www.MarkBittle.com

It's official, find out more about Progressive Impact by checking out www.MarkBittle.com  I look forward to continuing to help small to medium sized businesses become more productive and profitable through focus.  Let's Get Started...

Managers: Now You Know.

According to research that was done by Kenneth Kovoch in the Advanced Management Journal (Spring, 1998) he surveyed thousands of people at all organization and wage levels throughout the United States.  Kovoch's research uncovered that what manager though employees wanted was in fact different than what the employees actually wanted.  The results of Kovoch's survey are listed below.

What Managers Think                What Employees

Employees Want                              Really Want

1                   Good Pay                              5

2                  Job Security                          4

3           Promotion and Growth                  6

4        Good Working Conditions                 7

5              Interesting Work                        1

6              Tactful Discipline                      10

7            Loyalty to Employees                    8

8     Full Appreciation of Work Done          2

9       Help with Personal Problems            9

10    Feeling of Being in on Things             3

The approach utilized by Kovoch is a valuable method to uncover the differences between managment and employees.  This compilation of data is useful to demonstrate how perception within the workplace could place additional stress on employees and potentially have the effect on them to ultimately leave an organization.  However, by uncovering this information, for example, management could utilize this to their benefit and implement a policy that reduces the redundancy of work in order to make it more interesting, while giving appreciation for work that is done well.  Other applications could be used to increase the frequency of continuing education, strategic planning, and employee performance reviews correlated to merit raises.

If you would like more information on how to implement strategic systems and procedures, please do not hesitate to contact me for more information how Progressive Impact helps businesses become more Productive and Profitable.

The Balance Between Working "On" & "In" your Business

If business were defined by the Productivity and Profitability, then Profitability would be best described as working "IN" your business, and Productivity would be best defined as working "ON" your business.

Starting a business is relatively easy, running a business is a little more challenging, and owning a business takes extreme caution.  The People Who Know How will Always Work for the People Who Know Why!  Managers, by my definition are those who work "IN" a business, and Leaders are those that work "ON" a business. Managers know what the goals and objectives are, and it is their job to get them accomplished.  Leaders are those that know where the organization is going (Vision) and facilitate the quickest distance between two points (hypotenuse).

John Michael Montgomery explains the duties of a leader relatively well in his song Life's a Dance, "you'll learn as you go, sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow."  Knowing when to move forward, while also understanding when to take a step back and observe.  It is my opinion that an effective leader understands the importance of being specific, strategic, and sensible; therefore works to develop plans that have built in proactive decisions, rather than not having a plan and making reactive choices.   

Working "ON" your business has many options to choose from, but starting to develop them is the first step in the right direction.  By strategically mapping the future of your organization and what it looks like, to reflecting on the personal development of yourself.  The plans that are in between would include the following: Marketing and Sales, Customer Care, Financial and Profitability, Human Resources, and defining perhaps Acceptable Ethical Standards.  They begin to be the foundation that can be shared, and even developed along side others within your organization.  These plans, in my professional opinion, help to move you from "How to Why" and a step in a more Productive and Profitable organization.

Progressive Impact Defined

I define Progressive Impact as methodically moving towards the Vision for your organization.  Which leaves a question of when will you attain your Vision?  Or when will there be Impact?  The answer:  2 to 3 years after you develop your first Strategic Plan, and only if you continue to review your Strategic Plan on a regular basis, will you attain your first vision.  But it must also be stated that a successful Strategic Plan when continually reviewed, will never accomplish its vision, unless that vision is to close or sell the organization.  Why does it take so long?  Because a successful strategic plan has many intricacies that need to be focused upon, including but not limited to defining your Values, creating a Mantra, composing your Vision Statement, writing your Mission Statement, uncovering and reflecting upon your S.W.O.T (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, & threats), then establishing your Critical Goals while making them S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time sensitive.

Progressive Impact is making sure that you are moving forward with a proactive approach, rather than making reactive decisions.  It has been best described as similar in theory to the cylinders in our automobile engines.  Each cylinder needs to be working in harmony with the others to maximize the efficiency of the engine.  If one of the cylinders is doing more or less than the others, it will harm and potentially destroy that engine.  The same is true in each business in which I have managed and owned, as well as those in which I have coached.

Progressive Impact understands that every business is as unique as each snowflake, BUT takes the approach that every business is more alike than different.  Every Business essentially has the same model: to sell a product or service, in order to make a profit (or stay within budget), in the most productive and efficient way possible, period.  Therefore, Progressive Impact is a forward thinking, positive reinforcement, offering constructive criticism, while uncovering the obstacles that have been keeping businesses from the level of success that they aspire to attain.  It is through the attainment of productivity that business becomes more efficient and profitable.

Motion Creates Emotion

During these trying times in our financial markets, it has hit home that there are not as many successful businesses and professionals out there. How does one overcome the distractions of the media, the empathy that others feel towards certain industries, and how do we make money in a "down market?"

I have witnessed many people who have forgotten the amount of energy that it takes to become a great success. The energy that it requires to climb back to the top. Newton's Third Law, although it was focused on physics, applies even to the business world that we live in, and our daily lives.

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

I will give you a few simple comparisons, and want you to answer them as honestly as possible.

Would you rather work 40 hours a week in job that was required of you to be there at certain times, or work 40 hours when it is most convenient for you?

