Action Coach Portsmouth

Action Coach Portsmouth

Sarah Williams

9 Warning Signs You’re a Hub-and-Spoke Owner 

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9 Warning Signs You’re a Hub-and-Spoke Owner

If you were to draw a picture that visually represents your role in your business, what would it look like? Are you at the top of a traditional Christmas-tree-like organizational chart, or are you stuck in the middle of your business, like a hub in a bicycle wheel?

The moment the hub is overwhelmed, the entire system fails. Acquirers generally avoid hub-and-spoke managed businesses because they understand the dangers of buying a company too dependent on the owner.

Think about why you started the business in the first place. It can be hard to take a step back when you’ve built something from the ground up, but you’ll never grow unless you’re working ON the business rather than IN the business.

Here’s a list of nine warning signs you’re a hub-and-spoke owner and some suggestions for pulling yourself out of the middle of your business:

1. You sign off all purchases and payments

Most business owners sign for payments, but what happens if you’re away for a couple of days and an important supplier needs to be paid? Consider giving an employee signing authority up to an amount you’re comfortable with, and then change the mailing address on your bank statements so they are mailed to your home (not the office). That way, you can review everything and make sure the privilege isn’t being abused.

2. Out-of-hours calls are out of control

If your employees are out of their depth a lot, it will show. Staff will be calling you to coach them through problems. Ask yourself if you’re hiring too many junior employees. Sometimes people with a couple of years of industry experience will be a lot more self-sufficient and only slightly more expensive than the greenhorns.

3. Your revenue is flat when compared to last year’s

Flat revenue from one year to the next can be a sign you are a hub in a hub-and-spoke model. Like forcing water through a hose, you have only so much capacity. No matter how efficient you are, every business dependent on its owner reaches capacity at some point. Consider narrowing your product and service line by eliminating technically complex offers that require your personal involvement. Focus on selling fewer things to more people.

4. Taking a holiday is more trouble than it’s worth

If you spend your time away dispatching orders from your mobile, speaking to staff members, or putting out fires, it’s time to cut the tether. Start by taking one day off and seeing how your company does without you. Build systems for failure points. Work up to a point where you can take a few weeks off without affecting your business.

5. You spend all your time dealing with customers

If you find yourself constantly having to get involved with requests from your customers, you are a hub. It’s good to have the pulse of your market, but constantly working with customers one-on-one can be a sign that you’re relying too heavily on your personal relationships being the glue that holds your business together. You’ve hired people to work with your customers – let them! Have a trusted employee shadow you when you meet customers so over time your customers get used to dealing with someone else.

6. You lock up every night

If you’re the only one who knows the lock-up routine in your business (count the cash, lock the doors, set the alarm), then you are very much a hub. Write an employee manual of basic procedures for closing down at the end of the day and give it to new employees on their first day on the job.

8. You get the tickets

Suppliers’ wooing you by sending you free tickets to events demonstrate that they see you as the key decision maker. If you are the key contact for any of your suppliers, you will find yourself in the hub of your business when it comes time to negotiate terms. Consider appointing one of your trusted employees as the key contact for a major supplier. Give that employee spending authority up to a limit you’re comfortable with.

9. You get cc’d on more than five e-mails a day

Employees, customers and suppliers constantly cc’ing you on e-mails can be a sign that they are looking for your tacit approval. Start by asking your employees to stop using the cc line in an e-mail. Ask them to add you to the “to” line if you really must be made aware of something – and only if they need a specific action from you.

If you see yourself in any of the above, it’s a sign that it’s time to take action.

Get in touch with one of our business coaches today by calling 02392 454111, or fill out the form below, to discuss how we can help you get back on track, and achieve those goals that led you to start the business in the first place.

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How to change your business culture and grow your bottom line in 12 weeks

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Today, it is understood that a healthy and strong culture is critical for the success of teams, whether it be in sport or in business. It’s always been a key element for sporting teams, and yet when it comes to business, over 90 % of the UK workforce is not engaged at work. This places UK workers at the bottom of the European leader board, with only Greece having lower engagement.

In amateur sport, we see passion, purpose, shared vision, spirit and unity. It’s infectious! People play for the love of the game and the love of their team, rarely for money. On the other hand, most disengaged employees would change employers today for as little as a 5% pay rise!

So what are businesses today missing, what’s gone wrong?

All businesses aspire to ignite similar levels of energy and dedication in their teams. So why has this always been a challenge in the business world?

It’s becoming clear that there are huge similarities and common links between sporting team’s success, and the success of high performing businesses. In sport and business, the number one key to a teams’ success (or failure) is its people. What’s the number one key to the success of your people today? Put simply, the answer is engagement.

Today, many organisations better appreciate the importance of investing in engagement strategies by having a standard reward & recognition program. These aim to motivate and reward good behaviours and attitudes.

While these types of solutions do have their place, they can only be effective when part of a broader strategy.

The first step in the direction of success and performance is the creation of a winning culture.

A strong and healthy culture can be defined as one unified group with the same positive mindset, owning and working towards the same winning vision.

