As a business owner you are the focus of all incoming demands on your time and attention whether or not the demands are solicited or unsolicited. You are also the owner of “the buck stops here” label, so you probably also feel the burden of responsibility for staying on top of all relevant knowledge and other readily available information, so that your business can remain competitive with your immediate, as well as emerging, competitors.
As hard as it is to do, it is imperative for the ongoing success of your business, for you to remain totally focused on the main game, and not get distracted or sidelined by unsolicited demands for your time, or through allocating far too much of your limited available time, to attempting to know and understand everything you believe you need to know and understand, in order to stay in front of your competitors.
One problem commonly experienced by business owners is that they have never really decided what their main game is, and as a consequence, they devote far too much of their time and energies to activities for which they never see an adequate financial return, one commensurate with the time and energy devoted to those activities.
If you fall into this category, it is beholden upon yourself for the sake of your business and your own peace of mind, to review your current business activities, make a clear decision as to what in future will be the main game of the business, and then focus as much energy as you can on preparing a strategic plan for the future of the business, and then to developing a clearly focussed business plan that will facilitate the eventual success of the chosen business strategy.
Should you already be perfectly clear on the main game of your business, but the business is not living up to its potential, then it is highly likely that a lack of focus on this main game due to the constant demands on your time from others as well as the need for you to be the resource and information gatherer for your business, is a key reason for the under-performance of the business.
The following are a few suggestions that you might consider implementing in your business to ensure that, at all times, your major focus is on your main game, and not on participation in all of the sideshows to that main game.
• Implement a policy of only conducting face to face meetings by appointment, and limit these appointments to only people who can clearly be seen to have a real and positive contribution to make, in assisting you to win at your main game.
• Hire a “bulldog” as a gatekeeper to ensure that those attempting to circumvent the appointment process, only ever attempt this tactic once, and without success.
• Let everyone you deal with know the actual nature of your main game, and ensure that they are clear on where you would welcome their input, but equally clear that outside these boundaries their input will not be entertained.
• Learn to accept that you cannot possibly, regardless of the industry you operate in, personally ever acquire all the knowledge needed to run a successful business, and be prepared to import expertise, as and only when actually needed, and then only for specific well defined tasks.
• Realise that the vast majority of information that circulates and is always at your fingertips if you want to seek it, or is constantly being pushed and marketed to you incessantly even if you are not seeking it, is in the main stuff you already know, just repackaged, relabelled, pushed through new mediums or by new gurus, and really adds little value to your business.
• Use a media monitoring service to deliver to you a weekly tailored package of information published about topics specific to the information needs of your business, and allocate no more than an hour or two each week to digesting the information provided.
• Have someone else open your incoming mail and make sure they clearly understand that the only thing you want to see in your in tray is real business mail, and only then, if that mail is clearly and directly related to the activities of your main game.
In making sure that your deliberate focus is on your main game, and you are not wasting time and effort participating in sideshows, you will not only make a far better personal contribution to the success of your business, but you will also send a clear message to others, as to where they should be paying the most attention.
Are you as focused as you should be on your main game?
Do you have strategies in place to help you stay focused on your main game?
Is everyone associated with your business aware of what the main game is and where they need to put their focus?
About Me
- Daniel Watson
- Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Born in the mid 1950's and raised in a very small country town situated in Northern Victoria. Resident of Melbourne since 1980 and happy to stay living in one of the world's most liveable cities. You can view my professional profile at http://www.linkedin/in/danielwatson
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Time for an End of Year Tidy Up
As the end of 2009 fast approaches, a common activity for a lot of small business owners is to try and finalise as much business as possible, before taking a well earned rest over the festive season.
Unfortunately, what subsequently tends to occur as a consequence of all of this end of year “busyness” is that the opportunity to refresh the working environment for the coming year tends to be overlooked, and the potential for significant productivity improvement in the following year, are missed.
Often, the perceived need to finalise as much business as possible before the festive season kicks in is not driven by client/customer expectations, but more from business owners wanting to keep their staff productive, right up until the holiday break.
I would suggest that any internal capacity not directly needed to be applied to finalising business where commitments have been given or expectations raised, should at the tail end of the year, be devoted to an internal clean up of the working environment, in preparation for a clean start to 2010.
