KPI - means Key Performance Initiative, or Keep Pushing It!

As a long-time business coach, I’m often asked what’s the biggest single problem in the world of the small business?  In fact, it’s a two-part problem.

1.  Keeping score on your business’s performance.

2.  Keeping score on yourself!

Most businesses really don’t do this.  Can you imagine why?

Consider:  You went out on your own so that you wouldn’t have to report to “the man.”  Now why should you have to report to yourself?

BUT – The unexamined business is not worth running.  You are in fact the only one who can view your business from “above” and see what’s going right and wrong, whether you work with dozens of people, or if you are a solopreneur.

Have a look at your efforts to keep score.  Do you have effective tracking capabilities, for everybody including yourself?
Of all the tricks and strategies, keeping score on everything including yourself is the most critical and most avoided.

What would you like to measure as KPI’s – key performance indicators?  Would you agree that finding a way to keep score should absolutely facilitate business growth?

If you have arrived at Yes, I’d be happy to speak with you.  Keeping score effectively usually takes 2 or more.  Keeping score effectively also means that you, and everyone else, is likely doing what’s important to keep the business going.

Craig Jennings

PUNCTURES ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS – a coaching story about growth.

Why the quick-fix approach to problem solving will leave your life in tatters. A teaching from Hang Sen – By Grant Storey

“Why do things keep going wrong?” I asked the old man in exasperation. “Why is it that as soon as I think I have the problem fixed it pops up again, it recurs and every time it is more disheartening than the last? What am I missing here?”

I had become desperate – my physical, mental and emotional health had been a disaster for the last three years and I was forever going through cycles of recuperation, healing and feeling ok, back into a ruthless recurrence of symptoms which had left an army of doctors and specialists utterly baffled as to what the dilemma was.

Where we find growth.

I had come here, to the house of my teacher and advisor, Hang Sen, once again in search of answers. And this was his reply. “So many people” he began, “are always looking only in the now for the quick-fix and for the instant solution or remedy to their suffering. Problems exist on the road of life so that we may ride over them and experience all the opportunity for growth that they afford. But people do not like to do this. They have forgotten the meaning that lies in the problems they encounter on their individual and collective paths.”

“They have forgotten to see the problems littered on the road to success for what they really are” he paused, gazing at me with those black eyes sparkling with intensity, his voice dripping with wisdom. “Jewels of opportunity that contain within them the seeds of greatness. Instead you, and millions of others just like you, have bought into the delusion that the jewel is a mere shard of glass that is causing you an unnecessary and perhaps even painful delay on the road to your success.”

“So” he continued, “people are much like a bicycle tire that is forever going around and around on the road of life, hitting a thorn or loose shard of glass now and again and going through the experience of getting a puncture. What happens then is at times amusing and at others it is tragic. In most cases, the person immediately sets about fixing the puncture as quickly as possible, pumping up the tire and moving on again until of course the tire rides over another problem, and another puncture results, to which the same remedy is applied, and the puncture is fixed and then off they go again, until they hit another problem and get another puncture and so on it goes.”

He was smiling broadly now, clearly amused with this particular analogy. “The funny thing is” he said, letting out a little chuckle, “is that more often than not it is the same piece of glass in the road that the person is actually riding over. All this moving off and getting punctures and patching up and then moving off again at a frantic pace is in fact an act of delusion in that the tire is unaware that it is going nowhere, but rather riding in place like a hamster wheel, continuously moving over the same puncture again and again.”

“It is the programmed nature of people to want to move off and onward all the time. People do not like to be stopped in their tracks. People do not like to stop full stop. And so this process continues and the punctures keep on occurring. More and more patches are placed on the tire until the tire becomes so tattered and patched up that its total integrity is completely compromised paving the way for a huge disaster to occur.”

“Again, this comes down to the perception of the puncture”, Hang Sen smiled, “because whenever ones perceives a puncture as merely an irritating and perhaps even debilitating shard of glass, and seeks only to patch themselves up as superficially as possible in order to get moving again, they are rendering themselves ignorant to the true meaning of their predicament. They are in fact blinding themselves to the opportunity that the problem is affording them – which is of course to grow.”

