Management – The Chalifour Group

5 Ways to Limit Smartphone Use during the Work Day

Smartphones are one of the most exciting modern-day inventions, but they can also become a major source of distraction during the work day. Before COVID, studies found that the average American spent around 5.4 hours a day on their mobile phone. Just 6 months after the COVID-induced lockdown, a December 2020 study found that mobile phone usage was up 25% to 7 hours a day. This increased mobile phone usage could contribute to decreases in productivity and motivation, as more mobile phone usage is correlated with increased anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance. Even knowing all of this, it can be difficult to limit screen time because these devices are insanely addictive. Here are 5 ways to help you limit smartphone use during the day so that you can hopefully be happier, healthier, and more productive:

Set time limits on certain apps

Most phones have settings that allow you to limit the time spent on specific apps each day—this feature is called ‘screen time’ on iPhone and ‘digital wellbeing’ on android. This allows you to actively limit the time spent on particularly addicting apps, such as social media applications (e.g. twitter, reddit, instagram, youtube). This feature is a great way of preventing you from mindlessly scrolling for longer than you intend.

Leave your phone in a separate room

If you find yourself unable to stop habitually checking your phone or scrolling through social media, one option is to just leave your phone in a different room than your work office. If you are working at home, then you could leave your phone in the kitchen or bedroom, far away from your desk or office. This way, you will have to intentionally walk across your living space in order to check your phone. This adds both a mental and physical barrier to checking your phone, which can be extremely helpful.

Turn off email and text notifications

Email and text notifications can be very distracting during the work day. You could be working hard to solve a problem and then a random email or text can totally take your out of your flow and halt your momentum. When you turn off or mute notifications, this distraction is completely removed. Then you can check your emails or texts every few hours, in a proactive and intentional way. Research has shown that batching notifications in this way can improve wellbeing and productivity.

Delete distracting apps from your phone

If you find that you are manually overriding the time limits or walking across the room to check reddit, one idea is just to delete these apps from your phone entirely. This adds another degree of friction between you and distracting phone applications, as manually re-downloading apps and signing in (i.e. having to remember your password) is quite tedious. This may your best option if you find that just having the app on your phone makes it difficult to have a balanced relationship with your mobile device.

Turn your phone into greyscale mode

One thing that makes our smartphones so dazzling is that they are full of rich colors and exciting videos/images. One way to make looking at your phone less appealing/stimulating is to turn on greyscale mode, which essentially turns everything into black and white. This makes looking at your phone much less absorbing and therefore easier for you to put your phone down after you are done using it for your intended purchases. Here are instructions for this setting on iPhone and Android.

Final thoughts: Hopefully these tools help you curb your smartphone usage so that you can be happier and more productive during the work week. That said, all of these settings can be manually overridden and turned off. The ultimate truth is that you are in control: you have to make the choice to limit your phone usage, and the best tool for doing so is self-discipline. Perhaps find a different activity to take breaks during work, such as meditation, walking outside, or exercise. Have a great week everyone!

5 Ways Science Can Help Your Business

Science can be a great tool to improve your business, as it allows you to get objective, quantifiable evidence that you can use to make evidence-based business decisions. Here are 5 ways you can use science to help your business:

Survey your employees

A great way to get feedback from your employees is to just ask them. Surveys can be a great way for you to select the questions you are interested in, and then survey employees across your company to get both quantitative (i.e. ratings of agreement) and qualitative data (i.e. open-ended responses). This can help bring to light issues within your company you may not be aware of, which could differ by department—maybe the sales employees face a different set of issues than the human resources team. You can also make your surveys anonymous to get more honest feedback than you might from a face-to-face conversation. Overall, this technique can really give you a better idea of what is going on within your company.

Survey your customers

If you are designing a new product, a great way to get feedback from your target audience is to survey existing customers. This can allow you to see what they might be interested in and what might determine whether they purchased your new product. In addition, you can conduct a product test with a focus group to get their opinions on different prototypes. Getting to know your audience through their ratings of likelihood to buy as well as candid feedback can be really helpful before launching your product into the public market. Qualtrics is a great tool to survey both employees and customers and easily analyze your data.

