A lesson in memory skills and speed reading

David Thomas

David Thomas presented his ‘Memory Skills and Speed Reading’ workshop to members of SW London experiential business learning® group, Academy Group 14 recently.

David is truly unique in what he does, how he does it and the way in which he delivers on his guaranteed promise to dramatically increase delegates reading speed and memory skills by the end of a single morning’s workshop.

David’s style is rooted firmly in his Yorkshire heritage, at once humorous and challenging, engaging and down to earth, but always warm in its intent  – a great combination for any Academy speaker which, when coupled with outstanding and immediately high take away value, delivers a morning workshop that meets and exceeds all expectations.

Members’ high level of commitment to follow up some of the “brain training” lessons from the day to improve their reading speed and memory skills as a basic enabler back in their business as well as personal life (and their children’s!) was indicative of a great morning.

Just some of the many lessons learned were :

• How to “re-learn” the natural way to read and un-learn the way we’re taught to read out loud at school.
• How to use a combination of mental organisation and imagination techniques to train the brain.
• How to build a “mind journey” that allows the brain to work the way it naturally wants to and thus to dramatically improve recall of anything from names to numbers, business presentations to the punch line of jokes.

Gordon Bromley

David’s session is simply outstanding and received an excellent reception from Academy Group 14 members and guests, not least because it is very high on engagement, entertainment and above all immediate takeaway value. One member commented that while a year ago he could never have imagined he would be spending a morning learning how to read again and how to remember things this was one of the most practically useful sessions he’d attended since joining The Academy for Chief Executives.

Gordon Bromley
Chairman – Academy Group 14 and Entrepreneurs Board 8

The Academy for Chief Executives, a leading provider of experiential business learning® facilitates peer groups of CEOs and Managing Directors who meet together every month to network and take full advantage of experiential learning. To hear great speakers like this every month and engage in The Board You Could Never Afford®, or to find a local group near you, visit www.chiefexecutive.com.

 

High Performance Leadership – Unleashing the Hidden Advantage latent in your organisation

David Powell

David Powell is an highly experienced speaker and former senior executive in the petro- industry sector and was a big success with members of my Chief Executive Forum, Academy Group 11 when he presented to them recently. He spoke enthusiastically and in great detail while at the same time writing on the easel and demonstrating his spatial intelligence … in great detail.

The concept of communicating corporate vision with pictures really came alive in David’s excellent two and a half hour talk. This is a fabulous workshop on long-term planning and the concept of “aliens of resistance” was unique to many of us.

Main take-away points included:

1. How to prepare a five year plan.
2. Root cause analysis training
3. Reverse planning i.e. starting with the end in mind.
4. The need to have team meetings to plan targets
5. ‘Aliens of resistance’ concept
6. How to create a PERT timeline
7. Creating the new game to inspire
8. Communicating vision using pictures

This was a very practical session with great takeaway value. We all enjoyed it enormously and I thoroughly recommend David Powell as a speaker.

Joe Adams

Joe Adams,
Chairman, Academy Group 11

The Academy for Chief Executives, a leading provider of experiential business learning® facilitates peer groups of CEOs and Managing Directors who meet together every month to network and take full advantage of experiential learning. To hear great speakers like this every month and engage in The Board You Could Never Afford®, or to find a local group near you, visit www.chiefexecutive.com.

 

Unpossible Thinking

Ian Moore

Members of experiential business learning group, Directors Forum 11, had a great session when Ian Moore,  Msc & BSc(Hons) author of “Engineering The Impossible” and “Unpossible Thinking” presented to their group recently.

Ian is fascinated in developing tools and techniques to allow people to unblock their thinking on demand to achieve their full potential- (see www.unpossiblethinking.com).

The Academy for Chief Executives members enjoyed a fascinating workshop on the workings of our brain! Thinking about thinking … Members were thoroughly engrossed and involved through experiential learning in the way we think about issues/ problems and how we can resolve them.

The key experiential learning points included:-

• How to think about thinking and the benefits of doing;
• Clearer techniques for thinking outside the box;
• Thinking about being more positive can result in more positive actions;
• Lateral thinking regarding ‘If I could do it, then how would I do it?’;
• The benefits of not using the word ‘Can’t'!

