Tag: #Loyalty

Sales Knowledge: Organisational Growth

Growth is not about how much you earn or how much you spend. It is a multi-faced question to be answered. 

Some of the few questions are:
– Are you cutting the salary check without any delay year after year?
– Are you able to pay all the bills before the net period?
– Are you able to sustain the revenue if not growth?
– Are you able to increase the headcount?
– Are you able to provide a salary hike every year?
– Are you able to achieve all the above even during a bad revenue year?

If the answer is “yes” to all the above, then you are running the company with a very well calculative strategy. 

But can we grow just with the above? No. We cannot. What do we need then?

We need innovative ideas. 

But if your innovative idea is going to pull you down on any of the above, then that idea is a liability rather than an asset.

Ideas are split into two.

– Idea potential
– Idea achievement

Idea potential is the ability to propose novel and creative innovations. But, Idea achievement is the ability to implement those ideas. Idea potential can become daydreams. There is nothing to lose out of it. But, idea achievement is a risk-taking measure. It may alter all your current operations together. Idea achievement can be achieved, only with sustainable revenue growth.

As per Forbes information, a company fails to take off to the next level is due to the wrong association of Idea potential and Idea achievement to be present in the same mind.

So an idea achiever must take only calculative risk. It will not just end up with the failure of the idea achiever alone. It may end up shaking the very base of the existence of the company itself.

Idea potential comes from the most creative people. Idea achievement comes from the most operational people.

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Two types of people who are bane of the core team!!!

IT-Boon-Bane

One good idea out of 1000s will give birth to startup. It is the fiduciary responsibility of any Founder to evaluate all the 1000s and chose the best.

Never start a business if you don’t have some knowledge about the new business you are starting. After choosing the right idea out of the 1000s, spending enough time in gathering sufficient knowledge and history about that concept should be the first stage before doing market research about the new idea or concept.

After spending all these and investing the first chunk of money, we will make our concept take off and start showing the growth.

Here is where we will form our core team to take the business further. Each member of the core team should not only work as an employee but should also consider themselves as the founding member of the company/team.

If we are able to get a core team of this virtue, I bet, there won’t be a stage of closing down the business.

This applies and plays a vital role not only in Founding any company but also on starting a new business unit on an ongoing company.

There will be differences of opinion among these core team members on concept wise along with work nature too. The duty of the person who balances these and run the show are called as “leaders”.

Two types of people

In spite of being a leader, there will be two types of people who will become the real bane of the core team by playing a spoiling game.

They are:

1. People who believe, responsibilities are to be given rather than taken, and

2. People who believe they should be the key member on all initiatives.

Both of them are the real bane of the core team. They not only spoil their roles but also spoil the morale and binding of the entire core team. Both of them will knowingly or unknowingly inject negative thoughts into the mind of everyone around them.

How to identify them?

It is one of the tough jobs of any leader of a team or a company to identify these people. Becuase they would have already deep rooted their thoughts into the team and if any action taken against them for any genuine reason, will be seen as they are vindicated. 

1. Both of these characters would have been the outstanding performers but started showing slowdown now.

2. They would have the best knowledge of their respective roles but started playing silent spectator role in recent days

3. They would have been the most flexible during the starting days but become very rigid now

4. The first one would have started to whine out with the current responsibilities and will not show any interest in taking any new responsibilities.

5. The second one would not have completed the earlier given role but would assume he is smart enough and started expecting to be made as the key player of all new initiatives.

How to eradicate them?

Even after many personal discussion, their ego would not allow them to accept the reality and change. We will tolerate them for months just because they were the most wonderful people we had earlier.

But the need of the hour would not be allowing us to give more room to tolerate them. So rather than tolerating them, it is better to let them go so that at least we can maintain the friendship with them.

With the new company and new environment, they will automatically revert to their original capability and flexibility.

So it is good for both the company and the individuals to shake hands and “call it a day”.

People Vs Process

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Foot Steps and Foot Prints

Two types of scenarios are there in professional life. First, following Foot Steps, second, creating Foot Prints.

Following foot steps require lot of compromises and enthusiasm to learn. Whereas creating Foot Prints require lot of confidences and innovations.

The later will become an entrepreneur and the former will become a business person. Though we used to think both business men and entrepreneurs are same, the above said is the difference between these two.

Whether you are a businessman or an entrepreneur you should have Plan B in place to run your show. Every entrepreneurs should keep in mind that Plan B should not be people oriented. But Plan A must be people oriented only.

