Pivotal Point 1 – December 2004
Four-time Olympic Gold Medalist Matthew Pinsent recently appeared on Desert Island Discs and commented on the hair’s breadth victory over Canada in Athens. Matthew said that the four’s strategy was to have nothing more to give at the finish line – they knew that they were then vulnerable to other crews who had left something in reserve and might be beaten on the line. However his telling comment was “to win, you have to risk losing: it is no good taking the safe option”.
The message is plain, you have to risk all and take your chances – victory or bust. Imagine how they would have felt getting the Silver and knowing in their heart of hearts that they had more to give!
What do you hold back on? Are you prepared to lose in pursuit of winning or do you take the safe option?
Pivotal Point 2 – January 2005
As I am sure many of you know January is named after the Roman God of Gates and Doors – Janus. He is usually depicted as a two-headed man looking backwards and forwards at the same time.
The gateway of the New Year is an excellent time for reflection on what has gone before and making commitments for change in the future.
If you can reflect on what went well in the last year and identify the areas where you need to improve using the eyes of a wise and experienced professional whilst looking forward to the future with the enthusiasm, imagination and certainty of a young child then you will learn from your experiences, find the opportunities you need to succeed and have the courage to remain true to your commitments.
May you have a happy, healthy and successful 2005!
Pivotal Point 3 - February 2005
Welcome to February - a time for revisiting your New Year’s resolutions. Did you stick to them or have you slipped back into your old ways?
Perhaps you made it too hard for yourself by setting yourself too big a challenge.
To improve, we only need to make minor changes but do them consistently. If we do, we will move forward gradually and sustainably.
Think of one thing you which if you did it consistently and well would lead to success - then do it consistently and well.
Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare!
Pivotal Point 4 - March 2005
Welcome to March
Have you ever noticed that certain comments stick in your mind for years and exert a major influence on your thinking.
I remember a comment from one of my University lecturers from the ‘70’s
“If you are looking for a flaw in an argument - look for the line that begins
‘It is obvious that!’”
It still rings true!
What is obvious and self evident in your business?
Perhaps you should be challenging those beliefs, they could be holding you back.
Pivotal Point 5 - 1 April 2005
Happy April Fools Day
Did you get caught out?
Is it the done thing in your organisation to play practical jokes this morning? If it is then you will have seen some energy and creativity at work. Sadly in many organisations it is only to day and events like Christmas Parties which unleash the energy, creativity and enthusiasm of staff.
How much better would business be if you could tap into these hidden reserves every day?
How much more enjoyable would work be?
How more committed would your team be?
What is stopping it from happening?
Food for thought?
Pivotal Point 6 - May 2005
2005 is the 50th anniversary of the death of Albert Einstein so I thought it would be appropriate to use one of his quotes as a Pivotal Point.
He once said “Everything should be made as simple as possible; but no simpler”
What is there in your organisation that can be simplified?
How can you cut out unnecessary activities?
What have you over simplified?
Are you missing the point?
Has your approach become simplistic?
Pivotal Point 7 - July 2005
At a recent conference one of the keynote speakers said that his sector of the financial services industry had suffered a down turn because of new regulations. He commented that the introduction of new rules in January had made their products seem more expensive and that everyone now found it more difficult to win customers.
This seems amazing, new regulations are typically announced two to three years in advance, generally after a period of consultation. So anyone who was paying attention to what was going on in the world should have seen the changes coming and been prepared.
Imagine the benefits your business would reap if you could identify and prepare for changes that none of your competitors had seen. Some elements of the future are predictable, if you take the trouble to look for what is coming.
Pivotal Point 8 - September 2005
In the course of helping a client with a major capital project, we had to identify some potential suppliers for a multimillion pound construction contract. To produce a long list of candidates, we started with some web based research.
Surprising many of the firms we investigated did not provide an e-mail address for their sales department and in many cases the telephone numbers they gave were for PR departments.
In a couple of cases there was a general enquiry address but we got very little response to the messages we sent there.
We did not do much better with follow up phone calls, the telephonists at several major companies seemed unsure who to pass our enquiry on to.
It doesn’t matter how good your product or service is if no one can contact you.
If you are responsible for sales or marketing, you might like to try to find appropriate contacts from your web site and to see what happens when you call in for help!
For some pointers to customer care issues, try our download, “Give your customers a good listening to”
Pivotal Point 9 - March 2006 Gone Fishing
A former client from the southern states of the US had an interesting saying - “ are we going to cut bait, hook up or go fish?”. His point was quite simply that to move forward, you have to take action - no action, no progress. Planning is fine and necessary but if you don’t put it into action then it is worthless.
Similarly, you can analyse the situation, make choices but without implementation, it is nothing.
So are you going fishing?
Pivotal Point 10 - March 2008
Practice what you preach!
When Fulcrum were helping a client to procure some construction services, we noticed that on many companies’ web sites, it can be difficult to find out who to contact and how to contact them.
We understand the reluctance to have widely published E-mail addresses because of the deluge of spam and other undesirable or time wasting E-mails we all face these days but phone numbers?
We thought our phone number was easy to find - it is on the About Fulcrum page but when I got a call on my home phone from a former colleague wanting some advice, he told me that he had been unable to find the business number!
So the first lesson is that what is obvious to you may not be obvious to others - so get someone else to check your approach.
The second lesson is to put it right as soon as you find out there is a problem - so you will see there is a new link at the bottom of the page to the contact details - you live and learn - hopefully!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
