Happy Halloween to those of you who celebrate this Holiday. Be aware on Wednesday evening that many of the kids in your neighborhood will be ringing your doorbell to get their tasty treats. They’ll be dressed up as all sorts of celebrities, favorite Marvel or DC characters. There will also be plenty of ghouls, goblins, and ghost roaming the streets, some of them hiding and ready to jump out at you to trick you up.
The question is what ghouls, goblins, and ghost are potentially haunting the success of your organization? To be successful you absolutely must be on guard for these potential scary creatures lurking in you and your business. Trust me, they are there hiding somewhere behind every corner ready to jump out and surprise you.
Here are five key areas to focus on to deter the scary creatures from haunting you or your organization.
- The first ghost is always you. It’s always what’s hiding between our two ears that are ready to trick us up. You all have some potential blind spots that may be fogging your vision in what has to happen to move you and your company to higher ground? Are the things you don’t know that you don’t know keeping you from moving forward? Is any of the language you’re using deterring you or your team from seeing the best in themselves?
- Have a clearly defined Culture and Structure in place. When you are clear on your company culture, you will be able to identify what employees fit or don’t fit in. Your team will be more engaged while your customers will pick up on that positive culture and want to be part of it.
- Systematization is the key to synergy in any organization. Systems stand for Saving Yourself Stress Time Energy & Money. A successful business is a collection of systems and people using the systems to provide you the outcome and synergy that you are looking for. If you are working too hard in your business it’s only because your business isn’t systematized to work for you.
- Be very intentional with your time. Time mastery is vital as it is our most valuable asset. We must use it wisely. Unfortunately, too many people are being easily distracted by technology and by not being intentionally focused on what’s most important to accomplishing their vital functions to succeed. Get clear on exactly what your roles and responsibilities are. Focus on that and delegate the rest.
- Gauge your Customer Pulse. Surveys are a great way to gauge the pulse of your customers. Many don’t send or ask as they are afraid of what feedback that they may get in return. If you are only looking for good feedback, you will never be as successful as you could be. Only when you receive the truth can you adjust, shift and move forward to improve and get better. Dissatisfied customers sometimes don’t share their experience with you, however, they will share it with everyone else. It’s always what you don’t know or don’t see that can be most damaging to an organization.
Take a true pulse of yourself and your organization. Be sure to get a coach to help you address your blind spots. Be sure that your culture is rock solid and empowers your entire team to consistently take ownership and be on top of their game. Create systems in your business as so your business can work for you opposed of you working for it. Be conscious of the time stealers by making sure you and your team are clear and intentional on the best use of their time. Make sure you have some type of customer survey system to guard against undetected dissatisfied customers.
Take care of all this and more and there will be much less of a chance of some ghouls, goblins or ghost jumping out and surprising you. If you need assistance, be aware that there are many professionals that can help you see those ghost that you may not be seeing while helping you and your organization grow.