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May 2004 Newsletter
Chairman, CEO,
or General Contractor? – For me it depends on the Goal
In the last Chamber newsletter I outlined five business fundamentals that can lead to
a brighter 2004. They include Set/Track Goals, Network, Develop Leadership Skills,
Give Back, and Have Fun. This month I would like to cover the first business fundamental of “Set/Track
Goals” in more detail using a recent example.
These past few months have been very exciting with lots of change. On March 1
our company purchased a 9200 sq. ft facility to consolidate our operations. Our
goal was to renovate the building and move in by April 30. There was less
than six weeks of available time from start to finish on the project.
We decided to act as general contractor on the project and selected an interior
designer and all of the needed contractors. A detailed schedule and timeline was
produced that was used to track project tasks, and start and end times for each
contractor. I wouldn’t want to have to do it again but we accomplished what
we set out to do.
Key Ingredients:
- Be Committed – any goal you want to accomplish you
need to make it a priority. It’s easy to fill your day just putting out
fires without accomplishing your most important goals.
- Develop a Plan – a project will be more successful when it is
clearly defined who is doing what tasks by when and what are the dependencies.
It is much easier to accomplish your larger goal when it is completed in bite-size
chunks.
- Share the Vision – make sure everyone understands the bigger picture.
Contributors need to see how their piece fits in, encouraging collaboration with
others, for the project to be successful.
- Communicate – the root of a lot of problems is lack of communication
or miscommunication. I prefer to double-check and ask follow-up questions to ensure
understanding. Too often someone assumes they know what you want only to set off
down the wrong path.
- Track Progress – as you complete interim steps toward your goal
make sure you monitor your progress. Even the best plans usually don’t include
every detail, so constant monitoring allows you to catch problems early when they
are easy to correct.
Just as we set goals for our renovation project, the Chamber Board of Directors
has been hard at work defining and accomplishing our 2004 Goals. You can view
the high-level goals on page x of this issue. For more specifics (chamber lead,
tasks, target dates) on each goal please visit the Chamber website.
Next Issue – Networking…and I don’t mean for computers.
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