JKL Associates - Business & Talent Builders Blog!

March 11, 2010 - ISSN# 1545-2646

During the intensity of the current chaos in the marketplace, we might want to consider calling a Time Out!

It is March and right around the corner is NCAA March Madness. The premier college basketball tournament. As the games take place, and the energy levels increase, coaches will at specific times in the game call a time out to either settle their team down or to add pressure to a player on the other team.

As business leaders we might want to think about how this game strategy can apply to our winning the game of the industry each of us are involved in.

Take a business that is running full speed to make sales. Reps are feverishly dialing the telephone attempting to get appointments. Customer service agents are fielding orders and delivery questions. Warehouse staff are packing boxes and shipping them out. All looks like the machine is a finely oiled machine.

But wait, the company is losing money! Reps are closing sales with minimal margins. Customer services reps are rude to clients. the warehouse staff is not following packing standards and many products will most likely get broken prior to arrival at their destination.

Time OUT!!!

The owner needs to regroup the team and get them refocused. Maybe the pressure of the time has allowed staff to stray from following the business protocols? Maybe those employees left after the last lay off are wishing they would have lost their job? Maybe the stress of doing more with less is having a much greater toll on company performance than what might appear to the untrained eye.

This week call a short Time Out and let everyone stop, catch their breath, re-energize and go back to work to have a successful win. It does not have to be elaborate or fancy. It could be a quick 5 minute gathering in the lunch room or around the copier.

As the owner, express your sincere appreciation for each of them and recognize each of them for their contribution. Allow each of them to catch a short breath. It will be returned with continued support of taking good care of your clients who after all pay the bills and the paychecks.

Questions or comments - email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945

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JKL Associates
18530 Mack Ave #242
Grosse Pointe Farms
MI 48236

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March 4, 2010 - ISSN# 1545-2646

The world just wrapped up the Olympic Games in Canada over this past weekend. Nations from around the world selected their best talent to send and compete against each other to determine who was the best in a given sport. Some medal winners were forecasted and then there were some surprises. In all, for 17 days we watched top talent compete head to head to achieve “Gold.”

In the business world, leaders need to have a similar approach to building the best talent base for the current and future success of the organization. No different than picking which 4 curlers would play a given match or which group of 3 skaters would participate in the “team Pursuit” on the oval. As a leader you must put your best team on the front line each and every time.

Do you know what best talent is? What does it look like in your organization? Are there specific characteristics that separate BEST talent from average talent?

Here are a few areas to start to identify your talent elements:

What behaviors must the person consistently demonstrate that directly contribute to success in the job?

What motivational factors does the role provide that the person doing the job will be excited about? Which ones are distracting or discouraging factors?

What attributes are critical to top performance in the role? Is time management more important than customer service or creative thinking?

Without criterion to identify best talent – you are guessing and even worse – hoping you guessed right.

Need a hand to define these key factors to having “Best in Class” performers on your team? Give JKL Associates a call to bring you solutions to your challenges.

Questions or comments - email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945

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JKL Associates
18530 Mack Ave #242
Grosse Pointe Farms
MI 48236

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(313) 527-7945
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(313) 731-0626

February 18, 2010 - ISSN# 1545-2646

Thinking you know what are the key characteristics necessary to perform each job in your business is a scary proposition. Knowing, understanding and appreciating them is absolutely necessary to position your business for growth coming out of the economic challenges.

Most companies have some sort of “Job Descriptions” but what do they really indicate about the roles contribution to the company? What characteristics directly support and enable the role for success?

To what degree is decision making more important than self management? Does having a strong sense of self, help or hinder a person in a sales role?

Most people when reading those statements jumped to an answer in their head. That mental response is jaded with personal bias! Your bias disservices the potential of any employee that does not have your same mix of biases. More importantly, it is not your bias that makes the role contribute to the organizations bottom line.  It is the performance of the key accountabilities that impact your profitability.

During the month of March, JKL Associates will be offering incentives to help you benchmark your company roles. Make 2010 the year you stop guessing and start building talent based on facts and not bias.

Give JKL Associates a call to discuss our “Job Benchmarking” campaign.

Questions or comments - email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945

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JKL Associates
18530 Mack Ave #242
Grosse Pointe Farms
MI 48236

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(313) 527-7945
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(313) 731-0626

February 4, 2010 - ISSN# 1545-2646

11 months and counting – So how did your first month of the new decade play out for your business?

