Why do some organizations thrive, even in the face of the chaos, complexity and rapid change that mark today´s business landscape?

Why do others struggle or fail?

Why do some leaders get stuck, in financial crises, technological change, process problems, or [especially] the management of people, while others seem to flow around these obstacles like a mountain stream around its bed of boulders?

My experience in coaching business leaders and their top managers is that the most successful among them lead from an intense and timeless reverence for their people, and in that process, create a “culture of sustainability,” centered around people, not their products, services, or even the bottom line.

How is this a recipe for sustainability, and what opportunity does this concept hold for leaders?

Despite the far-too-common examples of mechanistic, lifeless, control-oriented and short-term-focused businesses, and probably an equal number of people in charge of them, organizations are truly organic in nature.

They have personalities; they live and breathe, in many ways, as a single organism. They also live and die. My experience shows that the personality of an organization is a reflection of the top leader´s view of the world, and his or her place in it.

Leaders who manage the most successful organizations realize that their company´s most significant value is not their products or services, but the people who make them possible.

They realize that the productivity and profitability required to maintain competitive advantage also come from a focus on people, and not on the measures themselves.

They realize that to sustain long-term success means finding a way to deal with, if not thrive upon, the inevitable crises and changes along the way, whether they be economic, technological, political, or human. Success is not about what Wall Street says at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.

As a coach, my value to leaders comes from guiding them to see a new “model” for how they might view their business landscape, for it is only with new ways of seeing that we may adopt new ways of behaving.

Conversely, continuing to make decisions from the same viewpoint leads inevitably to the same kind of results. If you want true change, you first need to change the way you see.

I have a personal passion for nature. It is probably no surprise that I look to the world of nature for “lessons” for how we might live our lives — personally or professionally. Nature offers perhaps the best model available to us for creating a truly sustainable organization.

If we could pattern our organizations after our natural world, the resultant energy would offer just the sustainability and success we truly want. While many can believe this intellectually, it takes seeing it clearly, perhaps for the first time, before the old control-based view of the world can be released.

Here are some of the “lessons” nature offers us. As you consider each, begin to envision how your business would operate if this were one of your business “rules.” A sampling of nature´s lessons:

Connectedness: Every occurrence in nature affects something else; nothing happens in isolation.

Rhythm: Cycles are an integral part of nature: birth and death, dearth and abundance, ebb and flow. Nature doesn’t attempt to fight off this natural rhythm in the name of control.

Balance: Nature thrives on both order and chaos. Constant change creates constant balance. Balance cannot come from “either/or,” but only from “both.”

Acceptance: Nature “just is.” It has no agenda to control. Everything has both value and beauty. Water changes the shape of all it touches – without competing with it.

Openness: There are no boundaries in nature, no walls. Nothing is inaccessible to anything else. There are borders, such as between sea and land, but even here we find constant change and a rich variety of life.

Simplicity: No energy is wasted in nature; it always takes the “least energy” path. The result is elegant simplicity.

Nature has had over four billion years of experience (not a bad resume). The rules haven´t changed once. The results are in constant flux, and what we experience during our lifetime is just the current state of this ultimate sustainable system.

What if your organization followed a similar set of rules?

What if your business and your people could foster the same environment of dignity and integrity that make up the world of nature? It has been said that humans have a single basic desire in life — to make a difference.

What if you, as a leader, could help people make a difference in their lives, and in yours, by allowing nature to guide your mission?

Bradford L. Glass can be reached at http://www.RoadNotTaken.com.

Bradford L. Glass is a Life Coach, with over 30 years experience providing leadership for individuals, organizations and businesses. His love of nature and his passionate belief in “nature as teacher” form the backdrop for his coaching, where he weaves story, metaphor and possibility together in a way that offers meaning for how we might live our lives – personally and professionally. He has been an adjunct Professor at Antioch University´s Graduate School, leads nature tours to some of the world´s unique places, and holds master´s degree in both Engineering and Environmental Studies. Brad lives in Sagamore Beach, MA. You may ponder a journey on “The Road Not Taken” via his website at www.RoadNotTaken.com.

Technorati Tags: sustainable organization

Smooth management succession and ownership transition is the benefit, the intention, the objective on just about any successful business owner’s mind.

The benefits of the family business succession process commence the day you get seriously interested in designing the future you desire for your firm and your loved ones. And the progression continues forever, just like your family’s involvement in the business will extend far beyond the lifetimes of everybody living today.

Here are three important planning elements uniquely connected with one another to create the succession and planning process, at least one that is certainly both smooth and financially successful.

Strategic planning is really a key element of the family business succession process. You may not use this expression in your daily discussions, even believing it belongs specifically to Fortune 500 companies, but strategic planning is exactly what you’re doing any time you plan beyond the following 12 months – regularly moving your planning ahead of you as you go.

Family business strategic planning is also about management training and leadership development for your successors so they will be prepared to assume full responsibility when the time is right.

Let’s be honest, we’ve seen this from our business friends, there are a few mistakes your company can absorb and keep right on zipping along and there are some that could absolutely annihilate what has been created. Today mistakes about exactly where you are going can destroy your energy and inevitably your entire operation.

Begin today by figuring out who is going to be in the next generation operating your business and begin with the leadership and management training they’ll need to be competent to do so efficiently.

