As a parent of any teenager knows, the routine of asking them the 20 questions about what they are doing, who are they doing it with, when are they going to do it, and whether whatever it is that they are doing is good for them, is a critical part of your relationship with them. Despite the fact that they may think you are just asking them those questions to be annoying, you are doing your job to help them stay on track and succeed.
The questions might keep them out of trouble, they might help them to take advantage of opportunities they have in front of them, they may help them to make the best choices of who to be associated with, and they certainly help to make sure they are growing, learning, and making healthy choices for their personal life. It comes as second nature for us all to grill those kids so that they can achieve their best potential, and to avoid the landmines that could limit them now or down the road. They serve as a regular reminder of how important it is to be communicating with them, and how much what you need to be doing to help them changes with every day and year.
The concept holds true with your business as closely as it does with your ever changing children. If you are not continually asking your business, your customers, yourself and your staff, the kinds of challenging questions that ensure everyone is doing what they need to be to grow a healthy business, it is easy to get off track, and not spend your time doing what is most important to your short term and long term success.
The list below is great place to start, and hopefully will serve as an eye opener to the kind of questions that you need to be asking of your business. You won’t likely have answers to many or all of them, though if you hope, just like your teenager, that your business continually grows, succeeds, and wherever possible, avoids the pitfalls that can limit its true potential, it is time to begin the grilling.
- Are you actively seeking input from your employees on what the company can do to improve?
- Are you as efficient as possible is doing what it takes to operate your business?
- Are you and your entire organization flexible or resistant to change?
- Where would you like to be in 1 year, and are you doing the specific things that will actually make that happen?
- What are you doing right now to grow your business, regardless of the economic conditions?
- When did your network last grow in a significant new way? That could be the calls you make to new prospects, lunches you have with key contacts, a Chamber event you attend, or that could be the people you are connected to on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.
- What truly makes your company unique and would every employee in the building say the same thing if someone asked them?
- What is your competition doing now to market themselves and to improve their product, service, or pricing that you could learn from?
- Do you and all of your staff really want to do what it takes to grow or are you more just wishing it would happen?
- What are some specific things that each of your staff could improve upon and do they know that? Are they actively doing something to make that improvement?
- What is working right now for your business that you could do more of starting right now?
- What bad ideas or bad habits do you need to stop pursuing or quit doing as soon as possible?
- When is the last time that you asked your staff, “How am I doing?”
- What does your quietest employee have to say about your business and any ideas they have?
- How much of the last week or month have you spent working on your business versus the majority of the time you spend working in your business?
- Do you expect and accept candor from your staff, and do you deliver the same in return?
- Who does not know about your business that should? What are all the ways that you can use to make those people aware?
- When is the last time you said thank you to each member of your team? What ways are you using with each one to ensure they feel that appreciation?
- What keeps you up at night, and who in your business can help you attack those fears so you protect against them or battle through them?
- Are you and the rest of the team having fun doing what you are doing? What small adjustments could you make or could they make in order to make their job, your whole environment, and the culture of the company a better place to spend their time?