Management Blog

Common strategy pitfalls and how to avoid them

When it comes to business strategy, the mistake most businesses make is to 'complete to be the best', in other words to follow the same path as competitors in the belief that it will lead to success.

The business book The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy by Joan Magretta offers this observation and a series of other insights about strategy pitfalls, the Harvard Business Review reports.

According to the review: "One of the biggest mistakes a manager can make is to assume the best results come from competing to be the best. Competing to be unique is a much more effective strategy."

It's claimed other common mistakes include confusing marketing with strategy, overestimating the strengths of an organisation and misunderstanding the definition of business.

The book also points out what many entrepreneurs may have trouble admitting: that the worst mistake of all (and the most common one) is not to have any form of strategy.

More strategy pitfalls can be found here.

Time to get practically radical?

Achieving meaningful change within an established organisation isn't an easy process but it is an achievable one if you're willing to be "practically radical", this Fast Company post argues.

Based on ideas contained in the book Practically Radical by William C Taylor, Fast Company has developed 10 questions every aspiring "game changer" should consider. These include:

1. Do you see opportunities that the competition doesn't?
2. Do you have new ideas about where to look for new ideas?
3. Does your organisation offer the most of anything?
4. Who would miss you if your company went out of business?
5. How can your organisation's history help shape its future?
6. Do you have customers who can't live without you?
7. Do your employees care more about their work than the competition's?
8. Are you getting the best contributions from your people?
9. Are you consistent in your commitment to change?
10. Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?

Once you've answered these questions, details of what the answers reveal can be found here.

Article round-up from @aimqld - 19-23 Dec

Twitter speedlinks from last week on @aimqld:

Leadership: 5 Ways to Build & Sustain Battery Power (via You're Not the Boss of Me) http://bit.ly/rxcerQ

5 Things You Should Stop Doing in 2012 (via HBR) http://bit.ly/sCsZOM

7 Characteristics of Remarkable Businesses (via management-issues) http://bit.ly/vSoqvt

Leading from the Middle (via Strategic Leadership Review) http://bit.ly/rzuZjr

How to Master the Art of Storytelling to Increase Social Sharing (via Hubspot) http://bit.ly/tqvfP6

7 Keys to Managing Willful Blindness (via Leading Blog) http://bit.ly/sg3WuB

3 Ways Remarkable Leaders Get Noticed (via @TanveerNaseer) http://bit.ly/rWsEH5

Enabling Innovation and its Implementation (via Ivey Business Journal) http://bit.ly/rISPJa

Successful Leaders Share 5 Traits (via Stanford Graduate School of Business) http://bit.ly/tzkaX4

A Workaholic's Guide to Staying Healthy (via OPEN Forum) http://bit.ly/s5y0st

7 Tips for Negotiating the Best Price (via CBS MoneyWatch) http://bit.ly/u7gAr4

10 Ways to Engage Your Workforce in 2012 (via StrategyDriven) http://bit.ly/s1BBNI

When Leadership is Form Over Substance (via N2Growth Blog) http://bit.ly/rPGx75

10 Commandments of a Great Culture (via The Leadership Advisor) http://bit.ly/sxI0vq

What's the Most Important Trait for Future Leaders? (via Management is a Journey) http://bit.ly/vJCB5K

AIM Whitespace: The green, micro-niche and inexpensive future of luxury http://bit.ly/vjZJSA

Smarter Workplaces: Why High Achievers Flounder (via Lead Change Group) http://bit.ly/uLK5cG

How Reviewing This Year Will Improve Your Results Next Year (via Leadership & Learning) http://bit.ly/uNI0nW

12 Most Timely Predictions for 2012 from 12 Thought Leaders (via The 12 Most) http://bit.ly/toscEl

Relax, it's the Christmas break

The summer break is perfect time to recharge for the year ahead. But just in case you've forgotten how to unwind Smart Company has put together a series of tips on how to relax.

The website's five top tips on how to both unwind and drum up some inspiration while in a relaxed state are:

• Disconnect from your gadgets – don't check your email and stay away from the web for at least a few days
• Read up – now is the time to focus on something other than your business, a good book will help take the focus off work issues
• Talk it over – collect insights about your customers by asking friends and acquaintances for feedback in a relaxed setting
• Think big – the summer break is good time to reflect on the year that's past and focus on future trends and goals

Context is the key to good decision making

Most people ignore the influence of ordinary situations on how they act and think, an oversight that can mean the difference between success and failure, the new book Situations Matter argues.

In this video author Sam Sommers says that appreciating the context in which decisions are made helps people better understand how to make smart decisions in both work and personal lives.

