At a recent meeting, two of the CEO members had the same issue i.e. “ways and means of recruiting and hiring good sales people“.

We dealt with their two issues simultaneously by the ‘Silent Brainstorm’ methodology and came up with a total of approximately 140 different ways to recruit and hire successful sales people.

There were approximately 10% duplications but this proved to be a very valuable session.  Below you will find some of the best ideas:

1. Go to Job Centre plus (especially central London/West End)
2. Referrals from other people in your loop.
3. Hold a joint ‘sales people’ event at a friendly venue and recruit from there.
4. Go to industry/trade organisation and offer a silent/discreet fee to a respected member of the committee.
5. Send out a mail shot to all of your database “ACE Salesperson hunt” ask them to recommend the best person they know for the job.
6. Social media campaign.
7. Referral? Ask your own team – who do they know who could work well and be the best sales person.
8. Advertise online with more interesting advert (wacky!)
9. “Situations Vacant” – newspapers.

It had been a while since I used this technique and it was so successful, I sent the results to all members and guests – not just the two who had the issue.

Joe Adams started the London/Surrey based Academy for Chief Executives Group 11 in February 2003; the group has grown to its current membership of 12, with members from a wide variety of industry sectors.

The above is just a snippet of the advice given by our members. For confidentiality reasons we cannot divulge all of the advice provided – however, we do hold open meetings where guests are able to attend and experience for themselves the real power of ‘The Board You Could Never Afford®’.

If you are an MD or CEO struggling to answer those really big questions, and feel you could benefit from this type of experiential business learning, call us today on 0845 118 1028 to find out more about membership, or visit our website at www.chiefexecutive.com.

I’ve heard it said that if two people on a board agree, one of them is unnecessary, that is not to say, of course, that one would want complete anarchy but neither is a “nodding dog” board of any use.

You may have, at some point, played with creating a fantasy football team or even a fantasy dinner party list. All such groupings will have their merits and downsides, and this is my personal choice, so, subject to criticism and claims of clichés, here goes.

The difference between a board meeting and a “bored” meeting is reliant, to a large extent, on the chairman. This person does not need to be the brightest button in the box but needs to be cohesive and, when required, challenging. They need vision and foresight so who better than Winston Churchill who embraced all these characteristics and more.

The Chief Executive, or the MD, is the person who must make sure teams are rallied, actions agreed and decisions taken. They must manage resources, both human and financial, but be big enough not to get too bogged down in operations. My all time hero, Richard Branson, must fit this role and wow, what a foil to Winston’s.

And now to finance and the ‘poison chalice’ of roles on many boards, particularly now in these challenging times. The FD needs all their wits about them, they need to have respect from the rest of the board and be able to push for firm measures and no ‘U turns’. Margaret Thatcher, though never holding the role of Chancellor, managed Britain’s financials in time of trouble and prosperity using simple house keeping principles.

An Operations Director is a wide reaching role, closest to the shop floor in many cases. Such a person needs to understand people, and systems, and be able to get the best from both. Anita Roddick changed the way we felt about green businesses in the 1970’s and 80’s, she found new ways to achieve business objectives never tried on a large scale before and she did this very profitably without losing her sense of purpose.

The Sales and Marketing Director must be innovative, creative and, when finances are tight, perform under the pressure of using only the minimum of resources. Martin Sorrell the chairman of WPP whose empire includes some of the world’s most influential marketing companies, including JWT, took a wire basket manufacturer and turned it into a multimillion pound business conglomerate.

For the HR director; these unfortunate people have had a tough time of late as thousands have been made redundant, added to employment legislation spiralling out of control, Lord Mountbatten must be a number one choice. Hugely liked and respected by a massive cross section of people along with an exemplary military record.

A well performing board needs a Non-Executive, someone not afraid to speak their mind, who can challenge even the most difficult of boards and without fear but who knows when to encourage and engage in the right proportions. Simon Cowell goes from nice to nasty in a millisecond but is widely accepted as, ultimately, being not only correct in his judgement but fair.

So there you go, can you imagine what a board like that would be…if only.

