We continue to serve our SME clients as they work through the many challenges in today’s rather demanding times. Our observations lead us to believe that more than any other business group the type of assistance they require should be based on achieving practical outcomes at a competitive price. Any services offered must reflect an element of the ever changing business environment giving them an opportunity to compete on equal terms.

My mission is to support business to enable the Australian economy to flourish not only for now but to establish platforms for the future.

SME Blueprint

Over 95% of all business in Australia are small to medium enterprises (SMEs) with over two million of those employing less than twenty staff. It is widely accepted that in recent times this sector has experienced severe business pressures especially following the Global Financial Crisis in 2007. Issues such as increased competition, rising costs, compliance and lack of resources both of the financial and personnel nature have tested their resolve.

My colleague and I are of the strong belief that there is a more competitive and simple way to assist SMEs which puts future decisions regarding their respective businesses firmly in the hands of the owner. In line with the above belief I am pleased to announce the imminent release of SME Blueprint which caters for the specific needs of SMEs.

SME Blueprint is a business operating framework we have developed which can steer your business into the future and lift your returns. Using simple methodologies and effective tools SME Blueprint examines the six key inter-related components of a business: Foundation, Purpose, People, Systems & Processes, Customers and Financials. SME Blueprint will identify potential areas of improvement for your organisation and assist you to develop an effective strategy and action plan.

Our offering will also include monthly forums, membership of an on line community and SME free tools. To be part of the SME Blueprint revolution requires no expensive long term investment, only the commitment by the owners to build a better business.

We invite interested parties to register for a strictly non obligation preview of the product. Call us on Free Call 1800 555 678 or email us at ken.wood@banyansa.com.au for further details. (Please note seats are limited)

Optimism Australia

I have dedicated myself to an initiative entitled Optimism Australia http://www.kenwoodspeaking.com.au/optimism-australia/, a realistic assessment of where we are at the moment, in terms of confidence; to promote a sensible perspective of how we might regain our once noted optimistic nature.

Firstly, I would like to thank those people who attended our Inaugural Breakfast in February in Adelaide. Your support is very much appreciated and from your feedback you found it informative and an enjoyable experience.

We have taken all of your feedback on board and are now planning our next event of which you will be notified in due course.

We continue to engage people to seek their views how Optimism Australia can further develop and to be of interest to various sections of our communities. Feel free to contact us with your thoughts.

Please visit our website to see our brochure outlining our intentions and the services that are available. Alternatively, if you would prefer a hard copy, please contact us.

My available support services:

Intervention, Facilitation, Coaching, Business Education/ Speaking assignments

Feel free to visit my site www.kenwoodspeaking.com.au or Just call me direct on 1800 555 678

The post Newsletter – May 2013 appeared first on Ken Wood.

In an event last week I was kindly invited to give a guest lecture to a group of undergraduates at a local university about business and my career.

What message would I send to these aspiring young adults, give up, you are wasting your time trying to forge out a career?, after all they hear the same messages we all receive through the normal channels of media, that we are doomed to a future life of purgatory. Or should I paint a picture of future opportunities which can fulfil their dreams and aspirations?

Well the result of my conundrum was really quite easy,”Tell the truth”, give both sides of the story and a balanced perspective… The road on occasions will be rocky and uneven there will be times when they will want to give up. They will find a degree of resilience they never thought they possessed and most will come through it with achievements both in life and in business. Their need to adopt an attitude of self actualisation will be imperative to reach their goals responsibility cannot be laid at the door of anyone else.

In fact this is the same message I give to business every week; we have a choice either management portrays a perpetual cycle of struggle or work to inspire its people to create new opportunities for themselves and the business.

From my observations gleaned by speaking to a wide range of companies and organisations people are expressing negative sentiments and showing real signs of despondency. Issues of self worth, ambition and motivation should be of concern to us all. This is far cry from the traditional notion of Australia and its people; it appears we are not willing to take a more positive view of our future.

