Building a Better Business in 10 Steps

by | Aug 5, 2020 | Uncategorized

warkworth accountant

The topic for our next Boardroom Briefing session is ‘Building a Better Business in 10 Steps’. The purpose of this workshop is to take our business owner participants through these 10 steps, including how to:

  1. Get clear on exactly what you want.

  2. Be open to change and new learning.

  3. Define where you are now – warts and all.

  4. Make a plan.

  5. Get your organisation structure right.

  6. Be a better leader; build a strong workplace culture.

  7. Get someone independent to hold you to account.

  8. Build strong networks.

  9. Monitor your progress.

  10. Keep your well of happiness full.

Here’s a taster of some of the great content we will covering as we work through these 10 steps…

THE BE-DO-HAVE MINDSET

In this activity we ask everyone to “write down who you need to be so you can do the things you do in order to get what you want to have.”

This is a great task we recommend everyone to from time-to-time to check in and gauge how on track you are with maintaining a BE-DO-HAVE mindset.

  • What do you love doing? Both outside of work and at work? What do you need to stop doing? Write down at least three things you want to do more of and three things you want to stop doing or pass on to others.

  • How many hours per week will you commit to each of the things you love doing? Take back control of your life by starting with a commitment to the things outside of work that you love doing. Write this down.

  • What holidays do you want to have? Be specific so the image is implanted in your mind. Where do you want to go? When? Write this down, then block the time out in your calendar when you return to work.

  • How much income do you need to deliver on your new life? Don’t worry about the how yet; just write the number down.

BE A BETTER LEADER

Have you ever asked yourself if your workplace is toxic? The average person spends more than 40,000 hours of their life at work. That’s a long time if your work environment is not fun; even worse if it’s toxic.

A toxic workplace generally exhibits some or all of the following characteristics:

1. A lack of trust between the owners and the team – a sense of ‘us and them’.
2. No Core Values; or worse – Core Values that aren’t practiced.
3. After meeting meetings. Those coffee or desk chats where team members bag the person who lead the meeting that just happened.
4. Highly stressful interactions are the norm. As opposed to the exception.
5. Team members and owners mistreating each other. Working in self-serving ways instead of for the benefit of the team. Especially if this is done behind team members’ backs.
6. No team buy in to the business’s core purpose or goals. Or a complete absence of purpose and goals.

“Culture Eats strategy for breakfast” – these are the wise words of Peter Drucker. We simply cannot afford to operate with a toxic workplace. And, the opportunity cost of not investing in our workplace culture is big.

So in this part of the seminar we invite our participants to take an honest look at your business, then follow these steps:

1. Use a collaborative approach to set no more than five Core Values.
2. Define your core purpose. Why does your business exist for your clients? Check out Simon Sinek’s video ‘Start With Why’ on YouTube.
3. Make your core purpose and Core Values highly visible. Ensure each team member has memorised them and hold each other to account for living into them.
4. Break down your plan into goals and actions for each team member. The sum of the individual team goals will deliver on your overall plan.
5. Celebrate success. Give recognition to team members for great performance.
6. Meet with your team regularly.
7. Actively discourage those after meeting meetings.
8. Stop playing favourites.
9. Avoid being held to ransom by toxic employees. Open the ‘door of opportunities’ for them.
10. Have more fun at work.

To quote Henry Ford, in relation to teamwork: “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success”.        

If you haven’t done so already, register by email here for our Building a Better Business in 10 Steps boardroom briefing and save the date:

  • 8am, 22nd Sept

  • KGA Boardroom

  • Limit 10 places

Bizdom 10 Steps to a Better Business.jpg

Business Planning Session Customer Review:

Thank you Jaqueline, Victoria and the team for making something so daunting less terrifying than I imagined. After completing my Business Planning Session, I feel like I have a good solid structure to work from over the next 12 months.

With a heavy workload it was hard to find the time and prioritize stepping back to take a look at the entire project.

Jaqueline’s thought provoking quotes on the white board and her analogies have set in place the importance on having goals in mind when making decisions.

I know where my business is currently and more importantly,  I know where I’d like it to be and how to go about getting there.

Without this meeting I would still be aimlessly applying myself without any real focus on the future. That mentality would have eventually led to the possible demise of either myself or my business.

I highly recommend a Business Planning Session.
Also, thanks for the excellent cups of tea!

Sarah Summers – Blackbrick Limited