Use psychometric tests when hiring

Job applications and interviews often don’t provide enough information about candidates to decide whether you want to hire them or not. The employees you bring into your work place directly contribute to your company’s culture and overall success, so having more information when hiring is extremely helpful. Using psychometric testing can be a great way to learn more about a candidate’s personality, work ethic, and potentially their long term success at your company. There are many different tests you can use, and it depends on what you are looking for in new hires, but one great resource is the Predictive Index, which is “an untimed, free-choice, stimulus-response tool that measures a person’s motivating drives and needs” that can be used to “hire candidates who are hardwired to be a great fit, to design teams that perform like magic, and to manage employees in a way that pushes them to perform at the top of their game.” Do keep in mind that no scale is perfect and it can never truly encapsulate a person—for this reason, interviews and ‘gut feelings’ are still very important.

Run an experiment

Not sure what option will work best for a particular problem in your business? The best way to find out is to run an experiment, where you can compare multiple options and see the different results. You can then use basic analysis techniques to see if there are significant differences in outcomes between the two options, products, etc. For example, you could have sales associates use two different scripts at random for 100 times each and then compare the success rate for the different scripts.

Research the psychology behind your industry

Every business is run by humans. Psychology allows us to better understand the human mind, what motivates us, and why people do the things they do. One way to improve your business is to research the psychology behind your particular industry. The sales process is very psychological, and different findings from the scientific literature can be leveraged to improve your business practices and increase success. Learning about the science of psychology can really help to improve your communication skills and the way you interact with your human customers. We are all people and we are all motivated by similar things.

Bonus tip: If any of these ideas sound appealing to you, but you aren’t sure how to properly implement them in your business, hire a scientific consultant to help you accomplish these goals and provide evidence-based solutions for your business. We at The Chalifour Consulting Group offer scientific consulting services, so feel free to reach out at info@consultingandsuccess.com.

Hiring – Ability vs. Personality

Managers have a lot to consider when hiring employees. Two of the most important aspects to consider are the candidates ability and personality skills. Employees have both soft skills (conscientiousness) and hard skills (general mental ability) in the workplace. Understanding the important skills that someone should have can be a crucial indicator in determining whether or not you believe they will have a high performance level. When looking to hire someone new, a manager should be looking for employees who can do the basics first, and then keep a smile on their face when things go wrong . Both traits are important to have, however, one may be more beneficial than the other.

First, you want to make sure the potential employee fits the mission of your company. Personality is so important whether the candidate has the skills to go along with it. You can teach someone technical skills but you can’t teach someone how to put a smile on their face. Friendly employees keep customers happy and satisfied and will most likely keep them a loyal customer. Kathrine Palju said, “it’s not about electronic or internet skills, it’s not about mechanics. It’s all about interpersonal relationships”. Being able to keep a conversation going and understanding what the customer wants can go a long way.

It is also important that managers and business owners are aware of what type of skills and personality traits their employees possess. In the future this could help managers with their weekly schedules so that they can have a balance of employees with general mental ability and conscientiousness. When managers are able to understand which employees have one or both traits, it can help decide where to place each employee and may help in a better execution of service.

All in all, it is preferred that an employee has both GMA and conscientiousness but it is understandable that this is often not the case. Being able to understand what stages these skills are important and how to find them in a person can really have an impact on the overall performance of a business.

Leadership, Culture and Retention

My business partner always says that for the most part a person does not quit their job, they quit their boss. If you are in a leadership position of any kind, this statement should immediately grab you and cause the hair on the back of your neck to stand at attention. If it does not then you should not be in a position of leadership – period.

Retention is a direct result of the leadership. It’s as simple as that. Leadership is not about telling people what to do, we should know that by now as leaders. It’s about listening, guiding, teaching and doing the right thing. Everything has changed from the days of the baby boomer’s 30 years and a gold watch.

