Improve My Business

Spring is in full swing, at least it is here in the southern part of the country, the trees are green, the sun is out and the flower are blooming. This has me thinking more and more about spring cleaning, and today specifically about spring cleaning for your ideas. Most people have a bunch of ideas that just come to them throughout the year, and if your involved in the running of a business a lot of those ideas probably relate to your business. Many of the business people I know record their ideas either in journals, or e-mail to help them remember the ideas later when they have time to act on them. Ideas always seem to have a way of always coming to you when you don’t have time to work on them.  So today, I want to talk about doing some spring cleaning of our ideas.

First thing to do is to consolidate your ideas into a single list. This may mean pulling together multiple entries into your journal, or searching through your E-mail for notes to yourself, or maybe you just have them all rolling around in your head and just need to right them down. One way or the other it is important to get all of the ideas you have been storing up in one place so you can look at them all together. Once we have our completed list we can being sorting through our ideas using the following steps.

1. Combine. I like to start by taking ideas that are related or similar and combining them, that way I won’t accidentally through out one part of a two or three part idea.

2. Review. This will inevitably happen when you go through to combine, but you want to review your ideas with a critical eye. Things to be looking for are ideas that are no longer relevant, meaning that either your business or the business environment has changed significantly sense you had the idea and therefore it no longer seems like a good one. Other types of ideas you might want to identify are ideas that are just too out there, unless your at a place where pursuing a pretty out there idea is what you are looking for, and ideas that are too grandiose, while we all like to dream big, putting these kinds of ideas on your to do list will only stress you out.

3. Discard. Any ideas that you identified during your review you should discard from the list, the goal after all is to reduce the number of ideas we have in our idea bank, thus making room for more ideas, not to mention giving us some space to actually work on the ideas not just have them. Other items to discard from the list might include ideas that never seem to get done, if you have had the same idea for two or three years and aren’t any closer to realizing the idea then you were then, it might be time to let it go. Alternatively these types of ideas can be great candidates for our next step.

4. Organize. In this step you want to organize your ideas in order of importance. The goal is to come away with a clear picture of what the next idea you want to work on is going to be, and the one after that, and so on. Often times with so many ideas floating around it is hard to pick just one to work on, so organizing your list is a way of focusing your energy on realizing the most important ideas first. Items to look at for moving to the top of the list are probably either, recent and time sensitive ideas, or those old ideas we discussed in number 3, if they still seem like great ideas and you just can’t let them go then try to get them off your list by making them happen.

5. Get to work. Now comes the easy part right? Just start working on realizing the idea at the top of your list. I know its typically not that simple, but at least by cleaning your ideas you can get more targeted and focused and clear up some mental space to really delve into your ideas.

Another thing that some people have found helpful but that I didn’t include in the list, is making two separate lists in the organize stage, sorting ideas into big ideas and smaller ideas. Typically this is done based on the amount of time it would take to accomplish the idea. This way you can always be working on one quicker easy idea and one more long term idea. The goal in either scenario is always the same though, get your ideas in order, get rid of the ones you don’t need, and make space for working on the ones that are most important.

Technorati Tags: Business, de-clutter, goals, improvement, organizing, working smarter

I recently wrote a little article for our upcoming newsletter (sign up through our homepage at www.mcdcg.com) about the internal auditor refresher classes we offer and the benefits they provide. It got me to thinking about the idea of looking at problems from a new angle or a new way of thinking. You see part of what we do in auditor refresher classes is work with the auditors to give them new tools that allow them to approach audits from a different perspective. For experienced auditors it is easy to fall into a rut where you no longer look critically at the area you are auditing so much as go through the motions of your audit, it has become too familiar. While this blog isn’t about auditing or how to be a better internal auditor, I think that auditing isn’t the only place where we can tend to have rut syndrome.

Rut syndrome is what I am calling our tendency in life and in business to get stuck in the same groove. After a while we wear this groove so deep it’s more like a trench and it can be quite a struggle to climb out of, but if you think about it, if you are so deep in your groove that you can’t climb out of it, you probably don’t have a very good view of the world around you. This is not to say that there can’t be progress made by working in your rut, you can move forward and go deeper, but the progress at some point becomes undirected. Unless we step outside our rut to check our bearings every once in a while we may wind up grooving our way right to where we don’t want to be.

