Personal & Business Development Tools

This CD is produced by Crossways Coaching in conjunction with the Mindshop Group. It is designed to provide you with a series of practical tools that can assist you both personally and professionally in relation to your general way of living or in relation to your career, your business or your organisation.

(1) At a personal and business level, it is important to know firstly, those areas in which the individual needs to grow or develop. In this regard, there are two tools provided:

Key Business Issues Diagnostic
The Business Diagnostic Excel document contains 25 questions which, with a high degree of accuracy will determine the key issues within a business that need focusing upon. For example, using the scale of -5 to +5 you are asked to estimate how your company is performing in the level of customer satisfaction, your knowledge on your products and your product costs etc. The Excel document then analyses the data and lets you know how you are going on your key strategies and performance and raises any issues which need to be addressed. The areas examined include for example: Business Planning, Leadership, Profit, Marketing, Personal Development, Continuous Improvement, Sales, Morale, Waste Reduction and Customer Service.

Life Balance Diagnostic
This Diagnostic tool identifies key areas where you can improve your own Life Balance. From a list of 25 questions, a score is calculated across 10 key areas showing you where you need to improve or develop. Those areas include: Time Management, Stress, Life Barriers, Health, Energy, Life Balance, Locus of Control, Family, Belief Systems and Personal Growth.

(2) Secondly, it is important to know what to do about changing or altering what the individual is doing in order to do it differently or to do it better. In this regard, the following five tools are demonstrated:

Force Field
This tool is used to develop action plans by discovering what can be done to double the impact of the positive aspects of the issue and at the same time halving the things that are impacting negatively on the issue. It is appropriate for virtually any issue. It is a simple tool to use.

Decision Matrix
The purpose of the Decision Matrix is to pass the decision making process through a selection filter and reduce the subjectivity in decision making. When decisions are made it is rare that the factors that influence your decision are weighted equally. The Decision Matrix also allows an individual or a group of people to identify, agree on, weight and importantly take ownership of, a set of factors that are seen by all as influencing that decision.

One Page Plan
Traditionally, Business Plans (or Personal Plans) have been lengthy and all encompassing documents. Though there is a place for comprehensive Business Plans they are often a static representation of past history and future plans, but tend not to be responsive to the modern business environment. Therefore, the concept of a One Page Business or Personal Plan was developed. It is a practical way to record future goals and directions.

D-V-P
The DVP formula for Change is a powerful tool which can help you plan change efforts by identifying several key factors which must be present in sufficient degree to initiate and sustain a change effort. It is an important planning tool, allowing you to develop an understanding of what it will take to implement a change and where you must increase your efforts to succeed. It is also a diagnostic tool that can help you quickly assess what's missing or what's going wrong.

Mindmapping
A Mindmap lets you rapidly produce an almost infinite number of ideas and at the same time organise them by placing each idea next to what it is related to. This tool is ideal for situations where a group or individual needs to understand all the elements in an issue. Mindmapping was developed by Tony Buzan in the 1970's as an aid for note taking in lectures.

Price is $10.95 plus $7.50 postage within Australia; orders of 10 or more 15% reduction.