Hello there, SGI members!
My name is David Boyle, and I’m a client success manager for both ESI and AirTime. Over the next five weeks, I’ll be using these Coach’s Corner sessions to talk about what I feel are the five most basic (and most important) functions of management. Mastering each of these functions is paramount to your success…
Let me ask you a question, if I may: When your house was constructed, did the general contractor haphazardly throw it together, or did he follow a precise plan? For your sake, I hope he followed some blueprints.
Another question: When you send your children to school, do you think the teachers pull some topics out of the air and begin talking about them? The answer is no. They have a detailed lesson plan that covers the entire semester and they know precisely what will be discussed each day.
Last question: When you go to Expo, and you see successful SGI members talking from stage, do you think they go to work every day and just put out fires? Or instead, do you think they have an exact game plan? If you said they had a game plan, you would be correct…
I think you’ve probably guessed what my first topic is…. Planning!
Having a plan—a plan for the year, for every month, every week, and every day—is the first step you must make if you expect to make real change in your business and ultimately reach your goals.
Everything works better with a plan, even basic tasks. Otherwise, you’re simply reacting to every situation that comes across your desk without any foresight. Certainly, you’ll have emergency situations that arise, but for the most part, a strongly devised plan will greatly eliminate the constant barrage of “fires” many contractors experience while operating their company.
The more aggressive your goals, or the more complex the improvements you’re planning to make, the more detailed and explicit your plans must be. For example, whether your goal is adding a truck or improving your bottom line profit by five percent, you need to have listed the steps you’ll take to achieve that goal, who is responsible for each step, and projected timing. So, next time you have a goal in mind, you will need at very least those basic steps in your plan…
Please, don’t confused overthinking for planning. Too often contractors spend so much time perfecting their plan that nothing ever gets accomplished. Don’t fall into that trap! Spend up to a week developing an aggressive plan for improvements in your company. Then, get to action! You’ll certainly hit rough spots along the way—and that’s okay. Nothing works perfectly. Take those bumps in your journey as learning experiences and keep executing upon your plan! That’s how you reach your goals!
Remember. No one ever goes into business planning to fail. They get into business with big dreams and forget to develop a plan for achieving those dreams. And THAT is how they fail!
It’s not too late to outline your plan for making 2015 your best year to date! Start today! As always, if you need some assistance in developing your plan, your CSM team is always eager to help!
Until next time, this is David Boyle with your Coach’s Corner!