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.
I last wrote in Red, Orange, or Green that top performing organizations find one or two critical numbers that drive all organizational results. Rather than tracking tens or hundreds of numbers, there are always a handful of critical ones that all the others depend on. Focusing on those few critical numbers creates rhythm and momentum. I want to give some concrete examples of how this works for me.
Jesse Lyn Stoner’s blog posting 6 Tips to Set Goals That Will Get You Where You Want to Go got me thinking about how I help companies create a vision, set goals, and measure actions. I’ve learned that the best practice involves looking at your business the opposite way that most people do. Rather than look at the next quarter or the next year, you start with your core values that will survive forever, look forward fifteen or twenty years, and then work backwards from there.
My friend and coach extraordinaire Kevin Lawrence likes to remind me:
“Change the environment, change the experience.”