience as an elite international sportsman and coach along with three published books and an acclaimed TED talk, Andrew’s innovative and straight-talking views on leadership, teamwork and strategy has resulted in his advice and guidance being sought after by key figures at several FTSE 100 companies.