Medium.com writes in a recent blog post that according to a 2018 study by Mercer, a whopping third of all employees plan on quitting their job in the next 12 months. That number is astronomically high compared to when our our parents and grandparents were our age. This growing amount of turnover is getting more and more expensive for companies. In fact, one study revealed that replacing a high-talented employee will cost a company 200% of the employees annual salary.

Leadership is culture. That’s right, the culture developed by leadership is one of the most critical components of retention. How a team member feels they are perceived by the leadership will dictate the commitment and diligence put forth by the team member. Long gone are the days where a simple transaction takes place everyday – a wage is paid to perform a job. The days where an employee shows up in the morning with their lunchbox in hand, punches a clock and leaves at the end of the day with another clock punch.

Today, the working culture is more committed to the overall function of the day. There is more skin in the game and they wanted to be treated accordingly, do you blame them?

Take a look at these stats compiled by Marvin Russell on Medium.com:

In a survey of 2,000 employees, almost half (43%) said they are looking for a new job, and corporate culture was the main reason.

Source: hayes.com

When surveyed, 82% of employees said they’d be more loyal, and less likely if they had more flexible jobs.

Source: FlexJobs

92% of employees said that would be more likely to stay with their job, if their bosses would show more empathy.

Source: Businesssolver

Engaged employees are 59% less likely to seek out a new job or career in the next 12 months.

Source: Gallup

37% of employees would quit and take a new job that allowed them to work remotely part of the time.

Source: Gallup

A strong learning culture led to 30–50% high retention rates in companies.

Source Robert Half

70% of 2,000 millennials surveyed said they would quit a job if lacked high performing and fast technology.

Source: Jive Communications

62% of millennials are willing to quit their job in the next two years and work in the gig economy.

Source: Deloitte

71% of employees would accept a pay cut, just to get a better job.

Source: hayes.com

Money is not the problem. In fact, only 12% of employees actually leave their job because they want more money.

Source: CareerBuilder.com

89% of bosses wrongly believe their employees quit because they want more money.

Source: Source; Leigh Branham, author of The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave

Generation X, employees born between 1961 and 1981, reported the highest levels of stress in the workplace, and thus have the highest risk of leaving your company.

Source: hayes.com

Employees who feel they get to use the best strengths and abilities and work are 15% less likely to quit their job.

Source: Gallup

When surveyed, 76% of employees who don’t feel valued at work are seeking other job opportunities.

Source: Lifeworks

Over 70% of “high-retention-risk” employees want to leave because they see no future advancement in the current job.

Source: Willis Towers Watson

20-50% of the reason people quit is burnout, according to almost half of all HR professionals surveyed.

Source: Kronos

In a global study, 60% of millennials have worked at 2 to 4 different companies, and 43% of them feel like their company only cares about profits.

Source: O.C. Tanner

42% of millennials, who have worked at 2 to 4 different companies, said their job creates a huge amount of stress, and 36% feel their job has a negative impact on their health.

Source: O.C. Tanner

30% of employees would consider quitting if they were unhappy at work, and 79% of employees said their bosses didn’t care about their happiness level.

Source: One4All

Organizations with poor on-boarding programs have double the chances of experiencing employee turnover.

Source: Digittate

Clearly the paycheck is not the major issue here. It’s important that as leaders we recognize and value the team members in a way that brings them into the fold as pseudo partners and contributing assets. If we are not able to do that the simple truth is that they will move on and look for that with another company.

Are we listening and recognizing talents? Are we taking the time to talk with the team? Are we spending time in the trenches with them to see what it’s like from their perspective? How does a person manage when they have no idea what goes on in the various departments that they have charge over. Have you given your team members a voice? Do they feel like part of the solution and therefore part of the success of the company?

These are questions that really need answers and those answers will dictate your leadership style and also the changes that need to take place.

If you’re unsure about what the culture is in your workplace, let us help. We can get these answers for you and customize a workplace mindset and new culture, just give us a call.

We are always at your service and eager to help.

A Remote Workforce – Changing the Management Process

It’s no surprise that today’s business office looks very different. The proverbial water cooler is now your phone, the conference room is your bedroom, living room, bathroom or whatever room you can have a quiet conversation in. Break time is ubiquitous and chances are you are no longer worrying about someone taking your lunch from the fridge in the break room.

