Spoken Words

Spoken words are like smoke in the wind. They disappear quickly from the mind and memory. You must make people see your spoken words as well as hear them. Word pictures stay in the minds of your listeners. They may forget the words themselves, but they’ll remember visual imagery and identify with you and your objectives. The sentence, ‘Spoken words are like smoke in the wind’ is a perfect example. It creates a picture in your mind. Telling stories almost always include word pictures.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Learning

Learning can be defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior or potential behavior that results from direct or indirect experience. Learning involves change. After we have learned, we are somehow different from what we were before—for better or worse.

The change brought about by learning tends to be long lasting. Thus, a student who memorizes material for an exam and promptly forgets it after the test has not really learned anything. Learning affects behavior or potential behavior. Because we cannot read minds, we must depend on observation to see how much learning has occurred. The changes brought about by learning result from direct or indirect experience.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Manage Details

When you have an idea you want to remember, stop what you’re doing and write it down. Don’t write it on a business card or the back of an old envelop, but in your time and priority management binder, which will become a trusted memory bank. In your alphabetical phone index, keep separate sheets for each of the people you frequently deal with (such as clients, buyers, colleagues, accountants, doctors) over the course of a year. Every time you have an idea that should be mentioned the next time you encounter the person, write it down on that person’s page. Then instead of worrying that you’ll forget, you can simply refer to the sheet next time you talk to the person face to face or on the phone.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

The Concept of Service

If we open a new business, the key issue is how long we are planning. If all we want to do is make a quick buck and move on, there is absolutely no point spending a single penny we don’t absolutely need to. But that is not the route to creating an amazingly successful organization.

The only approach for an organization to take if it wants to become amazingly successful is to become highly effective and highly focused. And that doesn’t pay dividends overnight.

But no single working culture is right for every situation. Why should anyone spend money to create a future that they do not expect to be part of?

Why invest in intangible assets that are hard to value on the balance sheet such as staff, improving team moral, developing customer focus and lifting competence levels, if you expect to be moving on soon?

A working culture centered around the concept of service generally and customer service specifically is the most likely to deliver long-term amazing success.

An organization that wants to adopt a service-based working culture must however be ready for the long haul. It must have both the patience and the resources to get through the early stages in a market where market dominance and being the largest are critical whatever the future price?

Some organizations are better off starting with one working culture and then migrating to another when scale and success allow or demand it.

Planning to evolve or change our working culture is fine as an idea when those in charge are sufficiently switched on to the challenges of changing an organization’s culture: to act at the appropriate time and effectively instigate a culture shift in line with new market conditions.

Let’s not forget that the larger an organization is, the more careful it must be in choosing its working culture in the first instance. Larger organizations are always going to be harder to change; they are clumsy and less fleet of foot than their smaller counterparts. Larger organizations must change their working culture less often and less dramatically, so must put more time and effort into avoiding problems in the first place.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Focusing on Customers

Without customers you have no sales, no income, no profit, no business—and soon no organization. Unfortunately, when you meet other managers they often seem to forget this, and talk about profits, productivity, return on investment, data ratios and personnel problems. Sometimes customers are clearly an irritant, getting in the way of smooth operations, asking awkward questions and making unreasonable demands.

The purpose of your organization is to supply a product that satisfies customer demand. This should be the focus of the whole organization. To sustain competitive advantage requires a total commitment to your customer. If it is good for your customers, do it! The dollars will follow.

This consideration on customers involves:

• Finding out exactly what customers want;
• Designing products to meet these demands;
• Doing research and development so that your product range responds to changing demands;
• Aiming for complete customer satisfaction;
• Getting a reputation for outstanding quality and value;
• Doing after-sales checks to make sure that customers remain satisfied;
• Looking outwards so that you are always in touch with customers, potential customers, competitors, alternative products, etc.
• Allowing customers easy access to your organization and making them welcome;
• Discussing customer service widely, so that everyone knows your aims, and shares thoughts on customer satisfaction.

Some say that you should go further than merely satisfying customers, and should exceed their expectations – delighting or crossing them. Whatever you call it, you depend on satisfied customers coming back with repeat business. It typically costs five times as much to attract a new customer as it does to retain an existing one – and someone who gets good service will recommend you to four or five other people, while someone who gets poor service will warn a dozen potential customers to go somewhere else.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Authority for Growth

Authority provides a person with the official right to make decisions. Without decision-making there can be no growth on the part of the individual or company. When a person makes a decision he must use his mind to think and analyze; otherwise he operates by rote. If a person operates by rote long enough, eventually he forgets how to think and use his mind constructively. It is only by exercising the powers of one’s mind that a person is able to move on the higher levels of achievement.

