If You Want Business Success in 2021, Focus on These 4 Areas of Your Business

In my previous corporate career, almost 20 years ago, I assumed the leadership role for a national (USA) department of an international corporation. The position had been vacant for at least half a year. The department was in chaos! There were SO many things wrong, with SO many things that needed to be addressed, that I could have easily been overwhelmed. Frankly, despite having decades of experience in this industry, with a track record of significant accomplishments, this situation was a bit overwhelming. It was a trial by fire. BUT, what it DID do was force me to do a quick, yet comprehensive diagnosis and categorization of what needed my attention first. How did I figure out what was wrong? What needed my attention? Was there a way to develop a plan moving forward?

Yes, there was, but with so many things to work on, I had to develop a way to both understand and prioritize all of the work that needed to be done.

Now, almost two decades later, I - as the principal of Doggone Good Technology, a business & technology consultancy for SMBs - look at the needs of local businesses and find a remarkably similar situation. No, most of the businesses we consult with don't have that same degree of SO MANY things, at such a large scale, being wrong - but they just haven't quite figured out which things need their attention the most.

So today, we'll start by describing the overarching view of how to look at your business needs. And then, over the next weeks to months, we'll address each of these four areas in greater detail. Always, our focus will be on how to leverage available technology to provide the greatest return on your investment of both time and money.

So, let's get started. If you feel as though your business - whether a "Mom & Pop" home-based one, or a larger, more complicated venture involving departments, employees, roles, etc. - has room for growth and improvement, you can still apply (to varying degrees) all of the principles and categories of this discussion.

Start by turning your attention to the following FOUR areas of your business:

1.People

• Do you have the right people in the right roles to maximize your business potential?
• Start by defining what the ideal situation (person characteristics) is for each role in your business.
• If your current situation isn't ideal, what do you need to do to change that?

2.Structure

• If your business is big enough to be able to separate people into more defined roles by what they do, take a look at how your business is structured.
• Do the roles make sense in terms of what a single person is being asked to do?
• Think in terms of the specific contributions of an individual who occupies a particular role.
• Are the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for a given role reasonable in terms of the functional capabilities required in a single individual?

3.Processes

• Of all of the areas, this may be the most neglected. Start by defining HOW you accomplish certain things necessary to both grow and sustain your business.
• Really do a deep dive into the specifics of defining each step of the process, and the how to best accomplish it.
• Spend some time doing "post-mortem" analyses on previous failures in this realm. What went wrong? What could have prevented the failure?

4.Systems

• This is the "technology" aspect of your focus.
• Once you've identified HOW the processes best work, THEN you can identify what technology or "system" can best support it. Spoiler alert! Yes, it could be as simple as pencil & paper if that reduces the "friction" in the workflow!
• Be very, very careful in assessing technology designed to improve or increase the efficiency of your needed processes!
• Ask the tough questions. Search out a knowledgeable source to review/confirm the options you're considering.
• Look at both the upfront and the long-term costs. You may well be surprised.

If any of this has resonated with you as a business owner, don't hesitate to reach out to Doggone Good Technology for a free, obligation-free, discussion of your situation. After all, although we're primarily focused on technology-based solutions to business challenges, we're certainly open to a broader discussion of your needs beyond technology. If you're still thinking, just stay tuned to our future discussions of each of these areas.

We want you to be successful!