The question that employers and employees alike need to ask themselves is; Am I more productive, less productive or equally as productive as I was Pre-COVID? Is the work getting done? Are the customers happy? Is production on schedule? Many times most companies will find that they are in fact as productive, if not more productive and they employees are far happier that they were when they had to deal with office politics, traffic and a general sense of stress or dislike. Today, people are continuing to do what they like to do, what they were hired to do and without any of the outside influences that commonly attach themselves to the office environment.

It is, however, very important that the company has some sort of accountability policy or efficiency statement. There needs to be a system in place that creates a sense of responsibility and accountibility. People still need to answer to management and sometimes that’s not an easy thing to do when we are working from home. Creating some sort of “check-in” or workflow process statement is critical and must be done now before there is too much latitude generated to pull things back in.

Creating a method for process development will help in determining where the potential holes are and where the improvements need to be made. A manager can walk through a department and get a sense for the productivity in the room and be able to ask questions on the fly and make changes or modifications almost instantly. With a remote workforce, this is virtually impossible.

Make sure that everyone is on the same page and that there is a means for instant correction and also oversight. Creating a solidarity from a remote standpoint doers not have to be daunting but is absolutely must be done.

Creating a Culture of Positivity

The American work culture is something of true value. Consider the following statistics:

Average work week of 50 hours or 9.4 hours per day
- Other countries work an average of 20% less hours
88% of US Citizens are considered Upper Middle Class or Wealthy as compared to rest of world
Average Yearly Income in the US is $61,937
Only 15% of US workers are unhappy with their current Jobs
The US Remains the worlds richest company per capita controlling $105.99 Trillion or about 30% of the entire worlds net worth

America loves to work. More than any country in the world, we have absolutely no discerning lines between work life and personal life. I believe this issue stems from our desperate need for material items. As Americans we are wasteful and materialistic. Because of our need and our children’s need to have STUFF we need to make more money. It is a really interesting paradigm. You look at other cultures and they have sacred days, or long vacations, or maybe shortened work weeks, but Americans we maybe get a week vacation after our first full year working.

Now believe it or not I am actually not looking to change the American work culture. Because guess what I am American and I like working and I like STUFF. I am however a proponent of making the work atmosphere as positive and enjoyable as possible.

Becoming ranked as one of the best places to work by Fortune is by far one of the best things that can happen to a company and I guarantee that they are successful because of the positive culture that exists. For your curiosity I have included the top 10 for 2020 below:

Hilton
Ultimate Software
Wegmans Food Markets
Cisco
Workday
Salesforce
Edward Jones
Stryker
American Express
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants

We need to create winning, happy, positive, high energy offices at all of our companies and the only way to do that is to create a culture of positivity. The act of being positive decreases cortisol and your brain begins producing serotonin creating a happy feeling, in addition, one feels calmer less anxious and more focused. Guess what that means in the workplace? More production and more money!

Easy enough right? Just create an office full of positivity… Well this is often easier said than done. At an office there are a multitude of factors that make the mere act of being positive very difficult such as deadlines, bosses, stress, and money to name a few. Nearly every aspect of our life that we stress about revolves around money which revolves around our job.

In order to create a culture of positivity and an office that people want to work at the change has to start at the top. The key for success with this process is to search for people doing good. I think far too often in our work culture employees are only noticed when they do something poorly, especially as a mid level employee. We need to reward and encourage positive behavior by catching people in the act of doing something good. It does not matter what exactly they are doing, catch somebody doing something good even if it is just changing the ink in the printer, somebody has to do it. If the boss starts this positive encouragement it will become contagious in the office. This is a grass roots culture change but if you want to succeed it starts small.

People screw up it happens and you criticizing them or publicly coming down on them is not going to change that fact. I am by no means saying that there should not be a level of accountability because I believe in a proper accountability process as well. I am saying, that you will see a greater response from your employees and your bottom line if you encourage a culture of positivity.

