Are You Aware That You Are Failing?

A performance strategy for small business success is the primary focus of all my clients. Yet, understanding and recognizing failure is a part of a successful performance strategy. In small business coaching the goal is to learn from the small failures and from them move forward to success.
What do you need to know about failure? Failure’s most dangerous attribute is subtlety. Wouldn’t be great if it would just jump up and announce that it was coming? Yes, because we could avoid it and plan for it.

But failure is sneaky. We can’t always see it. In collaborating and supporting clients in business coaching, one of the things we are always checking for are people, processes or things that could ultimately lead to failure.
One way to unmask the subtlety of failure is to have a performance strategy. A performance strategy with mile posts gives you markers on the way to small business success. I cannot emphasize how strongly I believe this.

You must have an overall vision of how you will attain the success you seek.
Next you create a plan to execute the vision. With a strategy and a plan you should be able to see if you are making mistakes that lead to failure.
Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Now you should be on the road to success.
But, the reality is that business and life aren’t that easy. To avoid failure and have the success you desire you must continually measure your progress in executing your plan as well as allowing room to make the necessary adjustments.
The key is to continually measure. If you don’t know where you have been, it is impossible to know where you are at. You won’t know what adjustments to make. And, more importantly, you have no clear idea of how to get to the success you desire. You must take the pulse of your business every day.
At this point things really start to get off course. Somehow you keep thinking things are going to work out if you just try a little harder or if you get this piece of equipment.
But, without measuring there always be something that will be poking a hole in the tent of your success. And, when enough holes have been poked in your tent your dreams for success, like your tent, will fold.

Measure your business every day. Take its pulse. Only through measuring the results of your business will you know its health and what you must do to keep it healthy and have your performance strategy become a winning reality.
What are your thoughts on how to create a winning reality?