Monday, September 28, 2009

It's Time to Poke the Bear: Stop Crippling Your Organization with Inaction

Back in July 2009, I attended a Washington Technology Industry Association/MIT Enterprise Forum event in which talked about leveraging the economic downturn. One of the most valuable points I took away was that strategy isn't about what you're going to do: It's about what you are NOT going to do.

As I look around, I seen a lot of people not doing anything. Instead of leveraging the available opportunities, many are unwilling to take the necessary steps to move forward. These organizations hope to ride out this bear market and come out the other side doing business as usual.

Well, I hate to tell you the obvious, but business is going to look very different when we come out the other side of this downturn. Already, the economy is seeing a bit of an upswing. Those organizations will continue to fall behind and eventually cripple their ability to compete. They will not be ready when opportunities arise, for they won't have been proactive in reshaping their organizations for the new market. The three ways I have seen leaders use inaction to slowly cripple their organizations include:
  1. Screaming Poverty. Access to capital is tougher than ever. It's unfortunate what's happening in the credit markets. But demanding something for next to nothing at every turn will get the organization that's always crying poverty nothing in the end. Bears don't care how much you scream. Organizations have to be proactive, creative, and resourceful in developing a strategy to deal with the bears that pop up along the path. Poverty-screaming organizations will slowly run out of cash as they waste their time wheeling and dealing instead of developing an effective strategy and leveraging currently available opportunities. Even with bears lurking, there is fruit on the trees.
  2. Analysis Paralysis. Many decision makers either know this or someone like this. Organizations trapped in analysis paralysis get so bogged down in weighing the opportunities, that the window of opportunity opens and shut while they're huddled in indecision. Bears like huddles: more snacks in a smaller area.
  3. Playing Dead. It's an old trick of camouflage that "if they don't see me, then they can't eat me." With Playing Dead, leaders cover their eyes, double over, and think that "If I can't see them, then they can't eat me." Bears have a great sense of smell. They will eat an organization whether it's being proactive or not. When leaders curl into a ball, they don't become more effective in riding out the storm. They just get eaten from behind and don't even realize it.
So how do you recognize when inaction cripples an organization? Three easy ways:
  • Revenue has dropped sharply or crawled to a halt.
  • Productivity is on a measurable decline.
  • Morale is non-existent among your team members.
If you're noticing one or more of these three things happening in your organization, you need a strategist to help you identify the gaps and get together a plan of action to keep this bear market from devouring your organization. Tracy A. Corley & Associates can do just that.

It's time to poke the bear and keep moving forward. Let this aggressive market drive you to be proactive in developing and following a responsive strategy that works in the current and future market scenarios. It will guide your organization on the right path so that you focus and move forward instead of getting stalled by what you should NOT be doing. Most importantly, you should NOT scream poverty, get trapped in analysis paralysis, or play dead. Inaction will cripple your organization and eat you alive. Stay on the move with an effective strategy and don't be afraid of the bears you poke along the way.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Here's why fixing your weaknesses is a bad idea

On Friday 9/18/09, I led a half-day workshop entitled Perfect Your Pitch. As a part of developing the content for a successful pitch, I took the participants through a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. When we were evaluating Strengths and Weaknesses, I advised the group to explore their strengths and ignore their weaknesses to determine potential priorities and challenges. One participant asked: "Shouldn't we try to fix our weaknesses instead of ignoring them?"

Completely ignoring the things that your organization doesn't do well is not the whole truth. Every organization should know what they do really well. It takes an honest, objective analysis for them to know what they do poorly.

Unfortunately, many organizations waste precious resources on training, infrastructure development, and human resources to prop up an offering or line of business that is actually dragging the organization down. They do this for a number of reasons, including to look like a "full service" organization, to capture what looks like low hanging fruit, and/or to foster a culture of ownership and refuse to let go of lost causes. Inevitably, clinging to these resource drains will remove capacity from the areas in which the group is strong. This refusal to avoid weaknesses eventually appear in the form of dwindling net profits.

The way to address this is to first acknowledge the weakness. Know that it is something that you do rather poorly. It's okay if, for example, you're a law firm and do not handle criminal cases. There are plenty of capable attorneys out there who would appreciate the referrals so that you can stay focused on business law and estate planning.

Once you acknowledge the weakness, determine if it is absolutely critical to the survival of your organization. If the answer is yes, then you have a major issue. That weakness isn't really a weakness: it's a threat. Instead of throwing resources at it to enhance it, you should be doing everything possible to stamp it out. If the weakness is NOT vital to your survival, then just ignore it. Be aware of it, but find a solution that does not tie up your organization's resources.

