EO Cincinnati Blog
Six Tips to Improve Your Business in 2015
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Published by EO Cincinnati Member Crystal Faulkner
[ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE]
Happy New Year! Traditionally, business owners start the year with
resolutions and goals. In many cases, however, when the end of the year
rolls around those resolutions and goals are long forgotten. For 2015,
consider the quote by Wayne Dyer, “If you change the way you look at
things, the things you look at change.”
Explore a different view by rethinking and reinventing the way you run
your day to day operations in an effort to gain more efficiency,
increase cash flow, reduce expenses and maximize the value of your
business. As a result, your resolutions and goals might naturally
emerge. Analyze the financial, performance and behavior metrics of your
business and use that information as a catalyst to make internal
changes.
Here, There and Everywhere
Where are you going? Where do you want to be one year from now? Three
years from now? Ten years from now? As an entrepreneur, it is your job
to anticipate and plan for the future so write your vision down on
paper. Be as specific as possible when thinking about what your business
will look like. For example, identify how many offices you will
have and where, how many employees, revenue and profit amounts, etc. Get
your management team involved and allow them to participate in the
process.
Share and Share-Alike
Communicate the company’s vision and core values with your entire
organization. Ideally, you should review your vision and core values at
weekly or monthly staff meetings. Your team needs to know where you’re
going so they can help you get there. If you don’t already have
consistent meetings with your management team and staff, make it a New
Year’s resolution. Make the meetings mandatory, have an agenda (and
follow it), start on time, and end on time.
What Gets Measured Gets Done
Once your management team has identified your company’s 2015 financial
goals, create a written list of specific issues and challenges that must
be resolved in order to achieve your one year plan. Prioritize your
list and assign the most important ones to specific individuals in your
organization along with an agreed upon completion date. Monitor
progress weekly to ensure the responsible person is on course. Use a
scorecard to track the progress of your organization weekly, monthly and
quarterly. As issues are resolved and removed from the list, add
others with the next highest priority for your company to be on track to
achieve the one year plan.
Reward Behavior
Develop a strategic reward system that addresses compensation, benefits,
recognition, and appreciation. To do that you must first define
specific goals, give clear direction, and explain how the reward system
works. Incentive compensation plans should be used to direct employees’
behavior so they will help the company achieve its objectives.
Rewarding behavior can be challenging. Ask yourself “What am I
compensating my employees for? What behaviors do I want to reward?” Your
system should reward and recognize the type of employee performance and
behavior you want to reinforce. Ultimately, your reward system should
result in a new-found purpose and motivation for your business and your
employees with a healthy workplace where everyone feels appreciated.
Right People, Right Seats
You must have the right people on the bus. If you haven’t
conducted employee reviews in the past twelve months start now. Make
employee evaluations mandatory and consistent. You should be providing
feedback and direction to your employees on a regular basis otherwise
they have unclear expectations. Management tends to gravitate towards
employees who are reliable and get things done. As a result your most
productive employees become overworked and spread too thin while your
unproductive employees are simply taking up seats. Take the time to
determine if you have the right employees, performing the appropriate
tasks for your business.
Systematize and Standardize
Creating and documenting businesses processes and procedures takes
time. However, systemizing processes will create efficiencies that can
boost profitability and help your business grow. Take the time to
understand each process, assess the effectiveness and then implement the
most efficient steps to reach your end goal. In addition to saving time
and money, developing systems, which should be followed by everyone,
can ensure that clients receive a consistent and high-quality
experience.
By consistently and purposely working on your business (not just in it)
you will lead your business and your team to incredible heights.
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