Peter Sutcliffe

Peter Sutcliffe
Joint Chairman with Karen Humble, North East
Academy Group 23 and Directors Forum 11

The Academy for Chief Executives, a leading provider of experiential business learning® facilitates peer groups of CEOs and Managing Directors who meet together every month to network and take full advantage of experiential learning.  To hear great speakers like this every month and engage in The Board You Could Never Afford®, to find out more about the North East Group , or to find a local group near you, visit www.chiefexecutive.com.

 

 

 

Key Account Management Lessons

Phil Jesson

Phil Jesson presented his workshop, “Key Account Partnerships” to CEO members of Surrey-based Academy Group 14 recently. A terrific session, superbly delivered, with lots of great take-away value for even the most competent commercial business operations. Whether as a timely reminder for those already building true partnerships with their customers or as a practical introduction on how to understand where you are with your customers and how to grow from being just another “supplier” to a “partner” this is a great session for all.

Top 3 takeaways were:

1. Importance of doing regular audits of your key customers – and how to do it.
2. Key Account Plan for top 5 customers must be in place and updated regularly – and how to do it.
3. Strategic Bridges process and how to use it.

This was a superb session for our experiential business learning group and yielded the highest average scores of meetings to date. Phil’s style is involving and participative, his material solid and his preparation faultless plus lots of practical take-away value. Members commitment to specific actions within their business regarding their key customers was extremely high and I know the work has already begun in many cases.

Gordon Bromley

Gordon Bromley
Chairman – Academy Group 14 and Entrepreneurs Board 8

The Academy for Chief Executives, a leading provider of experiential business learning® facilitates peer groups of CEOs and Managing Directors who meet together every month to network and take full advantage of experiential learning. To hear great speakers like this every month and engage in The Board You Could Never Afford®, or to find a local group near you, visit www.chiefexecutive.com.

 

Questions Have More Power than Answers

Mark Fritz

Mark Fritz is an highly experienced international business man who brought great value to members of my Chief Executive Forum, Academy Group 11, when he presented to us recently. He was formerly a senior executive with Eastman Kodak and is now the head of his own company – Procedor – a training and management development organisation.

Valuable takeaway points were:

• Discussion is not an outcome.
• Agree outcomes and delegate them for further action.
• Don’t let your problem people steal your time.
• Character plus skills equals professionalism.
• Balance stress with recovery time.
• Differentiation between leadership and management.
• Think ahead, stay ahead and focus on next action.

Mark Fritz is a very accomplished speaker and achieved an excellent average score from my group members, who are not known for giving high marks!

I was more than a little pleasantly surprised by the power and substance of his subject. The takeaway value was enormous. This was Mark Fritz’s first Academy for Chief Executives workshop and my members were all very enthusiastic at the conclusion of the day.

Joe Adams

Joe Adams,
Chairman, Academy Group 11

The Academy for Chief Executives, a leading provider of experiential business learning® facilitates peer groups of CEOs and Managing Directors who meet together every month to network and take full advantage of experiential learning. To hear great speakers like this every month and engage in The Board You Could Never Afford®, or to find a local group near you, visit www.chiefexecutive.com.

 

The Secrets of How to Create a Great Workplace

Henry Stewart (pictured, right) spoke to his first Academy for Chief Executives group recently, (Joe Adams’ Group 11) having been sourced through ‘Speakers for Business‘.

Henry is the founder and Chief Executive of Happy (previously known as Happy Computers), who provide training in both desktop IT and how to create great places to work. Although only employing 45 people, Happy has won wide recognition for its innovative approach to management and to customer service.

This first Academy experience of presenting to my group of business leaders certainly exceeded my expectations. He was a pragmatic, straight forward and very accomplished executive in his own right. I believe his takeaway value will be unique and long lasting.

The secrets of success that he talked about were:

• Don’t tell when you can ask
• Recruit for attitude; train for skills
• People should be chosen to manage people who are good at managing people
• Play to people’s strengths
• Celebrate mistakes

Henry also has a concept within his own company where there are no individual bonuses, but a collective group bonus is given based on 20% of the total company’s profit, given equally to every staff member.

Henry is a unique executive and a unique speaker with a great message. Not-to-be-missed.

Joe Adams,
Chairman, Academy Group 11

The Academy for Chief Executives, a leading provider of experiential business learning® facilitates peer groups of CEOs and Managing Directors who meet together every month to network and take full advantage of experiential learning. To hear great speakers like this every month and engage in The Board You Could Never Afford®, or to find a local group near you, visit www.chiefexecutive.com.

