What is the speed with which you and your organization can accomplish a goal? It is no secret that the world moves at a much quicker pace than it did even a few years ago but is your business keeping up?
At a minimum businesses need to find a way to move at the pace of those around them otherwise they risk falling behind. Better still is that they find ways to move faster so that they are leaders.
So, what are some ways in which businesses can move faster?
- Make decisions based upon a risk assessment. Don’t spend days or weeks considering low risk decisions – decide quickly and move on. I have some clients who ponder small decisions while others make $100,000 decisions quickly and efficiently.
- Set appropriately aggressive goals for implementation. While not everything can happen overnight, not everything needs to take six months either. Develop goals that challenge people to find a way to accomplish the mission sooner rather than later.
- When something isn’t going as planned, be aggressive about getting it back on track. Delays often signal an underlying problem and one delay begets another. Seek to understand and resolve any delays at the first time of trouble.
- Don’t strive for unnecessary perfection. Certainly, there are some instances where striving for perfection is warranted but in others, it becomes a rationalization for procrastination. Learn to distinguish the difference.
- Develop a pattern of implementing new ideas. It builds momentum and a culture of innovation. My Success Curve is an illustration of the cumulative impact of small successes building on each other.
Ultimately, I believe that companies that operate at a higher level of speed enjoy greater profitability. They accomplish more in a shorter time period and even when they make mistakes (as all companies do) they resolve them more quickly. Shortened decision making processes throughout the organization inevitably lead to higher levels of customer service as issues are resolved more quickly and systemic problems that surface are resolved by a process of continual improvement.
Ask yourself what slows your organization. Is it the decision making process, implementation cycle, or striving for unnecessary perfection?
This newsletter is going out on the last day of November which means there is just one month left in the calendar year. That’s not a lot of time but what can you accomplish in the last month of the year in order to end 2014 on a high note?
Rest assured, I am asking myself the same question! All of us must constantly strive to raise the bar.
If your business could benefit from fractional CFO services, I would welcome the chance to speak with you. Please give me a call at (314) 863-6637 or send an email to [email protected]