A range of tasks including;
a) Removal and disposal of all unused, obsolete, surplus to needs, damaged or otherwise unnecessary items from the work place environment,
b) Re-organising, remodelling, streamlining, and any other actions to improve physical filing and storage systems for physical documents and office supplies,
c) Reviewing existing office, work station, furniture and equipment layouts which have been in place for some time, to determine if the layouts remain optimal for the work currently being performed,
d) A thorough clean of all of the areas that cleaners never get to because of furniture and equipment placement, height limitations of their equipment, and difficult access or access restrictions,
e) Attending to finalising all database updates, queries, revisions, deletions, annual calendar year report production, and other such actions to ensure pristine database records and improved functionality, for the start of the coming year.
f) Identifying areas where touch up painting, minor repairs, lighting upgrades, carpet/tile replacement and the like can be quickly attended to before the festive season,
g) Replacing all half dead, or well past their used by date, indoor plants with better and more suitable indoor plants, to help improve internal air quality and general workplace ambience,
h) Ensuring that all IT equipment, related backup systems, and virus protection programs are fully functional, and actually meet all current needs in terms of ongoing suitability and reliability, and
i) Checking that all fire protection systems, security systems, disaster recovery systems and the like are performing as expected, and as appropriate, for the holiday season and that the listed contact people and their contact details are actually current,
will ensure that staff are productively active, and effectively contributing towards a clean start in 2010, during what is traditionally regarded as the end of year wind down period.
If such a range of end of year activities is not part of your normal business operations, you stand a very good chance of being pleasantly surprised, as to how much more productive than normal, January/February 2010 will be for your business if you follow the above suggestions.
When was the last time your business conducted such a comprehensive list of end of year activities?
How often have you during the holiday break, been unable to relax and wind down, because of concerns that arise in your head after you have shut down the business for the break?
What effect do you think a tired work environment has on the productivity of your staff?
Unfortunately, what subsequently tends to occur as a consequence of all of this end of year “busyness” is that the opportunity to refresh the working environment for the coming year tends to be overlooked, and the potential for significant productivity improvement in the following year, are missed.
Often, the perceived need to finalise as much business as possible before the festive season kicks in is not driven by client/customer expectations, but more from business owners wanting to keep their staff productive, right up until the holiday break.
I would suggest that any internal capacity not directly needed to be applied to finalising business where commitments have been given or expectations raised, should at the tail end of the year, be devoted to an internal clean up of the working environment, in preparation for a clean start to 2010.
A range of tasks including;
a) Removal and disposal of all unused, obsolete, surplus to needs, damaged or otherwise unnecessary items from the work place environment,
b) Re-organising, remodelling, streamlining, and any other actions to improve physical filing and storage systems for physical documents and office supplies,
c) Reviewing existing office, work station, furniture and equipment layouts which have been in place for some time, to determine if the layouts remain optimal for the work currently being performed,
d) A thorough clean of all of the areas that cleaners never get to because of furniture and equipment placement, height limitations of their equipment, and difficult access or access restrictions,
e) Attending to finalising all database updates, queries, revisions, deletions, annual calendar year report production, and other such actions to ensure pristine database records and improved functionality, for the start of the coming year.
f) Identifying areas where touch up painting, minor repairs, lighting upgrades, carpet/tile replacement and the like can be quickly attended to before the festive season,
g) Replacing all half dead, or well past their used by date, indoor plants with better and more suitable indoor plants, to help improve internal air quality and general workplace ambience,
h) Ensuring that all IT equipment, related backup systems, and virus protection programs are fully functional, and actually meet all current needs in terms of ongoing suitability and reliability, and
i) Checking that all fire protection systems, security systems, disaster recovery systems and the like are performing as expected, and as appropriate, for the holiday season and that the listed contact people and their contact details are actually current,
will ensure that staff are productively active, and effectively contributing towards a clean start in 2010, during what is traditionally regarded as the end of year wind down period.
If such a range of end of year activities is not part of your normal business operations, you stand a very good chance of being pleasantly surprised, as to how much more productive than normal, January/February 2010 will be for your business if you follow the above suggestions.
When was the last time your business conducted such a comprehensive list of end of year activities?
