This week we’re surrounded by icons of love for important people in our lives. Valentine’s Day is also an opportunity to think about our jobs and our organizations. If you’re part of a leadership or ownership team—or aspire to be—here are some things that can help position you for success and make you love your business more.
Acknowledge your financial or operational weaknesses.
Show yourself some love by ramping up your self-awareness and humility—the first step to overcoming a problem or weakness is to admit that you have one.
Gain a true understanding of your financial reports.
Financial reports start out as data, context is what gives you information. What does your reporting represent and in what context? What happened and over what time period did it happen? Understanding cause and effect is a key driver to developing actionable information.
Determine which product or service makes you the most money.
I’ve seen many businesses sell products and services but never understand what their true profitability is. A good fractional CFO with cost accounting experience can show you.
Get a fresh perspective.
Hire an outsider—a trusted consultant or fractional CFO—who has the breadth and depth of experience to give you an objective view for discussion and a plan for improvement.
Invest in your people. (Attitude + Effort = Performance.)
It’s a lot cheaper, and better for your business culture and reputation, to coach your people up than it is to fire them and start from scratch.
I could go on but we’re getting perilously close to TLDR territory. (If you’re not familiar with that acronym, reach out to me and I’ll answer, succinctly.) Now get out there and show some your business some love.