RECOVERING FROM A 'KAITASTROPHE'

Sani Kaita, a hitherto level headed utility player in one moment of unexplainable agitation stamps the studs of his boots on the thigh of another player in an off the ball situation and instantly earns a red card and at last count over a thousand death threats.

The event spurred creativity and launched a slew of new words; one in particular stands out - kaitastrophe!

What do you do when an enterprise suddenly tumbles from its respectable height to the lowest ebb; when your brand becomes a metaphor for failure overnight?

1. Tender an unreserved apology and mean it.
2. Ignore the chatter - people will criticise you even if you are doing the right thing.
3. Rest assured that human beings are fickle and that you can regain your position by consistent brilliant performance. Read a striking account of how you can instantly shore up your brand equity.
4. Work harder than ever before to surpass every positive record you have ever set.
5. Accept that some people will never forgive or forget - learn to live with such people.

Who's in? Who's out?

One of the most difficult choices an enterprise leader makes is who is in, who is out? It is always a tough decision and rightly so to determine Who is in as a partner? who is in as an employee? etc.

Jerry Porras and Jim Collins in their book 'Good to Great' talked about getting the right people on the bus and the wrong people off it before even deciding where the bus is headed. While they are right about choosing the right people to travel with, it is necessary to point out that where you are headed quite often determines who the right people are.

While established corporations typically have exhaustive criteria for choosing who is allowed on the bus, new enterprises are typically not equiped enough to make this critical choice which dramatically raises the risk of their becoming a part of the 'failed startup' statistic.

Knowing that it is a lot easier to make the hire decision than it is to make the fire decision, enterprise leaders should from the initial develop detailed criteria for evaluating the suitability of prospective partners and employees.

Even Jesus wouldn't let the rich young ruler join his team without meeting His criteria.

The Diabolus Code

The instincts that drive life are the same ones that drive enterprise; it is very important to ensure that your enterprise is not run by the diabolus code.

The Diabolus Code is a spiritual gene (some would like to call it a social gene) that drives three basic (base if you like) instincts:

1. wanting your own way


2. wanting everything for yourself


3. wanting to appear important

If you have the diabolus code, you tend to think that your enterprise is the centre of the universe - everything revolves around you and your objectives. You want to be number one or nothing else; you want 100% of market share.

In reality, you don't need to strive to be number one, you are the only one (see Red Ocean Strategy); you dont need market share, you've got your own market all to yourself.

The Diabolus Code casts other enterprises as competitors to be conquered - in reality, they are co-travellers to be helped.

Define your rules of engagement.

One of the toughest parts of consulting in an unstructured market is pricing and payment; clients hardly ever believe that the service you are going to render them is worth as much as you are proposing to charge them. In a market where supply far outstrips demand, the consultant tends to get the short end of the stick.

One way to improve your chances of striking a fair deal with clients is to set up clear 'rules of engagement'. As difficult as it might seem to require that clients sign a service agreement with you even before you render them service, I have come to believe that it is the best direction in which to head. On your part though, you must exhaustively detail what exactly you are going to deliver and where available, provide clients samples of your past work.

Of course your first few attempts to get clients to sign agreements will be met with stiff resistance but after a while of saying the cryptic "it's company policy", you will find your own pool of clients... of course you can choose the alternative of sticking with the headache of argueing over terms after you have rendered the service.

It is critical to your well being to always agree before proceeding.

Lose Weight

Enterprises are like star athletes; they need to stay in shape to stand any chance of staying in the lead, which brings us to the question, is your enterprise overweight?

Your enterprise is overweight if:

1. You cannot write your 'about us' in one sentence (if you wanted/needed to).
2. You've struck out 'no' from your dictionary; every client is welcome.

3. Urgent work always interrupts important work.

4. You only remember your mission, vision at the quaterly/annual retreat.

Hebrews teaches that the wise thing to do when running a race is to strip yourself of every weight; makes absolute sense if you ask me. I mean just look at sprinters, they wear next to nothing. You simply don't carry excess weight if your intention is to move swiftly.

Start cutting out the excess baggage today!

Sell Convinience

No matter what you sell, sell convinience; this is the one enduring strategy that gives you the edge over your competition. I know business schools probably have this strategy done up in some fancy language but I learnt it in the simplest form.

I used to buy call cards from a particular vendor just outside my office for a long time but didn't quite notice when I made the transition to buying from a cleaner in my office who delivers to my desk; I made the 'convinience' decision.

Selling convinience gives your enterprise that edge. This concept is evident in the practice of real estate developers to offer mortgages to prospective buyers of their products. People are simply more likely to make the 'buy' decision not because it's a cheaper or better product/service, but because the seller makes it easier for them to do the transaction. Even Jesus sold his 'yoke' as 'ease'.

The question which answer must be every enterprise developer's quest is, how can I make this easier for them?

Enterprise Productivity Model

Your Enterprise Productivity Model (EPM) is a critical factor which profoundly impacts on how much results you see from your efforts. Your EPM is simply the production model that drives your output.

There are essentially two major EPMs namely; Production EPM and Reproduction EPM. There are off course several sub-models but overall you can only run either the Production or Reproduction model.

In simple terms, the production model requires the same level of input everytime you require a certain output, while the reproduction model allows you to generate the same output using a far reduced or removed level of input.

The critical difference between the Production and Reproduction Models is that one bear fruit and the other bears fruit/seed respectively . To put it in more quantitative terms, the first is Arithmetic Progress and the second Geometric Progression.

God's EPM is the Reproduction Model; when he made the trees as recorded in Genesis, they bore fruit that bore seed that grew trees that bore fruit that bore seed that.... essentially creating an everwidening cycle.

What EPM does your enterprise run on?