Answer: Treat writers and journalists with the respect they deserve. This week I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some brilliant journos & reporters from BRW, SmartCompany & Dynamic Business. These guys have the power to write great things about you and your business if you work with them and help them. Here are […]
Getting the right people into the right seats is one of the highest priorities for all leaders. Jim Collins has been telling us this for years. I agree with Collins, but I like to take it one step further… The right people, in the right seats doing the things they LOVE is my approach. […]
When was the last time something disastrous happened in your business? I don’t mean like losing a big client or a crappy email being sent to the wrong list, I mean really freaking bad. Like someone dying. My guess is probably never. I used to think that I needed to be in the office every […]
My last monthly post in 2011 for Small Business Victoria’s business blog… ______________ Spending smartly on things that add value and saving money in less important areas is a very familiar challenge for business owners. Imagine if all of your team members had the same approach? It can be done. Running a business today can […]
How often do you consider who will do your job when you’re not around to do it? How about who will do everyone else’s job when they’re not around either? Succession planning is one of the keys to great leadership. A friend of mine and former EO Global Director, Carlo Santoro, once described great leadership as ‘leaving a […]
If you want to grow your business faster, you’ll need more meetings. That’s right more meetings, not less. Here’s why.. Businesses generally have annual planning days, monthly management meetings and a semi-regular weekly meeting. This approach can work for businesses growing at 10-15% per year. If you want to grow at 30%, 40% or even […]
Growing businesses create policy after policy to stop bad situations recurring. Imagine that instead of creating more rules, you just removed the people that were causing the problems? For example, if one team member continually claimed excess fuel allowance by driving the long way to client sites every single day. When their manager found out, some […]
Are you continually looking for ‘the next big opportunity’? A new product or service to add to your range? Maybe a new initiative to start or even a new business to launch? If so, perhaps you’re wasting your time… To increase your focus, the happiness of your team and even your profit, it’s probably time to […]
How much authority do the people that serve your clients and customers have? In my experience, delegating the greatest amount of responsibility to the customer-facing members of a team is one of the most effective things I can do. Empowering team members with the information, authority and confidence to deal with as many situations […]
Yesterday was The Physio Co’s 3rd Team Conference. Once a year we have a full day event that our entire team attends to learn, share and have some fun. This year’s was the best yet. One thing we did for the first time yesterday was to share the challenges that exist in our fast growing […]
Are you a professional? If so, are you practicing, rehearsing and improving your skills every week so that you can perform at your best with your customers when it counts? Every professional athlete spends significantly more time training than competing. That’s the norm. Traditionally, professional athletes train during the week and compete on the weekend. […]
What happens when a job needs to be finished by 5pm Friday? It gets done on Friday. Even if it came in on Monday! What about if that same job needed to be finished by Wednesday at 5pm? It gets done on Wednesday! ”I’ll get it done by Wednesday” is nearly always code for […]
Most leaders have goals that they are working towards. I certainly do. However, when I’m leading a team, other people’s goals are much more important than my own. You see, my short-medium term business goals are almost always the sum of my team’s goals. If every member of my team hits their goals, my goals […]
Today, as part of an interview for SmartCompany, I was asked an interesting question: “Tell us about a near death or challenging experience that your company has been through. How did you solve the problem?”. My response… “Growing too fast before we were ready almost killed The Physio Co. In the early days, one of […]
A core purpose is the reason an organisation exists. It’s a brief statement that anyone can read and think “yep, got it. I know exactly what they’re up to.” The less words the better. For example, Facebook’s core purpose is ‘to make the world more open and transparent’. Whether you like Facebook or not, right […]
Today I was reminded to be a bit more careful when I delegate. You see two weeks ago I was asked to review and update some documents for one of our clients. Simple enough. I took the phone call and soon after received the files in to my email account. I reviewed the request and […]
Successful businesses are disciplined businesses. That means everyone, including the CEO, must be accountable. But what are the KPI’s to measure the CEO’s success? In my experience, a CEO has only two KPI’s: Are the right people in the right seats? Are everyone else’s KPI’s being hit? That’s it. Seriously, as a CEO, if I […]
Gathering feedback from the team is an age-old concept that most leaders will say is important. But how good are you at it? How often do you really listen? Tonight, after everyone else had gone home I sat for an hour with one of our physios. We talked about how things are going for her, […]
Having someone accountable for EVERYTHING is a key discipline of successful fast growing businesses. Verne Harnish, a mentor and advisor I have used for years has a very firm view on accountability. In Verne’s words, “If everyone is accountable, no one is accountable!”. At The Physio Co, I’ve learnt the hard way that Verne is spot […]
In my experience, people that are a culture-fit will effortlessly live your core values. How do they do it with such ease? It’s simple: their personal values will be very similar to the core values of the business. Therefore, when they are living, breathing & sharing the core values, they are just being themselves! […]