When was the last time you were sitting in a conference room with the obligatory mints and bottled water, when it happened? That flash of brilliance where you were inspired to innovate and you generated new ideas that catapulted the performance of your business over the next six months.

How often does that happen?

Not a lot, really, does it?

Then why do it?

Inspiration, innovation and successful business ideas come out of the blue. Most times when you least expect it. They fly in from the edge of consciousness and delightfully startle us. They are random, sometimes the result of wrong turns, errors, mishaps and misdirection. They don't naturally and regularly occur when we're forcibly confined in the staleness of another conference room that emits a musty odour of damp carpet.

If you're looking for inspiration, innovation and successful business ideas you need to be having fun. Drop the qualitative thinking. Don't invite the devil's advocate. And, ignore conventional wisdom and practicality.

Inspiration, innovation, blue ocean ideas do not evolve from conservative thinking and approaches. They come from having fun and being excited. Let's do it! You know it works.
 

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Ric Willmot
Improving Organisational Performance
Providing Strategy Consulting & Mentoring

 

A new Australian Defence report slams the quality of terrorism studies in Australia and overseas, saying the field is dominated by self-proclaimed experts who are inexperienced, do little primary research work in the field and have rarely met with genuine extremists. The study concluded there were common deficiencies in much of the writing on terrorism issues.

Similar charges could be laid against the preponderance of recent business and management texts. Most are shoddy and tawdry, fallowed and simplistic. Again, the business consulting field, like the terrorist field, is dominated by self-proclaimed experts who, once you research their backgrounds properly and fully, are inexperienced, do little primary research work in the field of business management and have rarely met with or consulted to significant and successful CEOs of major organisations.

Be careful whose advice you buy. First, check their credentials, thoroughly. Have they successfully achieved what you are wanting, and what they are telling you to do? Have they the experience or are they simply a theorist who has read a book or Googled a topic? If you go diving on the Great Barrier Reef you want the guidance of an experienced instructor who has swum that reef, not someone who has simply read a diving instruction manual, otherwise you might just drown. In Australia at the moment there are many self-proclaimed experts consulting to the accounting, coaching, legal and recruitment professions, who themselves actually failed in the same profession - although they are unwilling to admit it.

As the Sunscreen Song suggests, "advice is a form of nostalgia". But for you, right now, in this economy, you want your advice to come from those of us who do the research, are experienced, and engage at the highest levels. And, so should you, to ensure that you deliver exceptional value to your clients and guarantee them a substantial return on their investment in you and your professional advice.

We don't need any terror experts around here.

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Ric Willmot
Improving Organisational Performance
Providing Strategy Consulting & Mentoring

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The number of business coaches, trainers and speakers in my Mentor Program who work from home are growing exponentially. The excitement and trepidation rise as you take your seat at your desk realising you are independent, answerable only to yourself, free to manage and prioritise your time, efforts and schedules. Many consultants, trainers, coaches and speakers are escapees from the corporate world; relishing the freedoms afforded self-employment and entrepreneurialism.

However, the transition is not always trouble-free, uncomplicated or stress-free. Friends will telephone while you are working, assuming you have an abundance of time to chat. Others will call in mistakenly believing you have ample time for socialisation as well. You may also consider that you may have the discretionary time to quickly complete some household chores during your productive work time.

Establishing a business from your home premises is not always as liberating as it sounds or imagined. The abundance of distractions competing for your attention can destroy your concentration as well; young children, dirty dishes and television can be daunting challenges for home-based entrepreneurs attempting to establish, grow and develop a successful business.

There are a number of measures you can implement to support and assist your efforts to be successful as a home-based entrepreneur. Here are Ric’s Tips:

Formalise your working environment.

The temptation can be to treat working from home informally, especially considering you are your own boss and answerable to no one (excepting maybe your bank manager). Specifically, formalise how you will manage and prioritise your procedures and operations of working from home. This can incorporate scheduling of regular tasks, such as, telephone calls to clients, report-writing, invoicing, and so on.
It will benefit you to clearly understand how you will handle various scenarios which may impinge upon productivity, like: drop-ins by friends and relatives, interruptions by family members during important telephone calls, or children illnesses requiring they remain home from school. You might consider designating scheduled appointments for household chores, family errands, and recreational activities that you might otherwise be tempted to slip in to your working day.

Maintain balance.

For many of the professionals in my Mentor Program, there is a preponderance to work far too hard, and not nearly smart enough. Be realistic and be kind to yourself; emotionally, physically and creatively. Your success or otherwise will have less to do with the number of hours you work and more to do with the results and outcomes you produce.

