Ask most business owners which of their systems keep them up at night and they’ll talk about sales, or staffing, or the cashflow that never quite behaves itself. Nobody mentions their contracts. Nobody mentions their insurance policy, or when it was last checked, or whether their data is actually protected the way they think it […]
Category Archives: Big Mac Thinking
22
Oct
Oct
Think about the last time you watched a team member do something their own way – a shortcut here – an extra step there – a way of doing it you’d never have shown them. Now ask yourself where they picked it up. Somebody taught them It’s rare that someone will work out a job […]
29
Sep
Sep
“But surely that’s just common sense?” I’ve heard that so many times from frustrated business owners. Someone hasn’t done something the way they expected, a customer hasn’t been dealt with properly, or something obvious has been missed, and the reaction is usually some version of, “I shouldn’t have to tell them that!” Maybe you shouldn’t, […]
Big Mac Thinking, OurWay Methodology, Simple Systems
Your Best People Might Be Hiding Your Biggest Problems
17
Sep
Sep
We all love having those people in the team: the ones who just know what to do. They’ve been around for a while, they understand how everything works, they know the customers, they know the quirks of the business and they can usually sort out a problem without making a song and dance about it. […]
Big Mac Thinking, OurWay Methodology, Simple Systems
Did Your Team Miss You While You Were on Holiday?
02
Sep
Sep
There’s something lovely about coming back from holiday and being told, “Thank goodness you’re back, we’ve missed you.” It makes you feel valued and important. Before you enjoy that warm glow for too long though, it’s worth asking exactly why they missed you. Did they really miss you, or did they miss the person who […]
Big Mac Thinking, Business Scale, OurWay Methodology
The Complexity in Your Business Isn’t Inevitable
27
Aug
Aug
Most of the chaos in a small business has been quietly built by the owner. I meet a lot of business owners who are drowning in complexity. Too many moving parts, too many things that only they can handle, too many days that end with a list longer than the one they started with. They […]
12
Aug
Aug
Customers judge you on what they can rely on every day. Cast your mind back to a business you’ve stopped using. The chances are it was the inconsistency. The times it was great followed by the times it really wasn’t, until eventually you thought ‘I’ll try someone else.’ That’s exactly what your customers are thinking […]
13
Jul
Jul
Every touchpoint a customer has with your business tells them something about you. The question is what it says, and how deliberately you’ve shaped it. Think about the last time you had a really poor experience with a business. My guess is it was a series of small things – a call that took too […]
11
Jul
Jul
If the same things keep going wrong in your business, you’re missing a How To. Every business has its recurring problems: the ones that get fixed on a Tuesday and are back by Friday; the ones that different members of the team handle in completely different ways, so the outcome depends entirely on who picked […]
09
Jul
Jul
Football has been proving this for decades. It’s a lesson a lot of small businesses learn the hard way too. Alan Shearer. One of the greatest strikers the Premier League has ever seen. Natural leader on the pitch, wore the armband with pride, scored goals that people still talk about. Newcastle gave him the manager’s […]
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