Shoring up weak points deserves time and money.

Quick! Pop quiz!

What are the weak points in your organization?

Quick! Another pop quiz!

What could you build to make your company stronger?

It’s great to know what to do. The truth is that most people know what to do, but they don’t know why they have not done it.

Just like a human being, every organization is good at some things and not so good at others. While I always believe in leading from your strengths, there comes a point in every business where those strengths will only take you so far. It is then time to shore up other areas to have real breakthroughs. The greatest management power emanates from a combination of what comes naturally and what must be learned.

Last week I spoke to a business owner who told me frankly that, “we stink at marketing.” Together we came up with an idea that would generate additional $1MM in annual revenue, almost all of which would drop to the bottom line. Then, like the turtle whose head came out briefly, he retreated to his shell. I was excited about that increase in revenue, and disappointed when he chose not to pursue it.

Like most independent restaurateurs, you know what your organization  the very best at , and that makes you proud.  But you also know what your company is not so good at,  and that makes you concerned, or even ashamed.   The best business people take action, spend money, apply, energy and management power to getting better at things that have not come naturally in the past. They are excited about that, because they feel they are creating the missing piece. And once they do, they will be unbeatable. They don’t want to leave $1MM or more on the table,  and they definitely do not want to jeopardize their growth.

If creating the missing piece and being unbeatable in a competitive market sounds good to you, it would be smart for you to join in this process.

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Part of a Six-Part Series based on Matthew’s June 29 presentation, “How to Grow Your Business and Achieve Your Goals” at TRA Marketplace. 

The other topics in the series are:

• Deciding what you want your life to be like
• Holding yourself accountable to get there
• Building the appropriate infrastructure to get you there
• Knowing your organization’s weak spots so you can shore them up
• Using systems that support your culture — but don’t let systems kill your culture
• Selling the vision by inspiring and enrolling people