 

Maximising Performance as a Leader

Simon Hazeldine (pictured, right) presented his workshop “Performance Leadership” to members of new Surrey Academy Group 14, (an experiential business learning® group), recently.

This was a very good session from Simon, particularly on the diagnostic tools that can be used to evaluate a company’s level of organisational engagement and performance focus.  It was also a timely reminder of how critical it is for leaders to be visible, engaged with their people on both an emotional as well as intellectual level, and above all be a role model for the kind of behaviours the company requires of its people.

Key take-aways were:

1. To achieve great results leaders cannot only focus on maximising staff performance – that must be coupled with strenuous efforts to engage all staff in the mission and objectives of the company.
2. Focusing on staff engagement isn’t only about doing the right thing in the right way – engaged staff deliver better results, more satisfied customers, higher margins and ultimately higher net profits.
3. Actively using the templates Simon provides for evaluating current scorecard against the Engagement drivers and and the Performance Focus factors will provide a solid base for developing the right action plan for individual businesses.
4. Leaders must be role models

Simon’s workshop provides a strong wake up call for all of us as leaders and is particularly strong on the realities of what is required to maximise performance and get real results consistently.

Gordon Bromley, Chairman – Academy Group 14 (centred in the Kingston area of South West London and Surrey)

The Academy for Chief Executives, a leading provider of experiential business learning® facilitates peer groups of CEOs and Managing Directors who meet together every month to network and take full advantage of experiential learning. To hear great speakers like this every month and engage in The Board You Could Never Afford®, or to find a
local group near you, visit www.chiefexecutive.com.

 

The Non-Executive Director

For some organisations, particularly owner managers, a Non-Executive Director (NED) has much in common with a Bidet! Being something one quite fancies but not really something one is clear on how to use!

A NED is a common position in many substantial companies indeed the combined code (a code of good practice for listed companies) recommends that for every Executive director you have a Non-Executive director. In privately owned companies of course such a specific may be neither relevant nor indeed affordable.

Getting a great NED and the work great is important here, can prove to be of huge value in creating a strong and well performing board.

It has been found that the top reason for board failure is the structure of the board itself and there is no doubt that the utilization of a competent Non-Executive director can add substance and credibility to an owner managed company.

Several problems face the owner manager when embarking on this route, not least of which is identifying the right person. Any number of individuals have aspirations to take up such a mantle but all too few have either the experience or gravitas to add that “X” factor needed and expected in a smaller company.

More often than not the smaller company in truth requires a part-time executive rather than a Non-Executive. In other words often such a person is filling a functional role rather than just a general advisory position.

There is of course, nothing wrong with this approach but it is fairly important that the director in question does not get so immersed in the operational aspects of the company that they are unable to provide one of the most important “inputs” of the NED is that of challenger plus an ability to (in colloquial terms) see the “wood for the trees”!! Something made much more difficult if an operational function becomes a prerequisite.

Finding someone suitable is always a difficulty. Start with your advisors, banks, lawyers, accountants they will inevitably know people who may have the relevant skills and recommendations are the best route to identify the right individual.

Personally match can’t be over-estimated. The chosen individual doesn’t have to be Mrs or Mr. Charismatic but they do need to be able to get on with not just the Board but senior and often junior staff gaining respect is a given but being affable often over-looked.

Write a personal specification. Now is the time to think about … Must have v desirable traits; consider using physcometric tests to ascertain what you have personality wise on you Board and what is missing. We don’t often have the chance to put and place our own fantasy team – now is your real chance to improve on what you have.

For both sides I cannot recommend highly enough setting targets and objectives. This will help both the NED and the owner-manager manage expectations and monitor progress. Of course these are likely to be a moving target but it doesn’t really matter it’s just helpful for all concerned to have clear measurable objectives at the outset.

Targets in this field are usually quite fluid, so you need to understand as does your appointee, that nothing is laid in stone but think short-term i.e. first 100 days and medium term i.e. first 6 months and longer term i.e. first 12 months, in order to give everyone a real focus.

The right person for the right job is not going to be a clock watcher, indeed if you can’t contact this person out of hours, so to speak, (it’s the wrong person) More often that not the NED in a smaller business is not just a board member but a confidante of its members, in particular the MD in many cases. Hence availability being paramount.

