An Honest Look at Your Business

There is a difference between being comfortable and being in apathy.

It is very comfortable to have a smooth running organization when you have a team that knows what to do and does it. It is comfortable to have this group take care of your company and make it expand, and all you have to do is take care of the team. It is comfortable when the staff will actually handle the discipline problems of other staff members and not give it to you to handle. It is, of course, very comfortable to have a consistent flow of new customers into your office and not have to worry about it week to week.

What is apathy?

Perhaps apathy is excuses - thinking that things can't change, considering that "this is pretty good" and "I just want everybody to be happy," but recognizing that they are not. Apathy can be present when there are situations going on in the office that aren't going well and you choose to ignore it and hope it will go away. Apathy can be mere excuses and explanations as to why a situation or problem exists.

Sometimes, as business owners, we can fall into such apathy that we don't actually use any tools to evaluate whether the organization is expanding or not. We wait until the accountant reconciles the books and tells us whether we did well or poorly. That's truly apathy.

Apathy can also be a lack of planning, the "just come to work and see what happens" attitude. Some business owners at one point in time used to keep a "to-do" list, now they don't even bother. They just wait until they come into the office and one of the staff members gives them the first order of the day, in other words, they take orders from their staff. That's truly apathy.

Some business owners are doing all right and they are making good money, but they are not taking care of their staff. They may have lack of emotion or caring or a general apathy towards their staff.

Whatever your financial goals are, you probably need to triple them, because it's important to take care of the team that takes care of you. When you recognize what good staff members can do for your organization and you actually exchange with them for that good work, it tells those staff members how much you truly care about them.

When you accept excuses for low productivity, you as a business owner go more and more into apathy. And so does your team. But on the other hand, improving the employees' ability to handle their jobs well, giving the staff real, obtainable production demands and getting them to achieve these targets regardless of the "excuses" is certainly not apathy. It is the ability to make things happen as an executive.

Many business owners are not satisfied in some way about the volume of new customers into their business, but most are not doing anything about it. Now that's truly apathy! Sometimes we look around at other businesses that are doing well and blame them for our lack of success. That is slightly better than apathy ? at least there is some emotion, but the practice owner still hasn't done anything about it.

What we are talking about here, plain and simple, is how to shift from being the effect of your referral sources to being causative over that relationship. In other words, in regards to new customers, instead of "look at me and recognize how hard it is for me to get new customers," you can shift to "I know how to drive new business in the door." One is apathy and the other is causative. It is first and foremost a shift in viewpoint.

If you don't have a plan to drive some business in the door, if you don't have a solution for this problem and you haven't had a solution for years, then most likely you are not very causative over this area. Most likely you're in apathy about this area of your business.

Perhaps you consider it is comfortable if you are making good money and you're not working a whole lot. But if you are doing well and your staff is not doing well, something should change.

A good executive cares enough about what's going on and cares about his group. I am not implying that you don't care about your staff, that you don't feel that they are important. I am sure you recognize that they are. Unfortunately, you can feel alone sometimes in the running of your business because you make all the decisions in the organization. You may have a team that works with you that's really not a team but a group of robots that take orders from you all day long. Well that type of management style would certainly make me or any other business owner feel like, "why should I take such good care of these guys when they can't seem to fight their way out of a paper bag?"

One way in which you can take care of your group is to show them how they can take care of you. The way you do that is by managing with statistics and not with emotion. Set good, acceptable, agreed-upon targets and work with your staff through whatever barriers that may come up in order to achieve that end. You can move from being apathetic about certain areas of your business to being more causative over it.

Imagine the confidence that it will give you and your team when these key areas are handled in your business. Think of the reduction in the amount of worry that you may have if you know and can predict your expansion. But if you are in apathy about what you can do to increase you numbers, you still are worrying. It is not like you are off picking daisies, you are still worrying.

Make no mistake, this is not necessarily easy - it is a fair amount of work, you have to roll up your sleeves, you actually have to DO something.

But if you are frustrated, perhaps angry about the way things are and have gotten to a point where you say, "Look, I need to freshen up what we already do," or "I need to do SOMETHING!" then that change in viewpoint alone can help you get started on your way.

