Blog
Bringing it All Together
One of the real privileges I enjoy as a business coach is the chance to work with energetic, dynamic people who are building their businesses and their lives to their own vision. It’s exciting to me to meet and work with people just like you, and this blog is my way of sharing some of that energy with the greater business community in the West of Ireland. Because, let’s face it, the stakes are high when you have your own business. It’s all about your drive and your skillset, and that can be as daunting as it is exciting. This series of blog posts on ACCELERATING your business through LEADERSHIP has been designed to add to your toolbox, to help make you a more effective leader — for yourself, and for your team.
To review, we’ve touched on
- setting SMART goals
- focus, prioritising and time management
- the necessity of innovation
- becoming a role model
- problem solving
These are all hugely important responsibilities and skills of leadership to keep in mind that will help you grow your business, but at the end of the day, in business your successes are measured by your results: by how effective you are at achieving customer conversion, satisfaction and retention. Without customers, you have no profits, and if you’re not making money, you don’t have a business. What you have is a time-consuming hobby.
1. Determine what is expected.
When you start a project, take on a client, or begin anything new, the first thing you must do is ask what is expected — of you, from the project, what does the client want? Begin with the end in mind, with those results as your ultimate goal. And of those results, what is the priority for you?
2. Make a plan.
We’ve gone over this in this series — review the post on setting SMART goals if you need a refresher.
3. Do the work.
Determine where the priorities are for you to achieve maximum results, manage yourself and your time and really focus on what needs to be done. Your single-minded concentration is the most important tool at this stage
Funnily enough, all of those steps are highlighted in this series — but if you use the tools you’ve been given, you’ll know you’re on track. Yes, there will always be challenges to face, road blocks and diversions to overcome, but now, with this series of blog posts, you have your road map. Coaching is available for all or any of it, to expand on these thoughts or go into more depth, and I’d love to hear about the successes and challenges you’ve had implementing this training. You can reach me, as always, on my contact form.
ACCELERATE your business through LEADERSHIP — go on, I believe in you!
Accelerating Your Business Through Leadership
As a small business owner, you don’t need to be told that you’re a leader. You’re creating your own life, forging your own path, day in and day out. You’ve taken ownership of your life in a way that only people who’ve taken the same steps could ever understand or...
SMART goals
There’s an old saying, “if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there”. Now, I’m sorry to scoff in the face of conventional wisdom, but in business, that’s just not true! If you don’t know where you’re going, you need to sit down and figure it out,...
Focus — your SMART goal
For the next part of our six-part series on ACCELERATING your business through LEADERSHIP, we’re going to build on the last post. Your SMART goals and planning system are such an important road-map to success, so if you’ve not looked at it, check out the last...
Role-modelling
So far, the ACCELERATING your business through LEADERSHIP series has focused on actionable items to increase your efficacy. This week, I’m going to take what looks like a lateral step. Stay with me, though, because this is just as important, even though we’re taking...
Problem Solving
SOLVE PROBLEMS Previously, in the ‘Priorities’ segment of this series, we discussed the Time-Management Matrix. This evaluates all your tasks on the dual axes of Importance and Urgence. The sweet spot for your productivity and creativity, as highlighted, is the Not...
Keep innovating
INNOVATE In the last post, we discussed the necessity of taking a moment sometimes to look at your performance and your priorities. It’s important to keep stock of what’s going on around you, to have a sense of the big picture, and to always make sure you’re on the...