Yet, it is.

As recently as this past month, I have spoken with three successful business owners - with business revenues from as little as $900,000 to as much as $15,000,000 - and NONE of them planned for the future.  Their measurements were all compared to last year, last month, last week.  Which is fine for some purposes but woefully inadequate for others.

Let me give you an example.

One Owner was complaining about his partner, who owns 30% of the business.  My Owner friend had just returned from a lengthy absence, working on a second business.  He called me after the first week of being back.  "I don't get it,"  he said.  "Jeffery and I have worked together for years, and when I leave him alone to run the business, everything falls to pieces.  Sales are up by 3%, but earnings are down.  The building and grounds are a mess...I told him to buy some new cabinets to spiff things up, but he didn't want to spend the money.  What's worse is that we had a great opportunity for significant new business, but Jeffrey never followed up - he said he was too busy - so the opportunity went to a competitor.  I am so frustrated with him!"

I could definitely feel the Owner's frustration.  Apparently he and his partner typically had always managed things as they came up - with no definite plan in place.  This had been successful for some time, but obviously wasn't working now.  Had they ever gotten together the 4th quarter of any year and actually PLANNED for the following year?  Planned for sales increases and where they thought the increases would come from?  Planned for capital expenditures and how they wanted the  money to be spent?  Planned for staffing adds to accommodate the growth?  Planned for business initiatives, with real milestones in place to measure progress?  Created a line item budget that thoughtfully reflected all their PLANS - so that they could see what kind of earnings they could expect for the coming year?

Of course not.  But what a great potential for course correction and growth!

What's your planning like?  Are you satisfied that you and your team are planning well?  Do you create a real budget out of your plans and manage to that?  Do you hold people accountable to the plan metrics and milestones?  It sounds simple, but it's not always easy.... I'd be interested in your thoughts.  

Over the past few years, I have also become a fan of regularly scheduled one-to-one meetings with subordinates.  While some management consultants propose that this time be used primarily to get to know each of your employees on a more personal basis, I believe that one-to-one's can serve a variety of purposes. Ultimately they benefit BOTH parties; the employee, in a safe, private conversation can communicate freely and thoughtfully, asking questions, seeking clarifications, soliciting advice, discussing successes and obstacles.  The employer, similarly, can talk about expectations, coach, and advise.  An employer can also bounce ideas off the subordinate and gain insights not previously considered.

A few DO's regarding one-to-ones:

• DO keep to a regular schedule - whether once a week or twice a month or whatever is comfortable.  If necessary, reschedule the meetings, but when things get hectic do not drop them, skip them, or ignore them.
• DO follow through on commitments you, as the employer, might make at the meeting. 
  Take time to listen and discuss; open yourself to different ideas and points of view.  Ultimately you're the boss, but often you can glean important information if you look for it.
• DO have an agenda.  One Owner I know always starts by reviewing the past week and the coming week, then goes through a list of larger company initiatives, talking about ideas, progress or hindrances.  Although the time is structured, it is a give-and-take honest conversation, not a reporting presentation.
• DO carve out time to talk about anything the employee might have on his or her mind. 
  Remember that part of your role as an Owner is to coach and grow future leaders.

There were hundreds of people there, Owners, CEO’s, Key Executives, and Trusted Advisors.  The ballroom was packed with business people introducing themselves to each other, talking about their businesses, learning from the speakers, learning from each other, sharing new ideas.  What energy!  What spirit!  It was so palpable.

What struck me additionally was that, contrary to media rantings, every business person or Owner I talked to had businesses that were busier than ever; a surprising number were hiring to meet increased demand for their product or service, some were cautiously planning new marketing and/or new infrastructure initiatives.  All had a realization that we have moved beyond the new “reset point” and companies are growing again.  The ballroom was buzzing with cautious optimism and excitement about plans for the future.  At the end of the conference that day, no one could possibly be thinking about continuing to defensively hide under a rock. 

