 |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
After we transported him to hospice, he told me, "I'm ready to go." I must say that it wasn't a surprise. Everything leading up to his last rest stop told us this was coming. For the past six months, he lost interest in socializing. Grooming became a challenge. He stopped paying his bills. Even though Dad had survived two bouts with cancer, a brief boxing career in the Navy, and a lengthy tour of duty during World War II, he lost the will and the strength to stay alive. Dad passed away on May 27 at age 84. Much like the loss of a loved one, letting go of things that no longer serve us in our lives requires a lot of courage and stamina. It requires us to make tough choices. My brother and I made the tough choice to move Dad to hospice and allow him to fulfill his wishes. Over the last 24 years, I have seen hundreds of companies shift from high growth to slow death. And their behaviors are not much different from my Dad's. One of the most damaging behaviors is the chronic unwillingness to "stop doing" certain activities, or to let go of resources and activities that no longer serve us. Perhaps you have seen them in your own company during your growth spurts. They may be poor paying clients, non-performing employees whom you just can't find the time to coach or reprimand. They may be unreliable vendors or unfulfilling banking relationships. Or, you may have old assets that you keep forgetting to retire. The list goes on. You may think to yourself, "I really like my assistant as a person. We have socialized together for years. Maybe she will turn the corner. Besides, I'm really busy focusing on more pressing matters right now." Maybe you have convinced yourself that "this bank is the oldest one in our community. It's just a hassle to change banks at this stage, even though they never offer me favorable terms and treat me like a number." (You can learn all about 'stuck in the
mud', slow growing banks in our exclusive Special Report:
This behavior is you inviting your company's demise. At some point, the cost of holding onto these costly resources and habits will far exceed the cost and temporary hassle of releasing them. My client Jacque tempted her company's demise for the past few monthsóeven though her business and client base had doubled. Jacque owns a consulting and recruiting firm that helps beauty business owners increase their profitability by reducing their time to market and increasing employee productivity. The good news spread fast. Since joining our Action Group, she began communicating those results so effectively that clients started flocking to her. Jacque did not prepare for the onslaught of additional work and administrative burden. Her office became disorganized. Her email volume exploded. She found her new website design project demanding. Creating time for her family became more and more challenging. Within just a few weeks, her passion for her work began eroding. Jacque quickly realized she had only a few choices. She could either: a) ignore the problems and keep moving forward, or b) slow down, take stock of what was happening, and make adjustments. Thankfully, Jacque chose the latter. She made a list of every activity she managed. It was a long list! In the left column, she ranked each activity on a 1-10 scale. This scale reflected which activity she liked the most (10) and the least (1). Then she determined which activities supported her values the most, and which supported her values the least. For any activities that scored low on either scale, she would assign one of three action steps:
Great things began to happen. When Jacque shared her list with her husband, Bill, he was fully supportive. Then she made specific requests to her business colleagues and friends. Everyone offered to help her while she recruited part time assistance. Her girlfriend agreed to come by once a week and handle housekeeping activity. And the list goes on. Within 48 hours, every low value, low passion activity was handled. (You can learn more about Jacque now ‚
listen to her 2 minute story): This may sound like a simple task. It
is. However, it's not easy to ask for help and say "no"
to non essential tasks.
Even business author and greatness guru Jim Collins warned us about this business malady in his timeless book, "Good to Great:" "Most of us lead busy but undisciplined lives. We have ever-expanding 'to do' lists, trying to build momentum by doing, doing, doingóand doing more. And it rarely works. Those who built the good-to-great companies, however, made as much use of 'stop doing' lists as 'to do' lists. They displayed a remarkable discipline to unplug all sorts of extraneous junk." Delegating, delaying, and dropping non-productive and non core activities and projects are preventive medicine. They are a path to eliminating busy work and excessively lengthy "to do" lists. Here are some low-cost steps to avoid business demise:
It's mid-year. Now is the time to take
stock in your healthy projects and put your dying projects
to rest. These steps will help.  --Lisa Nirell EnergizeGrowth LLC http://www.energizegrowth.com/ |
||||
|
||||
