Conflict in Business
We all hopefully go into business with the intent for bigger and better things, or for financial riches or the lifestyle working for yourself is meant to bring i.e being accountable to self. This is all good in theory but what happens when a point of conflict comes into play?
Conflict can come from numerous fronts- from home, from your business partner or from clients; but from my experience the biggest issue and the one with the most potential for damage or destruction to a business is from business partners disagreeing.
This can become a cancer for the business if not eradicated.
So why is there conflict?
- Differing personalities?
- Differing opinions on the direction of the business?
- Power struggles?
- Lack of defined roles?
- Imbalance of workloads and ‘fairness’?
- Inequality in remuneration or benefits?
- Etc
So what do you do? One approach is to understand how it is you deal with conflict in the first place, as we all deal with it differently. One great model is the TKI Model, or the ‘Thomas- Kilmann Instrument tool.' This identifies where you sit in the 5 various conflict management styles by the use of a simple survey to rank your status. The ranges are shown in the diagram below.
These styles show the varying degrees of assertiveness and cooperativeness we use as our ‘default’ style and how one or more may dominate our style. Like a lot of these tools, the TKI model doesn’t state there is any one best way, but rather it allows an understanding of the dominant areas and allows for methods as to how to perhaps modify your approach to various situations.
If you find yourself in a level of conflict, one starting point is to complete such a tool to see your style and learn tactics to modify or to deal with people with competing styles. Another strategy is to seek an independent third party mediator (maybe a coach?) or a professional counsellor? The main key is to not allow business conflict to destroy the goals you are attempting to achieve. Get in early and focus on a resolution to solve and work together for the vision of the business. There are never any winners in a war, so don’t let your place of business become one!
Tony Ozanne
Small Fish Business Coaching Canberra
www.smallfish.com.au
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The HRMWEB Recipe for Better Customer Service
...whipping your staff admin processes into shape!
Your workforce is your most important, and often your biggest, business asset, so better structure and processes around managing your staff offers many obvious benefits such as time savings, money savings, better staffing decisions, increased control and peace of mind. However, there are benefits that are not always so obvious... one of those is better customer service!
Essentially, your staff are your business. They are your representatives, your front line, the driver behind your day to day operations. Your product and service offerings, customer service and reputation all rest on your staff - so you need to ensure you manage them effectively.
It’s easy to understand that when your administrative processes and your workforce are well organised and working effectively it results in a professional looking business (which consumers do notice) and happier staff - and that means better customer service and a better overall customer experience!
See our three key ingredients to gearing your workforce towards better customer service...
1) The “right” number of staff
It’s the thing that keeps you up at night - figuring out how many staff you need working at any given time, who will work what shifts and what's it going to cost you. It's called rostering and if you don't have processes around how you do it, it will cost you time and your business money.
Not enough staff rostered on - customer’s won’t get the level of service they expect, you'll lose sales and the staff you do have on will be overworked and stressed. Too many staff rostered on - it’s a waste of resources and money... and your staff are bored and frustrated.
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REAL LIFE EXAMPLE: You are at a bar... the line up is 5 people deep. It’s slow, it’s frustrating and all you want is a beer or a wine or maybe even just a soft drink. Is that too much to ask? It is a bar after all – isn’t serving drinks their staple?
Rather than wait you bail and go to the bar down the road (there is always a bar close by!). Not only did that bar lose your business, you’ll tell everyone about that bad experience you've had and you’ll think twice about going back there or maybe you’ll never go back there again!
All that bar needed to do was make sure it had more staff members on to serve... imagine the extra cash that business could make by putting just one extra person on. Now, what if they could use software to predict their “busy” periods and suggest appropriate numbers of staff. Or what if they could see it was getting busy and send a broadcast SMS to all the staff the system knows is free to work a shift at that time – a staff member could be there within 15mins! This is all very possible!
2) Organised and informed staff
If you want your staff to feel like a part of your business "team" then treat them in a way that shows you respect them. Keep them well informed and manage them in a way that is consistent.
Your staff want to be kept in the loop and want easy ways to communicate with each other and with you. Most importantly they want to know you have things under control. They want to be able to come into work and do their job. No one likes surprises!
When your staff feel secure in your ability to manage them and run your business that attitude of calmness and confidence is passed onto the customer.
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REAL LIFE EXAMPLE: Joe comes to work and does his hours, he fills in his paper timesheet... it’s hard because he has to rely on his memory quite a bit but he uses some post it notes to jot down his times every day to make it easier.
