How I can help

Do you know what you need to do to succeed?

Forget the fads, focus on what really works!

A 10 year study by Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business (a US Ivy League University) had clear findings – in order to succeed in business, you must excel at four primary management practices – Strategy, Execution, Culture and Structure. In addition, you must also excel at two of four secondary management practices – Talent, Innovation, Leadership and Mergers & Partnerships.

My approach is based on helping you excel at six of these practices. Scroll down to read more on the practice(s) that interest you.

Strategy

Setting a roadmap for growth

You must have a clear, focused strategy for winning in your industry.

I will help you build a strategy for your business that clarifies your aspirations, what markets you will compete in, how you will deliver unique value and beat your competitors, what capabilities you need to build, and what management systems you need to implement to monitor and manage your strategic processes.

I will mentor you through the process of deciding on the few key strategic initiatives you will focus on over the next three years, ignoring all the many distractions competing for your time and energy, in order to lead your business towards the vision you have established for it.

And with my help, you will describe how your business will get to the future first, ahead of your competitors, implying that you will prioritise comprehensive analysis of your industry, markets and competitors.

Workshops are one of the main ways I help clients to develop a winning strategy, but I also coach clients to develop industry foresight and strategic thinking. I can review and challenge existing strategies, and conduct research on your behalf about what your customers value.

Execution

Making sure it happens

Even if you have the best strategy, it won’t help you unless you execute it.

I will coach you to develop a discipline of execution in your business, so that you actually implement your strategy (putting you in the top 20% of businesses). You will learn to identify and prioritise the top few actions that must be completed over the next quarter; hold team members accountable for completing those actions; run an ironclad schedule of execution meetings that monitor progress, remove obstacles and determine the next weekly tasks; and conduct quarterly meetings that review with brutal honesty how well execution was performed, what needs to improve, and which new quarterly actions will be prioritised.

Typical ways to help you in this area include Introduction to Execution Workshops, Key Performance Indicator Workshops, regular coaching of you and your management team, chairing your first few weekly execution meetings, and facilitation of quarterly reviews.

Culture

Being clear about the character and personality of your business

Create massive alignment, energy, enthusiasm, engagement and fun in your business.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” is a quote attributed to Peter Drucker, the famous management guru. With a great culture, you can implement even an average strategy. On the other hand, even a fantastic strategy will founder if it is not supported by a good culture.

With my mentoring, you will develop your Core Values, the foundations of your work culture, and make them come alive in your business; decide on the most important cultural attributes to align your team with your strategy, and how to emphasise those to get the work culture you need; and implement effective staff engagement strategies to improve retention and motivation.

In the Culture space, I facilitate Core Values Workshops and Culture Development Workshops, conduct culture gap analyses, and undertake staff engagement surveys on your behalf.

Structure

Simplifying how work gets done

You need an organisation structure that can respond quickly and flexibly to the demands of customers, and reduce confusing bureaucracy.

I will coach you to develop a business model that is detailed and specific about how your organisation will create, deliver and capture value; design a structure that will enable communication to flow effectively up and down the organisation, and work to be completed with as few complications as possible; and document key processes about how work gets done and is passed from one person to another.

Examples of how I help clients with structure include facilitation of business model development; development of a recommended business structure; provide advice on job design; and conduct business process re-engineering/process re-design projects.

Talent

Getting the right people “on the bus”

Having the very best people is one of the most sustainable competitive advantages you can have, but it takes a dedicated effort.

I will mentor you so that you acquire the ability to hire, retain and engage a team of ‘A’ Players; identify the critical competencies you need to develop in your people; and develop and use an effective performance management system that delivers the optimal mix of accountability and meaningful development.

I also assist clients with advice on a world-class recruitment process, development of competency models, and design of talent management programmes.

Innovation

Winning with disruptive breakthroughs

Nowadays everybody wants more innovation to fuel growth and profits, but it is hard to come by.

I have the experience to help you to build a work culture and leadership model in which innovation can flourish; develop innovations that actually lead to high customer demand and increased business; and make sure that the innovations you pursue also deliver commercial benefits to your business, as well as to your customers’.

Typical assignments in the Innovation space include advice on the development of an innovation culture; facilitating the capture, analysis and prioritisation of innovation opportunities; and building execution programmes for the exploitation of innovation opportunities.

Leadership

Making extraordinary things happen in your business

You’re it! You’re the leader. It’s your business. You have the privilege and responsibility of leading it to achieve the vision you have set for it.

With me as your business mentor, you will learn to become an emotionally intelligent leader; to communicate your vision in a way that inspires your people; to enable positive change by challenging everything and making it safe for others to do the same; and to supercharge your business growth by developing other leaders in your business.

I am an experienced Executive Coach, able to assist clients to achieve difficult changes in behaviours and leadership capability. I am also accredited to deliver Hogan Assessments, world leading personality testing tools for predicting performance. The leaders in your business have a much better chance of substantially improving their performance when they get expert feedback based on highly reputable tools.

I also help my clients by delivering Emotional Intelligence Workshops and customised Leadership Development Programmes.

Mergers and Partnerships

Complementing organic growth

Mergers and Partnerships are often, but not always, great ways to achieve growth that is not available organically. However, when they go wrong, they can make your life a misery!

I will mentor you to determine whether a merger or partnership is appropriate for your business, and whether a particular opportunity is really as attractive as it seems; develop an executable implementation plan; and as you prepare and start to implement an opportunity, identify the critical priorities for achieving the synergies that are often promised but seldom realised.

I help clients with mergers and partnerships through strategy workshops to determine whether a merger or partnership is appropriate; facilitation of the design of an execution programme to implement the merger or partnership; and coaching of the integration team to ensure that the merger or partnership is executed effectively

CHRIS BUNCE, AUCKLAND BUSINESS MENTOR