While I love the older Volkswagen Bugs, the performance of a Porsche is pretty nice, comparatively. The VW Bug doesn’t run anywhere near as smooth as the Porsche. It doesn’t have the features or the capabilities that the Porsche has. It’s a very simple car, a little clunky (especially if you don’t know how to drive a manual) & while I think they’re cute, they just are not the well-oiled machine that the luxurious Porsche is.
This tends to be how I look at businesses. How is your business performance? Is it a little clinky? Are there a lot of changes & turnaround in short amounts of time? Are strategies & goals being adhered to & are there more people shooting for them than just you, as the owner? Does your business run like a well-oiled, luxurious machine?
Business performance is a comprehensive measure of how well a company is executing its strategies and achieving its goals. Key indicators of business performance include financial metrics such as revenue growth, profitability, and return on investment. Operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and employee productivity also play crucial roles in determining overall business performance.
Regularly analyzing and evaluating performance metrics allows businesses to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, enabling informed decision-making. Continuous improvement initiatives, adaptation to market trends, and strategic planning are essential elements for enhancing and sustaining positive business performance over time.
With that being said, here are 3 action steps to take that will keep your business running at top performance.
- Utilize your people. Use your frontline’s knowledge. If you have employees that interact with your customers daily, utilize them. They are the one’s hearing what changes could be made to better your business. Have them attend meetings that well-intending “Yes” people frequent. Listen to their ideas on how to change policies & procedures & then explain why or why not those policies & procedures may or may not work.
- Know your numbers. This may have happened more in the early 90s but, there were constant stories of how partners or other trusted employees would “run off” with the money & leave someone holding the bag, of everything. The partner holding the bag is holding the bag because they weren’t the partner in charge of finances or knowing numbers. They were the “operations” part of the business. Corporations meet with their boards & discuss numbers, why not a small to large business? You will always be aware of what’s going on in your business, if you know your numbers & not just as a one-time thing every year. Now, I’m not saying you have to be hovering & micromanaging to know your numbers. I’m saying that as you know those numbers, you are able to make CEO decisions. You can know when to innovate & lead, you can know if things are in integrity & aligned with your goals as a company & you can be prepared for any kind of economy.
- Innovate & Pivot. Once again, utilizing your people will take a lot of this off of you. Kodak was a great example of what happens when we don’t embrace pivoting. Be trendsetters if need be, but learn to innovate, bring things to light, “disrupt” an industry & do something different. Collaborate ideas with others. Get a coach to bounce ideas off of. But take action. I run when I hear people say “But this is how we’ve always done it”, & IT’S NOT WORKING ANYMORE! That’s like wearing the famous blue eye shadow from the 80’s in today’s world….there are so many other options & you don’t have to stick with one thing, there are plenty of opportunities for growth, it’s a matter of maybe changing some in the circle of influence.
And just for good measure, check your habits & rituals. Just because you’ve been doing them forever doesn’t mean that they are serving you still in the best way possible. I know we are told to wake up early, get in some exercise, read, write in a journal or notebook, don’t check email. But what if waking up early (I’m talking the 5 am club) just makes you cranky & you wake up not feeling rested? You don’t perform at your best & feel sluggish all day. So maybe you don’t actually have to wake up early. What if you woke up at 7 a or 8 am? Is your day gone? Can you still get exercise in & read or listen to an audiobook while you exercise? YES!
Learn to perform at your highest & best in many different ways & you will be that well-oiled machine, conducting business, that is a well-oiled machine!
