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Business Improvement Advice That Truly Works
Let’s start a conversation about business improvement, focusing on:
What Really Works to Experience Success
When seeking to improve your business, efforts should be directed towards the areas of business that have been proven, whether scientifically or through rigorous experience, to produce the greatest chance of sustained business success.
But, with:
- 1,000,000+ business books already published;
- 10,000+ new business books published each year;
- 100,000+ business-related research papers already published;
- 1,000+ new business-related research papers published each year; and
- Who knows how many old and new “high performance” frameworks and “masterclasses” there are out there…
How are you meant to determine, and learn from, What Truly Works?
There are well-known business books, but for the purposes of this discussion we draw your attention to What Really Works authored by W. Joyce, N. Nohria & B. Roberson. It makes a compelling case that businesses should focus their efforts on six of eight research-proven business areas to experience success.
When focusing on these, the “Winner” businesses in What Really Works achieved such extraordinary outcomes as (approximately):
What’s particularly compelling is that the chance of achieving these types of extraordinary outcomes is shown to be better than 90% if a business continuously excels at six of the key areas of business.
Business improvement guided by reputable research and real-world experience.
Given these extraordinary outcomes and the probability of success, we utilise insights gained from What Really Works together with other reputable research and real-world experience to guide business improvement endeavours for clients.
But, you’re probably a small-medium or mid-market business, so…
What Do You Focus On?
A caveat for those working in small-medium or mid-market businesses is that research papers and books, such as What Really Works, draw conclusions primarily based on much larger, often publicly listed companies.
Therefore, it is important to keep this in mind and supplement business improvement thinking with small-medium / mid-market business-related research findings, together with real-world experience.
That’s what we do at Munro’s
Improving your business
At Munro’s, together with superb accounting services, we’re dedicated to helping Australian business owners, managers and leaders…
exploit knowledge like this as one of their key competitive advantages.
Can we promise you extraordinary outcomes like those mentioned above?
Of course not, no one can legitimately make that promise.
But, what we can promise is that together we can help you determine:
- What you need to focus on?
- In what order? and
- How?
We can also go that one, very important step further, to help you:
Actually get it done.
So, should you focus on the six research proven areas?
It depends on the current state of your business and your ambitions.
Most likely you’re a small-medium or mid-market business that firstly needs to focus on some other areas.
To work through this,
the best place to start is an initial improvement sprint.
If you’re interested, then:
EXPLORE THE INITIAL IMPROVEMENT SPRINT
or
Book a Free Meeting with a Business Advisor
Alternatively, read on to find out how your business could exploit evidence-based knowledge to enhance business performance.
Read Key Points & Transcript
The Science of Business Success
video key points
- Achieving business success requires excelling in six key areas, which, if done well, significantly increases sales, profit, and return to owners over a decade.
- The six pivotal areas most relevant for small to medium businesses to focus on include Strategy, Culture, Structure, Execution, Leadership and Talent, each demanding high standards and clear focus.
- Contrary to popular belief, exceeding customer expectations isn’t necessary for competitive advantage; meeting them consistently is key, allowing for better resource allocation and customer satisfaction.
- The importance of nailing these six areas before focusing on anything else is underscored by research showing that businesses that do so can expect profoundly beneficial outcomes.
- For further insights and to explore the research mentioned, visit Munro’s Business Academy and find the references on the Reference page.
Presented By: Drew Pflaum
video transcript
We want you to be living the life you’ve always wanted. For business owners and leaders, this so often means:
- Your customers are overjoyed with your products and services;
- Your employees are overjoyed with their work and the financial benefits which come with it;
- Your family is overjoyed because you’re genuinely there with them, not unduly stressed and worried about your business; and
- You’ve got the financial freedom to live a great life.
But, if you already had these things, you wouldn’t be here. So, we suspect these are some of your issues:
- Employees are underperforming.
- There are disagreements in your management team. Perhaps some are constant blockers to change and improvement.
- Sales are not growing quick enough.
- Cost pressures are mounting.
- Your customers are treating you like a commodity.
- A few years back, where you hoped to be and where you actually are now are miles apart.
You’re in a world of misinformation and noise, and not sure what’s best to do about this?
At Munro’s, we choose to follow reputable science… and thankfully, the science shows that no matter what industry you’re in, sustained business success comes down to getting a few key areas of business exceptionally right.
