Unwanted action and growth can cause harm in our environment, our bodies and our minds.
Just 24 wild rabbits were realised in Victoria in 1859 - and have now grown to be a large problem in Australia. Photo: M W Mules/CSIRO. Link
Living organisms fighting to survive can upset the balance such as rabbits and cane toads in Australia. Cancer is uncontrolled growth in cells working to live and multiply but in doing so causing illness and possibly death. Worries and concerns left unaddressed can turn into ‘intrusive thoughts’ taking up our precious mental energy.
Uncontrolled activity in your business is also dangerous.
People trying to do what they think the right thing is but getting it wrong;
- Over servicing customers
- Continuing to sell once someone has indicated they are prepared to buy, not realising their job is done
- High level quality where it's not needed (too many coats of paint, extra calls to customers, analysis to 3 decimal places when a ball park figure will suffice)
- Aggressive sales tactics that ultimately end up 'selling badly' leaving you unable to meet your commitments undermining your brand promise
Or managing your risk for you and then avoiding taking action like failing to;
- buy stock in case it doesn't sell
- explain the menu because they are unsure they know it well enough
- offer to help in case they can't fix the problem when a customer just wants someone on their side
This sort of problem is insidious and can cause a great deal of harm if left unchecked.
It is especially prevalent in a ‘leadership vacuum’, where roles and tasks are not clearly defined and the team is not sure ‘where they are going’ or ‘how they get there’. A classic example is ambiguous priorities like is it profit or the customer that comes first?
Hundreds of decisions can be made by your team on a daily basis that are not quite right. That adds up.
Here is a list of 5 things you can do to avoid leaving a leadership vacuum;
- CREATE CLARITY - clear, written roles, goals and priorities for the team and business
- DECISION AUTHORITY - spell out budget limits and decision types with a path for escalating up the chain of command to resolve issues
- OPEN CULTURE - discuss issues with candour to surface hidden assumptions
- FREQUENT TALKING - forums to discuss what is going on (weekly and monthly meetings, qtrly workshops) and what is going wrong
- FEEDBACK - get a system to hear what your customer thinks regularly, so you know you’re getting it right