Three times a year I volunteer at the SBA and teach a class on growing a consulting business. Last Friday was my most recent class and one of the things I told the class was an old teachers adage, “Those who teach learn more than those being taught.”
And once again I walked out of the room with note in my calendar book on things I was telling the class to do, which I need to do better, and a couple ideas from them.
It got me thinking, if you, whether you’re in manufacturing, banking or anything in-between, were training someone to fill-in for you while you take a month off, what are the top five things you would tell them to do? This could be marketing efforts, employee management, operations, sales, finance or any other aspect of your business.
Now ask yourself, how many of those five things do you do as conscientiously as you should? Plans, ideas and strategies are all great, but they don’t accomplish much if you don’t implement them and effectively execute the implementation.
As a result of the class, besides doing the things on my list, I’m going to sit back and think about what I could and should be doing that I’m not doing now. This is not reinventing or creating, it’s getting focus on things that have slipped through the cracks.
“The highest calling of leadership is to unlock the potential of others.” Carly Fiorina