Is it time to Detox your Business? 3 Questions you should ask this month.

It’s that time of year again when many of us have indulged a little heavily and need to assess and fix the damage. Diets are everywhere with promises of 5 days drinking spinach to lose those unwanted pounds.

So how about we apply this thinking to business. Do you have baggage from last year you need to remove? Is your organisation lean and fit for purpose and operating with energy? Or is it time to take a long hard look in the mirror and make some changes this year.

January is no doubt seen as a time for “out with the old in with the new”. The decorations are down and many of us are sorting out old toys or clothes to make room for the new. Do you need to declutter your business or organisation?

I am often called in as a coach to businesses that need a trouble shooting approach. Something isn’t working, there are negative culture or people issues, or there is no vision or goals. The process is to enlighten people to find solutions. One of my favourite phrases is stop living in the problem and find the solution.

One of my techniques is a group coaching approach I have devised called “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” These sessions begin as a cards on the table, get to the bottom of the issues, sometimes difficult, out pourings of information but end with a page of clear actions for change.

Here are my 3 starter questions, which you can use to reflect this January.

1.The Good- Where do we excel?

For me it’s important to always have a positive element even where a business has clear problems. Therefore I begin by drawing out positive elements. Consider here what are your strengths? what works? What do you do well? What has been lucrative or successful? What is your niche and what do you do better than others? This should provide page of positivity.

2. The Bad- What do we need to change?

Here you need to list the things that have not worked but need amendment, problems that need to be fixed. Areas you are wasting efforts or resources or money? Are you inefficient? Are there areas where your processes don’t work? Holes where efforts fall into? Marketing strategies that almost worked but need amending? People or departments that don’t operate at the required levels? These are problems that are costing the business but can be rescued.

3. The Ugly- What needs to stop?

This is about being ruthless and taking a cold hard look in that mirror. What needs to cease immediately? Do you have a negative culture with people treating each other badly, bullying or as simple as moaning and dragging others down. Do you have old habits or practices or admin that no one knows why you do it? Are you making persistent mistakes? Are you targeting the wrong audience? Are there products you need to stop selling?

From these three lists your final job is to create a list of actions.

From the good you draw out what needs to be repeated, grown, developed, shared or sung about. From the bad you work out how you will make improvement changes and the action you need to take. From the ugly, your actions should be about stopping or removing and how you put this in place and communicate to others.

It is a simple but powerful process and about facing that mirror without clothes and seeing how to drive forward as a new more efficient model.