You’re sitting in your new Corvette; you start the engine and the adrenaline spikes as you feel the 430 hp machine come to life. You see the racetrack ahead. No one can stop you now. You shift into first gear and the race is on; a race you will no doubt win. A few minutes later, the Corvette comes to an abrupt stop. What happened? No oil!
This is a metaphor for your business. You have a vision, a strategic plan, a sound business plan, a good product or service that the market is willing to buy, funding/financing, and a competent and capable management team. You have the ingredients for a successful business. Yet something is not right. You should be more successful. You should have stronger growth. What’s missing? The oil: the intangibles that lubricate the business process.
No engine, no matter how well engineered, can run without oil. No business, no matter how well designed and assembled, can run without the intangibles. The intangibles are to a business what oil is to an engine. They are the subtle yet powerful behaviors that are practiced or not practiced every day. These behaviors represent how work is done and how people interact. What behavior is tolerated; what behavior is not. What is said versus what is done. Some in business call these the soft factors. Yet in our experience and after interviewing business people, we find that it is the soft factors that ultimately determine the success of the business.
An unreturned phone call will not lead to business. Trying to sell before a relationship is established will not lead to business. Creating and tolerating an work environment of extreme internal competition and low trust, tolerating the jerk manager who intimidates and berates employees, will not lead to growth – regardless how well the business design looks on paper or externally to others.
If your business growth is not meeting your expectation and you believe you have the basic business design in place (the engine), consider the following:
1) Talk to your customers and ask them about your service, responsiveness, and relationship building experience with your company;
2) Talk to a trusted advisor and ask them how they see your company;
3) Talk to your employees, and ask them for their feedback, thoughts and suggestions (and make this a safe environment for them);
4) Ask each of your executives (individually and privately) to tell you the top 3 business priorities;
5) Personally participate in select exit interviews;
6) Review the new clients added, client repeat business (client retention), and employee turnover and compare current year with the previous year
Do the six action steps suggested above, and do them yourself. Before you look for complex reasons why your business is not performing to your expectation, look for the simple yet powerful reasons for poor performance. Look for the intangibles. And if you find problems – fix them. It could be the lowest cost, lowest risk way to improve performance, now.
Copyright 2009 Kubica and LaForest
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