Applying a product development strategy to professional services

Traditionally, professional services (such as accountancy, HR, Legal or business advisory consultancies etc) have been able to grow only by selling more services that are billed by the hour. That however means more staff, which adds significant costs and keeps profit growth linear. A feasible strategy is to create a product out of the service, in which the products come about as the service becomes infused with automation, analytics, and a different monetization model. First, discover potential products by identifying opportunities for automation inside the business. Tasks that are performed frequently and require little sophistication are ideal. Next, develop and embed the products (e.g. as a software) to complement the services rendered. Lastly, monetize the products by moving away from billing hours to using a revenue model that captures the benefits through transaction-based pricing or even outcome-based pricing.

Source: Havard Business Review

Choosing the next CEO becomes easier when you know the firm’s ‘pivot’

It is not an easy task to pick the right CEO to lead the firm for the next lap. A bad selection can be devastating for the performance of the firm. On the other hand, the right pick can lead to extraordinary financial results. Picking the right CEO is less daunting when you understand what specific capabilities are needed for the firm’s next lap. Narrow in on those key capabilities, skills or personality traits that the new leader should ideally possess in order for he or she to thrive in the role, pivoting the company to where it needs to head. Keep an open mind about where candidates may come from; they may be internal or external candidates. Sometimes the right candidate may appear a few levels below the CEO. In any case, allow for shortcomings in the candidate, ensuring that gaps can be closed through coaching or covered by other executives.

Source: Havard Business Review

 

Top 10 Behaviors of Personal Leadership

People love a good top ten list now and then and this happens to be a good summary list of the behaviors that great leaders typically possess. While the behaviors are by no means earth-shakingly new, it is handy when you can go over them in a glance. In no particular order, they are: self reflection, self awareness, self care, continuous learning, listening, operating rhythm, gear shifting, focus, clarity of purpose, and gratitude. In short, lead yourself before leading others. It’s probably a very tough act to be doing every behavior cited in the list very well. But there could be those rare individuals who carry them all out brilliantly. It is probably more usual for a leader to possess spikes in certain particular behaviors at different stages of leadership development. And in taking a leaf right from the list, start to reflect on which behaviors you would like to work on more at your stage of leadership journey.

Source: Eblin Group

How multi-tasking can work for you

It is common to be multi-tasking in the workplace whether one likes it or not. Even if one is working on business-as-usual tasks, inevitably ad hoc tasks have a way of turning up and demands one’s attention. Decreasing the amount of ‘working memory’ that a task requires can allow one to multitask effectively. That’s where habits can help: Habits allow actions to be retrieved from muscle memory upon triggers and performed with little cognitive effort. If you’re working in an environment that requires multitasking, think about the relatively routine sort of tasks that you can convert into habits. Then be sure to give sufficient time to practice those triggers.

Source: Fast Company

Making Compliance part of business

With the significant growth in compliance programs within firms in the past decade, employees shudder at all the extra work and management demand the compliance function to streamline processes and show how any increased compliance activity is helping the bottom line. When compliance becomes a routine process that is embedded in the firm’s core processes, resistance tends to fall since compliance stop being viewed as ‘something extra’. One good approach is to make compliance activities parts of business decision workflows with the aim to support business goals. For example, embedding compliance criteria in the product development process can bring compliance issues to the fore. The compliance function should continually assess how easy it is for employees to use and adhere to compliance activities. Compliance activities should also be designed as a stepping stone for further co-ordination with assurance activities, reducing employee’s time spent on the latter activities.

Source: CEB

 

 

When the boss knows the stuff

Are we going overboard with the popular notion that managers who are generalists without the right set of technical skills, but having qualities like charisma, organizational skills, and emotional intelligence make good bosses? Of course, different people’s notion varies from individual to individual, however HBR’s research suggests that the manager’s technical competence is still a large determining factor in the employee’s long term perception of what makes a good boss. This is assessed according to whether the supervisor could if needed do the employee’s job, and whether the supervisor worked his or her way up in the company. An employee appreciates when the boss knows what she or he is talking about, and in the process learn a thing or two from the supervisor.

Source: Havard Business Review

 

How to remain flexible when networking with different cultures

Networking is often nuanced depending on the cultural context. It is naturally challenging for someone to learn the subtleties of networking in another culture. In some cultures, connections are often made to accomplish a specific task. Yet in other cultures, one might add someone to his or her network because of their group affiliations. In such a context, the networking goal is about developing long-term strategic relationships. In cultures where group dynamics are especially important, the process of building networks also become more elaborate. Depending on the culture you’re interacting with, be flexible about reacting faster or staying patient. Also be prepared to accept that you may need to nurture connections in ways that feel out of sync or unrelated to what you are hoping to get out of the relationship.

Source: Tanveer Naseer

 

Tips on managing oneself in a crisis

When confronted with a crisis, it is natural for leaders to want to respond to the crisis immediately due to the urgency and stress. It is important that at such moments to take a small step back and take stock of the situation. And it is easy to also overlook taking care of oneself in the middle of a brewing crisis. Leaders may give up personal routines that recharge their energy and focus. Well, don’t. While you can sleep less, exercise less, or even mediate less, do not skip these routines entirely. Only by taking care of oneself, can one go on to take proper care of the crisis.

Source: Ed Batista

You have a strategy, now what?

Leaders may sometimes equate strategy execution to strategy communication, but the latter alone is not enough to drive the entire execution. While it is hard to come up with a good strategy, it’s typically harder to get people to execute on that strategy. People in the organization are misaligned in terms of objectives, and may be entrenched in their set way of doing things. Identifying the people who are essential to driving the strategy is critical to successful execution. The question then becomes: How can we align the efforts of key staff and enable them to move the organization in tune with the strategy?

Source: Havard Business Review

The enemy of success

Sir Alex Ferguson, one of the world’s greatest football managers, deeply appreciates that complacency can kill success. When you have had multiple successes as a team, it is natural tendency to become complacent. And yet, the focus and work ethic are vital for the team’s continued success. And the focus to stay successful is also one of the reasons why Sir Ferguson never gets complacent about the current talent in the team. He is constantly on the lookout for newer talent and tweaking the makeup of the team. In fact, he would look three to four years ahead and see what the team was going to be and evaluated how newer members can take over the roles of older members.

Source: London Business School