Discipline makes Daring possible – Page 127 – Discipline makes Daring possible.

February 5, 2019

Too close to see

When you run your own business, the way things get done is driven by what you expect of yourself. Or rather, what you think a customer should be able to expect if they do business with you.

The trouble is, we take our own expectations for granted, to the point where we hardly notice them or think they are worth mentioning to anyone outside the organisation. At the same time, we are all too conscious of our blemishes, our failures to live up to our own expectations.

Take a step back.. Take a good look at your business. Get someone else to do the looking if need be.

See how remarkable you are.

Then talk about it. There are people looking for it.

February 4, 2019

Erosion and deposition

This is how trust gets eroded. Promises made, then broken.

Drip by drip.

Until we learn to ignore the promises and put up with whatever we get.

But it’s also how trust is created. Promises made, and kept.

Every time, drip by drip.

Until we learn to expect the best, and trust that we will get it.

Start small if you have to, but mean it.

February 1, 2019

Off the peg or bespoke?

We tend to think of bespoke and off the peg as very much an either/or option. Not just in clothes.

It’s easy to find standard legal agreements on the internet that you can download for a few pounds, and even easier to find a lawyer who will answer your question about cost with a sharp intake of breath and “well, it depends – every case is different you see”.

We professionals can get hung up on the ‘case by case basis’ that defines us as professional and look on any level of standardisation with disdain.

I believe there are needs for the ‘tailored off the peg’ that are currently unmet, that if embraced would benefit both buyer and seller.

For example, I could buy a standard franchise agreement based on given parameters, then review it with a quaified lawyer to ensure it is up to date and covers all my specific needs. I could even buy an annual review service to make sure it stays up to date.

This isn’t just more affordable for me, its also easier for the professional to deliver, without becoming mechanical or boring for the lawyer.

Between ‘high-touch’ bespoke and ‘no-touch’ off-the-peg, there is up to date experience, built on a tried and tested standard – ‘the best touch’, if we’re open to looking for it.

January 31, 2019

The lovely bones

By and large, we all have the same muscles in our bodies, and our bones show both where they were attached and how strong those muscles were.

Using this information, together with a knowledge of human anatomy, people like Oscar Nilsson can reconstruct the face of a girl who died 5,000 years ago, with a remarkable degree of accuracy.

Your processes are the bones of your business.

if you build them around your business heart and soul – the promise you make to the people you serve – your people can flesh out those bones in their own way, yet still produce a recognisable likeness for your clients.

If your bones are good, your business will always look and feel good.

January 30, 2019

Process

What springs to mind when I use the word ‘process’ in conversation with people is something boring and robotic – … Read More “Process”

January 29, 2019

Who’d ‘a thought it?

“Labor can and will become its own employer through co-operative association.” — Leland Stanford.

Yes, that Stanford.

I learn something new every day.

January 28, 2019

The 80/20 rule

Years ago, a coffee shop – an offshoot of a well-known brand – opened in the middle of my local shopping centre. It had a nice old-fashioned feel, reminiscent of a cafe from the ‘30s, with wait staff and a long bar where coffee etc. was prepared. Of course I tried it out.

It used a very clever, but simple process. You waited at the entrance. When there was a table ready, you were ushered over to it and given a copy of the menu. Someone came and took your order, taking the menu away once they had delivered it.

It worked beautifully. Nobody was seated at a dirty table and the staff could easily tell who was waiting to give or receive their order.

Except, if you wanted another coffee, or a friend joined you halfway through, there was no way to re-order, except by trying to catch someone’s eye. But they weren’t looking for you, they were looking for menus.

So either it wasn’t meant for spending much time in, or they hadn’t thought it through.

It’s a great idea to design a process for the 80% of cases. But you do need to make sure you can handle the exceptions in a way that still fulfills your promise.

January 25, 2019

Ownership

“How do I get my people to think like an owner?”

Make them an owner.

January 24, 2019

Seeing it through

Seeing a case or project through from beginning to end is very satisfying – both for the person doing it, and for the client on the other side.

But how do you achieve that when you need to be flexible in how you assign resources?

By having a clear, high-level process for handling cases, then making sure everyone knows how to run it, and that all the information needed to move that case forward is accessible to anyone who needs it at any time.

Most of the time, one person can handle the whole thing. But when that isn’t possible (due to holidays or illness, or scheduling constraints), the client needn’t feel the difference.

And you’ve just created a more empowering division of labour.

January 23, 2019

Top-down, bottom-up

I get the feeling that top-down thinking is very unfashionable at the moment. It smacks too much of command-and-control, over-complicated buraeucracy, and having things ‘done to you’ instead of ‘done with you’ – or even ‘done by you’.

Bottom-up thinking is great for quick wins, incremental change and emergent consensus, but top-down can uncover opportunities for radical change that bottom-up thinking will miss, because you’re asking higher-level questions – “How should we keep our promise?”, rather than “How do we open the office?”.

And often, by answering these high-level questions, we can remove whole chunks of low-level procedure that would otherwise go unquestioned.

We shouldn’t let our thinking get trapped in our organisational structure.

Discipline makes Daring possible.

Musings from The Disappearing Boss on People, Process and Responsible Autonomy for small-business employers.

Category: Discipline makes Daring possible