SME BizLink

• Editor's Take: Committing and Delivering
• SME News: Through trial and error, couple puts up mango-processing business
• SME Power Quote
• Events: Total Quality Management (Monday 3 to Tuesday 4 March); Expanding Business through Export (Basics of Exporting) (Monday 3 to Saturday 8 March); Materials Management and Inventory Control (Wednesday 5 to Saturday 8 March); ISO 14000 Environmental Management System (Friday 7 March); Japanese Business Language Introductory Course (Saturday 8 March to Saturday 19 April); and Empowerment for Breakthrough Results (Thursday 27 to Friday 28 March)
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Editor's Take

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Putting up a business entails tackling responsibilities, two of which are committing and delivering. Doing business is like having a relationship. It is indeed about relationship.

Always bear in mind that committing does not end in taglines alone. When you commit to your clients and partners, whether it is written or oral—make it a point that it is binding.

Committing is about being true to what has been agreed; being fixed with one purpose. It is a pledge between two or more parties. However, true commitment, even in business begins in oneself. Yes, because if one fails to commit to oneself, then you are living in the wishing and hoping state. Such state is ephemeral and lacks the sense of clarity. Perhaps the best mantra is: I am committed to myself and allow others to see how I am serious about my life and the rest of the things that go along with it.

Commitment to oneself takes enormous courage and self-discipline. First of all you need to decide what is it you want to commit to. As an entrepreneur, it is your responsibility to instill in your team that sense of commitment to themselves first and foremost. You need to share the urgency around; developing a competitive workforce and having sufficient talent in the pipeline as well as understanding the learning's position to lead talent management—particularly on recruitment, development, and retention.

If your whole team is true to their respective personal commitment that enhances the common goal or commitment, everything would just follow through, spontaneously.

After committing to oneself and to the rest—your clients, your partners, delivering is one aspect that is of utmost importance.

Once you are committed, the possibility of delivering excellent business results is great.

As an entrepreneur the challenge for you is to demonstrate the link between learning and organizational strategy as well as putting value into it and its impact and its bottom line. It's actually understanding on how to protect the investment even in the most difficult times. Going into business is like running a micro-government. There will always be issues and challenges. What matters most is how committed you are to deliver what is expected of you and your company.

In fact, another issue on how well you deliver is measured in terms of how focused you are on global development.

Bear in mind, clients and partners aren't looking for just another insignificant business card to add to their stack of business cards. What do they look for? They want a business that can help expand and enhance their businesses; it's like a slingshot. You hit two birds with one stone. Satisfaction is only achieved when you are committed and can deliver the plain, custom-built solutions; as an identical reflection of the client's vision.

PS: Image from Corbis.com

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