Posted on January 16, 2012
Business Pace
When my daughter ran distance races, she trained her body to build endurance by putting in the necessary miles daily. She also exercised her mind to learn course management.
She discovered in her first races that adrenaline would push her out hard and fast from the start and carry her for a while. If she kept up that pace, she often led, but when she approached the finish, she had no energy left and fell way back. The only result that counts is when you cross the finish line.
She discovered how to pace herself, starting strong, settling into a comfortable, economical pace, with enough reserve for a powerful finish kick. Such a pace allowed her to compete and succeed.
Your business has a pace. Adjusting your intensity to reflect it is a key to Work Positive success. You run sprints one way. Maybe that's your 4Q. You run 5K's an entirely different way. That might be your 1Q.
You gotta believe that your business has a pace and rhythm all its own. Adjust your intensity accordingly and train for it.
Balance People and Tasks
You can focus your business efforts on people-employees, vendors, and customers-but when you do, you lose sight of your company goals.
You can focus your energy on accomplishing tasks-your goals and action plan-but when you do, you forget that its people who accomplish those tasks.
My grandmother gave me a chocolate bunny every spring for Easter. Some years, I bit into it to find only air inside. Other years, it was marshmallow. My favorite years were those when I discovered chocolate through and through.
Balancing people and tasks means you lead your business consistently-through and through. You lead people to accomplish tasks and focus on tasks for people to achieve.
You gotta believe that your business succeeds when you balance people and tasks.
Beyond the Obvious
You're staring at your P&L and balance sheets for 2011 about now. What do you believe happened in 2011 in your business?
A pair of sisters enjoyed shopping in a Goodwill shop in Virginia. One of them saw a pearl necklace, found it attractive, and since it was only $.69, bought it, believing that it was just costume jewelry.
Wearing it back home in Arizona, a friend commented on how beautiful it was and encouraged her to get it appraised. She did and discovered that it was worth a little more than the $.69 purchase price.
Posted on December 26, 2011
Last week on LinkedIn, I followed an interesting discussion about small business. The discussion was based on an article that appeared on the National Journal website under the title "Most Small Businesses Don't Want to Grow". The just of the article was that most small businesses, especially those with fewer than 20 employees, are not interested in growing their business.
It seemed that most of the participants in the LinkedIn discussion concurred that small companies are not interested in growth. I disagree. Having worked with small companies from less than $500 thousand in revenue up to $50 million in revenue, I can truly say that I have never encountered one that wasn't interested in growth. They might, however, view their growth goals much differently than would a large business.
Large companies like to see that year-in-year-out march of steadily increasing revenues and profits, with ready explanations for the occasional hiccup. Assuming that the growth hasn't come as a result of too much dilution of the share base, it should result in a steady increase in the stock price and the compensation of the executives. Small businesses, on the other hand, are more focused on their ability to put cash in the bank. Their notion of growth is the steady improvement of financial circumstances and reduction of business and personal risk.
Growth is critical for small business. But growth isn't easy. Capital is extremely hard to come by and getting a new loan from a bank is very difficult right now. Virtually all loans to small business are based on the personal guaranty of the principal shareholders; so as a result, growth may actually increase their personal risk while reducing the business risk. Add to that the challenge of going to market against large powerful competitors with vast marketing budgets. No wonder many small business people are intimidated by the idea of growth. But if the small business doesn't grow, its profits will slowly be eaten away by inflation, diluted among family members or start to dwindle away from lack of innovation. Read More...
Posted on December 17, 2011
Businesses must make certain that their managers are completely competent or face a drop in profits due to decreased employee productivity.
Research by the Chartered Management Institute revealed that bad British managers were costing the economy billions of pounds due to lost working hours caused by their inefficiencies.
A large majority of employees waste numerous working hours on a weekly basis thanks to their managers providing poor communication as well as a lack of direction and support.
Businesses can combat these inefficient management practices by ensuring that their managers possess a professional management qualification or by providing them with appropriate training on a regular basis.
Employing managers who are not properly trained or qualified can result in a poorly performing workplace as an efficient working culture is created through the actions of senior employees.
Managers are more likely to make mistakes which will damage the performance levels of other employees if they have not undergone appropriate training to achieve a qualification.
Businesses must understand the potential financial implications of employing inefficient managers during the current economic climate where profits are being hit by decreasing consumer confidence.
Untrained managers are also more likely to exhibiting discriminatory behaviour towards employees which can be construed as bullying because they are unaware of the legal consequences of their inappropriate actions.
Managers that behave inappropriately towards workers risk bringing about expensive employee tribunals which can seriously damage the reputation of a business in the immediate and long-term. Read More...