Business Problems Solved Podcast

In this episode Lee continues his ‘There’s Always 3 Things’ series and sets out the 3 most important things to consider about your all-important daily team meeting. After this, you will think, feel and do more when it comes to structuring your regular updates and discussions.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Daily meetings are an opportunity to engage everyone and have two-way conversations. An opportunity to connect your communication floor horizontally as well as vertically with effective escalation and cascade. An opportunity to increase your focus and align your priorities.   BEST MOMENTS ‘You’ll maybe feel conflicted about your current meeting structure, or you might feel positive and confident about it.’ ‘But often people mean when they say that there is a lack of communication, it’s a lack of communication to help them do what they are doing today.’  ‘Can you connect your daily conversation with your peer’s daily conversation, with your seniors' daily conversation? Is there an effective cascade of communication and expectations down and is there an effective escalation of issues, challenges , frustration and things that get in the way of people doing the job?’ ‘You are aligning people on what the focus and priorities are today, but also celebrate what has gone well when it’s fresh in the mind.’  VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast          ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker. CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

The latest in Lee’s series on the power of 3 takes a look at Customer Experience. What 3 things can you consider when focusing on consumers that can challenge you, refresh your viewpoint and make you apply changes to the way you currently deliver your Customer Experience? KEY TAKEAWAYS Customer experience is about the full journey, from awareness, through to purchase and then follow-up. To provide the best experience we need to consider all aspects from the moment the consumer starts to look at your provision.   Have a detailed understanding of the flow of all customers through your organisation. Your task is to understand how they think and feel about all your touch points on the journey. Create powerful memories so that the customer remembers the experience and will be fully willing to repeat it.  BEST MOMENTS ‘Customer experience for me has been an exciting journey to understand more about that but if we think about customer experience and the best model that we use, if you think about consultants 15 to 20 years ago they focused primarily on the targets of a business.’  ‘A customer doesn’t typically follow the same route as the way you are set up organisationally.’  ’The true value in any customer experience measure is to understand the intent of that customer, what they were trying to achieve, and maybe how they felt while they were doing that.’ ‘What lasting memories do you want to leave with the customers?’ VALUABLE RESOURCESBusiness Problems Solved Podcast          ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker. CONTACT METHODYou can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

In this episode Lee takes a look at the 3 main points when forming positive habits to benefit our organisations. How do we create those automatic actions effectively in ourselves and our team that can become parts of the system and problem solving solutions that we need?   KEY TAKEAWAYS One of our favourite definitions of ‘culture’ is the sum of all of the habits that exist within our organisation.  Belief is the most natural way to form a habit if your people believe that change is truly possible.  The Habit Loop is the model which is based on cue, routine and reward. The same model is applied to creating a good habit as a bad one. Cue is the repeated trigger for the habit, routine is the process to deal with the situation and the reward is the results achieved.  Craving will be the eventual result of repeated problem solving through the habit loop and will be the driver behind habitual change. BEST MOMENTS ‘There’s various different studies that suggest that a high percentage of what we do every single day is habitual.’  ’If we really want to challenge and change our culture then it starts with creating and forming new habits.’  ‘I see a lot of people want to do the routine without considering the cue and the reward.’  ‘If you can sufficiently get people to continuously travel that habit loop over a period of time then you will create a level of craving and then it becomes habitual.’ VALUABLE RESOURCESBusiness Problems Solved Podcast        ABOUT THE HOSTFor the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker. CONTACT METHODYou can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

Lee begins his ‘3 Things’ mini series with the 3 things he believes makeup Operational Excellence. He will guide you to help you ‘know, feel and do’ in a new way in regards to Operational Excellence to challenge you or help your confidence so you can take action effectively as a leader of change.  KEY TAKEAWAYS The first is an environment that works daily towards a particular destination. The second is encouraging teamwork and cooperation.  The third is committed, supportive, empowering leadership.  BEST MOMENTS ‘For me, typically, this is about the process of the systems, the organisation, operating in a manner that strives towards excellence. I believe that Operational Excellence is a journey that we should be continuously striving towards.’   ’How clear is your vision? How clear has it been articulated? What do people take from it and are you all striving towards the same end?’  ‘Teamwork is a recognition that the sum is far greater than the individual parts.’  ‘How supportive are we of our people? How supportive are we of each other? How often does one leader sacrifice themselves for the benefit and gain of the whole system?’  VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast          ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker. CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

3 seems to be a culturally significant digit and Lee is running with this, creating a mini-series over the coming weeks on a number of problem-solving subjects titled The 3 Things About... KEY TAKEAWAYS Have you ever thought of why the number 3 is significant? The rule of 3 is a powerful technique used in writing and speaking. Whittle it down to the 3 most important priorities for your team. BEST MOMENTS ‘I’m gonna do a mini-series, the 3 things about ‘x’ and over the coming weeks I’m gonna introduce the three things about ‘x’. The 3 Things About Visual Management, The 3 Things About Operational Excellence etc’     ’When you think about plays, and every story in every film, it’s always divided into 3 parts isn’t it?’ ‘I want you to know some stuff’ I want you to think some stuff and ultimately I want you to take action and do some stuff afterwards.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast          ABOUT THE HOST   For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.   CONTACT METHOD   You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