How often have you during the holiday break, been unable to relax and wind down, because of concerns that arise in your head after you have shut down the business for the break?
What effect do you think a tired work environment has on the productivity of your staff?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Are you asking the right questions?
Business owners are busy people, and in their perpetual state of “busyness”, they often don't take the necessary time to carefully think about the right question to ask another party, in order to gain the correct information they need, to enhance the quality of their decisions.
Business owners are regularly faced with the need to make important decisions about matters in which they lack expertise, or sometimes even a basic understanding of the subject matter, and in these circumstances, asking weak questions, or the wrong questions, and then acting on the answers provided, can prove to be extremely costly.
Key business decisions, are often made on the run by business owners, without any more than the asking of cursory questions more aligned to reassurance than probing to ensure clear understanding and elicitation of quality information. It is decisions, made on the basis of such poor answers, that business owners often live to regret.
The right question should indicate to the other party that the issue is important in the context of a decision to be made, should inform them of the need to provide accurate and concise information, and should convey a sense of urgency in respect to the applicable decision time frames.
The right question is usually the best possible, simple question, that can be asked in the context of the overall objective that the actual decision needing to be made is aligned to in terms of supporting that objective, or successfully achieving it. The best, simple question, should lead the other party to ask themselves a range of more detailed questions, before they can provide the requested answer.
Whilst, determining the right question to ask, is a critical component in gathering information to assist in decision making, of equal importance is making sure that you are directing the right question to the right party. In other words, you need to be sure that the other party is actually qualified to provide the answer, and has the experience necessary to put the answer into a context relevant to you, and your business requirements.
Asking the right question of the right party has an additional element which needs to be taken into consideration. That element is ensuring that you ask the right question of the right party at the right time. There will be times when it is inappropriate to seek information if you want the best possible response, so the desire for instant gratification, may occasionally need to be tempered, until the timing is right.
The right question asked of the right party at the right time can be incredibly empowering for a business owner, and their business, especially if the answer elicited, provides more information than expected, and leads to a decision which is far superior to any decision that would otherwise have been taken.
How often do you give any consideration to the quality of the questions you ask others when requiring information to assist in your decision processes?
How do you determine who is the right party to ask the right question?
Can you temper your need for immediate gratification to ensure that the right question is asked of the right party at the right time?
Business owners are regularly faced with the need to make important decisions about matters in which they lack expertise, or sometimes even a basic understanding of the subject matter, and in these circumstances, asking weak questions, or the wrong questions, and then acting on the answers provided, can prove to be extremely costly.
Key business decisions, are often made on the run by business owners, without any more than the asking of cursory questions more aligned to reassurance than probing to ensure clear understanding and elicitation of quality information. It is decisions, made on the basis of such poor answers, that business owners often live to regret.
The right question should indicate to the other party that the issue is important in the context of a decision to be made, should inform them of the need to provide accurate and concise information, and should convey a sense of urgency in respect to the applicable decision time frames.
The right question is usually the best possible, simple question, that can be asked in the context of the overall objective that the actual decision needing to be made is aligned to in terms of supporting that objective, or successfully achieving it. The best, simple question, should lead the other party to ask themselves a range of more detailed questions, before they can provide the requested answer.
Whilst, determining the right question to ask, is a critical component in gathering information to assist in decision making, of equal importance is making sure that you are directing the right question to the right party. In other words, you need to be sure that the other party is actually qualified to provide the answer, and has the experience necessary to put the answer into a context relevant to you, and your business requirements.
Asking the right question of the right party has an additional element which needs to be taken into consideration. That element is ensuring that you ask the right question of the right party at the right time. There will be times when it is inappropriate to seek information if you want the best possible response, so the desire for instant gratification, may occasionally need to be tempered, until the timing is right.
The right question asked of the right party at the right time can be incredibly empowering for a business owner, and their business, especially if the answer elicited, provides more information than expected, and leads to a decision which is far superior to any decision that would otherwise have been taken.
How often do you give any consideration to the quality of the questions you ask others when requiring information to assist in your decision processes?
How do you determine who is the right party to ask the right question?
Can you temper your need for immediate gratification to ensure that the right question is asked of the right party at the right time?
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