Are entrepreneurs born or made?

When it comes to entrepreneurial talent it could all be in the genes, according to a new study.

Research by Case Western Reserve University, Kings College London and University of Cyprus has found genes influence whether people start a business, are self-employed or business owners.

The researchers also suggests the same genes that determine if a person is extroverted, open to experience, disagreeable and sensation-seeking can also influence the decision to start a business.

It's claimed there is no single set of genes for entrepreneurship, with hundreds of genes potentially influencing whether or not a person becomes a business owner.

Ultimately these genes influence broader categories of behaviours, one of the most important of which is the pursuit of novelty.

The full story is available at Entrepreneur.

Article round-up from @aimqld - 12-16 Dec

Twitter speedlinks from last week on @aimqld:

10 Little Things That Will Make a Big Difference in Your Leadership (via @terrystarbucker) http://bit.ly/uRzqn3

Involving Employees in Change (via Gallup Management Journal) http://bit.ly/saMyCe

5 Ways to Kick Your Fear of Failure (via Inc.) http://bit.ly/vVun8H

Coworking: A Window into the Future of Work (via WebWorkerDaily) http://bit.ly/rq7HoF

5 Tips for When a 'Chat' Turns into a Job Interview (via @KarenAdamedes) http://bit.ly/vd5lji

Virtually Speaking: 5 Tips for Engaging Remote Workers (via Monster Thinking) http://mnstr.me/ubjJ4e

How Much Improvement Can We Process at Once? (via MITSloan Management Review) http://bit.ly/vIP1zi

The Secret to Good Leadership? Keeping it Simple (via @johnbaldoni) http://bit.ly/rvWgVo

3 Keys Leaders Can Use to See the Future (via thoughtLEADERS) http://bit.ly/s8rLRC

Are You Too Nice to Lead? (via @katenasser) http://bit.ly/t87gWv

6 Steps Successful People Take (via OPEN Forum) http://bit.ly/uoybUY

How Games Can Drive Work Engagement (via LeaderLab) http://bit.ly/tsOCLp

5 Steps to Infuse 'Magic' in Your Leadership Style (via Next Level Blog) http://bit.ly/tPrdMG

5 Tips Leaders Can Use Today (via All Things Workplace) http://bit.ly/v2FOvE

10 Skills All Students Need in Any Job Market (via Big Think) http://bit.ly/vZ8Nfv

10 Tips on Retaining Employees (via Business Insider) http://read.bi/uEilMX

Sales trends for 2012

Social, economic and political tensions are reshaping the business landscape and altering the way companies should approach sales strategy, Sue Barrett writes in a recent Smart Company post.

In a list of 12 sales trends for 2012 Barrett argues that business and sales leaders need to rethink 'go-to-market' strategies and traditional sales force structures in order to prosper in the year ahead.

Just some of the trends that are expected to make an impact next year include:

• A focus on coaching – making sure sales managers are trained and coached to become sales coaches themselves is said to be a vital approach to sales success
• Niche sales and marketing – rather than relying on mass marketing, sales teams will need to listen to their customers and offer a more personalised approach to doing business
• More online time – instead of having large field sales teams it's suggested an increasing number of sales, especially in the B2B space, will go online
• Education in action – building team skills in the areas of patience, listening, problem solving and dealing with ambiguity will be important for sales staff
• Shrinking product life cycles – Barrett predicts product life cycles will continue to shrink as businesses seek to continually develop innovative products to encourage consumers to act quickly

 

Explaining social TV

There's a lot of buzz surrounding the emerging phenomenon of 'social TV', but what exactly is this innovation and what does it mean to marketers?

This Reuters Business Video explains how social TV works and outlines both its challenges and opportunities.

In defence of hiring 'failures'

This recent Harvard Business Review blog post by Wired For Thought author Jeffrey Stibel suggests hiring managers pay attention to both the successes and failures of job candidates.

Stibel argues that failure forces professionals to look back and find out where they went wrong and to ultimately formulate a new plan for the next attempt; in effect it is a process of success by failure.

Asking job candidates about these experiences is said to be insightful as when a person succeeds they often don't know exactly what they did, and in many cases have achieved results through luck alone.

It's argued that hiring risk takers is important to any organisation because it is people rather than mission statements and slogans that build a culture in which fear of failure is not rampant.

The blog includes a number of inspiring quotes on the value of failure, however it is Stibel himself that offers this gem:

"If you're not failing every now and then, you're probably not advancing. Mistakes are the predecessors to both innovation and success, so it is important to celebrate mistakes as a central component of any culture."