Without displaying a sense of perspective we as a country will not prosper, we need leaders on a number levels to break this very damaging situation.

Today leadership is touted in many guises; surely the simplicity of getting our people to adopt a more positive attitude is one of its purest forms. As once uttered by the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton almost one hundred years ago “Optimism is true moral courage”

Truer words have never been spoken!

The post Are we wasting our time? appeared first on Ken Wood.

But in the context of leadership we can learn some very good lessons from the events of her time in public life.

The development of strategy to allow working families to purchase their council (commission) houses was a masterstroke and by stealth broke union power in bringing out their members on the flip of a coin; now union members had more to lose. Her strategic abilities were very strong and her belief in pressing ahead regardless hence the famous quotation “The lady is not for turning”.

Leadership is about making judgement calls some you get right and others n fail.. Margaret Thatcher judged the mood of the country over the coalminers and she got it right, people were tired of conflict, strikes by the trade union movement and sided with her.

It is about balancing your decisions but sometimes admitting you are wrong, not to be candid in the eyes of voters or staff members that can be seen as arrogant, taking extreme positions which leads to division, she created the conditions in cabinet and in the general population to allow that to flourish. The deep divide amongst the south of the country (which did well under this period) and the industrial heartland of the north (whose industries were wiped out) and has never been totally reconciled, she really undertook the tactics of guerrilla warfare to relight a class war. The successful leader tries everything in his or her power to bring people together (our own political parties should take note).

Belligerence can only be used as a short term weapon whether in politics or business, it effectiveness will eventually wane, certainly today we have seen it will not be tolerated and it has been said, he or she who lives by the sword dies by the sword, it is not a leadership strategy to be contemplated without very good reason although Margaret Thatcher wore belligerence as a badge of honour and used it very effectively throughout her career both home and abroad.

Sometimes a leader or manager needs to understand when to leave the stage, Mrs Thatcher undoubtedly had a blind spot in this area, almost having to be removed kicking and screaming from office, such conviction was to be admired. It has echoes of the demise of that other famous leader Winston Churchill who suffered the same fate even though previously he was to almost considered a demy-god

In conclusion strong leadership can be warranted but must be used wisely; I suspect the debate about Dame Margaret Thatcher’s legacy has just begun.

Ken Wood

The post A Legacy of Leadership? appeared first on Ken Wood.

Ladies & Gentlemen, may I wish you a happy, safe and prosperous 2013.

In recent month’s I have conducted a review of the services I offer and have arrived at the following conclusions:

You could say we are now living through one of the most complex change processes in our history. This is creating serious challenges for companies, individuals and communities. I believe my focus should be to supply services that support your respective endeavours during this tumultuous time. Furthermore to facilitate thinking around possible opportunities how you can position your business for the future, to cope with the changed environment.

So with the above in mind I start the year with the following:

Managing People in Turbulent Times (February 5th, Adelaide)

A short dynamic session to promote methods and techniques how you can best manage your people in changing times. Find out about the key principles for maintaining a stable workforce.

Click to read more

Open Letter to the Business Community

Three weeks ago I celebrated my 60th birthday and engaged in a degree of reflection, important things such as how over the years my body has increasingly began to creak , how my hair has become thinner and gray where have the years gone?

On a more serious note I recalled the fabulous opportunities that have come my way. I have had the good fortune to visit so many countries, companies and meet a vast array of people. If I may I would like to share with you what I have learned about companies over thirty years operating as an international trouble-shooter, interventionist and coach and hope you may find it of interest.

Click to read my open letter.

Optimism Australia – Why

I have dedicated myself to an initiative entitled Optimism Australia, a realistic assessment of where are at the moment, in terms of confidence; to promote a sensible perspective of how we might regain our once noted optimistic nature.

Click to read more on Optimism Australia

Join us at our Inaugural Breakfast event on (February 26th, Adelaide)

Click to view Event details

My available support services:

Intervention, Facilitation, Coaching
Business Education/ Speaking assignments

The post Newsletter January 2013 appeared first on Ken Wood.