In fact, the research has distilled it down to eight key areas, of which you must excel at, at least six of them at the same time. And for small to medium businesses, in our view, only six of the eight are realistically achievable, so we’ll be focusing on those.
Now, excelling at six key areas of business is no easy task. But it’s certainly a worthwhile endeavour given the research reveals it gives you a better than 90% chance of seeing such returns as 5x more sales, 14x more profit and 15x greater return to owners over a ten year period as compared to businesses which haven’t excelled at these six specific areas of business.
In a moment we’ll introduce the six key areas, but beforehand, let’s address the question: why only these?
It’s because the research found no directly significant correlation between 200 other management practices and sustained success. Put another way, the research revealed it doesn’t necessarily matter if a business embraced ERP software, CRM systems, 360 degree feedback, supply chain management, Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, Kaizen, Intranets, outsourcing, superb information technology, etc. As a priority, there are only eight significantly relevant best practices..
The researchers did fairly note, one caveat, the lack of a significant correlation between a given practice, and sustained superior returns, doesn’t indicate that management practice can be ignored. Rather, to be clear, the research suggests business leaders prioritise six of the eight identified practices to help yield superior sustainable returns.
So, what are these six key areas of business?
At a high level they are:
- Strategy: You must have an ambitious, clearly stated and focused strategy.
- Culture: You must have a high standards culture.
- Structure: You must have a fast, accountable structure.
- Execution: You must consistently meet customers’ expectations.
- Leadership: You must have a great business leader and committed leadership team.
- Talent: You must keep great talent and find more.
You’re instinctive reaction to this may be “well duh”, which is fair.
What’s important to realise are two things:
-
They are the six key areas as explained at a high level. There is much more to it. And it’s not always instantly obvious. Such as, execution, which is that you must consistently meet customers’ expectations.
Whilst a “Winner” business will have a mandate of meeting their customers’ expectations, this does not mean they commit themselves to over-delivering, or put another way, exceeding expectations. Rather, it means they commit to never disappointing their customers.
In other words, you can never afford to find yourself in the bottom half of service rankings as compared to your competitors, but you also don’t need to be at the very top – the top third will suffice.
How can this insight help you develop a competitive advantage?
Well, there is conventional wisdom which directs business leaders to think they need to exceed customers’ expectations in order to create a competitive advantage. This leads many businesses to invest their efforts into delighting customers. That’s difficult, and can increase costs.
Your advantage from knowing you don’t need to delight customers, is that you have the opportunity to invest your efforts into what customers really want, which is for your business to more simply meet their expectations. That can help you better utilise your limited resources.
-
Just because these six may be instinctively “well duh”, doesn’t mean it’s any less valid. The research has shown that excelling at all six of these areas has profoundly beneficial outcomes. Such as, 14x more profit after 10 years.
In the video below, we importantly highlight that consistent and continuous implementation isn’t easy. The same research which has shown that there are “Winners” who tremendously outperform others by excelling at six specific areas of business, also reveals that if a “Winner” stumbles and stops excelling at just one area, they become a “Tumbler” and, on average, end up with 6x less total return to owners over just five years, as compared to continuous “Winners”.
So, please watch that video, and ask yourself:
Is my business excelling at all six of these key business areas?
In that video you just watched, we mentioned some research.
If you’d like the references, simply head on in to the Munro’s Business Academy and you can find them on the Reference page.
Implementation and avoiding being a Tumbler
Whilst What Really Works shows that there are businesses that tremendously outperform others by excelling at six specific areas of business, it also reveals that if a business stumbles and stops excelling at just one area, they become a “Tumbler” and, on average, end up with:
It’s therefore vital for a business to:
- Learn;
- Retain; and
- Continuously Implement….
the skills necessary to excel at business.
But, how and what’s best?
Firstly, resist the urges to:
- Chase the latest fad of business management; and
- Seek a quick fix.
If the “high-performance” frameworks or “masterclasses” spruiked around the world truly worked, everybody would be doing them. But, business isn’t that easy and it’s going to take a concerted, longer-term effort to reap the rewards of sustained success.
Read Key Points & Transcript
The Science of Avoiding Business Failure
video key points
- Research identifies “Winners” in business achieving 14x more profit by excelling in six key areas; failure in maintaining excellence in these areas turns them into “Tumblers,” drastically reducing their return.
