The curse of commercial dis-ease

I’ve just started working with a new client. We had some time together this week and he indicated that he was feeling uneasy about his company.
I had already run my normal four-year financial analysis as part of my preparation and the data didn’t look troubling. It’s a brilliant business. All metrics are showing strong growth and he was fully aware that his worries were not really tangible. It was ‘just’ a feeling…
This sense of dis-ease is very common amongst the Directors and Owners. In extreme cases I have seen clients of mine swing from happiness to despair, on a week to week basis, with no data (quantitative or qualitative) showing any material shift in customer satisfaction or profitability.
So why do we perceive problem when problems don’t rationally appear to exist?
I think it is down to two related ideas.
Firstly, commercial markets are chaotic, unpredictable, messy and constantly moving. Arguably we are seeing bigger shifts than we have ever seen driven by environmental crisis, societal changes, global economic shifts and the continuing technology driven revolution.
Against this backdrop you are trying to build a business and looking for that most elusive of things; predictable and consistent revenue and profitability. I’ve got some clients who have something approximating a predictable revenue stream, but for most small businesses establishing a pattern or a predictable formula will forever remain a Unicorn idea.
It doesn’t work like the books (and many coaches) will tell you it should. There isn’t a magic formula or a killer marketing strategy. Instead there is business appearing out of nowhere; from conversations, connections and recommendations. Even if Marketing produces some results what worked yesterday may not work today (and vice versa — often an interesting avenue to explore).
So, if uncertainty is the new reality how do you get back in the zone?
Its simple really. You focus on recognising and making the adjustments to yourself so that they are able to be highly performant in this new reality.
Instead of spending energy trying to push back the tide, or sticking your head in the sand (come on, we all do it), focus on your internal state and attend to the signals in your system.
You don’t need to unreservedly trust your intuition (with things moving fast your own internal narrative may not be updating quickly enough). Instead, when you notice rising feelings of dis-ease, become curious about where the signals are coming from. You’ll be surprised what emerges from these enquiries.
If you have been running your company for a long time you will have undoubtedly developed a sixth sense about what is happening. This isn’t the stuff of hippies. It is what comes from observing (consciously and sub-consciously) anything over a prolonged period. One of my clients can detect how busy the company is by the level of noise in the Estimating Dept!!
You are then well place to attend to the data present in the company to see if it is pointing at opportunities and obstacles coming down the track. Are you producing financial and operating information, speaking to your customers, suppliers, competitors and team members with the right level of detail, speed and intensity to detect the changes in your market place?
Going back to the session with my new client, the question that really got him thinking was ‘Is there anything that you think your company should be doing at this point, that it isn’t?’
After consideration he concluded that there really wasn’t so my advice was that he go find something to occupy his mind and his time.
After all, the devil makes plenty of thoughts for idle minds.