We work a lot as Americans but this does not mean that we have to be unhappy. Encourage positivity in the workplace and watch your company soar.

References:

How Americans View Their Jobs

America-Global Income

Who is next in line for the throne – 7 Step Guide

Succession Planing is something that is not talked about nearly enough. Succession planning according to investopedia can be broadly defined as:

“Succession planning is a strategy for passing on leadership roles—often the ownership of a company—to an employee or group of employees. Also known as “replacement planning,” it ensures that businesses continue to run smoothly after a company’s most important people move on to new opportunities, retire, or pass away.”

The process is important no matter what type of company you own, work for, or operate. If you are running a small family business then you need to figure out who in your family has the ability to take over your business. If you are running a large corporation then it is important to have succession planning for nearly every exectuive position so that if something were to ever happen (death, retirement, left company, etc) you have a plan in place and you are not scrambling.

This process must be, proactive in nature, if you are caught off guard by someones leaving and you are searching for a replacement then you are already too late. I am going to run through some of the most common practices to perform a thorough planning process.

You need to figure out what this person’s role is with the company and what the company will look like without them performing their role.
- This allows for you to start building a TDK (Tasks, duties, & responsibilities)
- It also allows for you to know how crucial their role is and how quickly it would need to be filled
Start evaluating who could fill the shoes for this position.
- Do not limit yourself with this search (John Spence once courted a future employee for ten years before actually having a position for him) The proper personal takes time to find, it is okay to be picky, and to start early
- Explore employees at your company, colleagues, employees or owners of other companies, nobody is off limits
- Evaluate what kind of training the possible candidates would need (Remember that just because somebody is a great salesman does not mean they would be a great sales manager. People far too often just look at who is next in line evaluate the candidate not their experience)
Develop a plan for their succession.
- This means outline everything on paper from tomorrow to 3 years from now (Nothing crazy but a simple blueprint or outline for how it will go down
Once you have a good idea of who you think it could be open a dialogue with the successor.
- Just because you think they would be good at the job does not mean they are up for it
- Explain to them the process that you have drawn up
If they are an internal employee you can begin training them.
- Prepare them for certain aspects of the job that they have not been exposed to
- Perhaps even hand over some of the responsibility to them as needed
Lastly you will be taking a key employee off the floor and moving them to a different key position. Discuss with HR what you will be looking for ahead of time to replace the new successors.
Final warning if you are a big company do not leave Successor Planning up to your HR department!
- This is far too important a process and it needs to be handled by people extremely close to the candidates and processes (Nothing against HR it is simply above their pay-grade)

Again, as I mentioned earlier these principles apply to any size business. I recently was hired by a medium sized contracting company to find 3 possible successors (Outside of his current employees) to take over his company in just a few short years. And these are the steps that I followed. We had to evaluate the owners position in the company, what he did on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis. After we new what the specifications were reached out to our connections to find candidates that may possibly fit the mold. From there we sat with the owners and developed a 3-5 year plan based on the candidates qualifications on how the succession would take place. Then we begin interviewing the candidates for the role and started the dialogue. Ultimately we were able to find 4 extremely solid candidates for the position of the successor to the owner. Both the owner and the candidates are thrilled with the opportunity.

Be proactive and start evaluating your company today.

How do I know when it is time to hire someone else?

In order to achieve scalable growth in a successful company you eventually need to hire more people. But how do you know when is the right time to hire someone or whether or not you actually can afford a new hire. This is a problem that arises in many small to medium sized companies. Sometimes, when we deal with family owned companies they toil with hiring people outside of the family as they have typically developed trust issues. Truth is as a business owner you have to decide what kind of company you want to have. If you really want to grow it then you need to hire experts in the field outside of your immediate network.

There is basically two schools of thought when it comes to hiring timeline. The first school says that you hire someone to grow your company. In this instance you may have a successful company but you want more growth so you want to hire another sales person or a new member to the marketing team. The purpose of this hire is to grow your business. If you add a commission only salesperson then there really is no risk but immense possible return (Remember it is all about payplans). People can grow your company but you have to make sure that you are not stretching yourself too thin.

