What's your starting point?

'The best time to plant a tree was 20 years back. The second best is NOW.' - Old Chinese proverb

General

For any human behaviour, there is a always starting point which is propelled by a decision.

To resign from a job and start a business. To get married. To buy a car. Or a house. To hire a new employee. To outsource digital marketing to an agency. To engage a consultant. To fire an employee. To shut down the business. To search for a job. To end a relationship.

Everything starts with a decision, and the decision has a start point - an input. Something that you see, or hear or think. And as per your Decision Making Strategy (yes, each one of us has a decision making strategy*) and it always starts the same way, there will be a common sensory start point - if you think clearly, you will recognise a pattern. And that is precisely the reason that sometimes, you don't realise that there has to be a change (because your pattern doesn't detect the input) and when you do realise, usually its too late.

Solving Business Problems

If you ask any business owner what he needs to grow his business, 96% of the time he will either say 'more money' or 'better marketing' to get more clients. However, once they engage Consultants, they find that neither is required and the organisation is stuck due to the fact that they continue to function in a way that doesn't work under the prevailing environment.

And this happens because most of the time, business owners are stuck to the idea that they grew their business from zero to what it was in a particular way that 'worked.' They were reluctant to hear (sometimes even aggressive) when told that what had worked earlier was no longer working.

Which meant that their start point, instead of being in the present, was chained to the past.

Sometimes, we have found that business owners, especially those starting their journeys, are stuck in the future. They have already simulated success and are extremely perturbed when brought back to the present.

The problem in both these cases is the same. The start point is not 'real.'

Reality

The only way we measure reality is by our sensory organs - we see, we hear, we feel. How do we know that we have lost weight? We see our reflections in the mirror, we hear friends and family commenting and we start fitting into those jeans that wouldn't button up against the strength of our girths.

Applying the same to the business environment, we see the P&L or the Balance Sheet, we hear complaints from clients/employees and we spend more time firefighting rather than doing something new.

The Fix

So what do we do when things don't go as per plan? Same thing that happens when we fall sick.

Firstly, nothing. Hope that things become better on their own.

Then, we self medicate.

Then, we seek help from others. Each one gives us different advice - have chicken soup, take steam inhalation, rub mustard oil on your tummy before bed, take a paracetamol and sleep, sweat it out, and on and on.

When none of these work, we finally go and see a Doctor. And the first thing the Doctor does is ask for more information (in the form of blood work, X Rays, MRIs and other tests).

And then he prescribes a changed diet, a changed exercise regimen and medicines.

Business 'Fixing'

Thats exactly the same as what a Consultant does to a business.

First conducts tests to find out what's working and what's not. These tests can be in the form of interviews with employees and stakeholders, going through business model, business communication and financial documents, or even conducting a 360 degree Net Promoter Score evaluation.

Once those details are available, a strategy is created and the appropriate new way of conduct (necessary behaviour change) required to execute that strategy is actioned. Unless the employees all behave in the new way, the new strategy cannot be implemented. And this is where business owners go wrong.

Changing things only on paper don't work, there has to be a corresponding change in the 'hows' of the business for it to work.

Conclusion

If you are spending too much time on worrying or 'self medicating' perhaps its time to get 'tested' to ascertain your start point. Is it in the past? The future? Or is it now?

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P.S. * To know more about Decision Making Strategies, read the link below.

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As the saying goes, two heads are better than one, and committing to a?Balance Driven Business?keeps you at pace in this new world of business— the ever-increasing speed in which business adaptations need to occur to realign people, product, and profit.?Col Sudip Mukerjee?of?Reserv3 Consulting?and?Sean Lewis?of?SLC Advisory Group?combine their specialties for the deep dive needed to bring your business up-to-date with the finance and people challenges of the New World, and to lay the groundwork for staying competitive well into the future.