The 7 Logical Steps to KM Implementation

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Personal Success in Business - The 10 Steps!

Being aware of your own approach to Business is the key to your success. How aware are you of your own response to challenges? How well do you manage yourself? What kind of 'leader' are you for your Business? How disciplined are you?

Do you even KNOW the 10 Steps to Personal Success in Business?

Believe it or not, this is an area that many business owners ignore and dismiss. They simply go from day-to-day until something happens to make them stand up and take notice. Being aware of how your mind works is an important foundation for growth. As a business owner and decision maker, it's your responsibility to be completely aware of every aspect of your business.

Here are the 10 Steps to Personal Success in Business.

Step 1 - UNAWARE / UNCONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE

This is where you don't know anything and don't do anything. Things just happen. You live each day as if you photocopied it from the day before. You're at the bottom of the ladder to success.

Step 2 - REACTION

You're operating on animal instinct. It's fight or flight. You simply react to whatever comes your way without thinking. This is a very stressful place to be.

Step 3 - GROUP

This is where most people are, yet it's the most dangerous step. It's where you follow everyone else - the masses. It's comfortable here. You seek reassurance and guidance from peers, family and friends. The thought of breaking away is scary. Maybe you've had a great idea to break out and do something innovative but when you mention it to a network group, friends or family for their opinion, the response may go something like: "Are you kidding?", "Haven't you seen the news?", "I can't see that working!". So, you put the one thing that can TRANSFORM your life back in your pocket, agree with them that it's a bad idea and stay as you are. You're back in your comfort zone, feeling safe. You feel relieved, thinking everyone else is right - after all, you think to yourself, who would have supported if you had taken that next step?

It might be comfortable being with the group, but it holds you back. When you move out of the group, it's the best step you can take!

Step 4 - ASPIRATION

You want to BE more, DO more and HAVE more. How many times have you aspired to do something but done nothing about it? Have you ever made a resolution then forgotten about it? Can you remember a time when you used to think about doing something but never got around to it?

Having an aspiration is good, but without action, it doesn't amount to anything.

Step 5 - HESITATION

Now, you step forward into your future. But wait! You look around and then panic because you're on your own. Being a leader can be lonely and when you look behind and see the group, it's easier to step back into that old comfort zone. How many times has that happened to you?

Step 6 - DISCIPLINE

At last! This is the key step. It's when you take congruent action AND MOVE FORWARD. When you have the discipline to do this, you know you've taken the most important step towards your personal success. You no longer hear those people calling you back. All you focus on is your future, pulling you forward.

You've decided to do something positive and have taken the ACTION to do it.

Step 7 - EXPERIENCE

Almost immediately, by taking decisive action your knowledge increases. You learn new things and gain the confidence to continue moving forward. Others follow you, perhaps for the first time. You're now the leader. You gain the experience of having taken action and this experience encourages you to continue going forward, gaining experience of new situations all the time.

Step 8 - RESPONSE

Now it gets really interesting...With your new discipline and growing experience, you learn how to respond, rather than just react as previously. When you're confronted with an issue, instead of a quick reaction or hiding from it, you evaluate it, test & measure different options, and then respond with the best solution.

Step 9 - 'KAIZEN'

This is the Japanese principle of constant-and-never-ending-improvement or "ongoing change for the better". Your focus is on continuous improvement. This step is the natural state of successful people. It applies to every aspect of your business and your life.

Step 10 - AWARENESS

Finally, you display the characteristics of success. You Plan, Do and then Review. You've learned how taking action produces results and how the right decisions give you the right results. You're ready to start creating new steps of your own!

So, do you recognise the steps above?

Perhaps not. After all, most people are stuck in the Group level and don't know there's anything above them. Or maybe you've already stepped out and are taking action. You may even be further ahead. However, unless you've made it to the DISCIPLINE stage, the best you can ever be is in constant hesitation. This robs you of time, your most valuable non-recyclable resource.

Challenge yourself! How are you going to move up a level? How do you get away from following the masses? All it takes is just one step at a time.

Find out who the successful people are in your industry and find out what makes them successful. They are the few going in the opposite direction from the masses.

Study them. Follow them.

Remember, the power to your Personal Success in Business is developing yourself personally.

These 10 Steps are just one element of the 7 Principles of Business Success, developed from years of studying the best business models worldwide to create an easy model to follow.

Julie McGloin is co-founder and Director of award-winning Business Coaching and Development company, Straight Forward Success Ltd, which she runs with her husband and Master Business Coach, Anthony.
For further information about how to improve your business and for a free download of The 7 Principles of Success, visit: http://www.straightforwardsuccess.com/7-principles

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9 Practical Steps to a Winning Team

When it comes to company goals, don't try to go it alone. To build a company and steer it toward a growth path requires vision and collective effort. While the founder or CEO is the person primarily responsible for guiding the company to achieve your vision, you need the assistance, trust, cooperation and support of your team to help your company achieve its targets and stay on course for reaching your milestones.

This article looks at 9 essential steps of building a good management team.

According to Lawrence King, to survive and thrive in a digital world, you need a top-notch management team. However, teams cannot be built overnight. Team building involves a meticulous step by step process which one has to follow with a lot of planning, tact, observation and encouragement.

Step 1:
Realistic assessment: First and foremost, make a realistic assessment of your team - what kind of team members you currently have, their strengths and weaknesses and the areas you need to build on.

Step 2
What will you be doing in the team? It's imperative you have a clear idea of your own role in the team - either as team leader, coordinator, chief mentor, main think tank person or strategist.

