It's About Time...
Well! It’s about time!
Riddle me this:what feels like a weighty burden when it evaporates?
Answer: Time
It’s a powerful commodity that globally holds us together. You may not speak Japanese, Finish, or Malagasy, but you know what time to be at the train station for your departure.
Time is impossible to capture; you can’t touch it, smell it, taste it, hear it or see it. Yet its presence is always noted. We attempt to contain it into seconds counted by a sweeping hand or blinking light, or compartmentalize it in squares on a calendar. Despite our best efforts, time remains fluid; moving from days to weeks, months to years. While I use the traditional markers to measure time, I have noticed that it isn’t the limiting compartments that make the passage of it so remarkable; rather it’s the corresponding experiences and achievements that give value.
Experiences, goals and accomplishments give time a purpose.
Because time is so common, we forget to value it. I think time flies for two reasons:
- We get transfixed on a project, to the total exclusion of the world around.
or
- Nothing really changes; we go through a state of sameness to the point where we do not notice transformations.
The first situation indicates engagement, but at the detriment of critical awareness. Where the second situation, although at first glance may seems like time would drag, becomes so numbing that the years melt together. Ask anyone who has been in a business for more than 10 years if they are surprised it has been that long. Neither situation gives the sense of managing time effectively.
Business owners know all too well the elusive nature of time.
But how do you get the most out of it?
Here are my…
Top Two Ways to get the Most Value from Time:
- Set realistic goals with both short and long-term consequences.
- Assign KPIs to every important goal on your list.
Business owners are generally good about articulating their goals, but when I mention KPIs their faces cloud over with a “what you talking about Willis?” expression. (Sorry for those of you who were too young to recognize the Different Strokes sit-com reference).
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are your businesses road map that measure accomplishments within specific time allocations. KPI’s make time a tangible resource. Developing and implementing KPIs in your business adds value to your time. It is no longer identified as an hour or day or year. It is the accomplishment of increasing your sales volumes by 15% in the first quarter, the year you launched a product that set your company as a leader in the industry, it is the month you acquired top team members to perform the roles that will take your business to the next level. It is the flight plan that gives your business direction and purpose.
5 SMART Steps to Creating Effective KPIs
Be Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Timely
Goals may be the what, but KPI’s are the how. They allow you take control of your business and harness time to create results.
“Time might fly, but you can file a flight plan and guide the landing.”
When and where will your business land?
Need help identifying KPIs- call me.
Leanne