Let’s start a conversation about business improvement, focusing on:
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.
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.
Given these extraordinary outcomes and 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…
A caveat for those working in small-medium or mid-market businesses is that research papers and books, such as What Really Works, are drawing 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
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.
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:
or
* We guarantee a Risk-Free Trial, which you can read about on the How We Get Started page.
Alternatively, read on to find out how your business could exploit evidence-based knowledge to enhance business performance.
video key points
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:
But, if you already had these things, you wouldn’t be here. So, we suspect these are some of your issues:
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:
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.
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:
the skills necessary to excel at business.
Firstly, resist the urges to:
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.
video key points
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:
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 Risk Free 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.
A key part of experiencing sustained success is being able to do things for yourself.
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:
Additionally, it’s vital that what is learned actually achieves better performance over the long-term.
Reinforce-orientated learning programmes are ideal for this and can take different forms, such as blended learning and coaching.
video key points
Presented By: Drew Pflaum
video transcript
We know business leaders need help; that it’s lonely at the top, and you can’t see or know everything.
Coaching helps with this problem and is specifically about helping you develop the skills you need for significant goal attainment and sustainable change.
There are many different styles of coaching, some following psychological frameworks and some more informal.
What we’ve seen in the research is that good coaching outcomes arise when the coaching:
The research also suggests coaching isn’t ideal when:
It also doesn’t need to be a continuous programme. In fact, we’ve seen evidence that one-on-one coaching is most effective when dealing with discrete change. So, coaching is something that can be turned on and off as required.
Ultimately, it’s about building capabilities for the things that will enhance your business.
Think about your business, if you’re the business owner / CEO / MD, could coaching work for you? Could another set of eyes, and importantly, a professional business person from outside your business help you make better decisions.
In 2002, John Doerr, board member of Google at the time, said to then CEO, Eric Schmidt: “You need a coach”.
Eric Schmidt replied: “I don’t need a coach. I am an established CEO, why would I need a coach? Is something wrong?”
John answered: “No, no, no. You need a coach. Everybody needs a coach”.
Years later in an interview Eric Schmidt reflected on this advice and said:
“So, Bill Campbell became my coach and served Google very well. Every famous athlete, every famous performer has somebody who’s a coach. Somebody who can watch what they’re doing and say: Is that what you really meant? Did you really do that thing? Given them perspective. The one thing people are never good at, is seeing themselves as others see them. A coach really, really helps.”
Have a think about that:
Could coaching help you experience success?
Could coaching work for the rising stars in your business?
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.
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.”
video key points
Presented by: Drew Pflaum
video transcript
Your learning programmes must lead to success. They must actually give your people the capabilities to produce more and better results.
The trouble is, that often employees are, with good intentions, sent off on training workshops or seminars to improve business skills but don’t come back with much improved capabilities.
They might digest the knowledge during the workshop or seminar, but soon after forget it.
Even when they do retain the knowledge, are they supported to convert it into a capability they can use and improve?
Wasteful learning is a massive opportunity cost for business. “Winner” businesses, those we mention on the Experience Success page, work incredibly hard to avoid it. The science shows that by building and enhancing talent from within, this has contributed to “Winners” achieving such returns as 14x more profit over ten years.
Designing and implementing an effective business improvement system begins where so much does in business:
with your strategy.
What are your goals?
Specifically, how are you helping staff learn skills that help them complete strategic actions they are tasked with this quarter?
Your organisational structure, hopefully shaped by your strategy, prioritises who needs to learn what. It must also support each employee’s motivation to learn.
The learning programme itself then must be designed to pass on the requisite knowledge, and again most importantly, convert this into capabilities. Some of the science suggests a somewhat counter intuitive approach of making the knowledge acquisition difficult. Supported by a series of interventions to combat forgetfulness, this style of just-in-time learning should help your business develop stronger and stronger in-house capabilities.
Take a moment to think about your business:
There’s a fantastic saying you may have heard of:
What the CFO and CEO should really be focused on is:
What training will provide a positive return on investment and over time be a positive force driving our sustainable competitive advance?
We’re only a Get To Know Each Other meeting away from taking the first steps to help you design a training programme tailored to your success.
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.
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.
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.
Is your business excelling at all six of these key business areas?
Take the spam-free* Experience Success Diagnostic.
* You’ll receive only two emails, which deliver the results, analysis and recommendations from the diagnostic. You won’t be added to our mailing list unless you explicitly opt-in.
Don’t just take our word for it. Read more testimonials and see the impact we’ve made.
video key points
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.
Do You Thrive To Learn More About How To Achieve Greater Business Success?
Sign up to our magazine designed specifically for Australian business leaders.