Every time his pay is deposited into his account he goes through it with a fine tooth comb making sure to match it up with the post it notes he has been keeping. It’s such a hassle for Joe but he has to do it because his pay packet is sometimes wrong. Joe doesn’t want to be underpaid or overpaid because every time there is an error it is such a hassle to chase up and takes a lot of time for him to do so.
All he wants is for his work hours to be documented accurately and his pay to be correct every time. Is that too much to ask? He does his job properly why can’t he be paid properly? Eventually frustrated, Joe goes and finds a job with another business that has automated systems in place that make his life much easier! Joe was a great worker and the customers loved him... he was a great asset that is now lost.
If only Joe’s employer had an automated roster, timesheet, pay rate calculation system. That way Joe could fingerprint on and off his shifts, have his hours automatically recorded, have his pay rates calculated automatically and then that could all be sent through to payroll. With the reduced reliance on human intervention in that process, Joe could ditch his post-it notes and have the confidence in knowing his pay packet is correct!
3) Happy staff
It's simple. If your staff are happy it will influence how they behave with your customers. It's all about positive vibes - most customer experience goes beyond words - attitude and actions is where it really counts.
A major gripe of staff is how they are managed especially with regards to administration or as we like to call it "the paperwork". For instance, staff want to be allocated shifts based on their availability and they want to easily see what shifts they are working. They want to do as little admin paperwork as possible - they see it as a waste of time, and it usually is!
Having sound processes around how you manage your staff will make their lives, and yours, easier!
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REAL LIFE EXAMPLE: Susan always makes sure her manager knows what times she is available to work. She studies and works part time at another job so she has to manage her time effectively and make sure she is super organised.
Even though she goes to the trouble of detailing her availability in emails and post it notes her manager is always losing them or not looking at them when he does up the roster. So many times she finds out about shifts less than a week in advance or she is rostered on to work at times she has already said she can't do. She has had to amend other parts of her life many times to accommodate shifts that she didn't know she was working.
Every time she is given an incorrect shift she gets frustrated and often the manager asks her to help out and find a replacement. Eventually Susan becomes so frustrated that her "needs" are not being taken into account that it starts to show when she is dealing with customers. She still does a competent job but she is less than happy and customers see that - they walk out of the store saying things like "gee, it would have been nice if I could have at least gotten a smile". They will get that smile somewhere else and then you lose their business.
Staff feel respected when their employer takes into account that fact they are human and have lives outside of work, that they like to know what they are doing in advance and that they can't just drop everything and work a shift. If only Susan's work had an automatic rostering process. She could enter her availability online and the rostering software would take it into account when building rosters. Then the system would sms her the shifts she is to work, well in advance! She could sms back to confirm she can work those shifts and if for some reason she couldn't work a shift wouldn't it be great if the system could find a replacement for her. How easy would that be for Susan! How easy would it be for her manager as well!
...and of course with any good recipe there needs to be a binding ingredient: Technology.
To enable the above three ingredients to be achievable you need to add a fourth “binding” ingredient that pulls everything together – and that of course is, technology.
The days of rostering via Excel spreadsheet, staff availability scribbled on bits of paper, phone calls to communicate shifts, written timesheets based on memory, calculators to add up hourly rates and fat fingering numbers into payroll, are over. Those frustrating, error prone tasks are now able to be completed quickly, easily and accurately by software solutions that are geared specifically to helping administer a business workforce.
Look for a cost effective, web-based, easy to use software product backed by a provider who will deliver you a fully supported solution. Web-based is the way technology is moving (you will hear “the cloud” mentioned a lot these days!) and it’s great because you can access your system from anywhere with an internet connection – so you can run your rostering, payroll, check what staff are on duty etc from home, work, Hawaii – wherever!
Look for guarantees as well - like metrics on exactly how much time and money the product is likely to save you. Also your provider should be able to do continual evaluations and analysis of your “savings & benefits” for a couple months after the software solution is implemented - just to check its working properly for your business.
Be careful of big up-front costs. Older desktop based solutions will cost a lot up front as you are paying for expensive and probably already out of date hardware. Look for solutions that have small set up costs, require minimal hardware and charge an ongoing monthly rate that is calculated on a “per person” basis – that way you will only pay for what you need.
...and most importantly look for a provider who will actually get to know your business processes before they even suggest a solution. The more they find out about how you currently manage your staff the more value they can offer in terms of streamlining your processes and matching software to your business needs.
In Summary...
Streamlining staff admin processes will result in better staffing choices and a smoother running and happier workplace for owners, managers, and employees. The flow on will be obvious as a better work environment will result in a better customer experience.
