Contribution – One road to success

Contribution.

It’s a word that has been thrown around in the business and personal spaces for a long, long time. Every time I hear it, I wonder if it’s just another buzz word, or is it a good word that successful networking and PR people know how to leverage at the drop of a hat?

Either way, contribution is one of the most important aspects of a successful business today.For a SME/SMB, often contribution can be overlooked due to issues/problems, being caught up in the day to day running of the business, legal problems, HR issues, workload etc .. But what makes an Exceptional SME/SMB different from an ordinary one? Contribution. Why? Well, here is one example..

Skills Gap.
A friend of mine (Bruce – not his real name) runs his own IT Business. As a SMB, they are constantly juggling work load vrs resources vrs revenue and .. well you get the picture. With approximately 10 staff, the company covers the following list of services and products:

1. Desktop and Server support
2. Web / Graphic design and Development
3. Programming
4. Network migration and security
5. Broadband tails
6. Hardware procurement

and a lot more ..With an average working day of 12 to 14 hours, Bruce find’s himself very busy, to the point of collapse. Almost.

Contribution – where it steps in.
So, over a coffee and a conversation, Bruce and I discuss the semantics of small business, how to deal with the age old questions of skills vs employee cost vs productivity and what the return on investment (ROI) will be.

It’s a tough set of questions to answer. How do you find the right employee’s to start with, give them a shot at being part of the bigger picture, reward them AND still get a suitable ROI for the business?

The actual conversation diversified into more of a “how can I help” and contribute to Bruce’s company. In short, Bruce has a lot of good, hardworking employee’s. But, they are what I will refer to as “Verticals”.

By “Verticals” I mean an individual employee who has a skill set that is specific and specialised, but does not have enough skills or desire to be decision makers within their own right. For example, great technicians, who are exceptional at being technicians. Great programmers who are exceptional at being programmers. These two examples have no desire to be anything more than what they are.

Horizontals on the other hand, have a variety of broader skills (not as specialised) and sit more “across” the business, usually in versatile and multitasked environments such as management and take the active role of being decision makers.

Ok, so at this point you are thinking that what Bruce’s company is missing is a good manager. A person who has the horizontal, big picture, business orientated focus as well as specific vertical skills. Well, if that is what was going through your head, you would be right. But, let’s take another step back for a minute and see a bigger picture.

What if the specific verticals are motivated, stimulated and nurtured in the right way. Is it possible to take a gifted Vertical and broaden their horizons? Sure. After all, for those of us who are more horizontal; we needed to learn how to be big pictured and business orientated. To break out of our verticals and learn to expand. To be educated in the ways, methods, thinking patterns and so on.

Education requires one major component: Contribution.

Contribution

When implemented and supported correctly, a good contribution scenario is a win win scenario, as long as the correct methods, process, procedures, support structure and culture is put into place.

Without going into all the semantics of reward schemes, business incentives etc; contribution can be not only one of the best motivators, but also one of the most satisfying rewards for the Verticals and Horizontals of the business. AND, the other participants of the business as well.

For those of you who are business owners or leaders within your chosen field, I would suggest that you look into two areas of contribution.

www.anthonyrobbins.com and www.stephencovey.com. These two people are exceptional at what they preach. Human fulfilment through understanding. They educate, inform, guide and make better horizontals.

At Aquafruit Media, we are passionate about contribution as it is a motivator for what we do. This conversation will continue in one of our later articles.

Regards,

Scott Malpass

Director

Aquafruit Media.