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By: Kathy Kent Toney, CEO & Founder of Kent Business Solutions  Image by pressfoto on Freepik In today's business environment, many business leaders are juggling so many responsibilities that leadership development may be taking a back seat in their schedules. In light of that, I thought I’d create a quick read of some of my favorite leadership quotes to help you on your leadership journey. # # # A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd. – Max Lucado Naysayers can get the best of us. Being effective as a leader involves not caring what others think to the extent that it doesn't negatively impact our actions. It's boldly charting our course to reach our goals and to lead those in our charge with compassion and purpose, no matter what detractors have to say. # # # I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people. - Mahatma Gandhi When I started early in my career, it was common for leaders to be coercive and lead more with an iron fist. I'm so thankful that times have changed! Great leaders know how to gracefully navigate the ins-and-outs of relationships, fueled by high levels of emotional intelligence. # # # Don't tell people how to do things; tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. – George S. Patton Who doesn't dislike micromanagement when we're the target? I used to love it when my managers would assign me a task and gave me the freedom to accomplish it. # # # The leader's task is to get their people from where they are to where they have not been. – Henry Kissinger I'm so thankful for leaders in my life that did precisely this—called forth the hidden talent in me so that I could step into leadership roles. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be the President of my consulting firm and a Thinkers360 Top 10 Thought Leader and Influencer in Project Management! Their investing in and believing made it all possible! # # # The definition of success: To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. -Ralph Waldo Emerson This quote is one of my all-time favorites. I used to have an abbreviated version posted on my cubicle wall when I worked in the corporate world. To me, if I can make a positive difference in someone’s life and leave the world a better place for me having been here, that’s true success! # # # Speaking of success, many business leaders know that a tried and true way to help ensure success in their organization is to streamline their operations; however, they may not know where to start. That's where I like to help! For this very reason, I'm offering a FREE 30-minute consultation. This will be a great opportunity for us to brainstorm some ideas and then identify what areas to target for improvement. Click the button below to get started!
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By: Kathy Kent Toney, CEO & Founder of Kent Business Solutions  Image by katemangostar on Freepik Many experts have written articles on the best traits of good leaders over the years. As a business leader, sometimes it's a challenge to know what characteristics are best to focus on for upping your leadership game. For that reason, it's helpful to boil down these characteristics into just a few. So, here are five commonly cited best traits for leaders: 1. Effective Communicators Good communication skills are essential for effective leadership. Good leaders can clearly and concisely communicate their vision and goals to their team. This ability also includes providing timely feedback and guidance to team members. If this is a weak area, consider teaming up with a peer or mentor to help you improve. Practicing active listening, being aware of the impact of your body language, and receiving feedback on your day-to-day progress are a few ways to become a more effective communicator. 2. Empathetic Influential leaders can understand and empathize with the needs and concerns of their team members. Their ability to build relationships based on trust and respect and to create supportive work environments where everyone feels valued and heard is also essential. This aspect can stretch some executives if they are not naturally empathetic. In this case, it may involve a daily decision to practice showing care to their peers and employees. If this is still a stretch, a mentor or coach can provide valuable help in this area. 3. Adaptable The ability to adapt to changing circumstances and to pivot when necessary is a highly valued skill. Leaders who can quickly think on their feet while recognizing when it's time to change course set them apart from other executives. To improve in the area, work towards developing a mindset where you envision challenges and setbacks as opportunities and not view them as negatives. Developing contingency plans is also helpful so you can quickly pivot when necessary. 4. Accountable Exceptional leaders take responsibility for their actions and decisions and hold themselves and their team accountable for meeting goals and achieving results. They can provide constructive feedback and coaching to team members when needed while recognizing and rewarding their achievements. For those who may be weak in this area, a mentor or coach can prove valuable where accountability becomes a natural part of the coaching relationship. These newly learned skills can then become transferable to the business world. 5. Visionary Great leaders have a clear and compelling vision for the future. Such leaders see the big picture and can guide their teams toward achieving long-term goals. It's also essential that they can communicate this vision to their team in a way that inspires them to work toward it. If this is a challenging area, set aside time in your schedule for creative thinking or even schedule brainstorming sessions with your team to help create your company's vision. Speaking about vision, do you have any projects in mind towards accomplishing your vision but need internal resources to spearhead them? I'd love to chat with you if you're in that boat! As a fractional Project Manager, I'm passionate about helping my clients jumpstart initiatives—accelerating projects to a quicker conclusion with outstanding results. If you're interested in learning more, click the button below to schedule a chat! By: Kathy Kent Toney, CEO & Founder of Kent Business Solutions  Image by Freepik As a business leader, have you ever experienced significant shortfalls with your customers that resulted in poor reviews or lost business? If this rings true for you, there is a solution that can prevent this from happening again—Voice of the Customer (VOC). It’s an invaluable tool for any business leader’s toolbox! Here's a great example of how one of my amazing clients turned a potentially harmful situation into a multi-million dollar outcome using VOC. The Problem This local manufacturer didn't have a standard process for gathering customer requirements to ensure proper incorporation before new product development efforts started nor to monitor them continually during the process. This problem became very evident when the following scenario happened. My client had recently established an innovation arm of their business for developing smart technology products. One day, they called upon an electrical contractor to install a prototype of their first new innovative product at a work site. Much to my client's chagrin, the contractor informed them that they had made a massive mistake in the housing of the product, making it non-functional in its current state. This mistake could have caused ALL kinds of serious issues, especially if they had to go back through a lengthy UL approval process. Thankfully, that wasn't the case! The Solution That's when the CEO decided to bring me in to develop a new approach they could integrate into their product development process. We got right to work! I teamed with them to create "how-to kits" for each different VOC type: surveys, focus groups, and customer visits, to name a few. Then we integrated the how-to kits into different phases of their product development process. That way, end users would know how to gather customer feedback at the correct times and places. Not only that, the process helped to ensure they incorporated that feedback into developing products. The Results The outcome was excellent! The first new product that used the VOC process experienced the following:
