Anatomy of Awayreness

Most businesses operate in one of two modes: 1) a disorganized, ad-hoc, seat-of-the-pants mode or 2) a structured, lifeless, soul-less, “well-run” mode. Both have their shortcomings.

Realistically speaking, a typical business is a mishmash of the two modes. In some of parts of it, it operates in the first mode. In others, it operates in the second. Sometimes the business swings between the two modes, looking for a “groove” that it sometimes finds but in many cases, does not.  

The First Mode: Ad-hoc, Seat-of-the-Pants Mode

The shortcomings of the ad-hoc, seat-of-the-pants mode are:

• Lack of predictability and control over the business’s success, profits, revenues and growth.
• Anxiety and insecurity on the part of business owners, executives and leaders as well as its employees
• Lack of clarity, focus and confidence.
• Lack of a well-planned, charted course.
• Lack of discipline.
• Lack of order and organization, resulting in stress and insecurity for everyone involved with the business.

Such a business is typically an under-performing business with high turnover, anxious people, and even more anxious leaders.

The Second Mode: Structured, Lifeless Mode

The problems of the second mode are:

• The business is a lifeless machine.
• Human creativity, wisdom and talents are is stifled, even crushed.
• The business operates at a fraction of its optimum performance because it is not utilizing the full potential of its people.
• People live a frustrated work-life because their full potential is not unlocked and realized.
• Result is an under-performing business with high turnover and mediocre revenues and profitability.

A business typically starts in the first mode and then “graduates” to the second mode as it becomes successful in the marketplace. Yet, such success is not lasting as there is always another business that will take advantages of its weaknesses and outperform it.

The Third Mode: Awayre Mode

There is a third mode. This mode is not a combination of these two. It’s not even a balance between these two. It’s a different approach altogether.

In this mode:

• Intelligence, wisdom and talents of its people is used to create systems and structures as they do their activities.
• The structures of the business are inherently designed to not only “exploit” the inherent talents, wisdom and creativity of its people but also to nurture and bring out those that are yet undiscovered.
• The business gets stability, predictability and control of the structured approach yet retains and, in fact, enhances the potential of its people so that the business can grow profitably.
• There is no differentiation between the structures and the people. They are one and the same. Its structures are a part of the people. Its people are an integral part of the structures and processes.
• What connects structures and people is the “Aware/Conscious/Purposeful Habits.” A habit is unconscious by definition where we do activities without consciously thinking about them. Conscious Habits are those habits that have an added dimension of awareness or consciousness. That’s why, it allows for the people to change them in a given situation.
• Built into the business are mechanisms for changing people from frustrated individuals to those who willingly to change their habits.

Anatomy of Awayreness

At the heart of the Awayre mode are 7 human faculties that could be thought of as 7 concentric circles, one inside the the other, like ripples of waves from a water drop.

Starting from the innermost to outermost, these layers are:

1. Inspiration Point
2. Knowledge/Wisdom
3. Social Identity
4. Intellect
5. Emotional Engagement
6. Energy/Vitality
7. Actions

When a business’s foundation is as deep as the Inspiration Point of its people, it performs at levels unheard of before. When a business’s boundaries are defined by the Consistent, Habitual, Aligned Actions - Awayre Actions - of its people, it can predictably and consistently repeat that high performance over a long period of time.

Granted, the Awayre Approach may not be the right approach for every business or organization. The first step to discovering whether it is appropriate for your business or organization is to go through Awayre Discovery Process. In this process, we take you through a questionnaire about your business’ unique challenges and opportunities and prepare a custom report - Awayre Quotient Report - for your personal use. Visit Awayre, LLC at http://www.awayre.com or contact me at bhavesh@ambica.net for more information.

Why Businesses Fail

You’ve already heard it: 90% of business startups end up in failures. Of those who do stay in business, a very small percentage do well – perhaps about 2% - the rest just get by, barely survive, or stay mediocre.

Why such a high rate of failure? I believe it’s because we have not identified and developed the right business habits that produce the results we want. This is why reading books does not make us successful, healthy, fit, wealthy or even happy. Neither do writing a thesis or graduating with Honors from an Ivy League University.

Business Building is a sport. You can’t learn how to play tennis or golf by reading a book, writing a thesis or graduating with Honors after two years of intense studies. The theoretical knowledge is a good start, but to truly master the sport, we need to engage with it emotionally, enjoy it, practice it often, and master it in small incremental steps.

What we habitually, consistently do, perhaps even without thinking, like driving a car, defines us to a great extent. Our habits drive our successes and our failures. Our habits make us efficient or inefficient. Our habits make us healthy or unhealthy, sharp or dull, wealthy or poor.

Because a business is made of people, the same holds true for businesses. The habits of a business defines its character. Habits drive its successes and failures. Habits make it thrive or wither away and die. Habits make it a market leader or a mediocre survivor. Habits bring out great lines of successful products or failures after failures.

Good business habits bring us good results. Bad business habits bring us bad results. Great business habits bring great results and terrific business habits bring us terrific business results.

Needless to say, breaking old habits is difficult. So is building new ones. What makes this process - of breaking old habits and building new ones - especially difficult is the fact that we often really don’t know what habit we should be adopting. We really don’t know what the best practices are for our business’ success.

I have been researching this subject - the best business practices and habits for a successful business - for over 12 years. Some of what I have found is simple common sense. Some of it is truly ground-breaking. And much of it seems like ground-breaking stuff but it really is common sense. It only seems like it’s ground-breaking because the commonly acceptable behavior is so non-common-sensical. Crazy, I know. But there it is.

If we are to succeed as a business, we must committ to reinventing ourselves as the world around us changes. Obviously, continuous reinvention, in small, incremental steps, is far easier than abrupt reinvention.

There is no better way to reinvent our business than to examine, and then change, its business habits, slowly, deliberately, incrementally and constantly. When was the last time you took a long and hard look at your business habits? Are you reinventing your business or are you stuck in the same old habits? Are you driving the change or are you being driven by change?

Want to experience business habits in action? Join us at our next 360 Business Club “business workout session” where you get to practice business-building with like-minded business leaders. 

Are You (Your Business) Sales Sufficient?

I have been often asked by business owners and presidents how to create a great business with happy employees, satisfied customers and an admiring community.

A very noble thought. Yet, my first question to them often is “Are You Sales Sufficient?” Because until a business achieves a level of sales sufficiency “all the other stuff” does not matter.

It’s like someone who has not secured stable means to feed, clothe and shelter himself yet wants to improve “the quality of his life.”

In his ground-breaking work, Abraham Maslow proposed that a human being has three or four levels of needs. Physical (food, clothing and shelter), Emotional (esteem, affiliation etc.) and spiritual (he called it self-actualization).

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