Member Article

Will it make the boat go faster?

Well that’s it. As another year draws to an end, many business owners, new and established, close the doors for a few days off. For many of the ‘employed’, it means a week or so of shut down: a complete break to enjoy the festivities. But, for many business owners it means a week of no calls or emails: a week to reflect and plan ahead for the next year.

With this in mind, I wanted to pose one question to give you something to think about over the break: will your plans make the boat go faster?

So often, business owners come up with cracking ideas…particularly in January! They launch new services, they bring on new team members, they set up new meeting structures, they launch new business development plans. This is all great but sometimes a good idea can distract you from a good business model.

Perhaps the best way to start this festive period of thought, then, is by outlining your biggest achievements of 2013. If you’re anything like the business owners I know, nothing is ever good enough! We’re our own worst critics. Never mind the revenue generated, the awards won, the jobs created, the projects completed – we’re always thinking about what more we could have achieved! Well, now is the time to give yourself a break and outline what you did do well!

Then, based on these successes, think about the three or four key things you’d like to achieve in 2014. It might be an increase in revenue, it might be breaking into a new market, it might be putting in place better processes and reporting, it might be increasing your brand awareness, it might be cutting costs. Whatever it is, jot that down and think about how you’d feel this time next year with that as your ‘success list’.

The next thing to do is to think about all the things you could do to achieve those goals. Let your mind go wild with ideas. Ask family and friends. Read another entrepreneur’s story. Have a look at competitors and other local business. Create a huge list of ideas and then return to the fundamental question: which actions will make the boat go faster? Then, you can more readily see whether your new ideas and tactics align to your wider strategy in a way that generates results, not just activity!

Then, write it all down so you can share it with your team. Break your revenue up into different revenue streams and break activities up into different work streams. Show how the work will unfold over the year and think about what measures will show progress before the real results start to kick in! Assign owners to different projects and give them the challenge of bringing it to light!

Don’t forget that one of the biggest elements of ‘making the boat go faster’ is not about revenue or products or process – it’s about people. If you imagine a team in a boat, rowing for that finish line there are always going to be some stars pulling more than their share of the weight. And, you will always find that one person weighing down the boat, or worse, pulling in the wrong direction! Having a clear finishing point (goal) is imperative to encouraging people in the right direction, but so too is effective team management so don’t forget to set some time aside to think about your team and what you can do to help them help the business!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Digitia .