Clarity<\/p>\n
By Phil Elworth a\u00a0Partner with B2B CFO\u00ae<\/strong> in Chicago<\/p>\n One thing I try and accomplish with each of my clients, is to help them gain clarity around who they are and what they do.\u00a0 This topic was recently documented in a very instructive way by Patrick Lencioni in his latest book called The Advantage: Organizational Health Model.\u00a0 After reading the book and hearing him speak at a leadership conference, I decided to sit back and relook at my own business, which as a partner with B2B CFO\u00ae<\/strong> in Chicago is helping business owners achieve a higher level of success both running and exiting their business.<\/p>\n I believe this is a healthy exercise for everyone; whether you are running a business; thinking about going out on your own as a consultant; or even for those seeking full time employment.\u00a0 Having clarity around who you are and what you plan to do is critical to success.\u00a0 Patrick\u2019s questions are as follows and I will unpack each of them in turn:<\/p>\n The first question, why do we exist<\/strong>, is a very probing one.\u00a0 Does your business exist to make money or is this a byproduct of a broader purpose?\u00a0 I was recently at a conference on exit planning and one of the participants, who is very successful in writing exit plans for business owners, stated that she felt \u201ccalled\u201d to do this work.\u00a0 She was a partner in a CPA firm and a valuation expert, she sold the practice and moved full time into exit planning.\u00a0 She had a purpose much larger than just making money.\u00a0 So why are you doing what you do?<\/p>\n Second, how do we behave?<\/strong>\u00a0 At B2B CFO\u00ae <\/strong>we have three core values; Honesty, Integrity and Objectivity.\u00a0 These three values are very near and dear to me personally which is why the firm is a good fit for me.\u00a0 I constantly work my decision making and daily behavior against these core values.\u00a0 In fact living by these values helps me sleep at night.\u00a0 If you have not identified your core values I suggest you start by looking at your behavior over the past couple years and how it affected your decisions.\u00a0\u00a0 A close and honest examination will take you far in understanding how you behave.\u00a0 When you know these behaviors, you will know which organizations will be right for you.<\/p>\n Patrick\u2019s third question, what do you do;<\/strong> Can be stated another way; what are your core competencies?\u00a0 By performing the work you do best, you will achieve a higher level of success, but have you ever sat back and analyzed just what you are good at?\u00a0 If there is a missing competency, go ahead and work toward adding it to your arsenal.\u00a0 I do this all the time, when I come across something that would help my clients; I develop the new competency.\u00a0 This helps me to expand the answer to the first question.\u00a0 But it all starts by defining what you are going to do.<\/p>\n How will you succeed?<\/strong>\u00a0 I have written before on the topic of goal clarity.\u00a0 If you want to succeed, you have to have clearly defined and written goals that you can review and track on an ongoing basis.\u00a0 This helps drive the behavior you need to achieve success.\u00a0 Success is defined differently by every organization; what is yours?<\/p>\n What is most important, right now?<\/strong>\u00a0 The key to any plan is to have a clear goal, a clear strategy then identify the one NEXT thing you need to do, to work toward achieving the goal.\u00a0 As a certified coach at B2B CFO\u00ae<\/strong> I help new partners establish their long term goals, then break them down into mid-term goals then on down to this week.\u00a0 Knowing what the one next thing you need to accomplish to move toward a goal is a very freeing concept.\u00a0 You don\u2019t worry about the whole project, just the one next step.\u00a0 Do you know what your next step is?<\/p>\n Finally, who will do what?<\/strong>\u00a0 If you are a business owner and have employees this is critical.\u00a0 You must create clarity around your table so that everyone knows who is responsible for what.\u00a0 With one of my clients we recently performed an exercise where the entire staff was asked to put together 6 key goals they would accomplish over the next six weeks.\u00a0 This was done at a senior leadership level and not by me.\u00a0 I interceded with the staff that I was working with and when I had them explain further what their goals were, I found that three of them had intended to do the same project.\u00a0 I obviously used that opportunity to divide up the work.\u00a0 Had I not sought that clarity much time would have been wasted.\u00a0 If you are working on your own it may seem obvious that it is you, but I ask you to think again.\u00a0 What resources do you have available that could help you do the next best step for you, so that you may concentrate on your core competency and thus move closer to accomplishing your goal?<\/p>\n\n