The second school of thought is that you grow so fast and to a size that you almost cannot handle, you are eating and sleeping work. Because you are so busy you decide to hire someone to take the load off so that you can continue to grow. This one is generally more common among small businesses as you typically know that you can afford to hire someone else, you practically cannot afford not to. The questions sort of becomes “what came first, the chicken or the egg.

Basically, hire someone to help you grow or grow or hire someone because you physically cannot do anymore with the team you have. I would not say that there is a right answer here. I would say that if you are new to hiring people and recruiting people that the later of the two options is best. In the first situation you may not have tons of cash to throw around. You are doing well but hiring someone may be a little tight and you are really counting on the business they bring in to cover their salary. That is why the first one option could be a bit riskier. However, if you are experienced in recruiting or know somebody that would be perfect for the role and are sure they can perform, option one is the easier of the two.

Option 2 allows for significant cashflow coming in above and beyond your fixed costs. This means that you have plenty of cash to throw at a new hire and honestly as long as they do a half descent job it is helping your case. I do not want to get into cashflow management too much as that is a story for a different day.

Take a pen and a piece of paper and figure out where you are at in your business: Are you growing in work and cashflow is a non problem or are you making a descent living growing steadily but a couple thousand to a new hire might be tough? Once you know where you are you can develop a plan to see which option would be best for your situation.

Pain or Pleasure??

There are primarily two motivating factors in our lives and they are pain and pleasure. I know this may sound a bit risque but it’s true. We will always gravitate to either pain or pleasure depending on the circumstances.

I know you are asking yourself, “where is he going with this??”. Pain and pleasure are the most motivating factors in a persons life. We are motivated by each of them every day. It’s important to understand that both can be shrouded or disguised in a myriad of ways but the bottom line is that pain and pleasure pervade in our lives numerous times each day.

Webster defines motivation as:

“The reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.“

I am certain that I don’t have to define pain or pleasure but it’s not what you’re thinking. Being motivated by pleasure is a pretty easy concept to grasp. We are motivated to go to an amusement park because we know it will be a great time. We are motivated to be with our children because of the essence of time and often enjoy the goofiness that a child offers and inspires. We are motivated to pack for the trip you have coming up because we are excited for the new experiences that are soon to come. Pleasure is an excellent motivator and often prevails over pain. Innately, we gravitate towards pleasure as a first instinct and fall back on pain only if absolutely necessary.

With that said, pain is a very strong motivator and is the result of spending too much focus on pleasure. An example of the imbalance of pain and pleasure would be, snoozing the alarm clock until you realize that you have a meeting in 30 minutes and you will undoubtedly be late, now that pain of being late becomes the chief motivator and far outweighs the pleasure of lying in a warm comfortable bed. Another example for the golfers out there, it’s too painful to write that executive summary or blog post because it’s more pleasurable to be on the golf course. Now you are on the 18th hole and you realize that that report is due in the morning, you must now race back to the office and begin typing like a crazy person – motivated by the pain of not getting your project completed in time and suffering the consequences.

Although pleasure is magnetic and powerful it is somewhat ephemeral if not balanced with the thought of the pain. Notice I typed “the thought of pain” and not the actual pain. In a combat situation there is a phrase and it’s Left of Bang. If we consider that there is a time line in front of you and at the center of the timeline we have a large red circle. Let’s call that circle “Bang”, anything to the right of bang is very bad and not a place we want to be. It means that we are now in crisis mode, the threat and danger is now. You are now in a situation where you are implementing damage control and trying to create order from chaos. You can no longer be proactive, you can only be reactive. Let’s face it, nobody wants to be right of bang. Right of bang is pain.

The alternative to being right of bang is obviously left of bang. This is where we all want to live and operate. It is a far more peaceful, manageable place to be that allows for far more fluidity. There is a very important tactic that you must possess while left of bang, you must be aware and watchful. The closer you get to bang the more you must be aware that the balance is off as you can very quickly enter into that unpredictable and chaotic stage of right of bang. When you see that big red circle coming your way, pump the brakes a bit and refocus your attention on those things that will keep you on the left side of that circle.

