Achieving Greatness – Flexibility in Your Approach

As my husband and I revisited the topic of if we were going to allow our 4-old-daughter to attend Pre-K this year, I saw a post on social media that read, “We are not ‘post-pandemic’, we are still in a pandemic.” I stared at the post for a minute, thinking, as it served as a reminder. It also made me think about how not all families have an option to keep their children home during this time, which is one of many challenges emphasized by the pandemic.

Pandemic burnout is real, but hospital beds are filling quickly, and masks are back in high demand as COVID-19 and its variants rage on.

As we know by now, there is no returning back to normal for any person, business, or organization, so now is the time to incorporate the lessons learned over the past few months into the personal and business operating models of the future.

Regardless of the model, the road to recovery/greatness in any area is not always a straight path but requires flexibility in your approach to achieve.

During the 2020 Olympics this year, Japan’s pandemic bubble strategy relied heavily on trust and flexibility from the competing athletes and Olympic organizers to ensure a successful event and not spread the virus.

According to reports, the number of infections among people linked to the Olympics stayed significantly low in the village, compared to the number of infections outside of the bubble. Olympic organizers created the bubble isolation system that required testing at the bubble’s borders, contact-tracing, and social distancing. If the elite professional athletes wanted a chance to compete to win Olympic gold this year, they had to take the necessary precautions and adapt to the safety protocols and guidelines – remain Flexible on the journey to greatness.

In her blog Achieving Greatness, Annie Allen, CEO of iSeek Solutions mentioned Martin Luenendonk saying in his article Parallels between Entrepreneurship and Sports that there are similarities between the world of entrepreneurs and the world of athletes – parallels that can give direction to business executives who are trying to succeed on the playing field of economics.

One of the similarities between the two worlds being, that’s right, Flexibility.

Playing a game professionally requires flexibility: weather conditions, playing arenas, field position, teammates, coaching staffs are all variables that can change without warning. Being able to remain flexible is imperative for the successful athlete.

The role of an entrepreneur demands flexibility. Being able to make changes, take on additional job responsibilities or move the business in a different direction is a key characteristic of a successful entrepreneur.

As businesses continue to push and move forward on the road to recovery it is imperative to remain flexible on the journey to achieve the desired success.

Let us at iSeek Solutions help your organization achieve greatness. We are a team of highly skilled management consultants with a broad range of industry knowledge and expertise. Our guidance, methodologies, tools, and knowledge empower our clients to align, optimize, empower, and succeed in achieving their goals and objectives. We succeed when our clients succeed.

Contact us directly at [email protected], visit our website, subscribe to our blog or follow us on LinkedIn.

October 1, 2021 Uncategorized Comments Off on Achieving Greatness – Flexibility in Your Approach
Perfection

AN INTELLIGENT COMPROMISE WITH PERFECTION

David Schwartz in his book “The Magic of Thinking Big” says, “We must be willing to make an intelligent compromise with perfection lest we wait forever before taking action.” No other time has this been more relevant than in the business world of the 21st Century.  The entrepreneur of today must seek perfection – a perfect product, perfect service for their customers, perfect working relationships with their employees and coworkers, and a perfect model for production, sales, and delivery.

This is a worthy goal, as Vince Lombardi says, “Perfection is unattainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” Schwartz’s phrase, “an intelligent compromise with perfection” is something that we should use to stay out of the pit of frustration that so many business owners can fall into. In this article, we will share some principles that anyone can apply in our search of perfection, so that we can “catch excellence.”

1.) A “fair” idea acted upon, and developed, is 100% better than a terrific idea that dies because it isn’t followed up on.

Action is what sets performers ahead of “idea people.”  While thought-time is vitally important to an entrepreneur, we must get in the action habit. It’s been said that the largest square-foot area that contains the most talent is the graveyard, because so many people go to the grave with great ideas still inside of them.  If we want to set our company apart from the others, we must be known as people of action.

2.) The test of a successful entrepreneur is not an ability to eliminate all problems before they arise, but to meet and work out difficulties when they do arise.

There will always – always – be rain.  There will always be unforeseen circumstances, people problems, product crashes, environmental shifts in the business world, and personal issues that will come up. As this principle states, your goal should not be to eliminate these things from occurring – you don’t have that much power, to create perfection that way. Instead, as Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward talk about in one of their podcasts, you must control the controllable.  When – not if – things get in your way, how long will you stay stirring and steaming “under the circumstances,” and how quickly will you push on and push over?

