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What are the obstacles that stand between you and maximum profitability? What issues and activities detract and distract from the realization of your goals? Every business has to deal with matters that consume time and resources but add little to no value to the primary business pursuit. Sometimes these things are of an urgent nature; they require a quick and thorough response. However, the outcome offers no contribution to the over-all work effort of the business.
What is your company Mission Statement? Are you maintaining a proper focus on your high payoff activities (HPA's), or are you losing your own internal culture war giving up more ground each day by accepting new norms of frustration? At Build A Business we specialize in helping you to stay on mission. We are consistently asked as to why we are so confident that our military training and experiences can be applied to non-military challenges and situations. We have developed this Business Battlefield analogy to help our clients, and future clients, best understand our approach. The Business Battlefield's concepts are best demonstrated with the following scenario: Imagine that you are leading a military motorized team of 150 personnel along with the necessary vehicles and equipment. You have been assigned the critical mission to secure a strategic bridge located 94 miles away from your present position. You are to take this bridge from the enemy and establish control over who has access to its usage.
The obvious first step for you is to form a prudent plan with the most likelihood of success. You will need to choose a route and plot this on your map. In doing so, you must consider factors outside of your control such as the weather, the terrain, and any available intelligence concerning enemy forces in the area. You will also need to factor in the abilities and limitations of your resources including the condition and capability of your vehicles, supplies, and, particularly important, your team.
Your plan should also take into account the country, culture and political climate in which this mission takes place because this knowledge may serve you well as your team encounters both civilians and enemy units.
You are not the only friendly operating in this area, so you will need to know the adjacent units and their missions and ensure positive communications are established and maintained.
As with any operation time is always a factor and your resources are limited, so every action and decision must be effective toward accomplishing the mission. Oh, and let's not forget, failure is not an option! Let me step out of our scenario for a moment to make the comparison to your situation. Your organization is on a mission. You must devise a plan taking into account factors outside your control: the economy; industry & government regulations; clients' decisions; vendor actions; and the list goes on. There are also competitors out there trying to thwart your efforts, albeit they are not actually trying to physically kill you, we hope! You must consider the capabilities and limitations of your team you have assembled and developed, and the equipment available as well. You must communicate with others like your clients, vendors, advocates, and regulatory entities at various times and for various reasons.
Cash flow and time are always important, so every action and decision must be effective toward accomplishing your mission. And although failures on the Business Battlefield do not typically end in loss of life, failure is still not an option! The similarities between the military battlefield and the Business Battlefield are many as we demonstrated above. There is another aspect of military operations that we can draw comparisons to your situation. They are the fire-fights with which we become engaged, and they usually occur at the worst possible times. Let's resume our scenario...
Your enemy is present and active in the region. You have a high probability for engaging in battle. You also now have a detailed plan in mind. During the planning phase of your operation you were able to identify specific situations that will affect your mission. Understanding that communication is vital, you have incorporated ideas and information gathered from your team, and you have extensively planned and communicated your primary strategy, as well as contingency plans. In doing so, your unit has strengthened as a team, and you deem the operation ready to proceed - It's a Go.
Approximately one hour into the execution phase your team begins taking heavy fire from enemy forces. The threat is real; the bullets are flying by your head. No plan could incorporate the specifics of this event - the exact positions of you and your enemy, the size of the force you've encountered, the weapons used against you, the coming rain, and so on. Nevertheless, you are now in a firefight, and it has to be dealt with. You take cover, assess the situation and respond. The fighting takes longer than you anticipated. Your team incurs damages and losses, but your skills and resources serve you well, and the enemy retreats. You need to recognize that the danger at this point may well lie within you. Your natural desire may be to give chase, to pursue the enemy and destroy them. This pursuit would likely be a tremendous waste of time and resources. This pursuit would not bring your team any closer to the bridge, and would distract you from your primary mission. It can be hard to maintain the proper mission perspective during and after a firefight. Some firefights are unavoidable, but you must always realize that the decisions you make in a firefight are firefight focused. The adrenaline rush, the reality of close-call threats and even anger can be misleading. Your senses may be affected: your sight limited by the smoke, your ears dulled by repeated percussions. This is when leadership, informed by a broader perspective and guided by sound principles is needed most. You receive a call from your commanding officer: "What's your status? How far are you from the bridge?" This officer commends your good work and handles the specifics of your re-supply needs. Most importantly, he gives you a much needed prompt. He reminds you of your marching orders and refocuses you on your mission. This is the value of remaining open to leadership from outside the firefight. From his perspective, the commanding officer can see what you don't.
In your business you may be the leader of the team dealing with quick-paced variables on the ground and constant firefights, or you may be the commanding officer who guides the broader effort. Whatever your role, the development of your leadership skills is important to winning the battle.
