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The_Changing_Face_of_Business
| The Changing Face of Business
Not long ago, words like mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures,
alliances and partnerships were seldom used. With the changing
face of business in the New Economy, these words are now part of
everyday business vocabulary.
With many companies choosing to ‘work with’ other companies, a
new breed of individual and team is achieving pre-eminence.
People who can be trusted and always do a job well, plus people
and organisations who grow to develop and produce optimum
results. People are, after all, a company’s best asset in the
fractured business arena. This is why organisational behaviour
and a company’s people are increasingly being recognised as
imperative elements of a company’s success.
In developing and training their people, businesses are
investing in their primary assets to deal with the changes the
New Economy.
Fusing Old and New to Survive the New Economy Training and
development is not a new phenomenon, in prehistoric times when
humans began to create artefacts, they needed to teach others
how to use them. However, that was training in its crudest form
with minimal ongoing development.
Now, the need has arisen for increasingly dynamic development
programmes that actually deal with transforming individual and
organisational performance via behavioural change. Also, with
each marketplace becoming more and more competitive, businesses
are striving more than ever to rise above the rest. Ultimately
those companies that survive in the New Economy will be those
that translate transformed individual and organisational
behaviour into transformed business performance.
One way to achieve this is to focus on an organisation’s people:
their values, skills and behaviour and to combine traditional
values and ideas with modern and technological approaches.
Growth within the New Economy is firmly rooted in the growth of
behaviour and ongoing development of teams and individuals,
within a working philosophy that combines old ideologies with
new vision.
Ken Buist, Founder of Transform People International,
(http://www.transformpeople.com), firmly believes in this idea,
“At the end of the day it is their people that will make a
business work, it’s their people that will make the business
successful, and this can only be achieved through having
commitment to common business goals, a unity and spirit of
purpose, and excellent communication at all levels. My vision is
simple – to transform business performance through a
transformation of its people.”
Will the Real Aristotle Please Stand Up? Just as personal and
organisational development are by no way new phenomenon, neither
are the ideologies that provide the basis for some of the most
dynamic and successful training programmes that companies
embrace today. Ancient methodologies written by Aristotle and
Hypocrates BC still have immense weight, as do the traditional
values of family and well-being. Aristotle, born on a Greek
colony in 384BC, defined the three main rhetoric styles that
together form the ‘Art of Persuasion’: Ethos, Logos and Pathos.
Today these ancient ideologies still have weight because, in
business, we are all trying to sell something, even if it is
simply ourselves, our knowledge or our skills.
Transform People International (TPI) is one example of a company
that provides a development programme that focuses on people and
behaviour, and combines old ideologies with a dynamic and modern
approach. They combine old methods with new ideologies to
transform the way their clients work and live. Transform People
International call this new breed of individual who is achieving
pre-eminence in the New Economy, The Trusted Adviser™.
To help companies produce this kind of individual, Transform
People International have created The Trusted Adviser Excellence
Programme™, which, according to Founder, Ken Buist, “aims to
transform people’s attitudes and behaviour, helping them to grow
and be more effective.
In order to transform you have to change thinking, and in order
to change thinking you have to provide insight and revelation.
In other words we don’t just aim to teach skills but to bring
about fundamental and sustainable change.”
Says Ken, “Throughout history man has needed confidantes,
advisers and friends, who will: · Accept you just the way you
are, but challenge you to change where required · Give excellent
business advice but allow you to come to your own conclusions ·
Give sound personal counsel when required, but don’t force their
opinions on you · Are 100% loyal without being sycophantic ·
Continually look out for you, putting your interests first · Can
be interesting and fun, yet serious and empathetic when
required.”
So, in order to help others deal with the fragmented nature of
the New Economy, this company is combining old rhetoric
ideologies with the latest modern technology and combining
development of behaviour with the key trait of trust. With more
and more companies merging and taking on alliances, the need for
trust is ever important – Transform People International see
trust as a key methodology for building business in tougher
economic climate. And the results of this focus speak for
themselves.
Bruce Davidson, Sales Program Director for one of the world’s
top three IT companies says, “Over the past two years Transform
People International has arguably made more significant
difference to how our Enterprise Account Teams perform than any
other area of training. The fact that we have tracked in excess
of $1 billion added to our business pipeline and have developed
significant new trusted adviser relationships is testament to
the power of what they have helped us develop. Their program
design and delivery expertise has genuinely transformed our
operations with tangible gains beyond expectation.”
Another programme that focuses on Aristotle’s Rhetoric while
using modern technologies is the Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute Course, Writing to the World-Wide Web
(http://www.rpi.edu/). While its focus is on writing for the
epicentre of our New Economy, the Internet; this course examines
Ethos, Logos and Pathos as its main focus and fuses old and new
to create a winning training course.
Evidently, by focussing on individuals, behavioural change and
the notion of trust and then combining old ideologies and new
visions, companies have a chance to thrive in the forthcoming
years.
Embracing Traditional Values to Achieve Work-Life Balance
Another example of this combining of old traditional ideas (in
this case family values) with new technology to forge winning
results is the work-life-balance philosophy that both recent
winners of the Lloyds TSB Britain’s Best Boss competition share.
Both have strong family values and a strong belief in the notion
that a happy workforce is a productive one.
Says Kevin Coleman of Swift Construction, winner of this year’s
Britain’s Best Boss competition, “All of my full time staff have
children so, if they need to pick them up, take to the doctors
or attend their sports day, that’s fine, as long as I have
notice for preplanned work. Staff members are also free to bring
their children in here if they need too, no problem. Flexibility
is crucial.
If people want to start later and finish later that’s fine. I’m
all for getting a job done well with a happy team because this
means there are ultimately fewer problems and the client is
happy. In my experience a happy and well-informed staff is a
productive one and this, in turn, leads to a happy client base
and plenty of referrals.”
This flexible attitude and focus on traditional family values is
fused with heightened communication via mobile, e-mail, phone or
fax and has paid great dividends for Kevin. In six years,
Coleman has achieved tenfold growth in his highly successful
operation.
Similarly, a flexible and holistic philosophy is the linchpin of
working life at Aricot Vert, where the previous years winner of
Britain’s Best Boss, Lin Arigho, is Directory.
At Aricot Vert Design Lin enables the staff to remain focused on
their jobs while in the office, but free to take care of family
issues and appointments if needs be. Again, the end result of
this philosophy is a happy working environment in which the
staff is focused and performs well.
Says Lin, ““I see work and family as a whole,” says Lin, “rather
than having a distinct cut off point between the two. Work-life
balance means making a life choice so you pack more in but work
just as hard. It’s certainly not the easy option. The rewards
are that you see more of your family and fit what you want into
your life and with a flexible philosophy you get the most from
your staff too.”
It seems, therefore, in order to succeed in the new era of
modern business a focus must be put on a business’s people – on
their trustworthiness, behaviour, skills and growth.
Additionally, the ingredients for success in the New Economy are
a combination of old ideologies, such as family values,
work-life-balance and the ‘Art of Persuasion’, together with the
use of modern technology and communication advances.
Useful Resources to Achieve Success in the New Economy
http://www.transformpeople.com http://www.rpi.edu
http://www.trainingzone.co.uk http://www.worklifebalance.com
About the author:
Cheryl Rickman http://www.webcritique.co.uk e-mail:
info@webcritique.co.uk In-depth Website Appraisals, Personalised
Web Promotion Plans, plus Web Page Copywriting and Editing
Services and Press Release packages.
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