We all know that business owners are looking for answers to their growth concerns, not more questions. When you talk to a business owner about the Non-Negotiable Rules, they have a tendency to get a bit ‘prickly’ because entrepreneurs don’t really like rules.
The value of the NNRs are quite simply:
They help a business owner figure out what they don’t know
They help get that business owner thinking about areas of their company they hadn’t thought about before
They focus the business owners efforts on the mission critical aspects of their stage of growth
They give that business owner headlights into the future to be prepared for what’s coming
They provide a rallying point for the entire company
The facilitation of the Non-Negotiable Rules exercise during an X-Ray is where 80% of the issues you’ll be capturing, show up.
The conversations are:
Enlightening
Rich
Emotional
Fun
Educational
Revealing
Intense
It’s worth your time to help a business owner solve the Non-Negotiable Rules for their stage of growth While the X-Ray allows the business owner and his/her team to do a deep dive into their current NNRs and the two earlier stages of growth, you can also engage a business owner in a conversation centered around their NNRs.
If you are meeting with a Stage 6 business owner, here are a series of questions you can become curious about in order to 1) get a conversation going and 2) help that business owner drill down into areas that need their attention.
RULE #1. WITHOUT FAIL, ESTABLISH A 2-3-DAY NEW STAFF ORIENTATION PROGRAM. • Are you asking for input from existing employees to help create the agenda for this critical program? • Is the CEO an integral part of its development, helping to explain the company values, vision, mission and history of the company? • Are you testing the new orientation program with existing employees?
RULE #2. GENERATE A 3-YEAR LIVING BUSINESS PLAN/MODEL (ADDRESS STRATEGIC, OPERATIONAL, PEOPLE CONSIDERATIONS. • Is your leadership team involved in researching a 3-year forward view of customers, competitors, markets, offerings, capacity, etc.? • Has your leadership team been involved in contributing to the 3-year strategic plan for growth? • Is there a tactical plan integrated with the company budget that includes detailed departmental budgets and revenue projections?
RULE #3. IMPLEMENT AN ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH SURVEY ONCE A YEAR AND ESTABLISH 1-2 COMPANY-WIDE ONE-DAY UNIFYING EVENTS A YEAR. • Have you implemented a comprehensive anonymous organizational survey to assess the employee’s perspective of the company? • What are your plans to organize and execute an all employee unifying event? • Have you chosen 10 of the most pressing issues from the survey, and communicated those issues to employees?
RULE #4. PUSH FINANCIAL REPORTING TO ANOTHER LEVEL THROUGHOUT COMPANY. • Do you have a sophisticated profit plan (budget) with projected revenues and expenses by department? • Does your financial system include a 3-year profit plan, financial modeling, cash flow forecast and key indicator dashboard? • Do you understand your gross profit per labor dollar as your key indicator for labor productivity?
RULE #5. WITHOUT FAIL, SECURE REGULAR ONEON-ONE MANAGER/EMPLOYEE MEETINGS. • Are you securing and reinforcing weekly manager/ employee one-on-one meetings? • Are you securing and reinforcing feedback and performance discussions in the one-on-one meetings? • Are you securing and reinforcing employee development conversations in the one-on-one meetings?
In my Flash Sheets by FlashPoint! product, I help you understand the value in starting with the NAME of each stage of growth when you are exploring issues with a business owner.
Why? Because if you understand that Stage 6 is called Strategic, you’ll be able to connect-the-dots and be able to explain why the Gate of Focus is People, why the CEOs Modality is Dominant, and why the three faces of a leader has the Visionary Face showing up at 45%.
You’ll also start to understand why the NNRs support those issues and identify solutions to the top five challenges. This is the ONLY model out there that provides such definitive direction to help a CEO navigate their own growth curve.
Would you like to find a resource that covers ALL aspects of the 7 Stages of Growth? Look no further than my Flash Sheets by FlashPoint!
Find them here:
http://gcspecialists.com/flashsheets
Your success. My passion.
Laurie Taylor, FlashPoint!
