Your New Years challenge?

08 Jan Your New Years challenge?

Were you pleased with what your business accomplished in 2011?

• Was it a successful year?
• How do you know?
• What did you set out to achieve?
• What were your results against these targets?
• Did your business slowly start to see an increase in revenue and profit compared to the previous few years?
• How did you business compare to other businesses in your industry?
• What improvements did you see within your business?
• Was your company simply surviving or was it showing signs of future thriving?
• List your evidence here.
• Did your business encounter major obstacles you were not expecting?
• What do you wish would have been better about your business in the last 12 months?

How much of your actual business performance was down to

1. Your management input (      %)
2. Macro economics            (      %).

If you were unhappy about what your business experienced and accomplished in 2011, it was most likely because you allowed it to drift rather than take charge and drive it in a particular direction. In other words you needed to focus in on the variables you as owner manager have some control over and not be too distracted by the macro issues over which you have no control.

Unfortunately, strategic planning is often overlooked in small to medium sized businesses. This results in the business drifting in the direction of least resistance. Here the business is managing you rather than you managing the business. This is where you as the owner manager need to stand up and be counted. What are you capable of achieving?

My definition of an owner manager’s job is;

–someone who decides what business to be in, cause it to happen and then measures what has happened against pre-determined benchmarks.

As the owner manager, can you play your management role as per this definition? Are you capable of the decisive decisions and the gathering of the necessary resources to make it happen? As you can see from the definition, part of your role is to CAUSE it to happen. This is where the depth of skill and experiences within your expanded team is so important.

 Your outside business advisors should be a part of your business TEAM so you can take advantage of their expertise and perspectives as well. Will this breath of your expanded teams capacity be either an enabler or a hindrance to the optimisation of your businesses performance in 2012 and beyond?.

2011 is now history. You and your team need to focus your capacity on developing your roadmap upon which you will drive your business in 2012 and beyond. This roadmap must clearly articulate where and how you are going to establish the “edge” that will facilitate your stretching business objectives to be achieved.

Take time out now and answer the following questions.

Blaise Brosnan ©

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