What Sort of Checklist Should You Be Using? – Justin Fox – Harvard Business Review
I worked with surgeons for more than 20 years as their publishing partner, and remember well hearing about Atul Gawande’s early research transferring the pilot checklist concept to surgical practice. (It was around the time that news stories were hitting about the wrong legs being amputated, or wrong kidneys being transplanted.) Dr. Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, demonstrated how this low-to-no-cost practice saved lives almost immediately, proving that sometimes the simplest actions can have the greatest results. That research now appears in the NYTimes best-seller, The Checklist Manifesto.
In this thought-provoking article from his Harvard Business Review Blog, Justin Fox takes Gawande’s concept to the next level for business, suggesting some situations where checklists come in handy. His list: Task Lists, Troubleshooting Lists, Coordination Lists, Discipline Lists, and the ever-popular To-Do Lists.
What list-making do YOU use to keep you operating effectively and efficiently?
UPDATE: A business friend at lunch today contributed the list he sees regularly: the “honey-do list”!
written by Nancy Chorpenning
\\ tags: Operations Management, organization
HBR Blogs: Three Questions Executives Should Ask for the New Year
I love the Harvard Business Review blogs. It’s where all the great research they do gets turned into practical guidance that can make a real difference!
Melissa Raffoni wrote a terrific article, brief enough to be read quickly, but meaty enough to be invaluable long term. In a nutshell, she identifies characteristics of successful CEOs, signs of under-performers, and the 3 questions to ask yourself as CEO as you set your 2010 goals.
Don’t miss this!
written by Nancy Chorpenning
\\ tags: goals, Management, Planning
White House job summit: Obama pushes business – Money
“‘The number 1 priority is to get banks lending to small businesses because small businesses create the majority of jobs in the United States,’ [Google's Eric] Schmidt said.” This quote comes from the article in CNN’s Money.com (link above).
Finally! Is Washington beginning to “get it”? The answer to the economic situation is supporting small businesses to permit them to grow unfettered, despite the fact they don’t have the big-bucks lobbyists. But will those Wall Street refugees in Treasury really understand? I didn’t when I was drinking the Corporate America Kool-aid.
If ever there was a time for small business owners like you and me to contact our representatives, now is it! And we need to be clear about what we’re asking. This country was built on the backs of small businesses across the land – please afford us the same considerations you gave the amoral Wall Street investment bankers last year.
written by Nancy Chorpenning
The 10 Questions You Should Never Stop Asking
Here is an excellent overview in Forbes for those looking for “the easy answers to business success.” Not that implementing the advice is easy!
But if you can address all these questions, you will improve the success of your organization. More importantly, if you’re not regularly exploring these issues, any semblance of success you may be experiencing is fleeting and cannot be sustained.
So what are the questions?
- What is our purpose for existing? (Also known as Mission…)
- Who is our target customer? (And that doesn’t mean everyone who ever could potentially want or be persuaded to buy your goods or services. Who is your prototypical customer/client?)
- Why does anyone need what we’re selling? (And take off those rose-colored glasses before answering this one. Please?)
- If there is a need, is it enough to support a profitable business? (I contend that “need” isn’t enough – they must want your products or services!)
- What are our competitors up to? (Don’t skate by this one…)
- Can you reduce expenses–without harming the product? (And who can’t?)
- Do we have the right leadership? (Just because you started the organization doesn’t mean you’re its best leader forever. Is it time to consider other options and focus on your highest and best purpose?)
- Do we have the right employees? (And NOW is the right time to address this. Today.)
- How will we continue to drive revenue? (Notice the verb. Revenue doesn’t wander in the door when no one is looking.)
- How are your employees holding up? (“MBWA” was popular a few years back for good reason. When a “leader” just sits in the corner office and isn’t visible to employees – not just by walking around but by engaging – it can spell disaster.)
