Discipline makes Daring possible. – Page 119 – Musings from The Disappearing Boss on People, Process and Responsible Autonomy for small-business employers.

June 6, 2019

Flows

We’re familiar with the idea of flows in business – people flow through a sales pipeline, and add to our stock of customers and our stock of cash. Often though, that’s where the metaphor ends for us.

It doesn’t end for the business though – the promises we make to those customers flow through our delivery system and add to our stocks of promises kept.

Promises kept may in turn result in repeat business and/or referrals, which also add to our stocks of customers and cash. The promises we don’t keep drains our stock of customers, and another valuable resource, our credibility or ‘reputation’.

A business is a system, and every resource in a business, whether tangible like cash or equipment, or intangible like reputation or staff morale is continuously being topped up or drained through flows, and in turn influences other flows.

It makes sense then, to design our pipes to maximise the resources we want to build and minimise the leaks.

June 5, 2019

Resources (again)

It’s easy to count or measure our resources, the things we have, in business as well as in our personal and public lives.

It’s harder to see how those resources arrive, or how they leave – necessary though, because its not what we have that creates value, but what we do with it.

June 4, 2019

In defence of ‘lifestyle’ businesses

At the beginning of last year there were just under 5.7 million private sector businesses in the UK. Of these, … Read More “In defence of ‘lifestyle’ businesses”

June 3, 2019

Connection

‘Stuff’ is just a poor substitute for what people really want – autonomy, mastery, agency, purpose and above all connection.

With that in mind, the questions any business, new or established should be asking are these:

“What do the people I serve want to become?”

and

“How can I help them get there together?”

not,

“How can I play that to get them to buy my stuff”.

May 31, 2019

Resource-management

We’re used to dashboards, to keeping an eye on resource-levels as indicators of the overall health of a system.

We’re less used to understanding or tracking the processes that update those levels.

If we did, we could probably fix things more quickly when they go wrong.

If we made those processes self-managing (as they often are in modern cars), not necessarily automated, we might even prevent things going wrong in the first place. After all, humans are sensitive instruments.

May 30, 2019

Process

People are ambivalent about ‘process’.

For some it feels like a way to ensure consistency, a helpful prop to support them in what they have to do.

For others, its a straitjacket, that turns people into robots.

I prefer to think of it as a springboard. Something with enough give to be able to support different people, and enough resistance to help them really take off.

May 29, 2019

Significance

A worker honey bee will make just over 0.4 grams of honey over its lifetime.

That seems an almost insignificant contribution – about a twelfth of a teaspoon.

But as one of a hive of 30,000 bees, it mounts up.

If you’re trying to make change happen, recruit the others.

May 28, 2019

Black and White

We humans like things to be clear-cut, black-and-white, yes-or-no, all-or-nothing.

Perhaps because that appears to make choosing a solution both easier and somehow more heroic.

Reality is rarely that simple, and if we treat it that way, we are likely to end up creating a lot more work for oursleves.

May 24, 2019

The best protection is permeable

As every Chelsea gardener knows, the best way to protect your garden from wind is not a solid wall or fence, but a permeable barrier like a hedge.

This filters the wind, slowing it down, letting in fresh air to circulate among your precious plants and shrubs without damaging them.

A solid barrier on the other hand lets air crash over it like a wave – and then falls at the first gale.

May 23, 2019

Comfort

“Most of us like things to stay the same, we seek order and predictability.” Except that’s not really true is … Read More “Comfort”