By Martha Bartlett Piland, MB Piland
Mental habits turn into strategic and tactical action.
Are there some harmful habits you need to break? Here’s a quick check for things you should stop doing right now.
the “it’s not broken, don’t fix it” pattern of thinking Just because your year is on track, don’t think you’re doing enough. There’s always an opportunity to improve, innovate and grow. Don’t wait till there’s a problem. It’s more costly—and can hurt your reputation–if you’re not proactive.
A high-performance bank executive recently said to me that his philosophy is, “you don’t have to be sick to get better.” That’s how he runs his bank–and that’s how he’s running circles around his competition.
jumping straight to tactics without a clear plan Last month, I responded to a very clever offer on a financial website targeted to small business owners. In very short order, my inquiry was fulfilled. An envelope full of tchotchkes arrived at my office. There was no business card, no product literature—just some logo’d items.
It’s several weeks later, and no one has called or emailed to follow up and see if I might be converted into a customer. Someone at that company is wondering why their clever campaign isn’t working. Shall we tell them?
dismissing your employee turnover as “generational” Many companies like to say they’re only as good as their employees. Then why do they have what appears to be a revolving front door? Costs of hiring aside, the brain drain and customer frustration erodes the brand and profits.
Finding the cause and addressing it head-on is critical. Whether it’s hiring, training, onboarding, culture fit or other reasons it can’t be dismissed as a an external issue. Own it and fix it.
Perhaps your organization stands up well against this quick quiz. (We hope it does!) But remember, you don't have to be sick to get better. Where can you improve today that will pay off tomorrow?