“They are mistaking a precious jewel for a shard of broken glass and in so doing they are failing to grow past the so called ‘problem’ and when that happens”, Hang Sen said drumming his finger into the palm of his hand, “they are merely setting themselves up to ride over the same ‘shard of glass’ time and again until they learn to see it for what it truly is.”

“Until you learn to see your problems as jewels of opportunity which are there to enable you to grow beyond your limited self of yesterday, you will never step into the understanding of your true potential which lies waiting for you today!”

Editor’s Note: Call it Entrepreneurial A.D.D. Excited by all the problems we are solving, we miss the root problem. It starts with spending 30 minutes a day “thinking before we act.” Some of the other articles on this website explore this possibility further. Growth in small business rarely occurs without prior thought and planning.

cj

Do you get it at the hands of a ham-fisted parent?   Is it imposed by a teacher to the tune of a hickory stick?  Or is it self-discipline, controlling the raging bull of Id, managing the slings and arrows of outrageous entrepreneurship?

And our adversary, procrastination, is universal!

However described or imposed, discipline is what many small businesses, and small business owners lack, need, pay lip service to, and ignore!

We can recall when we decided not to report to “the man” any longer.  We would be our own boss, make it on our own, with a clear picture of what had to be done, and when, and by whom!

At the same time, we also gave ourselves permission to procrastinate, fudge, wiggle out, or flat-out change our minds – about duties, deadlines and obligations.  Sounded pretty good, best of both worlds.

It’s why banks are so squirrely about loaning money to young small businesses.  It’s why 6 million small businesses started  up this year.  It’s also why 40% of them are gone in the first year, 80% in four!  Time and capital invested without significant return.  Not good stuff.

If you have been troubled by the lack of discipline in your business, for whatever reason, this article is for you.

Now, there is an absurdly great joy in what can be called “self-mastery.”  In that bucket goes the accomplishment of something you’ve been procrastinating.  The weight lifted off your shoulders is formidable  (of course, you hadn’t noticed it before!).  The sense of being “back in command of yourself” is exciting.  And all because you did something you’d set out to do a while ago, and had put off.

Some of my clients personalize this phenomenon – call it “their demon.”  So did Joseph Campbell, a man who understood what we construct in our minds – he was an expert on myths, and demons.  “If I swallow my demon, I gain his power, for the greater life’s pain, the greater life’s return.”

Recommendation:  First, acknowledge procrastination.  “We have met the enemy and he is us!”  Create some systems which expose it (I like the Getting Things Done process by David Allen. )  Also you can get yourself an accountability partner.  Someone exterior to your business, to whom you can account.     Someone who will manage the responsibility of accountability with understanding, generosity, and fidelity to the strategic, tactical and financial objectives of your business.

Successful businesspeople, like the acrobat at the top of this article,  try to manage this issue rigorously.  By confronting the discipline issue, you can have clear performance targets, hit them or miss them, celebrate your victories and learn from your mistakes (one of the most valuable opportunities for a small business operator. ) In this way, you have the freedom you sought and avoid some of the real liabilities.

The truth of it, however,  is that the demon is as devious as we are, for obvious reasons!  You and I can procrastinate anything, anytime.  You can’t stamp it out, but there are some excellent processes for dealing with it, and the results and delight are amazing!

Further conversation?  Craig Jennings, Business Coach, 516 944-6454, www.craigjennings.com, craig@craigjennings.com

By Harvey Mackay

I got a phone call from a Fortune 500 CEO last week whom I had never met. After decades of begging the government to relax their regulatory grip and let his industry experience the joys of competition, his wish had been granted – and his bottom line had plummeted.

He wanted me to talk to his top executives for two hours and zero in on negotiating strategies.

A bit overwhelmed, I said, “I’m very flattered but frankly, I don’t know if I can talk for two hours on negotiating.”

Then I realized I was actually negotiating with myself. As my brain finally reconnected, I cut myself off. “Well, let me sleep on it and I’ll get back to you.”

