Business Keys To Success: The Power of Focus

As a young boy growing up in Chappaqua, New York I learned about the power of focus. Unfortunately, I was learning how to use the power of focus this bright fall day but I didn’t have the wisdom to use it properly.

I was always intrigued by my Dad’s magnifying glass. My Dad wasn’t home this day and I decided to have some fun. For those of you from upstate New York you know that with the fall comes a great deal of leaf raking. I was supposed to rake the leaves. I detested leaf raking. Why?

Focus—Know What You Want To Accomplish

As soon as you cleared up the area you raked there were leaves all over it the next day. I had read in one of my science books in intermediate school that if you held a magnifying glass over a piece of paper or something that would burn that it would focus the power of the sun’s rays to be strong enough to start a fire and burn the object.

My focus was on getting rid of the leaves. And, in a stroke of brilliance I decided to see if I could use my magnifying glass to burn the leaves after I had raked them into a pile. Raking was bad enough. But then having to cart them out into the woods was more than I wanted to handle.

Focus—Know The Consequences

I took the magnifying glass and placed it over a leaf on the pile and let the sun’s rays do their work. But for some reason nothing was happening. Then I remembered that I had to hold the magnifying glass still in order for the sun’s rays to focus.

Once I did that the magic began. One leaf started to burn and as it was burning I grabbed the part that was not burned and stuck it next to a new leaf. After a few minutes I had a fire going.

Then it dawned on me that once the pile burned down that I would be burning the lawn beneath it. That was not good. As I was contemplating that problem the wind which I had not even thought about gave my fire new energy and started spreading it across the yard.

Frantically, I tried to control the leaves by stomping on them and after about 10 minutes the fire was out. Fortunately, the ground and lawn were wet and did not burn.

I sat down and breathed a huge sigh of relief. I had averted disaster. I looked up at the sun and then at the magnifying glass. Yes, the power of focus is an awesome power.

Focus-It Works

In my personal business coaching practice I have to bring the power of focus as do my clients to create pathways to accelerate the process of their successful performance.

Whether you are a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur, solo professional or corporate executive the power of focus is necessary for exceptional performance. No amount of online training, corporate training, business training, business courses or business skills training will work without utilizing the power of focus.

To use the power of focus wisely, unlike my childhood experience, keep the following in mind:

1. Know your priorities. Make sure you are putting your focus on the right thing.
2. Be committed to achieving your goal. Focus without continuous commitment is like holding the magnifying glass for a few seconds over a leaf and expecting it to burn.
3. Pay attention to the details. As in the leaf story where I didn’t pay attention to the details, you must look ahead and see where your focus is taking you.
4. Follow up. Always assess the results of your focus and where it is taking you. Success in business and life is about resetting your focus.

Utilize the power of focus. As you do you can adjust your focus to take you to the business and life you desire?

Who’s In Charge The Case For A Job Description

A job description can be the tipping point to having a successful smallbusiness.  Too often,the self-employed business owner becomes immersed in performing the business and really doesn’t know what his employees are doing and how they are doing it.

This is a recipe for disaster or a near disaster as one of my personal business coaching clients discovered.  He had a small company of four employees and was ready to add a fifth.  When I first started collaborating with him I asked him for a job description for each employee as well as himself.

As with most business owners he balked at having to create them.  His response was, “We’re doing great.  Everyone knows what they are doing.”  I replied that “Yes, everyone knows what they are doing.  But do you know what they are doing and are they doing it right?”

Job Description—What Are You Doing?

For those of you who have taken online training, business training or business courses you understand the importance of a job description.  A job description not only defines a job but how the job is being done.  A job description brings accountability to measure performance.

This last part, measuring performance is critical.  Without accurate measurements, most businesses will ultimately drift into failure.  Running a small business is part art or feel and part logic, the thinking.

When my client said his people knew what they were doing he was correct in one sense.  They did know what they were doing.  The first question was whether or not what they were doing was positioning the company to grow.  Were they doing things the right way?

It turned out much to his surprise and disgust, they certainly did know what they were doing.  The problem was that much of it was related to making their positions as easy as possible and they were actually detracting from the performance of the company.

Job Description—Know What You And Your Employees Are Doing

Without a job description it is hard to have any meaningful accountability.  Why?  The job becomes whatever and however the employee chooses to define it.  And, that definition can change to suit the circumstances.

The scattered self-employed business owner is focused on everything at once which means that much gets overlooked.  And, when it comes to trusting employees without a job description you are writing the formula for failure.  Failure and ignorance go hand in hand.

 Job Description To The Rescue

After discovering a multitude of problems because each employee had no job description this self-employed business owner embraced the process.  Within two weeks each employee and himself had a job description.  Yes, there was some resentment with some of the employees and ultimately two of them were let go.

But, the result was everyone knew their responsibilities, a chain of command was established freeing up the self-employed business owner's time.  Each job description brought accountability and improved performance.  Also, a definitive work flow was established.  Things calmed down.

And, where this business had been stuck for two years it was able to grow significantly with a solid foundation in place.  The key as this owner found out is not to hire the best people.  The key is to have the best process.  When you have the best process you will increase the odds of having people do their best.

And, the center of the best process is to have a written job description for each employee.  It created standards.  Without a job description in place for each team member it is not possible to have a vibrant and long-term team.

From The Business Coaching Chronicles - Attitude About Money

Money was not a problem for my client and his company.  For the purposes of this event I will call him ‘Bob’.  Ten years ago he had started his oil industry affiliated business.  Year after year sales grew and profits increased.  He drew a lower mid-level six figure salary.

You may ask as I did, what would cause someone who has a successful business to engage a personal business coach?  Initially, he told me he was bored with his business.  It wasn’t exciting any more.  The money was great but he wasn’t happy.

