For the past few weeks, we have been looking at key priorities to operate a Best-in-Class business. We started with the foundation of a solid Purpose which your People are engaged in. We also looked at how time, energy and resources, when utilized at the proper Pace, directly support the Purpose and People of the organization. We then explored the Perception of where your business lives with respect to creativity, innovation and embracing change to support a growth mindset for the future. Today we finally get around to a topic many of you might have felt precedes all the prior elements – that of Profit.
One of my colleagues Mike Michalowicz, the author of Profit First has helped many organizations move from existence into profitability. We at JKL Associates believe in and utilize the Profit First methodology. It not only gives you a system by which you get a new and better perspective of your revenue, profit, and expenses, it also disrupts, in a positive way, your business decision making mindset. By moving the element of profit prior to operational expenses you ensure value to stockholders and do a far more mindful use of cash to run the business.
As critical as profit is in the sustainability of a business, without a solid foundation of culture to build upon, even the best creative ideas which contribute to profit begin to dismantle over time. They cannot sustain the purpose, the people, the pace, and the perception in the marketplace.
When we look at contribution to profit, we need to start with leadership. How effective is the leadership in the business? Are they effective at managing the direction, the people, the pace, and market perception? Does leadership have the capacity to manage the resources of the business – the raw materials, the cash, the facilities, the customer interactions etc.?
Another aspect of leadership and the priorities they adhere to is the development of an ownership mindset verses a renter’s mindset in the people. When an organization is made up of renters, occupying a space in the employee chain, then growth is stagnated due to a lack of innovation and desire to contribute. The renter is exchanging time for dollars. When leadership engages its’ people and supports them to become part of the success of the team, they build an ownership mentality. The people not only want to be part of the realizing of the purpose of the business but equally how that directly supports their individual reason for being. In turn the people are rewarded appropriately to their contribution in not just dollars and cents but also in terms of self-realization.
This week step back from the financial spreadsheets and accounting reports and view the organization through the lens of people profitable. Are your people raising their capabilities to better contribute to their own personal profit and in turn growing the profitability of the organization?
Looking to place your leadership team in the best position to not only increase profit but also to sustain the overall framework of success? Consider placing them into a Prioritized Leader Mastermind cohort with JKL Associates. Our next mastermind launches shortly so don’t hesitate – call us today at MI- (313) 527-7945 or FL- (407) 984-7246