Remuneration is also a fairly fluid process. Anything from a few thousand a year to £40k or £50k a year for the larger firm.

For some this may seem a cost too far but a good NED will add much more in terms of value than the costs and in fact if they don’t, you probably haven’t selected the right person.

Commitment is usually one day a month but could be 2 or 3 dependant on the objectives. You may even want to consider equity options either real or phantom shares or even options, these all have various pros & cons. Real shares, for example, will have implications related to transfer rights on death, for instance, dividend issues and votes, Phantom Shares have less beneficial tax implications but are far less problematic if you have bad leavers issues. Indeed if a Phantom Shareholder leaves usually the so called “Shares” evaporate. Options schemes nearly always requires some sort of revenue approved process and maintenance scheme and so tends to be rather more expensive in it’s creation and onerous in it’s maintenance.

Although not usually an employee and therefore not in need of an employment contract, it is a wise board that would put in place a contract for services, which would specify both payment and notice terms as well as non-disclosure and restrictive covenants as appropriate.

It is generally advisable to involve a lawyer in the creation of an agreement for services, although the Higgs Report (part of the Combined Code) does offer some sample agreements. In truth it is best to take tailored advice for your own requirements.

A good NED will bring not only a challenging attitude and ideas for the board but structure and an appropriate formality both of which can be hugely protective against legal issues and the increasingly onerous legal compliance facing directors.

The value of having regular structured discussions with papers circulated in advance and a third party who will make executives accountable for their actions and responsibilities, has to be seen to be truly appreciated but it is worth considering that without exception most private equity investors would not consider an investment without the utilization of a Non-Exec to represent their interest – if such influenced players see their worth. Perhaps it’s worth at least a trial period to assess what benefits such a person can bring to your business

Jo Haigh
Head of Corporate Finance for MGR

www.mgr.co.uk
www.jo-haigh.com

Related article: “To get ahead, employ a NED (Non-Executive Director)”

About the Author

Jo Haigh

Jo Haigh is a Partner and Head of Corporate Finance for MGR, a company based in London and Yorkshire and a partner in the FDS Group, a specialist training and development business.

An experienced dealmaker, Jo specialises in putting together the right deal at the right time and in the right format for growing businesses throughout the country. She has bought and sold over 300 companies in the last 20 years specialising in owner managed companies. More >>

 

Buy Better

Of course everyone wants a bargain even the super rich, in fact probably particularly the super rich. How do you think they got rich in the first place!!

In our current economic climate, it’s almost certainly a buyers market – though in order to buy well you clearly need a willing seller. Therefore in order to get a good deal, unless you are really ruthless, a fair deal is what you should be aiming for and don’t forget a fair deal can still be a bargain.

To buy right you need to do your homework not just on your target but on you – ask yourself:-

1) Why am I buying

2) What is it exactly I want to achieve

3) What’s my maximum price

4) What are the things I will not compromise on – no matter what

Armed with this information, whether you are buying a house or a business, you will at least have set some critical parameters.

The process of acquisition is a long and painful one. Most deals take twice as long and cost twice as much as you may first have anticipated. Deal fever takes over ad buyers (as well as vendors) make compromises that in the halcyon days of the transaction no one would have even remotely considered and if its not deal fever, deal fatigue sets in, when frankly the parties involved are so sick and tired of the deal they will virtually do anything to compete the blooming thing!

It’s not a bad idea to have a contingency fund for just these purposes as 2 out of 3 deals as a minimum will need it.

The time needed to successfully complete a deal cannot be underestimated and up to 12 months is not all that unusual. If you have taken yourself out of your business to do this, don’t forget how important it will be to leave someone in charge of your own territory throughout this period.

Over optimistic projections of future business performance of an acquisition is common place. What we call “hockey stick” projections are endemic – watch carefully you don’t step into this arena and be advised that your funders will always discount any budgets you provide by up to 25%.

To make a deal work it’s essential that your staff are on board with you, both supportive and able.

An acquisition which brings about change, often phenomenal amounts, will sort the men from the boys, if only on a sheer scare factor. An acquisition can send lesser mortals off the Richter scale.

Information and lots of it, provided in a timely and understandable format, keeps everyone sane, but make sure the medium covers both written and verbal format allowing a facility to allow those involved to answer questions and provide support.

