PRODUCTIVITY: Going from Knowing to Doing

Small business owners constantly lament the fact that they are not productive enough.  In the past I have spoken about small business failures being due, to a large part, not on not knowing what to do, but not doing what they know they should do.

Productivity has a lot of words and inactions tied to it; time management, and procrastination being two of the most frequently used. All the planning and strategies in the world will not succeed if the productivity of the owner is non-existent.

There are countless books written and seminars held on how to increase your productivity, how to stop procrastinating and how to better manage your time. Experts will show you how, for not a small fee, to conquer your lack of productivity. These and many other offerings will get you enthusiastic for the moment and perhaps for a few days or weeks afterwards. Unfortunately, most of us return to where we started the unproductivity journey.

In my 30-plus years of working with small business the best and most effective solution I have found has to do with accountability.

This requires having someone to whom you are accountable. It has to be someone you trust and who cares about you and your company. That person has to be willing to take a hard stand when necessary to keep the business owner on track.

It requires a commitment, at least twice a month, to meet and to set goals and action items which are then reviewed at the subsequent meeting.

For our clients we provide the accountability factor, in most cases, on a weekly basis.

We are exploring another options within our BizQuack membership, and that is to pair up our members so they can be accountable to one another. Depending upon the location of the two members, we will have a set agenda which also can be accommodated via Skype.

In the meantime, use the Accountability Tracker. If you keep it in front of you every day it will help.

Your comments on our new direction are always welcome.

“The key is NOT to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” Steven Covey