To quote the inimitable Marvin the Paranoid Android (Thank you Douglas Adams!),
“If it matters… does it MATTER that it matters?”
I’m talking about your Business Purpose or Objectives. Why should you bother writing them down? Why should you share them with your team?
YOU know what they are – that is YOUR business – right?
Your Business IS your business, of course, but take a moment to consider where sharing the load will get you. If you have a team of people working for you who know WHAT they do, but don’t know WHY they do it, you will find them coming to work to get their daily wage, but it’s conceivable they will not do any more because you are simply not involving them, and they feel that you don’t TRUST them to do a good job.
Does this sound familiar:
“I have too much on my plate”
“I haven’t the time to deal with that”
and – in the same meeting: “I shouldn’t need to be involved with this”
When helping Small Business Owners grow their business, the challenge for me has always been getting the Senior Leadership team to understand that that’s what they have to be – Leaders. That means helping and supporting the teams to excel and allow them to grow. How do you do this? Through SHARING the load, ALLOWING them to understand what your VISION is, what your Business Strategy is, and TRUSTING them to help you deliver it.
It’s not rocket science. You have to give yourself time and space to write these things down, share them to build them in to the day to day running of the business. Cascade your business objectives down into the Appraisal Process for your team, set them objectives, set them targets and goals, define what good looks like, support them to achieve the goals, break down barriers to underperformance and recognise them when things go right. Trust them and watch them go – and grow.
The more involved and focused your team are on your VISION, the MISSION and your BUSINESS OBJECTIVES, the more job satisfaction they will gain from a productive day focused on the right things. You can then TRUST them to get on with the right stuff, so you can focus on the things that MATTER to you.
You don’t need to be a Paranoid Android to answer the question above.
Yes – it DOES matter that it matters.
Thank you, Marvin!
