As a business owner or manager, you get pulled in a hundred different directions every day. You need to keep a tight focus on solving the day-to-day issues in your business to keep it running smoothly. But there’s a cost to be paid if you don’t take the time to work on your business.
Here are three significant ways that spending time working on your business pays off.
1. Increase staff effectiveness by sharing your vision and delegating
Effective delegation is a key to running an efficient practice. But advisors can get frustrated when delegated tasks aren’t completed. And, quality and output suffer when tasks aren't performed well. Sometimes it feels easier to just do it yourself. But when that happens owners don’t operate at their highest capability. It holds the business back.
The best advisors find that effective delegation starts with their vision for their company. A good vision defines what your practice will look like in the next 3-5 years. To make that vision a reality it must be widely shared and accepted by all. Everyone needs to understand where you’re heading, and agrees on how to get there.
A shared vision helps you decide what to delegate and to whom. When staff see how delegated tasks contribute to the end goal they'll be more committed to doing them well.
2. Eliminate bottlenecks to improve efficiency
One of the key tasks for any manager is to find ways to remove obstacles that hold employees back. Advisors we work with take time to step back and review their workflow processes. They identify roadblocks and invest in technology to eliminate them. They rely on automation to deliver greater efficiencies and increase effectiveness.
Our clients also understand that freeing up logjams improves morale. They've seen staff who have to spend hours each month doing data entry get frustrated. The employees want to spend that time providing higher value services like sharing advice. Removing bottlenecks frees them up to work at the highest level of their capability.
To ease staff frustration, the advisors we work with seek to determine where work is slowing down. They ask, why is that happening? And they seek to automate processes so that staff can focus on delivering real value to their clients.
3. Invest in yourself to build client trust
Advisors who invest in their own expertise set themselves apart from their competitors. They follow Darren Hardy’s, “Compound Effect” rule. They spend 3% of their personal income in their personal and professional development. Continuous learning enables them to offer solutions that others can’t. Their customers see success from following their advice. Which makes clients want to follow them further. On average, taking advantage of the Compound Effect returns three times the investment.
The Last Word
Pulling back and working on the business can have a significant impact on your practice. It enables you to harness the highest capabilities of your staff by getting buy-in to the vision. You find efficiencies by re-examining workflow and using technology to remove bottlenecks. And, investing in your own development increases your expertise and builds client trust.
