Category: bec

A Special Free Bonus – Building Better Teams – A Self Study Guide

Teams are an important building block of successful organizations. Whether the focus is on service, quality, cost, value, speed, efficiency, performance, or other similar goals, teams are the basic unit that supports most organisations.

With teams at the core of corporate strategy, your success as an organization can often depend on how well you and other team members operate together. How are your problem-solving skills? Is the team enthusiastic and motivated to do its best? Do you work well together? This course can help you get there!

Learning Objectives

After you complete this course, you will be able to:

o Understand the value of working as a team
o Develop team norms, ground rules, and team contracts
o Identify your team player style and how it can be used effectively with your own team
o Build team trust
o Identify the stages of team development and how to help a team move through them
o Recognize the critical role communication skills will play in building and maintaining a team atmosphere
o Identify ways that team members can be involved and grow in a team setting

To download this free PDF study guide (764kb) right click and save to your computer.

Workplace “rebels” may have good intentions but they can be disruptive.

You lead a team of talented individuals. Everyone has their quirks, of course, but Jack is the team member who gives you the most problems.

Jack is a star performer and often has great ideas, but he constantly pushes back against your authority.

He often offends his teammates, too, by accusing them of not being innovative.

Jack is a “workplace rebel.” You sometimes think that he’s instinctively contrary – that whatever you do, he’ll come up with a different way of doing it.

In this article, we’ll look at workplace rebels: who they are, why they can be valuable, and how to manage them – so that they can realise their full potential, positively.

What is a “Workplace Rebel”?

The Random House Dictionary defines a rebel as “a person who resists any authority, control, or tradition.” Rebels like to challenge the status quo – and, in the workplace, that includes management, business practices, and colleagues’ ideas.

At first glance, rebels might seem to be nothing but trouble. However, when managed correctly, they can be a valuable asset to both teams and organizations. Rebels can make things happen – they bring about change, and can even transform entire organisations.

For example, rebels aren’t afraid to stick their necks out for things they believe in. They often tell the truth, even when it’s unpopular. They have innovative ideas because they enjoy challenging existing ones, and they’re not afraid to express those ideas, even when they’re the only ones to do so.

Rebels tend not to be afraid of risk or hard work either. Colleagues may find their energy disconcerting, but this isn’t always a bad thing. After all, innovation can stagnate when people get too comfortable.

Note:
It’s important to differentiate between team members like Jack, who are disruptive but work hard and have good intentions, and those who cause trouble but also under-perform – for example, by producing low-quality work or ignoring quality processes.

Getting the Best From a Workplace Rebel

It’s tempting to shy away from tackling the challenges that rebels present for fear of causing more disruption.
However, if you don’t manage a rebel effectively, you’re not only condoning their behavior but you’re also failing to
give them the chance to change.

Use the strategies below to help rebels live up to their positive potential, and to restore harmony in your team.

1. Understand a Rebel’s Motivation

Your first step is to understand what’s behind your rebel’s behavior. What’s really going on? For example, some
rebels push against authority and alienate others because they’re frustrated. They want to bring about change, but
they have hit a brick wall.

Instead of channeling their emotions into positive change, these rebels complain, break rules, and argue with team
members. They may also become negative, affecting colleagues’ motivation. Other rebels are more positive. They
may take risks, because they’re passionate about a project, or pursue a personal agenda that they believe in, even
if it strays from the organization’s goals. They may disagree with senior colleagues because they believe that they’re
standing up for a better idea.

You’ll find that many rebels care deeply about the organization and their team. This is why they can’t be silent and
follow along – not when they believe that something is wrong. They’ll pick apart ideas or established processes, and
come up with new ones.

Some rebels have more complex motivations for their behavior. They may be unhappy in their job and may be
using “rebellion” as a means of expressing this. It’s also possible that they lack the emotional maturity or the
vocabulary to talk about problems directly.

It’s essential that you uncover the motivations behind a rebel’s behavior before you decide how to act. The best way
to understand this is simply to listen.

Open a conversation by recognizing your rebel’s commitment before asking open questions about what’s prompting
the disruptive behavior. Invite your rebel to tell you, in private, what he wants to say in public.

2. Show Them the Impact of Their Behavior

If your rebel is causing negativity, then you must ensure that she understands the consequences of her behavior.
Explain that while it’s acceptable to be passionate and committed, it’s not OK to cause arguments or drive down team
morale.

Remind her of the scope of her role, and of the subjective view of the organization and her colleagues’ work that
this inevitably presents. Then restate where the boundaries in your organization lie. For example, if your rebel has
concerns about a colleague’s work, she should raise this with a manager rather than airing her views in a team
meeting.

Encourage her to make amends if she needs to, and to reflect on how her behavior affects others.

Note 1:
If your rebel’s behavior has more serious implications – for example, if she is taking excess risks or causing damage
to the company’s reputation – this is a disciplinary matter and you need to take appropriate action.

Note 2:
Rebels may also try to take advantage of your insecurities or gaps in your knowledge. If a conversation with
your rebel reveals this, treat it as a wake-up call. How can you address your confidence issues, or update your
knowledge?

Getting the Best From a Workplace Rebel

It’s tempting to shy away from tackling the challenges that rebels present for fear of causing more disruption.
However, if you don’t manage a rebel effectively, you’re not only condoning their behavior but you’re also failing to
give them the chance to change.

Use the strategies below to help rebels live up to their positive potential, and to restore harmony in your team.

1. Understand a Rebel’s Motivation

Your first step is to understand what’s behind your rebel’s behavior. What’s really going on? For example, some
rebels push against authority and alienate others because they’re frustrated. They want to bring about change, but
they have hit a brick wall.

Instead of channeling their emotions into positive change, these rebels complain, break rules, and argue with team
members. They may also become negative, affecting colleagues’ motivation. Other rebels are more positive. They
may take risks, because they’re passionate about a project, or pursue a personal agenda that they believe in, even
if it strays from the organization’s goals. They may disagree with senior colleagues because they believe that they’re
standing up for a better idea.

You’ll find that many rebels care deeply about the organization and their team. This is why they can’t be silent and
follow along – not when they believe that something is wrong. They’ll pick apart ideas or established processes, and
come up with new ones.

Some rebels have more complex motivations for their behavior. They may be unhappy in their job and may be
using “rebellion” as a means of expressing this. It’s also possible that they lack the emotional maturity or the
vocabulary to talk about problems directly.

It’s essential that you uncover the motivations behind a rebel’s behavior before you decide how to act. The best way
to understand this is simply to listen.

Open a conversation by recognizing your rebel’s commitment before asking open questions about what’s prompting
the disruptive behavior. Invite your rebel to tell you, in private, what he wants to say in public.

2. Show Them the Impact of Their Behavior

If your rebel is causing negativity, then you must ensure that she understands the consequences of her behavior.
Explain that while it’s acceptable to be passionate and committed, it’s not OK to cause arguments or drive down team
morale.

Remind her of the scope of her role, and of the subjective view of the organization and her colleagues’ work that
this inevitably presents. Then restate where the boundaries in your organization lie. For example, if your rebel has
concerns about a colleague’s work, she should raise this with a manager rather than airing her views in a team
meeting.

Encourage her to make amends if she needs to, and to reflect on how her behavior affects others.

Note 1:
If your rebel’s behavior has more serious implications – for example, if she is taking excess risks or causing damage
to the company’s reputation – this is a disciplinary matter and you need to take appropriate action.

Note 2:
Rebels may also try to take advantage of your insecurities or gaps in your knowledge. If a conversation with
your rebel reveals this, treat it as a wake-up call. How can you address your confidence issues, or update your
knowledge?

3. Refocus Energy

Your rebel likely wants to change things – so give him a chance to do that. Assign him a project to solve a specific
problem.

Encourage your rebel to use the project to find a balance between getting what he wants and working with the status
quo. What difficulties did he come up against? What tactics did he use to overcome them?

Ask your rebel to document the project’s progress, so that he can use this as a guide for future work.

4. Encourage Her

Often, financial incentives or public recognition won’t motivate rebels. Business strategist Lois Kelly researched
corporate rebels in her 2011 study Rebels and Work: Motivated to Make a Difference. According to this research,
rebels are most motivated by the ability to make a difference in their organization. They’re also highly motivated by
encouragement from managers and leaders.

Begin by simply asking your rebel about her ideas more often. Manage expectations carefully, however: ensure that
she understands that you’re not able to follow up every suggestion, but that you’ll look into the ones that you believe
could be beneficial.

Encourage your rebel to think her ideas through and to put together business cases before proposing them. For
example, she may want to do a cost-benefit analysis to demonstrate the viability of her ideas.

5. Coach Her to be a Team Player

Rebels can get frustrated with members of the team who are reluctant to change. This can make them speak harshly
to colleagues or drive them to push ahead on initiatives before others – including you – have discussed and accepted
their ideas. Over time, rebels can become unpopular in the office. This is why it’s important to help them become
better team players.

First, let your rebel know how much you appreciate his input – but remind him that that no one gets far alone. If he
wants to see his ideas make a real difference, he needs to know how to win his team’s support, so coach him to
practice empathy toward his colleagues.

If your rebel is inspired by a particular business leader, remind him that it probably took this person years – and many
setbacks – to achieve his goals. Slow, measured change is still progress, and it’s more likely to be successful if it has
widespread support.

Finally, encourage your rebel to “be the change he wants to see.” How can he find ways to make changes without
also making waves? Remind him that the most powerful change of all – and the one that will help him achieve more in
the long run – is learning to manage his own behavior.

Key Points

Rebels can present management challenges, but they’re often also valuable assets. Unlike rogues, who are
disruptive and don’t perform well, rebels often have innovative ideas, and they’re usually the first to talk about
problems that no one else wants to discuss. However, they can also upset colleagues and bend rules to pursue their
own goals.

To get the best out of workplace rebels, follow these steps:

1. Understand their motivation.

2. Show them the impact of their behavior.

3. Refocus their energy.

4. Encourage them.

5. Coach them to be team players.

Remember that the reasons for rebels’ behavior can be complex. But if you’re clear that they simply want to make
changes, give them the chance to do this. Remind them that while it’s great to want to make changes, these won’t
happen overnight, and that changing their own behavior will pay the most dividends in the long run.

How well do you manage your time? If you’re like many people, your answer may not be completely positive!

Perhaps you feel overloaded, and you often have to work late to hit your deadlines. Or maybe your days seem to go from one crisis to another, and this is stressful and demoralizing.

Many of us know that we could be managing our time more effectively; but it can be difficult to identify the mistakes that we’re making, and to know how we could improve.

When we do manage our time well, however, we’re exceptionally productive at work, and our stress levels drop. We can devote time to the interesting, high-reward projects that can make a real difference to a career. In short, we’re happier!

In this article, we’re looking at ten of the most common time management mistakes, as well as identifying strategies and tips that you can use to overcome them. These ten mistakes are:

Mistake #1. Failing to Keep a To-Do List

Do you ever have that nagging feeling that you’ve forgotten to do an important piece of work? If so, you probably don’t use a To-Do List to keep on top of things. (Or, if you do, you might not be using it effectively!)

The trick with using To-Do Lists effectively lies in prioritizing the tasks on your list. Many people use an A – F coding system (A for high priority items, F for very low priorities). Alternatively, you can simplify this by using A through D, or by using numbers.

If you have large projects on your list, then, unless you’re careful, the entries for these can be vague and ineffective. For instance, you may have written down “Start on budget proposal.” But what does this entail? The lack of specifics here might cause you to procrastinate, or miss key steps. So make sure that you break large tasks or projects down into specific, actionable steps – then you won’t overlook something important.

You can also use Action Programs to manage your work when you have many large projects happening at once. (Action Programs are “industrial strength” versions of To-Do Lists.)

Mistake #2. Not Setting Personal Goals

Do you know where you’d like to be in six months? What about this time next year, or even 10 years from now? If not, it’s time to set some personal goals!

Personal goal setting is essential to managing your time well, because goals give you a destination and vision to work toward. When you know where you want to go, you can manage your priorities, time, and resources to get there. Goals also help you decide what’s worth spending your time on, and what’s just a distraction.

To learn how to set SMART, effective goals, read up on Locke’s Goal Setting Theory . Here, you’ll learn how to set clearly defined goals that will keep you motivated.

You might also enjoy our Book Insight into Long Fuse, Big Bang by Eric Haseltine. This book teaches you how to focus on your long-term goals without overlooking your short term priorities.

Mistake #3. Not Prioritising

Your assistant has just walked in with a crisis that she needs you to deal with right now, but you’re in the middle of brainstorming ideas for a new client. You’re sure that you’ve almost come up with a brilliant idea for their marketing campaign, but now you risk losing the thread of your thinking because of this “emergency.”

Sometimes, it’s hard to know how to prioritize , especially when you’re facing a flood of seemingly-urgent tasks. However, it’s essential to learn how to prioritize tasks effectively if you want to manage your time better.

One tool that will help you prioritize effectively is the Urgent/Important Matrix . This helps you understand the difference between urgent activities, and important activities. You’ll also learn how to overcome the tendency to focus on the urgent.

The Action Priority Matrix is another useful tool, which will help you determine if a task is high-yield and high-priority, or low-value, “fill in” work. You’ll manage your time much better during the day if you know the difference.

Mistake #4. Failing to Manage Distractions

Do you know that some of us can lose as much as two hours a day to distractions? Think how much you could get done if you had that time back!

Whether they come from emails, IM chats, colleagues in a crisis, or phone calls from clients, distractions prevent us from achieving flow , which is the satisfying and seemingly effortless work that we do when we’re 100 percent engaged in a task.

If you want to gain control of your day and do your best work, it’s vital to know how to minimize distractions and manage interruptions effectively. For instance, turn off your IM chat when you need to focus, and let people know if they’re distracting you too often. You should also learn how to improve your concentration , even when you’re faced with distractions.

Mistake #5. Procrastination

Procrastination occurs when you put off tasks that you should be focusing on right now. When you procrastinate, you feel guilty that you haven’t started; you come to dread doing the task; and, eventually, everything catches up with you when you fail to complete the work on time.

Start by taking our procrastination quiz to find out if procrastination is a problem in your life. If it is, then learn the strategies you need to beat procrastination .

For instance, one useful strategy is to tell yourself that you’re only going to start on a project for ten minutes. Often, procrastinators feel that they have to complete a task from start to finish, and this high expectation makes them feel overwhelmed and anxious. Instead, focus on devoting a small amount of time to starting. That’s all!

You might also find it helpful to use Action Plans . These help you break large projects down into manageable steps, so that it’s easy to see everything that you need to get done, and so that you can complete small chunks at a time. Doing this can stop you from feeling overwhelmed at the start of a new project.

Mistake #6. Taking on too Much

Are you a person who has a hard time saying “no” to people? If so, you probably have far too many projects and commitments on your plate. This can lead to poor performance, stress, and low morale.

Or, you might be a micromanager : someone who insists on controlling or doing all of the work themselves, because they can’t trust anyone else to do it correctly. (This can be a problem for everyone – not just managers!)

Either way, taking on too much is a poor use of your time, and it can get you a reputation for producing rushed, sloppy work.
To stop this, learn the subtle art of saying “yes” to the person, but “no” to the task . This skill helps you assert yourself, while still maintaining good feelings within the group. If the other person starts leaning on you to say “yes” to their request, learn how to think on your feet , and stay cool under pressure.

Mistake #7. Thriving on “Busy”

Some people get a rush from being busy. The narrowly-met deadlines, the endless emails, the piles of files needing attention on the desk, the frantic race to the meeting… What an adrenaline buzz!

The problem is that an “addiction to busyness” rarely means that you’re effective, and it can lead to stress.

Instead, try to slow down, and learn to manage your time better.

Tip:
“Do More Great Work”, by Michael Bungay Stanier, is full of ideas and tips to reduce the “busywork” that you’re doing, so that you’re more excited and engaged in the work that matters.

Mistake #8. Multitasking

To get on top of her workload, Linda regularly writes emails while she chats on the phone to her clients. However, while Linda thinks that this is a good use of her time, the truth is that it can take 20-40 percent more time to finish a list of jobs when you multitask, compared with completing the same list of tasks in sequence. The result is also that she does both tasks poorly – her emails are full of errors, and her clients are frustrated by her lack of concentration.

So, the best thing is to forget about multitasking , and, instead, focus on one task at a time. That way, you’ll produce higher quality work.

Mistake #9. Not Taking Breaks

It’s nice to think that you can work for 8-10 hours straight, especially when you’re working to a deadline. But it’s impossible for anyone to focus and produce really high-quality work without giving their brains some time to rest and recharge.

So, don’t dismiss breaks as “wasting time.” They provide valuable down-time, which will enable you to think creatively and work effectively.

If it’s hard for you to stop working, then schedule breaks for yourself, or set an alarm as a reminder. Go for a quick walk, grab a cup of coffee, or just sit and meditate at your desk. Try to take a five minute break every hour or two. And make sure that you give yourself ample time for lunch – you won’t produce top quality work if you’re hungry!

Mistake #10. Ineffectively Scheduling Tasks

Are you a morning person? Or do you find your energy picking up once the sun begins to set in the evening? All of us have different rhythms, that is, different times of day when we feel most productive and energetic.

You can make best use of your time by scheduling high-value work during your peak time, and low-energy work (like returning phone calls and checking email), during your “down” time.

Key Points
One of the most effective ways of improving your productivity is to recognize and rectify time management mistakes.

When you take the time to overcome these mistakes, it will make a huge difference in your productivity – and you’ll also be happier, and experience less stress!

These are the 15 keys components of an effective and efficient team meeting – whether it’s for management, administration, sales or production. These components are applicable to all size businesses, and all business types.

1. Set a time
Make it the same time every time, so that people book it in as a habit.

2. Set a Frequency
Make it consistent so that’s it’s booked it in as a habit.

3. Select a location
In the office, café or on the phone – make it the same place each time.

4. Publish an agenda
So that the team knows what’s being covered.

5. Start on time
Reward the organised people, train the tardy people to be early.

6. Welcome!
Thank them for making the time.

7. Your Say
Allow everyone to have ‘their say’ on how they are feeling – 1minute max. This gets participation and everyone involved.

8. Check In
Each person to talk about what they have done from the previous weeks action list. If they have done them – congratulate them. If they haven’t done them, get them to commit to getting them done and ask “how can I/we support you on getting it done for next week?”

9. Celebrate the wins
Acknowledge and recognize the achievements.

10. Anything to add to the agenda?
Gives the team the opportunity to add topics they want covered.

11. Business
What’s happening with the business good and bad. Important to get this out of the way early (there can be negatives that need to be addressed) and then end with positives so that the team leave the meeting on a high.

12. Training
Keep it fun and lively. Get everyone involved. (A great way to get people learning fast is to set them a topic that they need to work on as a teaching topic for them the following meeting or meetings).

13. To Do’s for the next meeting
Each person is to list down the things that they will commit to doing before the next meeting.

14. Share action commitments
Each person reads out their commitments to the group.

15. Finish on time

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you[/quote]

– Henry Ward Beecher

Personal accountability is accepting responsibility for who you are, what you do and what happens in your life. It is your ability to look in the mirror when something goes wrong and ask some fundamental questions like:

– What did I do to contribute to this happening?
– What do I need to do in the future to prevent it from happening again?
– How can I prevent others from making this same mistake?
– Who do I need to involve in getting this right?
– What do I need to do to fix this situation?
– What else do I need to do?

By taking this approach you have accepted personal accountability and are in the right mindset to take the necessary action.

The alternative to this is to look out the window and look to hold somebody else accountable for what has happened. This usually happens when we ask questions like:

– Why did this happen to me?
– Who made this happen?
– Why didn’t somebody else ensure that this could not happen?
– Who is going to fix this?
– Who is going to make sure ot does not happen again?

When we get into this mindset, we become powerless. We are now at the mercy of the rest of the world and we have given away any right to correct the situation.

We effectively become a victim and we wait for a hero to come and save us from our plight. The only issue with this is that everyone else has their own issues to face and to fix. We are not the priority in others people’s lives and nor should we be.

There are plenty of people who can and will support and help us but it is not their responsibility to make sure our lives and exactly what we want them to be. That is our own responsibility.

Locus of Control:

The term used for this in Psychology, is called Locus of Control.

The concept of ‘Locus of control’ is a simple one, where do we believe our ability to control is, is it inside or outside of us? Do we believe that we are in control of our behaviours, actions and results or does somebody or something else control it? Are we independent and accountable for ourselves or do we hand that responsibility over to other people in our lives, such as: our parents, our boss, our spouse, our children, our friends, or even worse random events or luck?

Our Locus of Control is a function of our thinking; it is the quality of the truth inside us that makes us independent or dependant. We either have and Internal or an External locus of Control the difference is:

• Internal Locus of Control: We believe that we are in control of our thoughts, actions, behaviours and results, we look inside ourselves to find the answers and to look for lessons learned. We look not for blame but to find answers.
• External Locus of Control: We believe that our results are due to the actions of others or by events controlled by others. We look for blame and play the “victim”.

In reality we need to be personally accountable for our thoughts and to realise that our thoughts create who we are and what we do. It means that we need to keep them completely under our control. Although some of us opt out of this responsibility, it is important to understand that having an internal Locus of Control allows us to accept personal accountability and take responsibility for our own lives.

An outstanding example of this was Sylvestor Stalone who although being born with a facial paralysis had a dream from childhood to become a leading actor in Hollywood. After many knockbacks and only securing minor roles he decided that rather than act like a victim and ask why did this happen to me, he decided to write a screen play with himself as the lead actor.

He spoke to many producers who likes his screenplay but wanted to cast existing stars in the lead role. They offered him great money for his script but even though he was a struggling actor who needed the money he refused to sell the script unless he played the lead role.

Eventually somebody agreed and the rest is history, the legend of Rocky Balboa was born.

This is a clear case of an internal locus of control and accepting accountability for who you are and what you want to achieve.

BUSINESS CULTURE:

“The way we do things here”

Most business owners would like an organisational culture with a high level of accountability, creativity, innovation and disciplined execution. An ownership mentality with the team is what business owners aspire too, that is the team help to grow the business.

Employees are typically looking for an organisation that is enjoyable to work for, they feel they are doing meaningful work and they are empowered to do their jobs well and they have a sense of belonging.

The goal for the business leader is to merge the two needs into one organisational culture.

Why is this so essential?

The number one driver of highly satisfied,loyal and engaged customers is the employees, who are the front line to customer satisfaction.

By building an effective organisational culture this is also a major point of difference to your competitor, this major point of difference can have a significant impact on profitability.

Highly Effective Culture = CASH.

Purpose: Why do we exist?

For example a jewellery store exists to create the wow factor when a bride opens the box and sees the engagement ring for the first time.

The stone mason who is cutting the stone and understands the compelling purpose of that stone to build a beautiful cathedral, on the flip side a stone mason that does not even know why he is cutting the stone just going through the motions.

Vision: What is the overarching objective of the business? (Number 1 Objective)

The jewellery store: Our Vision is to impress ourselves, if we are not impressed why would our customers be?

JFK had a Vision of being first to the moon.

Mission: What are the 5 or 6 critical success factors to achieve the Vision? You can have a Vision
however the mission is the road map to get you there, in JFK’s case it is fine to have a Vision but the Mission is what will get you there to achieve your Vision. EXAMPLE BELOW:

1) We must have an aligned team.
2) We must attract and retain the best people.
3) We must have outstanding product knowledge
4) We must have a customer first approach
5) We must grow profitably
6) We must maintain freshness of our products at all times and follow all systems and procedures.

Values: What are the behaviours we expect in our business?

EXAMPLES:

Trust

Respect

Support

Accountability

Discipline

Reliable

Structure

Consequences

Open communication

Guidelines

The culture statement needs to be laid out and then lived and breathed by all. The behaviours that do not support the Culture need to be eliminated. We do not do that here!

The performance based culture is open and honest and clearly measures behaviour and performance of all part of the business.

There is an expectation that all those that turn up to work do so with passion, energy, teamwork and fun. All are accountable for their actions and are clear that they have a role to play to help build a healthy profitable and
sustainable business.

From everyone a Business Edge Coaching we wish you a happy and prosperous 2013.

We sure you have set yourself some personal and business goals for the year ahead, and we wish you all the best in achieving them. There is no better satisfaction than setting your mind on something, formulate a plan, take action, then see those goals come to fruition!

In the last couple of months we at Business Edge have been working tirelessly  in preparation to offer you an even better service and support for 2013. Over the next week we will be rolling out our new training programs – we have over 120 courses on offer, and we are very excited about them. One of them is a recognised Diploma of Management – perfect for your team members wishing to upskill themselves, and of course this will benefit your business with their additional knowledge.

We will be hosting valuable webinars, more efficient distance coaching, and of course our excellent one-on-one sessions. We will have more tools in order for you to maximise your time so you can concentrate on running a highly profitable business, and even more importantly setting some valuable time aside for yourself and your family.

Once again, we wish you all a Happy New Year for 2013.

The below infographic shows clearly the requirements of a modern website to climb the rankings of Google. After recent “penguin” and “panda” updates there is even more emphasis on quality original content and social media.

To be ranked highly in your business niche these elements are important to know and to implement. Some of it can be overwhelming and confusing. If you are tackling this yourself then we admire your DIY attitude … but don’t let the concentrated time on optimising your website distract you from your main tasks in growing your business.

We at Business Edge Coaching can help optimise your website so you get noticed in your niche, and you can concentrate on what you are an expert at.

In the meantime read the very stylish and informative infographic below …

1. Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you and move out of their way.

If you feel like you know everything, you’re wrong. Understand what you don’t know and then find partners who can teach you.  While you may take on different roles in your business and focus on different things, you ideally want to share the same goals and at the end of the day, and work towards the same end.

2. The only constant in business is change. Get comfortable with it.

Your business is changing quickly, and the only way to succeed is to change with it.  There is no such thing as a traditional business anymore. It’s about pushing beyond what you are currently doing and finding opportunity where it didn’t exist before.

3. Fail often, fail quickly.

Everybody fails at something, but you’ll never succeed unless you take risks. Big ones. Have a vision and a lot of help from very smart people (see #1). Your business can be stronger and more innovative. You have to lead by example if you want to promote a culture where risk-taking is rewarded.

4. Your schedule makes you dumber.

Force yourself outside of your daily schedule. Be curious and take time to learn about worlds outside of the one you live in. Watch the news, read the paper, educate yourself. Don’t be afraid to call people you don’t know, start a conversation, and ask for things you need. At the very least, you’ll be more interesting. At the most, you’ll take your business in new and bigger directions.

5. You only get one shot – make it count.

Take advantage of each day that’s given to you and do something to move the needle on your business, even if it’s just an inch. You’ve heard it before, but life is not a dress rehearsal. Don’t waste your time, or your families.

6. Good ideas rule all.

In the end, it’s all about creative ideas, substance and perseverance – it’s the lifeblood of your business. Be innovative, have good people beside you, and take calculated risks. Your ideas and thinking outside of the box may well be the difference between you and your competitors.