My client has been thrilled with the results! Another great thing about this process is that it's a drop-in system that can be easily adapted to other product development processes and even works for service delivery models. This aspect can benefit a company, allowing quicker and less costly implementations. And when it comes to process deployments, who doesn't want that? # # # As a "thank you" for reading my blog, here's a freebie I'd like to share with those of you who develop products—a Product Development Checklist. If you're new in this space, it can start you down the road of creating such a process or help you improve the one you already have. If you have a mature approach, feel free to adapt any new insights to improve your current process. Either way, I'd love to have you check it out! Just click the button below to download it. By: Kathy Kent Toney, CEO & Founder of Kent Business Solutions  Image by Kampus Productions on Pexels Consultants over the years have earned a bad rap. One thing I've heard frequently is this: Consultants are too expensive, and their engagements don't often empower businesses with self-sufficiency when they leave the engagement. No wonder businesses hesitate to hire consultants! Consultants love a steady stream of income. But that's not a good thing when they do this at the expense of businesses by keeping their fingers in the proverbial pie. I’m illustrating this point because it details a need most customers and clients crave--empowerment to solve their issues and chart their journeys. They don't want to keep hiring consultants to solve their challenges. Ultimately, if consultants or any business can build self-sufficiency as a part of their products and services, they'll deliver incredible customer value! Here are two examples of how I do this with my clients. The first one involved developing a Scrum process for a local manufacturer. The second engagement involved creating a Voice of the Customer process for another local manufacturer. In both instances, I ensured they had all the necessary tools, procedures, and an action item list that contained all outstanding items requiring attention upon my exit. Both projects were a resounding success, and neither client needed to call me back to help solve any challenges related to their particular projects. One CEO said he would hire me again because I empowered them to chart their destinies, which differentiated me from other consultants with whom he had previously worked. I'm giving you these examples because two principles apply, even if you're not a consulting company. Here are two things you can do to build self-sufficiency with your customers: Ensure Everything They Need to be Successful-- During Their Buyer Journey Your buyer journey should be a seamless experience for your customers or clients. Anything you can do to make the process a pleasant experience for them is certainly beneficial. Automated tools ensure customer interactions happen when needed, and the right system can deliver information at the right time to the right people. After the Engagement is Over Ensure your how-to guides or any other information they need to succeed are thorough and easy to understand. If that doesn't happen, your customer service agents could receive too many calls, and your customers might get frustrated. Ultimately, the idea is to empower your customers or clients throughout the process. When businesses can do this, they'll deliver incredible value to their customers or clients! And who doesn't want that? # # # Speaking of empowering your customers, workflow automation tools excel at that. Their use enables employees to engage in higher-level functions by removing mundane tasks so that these tasks no longer consume countless hours of their valuable time. In our best-selling book, No-Nonsense Digital Transformation, Michael Cantu and I discuss this concept extensively. It provides a step-by-step roadmap on how to prepare for and implement digital transformation initiatives in your business. If you’re interested in learning more, click the button below! By: Kathy Kent Toney, CEO & Founder of Kent Business Solutions  Image by jcomp on Freepik As business leaders, we've heard of disastrous stories of companies that have experienced digital transformation failures. Countless companies begin their transformation journeys with high hopes and grand plans yet often don't achieve their goals. But then, there's another end of the spectrum where companies know projects will fail from the beginning! Check this out: a series of studies conducted by several heavy hitters (the likes of McKinsey, Oxford University, and KPMG) revealed that 70% of all respondents said they knew an IT project they were about to start would fail from the onset. With all these grim realities, how does a business leader ensure success from the onset? One way to do it is to prevent those things that could go wrong. Along those lines, here are the three top reasons why digital transformation initiatives fail, all from a people perspective: 1. Wrong Mindsets Good mojo flows down from the top of an organization, and if the CEO isn't supportive of transformative IT initiatives, success will be hard to achieve. So it's essential to have support from the top. Also, when companies continue to keep employees on board who are resistant to change and can sabotage change efforts, this can cause problems. 2. Wrong Culture IT projects will fail if an organization has too many siloed departments and minimal collaboration. It's essential to establish an atmosphere of cooperation. When an organization can foster an attitude that everyone can win with the proposed new technology, that's a game-changer. Without effective change management systems along those lines, end-user acceptance will suffer. Finally, if management does a poor job of encouraging an environment where team members are free to be themselves and can voice feedback without repercussions, chances for success are minimized. 3. Wrong Talent Not having the right talent mix for your team can impede your efforts. For instance, a team leader who doesn't do a good job assessing their internal human capital and filling skill gaps will suffer in the end. Also, when team leaders don't include team members during the interview process with prospective hires, the potential for friction in the team increases. You want to ensure new members can easily integrate into the team. One undervalued idea is to have highly skilled team members who have experienced firsthand failed initiatives. That way, they can bring their expertise and knowledge of what doesn't work on projects. I've only scratched the surface of three possible reasons digital transformation efforts can fail, all from the people side of things. So, there's so much more to learn! Michael Cantu and I detail what it takes to ensure project success in our best-selling Amazon book, No-Nonsense Digital Transformation. If you're interested in learning more, click the button below! |
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