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.  More >>

As part of the Academy for Chief Executives (ACE)Community, professional speakers such as Jo provide excellent, practical and, in many cases, hard-hitting topics for MDs and CEOs. They know that by inspiring the leader of a business to change their thinking and to help them formulate an individual plan for the future, leaders develop themselves and grow their companies. Find out more about membership of this learning organisation for CEOs here >>

We all face challenges and it’s natural that we may sometimes feel a little daunted, or overwhelmed by them. When we feel tired or unable to face an issue that is critical but a real challenge, wouldn’t it be great if there was something we could do to feel better equipped to cope?

There is – and all it requires is you and your own experiences and resources. You can do it in the privacy of your office or you can do it in public – no one will be the wiser.

So what is this ‘magic’ technique? It is remarkably simple and very powerful for most people. I’d recommend giving it a try. It may seem a little strange at the outset but will soon become second nature.

The first stage is to decide how you want to feel. What resources might you need to deal with the issues that are facing you and maybe holding you back? Maybe you need patience or optimism or energy or clarity of thought or maybe you want to feel invincible? Whatever it is you need, choose one.

Let us choose energy.

Now stand, feet apart and in a relaxed posture and recall a time when you felt very energetic, when nothing could hold you back. Feel that feeling, see what you saw and hear what you heard at that time. As the feeling intensifies, touch your finger and thumb together or make some distinctive physical movement that you can repeat unobtrusively. You can now use that physical movement to recall that state and experience it again. This is called an ‘anchor ’. You can create more anchors for other resources in the same way.

Try it and see what happens. If the state you achieve isn’t powerful enough, try intensifying the recollection by making any images bigger and brighter, any sounds louder and any feelings more intense. The more you do this, the better the effect when you ‘fire off ’ the anchor.

Anchoring is just one element of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), a set of tools and techniques for achieving peak performance. As I mentioned, I learned these techniques from my good friend and teacher Sue Knight. There are many business-based NLP trainers who can help you to learn more. For leaders, or anyone with a highly demanding job, I strongly recommend finding out more about its uses and effects. It may be the difference between being overtaken by events or turning them to your advantage.

If you truly want to achieve something, however small or large, try to change your belief around it and you will find that you will get remarkable results.

Brian Chernett

Brian Chernett is founder of The Academy for Chief Executives (ACE) – He has 43 years’ experience as managing director of private and public companies, including subsidiaries of Booker Bros McConnell, the Landmark Group, and several other major companies. Find out more at www.chiefexecutive.com. This article is adapted from Brian’s new book, The Entrepreneur Within)

The ACE community provides a great place to build your leadership skills and learn more about motivating and developing your people, and how to focus the top team for the good of your company. As the leading providers of experiential learning, the purpose of the Academy is to inspire leaders to achieve their dreams by sharing and learning from real life experiences. Find out more about membership here >>

Why is it that some leaders get it right in this area of personal organisation, time management and delegation and others get it so horribly wrong? Think of your own environment for a moment – where do you spend your time?

1. Proactively working on things that will develop the business, your people and yourself
2. Reactively working on important requests from your customer, staff or your boss
3. Proactively working on routine tasks that simply keep things ticking over
4. Reactively working on numerous fire-fighting tasks that get in the way of you spending more time on the things that matter

The interesting thing about items 1 and 2 is that they are legitimate “business” activities whereas 3 and 4 are nothing more than “busyness”. Although being “busy” may look good, and fuel your ego, it is a sign of mediocrity. The busier you are the more average you are likely to become. Another danger of “busyness” is that it is motion, but not necessarily progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but makes no progress!

So what is it that good leaders do in this important area?

• They know their priorities – they stay focused on a small number of high-impact objectives. They understand that having 25 objectives for the future is as hopeless as having none! These leaders often have just 3-5 objectives that would change the fortunes of their business

• They ask the right question. When a piece of “reactive routine” work hits the desk it is easy to ask the wrong question i.e. “Could I do this task quicker or better than anyone else?” In many instances the answer will be “yes” so what do we do………we do it!
  Things that matter most are held hostage by the things that matter least. What we should do is ask ourselves the right question i.e. “Is this task the best use of my time bearing in mind my objectives?” This time the answer will be “no” so we will be more inclined to delegate the task

• They don’t feel guilty about delegating work to others. Good leaders don’t see delegation as “dumping” – they can see that they are actually changing the nature of work in many cases. A boring “routine” task for one person can become an important “creative” task to another

• They create space. Good leaders never tell their people how to do things – they explain the “what” and the “why” then sit back and wait to be surprised by their peoples’ ingenuity and creativity.