Like any worth while endeavor, your business or individual success does not just all of a sudden happen. Yes, there are a few freak events of nature or anomalies that can take place. If we look behind the scenes, we will most likely find planning and effort that took place at some prior point in time.

Consider the old saying that Rome was not built in a day. The whole concept is that things worth doing should be done well.  They take time and preparation to have them come out successful. The same holds true for building your business.

Depending on how 2009 finished out, 2010 could very well be almost like starting out all over again. In my travels and conversations with business leaders from various industries, some are looking at 2010 like rebuilding their organization from the ground up.

This includes looking at the personnel they have and how those talents can best be applied to the future growth and success of the business. Unfortunately, businesses had to downsize, right size, terminate, layoff or what ever term you choose – cut costs to reposition their company’s financial health in 2009. 2010 and the start of a fresh year and new decade revitalizes that energy to start with new plans to build their organizations back.

The key is to have planned growth and build the processes and structure one brick at a time. Using your strategic plan and tactics, each event in this years efforts must be evaluated against the objectives and take progressive action to capitalize or correct the plan to get to the final destination at year end.

We are 1/12th complete with the time on the calendar.  Are your results moving in the direction they need to be? This week do a monthly review of your performance objectives and take action to move forward with your plans correctly.

Questions or comments - email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945

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JKL Associates
18530 Mack Ave #242
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MI 48236

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(313) 527-7945
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(313) 731-0626

January 28, 2010 - ISSN# 1545-2646

To often in our society we place leaders on some pedestal thinking that they have all the answers. They will lead everyone out of darkness into new found light.

This week I ask you to challenge this theory by looking at the role of a good or even great follower.

The old saying of too many cooks spoils the soup supports that not everyone can be the leader. It does not mean that followers don’t have critical accountability and responsibility to assist the leader in moving the vision and mission of the business forward.

A leader with out good followers is a zoo keeper most of the time, trying to keep the animals in the zoo from taking over the place. A leader with support from the followers can as a team conquer any and all tasks in front of them.

This does not mean that good followers are drones. Taking orders and completing task. A good or great follower is a individual that utilize their talents to move the progress of the initiative forward.  This can sometimes come in the form of agreement and other times in the form of constructive disagreement.

It is not wise for the follower to jump off the cliff if the leader instructs them to do so without first questioning why. Questioning leadership helps them galvanize their plans into workable solutions so that the end result is far better than if they only consulted their own set of personal insights. This collective gathering of feedback from followers to leaders brings about more significant buy in and ownership in the projects at hand.

It keeps leaders in check so they must continuously improve their own skills to bring to the workplace to share. Followers improve their skills to knock the leader off center and thus again forward progress takes place by everyone staying on top of their skills and talents through continuous improvement.

As you challenge this theory this week, take a look at your leadership skills and at your follower skills. You need both to be a great leader and provide an example to develop great followers.

Questions or comments - email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945

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JKL Associates
18530 Mack Ave #242
Grosse Pointe Farms
MI 48236

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(313) 527-7945
Fax

(313) 731-0626

As we roll forward with January 2010, I must stop and ask – Are your doing the TWO Step?  More specifically – which TWO Step?

There is the two step where you take one step forward and two backward or two steps forward and one step backward or maybe in 2010 you can focus on taking one or two steps forward with out any going backward.

To accomplish this last desired outcome you must have a plan to keep the steps moving forward even in the face of adversity. With all the possible events to distract or create tangents for your strategic plan, you need to keep your tactics driving your results toward your planned outcomes.

Much like driving your car to a destination, you are likely to encounter construction or accidents or even road closures. Do you stop and call it a day or do you quickly redesign your driving route to get to your final destination.

2010 will have its share of challenges. Actually every year is filled with a variety of curves in the road.  The ultimate question you must ask yourself – Are you ready to navigate them effectively or guess?

This coming week, take a look at your 2010 plans again.  If they are not already grouped into key or critical priority categories take that step first. Make sure each one has a means to measure progress. Set up a timetable to review your progress and make adjustments.

Your plans are not static documents.  They need to be agile. They need to be open to improvement when your input sources bring new light to your business indicators.

Like dancing the two step, if the pace of the music changes your business MUST be ready to move with the new pace and not in a backward direction.

Questions or comments - email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945

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JKL Associates
18530 Mack Ave #242
Grosse Pointe Farms
MI 48236

Main

(313) 527-7945
Fax

(313) 731-0626