Your first task as a business owner is to make sure that your business survives the early years. To do this you have to get hold of the information that you’ll need to make the informed decisions required of you, which in turn will allow you to make good decisions rather than disastrous ones. Obtain your information from both inside and outside your organisation, with a focus on the development of your mission statement (why does your business exist?) and your business plan (how are you going to achieve what you set up your business to do?). These early stage decisions allow you to build a business plan defining what your business is going to do and for whom? Development of a strong plan will dramatically increase the chances of your business surviving its early years as it gives everyone associated with your organisation a clear focus on the what, why and how.
Thinking is the hardest work there is…
Information is a very valuable resource within your business. Without it, you and your team will be making decisions by using guess work and gut—feeling. Opinions will take the place of informed decision making and people will argue that they are right, not on the basis of evidence, but on the basis of who can shout the loudest.
Some managers believe that seniority within the management structure somehow grants their opinions an air of rightness that those of a more junior member of the team don’t possess. Indeed, the experience that usually comes with seniority can produce reasonable opinions, but those made in light of accurate information have a solidity that opinions based on outdated experiences can lack. Ensure that you identify what information is important to each part of your business and establish the routes that bring that information to the people who need it.
Henry Ford said that ‘Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.’ As the owner of the business you must do a great deal of thinking, for a great deal depends upon it. Thinking is hard, but it is made considerably easier with high—quality information as its fuel.
If some of the people within your business feel uncomfortable ‘thinking’, then call it planning; it produces plans after all. People can sometimes get hung up on words as those words come with baggage that may not be to their liking. Don’t start an argument about it, simply change the word to something that suits the situation. As long as you all agree on what the words that you are using mean, then an obstacle to your business surviving will have been overcome quite simply.
The output of your thinking (planning) activities are plans. Plans are a vital tool within your business as without them the reliability with which you can transmit your message to your team can be seriously impaired. How many of us have been in meetings where no minutes were produced and barely an hour later the attendees all had different recollections of exactly who was supposed to be doing what?
One of the most important plans, or parts of a plan, within your business is the “How do you give your customers what they want part?”. Many hours can be wasted debating between yourselves (or on your own) exactly what your customers want, and yet there is a very easy way to determine that all—important business criterion. Ask them!
Why do some managers shy away from actually approaching customers or potential customers to ask them what they would like from them or whether they are delivering a descent service? Do they think that communicating with their customers will make this business relationship better or worse? People do business with people and if asking your customers if you are giving them a good service is likely to result in that relationship being damaged, then you really ought not to be in business.
As I’ve said, having a plan in your head is of little use to your team. Write your plan down and communicate it, so that everyone can be part of bringing the plan to fruition. As the head of your business, you’ll be putting the bulk of the effort into planning and developing your vision, but you don’t have to work alone when it comes to delivering that plan.
If you think of your business as a machine, then you have to assemble the components in a way that makes the whole work effectively. Chucking pistons, gears, sparkplugs and a carburettor into a box will not produce a race—winning engine. You have to make sure that you know what each component is supposed to be doing and ensure that they do it together. Acquire the necessary information, devote time to thinking, make sound decisions, and produce a good, solid plan for business growth. In the next chapter, we’ll look at what it takes to get your team on board and implementing your plan, which is vital to the survival of your business.