03: Leveraging the Right Priorities & Teams

With sunrise begins a new day. There is nothing mankind can do about it. They can neither advance it nor delay it! They can neither expand it beyond 24 hours nor shrink it. However, they sure can decide on the priorities of the day. That is what makes choosing the right priority one of the most effective levers you could employ for significant improvement. As a business owner, you have to be intolerant towards any gap in priorities creeping in between you and your business leaders.

Obviously, communication is the answer. An excellent management tool is 10 minutes virtual meeting at 10.30 pm with your business leaders and 20 minutes virtual meeting at 8.30 am with them and their deputies, every weekday. The time limitation ensures that only relevant gets discussed. There is no provision of time to talk about the irrelevant and unimportant. The presence of a team of business leaders ensures nothing frivolous takes the space. No one wants to be ridiculed for wasting time or having a mixed-up priority. It is not a meeting for evolving strategy or formalizing plans. It is not a meeting for brainstorming. Very clearly, it is a meeting to ensure the aligned priorities.

Clouds in the sky are a natural veil that affects the visibility. Business is no different. Seeing through the cloud of frivolous improves the vision and focus and; consequently priorities. A good management team should learn to discriminate between a mix-up of priorities and dissent – a difference of opinion. Dissent is welcome and should be funnelled out to a different forum. Dissent is important. It is a tool to invite out-of-box thinking, a method to build collateral thinking and evaluate an alternative. At a subtle level, it is also an exercise in building leadership. As a business owner, you can ensure more than 25% improvement in the quality of decision-making with such an approach.

While prioritizing efforts, a wrong trade-off between long-term and short-term was the most common mistake that businesses make. Short-term success always gets kudos and claps. Whereas long-term success is often relegated to the future and teamwork. Teamwork gets applause but not promotions. Teamwork strengthens a business but does not necessarily win a crown. Short-term success makes the business manager a star. Long-term success makes the business a star. You are not at fault for valuing your business more than the individuals, who contribute to running it. That is because the success of business means the teams are working in alignment. Failure of business means the teams are at cross-purposes. The reality is that the individuals are not at the centre of a business but the teams are. Individuals can be easily replaced but not a performing team.

At a human (people) level an important management tool is to follow the principle of the ‘grandfather-father-son’ at functional as well as appraisal level. It should not be looked at as a task but as an ongoing exercise. As a practitioner of the ‘grandfather-father-son’ management system, you should participate in the selected functional meetings of your business leaders and their teams. As a grandfather in the meeting, you could instantly correct the mistaken priorities if any, and witness the competence of your business leader – father – in guiding and enthusing his team members – the sons – who had to eventually ensure that the results were, what those were intended to be. In simple language, you should know how to cut the crap right at the top and first instance, see for yourself the team dynamics and identify the rising stars.

After all, in the ultimate analysis, the people (not individuals) and their ability have a far-reaching impact in making or marring an organisation!

Business Lessons

1. In short, a business idea is only a beginning. The oxygen for survival, sustainability and growth is:

a. Right Priorities

b. Teams with aligned priorities, and

c. People (not individuals)

2. The long-term priorities of the business should not be compromised at the altar of short-term priorities. Both have an independent and important role to play.

3. At the people level, an important management tool to practice is the principle of ‘grandfather-father-son’ at functional as well as appraisal forums.

Personal Notes:

1. List of my top 3 businesses or sources of income

a. 1

b. 2

c. 3

2. Within my existing businesses, my long-term & short-term priorities:

3. Business Ideas under my consideration: