0 Failure and How to Keep Going

Failure is a set back and often hurts, not just financially.  To some degree you get used to it.  It is perhaps best not to become too used to it because if you make a habit of failure, complacency is perhaps not the right response (see my post next Wednesday).

But if this is your first failure, how do you handle it?

Review Your Failure

First, ask yourself: Why did this happen?  Here are some possible answers, not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Learn the Lessons

I’ve already referred to this in the list of possible causes.  Spend time considering what the lessons actually are.  Sometimes there’s more than one lesson.  What happened and what steps did you take to prevent it?  Were they effective?  If not, why not?

How you respond to them depends on exactly what the problem was.  If it was bad management, then usually it is possible to learn from it and try again, somewhat wiser.  Sometimes though, it is because you have an offer that is not viable.  This can be difficult.

Imagine an author whose manuscript is rejected.  The manuscript could be awful and the rejection perfectly rational.  The author may not agree but is it because they are over-rating their own work or because it is so innovative, publishers cannot see its worth?  There are stories of the latter.

Now apply that to your own offer.  You believe in it but is rejection because it doesn’t fit your market or because you are not marketing it appropriately?  Do you need to scrap it and start over, re-package it or market it differently?  Or any combination thereof?

This can become frustrating, so perhaps a way forward is to use failure creatively.  Is there some way you can build the lessons into your business and monetise them?  If it is possible many people encounter the same problem, you may be able to offer a solution.

Move on

Don’t dwell on it.  If you become risk averse, you will find endless tasks to carry out short of actively marketing your business.  You have had a setback, a setback that could have improved your offer.  So, get back in the driving seat and drive!

This doesn’t mean you forget it; all experience is valuable and you may be able to draw on it at some stage in the future.  Business can be frustrating, especially if you keep making the same mistakes.  So, we’ll look at that next time.

Please share stories of failure and your creative response to it.

0 Your Target Market’s Level of Awareness

This is my first post about the fifth and final element in the Circuit Questionnaire: your market or markets.  This element starts by asking about your target market’s level of awareness.  Surely, you need to know what your target market is before you can answer this question?

Your Target Market

We shall go into this in more depth later but it cannot be said often enough, this is perhaps the most important question you need to answer: what is your target market?

Obviously, you cannot answer questions about your target market until you have identified it.  Identifying your target market strongly implies reducing the size of your theoretical market.  What do I mean by that?

Most people set out by aiming to market their business or cause to everyone.  It seems, at first glance, this is the best way forward; tell everyone about your offer.  However, the fact is only a small number of people are your prospective customers and it makes much more sense to talk to them!

The people who have the problem your offer solves, who are interested in your cause, are much more likely to listen if they hear you addressing them.

Level of Awareness

Your target market will have a level of awareness, as defined by the awareness ladder.  Ideally, you speak to them at that level of awareness. So, if they know they have the problem, you do not need to persuade them they have the problem!  If they know there are solutions, you need to show them yours.

Find out the level of awareness they are at and take up the narrative from there.  Your aim is to move them to the next level.

Awareness of Their Problem

People aware of their problem are at level 1 or 2 of the awareness ladder.  At level 1, they live with the problem because they are not aware there are solutions.  They may endure the pain or work around the problem.  Work arounds are often not the most cost-effective ways to manage a problem.

At level 2, the prospect will have discovered solutions to the problem and they are deciding which solution to adopt.  This is a transient state because soon they will opt for a solution, will it be yours?

Awareness of Your Proposition

This is level 3 of the awareness ladder and if prospects are aware of your proposition, they are likely to approach you to enquire about your service.  At this stage, you aim to move them to level 4, where they are aware of the details of you and your proposition.

So, to find your target market, you need to ask who is likely to be interested in your proposition.  In general, the further down the awareness ladder you go, the more people there are who could be prospects but they will be harder to move.

You will need less time and money to move people who are higher up the ladder but they can be far and few.  This is why most businesses use several marketing approaches, depending on where their prospects are on the awareness ladder.  It is possible to move to level 5 (sale) online but many coaches, for example, find that at level 3 they are more effective moving from their website to a face-to-face meeting (live or Skype).

We’ll look at this in more detail next time.

How do you use levels of awareness, when you approach prospects?

0 What is a Coach?

Usually, I set aside Fridays for one-off posts on whatever topic appeals each week.  This time I have a special sequence of posts to publish over the next few weeks.  This first post, “What is a Coach?” is the first part of a talk I shall deliver at the end of March.

On 25 March, I shall be speaking at Sheffield’s first business and personal development event: “Change Your Business, Career and Life: Success Summit 2017“.  I am developing my keynote for the event.

I have recorded the first 10 minutes of the keynote and I’ve transcribed it.  The idea is to test the talk, by publishing it and requesting feedback.  I’m already seeing new possibilities and so this is proving to be a worthwhile exercise.

A further reason for these posts is to add to the publicity for the event.  People may be attracted as they catch glimpses of its content.

The Introduction Transcribed

This first part is the introduction to the keynote.  I’ve imagined being present at the event, hence the reference to 200 people.

This is an accurate transcript and one point of interest is to compare my speaking and writing styles.  One problem is punctuation.  I can hear the words but not the punctuation.  Like most people I don’t speak in clear sentences (a few people do!).  I’ve cut out the stumbles and false starts, mainly.  The subheadings are not a part of the talk.

Introduction: What is a Coach?

How many people here are coaches or consultants?  There’s about 200 in the room and it looks like there are about 30 or 40.  That’s a brilliant response!

Don’t switch off if you don’t think of yourself as a coach or consultant.  Just listen to what I have to say.  I want to tell you a story about my father and his work.  He was a sheet metal worker, self-employed, for thirty years between 1956 and 1986.  And he provided the side of the market that was bespoke to the industry.  He would go into a factory and he would be looking for solutions in terms of balustrading, machine guards, ducting.  They called him in if they had a problem and there was no off-the-peg solution.  He would discuss the problem and agree an approach.  They would gather data, design the solution – sorry he would gather data, he would design the solution, make it and fit it.  So, in effect he was a coach or consultant, providing solutions in bended metal.

And this is actually true of most businesses.  Most businesses solve problems.  They are selling a solution to a problem.  Even if you are selling a product and it’s an off-the-peg product, it’s much better if your customers buy the right thing.  They still need a bit of education and some help in making the right choice.

So, I’m going to ask you again, how many of you are coaches or consultants, even if it’s just in part?  Because everyone can be a coach, everyone can use coaching to support their business and for some businesses it might even become an alternative income stream.

Finding Your Vision

What I want to do today is to invite you to step back from your business and to look at it in ways that perhaps you normally don’t.  Whether your business is a great success or whether you are contemplating failure, it is always helpful to take time to do this.

Perhaps, you have lost sight of your original vision.  You had a vision about your personal lifestyle, your freedom, your contribution that others would value and simply the pressure of the work that you’re doing means that you’ve just lost track of them.

So, I’m going to walk you through your business, looking at 4 foundations in this first part that every business needs to have in place.  This is a chance for you to review your business and to try to work out where you need to pay attention.

Reflections

Notice I start the talk with a question and then ask it a second time after providing more information.  The aim is to get the audience thinking about their response and hopefully seeing that coaching is not necessarily the preserve of a few.

The story is perhaps not brilliant as stories go but it will hold attention for several reasons.  First, it has local relevance and perhaps I should emphasise that more.  It is also the story of a successful business.  I’m not sure my father would agree with that but his business lasted 30 years and paid for a house and university education for two children.

I’m positioning myself as an expert in assisting coaches with local marketing.  The aim is not to persuade all the businesses present that they are coaching, so much as establishing the talk’s relevance, so that all present will listen and not dismiss me as not for them.  I need to establish my market is coaches or consultants but I don’t want a large section of the audience impatiently waiting for the next speaker!

Your thoughts about this introduction are welcome.  Next time I’ll say more about the shape of the talk .

0 How to Respond to Feedback

The first thing to say is you are lucky if you receive feedback, really lucky!  Most people don’t care enough about what you are doing, to offer even negative feedback.  Those offering malicious feedback will think twice because if they are right you are doomed anyway and if wrong, it could be embarrassing!

So, welcome feedback and be gracious about it.  Even if the feedback is negative, chances are it is well-intentioned and if the word gets out you jump down peoples’ throats when unhappy with their feedback, the chances are you’ll soon never receive any.

Express Gratitude

Be grateful for the feedback, whether positive or negative.  Express your gratitude and ask if you can quote it as a testimonial in whole or in part.  Can you attribute it, mentioning their name and business name?  You can ask for a photo or even a video of their comments.  In other words, treat it as you would a testimonial, until you know otherwise.

You can find more information about how to manage testimonials  elsewhere in this blog.  You need a strategy to gather them and they will not always be positive or even well-written but the chances are even the most negative will include something positive.  If someone has taken the trouble to write something negative, the chances are they think you’re worth the comment.

Address the Feedback

Let’s assume the feedback is negative.  Much of what follows can be similar if the feedback is positive.

Read the comments and make sure you understand them.  Make yourself read them carefully.  I often find my first impression is far worse than the feedback really is.  What are they actually saying?  Often there is something constructive and valuable in what they have written.

Ask yourself, whether the comments are valid and if so what action you can take.  Remember, sometimes people offer you a solution.  Approach this with caution.  They may say something like, “I don’t find your website helpful, why don’t you do this instead  …”

It is really important to work out what the problem is first.  Don’t assume their solution is the right one.  Even if it is the right solution, the chances are once you understand the problem, you can improve on it.

Sometimes, you may need a conversation to check out your interpretation of their comments.  If so, you may not need to respond further because you have shown you have taken their intervention seriously.

If you make changes, reply to the person who provided the feedback.  Tell them what you have done in response to it.

If they find you take a positive approach, they are likely to feel able to provide future feedback and may recommend you to others.

Finally, don’t overdo it.  Be professional about your response and once you have replied, drop it and move on.

Going Public

Sometimes you will receive feedback in a public arena.  This is very common on social media.  Let’s leave aside vexatious comments (don’t feed the trolls) and consider sincere comments that invite a response.

The difference here is people may have already seen the comment and so you need to respond in a way that shows publicly you have taken it seriously.

Thank the commenter in public.  Ask questions of clarification if you need to and then deal with the comment.  Be brief, professional and prompt.

Sometimes people have a legitimate concern although it is peripheral to your business.  Simply, apologise and promise to bear their concern in mind in the future.  If you sound sincere, the chances are you will hear no more about it.

Have you any examples of responses to feedback that backfired?  What happened and how did you deal with it?

0 What Are the Causes of Your Customers Problem?

The causes of your customers problem may not always be what you or your customer expects them to be.  If you can name causes your customer has not considered, they are likely to be impressed.  Do this as part of your marketing and they are more likely to sign up.  Do this when they are a client and delight them with a new insight into their business.

This is the final question in the Problem Element of the Circuit Questionnaire.  Follow the link to the page, which gathers together all the posts in this sequence.

Why Finding the Causes of your Customers Problem is Important

So, what exactly is a cause?  In this sense, a cause is some circumstance responsible for the problem the customer experiences.  The biggest difficulty everyone experiences, is identifying the cause of a problem they face.

Indeed, it is often true identifying the cause is 90% of the solution to a problem.  Once there is clarity about the cause, the solution to the problem can be obvious.  So, it is worth spending time digging into the problem, really understanding what it is.

If the problem is not understood, it is easy to waste a lot of time dealing with the effects of the problem.  This is sometimes described as a sticking plaster approach to a problem.  Dealing with effects can be costly and the costs become regular because the underlying cause is not identified.

Whilst it is true in theory, dealing with the cause of a problem will result in improved performance; the cause can be a daunting prospect or integral to a lot of other issues, beneficial to some extent.  So, solving the immediate problem may generate further problems down the road.

Stimulating New Ideas Through New Causes

So, let’s try to be positive and approach this as an exercise in stimulating new ideas.   A client is likely to seek help because they are stuck.  They have tried everything and the problem will not go away.  Usually this is because the problem is deeply entrenched in organisational culture.  If there is no organisation, it is likely to be some psychological reason for the business owner.

Ask the owner to describe the problem.  Try to draw a diagram together and then interrogate it.  Try to understand how the client and their organisation understands the problem.  Ask questions like:

Note you are working together to build a picture of the problem.  There is nothing judgemental in any of this and you are not seeking a solution or the cause at this stage.

Once you have the facts before you, you can begin to explore causes.  What would happen if you changed this?  You are trying to find the cause, not a solution.  Causes can be deeply bound up in organisational culture and this can be notoriously difficult to change because so much of it is habit.

Aim to Stimulate New Ideas

Let’s try an easy problem: “my website doesn’t work”.  In real life, the problem is likely to be more specific but this is just an illustration.  If there is a technical solution, this is easy to resolve but what happens if technically the website works?

Does the customer understand how it works?  Again easy to resolve if the answer is “no”.   But if “yes”, what next?  What if the reason it doesn’t work is elsewhere?  Maybe the website does not meet the organisation’s needs?  Why would that be?  Perhaps it does meet their needs but no-one will take responsibility for it.  Why would that be?

You can see the question moves from technical solutions to deeper questions about organisational culture.  If you are usually approached by clients with intractable problems, then you are more likely to encounter this type of market, at its wits end, unable to find a rational solution because they have lost sight of the cause of the problem.

The Root Cause

Most problems that are not straightforward, cannot be resolved by reference to an instruction book.  What might start as an apparently simple problem may be the gateway to far greater issues.

Finding the root cause may be painful but it can lead to the rapid resolution of a problem and possibly several other apparently unconnected problems.  If something is having a negative effect in one area, the chances are it will in others.  This is one reason so many website designers disappoint, because they are not aware of the reasons why their work so often does not seem successful.  An online solution may be capable of great things but not if the organisation deploying it is not.

If the client trusts you and you can find the space to dig into the problem, it is usually possible to find the root cause.  Once your client sees and understands the root cause, then perhaps you will together find a way to tackle it.  They may need support while they do this, from someone who is not embedded in organisational culture.  If you can’t help them, help them find someone who can.

Can you tell a story of the unearthing of a root cause?

0 How to Build Support (Even When it’s Christmas)

A brief note today to announce that as usual, I shall be resting this blog over the holidays.  I’m planning to restart on Monday 9 January 2017, a break of 3 weeks.  It is possible I shall need a longer break while I build support and if so I’ll let you know what is happening.

The reason I’m not 100% certain is that I am planning a number of projects to increase support for my work promoting the local economy and the role of coaches in supporting change.  I may decide to take another week or two to bed down these new initiatives.  Here’s a sample of what I have planned.  There are a few other things in the pipeline that I am not ready to announce just yet.

Facebook Live

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my plan to promote my work by integrating online and offline marketing.  At the time I had just started using Facebook Live and was on day 2!

Today is day 16 and I think I’ve improved my approach.  I’ve found I’m better if I stand to deliver the talk.  I usually plan what I am going to say the previous day and then rehearse just before I go online.  You can find the Facebook Live posts on my Community Web Consultant Facebook page.  You may have to scroll a long way down the page to find them all.  They are all numbered to help you follow the sequence.

A few problems I have not yet resolved include:

1. I’m aiming for 1-2 minutes and so far I’ve been going on for too long.
2. I cannot find a time of day when I can regularly post.  There are advantages to doing this if you can because some people may be present to watch you live.  I’m not sure what the advantages of performing with a live audience are but there you go!
3. I have not so far been able to find a way to link to individual posts, which means it will be difficult to get access to them in the future.
4. People are visiting these posts and some of them are watching them.  I do need to remind people they are there though.

I’ve pinned a Facebook Live video at the top of my Facebook page, where I interviewed several people about the proposal to sell Sheffield’s Central Library to a 5-star hotel.  This is one example of how Facebook Live can be used.  I’m planning to complete the current sequence of posts at day 30.  After that I want to explore possibilities for using Facebook Live at events.  I shall also use it to promote events before they happen.

I’m sure there are many other ways to use this new tool and once I complete the current sequence, I shall post about how to use it for marketing.

Webinars

I held my first Webinar on Wednesday 14 December.  You can find the replay of “It’s Where Your Feet Are“, so please go over and watch it there.  There is a comments facility below the video and I shall respond to all relevant comments as soon as I see them.

Three people watched the video live and as far as I know they appreciated it.  I felt my planning and rehearsals paid off and the words seemed to flow.  I need to find time to watch it myself and see how I come over.

The next webinar is on Wednesday 4 January and you can sign up for “A Brief History of Social Enterprise” by following the link.  If you signed up for the first, there’s no need to sign up again!  The third in this series will be on 18 January.

I have exciting plans for webinars following these three.  I see these first three as opportunities to set out my manifesto and to become used to the system.  Once I feel confident in the approach, I’m planning to branch out in an entirely new direction, so stay tuned to find out what happens next!

Business Success Summit

Finally, for those of you who live close enough to Sheffield, I am part of a team planning a live event.  It will be a day event on Saturday 11 February 2017.  I can’t say much about it at this stage.  Make a note of the date in your diary and I shall put a link here as soon as I can.

I’m hoping to encourage coaches and consultants to attend this event but it is for any local business in the region.  We’re aiming for 200 people to attend the event and so, if we get it right, it will be huge.

0 Handling Success

Success can be just as stressful as rejection.  With success you can contemplate the joys of delivering a service to a new client but it is actually a great responsibility. So, take time to take stock and decide your strategy.

Celebration

Celebration is painful for those of us who don’t naturally take to having fun at the drop of a hat.  But taking time to pause and take stock after winning a big client is never a bad idea.  Some of my best ideas come at times of repose.  By all means take a note-book to your celebrations.  A notebook is a brilliant aid to forgetting.  Just jot down a legible and coherent note and then forget it until you’re back at your desk.

Keeping Track

If you have lots of clients, consider customer relations management (CRM).  There are several well-known packages that offer you everything you need.  Perhaps you won’t need a full CRM system when you start but bear it in mind for later.

There are other tools you can use to ease your journey.  Use Office tools, email service providers, etc to organise during the early stages of your business.  As your business grows you will need more help and you can take it on as you need it.

Don’t forget you may need a Personal Assistant as your business grows.  They handle matters like CRM and free you to pay attention to your clients.

Be Generous

Finally, don’t forget to over-deliver.  Bonuses can be a good way to build a relationship with your clients.  Sometimes you can offer opportunities that also help you out.  You know you can work together and so it is natural to invite participation in relevant activities where you can help each other out.

Besides that there are many other products and services you can offer beyond what you contracted to deliver.

However, be aware you may find it difficult to manage many spontaneous bonus activities.  Better to schedule in a few unannounced bonuses, so you can add them into your routine.

How do you celebrate business success?

0 Making and Testing Assumptions

Remember the problem in the circuit questionnaire is your clients’ problem.  Your clients make assumptions about it and so shall you!

Your Clients’ Assumptions

Expect your clients to be familiar with the problem and so likely to make assumptions about it.  You will have critical distance and so may be able to help the client name the assumptions they make.

Your clients pay you to challenge their assumptions.  Your role is not to change their mind but to suggest alternative approaches to their problem.  Their task is to consider your questions and consider changing their understanding of their problem in the light of them.

Don’t forget, 90% of problem solving is identifying the right problem.  Once you know what the problem is, you and your client are much more likely to find a solution that works.

Your Assumptions

Your problem is you promote your business as a solution to a particular type of problem.  Then you attract clients who believe they have the same problem.  What happens if you take them on and then discover their problem is an entirely different one?

This is one reason to be familiar with alternative solutions.  Focus on getting the problem clear.  When you have done this, you have completed most of the work.  It is even possible with new clarity, the client will find their own solution.  “Oh, now I see I’ve been approaching this entirely the wrong way!”

So, remember you are a guide.  Of course you need some knowledge of the problem but don’t assume your approach is always the best.  You may need to make a referral but the chances are with clarity about the nature of the problem, you can together adapt your solution to solve the problem.

Don’t underestimate your client.  The chances are they are capable of finding their own solution but in a challenging situation, need support.  They may believe there is a lot at stake and so seek reassurance their approach is the right one.  They want a second opinion; reassurance they have not missed some vital clue.

How to Test Assumptions

This is one reason being stuck can be a good place.  Nothing works.  Your client came to you because they had tried everything they know.  You have gone over their reasoning and suggested a few things.  They try them and they don’t work.

Maybe there’s an assumption you’re both making.  You have two pairs of eyes on the problem.  Go over everything in detail.  Is this true?  What assumptions are we making here?  What other perspectives could we view this from?

Every time you comb over the information, you see more detail.  You both need to allow your subconscious minds to work on it.  Once you’re familiar, take a break.  Sleep on it or go for a walk.

Then return to your data and look for inspiration.  Answers rarely arrive fully worked out.  You might have a small clue that draws your attention to some aspect of the problem.  Trust your instincts, review that area.  An insight from one of you may trigger an idea in the other.

Note the key to this is familiarity with the problem.  So, keep returning to it and with each failure, remember you are learning more.

Finally, use contacts to challenge your assumptions.  If you have a personal coach, they may be able to help.  If not, sharing the problem with others may help (but remember confidentiality).  A last resort may be seeking a specialist.  But most problems can be resolved with application, don’t assume a specialist will have any more luck with the problem.

Your client should be the number 1 expert and with your support, most times they will find a solution.

Are you aware of examples where clarifying the problem has led to a solution?

0 Re-Enchanting the Urban Environment

I suppose this is a dilemma for me, although I don’t see it that way.  I am still a community development worker at heart and subscribe to its values despite making my way in the conventional business world.  This Wednesday I was involved in three activities that related to campaigning for the Urban Environment.

After a business breakfast, where I promoted my Facebook Live campaign, described in last Friday’s post and my webinar about the local economy, I spoke at the Urban Theology Unit (UTU).

Re-Enchantment of Dark Holy Ground

I’ve been a Trustee of UTU for many years and the meeting was an introduction to the new director’s recently published book.  The book is “Re-enchanting the Activist: Spirituality and Social Change” by Keith Hebden (affiliate link).  I haven’t read it yet and I will review it as soon as I have.  They asked me to comment on the book; no mean feat given that I hadn’t read it!

I spoke about my experience in Cleveland County during the 1980s, a time of overwhelming unemployment.  The discovery by long-term unemployed of the dark face of God and that many were living on Dark Holy Ground.  Sometimes empowerment comes from the darkest of places.  This contrasts with self-help approaches that sometimes seem relentlessly cheery.

I’m sure the experience most people have of being highly sceptical or even cynical about just about everything, including marketing campaigns and political campaigns.  Many people are seriously disenchanted although this does not always lead them to choosing the right people to follow.

Save Sheffield’s Trees

After that I joined a demonstration outside the Town Hall before the council meeting, after the early morning tree removal on Rustlings Road earlier in the month.  I’ve known that road for all of my life and it was a beautiful road before the forced removal of 11 trees, most of which had earned a reprieve from the Council’s tree panel.

It involved 22 police officers knocking on doors at 4.30 in the morning, to ask people to remove their cars.

The Council has entered a 25 year PFI contract with a contractor that sees trees as an obstacle to maintaining roads and pavements.  It seems this contract overrides democratic accountability.  This takes us to the nub of the tensions we all feel about business.

Few people would argue that business is essential to community.  Everyone needs income and businesses need lots of people with money to spend.  If we build public spaces, then business is necessary.  But it is not sufficient.

Public spaces are where people interact and trees are an essential part of those spaces.  As soon as we allow specious arguments about efficiency to tear down what makes our spaces humane, we are losing track of the purpose of our lives.  And it seems there are some businesses that power this destructive tendency.  Most business owners have little problem with the idea that as citizens they are accountable democratically.  But it seems size and power clouds judgement for some business owners and politicians.

This is why I and many other Sheffielders have joined STAG (Sheffield Tree Action Groups).  You can join on their Facebook page; follow the link and click on join.

Proposal to Convert the Sheffield’s Central Library into a 5-Star Hotel

Sheffield Central Library, Surrey Street. © Copyright Chris Downer and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Then I met up with Billal Jamal from the Public Speaking Academy (affiliate link).   He suggested we use Facebook Live to conduct an impromptu Vox Pop about the proposals to convert Sheffield’s Central Library into a 5-star hotel.  The building houses several libraries and the Graves Art Gallery.  The paintings and indeed the art deco building were gifts to the city; contributed by JG Graves, a prominent business man in the early twentieth century.

If you follow the link you will find the video at the top of my Facebook page.  It is about 15 minutes.  Billal worked with me to ask people to take part, whilst I interviewed them.  Billal took the opportunity to show me the power of Facebook Live as a campaigning tool.  It is equally effective for promotion of business and for campaigning.  It may be an effective approach to helping people’s views to be heard.  One problem many campaigning groups face is they end up talking to each other.  Facebook Live is a splendid to hear what people are saying.

Julian Dobson in “How to Save Our Town Centres: A Radical Agenda for the Future of High Streets” (affiliate link) devotes a whole chapter to libraries.  They are an important part of the public space.  And note I specifically asked about the value to business in the city centre.  Perhaps business is a threat because the proposal is to hand the building over to a private enterprise?  It does not necessarily follow that all the businesses in the city centre would benefit from such a change.

Sign up to the Sheffield Central Library Action Group, if you wish to support the campaign for the library.

Still a Development Worker at Heart?

Billal later suggested that perhaps I am still a development worker at heart.  It could be argued that I am unlikely to accept the business thing, speaking their language and following their ways.

Except that is not really what I am about.  I am seeking a new standard where business finds its place at the heart of society.  Business people are members of our families, they are friends from school and university.  They are also some seriously delusional billionaires who really believe the world owes them increasing wealth and power.

We have to find a way to direct the entrepreneurial vision away from self-realisation and towards an ethic of the common good.  After all, it is well-known  our relationships form the selves we seek to develop.

Where Individualism leads to isolation from the world, it is bound to become morbid.  Precisely the tragic consequences Keith Hebden describes in his book.

How do you experience tension between business and community?

0 Handling Rejection

Rejection takes many forms and it’s always worth taking stock when it happens.  Why does it happen?  Well, yes it might be your fault.  But it is rarely entirely the fault of one person.  The best thing you can do is uncover the reasons for the rejection and work out how to mitigate them in the future.

Whatever is rejected, eg a grant for a community project, financial backing for a business proposition, an offer made to an apparently warm prospect; you need to review your approach, make changes and try again.

In this post I shall review some of the reasons for rejection.  In later posts, I shall take a closer look at the impact of failure on individuals and of repeated failure on organisations.

Most Things Don’t Work

Over thirty years in community development, I can testify to this.  I have had my successes but in the main, most things you try, do not work out.

Yes, there are stories of someone who comes up with a new idea, launches it and to everyone’s surprise it works first time!  This is very rare.  People who achieve this often share their story and so there seems to be a lot of success about.  There isn’t; most things fail.

Usually success follows repeated attempts and periods of being stuck.  If you fail and persist, you have to dig deeper but will also have a better understanding of what you are trying to do.  The longer you keep going, the more likely you are to stumble upon an approach that works.

If it’s not working, change your approach!

So, the message is, keep going.  Every failure is a step on the road to success.  With one exception.

Don’t keep doing the same thing, if it doesn’t work.  I was recently asked to organise a meeting, even though I knew the timescale was too short to publicise it properly and bring people in.  I went ahead against my better judgement.  No-one turned up.

Let’s pause and consider this for a moment.  I’m sure it was a bad idea to run it so soon.  Is it possible my pessimism contributed to its failure?  Maybe I would have done better had I put my heart and soul into pushing the meeting.

I don’t know.  But I do know the reasons for failure are multi-factorial.  If I’d had time to market it properly, maybe my attitude would still have undermined numbers.  And maybe the event itself was not attractive.

But here’s a thought.  How can you turn a failure to your advantage?  Is it possible we miss opportunities because we focus on the immediate failure and so do not see the bigger picture?

Failure to Close

Failure to close plagues the lives of many people starting out in business.  We do  not know how to bring a business conversation to a satisfactory close.

There are two positive ways to close.  On yes and on no.

A yes, so long as it is a real yes, is clearly cause for celebration.  It comes at the end of a complex sequence of actions and sometimes we make a mistake (or several).  If we don’t know what works we’re working in the dark.  There are plenty of guides about how to close.  Use Daniel Pink’s book “To Sell is Human“, as a thorough starting point.

A no, means you need to see the bigger picture.  This might be a “no for now” or a no forever.  Whichever it is, can this person support you in other ways?  Will they sign up to your list, recommend you to others, write a testimonial?  I have found it incredibly difficult to get even these results primarily because I forget to ask (another example of failure to close!)

Bad Clients

I’m afraid some clients misbehave.  It goes with the territory.  The first thing to remember is, if you don’t feel comfortable, don’t take them on.

Misbehaviour has many manifestations.  It might range from saying yes and not meaning it, just so they can get out of the room or perhaps changing their mind and failing to tell you or apologise.  Others simply cannot work with you.  They are forever seeking insights from other practitioners and throwing their (not necessarily good) advice in your face.  Or they just misbehave.  After one particular client, I decided if a client can’t conduct themselves respectfully I will end our contract.

What to Do

Bad client behaviour is not your fault.  Sadly, some people simply lack the social skills they need to conduct business properly.  If you are a client and not happy, then say so.  I have just done this with someone who is supporting me.  I’ve written to point out a weakness in their approach.  I haven’t ranted or demanded my money back or even blamed them.  All you need to say is, I followed your advice and this happened, can we discuss it?  After all, how do I know it was not my fault?  Blaming others for our own failings is a common human response to failure.

Do be aware of one other thing.  If you negotiate a contract with an organisation, you may find you are not working with the person who agreed the contract.  You don’t know if the person who manages the contract agrees with it and you may not know what internal struggles are taking place in the organisation.  This possibility may be worth discussing at the time you agree the contract.

I’m sure I haven’t discussed all the reasons for failure.  What are your stories of failure?  What have you found can go disastrously wrong?