The risks of bad management

Last week we established that management is happening in your business right now, tomorrow, and every day, whether you acknowledge it or not. 

This also means that somebody is managing the business, whether they acknowledge it or not. 

And that someone is probably you. 

But what happens when you don’t acknowledge it?

Does any of this sound familiar?

• You haven’t taken a holiday in recent memory
• You did take a holiday and spent 85% of your time responding to emails and phone calls
• You did take a holiday, ignored work emails and calls, and when you came back your business was a complete mess
• You spent 34 out of the last 40 working hours answering questions
• You spent 34 out of the last 40 working hours answering emails
• You spent 34 out of the last 40 working hours correcting people’s work
• New prospects are calling you every week, but none of them understand what you do
• New prospects are calling you every week but none of them are people you can work with
• New prospects are not calling you
• There are tasks on your to-do list that are older than the leftovers in your freezer
• You have a list of plans and initiatives that is longer than this list you are currently reading
• You have a list of plans and initiatives under the heading “when the time is right”
• You don’t have a list of plans and initiatives

If this list has inspired any similar thoughts or sentiments, please share them! 

Causation in practice

These problems are not the cause of your lack of management. 

They are the consequence of your lack of management. 

When your company improvises itself from one day to the next, you lose control. It harms all three essential business pillars. 

(1) You don’t have the time or capacity to plan and build your business into your vision of success. When you can’t see or control your progress, you aren’t working towards business goals. 

(2) Your employees don’t know what is expected of them day after day, week after week, and will eventually lose faith in the whole project. 

(3) Your clients don’t know what to expect from you, and will eventually lose interest. 

What next

Pick one day next week to wake up early and not check emails or answer phone calls for at least two hours. Use those two hours to write: your vision of success, your plan to achieve it, and your organizational chart. Let it be simple and imperfect, it is still useful.