Cocktails with Carl

Written by Carl Monty, Partner + Director at June Co

Defining Priorities, Learning to Say “No”, and Focusing on What’s Important in an Entrepreneurial Organization

If you’ve seen the Disney/Pixar movie “UP”, you can’t forget Dug, the dog that could communicate with humans through a special collar invented by his master. Dug was an endearing character with a lot of likeable qualities, but what may have resonated most with many of us was Dug’s inability to focus for certain periods of time. He would be in the middle of a sentence, see a squirrel, and immediately blurt out the word “squirrel” while turning his head away from whom he was originally talking. We all laugh at that because we can relate so well to it. 

We can draw some similarities to working in an entrepreneurial organization. There is always a lot of activity going on and it doesn’t take much to draw our attention away from what matters. Add to that our opportunity driven mindset, independent decision-making, and our propensity to never say “no” and you’ve got the potential for chaos.  

I have been emphasizing prioritization and focus with our team recently. You see, like Dug, we have a tendency to get distracted with things that can really throw us off our strategic plan. These distractions usually begin innocently enough, disguised as urgent and important initiatives, fooling us to chase after them. I’ll actually use the term “fools gold” to describe when this happens; a lot of perceived value at the start followed by hard work and expended resources then concluding with disappointment. It’s a real killer for small businesses.

Here is a specific illustration of how this might happen in many companies...

The sales team has just wrapped up a meeting with a prospective client. It could not have gone better! A relationship was established, synergies were discovered, and opportunities were defined. Excited, the Sales Director immediately rallies others in the organization to begin work, utilizing precious resources in order to deliver on the shared objectives. Meanwhile, communication with the client either goes dark or we learn new information that indicates this may not be a good fit. We ignore it, continuing to churn away, hoping to recapture that magic from the first meeting. But it never comes, the proposal is rejected, and we are left wondering if our effort was a complete waste of time. 

There are a number of other examples we could insert into this scenario; new product ideas, brand launches, social media strategies, web-site development. These all represent enticing distractions that could pop up and lure us away from our strategic plan. 

Then we have the 2020 factor, the added pressure that Covid-19 and social unrest has brought to our teams. We are stressed with gaining new customers, generating revenue, communicating remotely, and keeping our jobs. These challenges have the ability to take us off our game and make poor decisions out of desperation. So we become paralyzed, unable to move in a certain direction with authority. 

On the flip side, we need to move forward. We aren’t built to remain stagnant and we understand there is inherent risk in doing business. We won’t win every business proposal we submit, brand launches may fall flat, new products may not get consumer acceptance. That’s our unfortunate reality but we can live with those decisions more easily if we remain true to our plan.

So how do we move forward confidently? Fortunately, there are things we can do as leaders to keep our team on track and our business successful, even through these trying times. Below are a few suggestions.

Publish an annual strategic plan and share it with the team

Every year my business partner and I write a strategic plan for the company with goals and objectives for each department. We share this plan with the entire team at our annual kick off meeting. This plan provides the roadmap for the year, answers the questions about what we will focus on and how we will apply our limited resources.  

Review the strategic plan often with the team

Every month we have a team meeting with a set agenda. That agenda is basically a bullet pointed version of our strategic plan, forcing the owners to report on our progress and re-align with the entire team each month. This is also a time to communicate any adjustments to the plan based on actual results or other outside forces (and there have been plenty in 2020!). Because of the craziness this year, we ended up skipping a number of these monthly meetings and that proved to be a mistake. We’ve now realized just how much the team relies on these updates to learn about our progress in relation to our plan. 

Set priorities weekly

In addition to the monthly team meetings, we also either have weekly departmental or individual status meetings. This allows us to review the past weeks’ progress, address problems, course correct if necessary, and communicate the new weeks’ priorities with clarity. 

Learn to say “no”

Saying yes is easy and safe-but it can also get you into a whole bunch of trouble. As entrepreneurs, there is always the pressure to do more. Resist the urge. Being able to graciously say no is the mark of a strong leader and it will keep your team focused on its priorities. My business partner and I recently discovered that we have to do a better job of vetting opportunities that enter our company. Not everything is a good fit with our strategic plan-and veering off course could have devastating effects on our business.   

In the end, it’s staying disciplined to a plan and communicating with clarity that will keep your team focused and your business on track. Ignore the distractions and avoid the temptation to chase opportunities that are not part of the plan. Your employees are craving this leadership and direction. The goals and objectives will be met and the business will ultimately be rewarded.