So I encourage you think about what kind of ruts you are digging right now. When was the last time you stopped and poked your head up for a look around? You may find that the landscape has changed dramatically sense the last time you stopped to examine it, and that in fact what you thought was your productive rut is actually holding you back from an even greater opportunity. Just like auditors get too comfortable with the audit process we can get too comfortable with our work, our life, our business and stop exploring and examining. At this point our rut is limiting our opportunities for growth and success.

I would also like to point out that sometimes it can be hard to get out of your rut, ruts are after all comfortable and routine. Just like it takes training and new techniques for auditors to gain a new perspective and get out of their auditing rut, there may be some techniques we can use to help us get out of our ruts and survey our surroundings. One of them that I know works for me is as simple as taking a vacation, and no I don’t mean going to a hotel where you will plug into the wi-fi and turn on your cell phone, I mean taking a true vacation from your work. Vacations from work allow you to escape the day to day run around and take a good look around, survey the surroundings, and examine the value of your rut. I am sure there are other techniques that you use to help you get out of a rut. What are they? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Technorati Tags: Business, living your life, working smarter

To close out this relationship themed month on our blog I want to talk about online relationship building, and before you ask, no I am not going to talk about online dating sights. By now everyone knows that your business needs a website, and if you are reading this blog chances are you are relatively tech savvy and have a nice website set up. What is the purpose of your website? Does it give information? Is it simply a place to list your phone number where prospective clients can find you? Or is it a community? Are you using your website as simply an informational tool or are you using it to build relationships with clients and prospective clients? This is what I mean when I say I want to talk about online relationship building.

When the internet first came around it was a great source for easily search-able information, and this is still true. Now days most any question can be answered if you know how and where to look on the internet. However, this is not the only use for the internet, like anything else it grows and evolves. Recently we have seen the rise of social networking and what is being called Web 2.o. The importance of these new innovations from a business standpoint is that they are shifting the way our customers use the internet, and therefore we need to shift the way we use the internet.

Web 2.0 is changing the internet from a simple search-able database of information into a forum for creating community and fostering relationships, and as business people who realize the importance of relationships this is great for us. People are no longer content to simply find information posted on your website, they want interaction, both with you and with other customers. We need to  make sure that we are tapping into this new way of building relationships and using it to reach a new customer base that we may have never thought of before.

To me it makes sense to think of the new internet as one big trade-show. At a trade-show you can have your booth and just put on information for people to come by and pick up and look through, or you can stand at your booth and invite people in, engage people in conversation, and start building a relationship with that person. The growth of web 2.0 has given us the opportunity to stand out front of our online booths and interact with the people coming in, not just let them pick up information and leave. As anyone who has worked at trade shows will tell you, it is the interaction more then the information that is valuable, and this is becoming true on the internet as well.

One final point that I think a lot of people forget is that the rules and tips for building personal relationships apply just as much on the internet as they do in person. This means that whatever you do to start building your relationship presence on the internet you need to make sure it is honest and genuine or you won’t get the desired response.

So I encourage all of us to start thinking about how we can increase our presence on the internet not just from an information stand point, but from a relationship standpoint. That is part of what we are trying to do with our blogs at McDCG. We want to use these blogs to not only provide information, but also start growing a community. This is why we always encourage you to leave comments and start discussions. So how is your business using the internet? Leave us some comments so we can all see what you have done and learn together.

Technorati Tags: blogging, Business, Business Relationships, communication, twitter

Today I am cross posting an article posted by Suzanne on one of our other blogs, The Efficiency Dr. blog. It fits well with our theme this month of relationships in business. Feel free to comment about your relationship with your business here or get in on the conversation taking place over at the  The Efficiency Dr. blog.

Building Your Relationship with Your Business

Today I want to talk about the relationship you have with your business, is it a healthy relationship, or do you suffer from one of the following issues?

Do you have a love-hate relationship?

One day you’re in love with your business, the next you hate it and wonder why you started it. We’ve all been there. An exercise you could try would be to brainstorm what you like and what you dislike about your biz. Then, come up with ways to minimize the parts you don’t like. It could mean hiring some outside help, or getting rid of a service or product that causes you more grief then profit.

Are you co-dependant?

You are always thinking that you should be working when you’re away from your computer.  You get distracted when you’re spending time with your family, wondering if you have new email or thinking of what you want your next marketing promotion to look like.

If you can’t think of anything else you’d rather do then work, it may be time to take up a new hobby or join a book club. Make an effort to talk to people as people, and not just for the sake of business networking.

Do you cheat on your business?

If you want to be efficient at running your business, you have to commit to working hours. Do you spend time away from work when you know you should be working?

