Business Concern

It is human nature to like those who agree with us; it is also human nature to dislike those who do not agree with us. Call it arrogance or pride, we all know the emotional reaction.

Those business owners who can get past this emotional reaction and evaluate the differing opinions they encounter, often find their perception of reality altered and the decisions they make becoming better. This trait of humility is one of the most important leadership qualities.

How optimistic should a business plan be? When a business starts, the thinking is about success and the plan will be optimistic. This is appropriate, but there is an issue of credibility linked to the degree of optimism. For the realistic long-term (3-5 years) and the realistic short-term (6 months to 1 year), the plan goals should be reasonably achievable for the plan to be credible. As a business matures, the setting of plan goals can have a significant effect on business growth.

One way to represent the difference between traditional planning and dynamic planning is through a Venn diagram.

The Venn diagram for dynamic planning with concentric circles shows the communication of all of the items of the planning set to all business groups.

A reliable way to accomplish business success is to implement and operate a planning process. Many business owners do implement a planning process and begin to use it, but fail to realize the benefits because the process is intermittent. Then, once the process is perceived as ineffectual, it is abandoned. It is not enough to implement a planning process, that process must be a constant process.

Questions initiate, form, and shape conversations. Conversations are the means by which owners articulate values to one another. Without these conversations, without an accurate perception of the other owners values, we have less information to understand the future actions of those who will influence the future conduct of our life.

While successful businesses usually have a decision-making process that produces quality decisions, that process can falter, and often it is because too much time has been taken to make a decision. The process of decision-making should be a structure of business procedure, but the time spent in the process for any given decision should be based on the specific decision to be made. This determination is very much part of the art of decision-making. When decisions take too long, the principal culprit is usually the fear of making a bad decision.

What makes planning a consistent part of the business operation is timing. If creating a plan takes a retreat, facilitation, enough writing to fill a three-ring notebook, and space on the shelf for the notebook, then planning typically remains a separate activity not involved in the essential conduct of the business. Planning is most effective when it is dynamic – where changes made to the plan are immediately communicated to all affected by the plan.

Let's be honest – no one is really in control. Life is a series of unexpected events that leave all of us disoriented at one time or another. While some events are foreseeable, the timing of those events or the probability of those events and the occurrence of unforeseen events is difficult if not impossible to forecast. Epictetus, the Greek philosopher, taught that events of life are beyond our control, but that the way we react to those events is what matters. You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your reactions to those events.

Let's be honest – no one is really in control. Life is a series of unexpected events that leave all of us disoriented at one time or another. While some events are foreseeable, the timing of those events or the probability of those events and the occurrence of unforeseen events is difficult if not impossible to forecast. Epictetus, the Greek philosopher, taught that events of life are beyond our control, but that the way we react to those events is what matters. You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your reactions to those events.