Ever notice how easy it is to figure out someone else’s business problems? “How obvious”, you sigh. “I would never (fill in the blank)!” It’s too bad we can’t see our own blind spots as well as we can others.
One of the best things you can do for your company and yourself is find a mentor who will tell you the unvarnished truth. One of two things will happen: You will shout “aha!” or you will completely disagree and spend lots of time defending your actions. Pay attention when it happens – especially the defensive part.
It’s hard to hear the truth sometimes. We get so invested in solutions that we never even think the problem doesn’t have to exist much less get fixed. Let me explain.
A bar down the street from my office had always served wine by the glass. It was well-known the after work crowd often asked for their glass of wine to get “topped off”. It was very difficult for the staff to figure out how much to charge and they spent a lot of time trying to be fair to everyone involved. A new owner came in and replaced all the large wine bottles with individual size bottles. No more calculating, no more discussions over bills, no more complaints. Did they lose customers? Absolutely not. It actually had an unexpected benefit. There’s no question about how much you have had …good to know when you’re driving later.
I didn’t ask for help on a particularly thorny issue recently. The unsolicited comments kept coming from another business owner I respect. I kept thinking he didn’t really understand one of the core issues (note defensive tone). I finally allowed myself to fully consider the idea. It all came down to semantics. When I substituted a word I liked rather than the one he used it was like an epiphany. We are meeting in the next couple days and it will literally transform the way I do business. My most grateful thought? That I didn’t keep my defenses up and miss this wonderful opportunity.
Ask yourself what would happen if you were able to focus on new ideas instead of trying to solve problems that don’t really exist. If learning an entirely new method created profits rather than headaches. If letting down your defenses meant increased flow of information for more rapid decision making.
Your customers, suppliers, and vendors will notice. “How obvious”, they will sigh, “That company really knows how to take care of business.”