3.) If someone can do something 80% as well as you can, allow them to do it.

Delegation – every perfectionist’s biggest fear.  Even managers who say that they don’t micro-manage people have an issue delegating important tasks.  The 80% principle allows for something to be done well, but also allows margin for the action-taker that they’re not being held to unreasonably high standards. Margin for error is necessary in this compromise with perfection.

4.) Remember that Failure is an event, not a person.

Whether it is you or the people that are on your team, it’s easy to shift blame to a person when something goes wrong.  Making an intelligent compromise with perfection necessitates that we allow small failures to be part of the success process.  When we see ourselves (or those working for us) as failures instead of people who have failure events, it handicaps progress.  Progress can only occur once the search for perfection fails.

5.) “A company’s only competitive advantage is their ability (willingness) to learn faster than the competition.” – Peter Senge

Continuous learning has become a buzzword in corporate America, but it has always been a requirement for success.  Thomas Jefferson was quoted as saying, “When I receive money, I buy books; if there is anything left, I buy food.”  Reading books and articles, listening to audios and podcasts, attending seminars and conventions – these activities will keep you and your staff at the front of the line because there will be constant growth.  A stagnant pond doesn’t usually draw a crowd, and a stagnant company will not draw new customers.

In conclusion, I encourage you to make this intelligent compromise with perfection in every area of your life – in your family, your thinking, your business, your team, your friends, and even in your golf game.  Chase perfection, settle with excellence, and reap the rewards of this fulfilled and satisfied compromise.

iSeek Solutions’ pursuit for excellence is evident in every client engagement, partner and colleague relationship, and peer-to-peer interaction. We are driven by our passion to equip every client with the tools and know-how to align, optimize, empower, and succeed. Learn more about iSeek’s services and resources by contacting us directly at [email protected], visiting our website, subscribing to our blog, or following us on LinkedIn.

August 27, 2021 Business Results Comments Off on AN INTELLIGENT COMPROMISE WITH PERFECTION
Achieving Greatness

Achieving Greatness

The Olympics are finally here and there is an unprecedented level of excitement! Like most things in life, except watching movies and online shopping, the games were postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now the wait is over. So let the games begin!

Despite challenges like human rights demonstrations and other key differences like no fans and no family attendance, Olympic athletes from all over the world are anxious and excited to finally have this opportunity to compete for greatness.

In his article Parallels between Entrepreneurship and Sports, Martin Luenendonk says –

Oftentimes, business is referred to as a game, where the winner is the entrepreneur who finds success. In this case, the playing field is the office and the players within the game are the different companies that compete for customers in the industry. Make no mistake – the competition within the ranks of business is just as fierce as on a field, and the antics of business entrepreneurs can be strikingly similar to famous athletes.

There are similarities between the world of entrepreneurs and the world of athletes – parallels that can give direction to business executives who are trying to succeed on the playing field of economics.

1. Passion.

Athletes who succeed in their sport exhibit a passion for their sport. Generally characterized by the person who ‘eats, sleeps and dreams’ about their sport, they are passionate about playing the game they love.

Most entrepreneurs are driven by a passion for their business. It is the force that keeps them burning the midnight oil, working weekends and holidays. A sincere belief that the work they are doing is important can keep the entrepreneur working through rough times.

2. Tenacity.

The athlete who wishes to move beyond the ‘weekend warrior’ status must possess a level of tenacity. Tenacity drives the athlete to continue to train even in the off-season, and to return to the game even after an injury.

When things are going well, it is easy to go to work. The successful entrepreneur, however, continues to work even when things get difficult. When faced with failure, the entrepreneur refuses to give up and will find ways to be successful, despite roadblocks that may occur.

3. Vision.

A successful athlete has a clear vision of themselves as a winner. They can envision the end result of the game – and they have the victory. Regardless of the odds stacked against them, they are single-minded in their vision.

Seeing a path to success is a trait that entrepreneurs possess. In spite of naysayers, the entrepreneur can set a path towards the vision that they have for their business.