Money—It’s A Tool–Does It Work For You Or Against You?

During our first couple of months of business coaching I was confused as to what the real problem was.  But, little tell tale signs started to emerge.  I had noticed that he had an old style printer in his office.  One day we needed to make copies.  Instead of having his assistant make them he suggested we go down the hall to the break room which was next to the copy room.

When I saw the copier I was shocked.  It looked like a museum piece.  It took about a minute to warm up and then it took another 30 seconds to make the copy.  I asked him about the machine.  He told me it was 15 years old but that he wasn’t going to spend the money on a new one as long as this one worked.

Money—How Are You Using It To Treat Others?

The copier turned out to be the tip of the iceberg.  As I got to know his office operation better I found out that in 2005 he was using computers from the mid-90’s and that the software had not been updated.

His employees liked him as a person but despised his cheapness.  They could not do their work as efficiently or as smoothly as they would like.  Their performance suffered.  Yet Bob still expected more out of them.  They were still on dial up internet and their office was equipped for high speed.

As a result, morale was low.  He refused to spend money on new equipment, new processes and as it turned out, on his people.

The Money Malaise

A malaise had set in with Bob’s employees.  Bob was tight and proud of it.  Bob was fanatical about saving money.  One day I was in his office and his purchasing agent came in to give him a purchase order to sign for purchasing some paper clips from Office Depot.

He looked at the purchase order and asked her if she had checked around lately on the price of paper clips.  When she said she hadn’t he asked her to see if she could find a better price.

Raises for the employees averaged 1% to 2% if at all.

Consumed By Money And You Will Lose Your Most Important Assets

I made some headway with Bob in upgrading his equipment.  When it came to paying his people on a scale with the rest of the industry he would not budge.

But, when you least expect a breakthrough one came.  One day I arrived and I could tell that Bob was very upset.  He was wound tight.  He emanated fear, anger and being lost.  Much as I wanted to know what was going on I waited for him to speak.

When he spoke it was clear why things were bad.  He started, “Steve, I am going to lose my daughter and my wife.”  Silence.  And he continued, “They no longer want to be around me.”

Money—Are You Focusing On What You Believe Is Truly Important At The Expense of What Truly Matters?

Bob’s daughter, a strait A high school student, who worked a part time job liked certain rock groups.  She was the ideal teenager.  Bob would give her a $20 a week allowance which in their very upper middle class to wealthy area was nothing compared to the other kids.  It infuriated Bob that she would spend a large part of her allowance on CD’s and other items related to these groups.

He would always criticize his daughter for how she spent her money.  The previous night she had told Bob that she wasn’t going to take his criticism any more and that she didn’t want him in her life.  And, his wife sided with his daughter.

As I sat there and listened Bob’s voice got lower and lower.  Then he fell silent and started to cry.  When he collected himself he asked, “What am I to do?”

I asked him what thought was the right thing to do.  If he was his daughter how would he feel.  He looked at me, turned his palms up and said, “What’s the use?  My attitude about money is destroying my family.”

That was the opening.  The truth was that his attitude about money was destroying everything.  At this point we started talking and decided that immediate action was required.

It was now 2 in the afternoon and he would be home eating dinner at 7.  Much as he had no idea how to start repairing his family relationships he knew he had to act.  He said he would come up with a plan.  To hold him accountable I asked him to call me that evening and let me know what he had come up with.

Around 8 that night my phone rang.  It was a giddy and happy Bob on the line.  The man who had been so thoroughly defeated 6 hours before was in a great place.

After I left that afternoon, he thought for about an hour and then decided to go online to see if any of the rock groups his daughter liked were going to be coming to town.  It turned out that one of them was coming in a month.

Money When Used Correctly Can Be Your Ticket To A Better Life

Bob purchased two tickets to the concert.  He told me he hadn’t felt this good in years.  When he arrived home that night he was in such a great mood.  His daughter asked what was wrong with him.  His wife wanted to know if they were getting a divorce.  He assured them that all was good, in fact, great.

At dinner he apologized to his daughter for his attitude about her money and presented the two tickets.  At first she thought that he was going with her.  But he told her that the tickets were for her and a friend.  He also gave her another $20 for food and drinks.  She got up from the table ran over and hugged him.  They were both crying.

Then Bob turned to his wife and apologized to her for his poor behavior with money.  It turned out that they hadn’t been out to dinner in over a year. Why?  Bob would always fret about the tip.  Should it be 11% or 14% or 17%?  His wife had told him that she never wanted to go out to eat with him again.

He invited her out for the following night and told her she could take care of the bill and the tip and that he would say nothing about the money then or in the future.

Money With The Right Attitude Leads To Great Things

With this breakthrough I could now reach Bob on issues of money in his business.  He was ready and willing to improve the equipment, to invest in updated processes and he even brought in a human resources consultant and all the employees got substantial raises.

Bob was excited.  He was back in the game.  Morale improved.  Production improved.  And so did sales and profits.  I remember Bob looking at me and saying, “It really is true that you have to spend money to make money.”

But here’s the best part.  Bob’s relationship with his wife and daughter went to a new level of love and respect.  Bob’s relationships with his employees improved dramatically.  There was laughter and happiness at work.  Bob started to put others first and money second.

All successful self-employed business owners, managers or executives can get stuck.  Bob got stuck on money.  It consumed him and overwhelmed him.  It took his daughter and wife to make him give up what he thought was truly important for the things in life that really matters.

Money is a great tool.  But as with any tool, we must learn how to use it effectively for ourselves, others and the greater good.  Your legacy won’t be the amount of money you have.  Your legacy will be about what you did and how you benefitted others with your money.