Thought Tweet #590 You're approaching an intersection and the amber light is on. Do you run it?

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

When business caution lights are on do you run them? 

Many entrepreneurs are optimistic to a fault. This is a common side-effect of an entrepreneurial spirit and it is encouraged by expert advice that goes something like: throw caution to the wind and have big, hairy audacious goals. Success, if achieved too quickly and without enough struggle, can also fan the flames of unrealistic entrepreneurial expectations.

Entrepreneurs' unrealistic expectations can fuel all sorts of business problems. Business problems are to be expected; it is impossible to build without encountering problems; it is impossible to grow without struggle.

Regardless, certain types of business problems are unreasonable, unnecessary, and counterproductive. Certain types of business problems make work...actually, they make fake work. These problems take the form of distractions, fire-fights, and wild goose chases.

Distractions: Regardless of claims to the contrary, people do a poor job of multi-tasking. Focus and concentration are important facets of work-action and distractions reduce both. So, distractions increase errors, which lead to fix-up work, inefficiency and ineffectiveness.

Fire-fights: Few people excel during workplace emergencies. Strings of workplace emergencies - extended fire-fighting actions - create excessive stress and bad decisions. People change when they experience stress...they really change when that stress is sustained over long periods of time.

Wild Goose Chases: Some people are optimistic to a fault. They believe anything and everything is possible. They place ill-conceived demands on others without consideration of the human reactions linked to those demands. They de-spirit people.

Distractions, fire-fights, and wild goose chases are unnecessary problems in business.

When these unnecessary problems are caused by the owner-entrepreneur...well, that's inexcusable.

After meeting with and investigating 100's of businesses that have been unable to achieve their profit goals, it is clear there is need for a simple process for profit-improvement. The simple process needs to work for all sizes of businesses and work across a broad range of business sectors.

Here is a simple profit-improvement process that works:

The RAISE Process

Review your issues, objectively

Assessment of situation, people, & process

Insight, to create options & best practices

Support, of your solution implementation

Evaluation against agreed benchmarks

More details...

Review your issues, objectively:

There are 2 ways to be objective. (1) be a possibility-thinking master of self-discipline and (2) obtain unbiased 3^rd party input. Definitely, there are ways to expand open-mindedness, possibility thinking, and creative thinking. Here are 2 examples: Edward de Bono's 'Six Thinking Hats' and John C. Maxwell's 'How Successful People Think'. 

Assessment of situation, people, & process:

These are the 3 basic elements of business. They inter-play with one another. Of course, it is all about people. Yet, the differences in people are often underestimated. People create the process. Yet, sometimes they do not do a good enough job explaining what they have created. And, people regularly underestimate the impact situations have on people's behaviour....especially, tough situations.

Insight, to create options & best practices:

Some people appear to possess a natural gift of insight; some people rarely exhibit insight; any person who works at it can develop skills for insight. Business leadership and business development [sales & marketing] are two areas where insight is most essential. Here is an illustration of the importance of insight - the Entrepreneurial Dilemma. 

Support, of your solution implementation:

It is impossible to implement a solution if your people do not buy into it. It is difficult to make a good consensus decision; it is really tough to implement any decision without people buying in. For some people - and you will need their help - the path to change must contain small steps...at least, at first.

Evaluation against agreed benchmarks:

Business is an iterative process: building things you believe contain value and testing to determine those things actually do contain value. Here, I am talking about value for clients, value for owners, value for employees...i.e., value, as seen from these and other [different] perspectives. And, all these perspectives must be understood and used as performance benchmarks...to define success and guide behaviour. Then, with benchmarks understood - measure, report, adjust, etc.