Welcome to the August 2010 edition of Strategic Innovation newsletter, a free monthly newsletter on leadership, strategy and innovation. Delivered on the first Tuesday of each month.

Back issues are archived for free downloading at www.DanielLockConsulting.com.

Tips for improving business processes

• Maintain a reading folder, that you can quickly pick up for a trip to coffee shop, wait at the dentist or whatever, if after 2 weeks the contents is not read, get rid of it.
• Be careful of the measurements you set for your people, as what gets measured get done. Make sure KPI’s are aligned to business goals: making money for the company as a whole.
• Your business can only go as fast as the slowest link. Limit your work in progress (WIP) to that link, surprising the whole system will speed up as it is no longer clogged. Then work to expand the capacity of the link.
• Improvement is about small gains made over time that compound. What will you improve tomorrow, and the day after that.

Show them who’s boss: the secrets of power management.

In a speech given by Sir Gerry Robinson, for the London Business Forum, he makes the claim that you’ll never succeed in business unless you’re capable of motivating and inspiring other people.

Gerry says that, while most things in business can be learned (I’d say almost all), there are a few things, which your either have or you don’t. He’s come to believe that, "there are some essential starting points.”

The first, being the ability to inspire and motivate people. The other, but more ephemeral is what Gerry calls "nous, a bit of common sense of what will work and what doesn’t.” They have a, "presence, the capacity to make you feel you’re important and that you want to please them and get fit right.”

As to whether this ‘nous’ is able to be learned or not is highly contentious, just as the age old question, ‘are leaders born or made?’Gerry quotes Alan Sugar, "Business skills can be acquired, just as any fool can learn to play the piano, the ability to see an opportunity,the alchemy of turning that into a profit is god given talent as surely as perfect pitch.”

‘Back it in yourself, and back it on others when you see it.’

Gerry lists a few more attributes that you see in business leaders:

1… Vision.The ability create a clear compelling vision. As much as this is an overused, if not cliché, people like to know what’s expected of them and are happy to deliver it to you.

Visions don’t always have to be financial. But the objectives are simple and clear. Such as the fastest turn-around-time. That which is genuinely doable, but still difficult to do.

2… Passion. Leaders must have passion. Must absolutely believe that what you are doing is important, that you live the values you espouse. It cascades itself down the organisation extremely quickly. About making it happen in the most brilliant way possible.

3… Responsibility.Gerry, says that management while much maligned, is an extremely important job. I couldn’t agree more, bosses are critiqued and degraded constantly, there couldn’t be a more difficult job. Gerry, also importantly, in my opinion doesn’t believe that executive pay issues are well founded, given the grave account-abilities they face. Managing is a hugely important job that requires much courage to do it.

4… Follow-up. This is one of my favourite coaching bug bears that I constantly find myself mentoring managers on. If you are not going to do something, don’t say it in the first place. If you ask someone to do something, follow up with them. If you ask them to do something hard, and then you don’t follow up as if it wasn’t an important job, how will they know the next request is important?

A quick remedy: create and maintain a waiting for list. If you ask for something to be done,write on the list, and follow up progress. Gerry says, "if you don’t follow up people will think long and hard before they do the next difficult thing asked of them.”

Gerry also goes one to suggest a system, at the beginning of very year create meeting times in your diary with each of direct reports, and create corresponding folders for each. Drop the action items agreed in the folder and bring that to the next meeting.

Not one of your people will fail to do the things asked of them, as they know it’s going to come up at the next meeting. This is not just about picking up the things not being done, but perhaps more importantly, and related to the initial point; the ability to motivate people by recognising a job well done.

Technique of the month: What Gerry said...

This month, Gerry has already given the tip of the day.

Follow up.

Enough said.