What’s your score on these?
written by Nancy Chorpenning
\\ tags: business success, Leadership, Management, profitability
… about Strategic Planning!
Check out this link!
written by Nancy Chorpenning
Do you know Chris Brogan? He’s one of the current gurus of social media, and has some very entertaining and interesting observations about marketing. If you’re looking for practical marketing tips to permit you some online success, you might try subscribing to his e-newsletter here.
His latest newsletter includes a story that resonates with me, “Simple Goals on Paper.” (I couldn’t find this on his website, or I’d have provided the link here.) The story starts with Chris confessing to a less-then-productive yet very “busy” day. (Not that any of US have ever had one…) Then he tells how he turned things around to help keep himself focused. Here is his process:
Step 1: I looked at my bigger goals for the remainder of 2009, and what I plan to do for the first half of 2010.
Step 2: I wrote down three things to accomplish today that would move those goals forward, and I kept them in front of me ALL DAY. I took breaks, but I never deviated from the goals in front of me. Continue reading »
written by Nancy Chorpenning
On Friday, I attended an excellent seminar on leadership offered by Jenny Whitener, Chief Executive of Bridge Consulting International and alumna of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. Among the many fascinating learnings she shared was a simple and elegant list of what “followers most admire in their leaders.” According to Kouzes and Posner in their book The Leadership Challenge:
- Honesty
- A Sense of Looking Forward
- Inspiration
- Competence
Does this constellation seem surprising to you? Are any of them “optional” in an effective leader? What other attributes and qualities are essential in the best leaders you’ve known? Continue reading »
written by Nancy Chorpenning
\\ tags: Change Management, Leadership
Have you heard of Napoleon Hill? He was an author and lecturer in the early part of the 20th century, influenced by such business leaders as Andrew Carnegie.
He wrote about his philosophy of achievement in a book called “Think and Grow Rich,” in 1937. Remarkably – or perhaps not – there are lessons in his observations still valid today.
“Think and Grow Rich” is available in PDF format – if you want a copy of it, drop me an email (NAPOLEON@CSuiteAdvisors.org) and I’ll send you a link to download it at no cost.
written by Nancy Chorpenning
\\ tags: business success, Napoleon Hill, philosophy of achievement
Some recent articles have included some extraordinary – yet not surprising – statistics: companies with just the strategic section of a business plan have 50% more profits and revenue than non-planning businesses. Another survey found business planning companies have 63% higher revenue growth and 100% more profit.
If that isn’t enough reason, here are a few more:
- To anticipate and prevent problems before they occur
- To successfully attract the funding you need to run your business
- To reduce anxiety from not being in control of your business
- To have an impact on your success rather than leaving it to chance
Check out this white paper if you want a place to begin. CLICK HERE
written by Nancy Chorpenning
\\ tags: business planning, Focus, Management
If you don’t have an ARC loan, you’re not alone!
The America’s Recovery Capital (ARC) Loan Program was introduced in June 2009 by the US Small Business Administration “to provide up to $35,000 in short-term relief for viable small businesses facing immediate financial hardship to help ride out the current uncertain economic times and return to profitability.” Only 2715 loans had been approved through September 15 across the nation.
Catherine Clifford, writing in CNNMoney.com, explains that big lenders are foot-dragging or opting out from participating in this lending program altogether – there is a lot of paperwork for relatively little bank profit -”only” 2 percentage points over prime from the SBA to the banks. (So much for anything resembling gratitude for the TARP money we taxpayers gave the banks!). One of the biggest shockers she uncovers is how few lenders are participating – only 400 lenders as of September. The SBA lists those lenders participating in the ARC pr0gram as of October 5 by state on their site.
Even if you do find a lender who participates, the process is taking months to get a response. Ironic, when one considers how quickly billions went to bail out Wall Street.
So good luck! But don’t count on this program to be a panacea for your business.
written by Nancy Chorpenning
\\ tags: ARC Loans, ARC progam, SBA, small business loans
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