Hi guys! I’m back with the fourth installment. Let’s move to the second of the three questions raised in the first post: How can I work to improve my business?
In other words, what can you do that will directly impact your company? We aren’t talking about the big picture of the organization; we’re talking about a skill set you want to improve. Maybe you want to fully understand a certain sales process or get a better grasp of marketing. Communication is a big goal for many people. They want to improve their listening skills and handle conflict in a healthy way. They may also want to better understand their metrics, such as KPIs and ratios.
This is an important question, whether you’re a nonprofit, a business with many employees, a self-employed professional, or something in between.
To answer this question, we must come up with a plan for 2018. I’m going to touch on three parts of the plan you should consider for your organization. If you work for someone else, there might be some things you don’t have complete control of or that won’t apply to your position. That said, I recommend applying them to your situation in any way you can.
Part 1-The company’s foundation:
This refers to the core values of a company, and its mission statement. I underestimated these things during my first five years of coaching, as I didn’t see how crucial they were. Now, I realize they’re essential. What are the rules by which you work and make decisions? Be specific. If you think of integrity, for instance, be sure to define it. Does it mean doing what you say you’ll do? If competition is a core value, what does that look like? If it’s giving back to your community, how do you do that? If you don’t have clearly defined core values, you need to develop them in 2018 to make your organization the best it has ever been. Your mission statement should explain what you’re trying to accomplish. What do you want to do as an organization? What’s your purpose? Make sure you have core values and a mission statement that you think about consistently.
Part 2- The company’s financial goals:
With fiscal goals, I’m going to talk about projections from your financial statements. Are you familiar with your profit and loss statements? Do you understand your balance sheets? What metrics are you focusing on in 2018? Do you have a net profit percentage goal for the year? Do you have a revenue goal or cash reserve projection? Many people struggle with this, especially those without an accounting background or who aren’t naturals with numbers. This harkens back to question one, because maybe that skill you can learn to better your company involves becoming knowledgeable about these things even if they don’t come naturally to you. This is especially true if your company is small or you work for yourself.
Part 3- What you can do to make your business great: What are your 1-year goals? What are the 3 to 6 things you can knock out in 2018 to make your business better than ever? Maybe it’s finally creating a comprehensive marketing plan. Or perhaps you want to make 2 new hires. With many companies, we do full-day retreats to figure this stuff out, so you may need to get away for a bit to think about it.
Thanks for reading and have a better than amazing day!
