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
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
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
Why You Need a Business Plan – WSJ.com
What a great article on Planning for Business in the Wall Street Journal! And no, I didn’t commission it.
Planning – note the active voice – is at the heart of my practice and my life. Is it because my dad had me sitting at the kitchen table writing my goals for the week every Saturday starting at age 5? Perhaps, but it sure has served me well.
Planning – not just “plans” – is critical to the success of any organization. Smaller or newer businesses have a more acute need, as they have less ballast to weather such economic events as we have just been going through the past year.
Next month, I’m presenting a webinar called “Plan” is NOT a 4-Letter Word. In it, I suggest that the Top 5 Reasons for Business Planning include:
- Forestalling problems – if you can anticipate and avoid a problem, isn’t that better than having to solve a problem or crisis?
- Securing funding – whether you’re seeking venture capital or a loan from your community bank, a clear plan will help convince your investor or lender that you have anticipated eventualities, and that their investment is a good one.
- Management – planning can be your best friend for managing products and services as well as employees. It can be the road map for all to follow in concert.
- Profitability – recent research about small businesses found those that plan actively have profits 50-100% higher than those that don’t Nuf sed.
- Reduce anxiety – stress and overwhelm are common conditions of business owners. Why waste energy with worry when a plan can help you FOCUS and improve productivity.
If you’re interested in attending this webinar, send me an email and I’ll get you invited.
written by Nancy Chorpenning
\\ tags: business planning, business plans, small business, strategic planning
How to Fix a Sales Problem [5 Second MBA] | Gruzzles | Fast Company
Have you seen this 5-Second MBA feature in Fast Company? This is a WONDERFUL image, and oh so true. Simple but not easy to execute.
written by Nancy Chorpenning
\\ tags: Business Development, Sales
When It Feels Wrong To Be Right – Trust Your Gut – Entrepreneur.com
Interesting article opens with: “‘I trust my gut.’ That sounds so alpha-male cool, I know. It’s also a very dumb approach to running the major aspects of your business.” Perhaps not only “alpha-male cool” – women call it intuition, men call it “gut feeling.”
While I agree there is no silver bullet or panacea for today’s business challenges, entrepreneurs ignore your senses at your own peril!
Having said that, before you listen to your gut or follow your intuition, check these signposts:
- Conventional wisdom may not serve you well. Analyze beneath that first cell layer.
- Equip yourself to be a business owner, not just an operator. Most business owners spend the majority of their hours working IN their business. Your success comes from how well you balance managing working IN your business and working ON it. Make time to engage your brain regularly.
- Sometimes a decision feels wrong because it IS. Make sure you are leading towards the right goal, not merely “tripping” for the sake of being different.
written by Nancy Chorpenning
\\ tags: business intuition, decision-making, entrepreneur
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