Later that evening, I began to write down some of my negotiating experiences and saw that my problem was going to be holding the speech down to two hours.

I’d already brushed up against the first and second laws of negotiating that morning in my conversation with the CEO.

1. Never accept any proposal immediately, no matter how good it sounds.

2. Never negotiate with yourself. You’ll furnish the other side with ammunition they might never have gotten themselves. Don’t raise a bid or lower an offer without first getting a response.

Here are some more rules of the road:

3. Never cut a deal with someone who has to “go back and get the boss’ approval.” That gives the other side two bites of the apple to your one. They can take any deal you are willing to make and renegotiate it.

4. If you can’t say yes, it’s no. Just because a deal can be done, doesn’t mean it should be done. No one ever went broke saying “no” too often.

5. Just because it may look nonnegotiable, doesn’t mean it is. Take that beautifully printed “standard contract” you’ve just been handed. Many a smart negotiator has been able to name a term and gets away with it by making it appear to be chiseled in granite, when they will deal if their bluff is called.

6. Do your homework before you deal. Learn as much as you can about the other side. Instincts are no match for information.

7. Rehearse. Practice. Get someone to play the other side. Then switch roles. Instincts are no match for preparation.

8. Beware the late dealer. Feigning indifference or casually disregarding timetables is often just a negotiator’s way of trying to make you believe he/she doesn’t care if you make the deal or not.

9. Be nice, but if you can’t be nice, go away and let someone else do the deal. You’ll blow it.

10. A deal can always be made when both parties see their own benefit in making it.

11. A dream is a bargain no matter what you pay for it. Set the scene. Tell the tale. Generate excitement. Help the other side visualize the benefits, and they’ll sell themselves.

12. Don’t discuss your business where it can be overheard by others. Almost as many deals have gone down in elevators as elevators have gone down.

13. Watch the game films. Top players in any game, including negotiating, debrief themselves immediately after every major session. They always keep a book on themselves and the other side.

14. No one is going to show you their hole card. You have to figure out what they really want. Clue: Since the given reason is never the real reason, you can eliminate the given reason.

15. Always let the other side talk first. Their first offer could surprise you and be better than you ever expected.

***

Harvey Mackay is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of the New York Times #1 bestseller “Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.” This article also appears on Harvey’s website, and was reprinted with his permission.

Are you like most entrepreneurs, working twice as hard and making half as much?

A small business is like a young tree – a little sun, a little rain, a little dirt, and up it goes, year by year.  So why not yours?

You want more income, and profit: You want new customers, new employees working with those customers, new ideas, initiatives, approaches.  Ultimately, you want a job you’ve designed for yourself, a good income, equity, and possibly an exit strategy.

But a small business entrepreneur is faced with serious challenges.  See if you recognize any of these below.

1. You work 24/7. You answer the phone, make, order, ship, wrap, deliver.  You borrow, pay, cajole, demand, negotiate.  You advertise, write, design, publish, talk, speak, promote.  When do you find time to think, to plan, to grow?
   1. You suffer the Tyranny Of The Urgent! You know the difference between urgent and important.  But you are so busy handling urgent, you never get to important, and that’s exactly the difference between income and profit.
   2. You need a better outcome than you have right now!  How about income, growth?

It doesn’t have to be this way!

What happens so often in small businesses is that the CEO or Chief Executive Officer spends most of his time as Chief Employee.

You can have a business where you are the captain. You tackle the important issues.  Other people handle the smaller stuff. If you want the big bucks, that’s how it has to work, right?

In order to grow your business, you have to “grow” you first.  Isn’t this simple, obvious?

You can have more income, more growth, more time to breathe, to think, to plan, and to enjoy – perhaps even scheme an exit strategy.  My coaching program has given many business owners the change they want.

My coaching program is called: “Begin At The Beginning.” It has 3 steps.  They’re all about you.

Step 1.  New understanding.  Self-knowledge:  Know your strengths, grow yourself, and, learn about others.

Step 2.  Create a foundation for your business – a Vision and a Mission.

Step 3.  Delegate:  Absolutely critical to growth.

Knowing your strengths by Beginning At The Beginning.