How’s your accounting? Are you borrowing money from your business account to get your hair done (and trying to justify it as a business expense)?

If you create content or material for your business, how much of it is 100% original and how much is “borrowed” or inspired from your competitors?

Take a look at your habits. If you don’t feel like you’re getting much out of the business, perhaps you aren’t as committed to succeeding as you should be.

Are you Growing Apart/Have you lost the spark?

If every day you dread working in your business, it’s time you take a look back at the reasons why you started it in the first place. Pull out that dusty business plan. What did you write as a mission statement? Did you set goals for the business? How far have you come to reaching those goals?

It may be time to re-assess your plan and make new goals. Re-word your mission if it is no longer meaningful to you. What? No business plan? Well, it’s high time you put in writing why it is you’re in business. This exercise could very well get you out of the rut.

Are you jealous of your business?

How can you be jealous of your business? Look at your relationships. Are you closer to your clients and talk to them more often then your friends? Maybe you’ve built a strictly business persona for yourself and are afraid to let your real personality shine through? Or, you could be at a loss to converse about anything other than business.

Consider what aspects of your personality make you good at what you do, and then think about how those same aspects make you an interesting person outside of work. What other traits do you possess that don’t necessarily apply to your job? Give yourself credit for having a broad range of gifts and talents in addition to your great business skills.

Like they say in couples counseling – being open and honest about the problems in the relationship is the only way to overcome the hurdles and strengthen the bond. What better time than Valentine’s Day to take your relationship with your business to the next level?

Technorati Tags: Business, Business Relationships

Earlier this week I posted about the importance of trust in business relationships and I wanted to take a minute to look at a current case study about trust. I want to talk about the Toyota recall and the surrounding accusations, questions, concerns and general hype. A quick survey of the news and blog outlets on the internet earlier this week revealed a ton of comments, articles and posts questioning Toyota’s actions in the matter of its recall. Cleary Toyota is experiencing a trust issue right now, but how did they get here?

The first thing to note is that of course, like anything else on the internet, some of these posts can’t be considered un-biased or completely factually accurate. Putting that aside though, there are definitely some serious concerns about how Toyota has handled this recall. If you doubt that Toyota has done anything wrong then consider this, based on the comments of people like Ray LaHood, the US Transportation Secretary, it is no longer a question of whether or not Toyota will be fined for the way they handled the problem, now it is just a question of when and how much.

So step one in the loss of trust is that Toyota made a bad product that has serious and life threatening problems. This is certainly not a good way to build trust with consumers, but this Toyota recall isn’t the first time cars have been recalled for serious problems. Since 1999 Ford has recalled 14 million vehicles due to a faulty cruise control that was prone to catching fire, and best of all, the car didn’t even have to be running for it to happen. However, if you search online for comments about the Ford recall you won’t find the same kind of response that you see to the Toyota recall. So what is it about this Toyota recall that has created such a crisis of trust?

Where Toyota really went wrong is that they tried to hide the facts, they ignored our number one rule for building trust in relationships and didn’t listen to their own better judgment. Anyone can understand that if you found out about a problem with your product as big as the one Toyota is having now with the acceleration issue you would need to handle the situation carefully, but I think unanimously everyone would agree that the right thing to do would be to tell the customers about the problem. Which Toyota eventually did, but it took a lot of pushing and numerous complaints for Toyota to issue the recall. This does not look good for Toyota, it makes it look like they were trying to hid the fact that car had a problem and hope that no one noticed. This may not have been what was actually going on, but what matters in building trust are appearances.

Beyond the delayed response to the issue, further problems have arisen because Toyota hasn’t been very upfront with consumers sense issuing the recall. There is still confusion about what is really causing the problem and what Toyota is doing to fix it, there are actually at least two different issues that Toyota has issued recalls for, and some people believe there may yet be a third cause of the problem. Toyota executives are not building trust even though they need to be doing everything they can to salvage what little trust people still have in them. Toyota was once revered as the pinnacle of quality, and in just a few short weeks there are questions about the company’s ability to continue in this country.

To me this serves as a perfect example of what will happen if you don’t listen to your sense of right and wrong and try to hide things. Eventually, it will come out, and it will make you look worse than if you just admitted the problem in the first place. Maintaining and building trust must be our first concern in business relationships. Hopefully we can all learn from Toyota’s mistakes and realize that putting trust first, sometimes means doing difficult things. Like admitting that you made a bad product.

Technorati Tags: Business, Business Relationships, quality, Trust