Lessons for Life
3. Dream about the future but work in the short-term.
Mission statements are nice, but they are best saved for the poetic thoughts of a bar or bedroom. Drive business plans on a daily, weekly, and, at most, monthly basis. If you have the stomach for it, drive them by the hour. Set hourly goals for your employees and see how rapidly your business and profits grow.
Task: Deconstruct your mission statement into tangible and measurable weekly and daily goals for each department and each person. Begin by measuring your actual performance against those goals on a weekly basis, then graduate to doing so daily. You should be able to capture all of these data points on a one-page Flash Report. Each critical driver of productivity and profitability should be on that page. This will allow you to capitalize on strengths and address weaknesses in a very timely manner.