• They see effective delegation as a process:-

1. Define the task and its objective
2. Decide who (ability, workload, attitude etc)
3. Explain what needs to be done
4. Explain why it needs to be done
5. Explain when it needs to be done by
6. Offer help, support and resources as necessary
7. Ask the other person to recap on their understanding of the task they are about to tackle
8. Agree how progress will be monitored (to ensure that you don’t meddle!)
9. Appraise the result
10. Discuss the learning and look to the future

Phil Jesson

Phil Jesson is Marketing Director of The Academy for Chief Executives (www.chiefexecutive.com) and is also a speaker, consultant and coach in key account management and the 80-20 Pareto Principle (www.philjesson.com). He has worked with Pirelli, Tarmac, Grant Thornton, EDF Energy, Bass and Fedex but is equally at home in the SME market. He has recently published his first business book “Piranhas In The Bidet” which has received many five-star reviews on www.amazon.co.uk.

The above article is just a sample of the type of practical, no nonsense session that speakers such as Phil deliver to the members of The Academy for Chief Executives. The whole community is dedicated to inspiring the leaders of businesses to change their thinking, challenge their views and help them with their decision making abilities. Leaders no longer need to feel isolated at the top. Find out more http://www.chiefexecutive.com/our-members

The Telegraph reported on 11th June that “consumer price inflation hit a 17-month high of 3.7pc last month, almost double the central bank’s 2pc target.” They reported in the same article that UK manufacturing output fell unexpectedly in April, “raising fears that the fragile recovery may be running out of steam. Industrial production fell 0.4pc compared with a forecast rise of 0.5pc.”

The Telegraph then goes on to quote ‘experts’ who apparently believe that “price pressures should ease later this year when the economy feels the effects of what economists expect to be the sharpest austerity drive in modern British history. Britain’s coalition administration has warned of “painful times ahead”, with budget cuts of up to 20pc expected in some departments as it tries to reduce a deficit running at nearly 11pc of GDP.”¹

Financial Advice.co.uk reported on 14th June that the Office of Budget Responsibility had reduced UK Growth projections for 2011 from 3.25% to 2.2%. This, they suggest, “will have a major impact upon government income and will indeed lead to higher taxes and more budget cuts.²

Businesses in the UK, they report, “are now calling upon the office for budget responsibility to issue a detailed report regarding the amount of cuts we can expect in the future and indeed where they will come from. Businesses need to invest for the future and look forward within this cloud of mystery although very few business leaders will be even tempted to invest for the future at this point in time. The UK economy is treading water at the moment and we need focus, direction and more information as soon as possible.”

I heartily agree. Businesses need leadership and they need it from a number of sources –

From the Government, they need certainty about taxation and support services (which may be much reduced by cost savings), a reduction in unnecessary regulation and clarity over the potential for growth.

From the banks they need a resumption of lending at reasonable rates, reasonable charges and proactive support and advice in areas where the bank can provide real expertise and add value.

They also need Business Representative Groups to continue lobbying for business interests, perhaps working together to keep government policy on track and supportive of business – especially the most important small business sector.

Of course, leadership will also be required from the Board and from the entire business in order to come out of ‘austerity’ in good shape. We hear ‘bad news’ every day – but the action and reaction you have to that news determines your future, not the news in itself.

Change your thoughts to believe that the future has massive opportunities and you will ACHIEVE them.

Last week I shared with an audience of Business Leaders 18 actions to do today and to repeat everyday… read more on www.chiefexecutive.com
Whatever you do, do it with energy. Your workforce and your customers will be looking for confidence and certainty. The more you can demonstrate these qualities, the better your business will trade.

Brian Chernett

Brian Chernett is founder of The Academy for Chief Executives (ACE) – He has 43 years’ experience as managing director of private and public companies, including subsidiaries of Booker Bros McConnell, the Landmark Group, and several other major companies. Find out more about membership here >>

The Academy community provides a great place to build your leadership skills and learn more about motivating and developing your people, and how to focus the top team for the good of your company. As the leading providers of experiential learning, the purpose of the Academy is to inspire leaders to achieve their dreams by sharing and learning from real life experiences.

