Problems are simply opportunities in disguise

Most of us run our businesses on a day to day basis, dealing with customer needs and solving problems as they arise. As our business changes, as our custmer needs change, "problems" arise. Often, as business owners, the need to deal with these "problems" consumes much of our day. These "problems" are simply flags that tell us something is not working as it should. We cannot afford this to be normal operations.

When we are up to your neck in alligators, it is difficult to remember that we are there to drain the swamp. But as a business owner, that is what we must do.

The flags are telling us that something is not working properly. By understanding the source of the problems, we have the opportunity, not only to fix the problem, but to prevent it, thereby saving us time in the future. If we go further and understand the source of the problem, we may identify that there is a new need from our customers that we are not satisfying. This is the real opportunity. By satisfying this new need, we may be able to improve our relationship with our customers, because we are "listening".

Our business is not static. It is constantly changing. Our customers needs are changing. Our business processes must evolve along with those needs.

Too busy to focus on process improvements?

In many of the assignments that I take on, I find that small businesses are struggling to make progress and move their business forward. The primary reason that they give is that they are too busy. When business is good they are run off their feet responding to customers' needs (often reacting to service problems) and when business is bad, they are too busy looking for business and finding ways to cut costs.

In many cases, they have made decisions to upgrade their business by buying software. Installing software takes a lot of time and effort. It isn't a silver bullet, automatically changing your business for the better. When it comes down to the hard work of implementing, the business is too busy dealing with day-to-day issues, and does not complete the implementation successfully.

Recognize that being too busy is a symptom of problems. Yes, on any one day, priorities arise that keep you from achieving everything you want to. But if it happens every day, something is wrong. A good reason is that your business has grown very quickly and you are responding to customer orders. However, if you don't look at how you can support this level of activity, then you will quickly deteriorate into the second reason.

The second reason is that the quality of service is a problem. You are constantly dealing with customer complaints. If that is the case, this is a huge waste. You must respond to this in the short term, but prevent it in the future. If you don't, you will lose customers or your costs of delivering service will grow and profits will drop.

As an owner or manager, you can't afford to let this happen. Waste is a natural occurrence in a business. You take care of your customers and as your business changes, processes are forced to change. As these processes are changed, waste gets introduced, because only part of the process changes. What no longer is required often remains because nobody has looked at it. This waste is easy to understand in large organizations, but assumed to be small in small businesses because everybody "knows what's going on". On the contrary, small business often starat to miscommunicate when there are about 5 people involved. It hurts more as it grows, often being very painful as you reach 20-25. Unless you stand back and look at how your business runs, the problem is there.

Stepping back and looking at your business can be very difficult when you are reacting to what's happenning. "When you are up to your neck in alligators, it's difficult to remember that you are there to drain the swamp". Often the business owner will need help to remain focused. The help can come in the form of a business coach or consultant, a mastermind group or mentor that can help you to remain focused, as well as provide advice and support as you make changes.

The benefits are significant. Some studies have shown that 30-40% of activities and supplies do not help to deliver value to your clients But they do add to costs. Looking for a bigger profit? Improving you business processes can be a major source. If you are looking at software, don't automate the speed at which you can produce this waste. Fix the process, then get the software to improve on it.

Alligators and software

What do alligators and software have in common?

It comes from one of my favourite sayings "When you're up to your neck in alligators, it's hard to remember that you are there to drain the swamp".

Most projects to install new software in a business start with a fanfare, and an expectation that this new software will solve all your business problems and be the holy grail for your business. I've raised this issue before and said that software will not do this by itself. There are many prerequisites to successful software projects. My blog on business value being a key one.

Even when you have established your goals, identified the business value, identified how the software will support your business process to deliver this value, you have a problem..... reality.
Reality rears its ugly head on a regular basis. You need to respond to your customers. You need to make more sales calls. You need to build, deliver or do whatever it takes to bring in revenue today. That software can wait until tomorrow. As we all know, tomorrow never comes. There is only today. The today issues are the alligators that will prevent you from being successful.

Years ago, I attended a management course that talked about the three requirements for success: focus, will and capability. Contrary to common thinking, capability is the least important. Focus is the most important. If you FOCUS on it, and have the WILL to continue no matter what happens, you will succeed. If you don't have the capability, but have the will, you will develop the capability.

I have followed that strategy for myself and have overcome many problems.

In many cases, you are distracted by day to day events. Can you get back to focus on delivery? Do you need help? A good coach can help you to maintain focus and help you to define solutions to the inevitable problems. You are the one who must have the will to continue. If it is really imporatnt to you, you can buy the capability that you don't have.

So just remember. If you take on a software project, remember the ALLIGATORS. And remember that your job is to drain the swamp.