Why are current business results less important than understanding the causes?

How a Police Officer help you improve your business results...

It's an interesting career, being a Police Officer.

I know this, because I was in the sector for 10 years from 1998 to 2008. I worked on the front line, and saw many interesting cases and a whole lot of things I'll never forget!

What it taught me about business was much more than I expected.

What can crime investigation teach you about business growth?

As a Police Officer, most of the job is exploring situations in reverse.

You start with an outcome (perhaps a customer who has a broken arm), and you have to work backwards to the cause. To do so involves a lot of research, speaking with witnesses (friendly and hostile) and piecing it all together. Only when the evidence is packaged up can you be confident that you have a good understanding of "why" as well as "what".

It's the same as a business coach in many cases. I get to speak with business owners who are experiencing some outcomes. Their situation today is a result of decisions made, and actions taken, by themselves and others in the preceding days, weeks, months and even years.

This is important to recognise, as too often (in my humble opinion), consultants and coaches leap straight to future strategy, before investigating properly the past causes. It matters, because unless we learn from our mistakes, we will be destined to repeat them.

This is why business results are less important than knowing the causes. Understanding allows us to make better plans, and to be more effective in changing results in the future.

What can YOU do differently as a result?

Take a look at the results you are achieving, and look beyond the headline figures on your P+L report.

• Explore the hours you are working, and ask yourself, "why that is the case now"?
• What is relying on you personally and why?
• Look into your staff absence rate, and investigate why it has risen in the past year.
• Why is the customer feedback rating where it is now?
• Analyse your profit centres, supply chains, and all the other aspects, and sense check the symptoms you are seeing.
• Is there a shift in the wrong direction, or a number that is stubbornly refusing to move?

When you do this, you'll start to see the issues that need investigation, and when you've gathered together all those evidential red flags, you can start your detective work to explore the "why", and enable a better "what" action for the next period.

And remember, it can be difficult to investigate yourself. Consider speaking with a neutral third party coach to get their input. You'll be surprised what it will uncover, and the time it will save you in efficiently progressing towards your business goals and personal dreams.

About the author

Tim Rylatt is an experienced, award winning business coach who runs his own practice (UK Growth Coach) in Sussex, England. He is the published author of three business books, and works with a wide range of SME company owners across the UK.

If you would like to have a chat with Tim, or to arrange a complimentary 90 minute business review meeting, you can do so directly HERE