Plan A

If you want your idea to become reality, even if you are backed my Capital, you need PEOPLE to carryout your vision and mission.  This helps your idea to become reality. Then your realised idea can start earning for you. You are a perfect Entrepreneur only if your idea starts to earn for you. Else you are just another short time Amateur Entrepreneur ONLY.

Your core people should start building your company with their teams under them. Management should make sure that these core team is well equipped and empowered to carry out these tasks. Even though you have handpicked these core team members, you cannot expect everyone from your core team to be of same caliber. It is your management skill that will better utilise their individual capabilities and form a full functional core team.

If the core team is trained and fed to handle tasks to their brim that will help them to expand their team size and in a short duration you can realise your company has crossed several milestones on growth aspect.

Can this scenario continue?

No it will not. Because every individual will have their own ambition in their career and life. On the other hand your core team would have learned a lot of additional skills which they will love to get disclosed in front of others, who would really appreciate that than what you can do to them. If their increase remuneration also gets added to this then they will surely try to unfold their wings and start flying their own.

In spite of the above situation being true, every Manager will have “that one person” who will not leave you in spite of knowing all the above. If you get one, then you are the most successful professional person. Wish for one!!!

Plan B

Loosing your core team is inevitable for sure. What will be the next step? That is what is called “Plan B”.

People are the core for the growth and success of any company. There is no substitute for that.

But people should not drive the company. Your people should drive the process of your company and if that happens, then all you need is KT time and not Individual presence. Time invested in formalising the Process by any Management will give huge returns than any other form of investment including investing in individual. End of the day, Individual will leave you for their own  aspirations, how much ever growth, knowledge and money you bet on them.

Plan A Vs Plan B

Being said, can we invest in process and run the company without people or invest in people and run the company without process? Both are not possible and this is the core issue of many Entrepreneurs ending up their vision with failure.

You should side by side invest on both, else you will be LEFT ALONE at the middle of the road. This scenario will happen to most of the companies which are on the growth aspect year after year for the first 5 years. But if you have crossed the chasm of 5 years then you would have automatically formalised some processes in operations which will eventually lead you to strengthen your Plan B and carry forward your company smoothly.

Professional Loyalty a Myth

loyaltyWhat is Loyalty?

Have we ever thought of this word before. The answer would be yes. But the truth is “for others” and not when it comes to us.

If we take the direct meaning of the word loyalty there are different ways to use it. First, in Confucianism, it is meant as “do the best you can do for others”. Second, in Christianity, “if loyalty to man conflicts with loyalty to God, the latter takes precedence”.

But what it actually means?

We almost correlate it with “slavery”.

How?

If my employee quit, its against loyalty.

If my friend speaks to my enemy, its against loyalty.

If I discuss into healthy debate with anyone of other company in my line of business its against loyalty to the company, so on and so forth.

But, hang on. Did we ever do a self analysis about us on this so called myth “loyalty”. No we won’t. Because whatever we do, it is all because of a cause and if the same is done by others then we immediately weigh it in Loyalty scale. This is not for you or for me. This is happening in most of the People I am able to acquaint with.

We forget that we were also working with someone else yesterday and will be working with someone else tomorrow. If we had worked with others and come to our present company then are we “not loyal?” . We won’t accept. Why accepting? We won’t even analyse us in that angle.

When we recruit people from other company we won’t question them for “loyalty”. We even go extra mile asking them to bring other people from their earlier company to our company. Some may even do that.

But when they quit, we first give lecture to them on so called “loyalty” and particularly we will advise them in a commanding tone about loyalty.

Is quitting a job means not being loyal?

First please understand. QUITTING is not anything against LOYALTY. When we feel something is not going to our comfortness or if we want  advancement in our carrier, we have to quit and move on. Else both our company as well as us are not going to advance, why advance, we won’t even feel comfortable in the profession.

What is loyalty then?

Loyalty is a virtue or we can say it is the top of all virtues. So it is not something going to do with Profession at all.

Just be “true” that is what required in profession. True to your profession and true to your work ethic. Non solicitation is the ethic of any job. Just don’t solicit anything which rightfully belongs to others.

According to me, Loyalty is a very bad quality against Professional and Personal Enhancement.

If you Boss or your company speaks about Loyalty rather than trueness then you are at the wrong place in your carrier.

Loyalty will bring in a slavery mentality within you which will stop you in coming out of the cocoon even though you may feel or want to.

If Loyalty defines to be “not quitting job” even if I am sure that I won’t advance myself in the current position, then I prefer to be Not Loyal.

If professional loyalty means “being true” to the position I am holding and held, then I prefer to be Loyal.

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