“8 Behaviors That Stall Organizational Growth”
You have a presence on social media. You’ve spent money on digital advertising, website design and SEO to drive web orders and sales leads. You are fully staffed. The bank has approved your much needed loan. You are an established business or a fully-funded start-up.
Yet, you’re still not where you want to be? The answer might lie in the improvement opportunities I’ve seen experienced by the solo entrepreneurs to major organizations:
- Business practice loopholes in business development and sales
- Floundering and stuck in a comfort zone of doing things
- Lack of accountability to coworkers, deadlines and outcomes
- Could be more proactive in optimizing touchpoints with the customer
- Supervisory ownership to improve performance and engage employees
- New initiatives get bogged down during execution
- Manager style and silos hinder a productive and a healthy work culture
- Hiring the right people and keeping employees
If you recognize any of these challenges and are now ready to address them, I invite you to reach out. Together we can identify root causes with customized solutions to make a difference for you.
“The “Must Do” approach: making planning a regular business practice”
Are you struggling with making planning a regular practice at your business? You are not alone. You will receive a range of reactions to the planning question. Some say they don’t have time to plan, others think plans are outdated once written, some say they don’t need to, or it’s too hard to plan as no one agrees on direction, and plans are just forgotten in the daily tasks at hand.
Is there a viable solution? I advocate for a boot-camp type planning approach: an action-oriented, simplified, and practical process – that is realistic and relatable to your agreed upon priorities. Engaging a plan that does what it is supposed to do by actually achieving objectives can reinforce its value to your team. How to conceptualize it?
- Distinguish your objectives into what you “Must do” and what you would “Like to do.
- Address the “must-do” objectives. These are the priorities and tasks that require immediate attention—often the issues that could keep you up at night
- Set a completion timeframe of six months to one year, with a maximum of two years.
- Keep “like to do” items on the radar, adjust/update priorities/timeframes as circumstances change. Assign items to a “dormant” list as appropriate.
- Anticipate the future. Two years out. Plan for industry changes and market trends
Final thoughts…keys are defining the must-do’s and staying focused…the like to do’s have their place but can distract from the core mission. Tackling your current priorities impacts the likely success of your longer term aspirations.
“The Five A Lots™”
Is your organization working to address how to effectively engage your people to both attract job candidates and retain your employees.
I recommend employing the management technique I created called the “Five A Lots™” to contribute to fostering a more collaborative and employee-engaged culture. The ability to create an organizationally engaged work environment is a highly valued management competency. Research has demonstrated that engaged employees are related to the degree of customer commitment and results.
The Five A Lots™ is communication and relationship focused approach involving transparency, accessibility and visibility to employees.
“Aramini Management Celebrating 20 Years in Business”
This year marks a special milestone for the Aramini Management and Business Consulting Company—we are proud to be celebrating 20 years in business! We want to thank our customers, team members and partners for their trust, commitment and support over the years.
We continue our pledge to provide our customers with the solutions and tools to successfully achieve their goals and to be a catalyst to initiate action to help you move your organization to where you want it to be.
Best wishes to you for your continued success in the new year and always.
Business Owner on Technology’s Impact: “It’s not banging fenders anymore.”
The above quote captures Ken Miller’s insightful description of how advancing technology has impacted the automobile collision repair industry. He and his co-owner partner Pete Kelly started 821 Collision (https://821collision.com/) in 2017. My discussion with Ken continues my Entrepreneur Interview Series with start-ups and established business owners on how they managed and responded to the challenges encountered in operating a business.
Embrace Change & Be Ready to Pivot
Most of us have experienced first-hand how technology has changed our lives for the better particularly when we drive our cars. Our cars are equipped with advanced-drive assistance systems including blind spot alerts, lane departure warnings and 360 degree cameras to enable us to have a safer drive.
Ken explained that this technology can change year to year and model to model requiring different repair requirements and procedures from automobile manufacturer to manufacturer. As a result, technology systems and repairs have become more complex increasing time and costs for the business owner, consumer and insurer.
Ken continued that “oftentimes shops have to procure separate facilities to house technology required for repairs.” He followed this route resulting in comprehensive budget development of planned costs for the new company and technology and to calculate ROI to ensure repairs will cover the investment costs. Employee training to keep up with technology updates are a necessary budget line item.
Live Your Business Core Values
I asked him what he considers his non-negotiables; those business values he will not compromise. He responded to deliver a quality work product “restored to pre-loss conditions.” He also stressed that transparency and honesty govern his relationships with customers. Customer safety is a company core standard promising his customers that his work adheres to all technology requirements. Customers are walked through the details of all quotes for a complete understanding of the work to be performed.
There is also a commitment to the training and development of employees. Manufacturer repair certification can entail online and classroom training with direct onsite observation to verify repair procedures are followed. He mentions, like most businesses, organizations must hire employees with the capacity and motivation to learn and keep up with the new technology.
Advocate for Your Customer & Industry
Ken points out that due to the complexity of the repairs and the associated increased costs have led him to take on an advocacy role as President of the NJ Chapter of Alliance of Automotive Service Providers. The association’s new initiative is to educate legislators, insurers and consumers on technology’s impact on the industry.