4. Self-confidence.

To engage in a game where thousands of others have played, and determine that one will be the best player requires a level of self-confidence many athletes do not possess. The ones who use their self-confidence as a tool will enjoy a higher level of success.

An entrepreneur has the confidence that they will be able to succeed, and is more willing to take risks because of that self-confidence. They know that they are in a unique position to succeed, due to their confidence in their abilities.

5. Flexibility.

Playing a game professionally requires flexibility: weather conditions, playing arenas, field position, teammates, coaching staffs are all variables that can change without warning. Being able to remain flexible is imperative for the successful athlete.

The role of an entrepreneur demands flexibility. Being able to make changes, take on additional job responsibilities or move the business in a different direction is a key characteristic of a successful entrepreneur.

6. Rule-breaking.

While the rules of the game can’t be broken, the athlete must be willing to break the rules of society that try to discourage someone from reaching greatness. The athlete must be one who refuses to follow the set path towards mediocrity.

A willingness to break the rules is another important aspect of a successful entrepreneur. By defying conventional wisdom, the entrepreneur is able to create new technologies, processes and products that revolutionize the business world.

7.Tolerance for fear.

It can be overwhelming to train for years for the opportunity to perform at the highest level of athleticism. Competing in large scale arenas, against legendary athletes, may allow fear to cripple an athlete. The successful athlete, however, moves beyond the fear and still performs.

It can be frightening to assume the risk of starting a business, venture into an unknown field or ask for funding for a product that doesn’t yet exist. The entrepreneur must be able to move beyond the fear by harnessing it and using it as fuel.

Filled with Passion, Tenacity, Vision, and Self-Confidence iSeek Solutions began its entrepreneurial journey 14 years ago. Like an athlete, we’ve trained and honed our skills, and further developed our less obvious characteristics of Flexibility, Rule-breaking, and Tolerance for fear. We are a team of highly skilled management consultants with a broad range of industry knowledge and expertise. Our guidance, methodologies, tools, and know-how empower our clients to align, optimize, empower, and succeed in achieving their goals and objectives. We succeed when our clients succeed. Let us help your organization achieve greatness.

Contact us directly at [email protected], visit our website, subscribe to our blog or follow us on LinkedIn.

August 2, 2021 Business Results, Events Comments Off on Achieving Greatness

Avoiding DIY Disasters

“The road to the hardware store is paved with good intentions,” says David Pekel, president of Pekel Construction in Milwaukee and a master certified remodeler. He is often greeted at his office on Monday by frantic calls from homeowners needing help to remedy the weekend’s DIY home repair fails.

Many repair projects can be accomplished by virtually any homeowner, but others should be left to those with experience.

Plumbing repairs are especially tricky.  Andy Prescott, who publishes the blog Art of Being Cheap, does whatever repairs he can on his rental house and his own house. Doing his own plumbing does not save money, and he learned this the hard way.

When considering a DIY project, whether at home or on the job, –

–   Know what you can and can’t do yourself

–   Consider what your time is worth

–   Anticipate scope creep

–   Be prepared to live with the results

Business challenges, particularly those involving growth and change, can cripple even the most successful enterprise. In an effort to make smart decisions, many CEOs and boards of directors grapple with how to navigate complex situations. One approach is partnering with a management consulting firm – to bridge existing gaps in knowledge, skills, and leadership or to augment staff.

In her blog, Good to Know: Why Companies Really Hire Consultants, Alex Nuth highlights a few of the main reasons companies turn to management consultants for support.

They Want an Outside Eye

You know how sometimes when you’re dealing with an issue in your life, you turn to friends and family for their opinions? Companies often need this, too, especially when making tough decisions. Oftentimes, clients have a perspective on how to solve the problem they are facing but want to make sure that what they’re thinking is correct (or that they aren’t so close to the challenge that they’re missing the obvious answer). So, they turn to consultants to come in and provide their opinion.

But this isn’t just any opinion: Because consultants often work with many different companies and may have worked through this problem in the past with someone else, they can really provide a perspective based on what they’ve seen work (or not) before.

They Need Extra Horsepower

Sometimes the problems companies need solving are really important, but they don’t necessarily have the manpower to focus on them. Companies still have to focus on their day-to-day operations, after all, and new projects typically require reprioritizing employees’ core job responsibilities. But hiring new employees to fill these gaps doesn’t always make sense either, seeing as many of these projects are one-offs. Whether it’s a cost reduction program requiring a dedicated team of six for a year or even a post-merger integration that requires a team of 100 for a month, clients might struggle to get teams in place to do this critical work.

