A man was injured in a serious accident but, fortunately, the only permanent damage he suffered was the amputation of both ears. Due to this unusual handicap, he was very self-conscious about his appearance. As a result of the accident, he received a large sum of money from the insurance company and decided to fulfill his dream of being a business owner.
He went out and purchased a rather small, but expanding, computer firm. Soon realizing that he had no business knowledge at all and knew nothing about running such a business, he quickly set out to hire someone who could run it for him. He picked out three top candidates and proceeded to interview them.
The first interview went very well. The candidate appeared to know everything needed and had a pleasant personality. At the end of the interview, the man with no ears asked him, “Do you notice anything unusual about me?” “Well, yeah,” the candidate answered, “you don’t have any ears.” This made him very angry and he threw the first candidate out.
The second interview went even better than the first. At the end of the interview, the man with no ears asked, “Do you notice anything unusual about me?” “Yes I do,” replied the second candidate, “you have no ears.” Again, the man became infuriated and threw the second candidate out.
The third and final interview was the best of all three. Feeling certain that this was the person he wanted to hire, the man with no ears asked, “Do you notice anything unusual about me?” Much to his surprise, the candidate replied, “Yes, you wear contact lenses.”
Surprised by his response, the man with no ears said, “That is very perceptive of you! How did you know that?” Almost falling off his chair from laughing so hysterically, the candidate replied, “It’s bloody hard to wear glasses without any ears!”
Finally 2014 is over. We celebrated the successes, mourned over the failures, learned tough lessons but life continues.
Looking at 2015, how many times do we find ourselves making resolutions to achieve particular goals yet we still never seem to be fully confident about our goals to an extent that any small unrelated event threatens to derail us? It is often said that January is the ideal time to reflect and craft new strategies and goals instead of only taking the ‘business as usual’ approach.
This is a time for great expectations, promises and excitement for many SMEs as well as corporate organizations as they all have an internal picture of what could constitute the successes of 2015. With such imaginations, come making New Year resolutions of which at times we tend to forget them even before the end of the second month. So, we ask ourselves, is there a formula for making new resolutions and actually sticking to them? Or do we simply lack the drive and enthusiasm to make it work?
Despite all, there are a number of factors that remain fundamental cutting across the board that are critical for every business large or small. Firstly, in terms of sales and marketing, the core objective is to increase overall sales by having more customers into our portfolio and making sure the existing customers are satisfied with our products or services. Secondly, is in terms of Human Resource, we want to make sure we have the right people to work with. No one wants to hire people who will drive down their businesses and if we get the right people we want to make sure they have what they need to perform their tasks accordingly.
Thirdly, the financial aspect which basically we want to ensure that we are making more money on a regular basis and we are able to have a clear understanding of our overall financial performance based on our targets. Fourthly, is the element of operations and systems which is well dependent on the nature of the organization. At this point we want to understand whether our internal systems that support our core businesses and processes are well coordinated.
One thing we can agree is that an evenly balanced structure within organizations is a recipe for profit and sustainability and should be able to withstand challenges in the course of business and any obstacles along the way. Looking at 2015, in order for us to have an understanding of what kind of resolutions we need for our businesses, let us look at some of the resolutions that should revolve around your organization or business;
Learn from last year’s successes and failures
What are the good moments that took place within your business? What strategies did you use to achieve them? What about the bad moments, what were they? What do you think went wrong during the bad moments?
Analyze the strategies that worked for you, those that didn’t work, and identify the reasons. From this, what changes do you need to make for 2015 to work and to make sure that mistakes are not repeated and opportunities are not missed?
Every circumstance presents a lesson that we should learn from and embrace, lessons that we use as pillars to grow our organizations to the next level. For instance, you realized that failure to have a business plan caused you to undertake many tasks at the same time thus losing direction and focus. Work on this and many others so that you can begin to focus.
Plan wisely, implement tactfully
Imagine you are setting out on a road trip with your friends without first planning your trip on issues like deciding on your final destination, checking weather and road conditions, estimating the amount of time it’s going to take to get there and how many stops you’ll likely make along the way. Of course, there is a likelihood of unexpected events such as delays due to road work or other reasons can, and most likely will, require you to deviate from any expected plan.
For you to get to your destination, you’ll need to know what’s in and what’s out for your drive (scope), have an idea of how you’re going to get there (a road map), who is joining you for the trip, who is driving, and most importantly, who’s bringing the snacks (resources), and you’ll need an estimation of time and cost prior to leaving. It also helps if you have some ideas about what will happen if roadblocks or other delays impede your course (contingency plan).
This same analogy can be applied when developing your plans. They may be business plans, marketing plans, strategic plans and any other kind of plans. However, it is also important to understand that plans can fail especially depending on how we have developed them for our own use.
A solid business plan will help you make better business decisions about the kind of strategies you need to continue with your business. A clear solid strategic plan, on the other hand, will enable you to forecast your existing business and some of the specific strategies you intend to take as an organization.
Delegate, focus on the essential
So you have been running your business for a significant duration of time or you want to expand? Are you the CEO, administration manager and marketing director of your business? Wearing multiple hats can be extremely exhausting. Incase you have employees, avoid micromanaging since this will kill your business slowly but gracefully.
It is important to delegate, but wisely. For businesses that are picking up and may not have adequate working capital, you can hire some part time staff and engage them actively when an assignment kicks in but be clear on terms of reference.
Delegating will give you the opportunity to spend more time growing your business.
Build your team
In the early days of running your own business, it’s natural to do as much as possible alone. But as your enterprise grows, you’ll find yourself stretched thinner and thinner. Eventually, you’ll find you just can’t continue to oversee operations in your business. When you reach this point, it’s time to think about bringing other people on board to help you out. You need to build a high-performance team that’s able to manage the critical areas of your business to take it to the next level.
Building your team demands matching jobs to people’s strengths. It means giving people responsibilities according to skill level, not based on how closely related they are to you, or whether you just like their outlook. In addition, business owners need to empower their teams especially through various forms of training to enable them perform better on the job.
This should be a resolution for you and build it as a strategy to enhance efficiency within your organization. In conclusion, whatever your business goals, such as increasing efficiencies, or improving the financial status, establishing New Year’s resolutions can help you approach the year with improved vigour.
The writer is the Chief Executive Officer of Gateway Success Consultancy Ltd.
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