Working ON Your Business not IN Your Business

The pressure on directors and leaders to be not only great role models but also to be involved in every aspect of the business is relentless. But successful leaders in any sector, no matter their personality or background, can't be everywhere and know everything. Those that try quickly suffer from stress and burnout. Trying to be everything to everyone is exhausting and futile.

Successful leaders have the ability to focus ON their business rather than IN their business. What that means in reality is that they do not loose sight of their most important role, that of leading their people and organisation. Here are some of reasons why directors get sucked into their business so easily, and what to do about it. 

Directors: Being Pulled from Pillar to Post

The urge for directors to jump in to your business as the chief fire-fighter or executive management is the most natural reaction any director or owner has when it is under pressure to demonstrate their leadership. 'Keep calm I'm in charge' is the key message leaders want to portray. That position of fire-fighter extraordinaire (superman without the lycra) the man (mainly) who can, is a powerful pull to keep leaders hands on, but its also one main reason why companies don't succeed.   

Directing is what a business expects directors to do in demonstrating their leadership skills. From making the big decisions through to setting an outstanding example to others, the pressure is always on to be seen be in the control and to be the ultimate arbitrator of problem solving. The problem is that while firefighting looks and feels vitally important, spending time working out why things have gone wrong is actually what is ultimately important, and what we directors should be investing our time and energies on solving.   

The hardest task in doing the right thing as a leader is to know how and when to stand back and not get drawn into the day-to-day stuff in any business. By ensure they stay directing, not doing, and making the future happens successfully. It's always easier to pick up someone else's ringing phone rather than educate them to do do it.  But in doing so you've just become a firefighter rather than a director directing. Successful leaders have to learn how to stand back and understand what is happening and why. They must learn that their actions in directing people lead to the results they can see. To change their people's behaviour which leads to a change their activity and outcomes requires leaders to change their behaviours first.

Being a director is an official role, often a badge of great success and a role of not only legal significance but also as a role model of leadership. Leadership, the act of leading is about directing others towards an agreed shared goal, and that is where leaders deliver results. Leadership is a action, an interaction in how leaders support and serve their people, not a title but a series of actions which impact upon others.

The best leaders are the not the ones people see, but like great teams, from sports teams to kitchen chefs, where everything happens as if by magic and no-one can see how it is done. But like a great orchestra everyone knows their place, their role and how they contribute to the overall success of the business. 

Work: ON it! Not IN it!

Working ON the business, deciding where the organisation is going and why rather than IN, getting stuff done, is where people really see the value of an effective leader. That requires leaders to focus on both where they are going as well as how they a business is operating in getting to that destination. 

The biggest mistake leaders can make is wanting to be seen to be busy in the business. Being seen as doing something within the company process, directly adding to the value chain, while it is being seen can lead to the leadership looking sight of its real role, that of leading not working in. Being a 'hands on' person is one of the classic perceptions which people inside a company feel they need to deliver to be valued. 

While stepping in to pacesetter is a good tool, it most often pulls directors out of their role and means they become a boss not a leader.

Directors Need to Be Seen to Lead

I've just worked with an advanced manufacturing client to develop an operations director who said in response to my suggestion: "I can't be seen to sit down and read how to do something new, I have to be busy doing something so all my people can see me working hard." This classic trap, of having everyone working IN their business leaves no-one working ON their business. It's an example of the classic challenge for leadership of being seen and being seen to be busy.

Being seen and involved in everything is part of being in charge, and able to offer advice, make decisions and drive people towards their objectives. The effect of having to be always seen is that directors have to be first to arrive and last to leave, draining the batteries of many directors particularly in rapidly changing companies.

Where being seen becomes the culture of leadership, suddenly everything has to be run past them which leads to vertical management structures, creating a lack of empowerment throughout the organisation which results in reduced moral and hierarchy control, putting further pressure on directors and undermining ownership as deference to authority becomes the normal acceptance. This change makes all decision making hierarchical, creating control and in result reducing flexibility to respond to changes, which no-one, the leadership, is now looking out for.