They Want Specialized Skills

Another, and perhaps the most common, reason that companies hire consultants is to gain access to a specialized skill set that might not exist in-house. By engaging a consulting firm, you get access to a group of professionals that has skills ranging from Lean Six Sigma process design to finance organization structures. These highly specialized people would not only be expensive to hire, but the company might not have enough work to keep said employees busy year-round. But, thanks to consultants, companies can bring in that skill set on demand when they need it.

iSeek Solutions is a team of highly-skilled management consultants with a broad range of industry knowledge and expertise. Our guidance, methodologies, tools, and know-how empower our clients to align, optimize, empower, and succeed in achieving their goals and objectives. To learn more about how iSeek can help your company overcome difficult challenges, visit our website, subscribe to our blog or follow us on LinkedIn. Contact us directly at [email protected]!

June 28, 2021 Business Results Comments Off on Avoiding DIY Disasters
Putting the pieces together

Project Management Tools:  Putting the Pieces Together

Search for ‘project management tools’ on the internet and your results will contain a variety of software that enables businesses to manage their projects better. Essentially, they offer collaborative scheduling and task management functions, a definite improvement over the Excel spreadsheets project managers used in the past. But don’t be deceived – managing the schedule is only one piece of the entire project management puzzle. Without all the right pieces, your project may end up on life support.

iSeek’s Project Management Playbook (iPMPlaybook©) is a repository of templates designed to standardize project documentation regardless of project size, type, or scope. The templates are based on industry best practices and are aligned with the Project Management Institute (PMI). At the core of these project documents are the following:

1. The Project Charter

Many of us have great ideas for ways to improve what we see and do in our workplaces. Suppose you work for a fresh meal delivery service and realize that several of the small packets of ingredients that are supplied with meals are impossible to open without scissors. After pondering this dilemma for a while, you come up with a novel approach to the little packet problem and present a business case to your company’s leadership. What happens next?

You had the great idea, but now the company needs to translate your idea into a formal project, communicate the project’s features to stakeholders, and provide a record of key information for future reference. The Project Charter is a formal document that captures the project purpose, objectives, key requirements, scope, and deliverables along with many other attributes. The iPMPlaybook© has not only a full charter template, but also a condensed version of the template which is a great fit for smaller projects.

2.The Stakeholder/Project Team Register

Picture yourself in the dugout in your first pro baseball game and not knowing who your coach is or what the responsibilities of the manager are. If the other members of the team are also in the dark, chaos will undoubtedly reign. Understanding the roles and responsibilities of each person on the team is essential to successful teamwork. Much like a baseball team, a project team also must have clearly defined roles to be effective.

The definition of a project stakeholder is broad, easily including the project manager, project team members, senior executives, department managers and users, not to mention external stakeholders like customers and vendors. The iPMPlaybook© allows you to capture the names, define the project roles and record other pertinent information so no one is left in the dark about who does what.

3.The DRACI Log

Have you spent time in a major metropolitan city outside of the US? Perhaps Madrid or Paris? If you have, you’ve probably noticed small, specialty food stores on every block:  fruit and vegetable markets, butcher shops, and cheese stands. It’s great fun to do as the locals do and visit each little shop to buy just what you need for a lunchtime picnic. However, after returning to the office and juggling a myriad of details for a project in flight with a looming deadline, you recognize that a supermarket mindset is far more efficient for a project manager.  Although the term, ‘one stop shopping’, is a bit overused, let’s use it one more time and talk about an excellent project management tool that will stock all the information you need to keep your project on track.

The DRACI Log makes the need for maintaining separate decision, risk, action item, change request and issue registers obsolete.  It combines details about items in each category into one useful list. The DRACI Log will calculate risk severity, maintain the most current information on the status of change requests, capture the possible impact of issues on the project, and more.

4.The Closure Checklist

Imagine you make a delicious dinner, then settle in to watch a show on your favorite streaming service when you remember that you haven’t washed the dishes. You decide you’ll get to them later, which is really not a problem until you wake up the next morning and face a sink full of plates and pans crusted over with last night’s Pasta Bolognese. It doesn’t look quite as delicious by the light of day as it did the previous night.