To acknowledge what you don't do well and need to improve starts the conversation regarding whether each weak spot is a weakness or a threat. A weakness is a feature, offering, or characteristic which the organization can comfortably ignore or hire out to someone else. If your strategy integrates abilities on which you cannot profitably deliver, the entire strategy is flawed. The organization needs to take a harder look at strengths and reshape offerings to leverage only the strengths and opportunities.

Any strong organization stays focused at all times on exploring their strengths and exploiting opportunities. Threats must be confronted, and weaknesses should be avoided. If you find that you're confronting or exploring weaknesses, you're wasting your time. These fruitless activities are as tragic as avoiding opportunities. Stop fixing your weaknesses and expend those resources on exploring your strengths. Your bottom line will be so glad that you did.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Please welcome Mike Stephens, Customer Relationship Builder


There's a new face at TsuluWerks, Inc. You might have seen him roaming the town or heard his friendly voice on the other end of the phone. If you haven't met him already, I would like to introduce Mike Stephens, our new Customer Relationship Builder. A natural people person, Mike joins us from the IT hardware industry, bringing his management and relationship building skills from companies like EMC and Sun Microsystems. He volunteers with First Step Community Support Center to help families in need. His commitment to people and community made him the perfect fit for the TsuluWerks, Inc. team.

If you want to meet Mike, please join us on Wednesday, 9/16/09 at the Smart and Simple Strategies for Small Business Conference at Microsoft Conference Center or at the Perfect Your Pitch workshop on Friday, 9/18/09. Or check out his profile on our web site and give him a call at 206-782-4040 x101. He would love to meet you!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

An Event for Securing Small Business Capital: Perfect Your Pitch Workshop

enterpriseSeattle and Tracy A. Corley & Associates (a division of TsuluWerks, Inc.) will host Perfect Your Pitch on September 18, 2009. The event, sponsored by Towers Perrin, runs from 8:00 am to noon, with registration starting at 7:30am. The informational workshop is designed to help new and growing businesses secure venture and angel funding to launch and expand their enterprises.

"Capital is tight for all businesses from all sources," says enterpriseSeattle clean energy and technology specialist Steve Gerritson. "Small businesses have to be able to quickly and clearly get their messages across to potential funders. This workshop, specially designed for us by Tracy Corley, will help them communicate their value proposition and handle any open ended questions that might come their way."

The event will be held at the enterpriseSeattle offices at 1301 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2500 from 8am to noon and is limited to 50 participants. The event cost of $95 ($125 at the door) includes the program presented by Tracy A. Corley, workshop materials, continental breakfast, and a half hour coaching session with an enterpriseSeattle consultant.

The program will cover:
  • How to present with purpose
  • Telling your story with clarity
  • Organizing your presentation for maximum impact
  • Selecting language that commands the room
  • Deliver with confidence, even in 10 minutes or less
  • Preparing for anything in open-ended sessions
  • Building buy-in with stakeholders and investors
The event will also be simulcast to other locations across the state to make the presentation available to all of our state's CEOs and other C-level executives of start-ups and growing businesses. Participants can register online or call Steve Gerritson at 206-389-8656.

About enterpriseSeattle

For over 35 years, enterpriseSeattle has provided client-based economic development services to businesses throughout King County and its 39 cities. enterpriseSeattle's mission is to be a "difference-maker" in the community by growing the jobs and tax base in King County, its 39 cities and the greater Puget Sound region. It accomplishes its mission through a customized client services program focused on business retention, expansion and recruitment. It's objective is to become the premier economic development organization in the US. It supports businesses in the areas of Life Sciences, Clean Technology, Information Technology, International Trade and Logistics, and Aerospace. www.enterpriseseattle.org

About Tracy A. Corley & Associates

Using Vision Driven Results, Tracy A. Corley & Associates aligns individuals and organizations with simple, actionable strategies and precise execution for change and growth. They offer consulting, speaker services, and media content to improve cash flow, enhance competitiveness, increase efficiencies, and build confidence in their clients and their communities. The organization is led by Chief Strategist, Tracy Corley, who simplifies the strategic planning process for small businesses, nonprofits, corporations, and public agencies. Its parent company, TsuluWerks Inc., has been providing strategic consulting and marketing services to organizations since 2000. www.tsuluwerks.com

About Towers Perrin

Towers Perrin provides global human resource consulting services that help organizations effectively manage their investment in people. We offer clients services in areas such as executive and employee compensation, employee benefits, communication, change management, employee research, and the delivery of HR services. www.towersperrin.com