On 29th December 2012 I reached the milestone of my 60th birthday, apart from reflecting on my ever increasing creaking body I delved into my past career experiences over the 30 plus years. As an experienced international corporate trouble-shooter, coach, interventionist I would like to share some of them with you together with an opinion on what I consider are the major challenges that will confront managing a business in the future.

The first thing I would like to say there is no magic bullet to being successful many businesses fail for a myriad of different reasons but there are simple strategies that if followed can yield bountiful results in most cases.

Whilst change has always been with us, the rate that it is occurring today is absolutely mind bending; businesses and its people need to be extremely flexible in reacting to the type of issues being presented to them. In the past decade we have witnessed major events such as globalisation, the advance of technology, changing social attitudes, Labour mobility and emerging new organisational structures. In recent times the cataclysmic effects of the global financial crisis have altered the interpretation of some of our long held views and values making the job of operating a business all that more challenging.

From my experience of working with companies over the past thirty years I would like to give you a snapshot of why things go wrong and why they can ultimately fail.

• A business that does not have a well thought out strategy and knows it purpose, why it exists runs the risk of failing to reach its expectations.
• No commitment to the development of a strong healthy culture can be fatal.
• Relationships with people (employees & clients) can make or break a business.
• Retaining under performers too long, letting sentiment rule the head.
• Failure to act on critical issues ultimately will lead to trouble.
• No regular monitoring of key aspects of the business.
• Stubbornness to refuse advice from trusted sources is a mistake.
• Business not keeping themselves up to date and informed.

The issues outlined above are not really difficult if sensibly applied but time and time again businesses fail to take action or follow them through, this leads to serious difficulties and normally the result in significantly reduced bottom lines for owners.

As mentioned earlier the strategies that need to be employed are relatively simple and can be demonstrated by this matrix:

Without sounding too simplistic here is what I have personally learned throughout my career:

Purpose: Know what you are here for, who are you?
People: Build the strongest relationships and culture you can, constantly work on them.
Customers: Cherish your customers with the best service you can offer.
Systems & Processes: Employ the best systems you can afford; Keep up to date and informed i.e. market intelligence; Regularly monitor key data from your business and take action.
Financials: Produce sound financials and act on the data you receive.

It would take a fool to predict the future but one thing we do know some businesses will disappear off the face of the map (as is currently being witnessed) as they cease to be relevant.

We can safely predict it will be fast moving, people, flexibility and knowing who you are? will form the cornerstones of future strategies for any organisation. The question I pose to everyone “Can you satisfy yourself you are equipped to face the considerable challenges of which may reach your door in the coming years.

My view is in business and life is that in a lot of what we do is achieved by self help and actualisation. I am here as resource when requested to assist companies and individuals to work through some of the issues raised in this letter coupled with a passion to promote positive results and sentiment in Australian businesses.

If you wish to hear more Call 1800 555 678.

View PDF Version.

The post An Open Letter to the Business Community appeared first on Ken Wood.

In its heyday Sunderland was a powerful industrial city with industries from coal mining, shipbuilding, glassmaking and general engineering; with their outputs rivalling many other centres around the world. A gritty tough environment known for its peoples values and resilience, whilst not a pretty English postcard scene what it lacked in aesthetics was amply made up in community spirit.

Like similar communities the winds of change have swept through the city, a mixture of misguided political ideology, lack of vision, a failure to promote civic pride and other global events have left it a mere shell of its former self. Morale is at an all time low with a massive crisis of confidence for the future. Conversations held told a story of a search for meaning of their current predicament and concern for their family’s fortunes. The only positive addition to the ledger has been the automotive industry which now is the city’s only major employer. Registering the second highest unemployment figures in the nation, only the intervention of substantial amounts of social welfare sustains an ever increasing desperate population.

