When there is a major problem, what signals do your actions send to your employees?<\/p>\n
What do you do when things are going dramatically worse than planned?\u00a0 Merely hoping that things will get better is pretty risky.\u00a0 Many of our clients have hit an icy patch, finding themselves in a situation with results far below expectations.\u00a0 When one recently found themselves with sales dramatically below budget, they did two things.\u00a0 First, the entire team drilled down to make sure they understood where they were and why.\u00a0 As is often the case, there was no one reason\u00a0but a confluence of events — a weakening market, an underperforming new business development effort, and too many dumb mistakes in handling the initial orders from the new customers they did<\/em> attract.<\/p>\n Second, they declared a formal crisis.\u00a0 Declaring a crisis while the company was still profitable may seem extremem but why risk waiting?\u00a0 The biggest effect of shifting to crisis mode was to focus on making sure they were following up daily on tactical actions.\u00a0 Each morning started with a 10-15 minute huddle to clarify exactly what they were doing today to bring in more business, what jobs were VIP-status and required additional attention to make sure they were performed flawlessly.\u00a0 The mere act of meeting daily communicated to the entire company the need to focus on bringing in and retaining business. A happy side effect was the immediate improvement in cross-departmental communications and teamwork.<\/p>\n One of the overreaching goals of planning is to identify potential crisis points and take action today to prevent them from occurring. Preventing a crisis is by far the best approach. Organizations that are constantly fighting fires seldom reach their potential.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easier to identify potential crisis points if you have a clear visualization of where your company is going. For a pragmatic take on how to develop, refine, and implement that visualization, review the first two chapters I wrote in the Business Expert Guide to Small Business Success<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in having a facilitated strategic planning meeting that moves you\u00a0from concept to tangible implementation, check our our services<\/a>, contact us<\/a> or better yet, give us a call at (800) 207-8192 to arrange for a complimentary consultation to determine if our program is right for you and you are right for the program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When there is a major problem, what signals do your actions send to your employees? What do you do when things are going dramatically worse than planned?\u00a0 Merely hoping that things will get better is pretty risky.\u00a0 Many of our … Continue reading