Business Purpose Archives - Business Vision Consulting

21 January 202121 January 2021

Half full or half empty – as a leader, how should we look at the world?

I was really interested to read the recent post by Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon about how she and her team are looking to navigate the current lockdown Working practice changes at Channel 4

So much of what Alex and leaders like her are doing to lead their businesses through this period of more unknowns than knowns positively resonates with me. But as a leader/influencer should we be looking to lead with a little more positivity? If we are seen to be pessimistic and down then won’t this potentially negatively influence the mindset of those we lead?

Yes these are undoubtedly challenging times – one look/listen to the news drums this home on a daily basis. But as leaders/influencers, isn’t it our role to suck it up and look to be more positive to those we lead, influence and care for.

I appreciate that for some ‘working in isolation is ineffective, lonely and breeds anxiety’ and we have an obligation to support and protect their wellbeing and mental health. But on the flip side, enforced changes in the way we work have provided an opportunity and empowered many to gain back control and ownership of their lives by not having to fit in with outdated working practices (i.e. having to be in an office when there is little to no commercial reason to be there (full-time)).

Please do not think I’m being critical in any way here of Emma as a leader. For me, Channel 4’s move to no meeting Fridays and daily lunch breaks is all about positive leadership in delivering relevance in the new way of work. But using the planned changes at Channel 4 as an example, I wanted to explore how to ‘sell’ leadership decisions in a different way – i.e more positively!

‘working in isolation is ineffective, lonely and breeds anxiety’ versus ‘as a creative business we want to empower your wellbeing and creativity, so we’re looking to give you time not to schedule things. Time to think, breathe, catch-up and space to be creative.’

With many expecting the current UK lockdown to extend far beyond the mid-February review, the continued world of remote working is here to stay.

Being critical of myself, maybe I’m just naïve in looking to see the world as I do in a more half full rather than a half empty way. What do I know? What I do passionately believe is that as a leader, realistic and relevant positivity breeds positivity in those you lead on #yourjourneyahead

23 November 202023 November 2020

Business Vision Consulting launches Your Fractional Partner offering

Being a leader can be one of the most lonely roles there is. Identifying and maintaining firm wide relevance in meeting the needs of both clients and the talent within your firm is a far from easy juggling act to achieve – made harder if you’re also having to maintain your own book of client business.

Your Fractional Partner will be your ‘off the radar’ independent confidant and success partner to share your journey ahead with and support you by:

being a fresh and agnostic sounding board
sharing thought leadership & best practices from around the world
identifying new opportunities
designing and implementing specific actions that drive success
opening the minds of those around you to alternative ways of work
connecting you with the best/most aligned people & resources in the market

Your Fractional Partner is not about pigeonholing your needs or selling you a particular business model, process or solution. It’s all about your story, your journey ahead and how Your Fractional Partner can support your specific needs and exceed your aspired growth and success goals.

Please contact [email protected] to find out more and to start sharing you story

2 September 20202 September 2020

So what is leadership?

Many people have looked to define what leadership is in more books than anyone can find the time to read.

In the world we find ourselves in leadership has never been more important, but what defines a true leader?

“The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers.” – Perter Drucker
“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” – Warren Bennis
“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” – Bill Gates
“Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.” – John Maxwell
“Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.” – Kevin Kruse

Kevin Kruse highlighted the above quotes in a Forbes article back in 2013 https://lnkd.in/d8ynNi6

7 years on, and as businesses seek to deal with the challenges and opportunities of what can only be described as one of the most disruptive periods in a generation or (potentially more), true leadership has never been more important.

Developing from the themes above, my view on leadership is that it is a process of social influence founded on shared values that empowers others to individually excel while looking to maximise their combined efforts in achieving a clearly defined purpose.”

What are your thoughts?

#leadership #business #yourjourneyahead

5 August 20205 August 2020

It’s not just goats that need to be agile in today’s world

In response to Covid-19, professional service firms have had to adapt to new ways of work that are now the ‘new norm’.

Agility is now a key success factor to the continued relevance of many firms but agility has not historically been associated with operational success of (in particular) accounting and law firms.

Agile firms can quickly redirect their people and priorities toward value-creating opportunities. McKinsey & Company have identified five operating-model dimensions to drive agility:

1. Strategy – a shared purpose and vision embodied across the organisation

2. Structure – a network of empowered teams

3. Process – rapid decision and learning cycles

4. People – dynamic people model that ignites passion

5. Technology – next-generation enabling technology

Considering a clearly defined strategy as a starting point, many accounting and law firms are quick to promote and talk about their purpose, values and vision (story) but rarely truly live to these ideals. All to often leadership teams look to these critical foundations to success as a DIY/tick box exercise.

By failing to get the purpose, vision and story right, they fail (among other things) to ignite and sustain passion within their people and in turn do not have empowered teams. Accounting and law firms tend to focus too much on technology and process because these are within the comfort zone of the technical mindset/competencies of most firm leaders.

Get it right on purpose, values and having a relevant story, your firm will be agile (by creating firm wide engagement and trust towards change) and this will also lead to increasing your reputation and visibility within your market(s) as a firm of choice.