Summary
What would you do if your business became the sort of business you'd like it to be? Would you know for sure if it happened? If you're honestly not sure, please read on. If you're thinking, "Of course I would, Leon", please read on to confirm what you believe.
Clarification
I'm not talking about generalizations such as "being as innovative as Apple", "dominating the market like Intel", "being a world famous brand " or owning a marketing position like "Volvo means safety".
The Lake Eyre Effect
When your business achieves the performance targets you desire, you're enjoying The Lake Eyre Effect. It's real. But it has its ups and downs. So a little geography lesson will help.
About Australia
In case you don't know, Lake Eyre sits just south of the centre of Australia. It's about 700 Km - 435 miles - north of Adelaide. Australia's roughly the size of continental USA. The total population is about 22 million. It's a land of climatic extremes.
In 1944, poet Dorothea Mackellar wrote "My Country". It contains the following lines
"I love a sunburnt country
A land of sweeping plains
Of ragged mountain ranges
Of droughts and flooding rains."
Australia has been in severe drought for over a decade. The drought broke in 2010. That was good news for Lake Eyre.
About Lake Eyre
It's usually waterless. It's huge: 3668 square miles. Texas is 2681 square miles. It's the lowest point on the Australian continent: 49 ft or 15 metres below sea level.
It's taken some months, but Lake Eyre is now full of water. All the streams and wetlands that feed the lake are overflowing. Even if there's no more rain, for a long time, water will continue to flow into it for months.
Central Australia, usually dry, barren, brown and arid is green and verdant. Vegetation, dormant for decades is abundant and flowering. Bird, animal and even marine life has reappeared as if from nowhere. The rain has that effect.
However, the lake will dry up again. That's it's natural state.
Lake Eyre And Your Business
Let's say that your business is Lake Eyre. Let's say you've been battling along for a few years, perhaps a decade. You've had plenty of ups and downs but over the past few years, business has been improving gradually. It's been a slow process, but the figures don't lie. You can reasonably claim that your business is "looking good".
Like the lake, your business is "filling up". And you can look forward to at least a few prosperous years.
Or can you?
The Lake Eyre Question
How will you know, for certain, that your business is "filling"? You see, in order to know what you'll do when it happens, you must recognize the Lake Eyre Effect in your business. If you don't, over time your business will dry up just. Normal conditions will resume. All the hard work you and others have done will simply evaporate.
Answering The Question
Signs of the Lake Eyre Effect are all about performance targets. They could include...
We've had 15% growth for 3 consecutive yearsNo employee has been terminated for 2 yearsWe've been market leaders in our target market for 2 yearsStaff participate in a performance based reward and incentive scheme so that they can earn at least 20% annually above their basic salaryEvery employee knows exactly what's expected of them and how their performance is measuredOur business focus is completely clear; our target market is narrow and specificOur marketing spend is devoted exclusively to our target marketWe measure everything we do and make business decisions based on that informationOur cash flow is completely under controlWe retain 80% of our customers for at least 3 years.
They're my suggestions. You can add any criteria of success that you regard as vital. But remember; they must be measurable.
What's Not On The List?
There's nothing about private wealth, financial management or individual and professional development. If you meet the other targets, these issues will take care of themselves.
What About Profit?
That's a good question. Remember, profit is an outcome. You make profit when you do a lot of things correctly. It's those "things" that I'm talking about. My apologies if you think otherwise.
Not A Business Plan
What I'm suggesting isn't a business plan. I'd describe what I'm saying as the things that need to happen to make a business plan work. As Will Rogers once said, "Plans get you into things; but you got to work your way out". I'm talking about "how to work your way out".
Lake Eyre Doesn't Just Fill
It takes months, even years, for enough water to reach Lake Eyre to fill it. And it usually takes some years for a business to reach full potential. When the lake fills it's obvious. The desert around it is flat for miles around. But you know the lake is filling. The surrounding vegetation greens. The tributaries brim. Then there are the birds. The birds arrive to breed in vast numbers. Some fly many miles to set up breeding colonies in and around the lake. Pelicans for instance, travel from the coast up to 1450 Km - 900 miles - away.
Your Business Doesn't "Just Fill" Either
Businesses don't become instant successes. Like filling Lake Eyre, it takes time for a business to grow and develop. Sometimes a business has some major success that garners lots of media attention. The business media raves about "overnight success". Sorry, it doesn't happen like that. If you think it does, read the history of McDonalds, Microsoft, Apple, Intel or any number of market leaders. They've built quietly and gradually: just like your business.
Is Your Business Filling Up?
There are no pelicans surrounding your business. The sand around your office or factory isn't a carpet of wildflowers. Small animals haven't suddenly appeared in large numbers in your garden. But there are signs. Will you recognize them? Will you know which are really important and which are superficial? Will vitally important information slip quietly "under your guard" without you realizing what it says to you?
Opportunity Missed?
Worse still, will you recognize these vital signs, but only after the opportunity to benefit from them has passed. As Lake Eyre starts to dry up many young birds die. Their parents arrived too late at the lake. The food supply diminishes as the lake empties. The chicks can't survive. And they're too young to endure the long, arduous flight to their usual homes on far away waterways.
Don't Be Like Lake Eyre
If you don't know what to look for in your business, you run the risk of becoming a stranded chick. Your business may not die. But the opportunity to take full advantage of your success will ebb away. If may not return for years or even for decades.
If that's the case, like Lake Eyre, your business will dry up completely before the "rains" come again.
Leon Noone helps managers in small-medium business to improve on-job staff performance without training courses. His ideas are quite unconventional. Read his free Special Report "49 Practical Tips for Removing Employee Apathy, Aggravation And Resistance In Your Business". Simply visit http://staffperformancesecrets.com/ and download your free copy now.
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