It means that you take your CEO (you) back to Square One, and discover what your strengths are.  Some fine surprises waiting here.

Immediate payoff. You know your greatest strengths, and you can design your business to take advantage of them. The growth you want will naturally occur.

Creating a foundation:

After Self-Knowledge, you’ll develop a Vision, and a Mission for your business. With self-knowledge, vision and mission fulfilled, you’ll have built a firm foundation, one which most small businesses lack.  Imagine a tripod – stable, firm, efficient.  If you like, picture a pyramid!  Now, when you communicate your complete business picture to others, they really get it!

Then, we add skills to your business by delegation.

There are at least two kinds of tasks which are currently in need of delegation:

• The tasks which you do but hate to do, and could be much more easily and better-handled by an expert,
• And then there are the other tasks – those which you hate to do, don’t do and never get done!

Imagine these two tasks – done regularly and well, without your effort!

Can you begin to see the difference between the business you had and the business you could have?

With my “Begin At The Beginning” coaching program you choose to give up being the Chief Employee, and become the Chief Executive instead. You have a written foundation for your business which you understand, and which you’re ready to share with others.  And you are delegating tasks to others, while you still retain the responsibility of making sure the tasks get done, and get done properly.

Here’s what you have accomplished:

a)    Avoided the pitfalls of working without thinking and discovered and energized the greatest strengths of the most important person in your business, you.

b)   Created a practical and thoughtful foundation for your business which can be communicated to employees, customers, and colleagues.

c)    Found out how to create growth and get rid of unwanted tasks at the same time!

How did all this miraculously happen?

You and I did it together.  Business coaching is a process which I’ve been doing successfully for 13 years.  For proof of that claim, please see the Results section of my website at www.craigjennings.com.

The process:

Depending on your ambition, issues and budget, we meet once, twice or up to six times a month, face-to-face or by phone (Skype video is fine).  The most economical model includes group coaching.   We tackle one or two projects at a time, and keep them moving forward.  It can take a while to get all the pieces in place, but your business will grow as we work and you should see steady progress.  Sessions are not constrained to 30 or 50 minutes, they are as long as they have to be – usually 75-90 minutes.  Email communication is unlimited, and, because business problems never arrive on schedule, short emergency phone sessions also come with the package.

We will talk money at the appropriate time.  My intention is that I function with you as a “partner without equity.”

Is business coaching an accepted process? Actually, large businesses regularly assign a business coach to high-level executives – at that level, it’s a highly-competed-for perc.  Small businesses have more recently taken to professional coaching.  Coaching found its “legs” under the guidance and inspiration of the legendary Thomas J. Leonard, who founded 3 different coaching companies, I.C.F., Coach U, and CoachVille.  I was a charter member of CoachVille, where I got my initial training from Thomas as a business coach.

You may want to review articles I’ve written about issues we’ve discussed here.

Article on CEO Time: http://craigjennings.com/category/productivity/

Article on Sales: http://craigjennings.com/category/sales/

Article on Urgent & Important: http://craigjennings.com/category/urgent & important/

There are some 40 articles on my website on small business which have been written for you.  Further research:  just go to Google and search for Craig Jennings, Business Coach.

• If you’re a small-business owner who’s impatient to get growing…
• If you’re looking for change, perhaps in yourself.
• If you think you might be stuck with the emergency brake on.

Then:

• Get ready to accept the exciting consequences – an efficient, successful, growing business with much more money, directed by a world-class entrepreneur – you!

Will this program be a good fit for you?

If you’ve gotten this far in the letter about the program, you could be interested in taking the next step. If so, I invite you to contact me for a complimentary Strategy Session.

Here, we’ll explore what challenges you face, what kind of results you’d like to see instead, and whether this program may really be of help.  Whatever the outcome, I promise that you’ll leave the conversation much more clear about the issues you’re facing, and with a new view of what’s possible.

The conversation will take about an hour, and can be done in person, or by phone.  To book a complimentary Small Business Strategy Session, just call.
Warmly,
Craig Jennings

516 944-6454

craig@craigjennings.com