The other common problem with being seen all the time, having your door open at any time is that directors become the only people able to make decisions, resulting in increased pressure on directors to know what is going on. This pull factor into the day-to-day and the politics of micromanagement eats resources and kills innovation.  

Successful leaders understand the importance of being seen effectively in business today is more about communicating when you are available and that you are available to them to provide dedicated support not just being there for people. Being seen therefore in today's business world is about being able to provide quality of time support not just volume of time. Keep your distance from the day-to-day, don't walk all over the management process and respect people's talents to solve problems rather than tell them how to do things.  

Leaders must 'Know What's Going On'

Directors have to know what's going on.  But the danger is that if you are working in your business as a director, then you can be a bull in a china shop, wildly spinning round treading all over other people, who aren't directors, and their roles.

Directors getting involved in every detail of every process within the business can lead to a culture of  micro-management. Micro-management, where every decision is analysed and scrutinised by directors, not only undermines good employees but often leads to reactionary and damaging over-rullings of effective processes and procedures. Which leads more often than not on the process breaking down.                                                                                                                                              

Knowing the process and how it works is vital for success, but micro-managing processes often lead to confusion on decision-making and the over-ruling of the existing tried and tested process.

What makes successful knowledge of what's going on, is the ability to see the process happening and recognise where it is under-pressure and where it needs resources to deal with the pressure points.

Being able to step back and see what is happening while not being dragged into the process is a vital ingredient for directors to lead from a position of overview knowledge not micro-managing detail, leave that to those who run each section. Let them own their area then they will care about it. Review how people are delivering and working out what support they nee rather than walking all over what they are doing unless things are going seriously wrong is the best behaviour leaders can demonstrate. 

Leaders MUST Lead By Example

'Lead from the front, lead by example,' is first rule of any leadership development course.  But it is also a phrase which is poorly understood, here's why:

'Leading by example' is one of the most commonly misunderstood terms leaders fail to appreciate and causes the biggest mistakes directors make in doing their job. When directors are told to lead by example they look at  the role of the person they are demonstrating their leadership skills to and then they lead them by doing that person's role, not theirs. That 

In doing that person's role they are not leading but replacing that person in doing the role. The result is that in leading by example directors do, but don't lead. Doing someone else's job is not leading or directing it is doing, the trap which anyone can of fall into, particularly when we are busy, under pressure or when we see someone not doing it as they should.

'I'll do it so it gets done,' mentality is the quick fix, but not the right solution. How will they learn unless they do it, not only in theory but day-to-day. The best help you can give someone is to train them how to do a job and ensure that they know why they are doing that job, reward them for doing it and motivate them to do it even better, but don't do it for them (unless you want to swap roles).

If you would like to learn more about how to work on your business as a leader and avoid becoming a leader working n their business, then click here to learn more:

http://www.richardgourlay.com/leadership-is-all-about-vision-2/

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many thanks

Richard

Richard Gourlay, business strategy consultant, Dumfries and Galloway Scotland, UK

Why and How Challenger Brands Succeed For Brand Leaders

The challenger brand model is a strategic approach to a market that works for aspirational brands which wish to take ownership and consolidate a particular position for their unique offering within a market. The challenger brand model is business strategy that changes the landscape of a market, by shifting the entire premises of a market's assumptions about its underlying structure.  Changing the premises of the market's structure is how disruptive technologies are brought to market by challenger brands.

The fundamental premise of challenger brand model is that it is a whole business strategy for the business, not just the marketing and sales functions. The challenger brand model success relies upon it being a clear strategically focused in carrying the whole business into a new place within its market sector(s), not just routes to market into a true partnership throughout the entire value pipeline.

What is a Challenger Brand?

A challenger brand is a business which identifies and develops a clear focus within a market. Typically challenger brands have grown into an area of specialisation within a market sector. Either by focusing on a specific subset of the market or a certain demographic requirement within a market.  They by definition challenge the status quo of a market. They can be seen in virtually every market and therefore have no common identity due to very diverse nature of markets.  