Now if I may ask for your indulgence, replace the place name Sunderland with the name Adelaide and you can begin to see some startling comparisons. Whilst our natural environment certainly cannot be compared with my former city there is a correlation. We have lost some major industries, we have experienced some poor leadership at a political level and we have seen a definite drop in positive thought in our city. Take a cross section of similar conversations held here and they display a growing sense of similar negative sentiment.

In our case there are opportunities for us to take advantage of but they will not be achieved by us continuing to display such negativity about our prospects. No doubt we are experiencing a slight downturn in our fortunes but for what is being witnessed in the rest of the western industrial world our position is comparatively good.

There are many fine organisations doing tireless work to promote our state but unfortunately we tend to hear only a cacophony of naysayers from certain parts of the media and other commentators.

Although it may be seen as unfashionable today to champion optimism for our city and state, I believe it is the duty of leaders in our midst to start promoting and believing of a brighter future.

My personal experience of the last week confirms my belief, of the great benefits we have by living where we do, let’s not self implode and allow the experience of cities like Sunderland to become our reality too.

Ken Wood
Optimism Australia
14th January 2013
Register for our Inaugural Breakfast Event on 26th February 2013
Visit our website www.kenwoodspeaking.com.au

The post A Once Mighty City Searching for Meaning (A Memo to Adelaidians) appeared first on Ken Wood.

We strongly believe in a bright future for Australia and that others do too!

It seems every message we are receiving screams at us that we should be negative and be fearful of our future; causing many to adopt a fatalistic view of our prospects. Commentators would have us believe this could be one of Australia’s darkest periods. We are championing a realistic initiative to throw off the heavy overcoat of pessimism and achieve some perspective to our position.

Join us at our Inaugural Breakfast Event on 26th February 2013 at the Crowne Plaza, Pulteney Street, Adelaide, and 7.30-9.00am

Optimism Australia invites you to its inaugural event

Hear about:

• Perspective & Realities
• Hear how an optimistic attitude can assist companies
• How individuals through self actualisation can benefit
• Hear from an experienced practitioner of the effects of optimism
• Listen to leaders who have seen both sides of the coin
• Network with other positive people

Who should attend?

Any organisation or individual who feels they wish to promote a more positive outlook for themselves and Australia.

Learn more about this initiative, visit http://www.kenwoodspeaking.com.au/optimism-australia/ or Free Call 1800 555 678

DATE: Tuesday 26th February 2013
LOCATION: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Pulteney Street, Adelaide
TIME: 7.30am -9.00am
REGISTER BY: Thursday 14th February 2013
INVESTMENT: $48 per person (including cooked breakfast)

The post Feb 2013 – Inaugural Optimism Australia Event appeared first on Ken Wood.

The client had over a two hour period unburdened himself informing me that he saw no future for him and the country claiming we were all destined to end up in the poor house, we were finished and we might as well give up.

Walking back to my car, I reflected back almost thirty years to a time when I landed in Sydney as an immigrant. A time of optimism, endless opportunities and possibilities a far cry from my homeland of which I had left for the last time to start a new life down under. Had that magical environment of my adopted country gone?

Stewing over this gentlemen’s comments I started to question the validity of his arguments, was he being extreme in his feelings or was there a grain of truth in what he was so forcefully advocating?. By the time I reached home I could see how he may have reached some of his conclusions.

Of course the face of Australia not unlike many other countries had changed, a myriad of global events had seen to that, from globalisation, the advance of technology, financial collapses and much more.

The sense of innocence and tranquility that we may have once enjoyed has seemingly disappeared as we have had to deal with a changed competitive world ensuring a much tougher existence for all our people. In times gone by the trademark of our character had been to treat adversity with scorn and face the challenges full on, no matter what they may have been. There is clear evidence that this resolve is today being severely tested.

The torch of leadership held by our politicians has always open to criticism, it has been a national sport only in truth they have had the grudging respect of most of the nation. No more it seems as in recent times they have displayed a distinct lack of leadership in working for the best interests of its citizens being replaced with a desperate ugly clamouring to either cling on to or grab power. The conclusion has been reached the population has lost total confidence in their abilities to lead us through these turbulent times and that we have lost a vital constituent part of our proud culture.

