Today’s blog… covering the things that make you think, has no topic…. Today is one of those days where nothing really has much relevance… and you think about the never ending nonsense, non stop.
No but seriously!
For some reason my mind has been stuck in a business mode more recently which is making me question the actual “mechanical engineering” part of my degree…. leaving me with one year worth of “management” education that I will base this blog on...
I’m sure glad I learned about Organizational Behaviour…. That was a value add four months of my life for sure! For those of you who don’t know what this topic covers, let me take a step back, and go over some of the concepts it enforces. Organizational Behaviour brought to my attention almost every obvious point there is to know about business. OK now that we have that out of the way, my initial “value add” comment was of the sarcastic form…ha ….. ha. Now that the jokes are out of the way, its time we touch on some of these obvious points.
So even though I was sarcastic, Org. Behaviour plays a huge role in business (and even personal) success. (hence the reason that on the cover of my text book for this course there are three zebra’s hanging out on a grassy plain in Africa?????) I guess the reason they teach this course is the fact it may not be obvious to all people. That said, much like my post about IKEA and not deserving to be a billionaire if you don’t have the ability to see a very simple business opportunity in front of your eyes, the same applies here. You don’t deserve to be successful in business if you can’t wrap your head around these few basic concepts.
TEAM: I recently gave a webinar (online seminar) discussing the importance of collaboration in a business environment…. And the reason for this is that to be competitive in today’s insanely dynamic industries you MUST bring products to market faster without sacrificing quality, cost and safety all while upholding a brand image…. THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DO ALONE FOLKS. You must trust, learn from, get advice from, and enable those who are experts in their fields, and who are responsible for making the success happen. We refer to these mentioned people as SME’s (subject matter experts) and I detest this acronym like crazy, probably because it sounds completely ridiculous… either way… it’s a globally recognized term. Steve Jobs of Apple, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Ingvar Kamprad of IKEA (see my previous blog for this story) and one of my favourites, Richard Branson of The Virgin Group (most influential to me) did not get to where they are today by themselves. I was actually reading an article on this topic in the Melbourne airport back in September where Richard Branson was discussing his top ten pieces of advice to be successful in business. Number One was to enable and motivate those who are “making it happen for you”. I think I said enough about this.
DYNAMIC: I referred to a few things in the above paragraph that gave example of how today’s industries are operating on an International scale. One of them was SME’s… these people do not all reside in one location. To build the best team, you have to explore vast lands to discover where the talent is located. The second was that I was in the Melbourne airport reading an article on Richard Branson a few months ago. I graduated a year and a half ago and am already traveling half way around the world for work? I want to make this clear that this is not an uncommon situation. I know of many friends of mine who are young professionals, and are now traveling abroad on a regular basis because they have acquired a skill that no others have (making them subject matter experts). And this is what brings me the topic of this paragraph…. Being Dynamic…. To sum this point up, you have to be willing to adapt, travel, explore new opportunities and keep your eyes open for the next big trend with billions of dollars tied to it (on a global scale).
PROCESSES: My next point is also very important. Recently I received my ‘green belt’ certification in Six Sigma. What exactly that means doesn’t matter here… what does matter is that it brought to my attention that processes are important. Consistency in the way you execute carries a huge influence on your potential success. To ensure the quality you have guaranteed to your customers is upheld… you must be organized, with a professional attitude, ready to meet the needs of anyone. I also recently had the discussion trying to define what “best practices” are…. That’s a hard one to clearly figure out… because any company can spend thousands or even millions of dollars to determine the best way to do something (a best practice)…. And with the slightest variation to what that business does, the best practice can change on the spot. My definition of “best practice”, while taking the last sentence into account, is to discover the most efficient and cost effective way of doing “your” business and then enforcing this procedure so that its always done that way. You’ll save money, guarantee predictable results and be ready to compete in the big leagues!
COMMUNICATION: So before I bore you to death, this one is easy and can be summed up in the following sentence. Make it a round table affair, share your ideas, be willing to accept ideas from others, and use many brains to come up with the best ideas! It’s that simple!
So to conclude! Work together, adapt to the situation at hand, figure out and stick with what works best, and COMMUNICATE. These points are a few of the many ingredients in the recipe to success; in EVERYTHING you do!
This blog was less factual (not as many interesting Wikipedia facts on the topic) but since I feel my own experience in this area is becoming more complete (and the way I talk about it is almost a little bit believable) take what I say as factual….HOWEVER… take anyone’s advice at an arms length………. and let the best man (or woman) win :)
Cheers,
Cameron
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