Yes, it’s Spring cleaning time!
And if you are a bit like me, you are looking for some good excuse to ignore the mess that you have accumulated in your basement or spare room.
As we get close to the second half of the year, this is the perfect time to do some organizing and decluttering in your business too. And that part you better not forget or postpone.
Take some time to reflect on your goals and objectives:
Are they on track?
Are they still aligned?
Are they still valid?
Do you even remember what they are?
We are often so busy working that we do not realize that we are tangled in so many things on a daily basis that we are forgetting the important things.
This is why taking some time to get rid of the clutter and noise around you is the first step to regain focus and direction: you can start making space for what is important and get more focused actions on a daily basis.
You can start with these:
Your activities - This is worth doing periodically, definitely more than once a year.
Make a list of everything you do on a daily basis. You can be tempted to do it by memory, but the best is to write things down as you do the work, everything that took more than 5 minutes of your time should be there.
Do this for a full week and you’ll be surprised by how much noise and distraction you find, probably even more than you thought in the first place.
Decide what you can easily cut or delegate
Some common ones are: the constant checking of email or social media; that recurring meeting that was set 6 months ago and none remember why; all the tasks you are too anxious to let your team own despite they are ready.
2. Teams’ processes - There are so many unclear or outdated processes that get in the way of growth in any company. They were quickly created, then we got into the habit of working with them even if they are not optimal, as we have found a workaround to make them work. This doesn’t mean we have to accept them forever.
What can be helpful here is to ask new hires to write down what is cumbersome for them to do or to understand.
Make a list of the worst time wasters and fix them; only because an SOP was making sense 6 months ago, doesn’t mean it still makes sense now.
3. Company’s Products - Products (and services in particular) evolve over time. Your clients’ needs change as well.
Take a pragmatic approach to decide what you want to keep in your offer, and what is time to dismiss.
Do you have a small percentage of legacy clients that do not want to upgrade to your new solution? If they are no longer receiving value based on the direction your company is taking, maybe it is time to part ways. They are probably at this point receiving little value compared with the cost of maintaining them.
Be clear about who your ideal client is and ensure that what you offer creates infinite value for them.
If your offer is now a scalable off-the-shelf low cost solution, probably you do not want to serve clients that need a custom offer. At the same time if your value is in premium extra customizable only, steer away from clients that are only interested in price.
Once you stop focusing on every client out there, you can make space and serve best the ones where you can excel.
I am very curious to know what is the first thing that is going into the bin or that you will reorganize
Happy cleaning!
Would you like some support to declutter your agenda and your business? I am always open to discuss how to get you from where you are now to where you want to be.