Problem Solvers and DNA!
All business owners need problem solvers, because all businesses have problems.
The greater these problems, the greater the opportunity for the problem solvers.
Problem solvers are action orientated, they are effective in what they do, and they produce results.If an owner is not interested in creating value for his business, the very least he should be interested in is increasing his own worth to his business.
Always think of yourself as a product, and recognise the fact that a product with an enthusiastic, cooperative attitude has great value in the marketplace; a product that turns out quality work has great value in the market place; a product that completes projects quickly has great value in the marketplace; a product that can solve problems has great value in the market place; and a product that is effective and produces favourable results has enormous value in the marketplace.
What separates the best Businesses from the ‘also ran’ masses?
It isn’t products, services, or even price. Competition is fiercer today than it has ever been; yet a few businesses don’t just compete with the others, they blow them out of the water in areas like product and service quality, innovation, execution, and most important of all – the results they produce! They just seem to have the knack of giving the ‘total solution’ – they are effective in doing what they do!Your competitors are not geniuses, and those businesses that compete with you don’t hire only geniuses, even though at times you feel as though they do, leaving you with all the dunces. When your competitors develop strategy, the words on their flipcharts are not substantially more insightful than yours. In fact most differences between you and your competitors are intangible.
Yet there is one major, often tangible, difference – the best of the best leaders, businesses, and individuals live by an over-riding driver – Results Rule!
They have honed their effectiveness into habitual ways of operating and have modified their DNA (Discipline, Nature, and Attitude) so that everything they do is automatically replicated throughout their operations. People and businesses like this have the discipline to stay focussed and execute flawlessly.
They take ownership of what they do and have a nature of service and integrity that attracts others to them and enables them to build solid partnerships.
They have an attitude of accountability and such deep passion that they are automatically set well apart from those who merely talk the right talk.
These great achievers, whether they be businesses or individuals, choose to do seven simple things:
1. Tell themselves the truth. They value candour and honesty. The simple truth is that nothing changes, or will ever change, until we tell ourselves the truth about everything.
2. Pursue the best, over the easiest, in every situation. Do you pursue the best strategy for delivering meaningful results, or do you take the easy road and follow the lead of others? Do you make the best operational decisions, or do you cut corners to get the job done? If you aren’t pursuing the best, you have lost the plot!
3. Leverage the power of partnership both internally and externally. The difference between customers and clients is that a customer buys your product/service, while a client buys your product/service and refers you to others! If your customers are not voluntarily promoting you to others, you need to do some work on building clients. Little things mean a lot, and people and organizations who are results orientated, who are effective in what they do, and who openly hold themselves accountable for what they do, use every transaction as an opportunity to develop and cement relationships.
4. Focus their energy to make the main things the main thing. It was Thomas Edison who summed it up so well when he said “Vision without execution is hallucination”. The best align their purpose, values, principles, goals, and processes to ensure they are effective at delivering meaningful results.
5. Show the courage of accountability. Accountability, execution and effectiveness are far more important that strategy. A mediocre strategy well executed will almost always win over a great strategy that lacks accountability for action.
6. Learn, grow, and improve every day. Past success only proves you were right once. It is the now - today’s innovations - that become tomorrow’s expectation. A failure to anticipate and adapt to changing expectations is a well-worn path, no, in fact a well worn highway, to has-been status.
7. Learn the habits of effectiveness. By its very nature, effectiveness demands that positive results are produced. The best of the best do not strive to be effective because they learned the habits of effectiveness early on and allowed these habits to be the guiding beacons for all their actions.