There is no reason at all why home-based entrepreneurs could not be sitting by the pool at two in the afternoon, reading some journals, magazines or a good book. (See my article: “A martini by the pool.”) Thereby having no guilt at dropping by the ‘office’ at nine at night for an hour to do some emails and write a report. Just because you have your office at home does not necessarily require you work ‘office’ hours. But it is incumbent upon you to be disciplined to do what is needed, when it is needed.

Pronouncements for the home.

Just because you are clear about your patterns of work and priorities determined, it is negligent to assume your family and friends have the same clarity. There is no valid reason why you cannot close the door to your home-office as a simple indicator to your family that you cannot be disturbed and/or you are on important telephone call and quiet is important. Explain the measures to your family in advance, and then use those measures as needed, but only as needed so that they are not only understood but respected by others in your home.

Location, location, location.

Where your office is located within the confines of your residence will play a big role in the potential distractions and how enticing those distractions may become to you. Ideally, your office should be away from the busiest areas of the home; not in the thoroughfare of life. Neither should it be in your bedroom! It does need a door … that closes.

It is imperative that you maintain a separate and dedicated business telephone line that nobody else in the family answers … ever! And it is preferred that you have your own office equipment that is not for family use. Computers, printers, scanners and alike are tools of your business. Let the family have their own in another area of the home.

Achieve more by doing less.

Whether it be home duties or business needs, where it makes sense and is readily done with minimum supervision, outsource tasks. Get a housekeeper, have the lawns and gardens handled for you by a contractor, hire an external bookkeeper, use a virtual assistant; you get the idea. Utilise others to quickly accomplish tasks that distract and unenthused you so that your creative and productive energies remain focused on bringing in the high-premium business results.



Being a work from home entrepreneur has as many challenges as it does rewards; whether you profit from the opportunities it affords you, is a matter of choice. The level of efficacious productivity will be solely determined by the decisions you make. There is a rising tide for home-based entrepreneurs, unless you wish to be a victim of the water.

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Ric Willmot
Improving Organisational Performance
Providing Strategy Consulting & Mentoring

What does workforce planning really mean? Talent management? Recruitment and retention?

Could we amend our thinking around what retention stands for?

A few years ago, Bernard Salt spoke at the "State of the Industry" dinner for the Recruitment & Consulting Services Association in Melbourne, at which I was a special guest of CEO Julie Mills. Bernard recounted a story whereby a lawyer had in years previous, lamented at how they would invest considerable time, resources, training, development, etc., into graduates with the expectation that these new recruits would become long-term valuable members of the firm.

Of course, Gen Y being what they are, head for the UK where the wages are wonderful, the currency exchange rate is even better and life is a lark with travel, booze and parties. Bernard bumped into this same law firm partner a fortnight ago and he chuckled how a lot of these young law graduates had been retrenched due to the economic downturn, and were emailing him with their availability for re-employment at his practice.

Could we consider the word, retention, to infer that although employees may leave, the relationship is at such a level of trust, liking and respect -- that they will come back when ready?

Baby Boomer's are retiring. I wonder how delighted they might be if you were to offer them the opportunity to return after an initial "retirement holiday" to become mentors and coaches for other employees at your firm? Retaining them so you and your people can have access to their "smarts".

Do you really need to replace someone when they leave? Maybe that particular role could be absorbed by sharing it with a few existing staff? It could become a job share? Maybe it's only a part-time role now. With the changes in technology, you don't need a full-time person with all the associated costs. It may well be the work could be completed by a remote employee, working from home with flexible hours.

When Mothers retire from the workforce -- could you offer them opportunities for sporadic employment after they have settled in to their new full-time role?

We all enjoy perusing exciting menus in restaurants. How can you create an exciting menu of job roles, opportunities, challenges, compensation, remuneration, etc in your business?

What if we, as employers, stopped thinking in terms of "jobs" but rather "careers"?

No to "one size fits all" ... Yes to "Career Customisation".
No to full-time employees ... Yes to a "Working Parents Toolkit".
No to focus on the jobs ... Yes to developing your "bench strength".
No to rigid dimensions and employees as a "resource" ... Yes to "pragmatic loyalty".
No to the shackles of past employment practices ... Yes to the (insert your company name here) Alumni.

What if we viewed our employees as clients of the firm?
What if we created a database for "best fit" internal clients to operational requirements?
What if we "talent-pooled" with other organisations and formed "employment strategic alliances"?

What potential might this have for your business?

Might it help to alleviate the skill shortage?
Might it improve your ability to retain access to good people?
Might it promote employee loyalty to your business?

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Ric Willmot
Improving Organisational Performance
Providing Strategy Consulting & Mentoring

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