¹ UK inflation expectations hit 2-year high – The Telegraph 11/6/10 – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/interestrates/7820803/UK-inflation-expectations-hit-2-year-high.html

² Office for Budget Responsibility is open for business – Financial Advice.co.uk 14/6/10 – http://www.financialadvice.co.uk/news/tax/88973-office-for-budget-responsibility-is-open-for-business.html

At a recent meeting, one of the CEO members raised an issue regarding how to get the best out of the team following a significant re-organisation.

The member’s new deputy had agreed the new structure with the senior management team, and had executed it within a week, which he regarded as normal and it seems the team felt it was very fast. The head office felt the re-organisation had not been reviewed with them and one of the SMT had been relocated whilst on holiday!

After a lot of questions from the fellow Leaders in the group, to understand the nature and purpose of the new structure, the following advice given was:

1. During this kind of change, communication is key and preferably before anyone’s work place is physically moved.
2. People will get concerned during change and some will need a lot of support and reassurance.
3. The deputy should put in place measurements with the team leaders, so that the efficiencies of the new structure can be measured.
4. Consideration should be given to rewarding teams for performance over budget, but the rewards should be in non financial form.

This is just a snippet of the advice given by our members. For confidentiality reasons we cannot divulge all of the advice provided – however, we do hold open meetings where guests are able to attend and experience for themselves the real power of ‘The Board You Could Never Afford®’.

The show’s theme was a “MasterMind” Special Show and also featured Ann Hawkins of The Inspired Group; Social Media Mentor – Evelyne Spanner of Internet Horizons and David Hyner of Stretch Development.

The podcast can be heard in full by visiting www.markandian.com/businesshub/category/podcasts/

And we also have a short transcript of Phil’s interview:

The show’s hosts, Mark and Ian welcomed Phil Jesson, published author and Chairman for the Cambridgeshire group of The Academy for Chief Executives (ACE).

Phil was awarded the Business Hub Round of Applause for ‘The best business book title’ of Piranhas in the Bidet!

Phil further explained,

“It’s basically a business book but written as a novel. It features the journey of a newly-appointed chief executive (who knows nothing), and his chauffeur (who knows a lot). There’s a very edgy dialogue between the two of them and one of the lines in the book is that line, piranhas in the bidet. My publisher said ‘you need a snappy title’ and I replied ‘Well, you’ve nailed it I know exactly what it’s going to be called!’”

Phil went on to talk about The Academy for Chief Executives,

“It’s a national organisation but it works in regional groups of 12-15 chief executives in any one group – chaired by someone like me. The 12-15 members come along for a monthly one day meeting. Typically, an expert speaker turns up in the morning and talks about his/her speciality – that might be mergers/acquisitions; a new coaching technique; something to do with a change in business law etc. In the afternoon members roll sleeves up and talk about problems and issues and sometimes best practice going on their business. They share and discuss it and the interesting way in which they work together is that there’s a fantastic bond – a lot of trust, support and caring. They give each other feedback on what they would do in each other’s shoes. It’s fantastic for the members to hear from 12 other people how they would be running their business if they were in the hot seat. No surprises – a lot of the advice and tips that are shared are very simple and very straight forward, it’s just that the member has been so close to the problem that they may not have been able to see the wood for the trees.”

Phil explained that there are a number of selection criterion for new members wanting to join an Academy group.

“Members are from non-competing industries – so once we’ve got somebody from the IT world for example, then we don’t have another member in that group from the same sector. Members talk very openly about their businesses without fear – it’s a very safe, confidential environment. So we look for people who want to give back – members who want to co-drive the group, not just sit back and listen every month – people who are prepared to add to it and steer it.”

“The time commitment is one day a month which sounds a lot – arguably 5% of a CEO’s time – but as one of our members said ‘it might take 5% of my time but now I know what I should be doing with the other 95% of my time’. That’s a very interesting way of looking at it, I think.”