Add this to growth of a media bombarding us with messages of doom and gloom about our future, no wonder this poor chap wanted to give up the ghost. One could easily see how people thought processes may be altered or compromised inducing a state of negativity.

Back to my internal stoush, I agonised about my own position was this unfolding situation any of my business, was it a tsunami that would wash over us regardless, pointless to resist? Was my ego ruling my head if I allowed myself the luxury of believing I could contribute in somehow creating renewed optimism within Australia?

I finally resolved I was going to take that step, recognising this may be seen by many as a worthless venture by someone with “rocks in his head” and totally devoid of reality.

What struck me that was being missed is that many Australians are striving to create opportunities, working in meaningful jobs and services. To get to our future, it will be different, the old norms are disappearing and there will be pain but what is the alternative, do we follow the lead of my client and throw in the towel. Somehow I cannot believe we can allow that to happen.

I concluded the only way I could test my own feelings was to engage in multiple conversations with a wide cross section of people and request that they share their views and opinions. It was obvious that many respondents were feeling that their lives were being blighted by the air of negativity that now pervaded the country; these included a diverse set of people from different backgrounds.

What was encouraging rather than being ridiculed there was a sense of a need to do something and not to allow our way of lives to be dismantled or even lost.
The result of this research has been the establishment of Optimism Australia an initiative to promote realistic positive thinking across the country amongst companies, individuals and communities utilsing practical methodologies and realistic perspectives.

Time will tell if this initiative will be successful but I fervently believe it is a risk worth taking. What I do know is that I owe that anguished gentleman a case of wine for waking my passion for my country something I believe we are all guilty of letting go from time to time.

Ken Wood
Founder
Optimism Australia

Join us at our Inaugural Event on 26th February 2013 and hear more!!!

The post Optimism Australia – Why take the risk? appeared first on Ken Wood.

DATE: Tuesday 5th February 2013
LOCATION: Hilton Hotel, Victoria Square, Adelaide
TIME: 10.30 am to 12.00pm
REGISTER BY: Friday 1st February 2013
INVESTMENT: $95 (Inc GST) per person

Download booking form.

The post February 2013 – Managing people in turbulent times appeared first on Ken Wood.

Currently in some world economies there is a battle going on by countries to feed their burgeoning populations; for example recently in India riots broke out as the price of the said onion quadrupled because of a lack of supply. In Singapore much debate has emerged regarding food security fuelled by steady increases in staple food items of late. The government is examining various overseas projects that the island nation may invest in to provide a level of security in the knowledge that 90% of all food has to be imported.

China has a continual problem with grain and dairy supply and it is well known that the government has tried to secure land and assets here in Australia to meet their increasing needs. Another fact, China alone will increase its middle class between the periods of 2013-2020 by 600 million quite staggering really, who will fill the expected supply void?

The point of the above Australia has tremendous opportunities open to it to quench the thirst of these hungry nations’ food needs; that is if we want to take up the challenge over the next few decades.

Is this another example of short sightedness on the part of our decision makers who would rather wallow in pessimism and political infighting which has no discernible future benefit for our country? Couple this with the continual whining of commentators who tell us our outlook is hopeless adds to a very unhealthy situation. Of course our country is experiencing major structural change some of which is very painful; this should not be at the total exclusion of looking optimistically at potential situations of which we already have a competitive edge. Our slavery to the reliance on resources has clouded our judgement marginalising businesses that achieve outstanding results in overseas markets and inhibits critically needed focus and investment.

When are we going to wake up to the fact that we have to help ourselves , the world will glide by without us unless we get realistic and shed this growing malaise which we are seemingly afflicted.

The time is well overdue for us to decide where we go from here; do we continue to envelop ourselves in self pity and procrastination or rise to new and exciting challenges available to us?
The red onion may yet prove to be our next winner!!

The post The Humble Red Onion appeared first on Ken Wood.