- Sustaining business success demands continuous excellence in these critical areas, necessitating the acquisition and reinforcement of capabilities to prevent becoming a “Tumbler.”
- Munro’s approach to learning and capability development may seem counterintuitive, intentionally making the learning process challenging to enhance long-term performance through better retention and application of knowledge.
- A combination of coaching for business leaders and blended learning for the wider team, along with strategic projects, is advocated to embed necessary skills for sustained business growth.
- Refer to the free tier of Munro’s Business Academy to understand the six key business areas for excellence, and to actively seek improvement if current performance is lacking.
Presented By: Drew Pflaum
video transcript
You’ve heard us say it before in the above video, and you can see it here on this page. The same research which has shown that there are “Winners” who achieve 14x more profit after ten years by excelling at six specific areas of business, also reveals that if a “Winner” stumbles and stops excelling at just one area, they become a “Tumbler” and, on average, end up with 6x less total return to owners over just five years.
This means that first getting your business to excel at the six key areas isn’t the end of it. Rather, you need to acquire and reinforce the capabilities to consistently and continuously excel at the six key areas.
Our way to help you achieve that, may seem a little unusual. We intentionally make facilitation difficult. Not overly difficult, but not easy.
Let us explain.
Research into learning, particularly, how learning enhances long-term performance – in other words, how you acquire long term capabilities – tells us that the more difficult the learning experience, when done in certain ways, the more you actually learn, equalling better long term performance.
So, if you’re going to choose someone to help your business perform better, well into the future, it’s incumbent upon you to choose someone who won’t do everything for you.
As your guide, we favour two types of learning programmes, complimented by impactful strategic projects, to help you embed the skills and execute the strategies necessary to achieve sustain business growth. They are:
- Coaching for the business owner and key leaders.
- Blended learning for your wider team, especially managers.
The videos below go into more detail about these.
Ultimately, you’re first struggle is getting to know more about the six key areas you need to excel at. The free tier of the Munro’s Business Academy can help with that.
You’re next struggle is making the decision to do something about it. If you can’t emphatically answer yes to the simple question ‘Is my business excelling at all six of these key business areas?’ then please do something about it. We want you to be the business leader living the life you’ve always wanted.
Finally, one more thing to highlight how important this is. Being a continuous “Winner” is rare. Even though the six key areas of business may be “well duh” practices, in the research, the “Winners” represented less than 5% of the businesses. So, excelling at these is a rarely tapped competitive advantage.
It’s our mission at Munro’s to help you exploit knowledge like this as one of your key competitive advantages. To help you become a “Winner”.
Please book a free Get to Know Each Other meeting over on the How We Get Started page. We’d love to explore this with you and design a trial tailored to your needs.
In that video you just watched, we mentioned some research.
If you’d like the references, simply head on in to the Munro’s Business Academy and you can find them on the Reference page.
Enhancing Long-Term Performance
It’s important that you develop in-house capabilities to succeed
A key part of experiencing sustained success is being able to do things for yourself.
What’s most important is long-term performance
No matter what process you go through to achieve success, it’s going to involve some level of learning.
When it comes to learning, it’s imperative that it is directed at actually bridging the gap between:
- Your current business state; and
- Desired future state.
Additionally, it’s vital that what is learned actually achieves better performance over the long-term.
To develop stronger and stronger in-house capabilities, a programme that combats forgetfulness is paramount.
Reinforce-orientated learning programmes are ideal for this and can take different forms, such as blended learning and coaching.
Read Key Points & Transcript
Small Business Coaching
video key points
- Coaching serves as a pivotal tool for business leaders, aiding in the development of necessary skills for achieving significant goals and facilitating sustainable change, offering a solution to the isolation often felt at the top.
- Effective coaching, as evidenced by research, encompasses challenging the individual, promoting autonomy, facilitating self-directed goal setting, and employing problem-solving techniques, while also acknowledging mutual responsibilities and accountabilities.
- Coaching proves most beneficial for discrete changes rather than ongoing programmes, suggesting its application can be flexible, tailored to specific needs rather than a continuous engagement.
- The anecdote of John Doerr advising Eric Schmidt, then CEO of Google, highlights the value of coaching, underscoring that even the most established business leaders can benefit from the external perspective and guidance a coach provides.
- For those seeking further insights, refer to Munro’s Business Academy.
Presented By: Drew Pflaum
References page.
video transcript
Transcript available on the Business Coaching page.