Most companies that grow successfully over time provide their people with plenty of authority all the way through the ranks. They recognize that the company’s growth is inextricably linked to each individual’s growth. They also realize that the company’s growth is contingent upon its ability to make sound business decisions on a timely basis. Growth is impossible when all the decisions are made at the top.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Setting the Example

One of the best ways to get people to achieve excellence is to inspire them through your own example. No matter how much you talk or what you do, if you aren’t stretching and growing, if you aren’t giving until it hurts, forget about asking them to do so.

Most Olympic athletes got to where they are because they were inspired by an Olympic athlete who preceded them. Few of us, if any, have the capacity to be self-inspired. We need another person to help light the flame. You are their role model. How your people perform will always reflect to some degree the behavior and ideals you live out day-to-day basis.

Virtually everything you do in some way implies a standard to your people—the way you dress, the way you interact with peers and superiors, whether or not you start your meetings on time, the quality of your work. It is a good idea to do a quick check on yourself from time to time to see if you are performing the way you want your people to perform.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Concession Strategy in Negotiations

Never forget your concession strategy. With new information, you may need to adjust the strategy often, but whether you are, make your concessions count. Whether you make concessions along the way or at the end of deliberations, think of them as tools in the negotiations, not required give-aways. And don’t think you have to make a concession each time the other side makes one, but try to make your concessions only when the other side gives too. Don’t worry about being seen as stubborn—you will be respected for your consistency. Generally it is a good idea to let the opposite side volunteer its own concessions rather than suggest them yourself.

Whenever making concessions, keep them small. Each inch should make good mileage. The other side needs to have something to chip at—giving too much too soon doesn’t allow the process of negotiation. Old hands recommend accompanying each concession with sweat and tears, emphasizing the importance and generosity of the concession. Whether the style of your arguments, they must contain the necessary content.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight

Communication Skills

Effective communication skills from the foundation for successful management. They are so fundamental that we sometimes forget their significance or assume we are skillful. Communication skills enable you to lead others. you cannot lead without being able to communicate your ideas well. People will not go with you unless you have established with them your ability to lead. That requires trust which is a by-product of effective two-way communication.

 Effective communication includes both speaking and listening, informing others, and fostering open communication. When you master these skills, you harness a great deal of power—the power to get things done through others.

 Effective communication involves:

• Knowledge who needs what information and communicating that information in a consise, timely way
• Choosing and effectively using the most appropriate communication medium – oral or written – for who will receive the information and how it will be used
• Knowing how to listen effectively
• Helping others communicate effectively, to ensure that communication occurs among all organizational levels and with all needed people

There are five communication skill areas:

1. Speak effectively: Speaks clearly and expresses self well in groups and in one-to-one conversations.
2. Foster open communication: Creates an atmosphere in which timely and high quality information flows smoothly between self and others; encourages the open expression of ideas and opinions.
3. Listen to others: Actively attends to and conveys understanding of the comments and questions of others, listens well in a group.
4. Deliver presentations: Prepares and delivers clear, smooth presentations; carries self well in front of a group.
5. Prepare written communication: Conveys informaion clearly and effectively through both formal and informal documents; reviews and edits written work constructively.

 My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight

Unrestrained Empowerment: Value Killer

A bank performs many different functions, but in the long run it has value for its customers only if it handles their money accurately and safely. Therefore the foundation of every role within the bank, whether it is trader, investment adviser, or teller, is the need to do it accurately and safely. To show employees exactly what it means to be “accurate” or “safe,” the banking industry has defined regulatory steps, and each bank has its own internal guidelines. The bank’s employees must adhere to these. This isn’t the only part of their job, but it is the foundational part. Any manager who forgets this, who gives his employees too much room to maneuver, runs the risk of destroying the bank’s value.

All roles demand some level of accuracy or safety, and therefore all roles require employees to execute some standardized steps. Great managers know that it is their responsibility to ensure that their employees know these steps and can execute them perfectly. If that flies in the face of individuality, so be it. Unrestrained empowerment can be a value killer.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Line of Sight