I’m always looking for the things in my client’s businesses that are blocking their success. Helping people improve their profits and grow their business is so much more than management accounts and cash flow forecasts – you have to get to the crux of why their business isn’t making the money it should be, and how we unblock that to make their business fly.
One of the biggest things holding businesses back is something I call flash points, or stress points.
These are things that keep happening, keep kicking off, that cause your business stress. Things that really shouldn’t be happening.
These flash points, as well as raising the stress levels meaning we’re not operating with a clear head, are toxic disruptions and distractions – dragging you and your team away from what they should be doing.
We have to become aware of and sensitive to flash points so we can see them AS they happen, so we can ask “Why does this keep happening, and what can we do differently”
And it’s usually one of three things:
- A responsibility issue
- A process issue
- A people issue
Responsibility issue
This is where no one seems to know who’s responsible for the thing that keeps happening or going wrong. Who was supposed to be dealing with it to make sure it didn’t go wrong in the first place? If it’s not anyone’s job – their actual responsibility, then don’t be surprised that it’s not getting done.
Roles and responsibilities are a big problem in a lot of small companies – and yet one of the easiest things to fix. Any business no matter how small must have some rules laid down about who does what, otherwise things will always fall through the cracks, and you can be sure those things will be costing you money.
Process issue
A lot of flash points are because either there isn’t a process for what happens in that situation, or that your team either don’t know about the process or don’t follow it. Again this is a relatively easy fix as long as you communicate to your team what needs to happen and make sure they understand the process. Flash points are very often things that should just be routine, but become adhoc because no-one is quite sure how to deal with them.
People issue
And of course flash points are created by our people. Not such an easy one to fix, but start by identifying the problem. Make sure the right person knows that job is their responsibility, and that they have a clear simple process to follow. If they still don’t play ball then you may need to consider whether you have the right person in the role, or even on the bus. Obviously there are loads of HR issues in there that I’m not qualified to talk about, but you can’t afford to ignore the signs if you think you don’t have the right people in your business. The problems will just get bigger and more expensive to fix the longer you leave it.
Where to start
Now you know about flash points, start to notice when they happen. You could make a note of each one and see if there is a pattern, and then take action following the Responsibility, Process, People approach. I’ll bet you can take a load of stress out of your business just by being aware of what’s happening. We all have things that are eating our time and profit and with a little more thought and structure we can make our businesses .