Challenger brands do demonstrate a clear identify within their market. That clarity of a challengers identity is a vital first step. Challengers want and must stand out from the mainstream. They must be distinctive within their market. Defining what they stand for must be clear and consistent over time. You cannot challenge if you do not stand out and stand for your identity. 

Challenger Brands Challenge Perceptions

Challenger brands which are always consistent is that you are on a mission to change the industry.  What you are changing and why is vital to communicate to your core target audience. That enables challenger brands to take premium positions within markets as they focus on their alternative value proposition within any market. Starling Bank and Apple for example despite being 40 years apart both successfully have created a successful premium challenger position within their markets.

Challenger brands are emotional brands. People buy the value proposition either from aspirational leaders and from bold statements about the real value they offer to people who value what they do.  This emotional message is often linked to transformative message which the business will deliver to the market. Challengers focus on the future growth of the market and how the challenger today will be the dominant market player in the future. That constant message of a brighter future with the challenger is always about how the challenger brand will make change brand today will be the mainstream in tomorrow's world.

Challengers Brands Create New Value

This shift is about proactive participation in the challenger attitude within a market by a series of partners. The challenger model creates a new value stream ultimately to customers, but actually to all stakeholders involved in creating the challenger position within a market. Challenger brand models are actually not just about sales people selling in a different way, but far more; they are about businesses identifying that in maturing markets defining their premium and sustainable position within that market is more than just desirable but an essential suitable position to own.

 

The challenger brand model has four fundamental underlying principles for it to be successful. It is not just about selling, having challenger sales people, but about changing everything about the organisation.  

Its Never Just About Changing The Sales Strategy

For a company to start its journey into the position of challenger brand the first principle is that whole organisation must make a step change in their attitude and approach to their customers. If the culture of a business is purely sales focused then moving it to a relationship one is a simple evolutionary step, but moving to a challenger one is not a simple next step, but a cultural shift, a huge leap of faith and complete organisational cultural shift. 

This step change is one reason why many companies aspire to being challengers within their market, but in reality they are still transactional relationship in nature. Successful challenger brands do not just tell their sales people to become a challenger brand, for a successful brand to succeed as a challenger brand it must be a complete top down vision owned and delivered across the whole organisation.  

The debate is one of nature versus nurture

Can a company move away from simply selling what they have, to identifying and developing long term customer values, what tomorrow’s customer is going to value within a brand. Can the organisation communicate its true values rather than selling what it has today.  Putting it simply; can a company walk away from a short-term sales culture to challenge industry perceptions. 

In my background I have worked for brands that have achieved that, and seen brand’s such as Patagonia sustain the challenger market position successfully and change the market to their challenger position. Premium brands achieve the challenger positions through visionary leadership and sustain it by creating champions throughout the whole industry, not just through sales people selling differently to others.

Challenger selling: Mindset shift

The second principle of successful challenger brands is that everyone within the brand has engage in conversations with stakeholders to shift the mindset of an industry. Complete belief from within the whole team of the company culture is a must. That creates a sector tension within any market. Apple, that iconic challenger brand took on Microsoft and others, by challenging the status of computing as technical, Apple made them simple and beautiful. They work for us, not us for them. That tension with customers and the whole supply chain successfully challenged assumptions and took that challenger role from computers to phones, watches and even TV’s, redefining the markets within which it chooses to compete.   

For challenger brands to succeed they must challenge with a uniquely defined position within a market.  Belief and education are central to challenger brands success. Everyone must believe, not just the sale person, but the whole organisation must have a unified cultural belief in the challenger position.

Engagement and communication must be clear and demonstrate the innovation which the challenger brand operates.  Simon Sinek talks about the power of WHY, when describing Apple’s approach to the market. The brand’s ability to communicate at all levels creates interest and desire within target audiences. Target audiences, those who just get it, become converts to the way in which a challenge brand operates creates people with a passion, converts who believe and can communicate that belief clearly. 