I came away excited for the future and optimistic.  Also energized by the crowd, all exchanging information, ideas, best practices, questions.  I know the country will continue to struggle in some areas,  but there are so many emergent opportunties. It’s hard not to feel hopeful and  enthusiastic. 

What has invigorated you about your business recently?  What to you do to recharge your business battery? What avenues do you have to learn from others and share your experiences? To grow and keep yourself sharp?  I’d be interested to hear.

1. Create a vision and instill values. The vision may be the Owner’s, but the communication has to include the team, employees, potential investors, customers, new hires…all the people the business touches. For many owners, the repeated communication is the hard part – written and verbal, articulated over and over again.
2. Define a focused strategy. The strategic focus should be limited to a few critical areas that can be described simply and that will yield the best return, given the business strengths. If the strategy has more than six elements, it’s not focused. Not everything can be a priority. No time should be spent on unimportant goals. 
3. Get stakeholder commitment. An Owner should infuse the team with his passion and energy; he (or she) should be the “compass”, setting direction and creating the vision for the team to follow.  But tactical planning is a collaborative effort.  The team must be involved in the planning decisions to not only get their commitment to execute but also to identify hand-offs and where two teams might have to work together to achieve a common result.  People who are not committed, who don’t understand their roles and responsibilities, cannot be held accountable for delivering ambitious results.
4. Align the objectives of principals. Small companies can implode if there are two or more owners that are not aligned in terms of goals and objectives.  For example, if one person wants to add more technology and another wants to keep costs down, it can lead to a train wreck. Owners need to articulate business philosophies at the onset of a business partnership - even if it's a difficult conversation.  Identify visions and goals.  Quantify time and costs.  Get agreement from all, and review results regularly to verify alignment. 
5. Every process needs a system. Define and use well-thought-out systems, manual or automated, to ensure repeatable success of every key process. The most basic element of every start-up system, for example,  is a written, agreed to, and measurable business plan.  After start-up phase, each person should have definable primary responsibilities and goals.  Business processes will need to be instituted to make sure things run smoothly, consistently, and effectively – each time they are done.
6. Manage priorities. Current priorities must be communicated to all constituents regularly – even if the Owner must repeat himself constantly.  As priorities change over time, the Owner should be clear about explaining the logic and the progression.  It is highly disruptive to constantly be jumping from one initiative to the other.  And initiatives should be kept to a manageable number. 
7. Provide team support and training. People are a company's most valuable asset, so an Owner should start with the right ones, and make sure they have the time, tools, and training to deliver the results that are expected. 
8. Assign and orchestrate actions. Leaders must make sure all team members are taking the right actions (and behaviors) on a daily basis to deliver long-term performance. Even after all the previous steps, great leaders can’t afford to be merely observers. Lead by action.  Be present.
9. Measure, adapt and innovate. Things change in a startup or very young company, and things will go wrong. Hiccups won’t be noticed on a timely basis if nothing is measured. Measure four or five key drivers, not twenty or thirty things. Owners should look at them regularly; have discussions about them.  Make sure everyone knows what is important.
10. Reward and punish. What gets measured and rewarded gets done. Be exceedingly generous with praise, celebration, recognition, small rewards, and sometimes money. Set high standards for performance and use the three T’s (train, transfer, or terminate) to deal with people unable to effectively execute the plan.

I think Owners can make use of three handy concepts that are critical to any business success. 

Metrics are used to measure quantifiable results from business operations that move companies toward their goals.  So, if a company goal is ‘increase customer satisfaction by 20%’, the metric used might be “average grade” as measured by feedback questionnaires.  If a company has a goal to increase sales by 10%, regularly reviewed metrics would track sales increases and might also track number of new customers and units sold.

Many times metrics are related to an annual budget – so that actual differences from budgeted expectations are called out and need to be explained every month – but other times, they are tracked separately as more operational measures than financial ones.

