Small business performs best under tight deadlines. It adds focus and higher level communications internally and with the client.
It’s what small companies do best. 

We’ve grown and are at the point
that we need to add more structure and streamline our processes. We provide a great service but I believe we can reach higher.

We’ve hired a champion whose expertise is project management and we are starting down the road once more, to elevate
the performance of our company.

What I’ve learned from past experience will help us on this journey. For anyone else looking at this, here are 5 common sense tips as a reboot for you… and myself:

1. Don’t introduce too much change at once. Make one new behavior a habit before implementing the next
2. Don’t create process to address the exceptions. It will bog you down unnecessarily. Focus on the 80% that drives your business on a daily basis and address the things that fall outside the norm individually
3. Appoint the right person to manage change.  Give that person the authority they need to make things happen
4. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Try to have quick stand up meetings that address details as they come up. Get to the bottom line, make decisions and move on. Addressing the issue when it’s fresh is the way to go. Avoid long, merry go round meetings that accomplish nothing
5. Find a way to pull out people’s strengths. If you have a great thinker that is lousy at follow up, get someone else on the follow up and let your thinker, think. Too often we focus on what’s wrong with someone, not what’s right

Lee’s quote for the day

“We can always improve and turn disappointment into opportunity. A healthy first step is consciously flipping that internal switch from ‘I Can’t’ to ‘I Can, I Will and I Must’. More importantly, down the road when the circuit breaks (and it will), flip it on again and again and again…” 

Change is constant. No matter what aspect of your life, business or personal, nothing is ever set in stone… forever and ever amen. Obviously, there are millions of variables, situations and degrees of severity but change always demands some form of adaptability and managing change is a necessary skill to develop. 

You can say change is like… well… change. It’s all around you; piled in your vehicles’ cup holders, filled in a glass on your office desk, jingling in your pockets or spread across your home in dishes, drawers and under couch cushions. Left unmanaged, it will become overwhelming.  You might say managing any kind of change, physical or monetary requires your constant attention.

Over these last few months, we’ve had a fair bit of change to deal with ourselves. We are getting more and more requests to look after our clients’ social media, we have a new guy on the ground in Montreal, an additional programmer and our long time head of promotions and administration just retired.

We’ve brought in Kate, who has years of experience in project management and the print industry. We are taking this opportunity to develop new systems to help us improve our efficiency and internal communications. I will be taking over some additional duties so that we can even out the workload. I’m looking forward to changing up my routine a little and seeing how the new hires all fit in. I’ll keep you posted with our progress…

I would just like to say, “Welcome aboard Nick, Kate and Rachael and all the best to you Robin, as you begin your retirement and a new life journey!”