It’s sometimes quite humbling what concerns people have, including in my experience, seemingly irrational worries about brand changes, uniform allowance and working hours. One of the best ways I have seen this dealt with is by using FAQ summaries issued in advance to allay fears (helping especially those people who dare not even vocalize their concerns).

Many buyers concentrate so much on the end completion (not unsurprisingly) that post integration if often over-looked, which is proven by the fact that 3 out of 5 acquisitions fail to add value. This is probably due to the issues listed above and the failing to plan for a proper integration. Your 100-day plan post deal with the deadlines will undoubtedly help.

Having a realistic sense of proportion is also helpful, even when everything looks great. Post deal, s**d’s law says somebody or something will be waiting around the corner to trip you up unexpectedly, so complaining is not a comfort zone you should seek out; be pro-active and anticipate problems.

Jo Haigh
Head of Corporate Finance for MGR

www.mgr.co.uk
www.jo-haigh.com

About the Author

Jo Haigh

Jo Haigh is a Partner and Head of Corporate Finance for MGR, a company based in London and Yorkshire and a partner in the FDS Group, a specialist training and development business.

An experienced dealmaker, Jo specialises in putting together the right deal at the right time and in the right format for growing businesses throughout the country. She has bought and sold over 300 companies in the last 20 years specialising in owner managed companies.   More >>

 

Don’t Start a Business in the Recession… Not!

If position, position and position is vital in identifying and enhancing the value of an asset in the property market then cash, cash and cash remains paramount in any business but never more so than in a new venture in these cash strapped times.

Starting a business in a recession may not be your first choice as an entrepreneur but if in fact, whether through desire or as a result of unforeseen circumstances, you find yourself in such a position an enterprise started in a downturn may not be any less successful than one started in a boom provided, whatever the temperature of economy is, the key principles of business management are adhered to.

Management books abound that include such essential ingredients to success as; a business plan, a budget, a marketing strategy and of course a people management and development process, all of which of course are very worthy, maybe even for some particularly institutional investors a prerequisite, but in my 25 years of experience of buying and selling over 300 businesses they are ingredients that, without the recipe cannot be blended into a meaningful dish.

Anyone can be taught to cook, as indeed Jamie Oliver has proved, but only a few will make truly great chefs. In every recipe one or two special ingredients are what actually help turn the dish from a simple supper to a magnificent dinner.

In business this is cash. You simply wont survive if you;

a) Can’t make it
b) Free it up
c) Access it from alternative sources if your own particular well has dried up.

This ingredient has always been particularly special but now it is particularly scarce.

Here is my recipe for cash management;

Jo Haigh's Business Recipe

So you now have a recipe and the all important secret ingredients – so it can’t fail… or can it?

Life’s virtues include faith, hope and charity and behaving with such moral fortitude must surly bring its rewards.

Business virtues are in fact not too different, replace faith with belief and enthusiasm in you products and services; it’s seen many a despondent entrepreneur through dark times, and instead of hope how about intuition for the truly talented, this will rarely let you down. And finally charity, a new business is very greedy and not just for cash but of your time and energy.

Like an athlete training for a marathon, it will sap your strength and bleed you dry. So practice patience, a skill many entrepreneurs sadly lack but which if harnessed can deliver more than any other business virtue.

Some make millions by putting all their resources on a single play of red or black, but the shrewd wait, judging the market and then seizing the opportunity, watching as the avaricious and foolhardy stand bereft.

Being patient doesn’t mean doing nothing, far from it. It means optimising the moment in a downturn. There will be lots of these around for the shrewd and savvy entrepreneur so your choice should be someone who

- Makes things happen
- Watches things happen

Or someone who rather sadly says
‘what just happened then?’

Seen in the right way the recession brings not just problems and disasters, which it certainly does, but also opportunities to be grasped.

The question is are you up for the challenge and the ride of a lifetime?

Jo Haigh
Head of Corporate Finance for MGR

www.mgr.co.uk
www.jo-haigh.com

About the Author

Jo Haigh

Jo Haigh is a Partner and Head of Corporate Finance for MGR, a company based in London and Yorkshire and a partner in the FDS Group, a specialist training and development business.

An experienced dealmaker, Jo specialises in putting together the right deal at the right time and in the right format for growing businesses throughout the country. She has bought and sold over 300 companies in the last 20 years specialising in owner managed companies.  More >>