One habit is the differentiator between an environment that sustains and improves and one that does not. The habit that we should all commit to installing in our repertoire is continuous improvement. Lee explains how to make today continuously better than yesterday. KEY TAKEAWAYS By ensuring leaders ask better questions a system of continuous improvement can be installed. There is a difference between identifying blocks to productivity and removing them and improving the actual process by which productivity is achieved.  It all starts with belief. Are you coming from a place where you believe anything can be improved?  BEST MOMENTS ‘I don’t think people really focus on the habit of continuous improvement. The purpose of everything we do is not necessarily to improve the metrics but improve how we do the job.’  ’If you continuously cue, routine, reward it creates a craving in you to want to do it more.’ ‘Use your senses. Use everybody’s senses. What things are you seeing? What things are you hearing? What things are you feeling? What processes are you touching that can be improved?’ VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast          ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker. CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

When leading people we often look at things on a macro level. Detailing to a micro level can help you change a culture. Culture is a conglomeration of formed habits, and you need to identify the habit loops present and alter them to make any headway in changing culture.   KEY TAKEAWAYS The Habit Loop is the structure of a habit, made up of cues, routine and reward.   To understand habits you need to engage with people and understand their cues, routines and how they feel rewarded.  You cannot just tell people to change, you need to convince them of the need to do so, cultivating their belief and thus desire to change habits.   BEST MOMENTS ‘If you can identify the habits that people do every single day then you can start to change the culture.’ ‘Often I use the example of walking past a piece of rubbish in any working environment. If you do that then you make it instantly acceptable to do that.’  ‘The easiest way to create belief in others is to create a community set of believers. It’s the reason why religion is so popular, it’s the reason why communities are starting to grow.’  VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast          ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker. CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

One of the most important aspects of driving change in a team or as a change manager is asking the right questions, but is there any worth in repeating questions previously asked? Lee believes asking the same question in the right setting and with the right intent can benefit you as a leader of people and change and he explains why.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Lee asks weekly ‘how have you felt this week?’ and ‘what one thing that’s noteworthy have you learnt this week?’ Consistently asked questions over time can mean a more in-depth and heartfelt response as time goes on as the responder feels safer in their environment.  A follow-up question as simple as ‘and what else?’ can challenge someone to think deeper about the answer they have just given and elaborate.  BEST MOMENTS ‘Every single Friday morning we have a little ‘reflection section’. It’s a small team and we sit around a table and I’ve asked for the last ten weeks the same two questions.’  ‘Over a course of ten weeks, boy, can I tell you the conversations have developed and have changed.’  ‘Fundamentally it’s about making sure you have clarity of intent of what it is, you create a safe space for people to think.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast          ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker. CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

When asking better questions, how comfortable are you with silence as a response? Not all questions require a yes or no answer and a team’s strength is built with open-ended questions that require more thought. Is your discomfort with silence causing unconsidered answers and thus unsatisfactory solutions?  KEY TAKEAWAYS Fundamentally, becoming more comfortable with silence can help you with coaching your team.  Common responses to silence are; rephrasing a question to elicit a more immediate response, answering the question themselves or providing prompts or suggestions. Anything to break the silence.   Ask questions that require more thought such as “How can you visualise the performance of your team?”  Create the space and time for the answer to occur.  BEST MOMENTS ‘You might be somebody that when you get in a lift and you're travelling with people you don’t know, do you break that silence with an uncomfortable giggle?’  ’I encourage you to think of an open question. Think of a question that requires some thinking.’ ‘Your ability to be comfortable with silence I think is an important factor in your ability to coach and lead your people.’   VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast          ABOUT THE HOST For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker. CONTACT METHOD You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

Have you got enough time? If not, you probably need to prioritise. If you place everything in your ‘in-tray’ into your ‘urgent’ tray, then you are probably going to be eternally frustrated. Lee takes a look at how you can denote what needs doing now. KEY TAKEAWAYS What is the most important thing for you to do today? Fundamentally, despite outside pressures, you can only really have one priority at a time. Are you a specialist or a generalist? This will have an effect on your chosen priority for you. If you are pushing everything a little this makes less progress than pushing the main priority hard. BEST MOMENTS ‘I’m working with a number of teams currently in a couple of different businesses and they’ve all not got enough time. Each of the leaders has not got enough time, they’re working on too many things.’  ’And I can hear you now saying that you don’t have time and there’s so many different expectations on you to do all sorts of other things, but are you going to some meetings where you’ve only got to provide a 10-minute update in a 60-minute meeting?’ ‘Help your team understand what they need to do and how they can help you overcome and achieve the goals that you’re trying to get to.’  VALUABLE RESOURCES Business Problems Solved Podcast          ABOUT THE HOST   For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material. Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.   CONTACT METHOD   You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/