Streamlining may seem like it’s a difficult or costly thing to do, but it’s not. There are tools out there that can be tailored to your business to quickly and easily streamline your staff admin processes. Just be sure to look for a cost effective, web-based, simple to use product that does everything you need and is backed by a provider who will deliver you a fully supported solution.
Irene Hazilias
Director, HRMWEB
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Are You Going Backwards or Forwards - The Importance Of Business Planning
I was sitting in a train today facing the wrong way I was travelling and was thinking to myself I can see where I have been, but not where I am going. This got me thinking about life and also about how this may be relevant to business.
How many times do you look at where you have been, but not where you are going?
We always look back and say things like ‘that promotion didn’t work’, ‘I hired the wrong person’, ‘sales were bad last week’ etc. But how often do we look forward?
Looking forward to determine where it is you are going (or want to go) is a critical part in your planning for your business success. Take the time to work out where it is you want to go and look beyond the immediate horizon.
If you are ‘looking backwards,’ take the time to now start ‘looking forward’ at where you want to head. Make a plan, write it down and work out what needs to be done to get there.
It may be as simple as defining what your ideal team member looks like, does, and needs to do, or to plan sales forecasts, marketing plans etc.
The most important thing is to DO IT, and now is a great time.
Good luck!
Tony Ozanne
Small Fish Business Coaching Canberra
www.smallfish.com.au
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Another Year Done
Another year done! What will you change next year?
As we approach the end to yet another calendar year, it is useful for us to use the upcoming months to reflect on our successes or opportunities. What will your reflections reveal this year of you and your business?
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Did you hit your goals for the year? – goals can be financial, growth based, development based or to focus on any aspect you wanted to achieve. The main point being that you actually had a goal for the year? Don’t panic though if you didn’t as all is not lost, set one now for next year.
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Does your business look like you wanted it to look? – Physical size as far as turnover, number and quality of staff, the types of clients who buy from you etc.? If yes, then review what it was you did well and continue or enhance it. If no, then establish some plan of action to fix the gaps to make next year better.
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Is your work-life balance where you want it to be? - have you had a holiday and was it stress free, or did you call the office every hour while away? Have you missed those important family events or kids sports days? Unfortunately it will happen, but how can you reduce this lost time opportunity in the coming months? Do you need to ‘let go’ a bit and have someone do some of your tasks?
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Are you making more, or building an entity worth more than you would have if you had one of those 4 letter words, A JOB (well not technically one word, but it works for my point!). Should you go back to the corporate world, or have you got what it takes to turnaround your business if it was a bad year?
Now would be the perfect time to go on about the needs or benefits of getting a business coach, or utilising one of our awesome products like the Business Audit Consultancy, but I won’t do that (unless you decide to click on the links of course! What I will say is DO spend the time reflecting on your year in the coming weeks. Write down what worked and what didn’t, and spend the time to plan for an awesome year next year.
It is never too late to start planning.
Tony Ozanne
Small Fish Business Coaching Canberra
www.smallfish.com.au
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Business Coaching And Weekly Shopping
For those who have newsletters, blogs and regularly updated websites that need new content, I am sure you can relate to the challenge of finding things to write about each day, week, month or year!
Myself, I find I go in bursts of excitement (like lots of things I do). I do none for a long time, then go BANG and write a few to stockpile. We are lucky at Small Fish in that we all share the load in submissions to this awesome weekly newsletter- partly so we don’t bore you with Jon writing every week, but more so to expose all of us regularly.
I’m in one of those BANG moments right now, and turned to my friend GOOGLE to get some inspiration on blog topics. I found one suggestion that said to make a list of how your industry compares to day to day things or to other industries.
Great idea, but then I had to think of what to compare it with…..hmmm….got it, the weekly grocery shop.
So here goes….get ready for it, here is my list for the 7 ways Business Coaching is like the weekly trip to the supermarket (riveting hey?)
- You might not like what you come out of there with, but you know you probably needed it in the long run.
- You may need to buy extra tissues just in case things get a bit emotional.
- The vegetable section may have items that don’t taste very good, but they are good for you, just like some of the ‘discoveries’ in coaching.
- Make sure you select a coach carefully, a bit like picking a shopping trolley - some are a bit wonky and may try to take you in the wrong direction and you have to feel comfortable with it.
- They both work better if you leave the kids at home.
- Price alone isn’t the only driver of value in either case. You have to feel satisfied with the overall experience and the process
- They are both less stressful if you have a plan and follow it.
