The biggest fool is the one who doesn’t know he is a fool. This applies to individuals and companies alike.
One great example: Most credit card holders don’t have a very good understanding of the catastrophic effect compound interest can have on their debt. Study after study has shown that not only are the majority of cardholders ignorant of this effect, but the most uneducated cardholders are also more likely to have more debt and pay higher rates–a perfect example of how what you don’t know can really hurt you.
Could your company be suffering from a similar fate? To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld’s quotation on military inteligence–”…there are things we don’t know that we don’t know.”
So, how can you figure out the critical knowledge and processes you might be missing out on in your business. How can you figure out what you don’t know?
Here are a few things that have worked for me.
Compare
Compare your company the the performance of your competitors or with other similar companies. There are so many great reasons to build strong relationships with your competitors, but this one’s near the top of the list. It doesn’t mean that you should do everything your competitors do. But if you can get an idea of areas they are succeeding and you are failing, you can try to figure out what they might be doing differently than you. Whether you are looking at sales, marketing, software development, deployments, employee retention or whatever, most companies are more than happy to share information about their successes. What are others doing differently than you? Is it working? What are you doing differently that isn’t working? What can you change?
Analyze
Look at the areas you are having trouble with and examine the processes you use. Are you having trouble closing sales? Analyze your sales process. Are you having a hard time generating new leads? Spend some time reviewing your marketing process. If you can’t seem to deliver a quality product or have trouble delivering on time, dig into your project management and product development processes. Where do you succeed, where do you typically fail? Why do you fail?
A great way to do this is to have the person in charge of each area present their processes to a small group that includes both people who work in that area and some who don’t. This technique usually helps turn over the stones that can uncover problem areas. As you go through this process, remember that the primary purpose isn’t to place blame, but simply to help the company.
Hire a consultant
A good consultant can serve as a guide who can lead you down paths that might be familiar, but still not completely understood. If you hear someone say, “We already do ninety percent of what that consultant says.” Then you should focus on the ten percent that you aren’t doing. When you hire a consultant, make sure you have an open mind. Don’t think of it as someone who is there to criticize you, but someone who you can learn from. There is great value in talking to someone who has succeeded in a similar situation.
Research
The classic way to get better at something is to research it. Find books, blogs, podcasts, university courses and any other source of information you can. Devour it. Sure, it may all be academic at the start, but at some point, all knowledge is academic. Don’t stop there though. As soon as you can, start putting your new found knowledge into practice.
Try something different
If what you are doing isn’t working, try something different. What can you do to change your systems to make things work better. If you have tried everything else you can think of, but you are still having problems, just trying something new can sometimes help you uncover the real issues. For example… Try putting someone differnet in charge–sometimes a different person can give you a new perspective. Try a different methodology–if you do waterfall development, try agile development.
What else has worked for you? Take a few seconds to help educate us. Leave a comment and let us know.
photo credit, jazzmasterson
