As the busy summer season approaches, now is the time to make sure your business’s vital signs are strong and healthy to help manage demands. To make sure your business is in top shape for the rigors of summer, industry veteran and NKBA University instructor Kim Morrison CKD, CBD, NCIDQ, ASID, IIDA, IDEC advises keeping these vital signs in check: 1. Keep a Strong Pulse on Your Finances Knowing exactly where your business stands fiscally enables you to make smart decisions when it comes to growth and expansion. Commit to updating your P&L statement each month and do a solid review each quarter with your team to stay on track with your goals. If this is a chore you dread and avoid, see a specialist (your accountant) regularly to make sure your business stays healthy and well out of the red. 2. Flex Your Management Team A solid management team empowers business owners and senior managers to work at their full potential. You may have started as a sole proprietorship, but you don’t have to (and shouldn’t) do it alone. Motivate your management team by communicating how their work directly affects the overall health of the business, and assign more responsibility as they demonstrate competency. You may find they feel more empowered and committed to the success of your business. 3. Look at Your Business Plan as Your Backbone Like your P&L statement, your business plan is a living, breathing document. Revisit it quarterly or every six months and make revisions as needed to stay on track to achieve long-term goals and to stay on strategy. This will not only help make growth goals a reality, but also provides an opportunity to bring key players from your business together so everyone is on the same page with deliverables and action plans required. 4. Check Your Hearing Your employees are your business’s brain trust and their insights can prove invaluable when it comes to improving daily operations that can impact profitability. Are you listening to them? Good business owners know solid internal communication begets success, so develop a healthy mix of formal meetings and casual touch-points so direct reports can give status updates. Sharing knowledge consistently not only helps prevent a major illness, it manifests externally in the service and experience you provide your clients 5. Plan for Regular Checkups Managing health and safety on the job is an integral part of managing your workplace as a whole. Conducting regular checkups through a step-by-step risk assessment can help identify and avoid risk, protect the safety of your employees and help ensure success for your business. Implement and execute these checkups regularly, and record results to measure long-term improvement.