Closure is more important than you might think. The iPMPlaybook© Closure Checklist provides a means for ensuring that closure activities associated with the project are fully completed on a timely basis and valuable project information is not lost. The checklist records key tasks to address at the end of a project. And this checklist, like all the iPMPlaybook© templates, is editable, so you can add tasks that have relevance to your project or business.

In addition to the templates mentioned above, the iPMPlaybook© provides users with other templates considered ‘must haves’ by most project managers.

These include

  • Initiative Request Form
  • Business Requirements Document (BRD)
  • Communication Plan
  • Project Budget
  • Execution Plan for technology projects
  • Deliverable Acceptance Form

 

All templates are easy to use and customizable.  For more information about the iPMPlaybook©, contact us today at [email protected]. To learn more about iSeek’s services and resources, visit our website, subscribe to our blog or follow us on LinkedIn.

June 9, 2021 Uncategorized Comments Off on Project Management Tools:  Putting the Pieces Together

The American Rescue Plan: A chance for cities to close the financial gap and build a better future for its residents.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, cities have suffered to a great degree. Some have furloughed employees and held back crucial services that their residents relied on.  For example, the city of Durham, North Carolina suspended or reduced such services as public transportation, waste pick-up and public garage facilities.  All but a few cities completely shut down public access to City Hall facilities halting the normal board, council, and committee meetings previously open to the public.  While emergency services such as 911 continued to operate at normal levels, other vital services including fire and police closed major portions of their facilities to prevent the spread of the virus.

Recently, there has been a significant drop in the spread of COVID-19. Most states are lifting their mask-wearing orders and relaxing public mandates.  As of the first week in April, the state of Alabama reported that COVID-19 cases were down 94% and hospitalizations were down 90%. This means that businesses are reopening and going back into full service.  As private and public entities return to normalcy, revenue is urgently needed to make up for more than a year of stagnation.

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds that have been released to every city, county, and state have come at the right time.  Cities are restarting the operation of public services and making plans to repair old infrastructure that have been waiting a long time to be addressed.  For many of the cities, the funding is a financial lift that most areas of the US may never see again.  Because of the drain on general fund expenditures and revenue in each state, the ARP is more than a stop-gap measure provided by the federal government, but it is a significant catalyst towards moving these cities out of a longstanding slump.

According to Brookings Institute, cities should utilize their ARP funds by taking a “three-pronged approach to stabilize, strategize, and organize”:

Stabilize: Since many municipalities operated at a deficit, ARP funding should first plug the hole in general fund budgets returning public services and essential city departments back to full operation. Those cities which have not balanced their budgets prior to COVID-19 will have the opportunity to chart a new fiscal course.

Strategize: With a balanced budget, cities can look to their strategic needs which often include dilapidated infrastructure and property repair. Beyond capital projects, there are also social and cultural inequities which can receive an infusion of investment with the new funds. Historically, minority communities are underserved in affordable public housing, access to good healthcare, and pathways to decent paying jobs.  ARP funds can strategically address the equity gap in a considerable way.

Organize: Establishing a council to identify investments, qualify needs, and execute the plan will be crucial. The Brookings Institute suggests that “Regional Recovery Coordinating Councils” should be made up of public/private partnerships including small businesses, neighborhood leaders, social service agencies, philanthropic leaders, and corporate heads.  For example, the city of Birmingham, Alabama will receive $149 million in ARP funds while Jefferson County, where the city resides, will receive $128 million.  The council would be tasked with ensuring that the release of ARP funds to the state, city, and county are equitably coordinated.

Contact iSeek to discuss how your municipality can stabilize, strategize, and organize to ensure ARP funds are delivered effectively across shared domains of government, non-profit and private entities.  iSeek consultants utilize their local government experience to provide advisory services on assembling councils, managing investment projects, and monitoring the results.  To learn more about iSeek’s services and resources, visit our website. Subscribe to our blog or follow us on LinkedIn. Contact us directly at [email protected].