Step 3
Planning is essential - For any team to succeed as a whole unit, you need a team-centered strategic plan in place. Pick and choose your team members and then get them together for a team-centered strategic planning session.

Step 4
Just as you should be clear about your role, your team members should be clear on their respective roles. However, to ensure that they do not work in isolation, each of them must also be aware of what the roles of other team members entail.

Step 5
It is important to make sure that the team members are well aware of their targets and performance measurement parameters. Team members who are assured that their performances will not go unnoticed feel motivated to go the extra mile. It is thus essential to develop and implement a performance measurement and rewards system to support the strategic plan. This kind of system also helps you to map out the progress towards achievement of goals and targets.

Step 6
Get your "CEO Stump Speech" ready. You may ask, what makes a "CEO Stump Speech" important. According to EMG Marketing Strategy Brief, "With proper positioning, a CEO who reflects the brand persona can powerfully project your institution's brand values and reflect its brand personality better than anyone else. The real challenge is for the CEO to take on the persona of the brand rather than other way around. He or she becomes a high-profile model of what it means to be an engaged brand advocate."

In this respect, the Brief goes on to add, one should take the opportunity to "create and incorporate a brand vocabulary and key messages consistently in the CEO's public stump speech". For small and medium sized companies, where brand building is usually a cost prohibitive activity and is limited to affordable options, a CEO Stump Speech provides a great option for projecting, enhancing and promoting your brand. For your management team as well, a clear identification of the brand with the CEO is necessary.

Step 7
Productivity thrives under a culture of learning, creativity, expression and confidence. Do not let your company slump into a culture of mediocrity and boredom. Encourage learning and allow the creative expression of ideas and thoughts within your team and your company. You will find that your management team has quite a few aces up their sleeves.

Step 8
Coach your key executives - Give regular training and guidance to your key managers and executives. It is an investment worth every penny you spend. Unless your key executives and managers are trained and updated on the latest trends, problems and challenges in the market, your business will not achieve its goals. Corporate executive coaching is thus a necessity and not a fad or indulgence.

Step 9
Train yourself - This is easier said than done. Where does a CEO go for training? Of course, one great option is to enroll for a one-to-one corporate executive coaching session with a professional and qualified executive coach.

However, another proven method of getting some practical and tested and battle-ready insights into how to overcome the challenges your business is facing and manage your team and resources better, is to interact and confer with other CEOs.

As the CEO, you may not receive honest opinions from your employees. On the other hand, as a member of a CEO Club or CEO corporate association, you will receive frank, even brutal and very workable feedback, solutions, insights, ideas and guidance from other CEOs who have "been there and done that." Therefore, join some CEO club in Atlanta or anywhere else and see your dreams turning into reality.

Follow these 9 steps for building a winning team. You will find your business goals becoming more achievable than ever before.

Tom Bordon is a freelance writer who has extensively written about CEO corporate association. His articles focus on guiding CEOs, COOs and top level executives in making new business plans, and strategies in a CEO club in Atlanta or a CEO association.

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Business Building Tips for Financial Advisers - 7 Steps to Success With High-Net-Worth Clients

Are you hoping to make a strong six-figure or even a seven-figure income this year? Start by thinking about what it takes to succeed as a financial adviser with high-net-worth clients. Get on board with these 7 Steps and make this a banner year.

Step 1: Specialize in an area where you can differentiate from competitors and develop market dominance. Affluent prospects look for the best in a field when they need advice for solving complex problems. Build your business and your marketing effort around your greatest passions, strengths and expertise in order to create a unique specialization.

Step 2: Understand your market niche. Target the ideal market segment for your business. Without a target market you have no clue about how to make the best use of your resources. If you don't determine who is ideal for your service you'll end up spending a lot more money and time for a disappointing result. What's worse you could end up spending too much time on the clients you don't want and end up wearing yourself out.

Step 3: Create relationship value. Thank you, Strategic Coach, Dan Sullivan for your value creation model. Sullivan's model includes three critical elements in the value creation process-providing leadership with direction, offering relationship that assures confidence of achieving desired results and demonstrating capability by delivering creative solutions. In order to be successful with high-net-worth clients, trusted advisers must be adept at delivering value as an expert problem solver.

Step 4: Captivate then capture your target market. Captivate your market with a compelling and consistent marketing message. Capture the attention of your market niche by keeping your message focused on what affluent prospects want most.

Step 5: Educate prospects and clients. Savvy consumers want information but they crave wisdom and learning from their trusted advisers today more than ever. This brings huge opportunities to the forefront for street smart advisers. Not only are educated clients more enjoyable, they are more decisive and more profitable.

Step 6: Simplify everything. Affluent clients value simplicity and control. The more advisers can simplify and bottom-line their wealthy client's personal finances, the more likely they will value the advisory relationship. Trusted advisers must be able to provide clients with enough information to make an informed decision while endeavoring to reduce everything to the simplest terms.

Step 7: Systematize your business. The most important operations in an advisory business to systematize are marketing, sales, customer service delivery and maintaining client loyalty. Systems will save you time, energy and money. Automate everything possible so you can spend more quality face time with your affluent clients.

That's it. Now you know the seven simple steps that spell "success". I guarantee that implementing them in your practice will lead to more money and less stress.

Author, teacher and business coach Rebecca Stone is turning attorneys and financial advisers right-side-up with her Attorney Alliance Marketing System. This one of a kind system helps professionals get a steady stream of ideal clients at a price they can afford.

Check out my FREE resources for financial advisers at http://www.go2rainmaker.com/. Implementing just one idea could help you get more perfect clients.

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