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21 things we know now that we didn’t know then

The things you learn when start your own business

As we prepare to celebrate our 3rd birthday at The Clear Thinking Partnership we have captured some of our most valuable learning and thoughts about being in business, and making the transition from corporate life to "new business" to where we are today.

The experiences and insights that others have shared with us on our journey so far have been invaluable and we hope that we can provide inspiration to others, just as we have been inspired by the stories we have heard and the people we have met.

Do get in touch to find out more or just to tell us what you think! "Every day's a school day!"

Bump, bump, bump......

We have found in many areas of our business that simple things, done well, often have the longest lasting impact and taking time out to reflect is just one of those things. We love these words by A.A.Milne written in 1926.

"Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it."

Our own business strategy for avoiding sore heads is to schedule in thinking time with each other every month to reflect on business progress, celebrate successes and focus our attention back on the important things that we said we would do and just haven’t got around to yet. It’s not always easy to stick to, when we are busy and the temptation to work ‘in’ the business is stronger than the need to work ‘on’ the business, but when we do it, we always feel the benefits. 　

We also often speak to clients who have sore heads from all that bump, bump, bumping, and we love the challenge of pulling them back from the impulse to just do something, helping them to take the time to consider in a more rounded fashion what action will benefit them the most. We are true believers that mindful action is far more valuable than mindless activity.　　

Being part of the furniture......

We know we’ve made a breakthrough with a client when we start to feel like part of the furniture. There are some tell-tale signs such as rarely having to wait in reception to be collected for a meeting, we’re just asked to "come on up"; making our own cups of tea rather than relying on someone hosting us for our visit; being allowed to rearrange the furniture ourselves and put it back again; and the fact that we’re greeted with a warm and friendly "hello" from everyone we meet but then people simply go about their daily business barely noticing that we’re there.

Days like these have been real red flag days for us because it means the people in the business know us, like us and trust us enough to accept us into the fold as if we were one of them. And the benefits? Well at this point we often deepen our insight into what makes the organisation tick and therefore start to uncover what can be done to turbo charge its journey towards greater success.

Even so, we’ve always kept in mind the potential pitfalls of this situation, like the possibility of losing our objective eye and detached viewpoint. Our role as a "fresh pair of eyes" is always at front-of-mind and hopefully it’s ensured our approach is fresh, challenging and objective, with our client’s best interests always at the heart of everything that we do. And we don’t mind making our own cups of tea…..honest!

Some might say we've got a bit of a crush on them......

If you’ve ever had a crush on someone then you’ll recognise the obsessive behaviour described here!

We've learned that we we need to "get into" our clients so we know them from the inside out; we love to learn about what they do, how they do it, their people, where they come from, what makes them tick, the market they operate in, their competitors, their plans for the future…….it’s an obsession. Then we find ourselves tuning in to opportunities for them that we encounter every day which gives us a chance to add real value to our client organisations. And we’ve certainly seen the benefits of this approach, having become involved in all sorts of interesting and diverse projects that have been well beyond the scope of our initial brief with the business.

If you’re thinking there could be a viable shortcut to the process of relationship building, you’ll have to work very hard to convince us of its effectiveness. Any relationship that’s worth having and keeping takes heaps of time, loads of effort, tonnes of attention and a little bit of love. Did we really just say "love"?

Making responsiveness an art helps you hold onto your best clients......

Placing the emphasis on the "responsiveness" of the service we offer to our clients is not an excuse for being vague about outcomes, as we put a lot of effort into getting real clarity about what our clients want to achieve from the outset. However, our ‘real world’ experience has also taught us that, with the best will in the world, business doesn’t always run smoothly, to plan or to previously agreed time scales, and the needs of the people and the business can head off in unexpected directions. That's when "responsiveness" becomes the name of the game.

Actually, we've found that we rather like the challenge of working this way, in a dynamic, fast paced and fluid environment, where we adapt to what's happening in the moment. In reality, things break down, people go on strike, stock markets take a dive, volcanoes erupt, people change their minds, businesses change their strategies, and actually if things ran too smoothly then it just wouldn’t be half as much fun!

