Business Concern

On October 7, 2020, at the beginning of the eighth inning of the second game of the National League Division Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Miami Marlins, the Marlins' Corey Dickerson reaches first base on an error. The next batter, Jon Berti, hits a ball to right field in front of the Braves' right fielder, Nick Markakis. Charging hard, Markakis looks as though he would try to make a difficult catch, perhaps diving for the ball. Dickerson waits to see if the ball is caught, because if it is caught he cannot advance safely to second. Then Markakis abruptly slows and lets the ball bounce in front of him, catches the ball with his bare hand, and throws to second. When he sees Markakis will not catch the ball on the fly, Dickerson sprints to second but is beaten by Markakis' throw and is forced out as the batter, Berti, advances to first.

What does this have to do with the excellent decision in business?

This simple hypothetical illustrates that group decision-making will consistently produce better decisions than individual decision-making. Business decisions, whether they be strategic or operational, are more complex than the decisions made in the hypothetical, and it is much more important that group-decision making be an ingrained part of the process of making decisions. The decision-making process should involve establishing adequate time for making the decision and a method of accumulating the appropriate information needed for an informed decision, but the most important element is that the decision involves a group of people knowledgeable about the issue and affected by the issue.

This evaluation process is not only for businesses with a written long-term plan in place (a small minority of private businesses). Not having a written plan in place does not mean that there is no long-term plan for a business. The plan occurs with various decisions being made and those decisions are communicated in a variety of ways and comes into being in informal and unwritten form. Whatever the planning status of your business, there are certain evaluation questions that can be asked that suggest the efficacy of the long-term planning for the business.

Businesses that make consistently excellent decisions realize excellent business results. These businesses do involve the right people discussing the right things at the right time and then making well-communicated decisions. These businesses monitor decisions made and quickly revise decisions as is appropriate. The result is an honest formulation of goals and a perception of reality that creates consistently excellent decisions and profitable business results.

If you have made a plan and even if you are very sure of your decision-making, you should expect that the plan will not be executed as you envisioned. This is not a valid reason to avoid planning. The reason that you should plan is not to predict the future. That cannot be done with any degree of consistency. Do not expect it to happen. The axiom that validates the benefit of planning: businesses that experience excellent results do so because they make excellent decisions. Planning is the process that creates excellent decisions and therefore excellent business results. At Business Transition Consulting we help business owners institute decision-making processes that produce excellent decisions and excellent business results.

You have worked very hard and created value in your business interest. You have made good decisions. That is an accomplishment, no question.

Now, are you relying on fate or luck, hoping that the future will bode well for your business interest? Situations change and the actions that created progress in the past may not work to get you to the next point in the direction you want to go. What will you do now with the business interest you own? What is the goal of your business interest ownership?

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