Coaching
For the business owner/CEO/executive team, an external coach can prove invaluable.
Former CEO of Google famously commented on his experience as a coachee:
“How could a coach advise me if I’m the best person in the world at this? But that’s not what a coach does.
The coach doesn’t have to play the sport as well as you do. They have to watch you and get you to be your best.
In the business context a coach is not a repetitious coach. A coach is somebody who looks at something with another set of eyes, describes it to you in [their] words, and discusses how to approach the problem.
Once I realised I could trust him and that he could help me with perspective, I decided this was a great idea.”
More information here:
Read Key Points & Transcript
Blended Learning for Leaders
video key points
- Effective learning programmes are essential for transforming knowledge into capabilities that significantly improve business results, avoiding the common pitfall of forgettable training sessions.
- The success of “Winner” businesses showcases the profound impact of nurturing talent from within, with evidence pointing to returns such as 14 times more profit over a decade, underscoring the value of strategic, in-house capability development.
- A strategic approach to learning involves aligning organisational structure and goals with employee development, ensuring learning directly contributes to the execution of strategic actions and enhances motivation.
- Implementing learning programmes that challenge employees and employ interventions to prevent forgetfulness can lead to the development of strong in-house capabilities, supporting just-in-time learning for immediate application.
- Reflection on the effectiveness of current learning initiatives and their alignment with strategic goals can reveal insights into the ROI of training investments, highlighting the importance of selecting training that drives sustainable competitive advantage.
- Explore further by visiting Munro’s Business Academy for research references and consider a Get To Know Each Other meeting to design a training programme tailored to your success.
Presented by: Drew Pflaum
References page.
video transcript
Transcript available on the Improve Programme – Upskilling for Small-Medium Business Owners, Leaders & Rising Stars page.
Blended Learning
For the wider employee team, especially managers, workshop training complemented by online material can work fantastically.
Effective workshops challenge the participants, making the learning experience more difficult and accordingly satisfy the research dictate of enhancing long-term performance via more difficult learning.
With the complement of online material and an accountable refresher programme, this type of learning can be performance-enhancing and cost-effective.
More information here:
We’re here to help you Experience Success
To summarise, business leaders don’t need to chase the latest fad of business management.
Rather, use evidence to direct your business improvement endeavours towards what truly works.
Where To Begin
Come Along To An Improve Session
First Session is FREE (incl. GST)
Upskilling Event for Business LeadersTop 2% ranked Australian Accounting Firm
Claims of being a ‘Top 2% ranked Australian Accounting Firm‘ (and similar claims) are based on two separate assessments conducted by Munro’s on 9-10 August 2023 and 1 December 2023. The ranking is derived from a comparison of the total of each accounting firm’s overall star rating multiplied by each firm’s quantity of reviews as shown on Google Maps. A total of 4,235 Australian accounting firms listed on Google Maps were identified for the earlier assessment, and a total of 4,301 for the latter assessment, which may not represent a complete list of Australian accounting firms. Munro’s claims are based on Munro’s best estimation and represent a snapshot collected at the time of each assessment. If the assessment was to be conducted today, then it is likely that Munro’s ranking would have changed – Munro’s may or may not be in the Top 2% today. Also, the methodology does not account for other potentially relevant factors such as quality of service, expertise, or client satisfaction beyond Google Maps reviews.
Read Key Points & Transcript
video key points
- Top 2% ranked Australian Accounting Firm is based on two separate Munro’s assessments of Google reviews for Australian based accounting firms on 9-10 August 2023 and 1 December 2023.
- Both assessments found Munro’s to be in the Top 2% (position 66 out of 4,235 and position 44 out of 4,301 for the assessments, respectively) when a ranking was derived from a comparison of the total of each accounting firm’s overall star rating multiplied by each firm’s quantity of reviews as shown on Google Maps.
- If the assessment was to be conducted today, then it is likely that Munro’s ranking would have changed – Munro’s may or may not be in the Top 2% today.
Presented by: Drew Pflaum
video transcript
In December 2023, we conducted a review of Australian accounting firms on Google Maps, based on star rating and quantity of reviews.
Out of the 4,301 Australian accounting firms we identified on Google, Munro’s ranked number 44, placing us in the Top 2% of Australian Accounting Firms. We’re thrilled to share this fact with you and share those reviews on our website. We’d also like to thank all our clients who left us those wonderful reviews.
Thank you.
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