Phil was then asked to share 3 pearls of business wisdom:

• “One of the things that a speaker worked with us on recently was that he asked us to write down on a piece of paper 10 words that really captured the uniqueness and magic in our own businesses. He then asked ‘are those 10 magic words on your website home page, in your last presentation, what your sales people say when making a sales pitch’. This was met by stony silence in the room because although we found it quite easy to think of those words, the communication of them wasn’t necessarily happening on the ground.”
• “The value of getting customer feedback in to the business. Most businesses are appalling at asking customers for their feedback on where they are meeting, exceeding or failing short of expectations. If customers were asked these 3 questions more frequently you’d be working with really rich feedback on what you need to do to improve your business.”
• “It’s up to the CEO to create an environment where things that often go unsaid are getting said. Putting your cards on table and discussing things that are holding up the team members from achieving top performance. It’s the job of the leader to ensure that things that go unsaid get said.”

Find out more about membership of The Academy for Chief Executives by visiting www.chiefexecutive.org.uk or email Phil Jesson direct at phil.jesson@chiefexecutive.com.

© 2010 This transcript is reproduced by kind persmission of “The Business Hub with Mark and Ian”. Visit www.markandian.com/businesshub/ to find out more.

I remain firmly of the opinion that SME business will be the engine for growth and recovery, given the right skills, education and support.

In a series of articles which will appear on www.chiefexecutive.com/blog.asp over the next few days

• I suggest approaches to removing cost from business without removing capability,
• Richard Barrett, in a two-part article this week, examines 5 modes of decision making, and
• Andy Coote considers whether ‘fairness’ is achievable in business

Our articles are written for us by the Members of The Academy for Chief Executives, our Chairs and the External Speakers who present at our group meetings. We hope to give you a taste of The Academy’s unique experiential learning approach to developing senior people to lead businesses.

Being the CEO or MD of a business can be a lonely job. The Academy for Chief Executives offers a place where advice and support comes from people in a similar position and who therefore understand the issues. Find out more about us at www.chiefexecutive.com.

Brian Chernett

Founder

The Academy for Chief Executives

What he does believe in is his own ability to control every facet of his life and what happens in it. “That all the things that happen to me do so as a direct result of the actions I take.”

Accepting responsibility is the bedrock of all future success, he suggests, both personally and in business. “If you have a business that is going to the wall, it is not because of the economy, bad sales or because your staff don’t get your vision.”

Being proactive personal development on every level is also important. “Success is about taking absolute responsibility for our current position, putting aside all the BS excuses and moving forward towards our goals. Waiting for them to come to us is business suicide. When we do this and it works, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities as we truly understand that we are masters of our own destiny.”

Read the article in full here.

More about David and his speaking

Rohit notes that “While most of the European Union countries have officially pulled out of recession, the UK is still struggling to launch (NOTE – it has now pulled out but by the slimmest margin) and President Obama is issuing ever-starker warnings about the risk of a double dip recession. Conversations with investment bankers and those with connections ‘on the inside’ of the banking system are all suggesting the potential for a massive collapse that could make the last two years look like a minor correction.”
 
Rather than a double dip, Rohit’s view is that we are looking at more of a roller-coaster decade in which we will see regular rises and falls in different economies around the world. His colleague Ian Pearson refers to this as a ‘Loch Ness Monster’ downturn – with uneven peaks and troughs emerging with very little warning. As a result, the pain will be felt quite unevenly. “Those economies that have done most to curb or prevent their banking system from entering into huge leveraged debt transactions and complex high volatility derivatives contracts are likely to fare best – or suffer the least relative pain.”
 
In his full article, Rohit suggests that the most apocalyptic view came from Société Générale in its ‘Worst Case Debt Scenario’ report which warned clients to prepare for a possible “global economic collapse” over the next two years. “Under their “Bear Case” scenario, we would see a further fall in the value of the dollar, a decline in global equity prices, a sharp retreat on property values and oil would fall to $50 a barrel in 2010.“
 
Dealing with such an apocalyptic scenario will not be easy. As Rohit suggests, “Hope, head in the sand and betting it all on number 36 on the roulette wheel are probably not the most sustainable solutions.” He offers, as an alternative, six ideas from Fast Future’s report on ‘Winning in a Downturn’: [Read more]