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Edition 449 – Stuck In The Weeds

Written by Dean Robinson.

Too many small and family business owners are stuck in the weeds. They’re too busy applying themselves operationally, and spending little to no time, thinking, then planning strategically.

In one business, the General Manager is hands dirty, out on the factory floor, trying to get a new piece of equipment to function. Yes, it’s a great addition to the business , and it has the potential to dramatically add to revenue and profit in the business. However, tinkering with the machine, operating test runs and figuring out the process don’t need the highest level person in the business to be the one to figure it all out.

In another business, the owner is out on site, in a remote location, for an extended period of time. In a business of 30 plus people, a lot can happen back at HQ, whilst the owner is 5 hours from home, standing in the red dirt of central New South Wales. Invariably, when this owner returns to the office, having been removed from the day to day happening for up to three weeks, the wheels have fallen off. I’m sure there’s an element, in this business, of “the cat’s away”.

If you’re not looking into the future, and only looking at what’s in front of you, in the here and now, your business won’t keep pace with the changes in:

  1. Technology.
  2. Client requirements.
  3. The business landscape.
  4. Government regulation.
  5. The needs and demands of your people.

In each of these examples above, the key issue for me is “trust”. In particular, it’s the inability of each of these very senior people to trust their people to onboard a new piece of equipment, or run a job site.

When you drill down on that, the reason they don’t trust their people, is a direct result of their inability, or perhaps their unwillingness, to invest time in developing them.

Your people have the skills, ability and attitude to take on most of what you’re prepared to throw at them – if you’re willing to give them the time, and the patience, to elevate them from where they are now, to where you’d like them to be.

Unless you’re prepared to trust your people, then invest in them, the question stands – do you really have a business that can function without you and, one day, you could sell? Or, have you merely built a behemoth that’s basically a benevolent institution that, one day, you’ll regret being a part of?

This Week’s Tip

“What are the opportunities that you’re missing, when you’re stuck in the weeds.”