Wow that wasn’t too bad…so as you can see shopping and business coaching are very similar! Can you think of some comparatives for your business? Would love to see them.
Have a great week.
Tony Ozanne
Small Fish Business Coaching Canberra
www.smallfish.com.au
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How Much Profit Is Your Business Leaking?
Most businesses leak profit, often for simple reasons, which can easily be fixed. Is your business leaking profit?
The Business Audit Consultancy will help you identify and plug profit leaks. And help you make more money. And who doesn't want that?
Just ask Noven Purnell-Webb from Magedata – he says
"The questionnaire was a really easy way to get some quick and effective insights into how my business is running. By merely asking the questions, the obvious things can no longer be ignored and some surprising results emerged. A highly effective tool for any business owner trying to clear up the bigger picture."
Click below to read more or to book yourself in for a good probing (with questions of course). We think you’ll like it.
Read More Now >>>
Regards,
The Small Fish Team
Anonymous 20-Jan-2012 03:55 AM
Un bon blog, bien écrit, merci.
assurance 22-Mar-2012 02:53 AM
merci pour Ton site internet qui est vraiment pas mal souhaitons que ça durera, en attendant de te lire. Yaeko Mclean
Business Travel - Friend or Foe?
Like a lot of people out there, I have had my share of corporate travel. In a previous life (one I left to join the world of small business to avoid) I was based in the Middle East for nearly 6 years and travelled internationally nearly every week. This takes its toll on lots of things such as- missed family time and outcomes associated with this, time wasted at airports and lounges, eating bad food, another city, another hotel room etc. etc. Not quite the glamour I initially thought. I have early visions as a child thinking that friends who had parents who travelled had the best job, from my experience it isn’t all it is cracked up to be!
So I left this life and came back home to Australia, partially to escape travel, only to end up in Perth and then every few weeks still spend time flying back and forth to Sydney. So I didn’t quite escape! Now I am back on the east coast and spend less time travelling, so the daunting side has reduced, to more of a novelty. The only bit of that past life I miss are the people in all the cities I went to, but social media, email (and phones) can eliminate that gap easily.
As the circle has now nearly turned a complete revolution as a small business owner, I pose the question to all as to whether you now dread the travel side of the business world and why?
Do you work smarter and utilise technology such as Skype, GoTo Meetings, conference calls etc. or do you still insist on the face to face?
If face to face is still important, have you taken the time to consider the cost of a trip to you or your business? It isn’t just the airfares and hotel and meals, but the time you are away at your hourly rate doing ‘other things’, it’s the time away from family events or school events which cant be replaced as well. There is a big sacrifice to those who live this life whether in corporate or in their own business!
Maybe I’m just being all philosophical as I sit in a café in Melbourne after flying down here for two days this week. This has meant re-scheduled meetings, missing an event and being away physically. Some of these things just can’t have a price put on them, but I guess it is a necessary evil as the world gets smaller and smaller!
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Tony Ozanne
Small Fish Business Coaching Canberra
www.smallfish.com.au
Jon Dale 14-Sep-2011 05:24 PM
I'm with you, Tony, travel is over-rated - it's better to spend time at home that charge around the country or the world working. Technology is our friend these days - we meet using Skype or GoToMeeting. I'm coaching Noven from Byron Bay and he's in Thailand
- I'm not flying over to meet him every week and he's not coming here! Relationships are important and some travel is necessary - and, frankly, when it's not so often, it starts being fun again. Roll on my next trip to Sydney! Jon
Are You "Great" Or Just Doing OK?
In a recent article I posted to our Small Fish Blog ‘What makes a great business owner?’ the behaviours of great owners were discussed. To continue with this theme and to look at some more specific behavioural data, I have conducted some analysis of businesses I have had contact with recently as a coach.
These results come from the mini audits of 87 business owners, who took the opportunity to try the Free Coaching Session Small Fish provides. (I have to plug this and say it is a great way to seek some feedback, ideas or thoughts on how you can improve your business if this is what you want to do!). Just click here or email me if you have an interest in having one for your business!
So, what did I discover?
From the 87 business mini audits, the following was discovered:
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75 employed staff (balance solo operators)
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8 actually have regular structured staff meetings
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7 provide incentives, feedback or reward processes for their team
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6 have a formal business plan (I think about 2 had actually looked at it since completing)
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5 have a Marketing Plan
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4 tracked Marketing activity for ROI each time
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6 obtain and review financial information on a monthly basis (i.e. P&L)
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4 knew their break-even point
These are some alarming numbers, and I am sure all those reading will not be on this list!
