Bottlenecks to productivity …

Every quarter, we have a TEAM training session based on a theme, and for our second quarter it was based on the book “How Full is Your Bucket?” by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton (which you can get here … 800 CEO Read) …

For our third quarter, we will be reading Brian Tracy’s “Eat That Frog!” … in which Tracy systematically presents proven ways to boost productivity for yourself and your teams.

As a franchisor, ActionCOACH is by definition a business system that is licensed to our franchisees under our trademark … and working within a system and from a system is a great way to leverage your own productivity.

In fact, franchising is a great way for first-time business owners to start and run their own companies, simply because there is a proven system and methodology in place for a new owner to follow, rather than wasting time, effort and resources trying to figure things out on their own.

The “short-cut” to results (if you could call it that) … is in the system as a guide to getting an outcome.

And the more clear you are about what you need to do … the easier it is to do those things that will get you the results you want.

In fact, there are three areas you can start to work on today to improve your own personal and business productivity … and they involve getting or putting together:

1. Better systems (or starting the process of systemizing your activities and operations)
2. Better communication (both externally to others and internally to self)
3. Better training (meaning “learning” comes before “earning” … in any career and any business)

Bottlenecks in any or all of these areas negatively impacts productivity.

In turn, work on any or all of these areas will start to move you from being stuck in process to starting to produce good results … the type of results that can move you ahead miles when others are limping along.

In our business, we use the term “leverage” a lot … and all leverage means in this context is “getting more with less” or “dividing to multiply.”

Can you get more with less if you have better systems in place?

Could you do more with less if you communicated better with your team, your vendors … or yourself?

Could you divide activities and multiply results if you (or your team) had better training in technology or delegation?

Think about those questions in terms of where you are right now, and where you want to be … in a month, in three months or in a year.

Then start with better training … and start with the person you see every day in the mirror.

Because “things” will only change for the better if you do …

More on this in future posts …

Jodie Shaw

Volcanoes, earthquakes and related seismic shifts (for your business) …

The Icelandic volcano continues to spew molten ash and rock out across Europe, stranding travelers and alerting people to the actual cost of lost business and its impact on economies around the world (in this case “lost” opportunity costs!)

I’m no expert on geological shifts, but some of my team have discussed how the connections between recent earthquakes in Indonesia and Mexico are affecting the tectonic plates, and how this plate shift will cause more earthquake and volcanic activity over the next several months and years.

How does this relate to business?

The first obvious “shift” that has occurred in the U.S. over the past three years has been the massive shift and re-allocation of capital in the real estate and financial services industries.

We’ve seen how this impacts jobs, and how policy responses to this (at least in my opinion) tend to make a bad problem worse.

However, as our Founder and Chairman Brad Sugars has said … there’s more opportunity now than ever before … and more money is made in a recession than is ever made in a boom.

Seismic shifts in business happen every generation or so.

The great technological shift of the 1980’s resulted in the great productivity gains of the 1990’s and 2000’s.

Today, the huge demographic shift of “Baby Boomers” nearing or reaching retirement age has put a tremendous strain on state-run pension plans … and has started to create new categories of businesses (such as new twists on elderly care).

The actuarial numbers don’t lie … and the demographic shifts of the next several years will bring massive change and opportunity to the U.S. and global marketplace.

Are you prepared?

How can you prepare?

Those are questions that can open your eyes to new opportunities and markets … and may give you the incentive to shift your products or services to a larger, aging population …

Or to a smaller, yet increasingly productive and technologically savvy younger population.

All of this “creative destruction” is ultimately good for our economy and our businesses … although it is uncomfortable and some get caught up in the “destructive” part of the equation.

However, there’s an interesting story about another volcano that erupted more than 30 years ago in Washington state … when Mount St. Helens erupted and caused devastation for miles.

Many residents and environmentalists predicted that the ruined landscape would never return to “normal,” and that nothing would ever inhabit the burned out areas again.

However, less than 6-months after the eruption, green shoots started poking through the newly rich organic soils around the blasted-out mountain.

Today, the soils around Mount St. Helens are some of the most nutrient-dense in the world, and provide a thriving home to a variety of flora and fauna.

The same happens in our economy … and the same can happen in your business.

The seismic shifts will always be with us.

Some, like the current geological shifts, are indeed unpredictable.

Others, like our current economic, financial and demographic shifts, have been predicted, forecasted, written about and studied for decades.

Our job as business leaders is to find opportunities in these shifts … and to find new and better ways to help deliver better products, services, knowledge and advice to those customers who make up our markets.

That’s what entrepreneurship is all about.

Are you and your company up to the challenge?

Jodie Shaw