Education is at the heart of successful challenger brands. While they create factual and emotional arguments which people buy into, they can sustain and develop their challenger position. Education is not just talking to passionate followers or clever innovations, it is far more. It is the continued striving to re-enforce that challenger position, what it is why it matters to all stakeholders and how it differentiates the brand from other and form other potential new entrants or alternative options. These are most effectively delivered through insights into customer behavior inextricably linked to core causes and themes, which that challenger brand espouses.  This continued consistent communication re-enforces the challenger brand’s position and moves the brand from innovator market positions into aspiring early majority markets of both intermediate channels to market and audiences.  

Successful Challenger Brands

Successful challenger brands, defend their market position, not through hostile language, ‘we are better than you because….’ But through resonance with audience types personalities.  Each challenger brand’s communication sounds like ‘people who value XYZ value us because we resonate with their values’.

That resonance is not designed to appeal to everyone, in fact successful challenger brands focus on key target segment consumer motivations. They sacrifice the majority status quo and look to occupy premium places within markets which are defensible and sustainable. They look at tomorrow’s market needs and drive behavioural shifts in customers attitude to brand engagement. Apple’s drive into apps, live streaming, integrated products and services, all move audiences into engagement with the brand in a different way than any other ‘computer’ company.     

Control, and taking control is therefore at the heart of a challenger brand’s success. Communication is only relevant if it engages with those who can influence decision-making. Effective communication by challenger brands is about controlling the communication where and when it matters.  Challenger brands focus on communication only where they can successfully challenge, they converse on their ground and in their language. They create a new language of products and services not to differentiate but to identify the value they deliver in their unique language, so conversing inside the brand becomes an integral part of buying into the brand.

Challenger brands only talk about value, challenging the customer’s thinking and pre-conceived perceptions in their decision-making process.  It is never negative, always a positive solution being provided by challenger brands. The irony being that they most successfully challenge when they do it non-aggressively and non-directly. They don’t look to compete in the same way as the industry norms, but through looking at challenging the status quo in every way. That approach creates positive tension, the implied question is why would you not buy this brand, this way of life, rather than buy us over them.

Challenger Brands Offer Enhanced Value 

Third principle that makes challenger brands successful is that they are premium players within any market. That requires a complete integration of attitudes and approaches within the company and its complete supply chain. Challenger brands are always premium players, they invest in being in the space at the top of the market, and the price they charge is a result of their challenger success. It is investment into innovation in both product, service and value chain activities. 

Being a challenger brand also relies on the brand investing in its customer targeting of key prospects, not just end customer segmentation but also in every step in the customer journey. That creates an targeted up-front prospecting and focused pipeline management   Those investments result in higher closing ratios than industry averages.

Challenger Brand Leadership Skills

Becoming a challenger brand within a market requires the right type of people, and this is the fourth principle behind a successful challenger brand. Traditional order takers and short-term management and leadership people will not ideally fit with a challenger sales brand. So moving a brand, or creating a challenger sales brand requires an organizational shift in behaviours, competencies and capabilities across the whole company.  Changing behaviours of all employees takes time and leadership, it does not happen over night and measuring the results is not easy.  Rather than just measuring the sales, the leadership need to measure the quality of the customers and the engagements that occur. 

At the heart of becoming a challenger brand is to understand the unique position which that position within the market it delivers.  Brands such as Apple, Patagonia and Tesla have all successfully taken clear positions within their respective markets’ by being challenger brands. By changing the established perception of a market, challenger brands succeed because they deliver more value at every point of the relationship. It takes a strategic long-term approach for a challenger brand to achieve that success, and that takes leadership with vision.

Learn more about how to develop successful business strategy click the link to buy the book:- Strategy: The Leader's Role by Richard Gourlay

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strategy-Leaders-Successful-leaders-business/dp/1508761965