HOW TO BUILD A BUSINESS THAT WILL STAND THE TEST OF TIME
There are 3-Phases of construction
Phase 1. Architecture
Phase 2. Building
Phases 3. Maintenance
Phase 1. Architecture
To develop your dream business, you need to draw up the plans. If you’ve done this before, you might not need much help, but if it’s your first business or perhaps other businesses you’ve run have failed, the skills of an Architect are vital.
Most people can sketch out an idea, but I would be dubious about an architect who didn’t have detailed measurements. Without measurement, things won’t fit together and will undoubtedly fall apart.
I have come to be known as a bit of a business architect with experience in establishing many small businesses and helping clients, colleagues and creatives to get new vehicles up and running.
The Jigsaw program is perfect for anyone wanting to see their dreams become reality. Your plan is the foundation of The Wall. It needs devising and then revising each year. With this foundation in place, you can ascend the level of time optimization much quicker.
Phase 2. Building
Building can be really fun. You see things being assembled and get instant gratification from observing progress. Projects do, of course, come together much better when the architect has done their job properly.
You might be attempting a DIY mega-project or may have a team of different tradespeople. Building can be back-breaking work and rarely happens quickly. It’s essential that you have the right mindset, toolset and skillset to complete the work.
It’s good to consider whether your aim is to be the boss (site manager) or the builder. It’s easy to get drawn into wearing both hats, but it might make sense to focus your energies on one of these roles.
Phase 3. Maintenance
Without maintenance, what you build will eventually start to break. An expensive example of this is my church in Cheltenham, which needed a new roof at a cost of over £500,000. Some people adopt the lazy-landlord approach of fixing it when it breaks (or thinking about fixing it when it breaks) but the smartest business builders will outline up-keep tasks within their regular workflows.
Here are some practical thoughts.
One task that I give to all of my team is to ‘Be An Awesome Project Manager’ every fortnight. Each person has an automated search set up so they can view all of the overdue tasks in their department. This enables them to chase up people on the project they’re waiting on, assist their colleagues if they see others are stuck and avoid a culture where it’s all left to one person to be unpopular and attempt to enforce deadlines in a solely top-down manner.
When I help businesses to detail their Activities with The Jigsaw or when looking at Task Tackling with The Wall, I will always look at the systems that are in place for maintenance. With a habitual commitment to regular servicing, vehicles are less likely to break down and burden you with unexpected and inconvenient repair costs.
When we work through our Dashboard program, we encourage people to create set meeting agendas for all of their departmental reviews. Within a series of questions, the team should be asking themselves questions such as ‘are we clear on the purpose and aim of this department?’ and ‘how do our efforts in this department affect overall profitability?’. In addition to questions pertaining to the day-to-day activities in the department, reflections should be made relating to matters of simplification and whether any additional questions need adding to the set agenda list.
Forgive me if this seems a little over the top but sometimes we need implements to clean our cleaning implements. This is definitely a lesson I’ve learned from some of the Time Realists I’ve worked with, they factor in time for running system back-ups and tidying up their workspace.
Maintenance can’t be overlooked. Your beautiful building may fall into disrepair, which would be a massive shame.
I’d love to help you dive deeper into all of this by downloading the Ebook ‘Make More Time For What Matters Most’. You won’t be wasting your time reading through this!