To summarize:

1) Teach your staff how to take care of you. This is as simple as telling them what is needed and wanted. It is likely that it cannot be communicated all in one sitting, but if done well becomes an ongoing communication.

2) Figure out how take better care of your staff as they start taking better care of you.

3) Manage by statistics ? not with emotion. Take the "office politics" out of your business. Reward on merit alone ? the merit being "does that employee do their job?" The statistic will show it; it will either be up or down.

4) And last but not least, change your viewpoint. Quit deciding situations that are truly not the way you really want them to be are OK. Decide that they can be different and then go about working out how to make them so ? for the better!

Shaun Kirk is President and Co-Founder of Measurable Solutions Inc., a consulting firm engaged in all areas of business management. Measurable Solutions trains entrepreneurs and executives how to be consultants to their own businesses, so they not only can expand their own business but any business. With his partner, he has built the most rapidly expanding company of its kind in the world. Visit his website at http://www.measurablesolutions.com

---

Tap Employee Passion For Business Success

Meriwether Lewis set the stage for the Corps of Discovery's... Read More

Make It Easy to Reply - Voice Mail That Works

If you are like most business people, voice mail has... Read More

Try It Out On Your Team First

Wow! You're brilliant! You have a great idea. You've looked... Read More

5 Ways to Work More Effectively With Your Administrative Assistant

Stop hiring new administrative support staff. And learn how to... Read More

Innovation Management and Brainstorming Management ? why people hate to brainstorm!

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Make the Most of Your Time - Focus on Strengths

Once working and focused in tune with what they do... Read More

Five Essential Hiring Practices

Recruiting and hiring are often done in haste, leaving the... Read More

Delegate Tasks to the Right Person

SELECTING THE RIGHT PERSON: To whom should tasks be delegated?... Read More

Group Decision Making : Are the Decisions Really Made by the Group?

GROUP DECISION-MAKING: Many managers feel they are well-versed in areas... Read More

Weaknesses of Wishing

When you're starting a business, you might wish for a... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Coworkers Collaborate to Complete Successful Initiative

This short story, Coworkers Collaborate to Complete Successful Initiative, was... Read More

Few Things Are More Destructive Than An Insecure Boss

Few things are more destructive to a career than a... Read More

Effective Email Communication

Email, when used properly, can generate additional direct sales and... Read More

Management to the Vision-Contribution and the Role of Compliance

As a manager our role is to:1. Establish the vision,... Read More

Why You Need a Business Plan

This article was originally called "Do You Need a Business... Read More

9 Tips for Getting the Most From Your Conference Investment

Tips for Getting the Most From Your Conference Investment All... Read More

Workplace Violence - People are Dying Going to Work

Workplace violence has become a tragic reality today. From minor... Read More

Planning Your Recruiting Efforts Can Help You Find Great Employees

Today, companies have an ever-expanding list of options available to... Read More

Setting Direction Within an Organization

FINDING DIRECTION: An organization can't succeed without direction. Direction means... Read More

Innovation Management: The Quality and Quantity of the Idea Pool

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

I Said Pareto Chart? Not Potato Chart!

Does this sound familiar? You were hired for the new... Read More

What are Your Best Practices?

Best Practices StudiesThese studies can be defined as inquiries into... Read More

How to Build Your Business and Still Take Time Off

We all know people who are like human dynamos. They... Read More

Better Manager Skills - How to Learn

When you first take over a department, expectations are usually... Read More

Why Good Enough... Isnt

About a year ago, I had an opportunity to have... Read More

It?s Not All About Cheese: The Missing Component in Employee Development (Part 2)

In part one of this article I told you about... Read More

Looking through the Glass Ceiling - Women in Management

Women have made tremendous contributions to society at every level;... Read More

A Leadership Lesson: Two Guys With Guns

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters... Read More

What Is Business Sense?

What is the principal thing you need to succeed in... Read More

Tales From the Corporate Frontlines: An Unexpected Benefit

This article relates to the Compensation and Benefits competency, commonly... Read More

Avoiding The Sheep Dip

It is a sad fact that many employees are still... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management: The Creative State

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Downsizing in Organisations - The Real Truth

I've met and worked with many people in all sectors... Read More