3 ways you are screwing your business and what to do about
Here are 3 ways in which you are unconsciously screwing your business and some thoughts around how to fix things.
PROBLEM #1. YOU’RE LIKE A PIG IN SH1T!
You love the rough and tumble of operations. Doing stuff. Fixing things. Hearing the applause. Heroic. And at the back of your mind, you know two things.
STRATEGIC THINKING AND POOR EXECUTION EARN YOU A DANGEROUS RIDE, AND EXECUTION WITHOUT DIRECTION LEADS TO STASIS AND IRRELEVANCE.
Solution:
Take time out of the business. Explore the bigger picture. What are the trends? The important timelines? What are the threats? The opportunities? How will you evolve a roadmap to communicate and guide the development of the capabilities you are going to need?
Go offsite. Find a place that will inspire imaginative thinking and courageous conversations. Hire an external facilitator. One that will guide you through a structured process. One that will call you out when your thinking gets narrow, biased, or sloppy. One that will help you make sense of complexity. One that will help you converge on a way ahead.
“Thank you both so much for an exceptionally powerful and enjoyable couple of days. It has very much jump started our thinking and given us confidence that what we are planning is heading in the right direction supported and bolstered by the ideas we generated with your guidance.” James. CEO. Training & Events.
Want a strategic planning framework to kick start some big conversations? Email me on dave@freshairleadership.com or call 07776 153428.
PROBLEM #2. YOU’RE LOSING IT!
More sales. More hires. Your business is growing. But something isn’t right.
THINGS ARE BEGINNING TO DRIFT. HIGHER COSTS. LOWER PROFITS.
You’re losing that unity of effort and common purpose you and your people had when you were smaller. And you’re spending more and more time pulling things back.
LESS AND LESS ALIGNMENT. MORE AND MORE FRICTION. LESS AND LESS BUZZ.
Solution:
You need to look at your operating system. The whole way your business hangs together. Not just your sales model. Where do leaders and teams focus their effort? What are the predictive metrics that matter? How do you know what works? How will you evolve performance and strengthen resilience?
Find a space that will allow you and your senior team to do some focussed work on this, yet also provide for reflective interludes. An offsite venue that has out-the-door-access into great countryside is perfect. Again, hire an external facilitator to help you define your operating system and your engagement plan for communicating it.
This workshop (or series of workshops) is going to throw up a series of activities and projects that will need the personal sponsorship of senior team colleagues. A well-run workshop won’t conclude until tasks, ownership, success measures, and governance have been agreed and committed to.
“This was an eye-opening few days for us. By looking at our business as a human system and building our understanding of it up from foundational needs such as “Stay True” and “Stay Well”, and addressing others such as “Stay Relevant”, “Deliver Unforgettable” and “Stay Ambitious” we have thoroughly refreshed the way we work together, and what it means to lead this business effectively!” Neil. Managing Director. Professional Services.
Want to know how we can help you build a better operating system? Email me on dave@freshairleadership.com or call 07776 153428.
PROBLEM #3. SHINY SQUIRRELS!
So, you have done something about Problem #2, and you’re on the way to defining or re-tuning your operating system. But performance is still stalling. Patchy success perhaps. But no consistency.
LEADERS AND TEAMS AREN’T THINKING AND ACTING AS IF YOUR BUSINESS DEPENDS ON IT.
They are good people, but they are easily distracted by shiny squirrels.
EXECUTION LACKS DISCIPLINE AND RIGOUR.
Solution:
Understanding the operating system is just a first step. People need to get beyond this and actively use it. To learn by doing. To develop expertise. To collectively adapt and improve it. To own it.
The boring truth is that once you have a system that works, you need to keep turning the handle on it. You need to deliver on the inputs in order to get the outputs. And you need to have metrics in place to understand and optimise this relationship in the context of your strategic intentions.
SYSTEMISATION AND FOCUSSED EXECUTION. NONE OF THIS IS HIGH TECH. IT’S ABOUT LEADERSHIP AND TEAMWORK.
Who is going to do all of this? Hire an external consultant to provide critical oversight, some coaching perhaps, and who will hold you and colleagues to account. Longer term consider establishing a Chief Operating Officer role with a seat on the senior leadership team to ensure strategy and operations remain aligned.
“I am excited by the senior leadership team and I can see it growing into a very strong force. The work you have done with them to systemise our business winning and project management processes has created something that feels like a cool and compelling brand! The XXX Way! Thank you.” Paul. Executive Chairman. Engineering and Technology.
WHAT NOW?
If you are not regularly EXPLORING the wider environment and EVOLVING ways in which to remain relevant, nor paying attention to the quality of operational EXECUTION, then you are probably NOT leading the business as effectively as you want to be.
Let’s explore how we can help you. Get in touch with me now on dave@freshairleadership.com or call 07776 153428.
Best wishes,
Dave
Dave Stewart
Founder and Chief Executive
The Fresh Air Leadership Company
We help newly appointed CEOs build highly effective leadership teams.
Based in Scotland, operating UK-wide.