Thankfully, it seems that our clients really appreciate this way of working too……

"Clear Thinking can be flexible in their approach – they are able to adapt their solutions as the requirements of the project change and develop. They recognise that situations change in the course of a project and don’t allow themselves to get "wedded" to fixed ideas."

Who do you know who......

Don’t they always say "it’s not what you know, it’s who you know"? Well – we're not implying that we don’t know anything, but we continue to be surprised and delighted by the power of relationships in the growth of our business.

It has made good business sense to harness the power of our personal and professional networks to move our business onwards and upwards.

We've learned to be shameless self-promoters and it's a strategy that works. "Blowing your own trumpet" isn’t easy for everyone, so rather than perceiving it as an excruciating and cringe-inducing tactic, we've reframed it as having a positive mindset about letting people know what we are doing. We keep an open mind about the help and opportunities that people might be able to put our way, now and at some point in the future.

We've also learned that people need telling more than once though; things change and progress happens, goals shift and experience grows, so our challenge is always to keep people up to date with where we've been and where we hope to go next. If the people who know us best don’t know what we're up to, and what we can do, then what chance does anyone else have?

Dolphins and dinosaurs......

"Still having a sustainable business after 3 years has got a lot to do with being a dolphin rather than a dinosaur."

The dolphin - intelligent, graceful, agile; the dinosaur - very, very dead!

In the past three years our products and services have gradually evolved. We’ve not abandoned the ideals that we hold dear from when we started in business, we’ve just made smart and subtle adjustments to keep pace with what our customers need. It’s either that or be a dinosaur and disappear!

You don't have to be brave......

"You don’t have to be brave to start a business but having the support of people close to you and enough confidence does help...….a lot!"

In the very early days people talked a great deal about how brave we were to start the business, how competitive the market would be and so how hard it would be for us to make our mark, and in our work with start ups and small businesses too, we’ve heard those words repeated by others many times.

Now, we don’t think of ourselves as particularly brave; we’re no more remarkable than the next person when it comes to bravery. Starting a business just felt right, everything seemed to be in place and above all we had our mindset right, so it made the decision easy. There’s a great quote from a Heineken ad, "Get the head right and everything else follows," and that’s just how it was.

In a competitive market there can be room enough for everyone, so long as you're good enough. Obviously we seek out our competitors and it's in our best interests to learn from them, and sometimes with them.

And finally, making our mark has had a lot to do with who we are and how we do what we do. Being authentic, honest and straightforward has enabled us to work with some really exciting organisations and helped us to make a positive difference with them. So, no magic ingredients, just having the right people around us and the confidence to get on and do it.

Image: Danilo Rizzuti FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Being Indiana Jones......

"In the world of people development, making learning stick is like finding the Holy Grail, and we want to be Indiana Jones!" In our experience learning sticks if you do something with it immediately, if it's relevant to the here and now.

Our approach has 3 steps:

First we have to get the learning out in the open so its visible to the learner,

then we make it relevant to them,

then we give it a job to do.

This approach means that learning oozes from the learner back into the organsation so both the learner and the business get a result, the learning sticks as a consequence and the new way of doing things becomes the norm. We call it Sticky Thinking.

When two women in business agree......

two women.jpg "...... one of them is unnecessary."

We know that we are very similar in our approach and this has helped to grease the wheels of our partnership. We think alike, we are excited and inspired by similar things, we respond in a similar way, and treat deadlines with a similar contempt! Being so alike can be good for harmony, but it can also be a hindrance when you are trying to look at things from as many perspectives as possible to produce the best possible solution to a challenge..

As we are fans of "touch talking" we are happy to be straight forward with each other and actively encourage this when we have things to achieve and deadlines to be met. We are always mindful of our similar approach, and the risks that this brings, so try to do things that combat this and challenge our thinking.

We involve the people around us, those we trust and who have a very different view of the world - they are our Dragons, charged with doing just what the Dragon's in the Den are reknowned for. They help us to review our progress honestly and plan ahead realistically and we get a measured, different and sometimes blunt opinion from their perspective too. Dragons wouldn't be dragons without the fire!

Ron Mueck (Australian, b. 1958). Two Women, 2005