One week left in Q1 of 2018. How is your team performing? Over the next few weeks we will be out with our largest clients doing ½ day and full day first quarter retreats. Leaders, even if you don’t have someone facilitating this process for you and your team, take a timeout and work through these four M-E-I-R steps.
Measure: You have to keep score in business to know if you are winning or not. Activity does not equal accomplishment. It can be as simple as Revenues –Cost = Profit, but, start somewhere. Establish baselines for your key business metrics (sales, costs, profits, new clients, etc.) so you know how you are doing.
Evaluate: As you look at your measurements, do your best to establish cause and effect. Make sure each person in your organization knows how their roles and responsibilities tie into the key measurements. Track where you are spending time, money, and resources and be sure that you are getting a good return on investment.
Improve: The first thing you need to improve is yourself. Invest in yourself and watch your business grow. What will you do to keep “YOU” from being the lid on your business potential in 2018? Secondly, look at your key measurements; where else do you have the potential to leverage existing human capacity and team strengths for growth?
Reproduce (or Redesign): Once you have determined what is working and how to optimize (E and I) find ways to reproduce the systems that are bringing in exceptional results and multiply their impact. If systems are not getting quality results, blow them up (figuratively, of course), and redesign something that works.
Don’t have time for Evaluation and Planning? Though I don’t have the gift of prophecy, in this hot economy, the leaders who won’t do this critical M-E-I-R work are being left behind in their markets.