How to make better decisions faster | Issue #193
8 practical ways to galvanise your decision-making
Finding it harder to make decisions as your company grows? That’s not unusual. When businesses start out, teams are small, and the world moves quickly. It’s why special forces units are always small. Everyone is focused on the same mission, and you power ahead. Challenges are overcome and problems solved at lightning speed.
But then your business starts to grow and become more complex. You’re asked for decisions when you don’t possess all the facts. And if you’re not careful, this can lead to paralysis.
So what do you do? How do you keep making quick decisions as your business grows? Here are some tips from my experience as MD of three rapidly scaling companies.
The Jobs Only the CEO Should Do, with Anthony Rose
If your business is struggling to innovate, or is in fact resisting innovation all together, then don’t miss Anthony Rose, founder and CEO of SeedLegals on this week’s episode of The Melting Pot.
Who better to learn from about how to incorporate, raise funds and grow your business, than the founder of the startup that one in six of all early-stage startups in the UK are using in their funding rounds.
Widely known as “The man behind BBC iPlayer”, Anthony ran the iPlayer and other BBC services from 2007 to 2010, taking the iPlayer from pre-launch to a major success story.
In this episode, Anthony talks about the jobs that only the CEO should do, including the CEO’s role in innovation, building company culture, getting to product market fit, and why, when you’ve got product market fit, the most important job of a CEO is to then manage culture.
This is a truly insightful episode and a must listen for all leaders of startups looking to grow and build their companies.
Recommended Podcasts
The LinkedIn Speaker Series is one of their favourite ways to support their mission of making professionals more productive and successful. LinkedIn do this by exposing their employees and members to inspiring ideas and innovative thinkers from around the globe. The program also reinforces one of their core company values – that relationships matter.
Recommended Articles
Why Hybrid Collaboration Is Harder Than You Think
It’s an exciting time for the workplace. After years of experimentation, it looks like hybrid collaboration is quickly becoming the new normal. According to a recent survey from Microsoft, more employees and managers than ever are now considering transitioning from fully in-person or remote work and embracing the flexibility of hybrid. The only problem? Many companies that are already trying their hand at hybrid collaboration aren’t that great at it.
Is Your Hiring Process Costing You Talent?
As the Great Resignation persists, job seekers are looking for better wages, better benefits, and better remote work options. They’re also losing patience with cumbersome hiring processes. To make sure your hiring process is a positive experience for candidates, the author suggests asking yourself these four questions: 1) Is your time-to-decision fast enough? 2) Do you share information on company culture? 3) How is your correspondence? and 4) Are you providing value up front?
Mastering Innovation’s Toughest Trade-Offs
Innovation is frustratingly hit-or-miss. More than 90% of high-potential ventures fail to meet projected targets, while roughly 75% of the products released each year bomb. These failures are often attributed to a lack of money, talent, or luck. But we think the underlying cause is that innovation in dynamic environments — those characterized by novelty, resource constraints, and uncertainty — is rife with critical tensions. When left unaddressed or mishandled, these tensions sink teams and organizations.
Recommended Reads
The frictionless organisation by Bill Price and David Jaffe
In this book, readers will learn how to create such a seamless customer experience that their customers will have no need to contact them, reducing costs and increasing satisfaction. Authors Bill Price and David Jaffe show why less customer service is better customer service. Many organizations focus so intently on improving the way customers interact with them that they don’t ask the more fundamental question of whether the interactions are needed in the first place. Every contact channel adds cost and complexity. And while customers appreciate that they can now call, chat, text, or email to check an order or resolve a problem, they appreciate not having to do anything even more. Veteran customer service experts Bill Price and David Jaffe explain how service, support, and sales can be made invisible, reducing costs and providing a better customer experience. Drawing on examples from four continents and over twenty-five countries, they provide a logical and sequential methodology that every reader can follow. Reducing contact with customers means proactively focusing on the customer perspective, which is always a good idea. This means organizations need to rethink all aspects of their business, from product and services design to quality and control. It is a whole enterprise initiative, but one with a huge upside.
Pinnacle by Steve Preda and Gregory Cleary
Do you own a small business with more than a handful of employees? Are you frustrated that your organization has flatlined? Do you feel drained by working long hours and only dreaming of having an energized team ready to step up and lead? Do you nurse an ambition to scale your business into one that dominates its niche? Are you concerned that time is running out and you may never fulfill your dreams? If you answered yes to any of the above, you are holding the right book in your hands. The authors have created a formula that is applicable for any company, while still being customizable for your business. We believe that there are five things you need to obsess about as an entrepreneurial leader. These are: People, Purpose, Playbooks, Perform and Profit. They’ve broken these principles down to fifteen practices that help you clarify and implement the five Pinnacle Principles in your business. Dive in to learn what these are and how they can make your company unstoppable.
News from the farm
Scale Up Workshop – 23rd June
Are you struggling to plan for the future?
Do you need a new system to help you navigate these uncertain times with confidence?
We can help you!
Join Dominic Monkhouse on 23rd June and learn how you can implement the Scaling Up tools that helped him scale 2 UK Tech firms during past recessions.
Join us at The Managemen Lab in Foundry Farm for a 5-hours highly interactive strategy session.
Lunch and drinks included
Only few seats left
Secure yours today
MEANINGFUL ACTION FOR MONDAY
Stepping into a new role? Create a clear vision first
I was coaching an executive this week about moving into a new role. When I asked him why he hadn’t done that in the past, he said that he couldn’t bear the politics involved in a senior role. Now, the politics haven’t changed, so if he wants to be the CEO he needs to have something that will allow him to put up with those things he doesn’t enjoy. He needs to have a clear personal vision, purpose and mission for his time as CEO. Without that, the politics will still overwhelm him.
So, if you’re promoting someone into a new role, or stepping into a new role yourself, then that person needs to be challenged to create a vision for the role before taking it on. That will help them know whether they want it or not, and they’ll be able to draw against that when things aren’t going to plan.
Quote of the week
“Successful people make decisions quickly and firmly. Unsuccessful people make decisions slowly, and they change them often.”
Napoleon Hill
Dominic Monkhouse
Dominic offers business coaching and management development, strategy planning and organisational change, using tried and tested methods to launch your organisation onto an unparalleled growth trajectory. His programme is a function of his broad experience, his deep expertise and a proven process used by over 2,700 firms worldwide.