Milestones are used to measure progress through company initiatives or projects that don’t (or don’t yet!) have clear quantification.  For example, one of my clients has decided to install new Customer Relationship Management software.  In order to make sure the project is staying on track and getting the right amount of consistent priority, bi-weekly milestones have been created and are reviewed regularly.

Benchmarks can be used synonymously with “milestones” but they are generally an external standard against which internal performance is measured.  Companies that want to know how they stack up relative to competitors will often compare themselves to benchmarked industry data and come to some conclusion about what gaps in performance are apparent and what might need attention.

What metrics, milestones, and benchmarks do you currently use in your company?  What kinds of measurements would you like to see implemented that don’t exist in your company now?  

It’s remarkable that one conversation or even one remark by an outsider can shed new perspective on an issue, yet it often happens.  I encourage all Owners to seek that safe haven or sounding board where they can discuss tough business issues and get meaningful ideas and input.  The benefits far outweigh the costs. 

Do you have an Advisory Board?  How has it worked for you?

Owners can create purpose and passion in their organizations in many ways – four of which follow:

1)      Communicate, communicate, communicate.  What are we here to do?  Why do we exist? What problem are we trying to solve or what enriching experience are we offering?  Where are we headed?  What do we want to become?

2)      Create milestones and celebrate progress.  Articulating a ‘path,’ establishing checkpoints along the way, letting your team see its own progress is inherently motivating.  (A motivated, passionate team can be a huge competitive advantage!)

3)      Hire to your purpose.  Hire candidates that believe in what you believe in. They’ll join you not only to make a good living, but they will also be passionate advocates to help you accomplish your goals.  

4)      Demonstrate passion yourself.  Too many times, I have witnessed Owners that have lost their own passion.  They don’t show up regularly, they don’t model behavior that indicates they are interested in the development of their company.  They border on "absentee owners" and it seems that their satisfaction comes only from the company affording them a certain standard of living.  When the profit motive is disconnected from purpose, though, a company will drift or even decline.  I have known Owners that, in those worst case conditions, were forced to restructure companies that were once thriving.

 What is your company’s purpose?  How do you stack up against these four ways to infuse purpose?  What are your obstacles?  I’d be interested to hear.

Do you ever have those kinds of situations in your company?  One contingent advocates serving the customer – certainly an admirable pursuit – while the other contingent advocates protecting the shareholders by managing perceived unreasonable costs and risks.  Two right answers.  What’s the resolution?  Do we ALWAYS serve the customers, even when they seem to be asking for what seems to be whimsical and costly service?   What is the right amount of risk to bear?

Although we can all agree that the yardstick against which most big decisions are made should be related to your mission, vision, and promises to your customer, sometimes, just sometimes, it’s not so clear-cut.  Competing viewpoints will need to be considered, weighed, and a thoughtful decision will need to be made.  It’s not easy; you will please some and disappoint others.  You may have to explain your rationale…. multiple times.  But this is part of the responsibility of being a leader.  And, whatever the answer, it is incumbent upon your staff to see your bigger picture and get on board with it enthusiastically.

What kinds of issues come up in your own organization that have two right answers?  How do you manage that tension?  How do you come to a decision and engender staff enthusiasm?

Wistful, because some of us now know how fleeting time is.  Did we accomplish what we intended to?  Did we come close? Did we even try?

Eager, because, if we have the means and our health, retirement can mean a whole new exciting chapter in our lives; a clean sheet of paper upon which we can write something different than what has been, creating another story uniquely our own.

Normally we think of the process of getting older as one of slowing down, self-reflection, imparting the wisdom we have gained along our path to others who come after.  Yet, for those who (like me, part wistful and part eager) look at life as a wonderful, awe-inspiring, miraculous journey, it’s curious to realize that getting older can, indeed, be its own brand new, riveting and inspiring experience.

So, what different and exciting chapter will you write when your current one conludes?