What does Kingston need?

Many clients who come thru our office share a common trait – they would be entrepreneurs if only they knew exactly What Kingston Needs. I wish I knew the magical answer to this question.
In pondering several idea streams, and taking into consideration the tourism season that is revving up right now and the World Heritage Designation that was recently received by the Rideau Waterway and Fort Henry, the following thought went through my head; Does Kingston have a water taxi service? If we do, why don’t I know about it? I worked in Kingston’s tourism sector for 10 years! Privately run water transportation thrive in nearby Alexandria Bay, Boston, and other port towns. Could it be a “greener” transportation form than a car? How about bringing bicycles on the boat, or have them for rent at either end of the trip? Why drive across the LaSalle Causeway & pay for parking downtown if you could just hop on a boat? Talk about adding romance to an evening out, cruising across the river to the K-Rock Centre for a concert. My mother swoons over the luxury she enjoys every morning while eating her breakfast on a cruiseship…as she drives her schoolbus onto the ferry from Howe Island.

So it’s not necessarily the brilliant, never-seen-before ideas that need to formulate from thin air, but rather finding that thing that fits your life, compliments your abilities, and that you can be so passionate about, that after the thrill of “doing your own thing” and being your own boss wears off, you are still happy to continue working on improving and making the business thrive.

S is for Stress

Stress is a regular part of everyday life – every situation, conversation or event has the capacity to be stressful. Realizing that stress is all around us, we have the option to ignore it, reduce it, cope with it or use it. Depending on how you choose to respond and use your stress, it can build up and decrease our body’s physical and mental performance, leading to illness or lack of concentration or commitment to our goals. Fortunately, stress can be managed in order to improve productivity and performance.

What is Stress?
Stress is a condition or feeling which occurs when there is a perception that the demands of a situation exceed the personal resources that the individual is able to mobilize.

Although stress is often thought of as a negative word, having the capacity to reduce and cope with it will ensure that at times of great responsibility (stress) comes a great opportunity for performance. Being able to successfully adapt to such situations, by managing their stress and using the external environment to motivate them, is the technique that high performance athletes use to improve performance – they use their stress.

What causes Stress?
Social stressors – noise and crowding
Psychological stressors – anxiety and worry
Sociological stressors – pressure at work, a new job or a change in relationship
Biochemical or Physical stressors – injury, illness or intoxicants
Philosophical Stressors – results from a value-system conflict, or from a lack of direction or purpose in your life perspective

Signs and Symptoms of Stress:

• Headache or migraine


• Difficulty sleeping


• Difficulty concentration


• Irregular mood changes


• Anxiety, fear, worry


• Fatigue


• Increase in colds and infections


• Digestive problem


• Lack of enjoyment or sense of humour


• Depression or feelings of despair

The Stress Curve
Everyone has a level of stress that enables them to work at a high performance level. Up to a certain point, our performance improves with the amount of stress or arousal, but once over the peak of performance, we experience distress. Stress levels can be easily affected by both internal and external factors; it is up to you to know yourself and control these factors so you can be working at your peak performance level as much as possible.

[Source: Fit To Lead Newsletter, Queen's School of Business]

If you find yourself not motivated in the workplace, it is very possible that you have either too much stress or not enough. If it is too much, try to find ways to relax and reduce the stressors that exist. You might want to switch environments or focus on fewer things. If you realize that you do not have enough stress, you may want to set higher goals, ask for more responsibilities or broaden your horizons.

Tips to Reduce Stress:

• Recognize your symptoms of stress and see what can be changed – in your work, your family or individually


• Use relaxation techniques: yoga, meditation, deep breathing, or massage


• Exercise. Physical activity is one of the most effective stress remedies


• Manage your time. Do essential tasks and prioritize the others. Consider those who may be affected by your decisions, such as family and friends


• Watch your diet. Alcohol, caffeine, sugar, fats and tobacco all put a strain on your body’s ability to cope with stress. A diet with a balance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and foods high in protein but low in fat will help create optimum health. For more information on this, check Canada’s Food Guide at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/


• Get enough rest and sleep


• Talk with others. Talk with friends, co-workers, family members or enroll your own personal coach


• Leave yourself some time that’s just for you. Read a book, watch a movie, play a game, listen to music or go on vacation


• Work off your anger. Get physically active, dig in the garden, start a project, get your spring cleaning done


• Tackle one thing at a time. Don’t try to do too much at once


• Don’t try to be perfect


• Ease up on criticism of others


• Have some fun! Laugh and be with people you enjoy!

Is your business customer centric or process driven?

Many times in business people already have a product or service developed and then they go and try to find a market that fits their product/ service. We hear stories of companies who continually push a product/ service and then can't understand why it won't sell. They have a great process in place, a wonderful product/ service (in their eyes), completely understand the product/ service capabilities, but one thing lacks - they forgot to ask the customer. I refer to this as product centric thinking.

A business that follows this process focuses its time, energy, and money into creating products/ services with fantastic features and benefits for an undifferentiated consumer market whose actual experienced outcomes are greatly unknown. There is no iterative process.

Let's flip it around and put the customer first. Whether in start-up or growth it is important to know your market, what the consumer pain points are, and develop or adapt your product/ service to resolve them. By starting with the customer, you will save a lot of time, money and energy in the process and therefore create stronger efficiencies throughout your organization. This, I refer to as customer centric thinking.

In this model, a business begins by understanding the experienced outcomes expected by different customers. They can then translate these into strongly correlated features, benefits, and expectations, meaning they produce their product/ service at a lower cost, with short cycle time, superior diversity, and consistent performance. This model involves a double iterative process (demonstrated by the arrows).

But how do we do this? One of the main points I always raise in consultations is before you do anything, ask your customers (in particular your loyal ones). Host focus groups and allow them to provide you with feedback on your product/ service. By doing this you are going to get direct feedback from the end user, and possibly, because they have been part of the process, they will become champions of your product/ service - a very powerful marketing tool.

Organizations who are excellent at customer centric thinking are car manufacturers. At every major car show, they will have a prototype on display for customers to touch, feel, and view. The potential end user provides critical feedback before it is put on the production line. How many times do we see a model on display but it never makes the market because of the consumer feedback ? Toyota is doing this - they are manufacturing their cars based on what customers told them, not what Toyota people think looks great.

A smart example of the power of involving the customer from the very beginning.