Source: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2021/03/23/how-should-local-leaders-use-their-american-rescue-plan-funding/#cancel

May 7, 2021 Business Results Comments Off on The American Rescue Plan: A chance for cities to close the financial gap and build a better future for its residents.
Do You Remember

Do you remember where you were when…

For many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic will become a “snapshot in time”, meaning we’ll always remember where we were when… your state government issued the mandatory quarantine; the Senate passed the $2 trillion CARES Act; summer arrived and the quarantine continued; vacations, birthdays, weddings and holiday events were canceled; the US reached the grim death toll of more than 500,000 Americans.  For a lot of people, where we were was “at home”!  Even now – a year later – there has still been no return to what we once knew as “normal”.

No doubt it’s been difficult, and a lot of other adjectives! Yet we’re still here, forging ahead and creating a “new normal” that, in many ways, has the potential to be better than the old “normal”.  Plato, philosopher and artist, famously wrote, “our need will be the real creator” which was molded over time into the English proverb, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention‘. That proverb is probably truer today than ever. Necessity has brought about a change of attitude and technologies that allows many more of us to work from home, avoiding sometimes lengthy commutes and allowing us to spend more time together with our families. We have seen more empathy in our nation, with more people reaching out to and helping friends and neighbors in need.  Charitable contributions to churches, non-profits, and other agencies for the purpose of supporting the needy in our communities have not diminished despite the economic hardships experienced by countless. In many cases, charitable contributions have actually increased!  We are making changes, out of necessity, that is enabling us to be more “human”, without significantly diminishing our nation’s efficiency or effectiveness!

For many of us, another “snapshot in time” this last year was the brutal, unjust police killing of George Floyd and the ensuing civil unrest. While the majority of Americans were, and are, horrified by George Floyd’s killing, we can be encouraged by the nation’s many responses to this and similar events over the last year.  People from all races and walks of life came together with purpose and determination demanding the eradication of racial injustices, inequality and systemic racism, and because of this there is real hope that, this time, we will see a lasting, positive change to human relations in our country!

We have faced major challenges this last year resulting in significant changes in our personal and business lives.  As Americans, we have done what we always do in the face of challenge: we have adapted and continue to find ways to overcome!

“We are all navigating the new normal together. As we lock arms virtually and try to help one another in ways we can, our vast world suddenly feels a little smaller and more connected. And for that, we are grateful.”

Michael Dell – CEO of Dell

Have your business and your employees adapted optimally to the new environment we find ourselves in? Clearly, business as usual is no longer an option. Analyzing lessons learned, assessing current state and envisioning future state are essential to determining whether your business requires a strategic pivot, operations overhaul, or change in workplace culture. iSeek’s proven organization alignment techniques will guide and support the arduous process of assessing the impacts your business faced during these unparalleled times, analyzing operational performance, and measuring the overall health of your business. Our in-depth approach discovers cost savings opportunities, uncovers revenue potential, and exposes operational inefficiencies. Custom solutions are crafted to capitalize on newly-discovered opportunities for growth and improvement.

Visit the resources page of our website to learn more about our proven tools and techniques. Then, contact us to begin developing or optimizing strategies for success in the “new normal”.

 

March 29, 2021 Uncategorized Comments Off on Do you remember where you were when…

Newsflash! Your Golden Opportunity may have Eight Legs

One lucky day, entrepreneur Ken Hakuta received a toy, a gift for his son, from his family in Japan.  When thrown against a wall, the 8-legged toy, soon to be named the “Wacky Wall Walker”, scrambled down the wall instead of falling off of it.  After Hakuta’s family played with it for hours, he realized that the tiny toy presented a great marketing and financial opportunity for him.  Little did he know how successful his rubbery octopus would become.

In fact, the Wacky Wall Walker became one of the best-selling fad toys of the 1980s.  Its appeal extended to other markets including television (NBC produced a Christmas special based on the toy) and breakfast cereal (Kellogg’s inserted them into cereal boxes).  In the wake of his fad’s popularity, Hakuta created and hosted a TV show for child entrepreneurs and authored a book entitled, How to Create a Fad and Make a Million Dollars, in which he candidly shared his experiences marketing the Wacky Wall Walker.

 

 

A popular Hakuta quote reads, “People will try to tell you that all the great opportunities have been snapped up.  In reality, the world changes every second, blowing new opportunities in every direction, including yours.”  The problem with business opportunities is not that they don’t exist; it is that they don’t necessarily fall into our laps.  We have to be open and actively pursue them.  Here are ten ideas for finding the next great opportunity that awaits your business.

