Your business is like a puzzle. It works best when all the pieces come together.
With free agency underway and the draft approaching, there is certainly a lot of football talk about all the moves. None more than with our Philadelphia Eagles. A lot of folks like to analyse each trade and it certainly makes for interesting sports talk radio. But I prefer to reserve judgment until I see the finished product – the team that takes the field in September.
No matter how impactful a move may appear, evaluating one piece without the big picture simply feels wrong. But it got me thinking…
How many business owners focus on one thing and ignore the big picture? Taking actions without the end-goal in mind. Or operating the business without goals and a good sense of where the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities really are? Or focusing on what’s fun or popular instead of what’s profitable? Or looking at results in a vacuum disregarding the synergy that comes from getting all the pieces to work together?
A successful football team is a combination of people and schemes (aka systems). It’s up to the coaches to bring the two together to create a great team. Those that do it the best, win. The same is true in a business.
As the owner and leader of your company, it’s up to you to set the direction, bring in the right people and set up the best systems. Look at the whole business, not just sales. Keep the end-game in mind. Focus on the stuff that matters. In small businesses revenue, cost, customer satisfaction and operational performance are typically good starts. Have a plan – and go out and execute it well. Victory will be yours.