Have you ever played that game Labyrinth? It is a square box with a maze in the middle and you can control the equilibrium gently moving a small ball towards your desired destination. Well pain and pleasure, left and right of bang, and Labyrinth all follow a similar strategy. Labyrinth is not that difficult and can really be completed by anyone. All they need to do is go slow, pay attention and be watchful of what’s ahead of you.

Being motivated by pain is not where you want to find yourself on a regular basis and that’s why being mindful of what’s ahead of you is important. We can create a balance between pain and pleasure and it’s that balance that creates efficiency and high productivity!

Be sure to be alert and watchful, make sure you are looking for the holes in your maze and take the necessary time to navigate each day being mindful of the pinnacle between pain and pleasure. Thats the big red circle I call bang. Each day we consume ourselves with countless tasks and projects quickly finding ourselves in the big red circle. Watch, listen and slow down. Your days will be much more productive.

Money is not the root of all growth – Right?

We met with a client this morning who has endured many trials and tribulations in their business and have persevered through them all only to find themselves in a situation where they think they need money to grow.

Sound familiar to anyone?

They have led their industry at one time with a superior product and exceptional service. What happened to them is a far too familiar scenario for many companies. They ran out of steam and more importantly ran out of money. They stopped moving and adjusting to the ebb and flow of business and the economy. They allowed their competitors to get an edge on them and the circumstances that followed caused debt and a non-existent pipeline of business. Now they find themselves in a situation where only one company comprises 50% of their business and many of their past customers have moved their loyalty to other vendors. They face an uphill battle but luckily, they are prepared to fight and take direction.

The old adage, “don’t let this happen to you applies”. I once read a great quote from the famous motivational sales trainer Zig Zigglar. He said that at one time his greatest form of exercise was to fill the bathtub, climb in, pull the plug and fight the current. Clearly a ridiculous exercise and certainly one that is grossly ineffective. I would submit that many business owners today are simply fighting the current rather than navigating the rocks.

The current Covid-19 pandemic is a great example of how people either succeed or fail. I have read countless stories about companies that have seen a need and filled that need rather that continue to try and conduct business as usual. Adjusting to the business climate and the economy is something that a company needs to be prepared for but more importantly, be ready to act and change. Keeping your eyes on what’s going on in your industry and even industries that you interact with on a regular basis is crucial for the success of your company.

In the wild the term survival of the fittest is ubiquitous. It is clear and obvious when you look at the natural world around us. Plants and animals adapt to their surroundings or they perish. They find ways to fend off predators or camouflage themselves as to not be seen. The essential and overriding thought is to survive, period. There is no difference in business. In the 1986 movie Heartbreak Ridge, Clint Eastwood as Gunny Highway says, “You’re Marines now. You adapt. You overcome. You improvise.

Let’s take some creative liberty here and rephrase that statement for business owners. “You own a business. You pay attention. You take action. You adjust. You succeed.

Personally speaking, my company started as a sign company and has morphed into a highly successful digital marketing and consulting firm. That didn’t happen surreptitiously or by chance, it happened through a diligent focus on supply and demand and filling that demand. It happened by paying attention to the needs of my customer base and giving them what they needed thereby allowing my company to grow and become malleable, flexible and progressive. Although I can’t stand the word progressive in a political context, I do believe that a progressive company is one that will stand the test of time, succeed and gain strength.

That strength is solely dependent on your ability to be a proactive business owner and by building a strong foundation one block at a time. It means a painstaking placement of the correct block and a block that, if necessary, can be replaced by a different block. Of course I am being metaphorical here and each block could represent a miscellaneous business practice such as a marketing strategy, a key personnel hire, a location change, a new compensation plan or any one of a myriad of steps that need to be taken to adjust and grow.

Change is eminent and the growth of your business is predicated on your ability, as the owner and leader of your company, to be watchful and to adapt. How will you be defined? How will your company grow? Will it remain stagnant?

“You own a business. You pay attention. You take action. You adjust. You succeed!