  1. Seek out opportunities. Discover opportunities or create them yourself.  Be open to finding a gift in your mailbox and recognizing its potential.
  2. Talk to your customers. Fill product and service gaps noted by your clients and customers.
  3. Brainstorm with your team. Tap their creative juices to stimulate unique and innovative ideas.
  4. Solve a problem. Pinpoint unique solutions for existing challenges.
  5. Be cognizant of new technologies. Consider business opportunities that may result from technological advancements.
  6. Evaluate your competitors. Determine what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong.  Identify and learn from their competitive advantages.
  7. Take advantage of market booms, even if they may be short-lived. Weigh the potential short- vs long-term gains.
  8. Note pricing movements. Exploit potential increases in market segment when the price of a product or service falls.
  9. Identify gaps in your market for certain products and services. Consider moving into other markets as well.
  10. Analyze industry trends. Take advantage of emerging opportunities in your industry.

 

iSeek Solutions offers many Resources that facilitate identification of “opportunities”. Here are highlights of a few of our resources:

Strategic Plan Development Workshop (iSPD Workshop©) examines your organization’s strategic mission, goals and objectives to help you gauge the value of opportunities that come your way. The strategic planning process produces fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, who it serves, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future.

Business Health Check (iBHC©) provides a big picture view of your business, a synopsis of where you stand in meeting the goals and objectives set during the strategic planning process. You’ll gain basic knowledge of the overall performance, opportunities for improvements, employee health, end-user experience, and organization culture, engagement and alignment

Business Performance Assessment (iBPA©) is another way of measuring the actual performance of your business against pre-determined goals and objectives. The performance assessment evaluates the organization’s addressable spend, organization alignment and human capital to identify opportunities to save costs, increase revenues – perhaps through new revenue streams, and enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Whether you’re pursuing new opportunities or improving the health and performance of existing opportunities, we can help! Contact us today at [email protected].

 

Information on Ken Hakuta and Wacky Wall Walker came from: Wikipedia

 

 

 

March 12, 2021 Uncategorized Comments Off on Newsflash! Your Golden Opportunity may have Eight Legs
Wellness Check Up

Early Detection may Save Your Life… and Your Business!

The start of a new year generally inspires us to set new goals, resolutions, and pull out our checklist containing those routine tasks we conduct every year. For many of us, that checklist includes a wellness check or a physical health exam.

In a blog from Pomona Valley Health Centers, the writer states, “A generation ago, people used to see their doctor only when they were sick or dying. Today, preventative health care is becoming commonplace as people become more educated and empowered about their own health…

Regular check-ups can help find potential health issues before they become a problem. When you see your doctor regularly, they are able to detect health conditions or diseases early. Early detection gives you the best chance for getting the right treatment quickly, avoiding any complications. By getting the correct health services, screenings, and treatment you are taking important steps toward living a longer, healthier life.”

A business health check serves much the same purpose as a physical health check. Both are able to detect health conditions early and provide the best chance for getting the right treatment quickly to mitigate or decrease adverse complications. A business health check, like a physical health exam, should be conducted regularly, no less than annually. A health check ensures the business is tracking towards its goals. It delivers insight into the overall performance of your business, uncovers opportunities for improvements, measures employee health and the end-user experience, and assesses the organization’s culture, engagement and alignment. It’s an opportunity to make course corrections, mitigate or exploit risks or market changes or take advantage of new and innovative solutions.

Let’s associate the benefits of a physical health check with a health check of your business so you better comprehend the significance.

 

“A healthy business is as important as a healthy body; it will bring growth and prosperity to all its stakeholders.”

As you begin the new year, stop and take the pulse of your business by performing a business health check. Examine your business from a fresh perspective to see what’s working and what’s not. iSeek experts can guide your team through the phases of our customized Business Health Check iBHC©, which will result in greater insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your business and yield broad solutions on what to do to reach your target level of health. Learn more about the Business Health Check iBHC© by visiting the resources page of our website or contact us directly at   [email protected] to get started.

 Early detection of unhealthy conditions could be the difference between the life or death of your business!

 

 

February 2, 2021 Uncategorized Comments Off on Early Detection may Save Your Life… and Your Business!