The game of business

By Valrie Grant

Entrepreneur

Managing Director GeoTechVision

Chairperson Small Business Council

In a game of sports the team with the best players usually wins. It is no different in the game of business. Business is a game with rules, with multiple players performing different but very important roles whose ultimate goal is to win. Like in sports, to be best it is important to regularly show-up for practice and train really hard with the best players and a good coach. 

Last week I had the privilege of spending a few hours at a conference with Keith Cunningham author of The Ultimate Blueprint For an Insanely Successful Business. I began the session with an open mind, I knew I was ready to soak up what he had to share and he certainly provided useful reminders in a simple, powerful and effective way. My main takeaway however, was the fact that you must have a scoreboard in this game of business and to read the scoreboard you must understand the language of the game.

You may be wondering what is so mind blowing about that and you would be right. While this was not something new, it gave me pause, as I realized that it is the fundamental problem that most entrepreneurs face; they are not keeping proper scores but simply operating on gut feelings. Without a scoreboard how will you know if you are winning or losing? It is like Warren Buffet said, “If you can’t read the scoreboard, you don’t know the score. If you don’t know the score, you can’t tell the winners from the losers.” There is really no way to win the game by guessing and smart business owners recognize the need to understand what is happening in their business by measuring the results.

This way entrepreneurs are better able to change their strategies and help their employees become empowered players who can make the right moves that will lead to the desired goal. However, the entrepreneurs must first understand what that goal is and put the necessary plans in place to attain the goal.

Many of you may have developed such a plan at the beginning of 2017. In so doing, did you check the rearview mirror by thinking about all that happened in 2016; assess whether or not the business is where you want it to be, its prospects for the future, and whether your current business practices are adequate? Growing and sustaining your business does not happen by chance but requires a good business model, deliberate plans, ability to test and measure together with strong leadership. To win at the game of business, here are two things you should not neglect doing:

1. Take some time to provide employees with feedback, so that team members understand how they are performing and what you expect of them. Also, make sure you have the right agreements in place with every employee. Remember your employees are critical to the success of your company, you can’t have a game without the players.
2. Prepare strategic and work plans. This is essentially making the tough decisions on where to invest your business’s financial and human resources over the period and where you won’t invest your business’s resources. In preparing these plans you will get clarity on key issues and prepare a roadmap to guide you in becoming more effective, more efficient and more productive.  Some areas that merit consideration are:

• What is currently limiting the growth of your business?
• How will you overcome the limiting factor? List the possible ways and determine the solutions that are easily implemented and could have a big impact.
• Determining what your ideal business will look like in the next five years. What are the sales figures, market share, margins, average customer size? What is your business known for? What niche does it focus on? Who are its best customers? What does the team look like?
• Work backwards from your target and gain insights into what goals you will need to hit in four years, three years, two years, one year and even in the next 90 days, and the next 30 days. Then ask what steps you need to take to reach each of your milestones along the way. Make sure that these goals are SMART that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.
• Be sure to clearly identify who is going to be doing what, by when, and to what standard. This will help you in holding yourself and others accountable.
• Commit to being disciplined to work on achieving your goals.
• Look at the scoreboard.
• Ask the right questions so you can derive the kind of insights that will benefit your business
• Measure your progress and determine if you need to change some activities to achieve a better score.

You are playing in a highly competitive environment and to win you must be more dedicated, attract the best players, train harder, make better plays, and be prepared to change strategy and tactics when the need arises. The insight you will gain from the planning process is invaluable, and can mean the difference between success and failure. Your success is greatly heightened if you read the scoreboard and adjust your plays accordingly. Be purposeful about success, read the scoreboard, make better decisions that improves your profitability. Make excellence a habit!

If you have a question related to this article or just a general question on entrepreneurship, write to us at guyanabusinesswise@gmail.com. Your question may be addressed directly or in our next article.