Succession planning is the process where you choose the people to run the place in the future and start empowering them to conserve what you have built and leverage your efforts to grow the business even bigger in the future.

Growth is very important as a way to produce the profits required to satisfy the security desires of the retiring generation, offer a fair share of the company’s value to the beneficiaries whose interests don’t include the family business, and give an incentive to the successors for his or her risks and hard work.

When you start immediately to open up areas of responsibility, in the eyes of the successors not simply yours, you’ll send the right messages regarding your hopes for the future.

Estate planning, the wills, trusts, buy-sell agreements, as well as the legal agreements needed to accomplish your succession and planning requirements DO NOT come last.

Family business estate planning is crucial, too critical to be delayed, because it determines the ground rules, faces the tax consequences, and gives the force of law to the strategies that will result in your wishes being spelled out for all to see.

Estate planning measures should be made now based on everything you know today, where things are today, and based on the best guidance currently available.

As time goes by and the other components of your family business succession plan fall into place you only need to have your advisors update your estate planning documents.

How many movies have you seen where the old tyrant dies without having changed his will for decades – leaving the heirs and those who though they were heirs to fight over the spoils, leading to another thriller for Perry Mason to unravel. Don’t allow that to be your situation!

Throughout the last twenty years people have said to me, “but our business/farm is different” and it is. Generally this comment is made to help convince me that their situation was so extraordinary it defied the experts and therefore their lack of planning was validated.

Family business succession then is the result. Your organization and family’s unique situation addressed using well considered strategies that are being applied effectively by others.

Family business succession planning requires that you make the best decisions possible, to insure the most productive outcome. Effective leaders know that their best decisions are those made in collaboration with people whose success they respect and whose opinions they trust. Why not harness the power of your peers, to help you consider possibilities and alternatives about your family business succession strategy? Click here to find out how this is possible!

Technorati Tags: Family business, Family Business Succession, mastermind groups, Strategic Planning

Seamless management succession and ownership transition will be the benefit, the target, the objective on just about any successful business owner’s mind.

The benefits of the family business succession process begin the day you get interested in designing the future you choose for your firm and your loved ones. And the activity continues forever, just like your family’s involvement in the business will extend far beyond the lifetimes of everybody living presently.

Allow me to share three major planning components uniquely connected with one another to create the succession and planning process, at least one which is both smooth and financially successful.

Strategic planning is a key element of the family business succession process. You might not use this expression in your regular chats, even considering it belongs solely to Fortune 500 companies, but strategic planning is exactly what you are doing when you plan more than the following year – continually rolling your planning ahead of you as you go.

Family business strategic planning is also about management training and leadership development for your successors so they’ll be prepared to assume full responsibility the moment the time is right.

After all, we’ve seen this from our business associates, there are numerous mistakes your company can absorb and keep right on chugging along and there are some which will absolutely kill what has been created. Currently mistakes about exactly where you’re headed can destroy your traction and in the long run your entire operation.

Start today by determining who’s probably going to be in the next generation operating your business and begin with the leadership and management education they’ll need to be able to do so with success.

Succession planning is the procedure where you choose the people to run the place in the future and begin empowering them to conserve what you have developed and leverage your efforts to grow the business bigger in the future.

Growth is critical if you want to produce the earnings necessary to meet the security desires of the retiring generation, give a fair share of the company’s value to the beneficiaries whose interests do not include the family business, and reward the successors for their risks and hard work.

When you start now to open up areas of responsibility, in the eyes of the successors not just yours, you’ll send the right messages on the subject of your hopes for the future.

Estate planning, the wills, trusts, buy-sell agreements, as well as the plans required to fulfill your succession and planning requirements DO NOT come last.

Family business estate planning is important, too important to be put off, since it confirms the ground rules, faces the tax consequences, and gives the force of law to the strategies that will result in your wishes being spelled out for all to see.

Estate planning decisions should be made today based on what you know today, where everything is today, and using the best assistance currently available.

As time goes by and the other elements of your family business succession plan fall into place you just have your advisors update your estate planning paperwork.

How many movies have you seen where the old tyrant dies without having changed his will for decades – leaving the heirs and those who though they were heirs to fight over the spoils, resulting in another mystery for Miss Marple to resolve. Don’t allow that to be you!

Throughout the last 35 years folks have said to me, “but our business/farm is different” and it is. Frequently this comment was made in an effort to convince me that their situation was so extraordinary it defied the experts and consequently their lack of planning was justified.

Family business succession then is the result. Your business and family’s unique situation addressed using well considered strategies that are being being used effectively by others.

Family business succession planning requires that you make the best decisions possible, to insure the most productive outcome. Effective leaders know that their best decisions are those made in collaboration with people whose success they respect and whose opinions they trust. Why not harness the power of your peers, to help you consider possibilities and alternatives about your family business succession strategy? Click here to find out how this is possible!

Technorati Tags: Family business, Family Business Succession, mastermind groups, Strategic Planning

Duration : 0:3:11

Technorati Tags: DDI, human, management, Planning, resources, Succession, talent

Duration : 0:2:26

Technorati Tags: Attorney;, breach, business, contract, Contracts;, copyright, incorporating, incorporation, lawsuit, of, Planning, protection, Small, Succession