I sometimes volunteer to drive race officials at Dragonboat regattas. This gives me the opportunity to sit back and observe the start of a Dragonboat race. After the on the water umpire hands the race over to the starter, the starter brings all the Dragonboats up to the start line. Once the starter gets every boat in position in perfect order on the start line, they call out:
In business, we are always looking for feedback on where we are and how we are doing in order to plan our next steps in where we are going. All too often I see entrepreneurs pouring over financial statements hoping that they will predict the future. I think there are many challenges in using traditional financial statements to help in the operations and vision for your business.
There is a big world out there and many entrepreneurs that I meet start their thinking of nothing but their local market. In Canada, it can be a stretch to get business people to look at the US. For American entrepreneurs, it can be a struggle for them to consider Europe or Asia.
We often need to look at familiar things in new ways in order to create a paradigm shift in our thinking. In the photo above, the two people fishing are in water up to their knees. The photo was taken from a sailboat that draws six feet (two meters). The shift is knowing that there is a channel dredged out of the shallows that made it safe for our sailboat to pass.
In Write for the Customer I wrote about making sure that you have your audience in mind when writing and communicating. Today, I want to write about a different audience — the employees in your business.
To employees, senior management appears as if they are on top of a mountain. Isolated. Separated from the rest of the company. Making occasional pronouncements from on high.