Do not be fooled into believing that strong leadership, and an exclusive focus on the development of leaders, is the key to a winning culture.

This is a mistake. It is the people and their contribution that will make or break your business.

Organisations live and die by the people they employ – no matter what industry. Without actively engaged people, the leadership message cannot be heard.

So you want a stronger culture and team engagement but how do you get there – and quickly?

The answer is we start by putting the right system and strategies in place to ensure massive, fast and sustainable change.

Are Your Employees WE or ME?

There are two types of people in every organisation. The WE people and the ME people. If you have more ME than WE people you will always come second or lower. Leaders are 100% WE.

Collective Accountability

Critical for fast and sustainable success. It’s about ensuring everyone is regularly, and publicly held accountable in the right environment with feedback given effectively and with the interest of the individuals growth at the heart.

Equality Creates Unity

Equality is necessary to ensure team unity. The traditional hierarchical structure is not the most efficient option for businesses these days. Instead today’s successful businesses have the ability to empower their people. This gives them greater autonomy and the knowledge that they own their decisions and actions

Habitual Leadership Acts

Mainstream leadership training is generally knowledge based, not action based. Habitual Leadership is ongoing and is all about actions. Leaders are not usually held accountable for the short or long term, which is why current leadership training strategies generally fail.

The 2 Fundamentals of Engage and Grow

There are two fundamental requirements when building a thriving organisation:

1) Quality systems, processors and game plans, which is ‘the brain’ of the organisation.
2) Quality leadership, engagement and culture, which is ‘the heart’ of the organisation.

The two most important organs of the body are the brain and the heart. We cannot survive without them functioning. They will work on small portions of blood flow, but they will be working harder than they should be, and it’s not sustainable long term. I liken this to analogy to most organisations that are just surviving. If you have an unlimited amount of blood flow, full of fresh oxygen, then the brain and heart will work in unison at full capacity. It will be better equipped if there are problems which creates a thriving body (or organisation).

Good communication is the bloodline of any successful business. If communication is slow, then the organisation cannot flow.

‘ A NEW Group Activation System’ – Company training is the least desirable and effective way to learn.

Finally, 90% of today’s business leaders think an engagement strategy has a positive effect on commercial success, and yet only 25% of them have a plan to do it! In today’s competitive world, your people are your edge.

Old fashioned ‘knowledge dumping’ training programs are no longer efficient when it comes to employee activation. The game has changed. Have you changed your game to keep up?

Engage and Grow Global founder and CEO Richard Maloney used his professional sports coaching background to create the Group Activation program with it’s unique 12 engagement keys which dramatically transform organisational culture, behaviours and performance in 12 weeks.

To find out more about how to activate your people and create a culture that will deliver you massive results, increased productivity and profitability then connect or email me sarahwilliams@actioncoach.com and arrange your employee engagement meeting and survey

 

5 Easy Time Management Tips for Business Owners

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Time is our most valuable resource and ONCE IT IS GONE IT’S GONE!

Whether you’re a business owner or a manager, there never seems to be enough hours in the day.

The biggest key in time management is having clear priorities. By dividing your to-do list into URGENT tasks, short and long-term goals, you’ll be able to allocate your time more effectively. Here are my 5 Top time management tips:

1. Communication – prioritise it !

Email, can be both your best friend or worse enemy ! On one hand, it’s a way for passing vital information but if you are distracted by the new message box popping up every few minutes then it can be a huge distraction from you achieving your goals. Set aside a specific time to review emails. Not only will this keep you in the loop, but allow you to knock out the tasks you need to throughout the day.

2. Default diary your “focus” time

One of the aspects of running a business involves being pulled in all sorts of directions. Block off portions of your daily or weekly schedule and dedicate it solely to your goals and most important outcomes. Make sure you are disciplined during this time and fully concentrate on the tasks at hand that lead you towards your goal achievement.

3. Book meetings in chunks

When it’s time to book meetings, try to group them shortly after one another. This will not only keep you forcibly punctual but won’t break up the remainder of your day. Doing this will keep you motivated and focused – meetings will be more productive.

4. Prioritise with the Goal in Mind

When you’re a business owner or manager, you must learn to be flexible. Each day presents a different challenge and curve balls will be thrown at you. To organise yourself, determine priority and plan tasks by urgent and important and others that can remain on the back burner. From there, build your list based on importance, time involved, or resources needed. Remember the 4 Ds “Do it, Delegate it, Defer it or Dump it” and create checkpoints to keep yourself on track.

5. Agendas for every meeting with outcomes / intent defined

Long, drawn out, ineffective meetings are the biggest eater of time. You have the power to change this. Give your meeting purpose by creating a simple, template. You should include topics, major discussion points, and action items and WHO owns the action and by WHEN.

Following these 5 QUICK TIPS will gain you back more of your most important and scarce resource.

TIME is one of the most important areas we work with business owners and their teams on. If TIME is one of your challenges then I can help you get back in control.

Call me 02392 454 111 or email sarahwilliams@actioncoach.com

Learn more about the author here: Sarah Williams