My adolescence was spent dreaming. There was little application. School was so poor, by 14 I didn’t much go. I had at job making chips at the local Berni Inn. I used to sit in the pub with my mates dreaming up get rich quick schemes. Some weren’t legal.
My latent entrepreneurialism, at 15, got me a live-in job at a Hotel in Stratford upon Avon. Pot washer, kitchen assistant and general dog’s body. At least I had a roof over my head and food in my belly. From there, I went to work in a car factory during the 3-day week. After that I got a job loading freezers in a frozen food store. 20 by now, and still dreaming.
My adolescence was spent dreaming. There was little application. School was so poor, by 14 I didn’t much go. I had at job making chips at the local Berni Inn. I used to sit in the pub with my mates dreaming up get rich quick schemes. Some weren’t legal.
The frozen food company was desperate. Expanding rapidly with no one to run their stores. After just 3 months I was promoted to store manager! Well at least I had the keys to the store.
It was chaos! There were a few crude operating procedures but most of it was just suck and see.
Here’s where all that earlier dreaming and scheming came in useful. My rather posh boss called it ‘Vision’. I made up stuff as I went along and persuaded, coerced, even bullied, my ‘Staff’ to follow my instructions.
Worked great, for a while.
I added ‘Planning’ to my ‘Vision’ concept, (that had been renamed ‘Forecasting’ by now.) So according to my boss, if you wanted any Forecasting or Planning doing, send for Tim. He’ll work it all out.
Except dreaming up the forecasts and the plans didn’t guarantee they got implemented. Thats the thing. Forecasting and Planning are deliberate events. In this case created solely by me!
Back in the 1970’s implementing the plan, getting it done, was largely achieved by the carrot and the stick method of management. Discrimination and abuses, of all kinds, were rife in the workplace. Implementing anything was a challenge.
So, back to ‘Vision’ and add to it ‘Purpose’. These had to be communicated to the workforce. (They used to be called ‘staff’ back in the 20th Century. I strongly recommend referring to them as your ‘Team’ these days.) A group of people, the ‘Team’, providing they are recruited and inducted properly, can be ‘Visioned’ and ‘Purposed’ to implement tasks so long as they are enthused to do so in a passionate and inspired manner, by example, from their Team Leader.
Excellence and continuity can be achieved by following up with those whom the tasks for implementation have been delegated too. Catching them doing stuff wrong, kicking and sticking them, hopefully went out with the 20th Century. We live in the age of ‘Accentuating the Positive’. Catching ‘Team Members’ doing it right! OK, so that doesn’t always work out. If this is the case, then maybe they need some ‘Coaching. If ‘Attitude and Behaviour’ is poor, they will require ‘Policing’. Where resources are insufficient, one might have to take ones coat off and lend a hand. In other words, ‘Play’. ‘Coach-Police-Play’ techniques are the ‘Dynamic Influencer’ in ‘Implementation’.
If it takes ‘Dynamic Influence’ to get stuff done, how do we know stuff is getting done?
They (?) said it was!
No that’s not going to cut it. We need ‘Key Performance Indicators’. These K.P.I.’s can be ‘Reported’ daily, weekly, and monthly, depending on how critical they are.
Whatever metrics you choose make sure they are absolutely ‘Key’. Also, make sure they are responded to in ‘Coach-Police-Play’ fashion continually. If you create ‘Targets’ (Recommended) for K.P.I.’s, set them accurately and, at ensure, at a stretch, they are achievable.
There you have it. Back in 1968 who would have thought that the idle dreams of a feckless truant would later influence so many Business Owners in creating profitable enterprises largely capable of conducting business without them being there.
