Now its even more important than ever to know where you are heading

One thing COVID19 has shown us is that things can change dramatically in the blink of an eye.  One of the keys to being successful in business is being able to adapt to change. Planning and implementation are crucial, but so is the monitoring and being accountable to creating those results.  

Now, more than ever, as a result of COVID19, we need to be responsive to change and adapt. For example, if one of your goals when you started in business was flexibility to attend your children’s events, does your business now hold you captive and prevent this and if so what do you need to do to change this?  

To get the results we want, we need to know what we are trying to achieve, monitor our performance and adapt where necessary.  Put simply:

1. Begin with goals.  Think S.M.A.R.T. and take the time to sit down and work out what it is that you want out of your business.  Then convert these into numbers in the form of a budget.

2. Monitor performance against those goals to stay on track.  Knowing your actual numbers is the key here and then comparing these to the budget you prepared at the start. Once you identify areas you need to improve, this creates focus.

3.      Hold yourself accountable to those goals – What do I need to do to get back on track? What are the key things I need to alter to make that happen?  Who should be responsible for implementing that change within the business? Who is going to keep me accountable to those changes?

We have had 2 good businesses find themselves in financial distress in the last year because of simple administration functions breaking down on them.  Invoicing of customers had fallen behind, and on the surface it just seemed like a short-term issue of important work getting in the way of the routine functions such as reconciliations.  What was actually happening was that personal problems of the administration team members meant they weren’t keeping their key responsibilities up to date and doing their job properly.  By the time this was identified and rectified, and the invoicing brought up to date, cash flow problems had magnified to the point where it causes significant issues in meeting the routine commitments of the business.

If you aren’t seeing the results you want, identify what needs to change and then get implementing.

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