Clearly not all people I meet want to become clients for a number of reasons such as time, cost, don’t want to change, not ready, feel they’re doing ok, etc. This is fine and to each their own.
The key point and take away from this is not to sell coaching, but to advise if you are guilty of any of the above. The first step is to 
recognise your gap. Once you know where you need to modify things, you have to WANT to change. This is where those who seek external help flourish; they have identified a need and want to amend that gap in their behaviour. Don’t waste money on coaches, consultants, training etc. unless you really are serious about change and willing to commit. It isn’t easy, but the business benefits longer term will truly make you a great business instead of just chugging along and doing Okay.
I wish you all the best and hope to see these hit rates change as we all become better (and even great) at what we do.
Tony Ozanne
Small Fish Business Coaching Canberra
www.smallfish.com.au
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Lessons from the Tour de France
After 3 weeks of late nights watching the tremendous efforts of our Aussie, Cadel Evans, in winning the 2011 Tour de France (and the first from our country), I am sure I am not the only one who looks forward to an early night’s sleep after it all ends…the 2 am endings take their toll!
So given the amazing ride of ups and downs and demonstration of true grit, why am I writing about this in our blog?
A few themes have come from Cadel’s ride. He clearly had a plan, he had a great team around him and he never lost sight of his vision- to WIN!
So as we celebrate and reflect, ask yourself if you truly have a vision for your business and where you want it to be at any given point in time, be it 1 year, 3 or 5 years…if not, why not write it down today and spend some time to develop the vision (of course a Business Coach can help).
Once you have a vision established, develop a plan as to how you will get there. This is the classic ‘future back’ activity of looking at what you need to do to achieve the vision.
Is it a Marketing plan, a plan to evaluate and align your people, or is it a sales strategy? It may be a number of these or more!
Finally, don’t forget the power of your team. Just as Cadel Evans had his fellow BMC team mates to help in times of adversity, be it mechanical fixes, driving the chase or keeping him motivated, they were clearly aligned to the overall vision (to win) and the plan (how to do it stage by stage). Do you have your team clearly aligned and aware of your plan and vision? They are the ones who can help you get there, you cannot do it all by yourself. The first thing Evans mentioned, after his yellow jersey on Stage 20, was to say how his team gave 99.9% to 100% effort the entire race, and he couldn’t have done it without them. Can you say the same about your vision and plan and your team? It isn’t a challenging one to do, once your plan is set. Have a strategy sharing session and let your team know how they are a critical part of the end result, then give the recognition, motivation and celebration for the small wins.
As a fellow proud Aussie this weekend, have a look at Cadel’s efforts and see if you can take some of the lessons from it for your business, and maybe you can win your own personal Tour de France in 2012 and beyond.
Good luck and congratulations to Cadel Evans!
Now it’s time for some sleep.
Tony Ozanne
Small Fish Business Coaching Canberra
www.smallfish.com.au
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What's A QR Code?
At a recent networking luncheon, aptly named the GAF Luncheon (Grog and Food), I was introduced to a new bit of IT or marketing technology (well at least new to me, I’m sure they have been around for a while, but I may just be a bit slow to catch up with this techno stuff). So I decided to go and use my best friend, Google, and see what they are all about, and obviously decided to share what I have found.
QR codes, or Quick Response codes were initially designed for the tracking of parts in the automotive industry. They are now used to allow a user, who can scan such codes, quick links to website, email links, SMS link, phone numbers etc. They have become a key target in the Mobile technology whereby an App can be downloaded for both IPhone and Android phones to scan and then therefore, make these little black and white boxes usable to us. I found an App for my phone easily on the App Store and for an option of a FREE one or a $1.19 HD version, I am now a man with a scanner, and they are pretty cool!
I have also discovered (again thanks to a quick search of Google and the word "QR code creator") several sites that allow you to make your own QR codes for free, again, how cool? Since finding, creating and playing with this in the last few days, I am amazed at how many QR codes I have come across each day, from magazine advertising, bus advertising etc. They are popping up everywhere, and hey, now I can scan them!
While I don’t know if this is the next big thing, I’m sure the marketing aspect of these will grow by the day but, they are certainly quite impressive, and unless you can scan, you don’t know what you are missing. Finally, when you find and scan one, it is a mystery as to what is going to open up on your phone!
So what are you waiting for? Go and have a play like I have…
Tony Ozanne
Small Fish Business Coaching Canberra
www.smallfish.com.au
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