Would you rather try to stop a little red radio flyer traveling at 2 mph, or a fully loaded 18 wheeler traveling at 2 mph? and...

Would you rather spend your time complaining about how much more difficult it is to get business, or go out and spend your time meeting new prospects?

Newton explains that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" and I challenge you to reflect what are your actions and the unintended reactions or results that have transpired. Complaining is draining not only to you, but to those that you are surrounded by. Excuses are an exertion of energy that shows your inability to overcome the obstacles and challenges that are keeping you from accomplishing your goals.

I believe that there is a source for every problem that arises. That source typically can be found by researching the goals that were set, or in many cases the goals that were not set. The past eighteen months, I have found myself to be sitting on the sideline watching and waiting for something miraculous to happen. Guess what? Nothing happened.

Einstein defined insanity as "continuing to the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results." I have begun to notice by being on the outside looking in how foolish I was to continue in this same self destructing pattern, and decided to make a change.

I have found myself in a completely new environment, and knew that if it was to be, it was up to me. Others are looking for me to have the energy, conviction, knowledge, and the direction to change their "stars". I cannot do it alone, but have been reminded that Motion creates Emotion; "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."; and if it is to be, it is up to me.

Accountability is one of the most overlooked issue within many of us. Accountability to some of us is a dirty word if used within the wrong context. For example, Micromanaging is a form of accountability. Many of us do not like having others over our shoulder all the time telling us what to do. However, many of us like to have the goals set on the table for us, so that we can then know what is expected of us.

As I sit here and reflect on the times when I was twiddling my thumbs and not working towards accomplishing something, I am reminded of the first few months when I started my first job, started my first business, and worked with my first customer. At those times I had something to prove, and that was that I was competent, the right hiring decision, motivated, and did not know enough about what "obstacles" were in the way. Things just got done, and I climbed the ladder of success to the top.

Unless you continue to think, dream, dare, and believe, you have missed an opportunity to overcome the obstacles that will keep your competitors at bay. You will not fully understand the power of putting things in motion, and making things happen.

"PROCRASTINATION is Attitudes Natural Ass(assin)" -- William James

Million Dollar Question

What is the purpose of business? If you were to ask a business professional “what is the secret ingredient as to why they were successful or unsuccessful?” you would get a number of different responses, including marketing and innovation. I know this, because I am a business consultant who specializes in developing professionals to become more productive and profitable through strategic planning. Although I concur that “two purposes of business are marketing and innovation”, I respectfully disagree that they are among the top of the list.

Without a product or service a business does not have anything to market and sell. Without a plan, innovation is only a word that describes forward thinking, but does not address the goal of every business which is to earn a profit or operate within budget. The question “what is the purpose of business?” is simple for me to explain with my experiences in successfully starting, developing, and selling several businesses. You must have something to sell, whether it is a product or a service; and you must have a plan to develop the process to maximize profitability.

The perception that businesses are much more complicated today than they have been in the past, in my opinion is completely false. I believe that we all have the same purpose. The purpose of every business is to sell a product or service in the most productive and efficient way possible to earn a profit. Any time that you add innovation to this simple formula all you have done is confuse your business for an empire, and marketing is the only way to overshadow the underlying issues.

I believe that all businesses should start with written goals. The first goal should be incorporated into the vision statement, which is to be profitable. In order to increase profitability a business must first systematically improve production and the efficiencies within production. I do not feel that marketing is a key factor in the way that you develop a product; rather marketing is a way to create warm leads in order to sell a product or service.

What I have experienced in my career thus far is that we all have a plan, but many times do not have it in writing. I have found that many businesses hide behind clichés, gimmicks, and customer service, but lose sight of what it is that they are actually selling. When meeting with my client’s for the first time, my first question to them is this: “what is it that you sell?” I rarely get the actual product, but rather the “innovative idea” or the best “marketing slogan”. Profitability is a direct result of the productivity within all businesses, marketing and innovation is only part of the plan.

Professionals vs. Sales People

Finances are by far the most complex daily chore that we have in each of our lives. Finances can destroy a marriage, they can end friendships, and they can cloud our decision making processes. However when financing is done methodically, and with a purpose it can alleviate much of the stresses that come along with it. Financial decisions are one of the most lucrative businesses to be in. Think about it, think about the nicest buildings within your community: The banks, insurance offices, financial advisor's, realtor's, attorneys, and accounting firms, all of them can be found in prime real estate locations. However when we take a closer look at them, they are built in very different ways. Some of them deserve to be in the locations that they occupy, because of the level of Professionalism that they have. The others however are only there because they have what I call the "gift of gab" or the "when their lips are moving, they are lying" abilities. These people are called Sales People. They are able to come across as if they have your best interest in mind, when really they have their own interest in mind, and have systematically talked you into something that you didn't need, and sold you more than you bargained for only to find out tomorrow that you can't get a hold of them to cancel. Do I sound bitter? The moral of the story is to find someone whom you can trust, and is not recommended by a radio personality (because guess what? that is a paid endorsement of some kind or another), or has a vested interest in the referral (because now all of the sudden that person is working to keep more referrals coming in, rather than looking out for your best interest). Work with someone that asks the really uncomfortable questions, the questions that make you dig deeper, the questions that require logic, not emotions. Begin the quest to find true Professionals to work with, and I will see you at the top.