Wrong Priorities Cause Mediocre Performance

Wrong Priorities Cause Mediocre Performance in SME’S

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release 20/11/2006

SME’s could be hindering their success by focusing energy on the wrong tasks. Most businesses focus 100% of their time on their ‘have to do’ list meaning their ‘would love to if I had time’ list always remains impossible. The added stress Christmas and New Year brings, further highlights the need to get these two conflicting lists under control.

Allison Toner of Niche Forecasting has spoken to over 100 New Zealand businesses about their ‘would do’ vs. ‘have to do’ lists and has seen how much “gold lives in these gaps”. She is addressing this problem which seems to be felt even more strongly at this busy time of year “We have all heard ‘work on, not in your businesses’ and this is a similar concept that is all about prioritisation. Unfortunately the ‘have to do’ list of businesses lives miles away from their ‘would do’ list, and most do not take the time to recognise the gold, innovation and lead factor they have hiding within the latter.”

Mike Watson CEO of NZ Business Excellence Foundation agrees prioritisation is the key “An effective process for prioritising business issues is critical to separate the vital few from the trivial many, unfortunately most businesses attempt to do too much and as a result often compromise potential benefits”.

Allison points out that ignoring tasks you forgot you even had is a recipe for mediocre business performance, and that every business has the choice whether to be in top form before Christmas and New Year strikes or to feel stress and overwhelm well into March when they realise the tasks are still in limbo waiting to be nailed down. She says “improvement is a constant process; you will never be the leader if you only use innovation when it is required of you”.

Analysing your ‘would do/have to’ lists benefits each business differently but getting your team engaged and passionate about working for you (because you ask for and utilise their ideas), lowering costs because of improved systems, gaining consumer recognition and ‘chat factor’ from a USP (unique selling point) are a few any business would cherish.

35 days till Christmas is plenty of time to get your businesses ‘would do’ list prioritised with simple action plans prepared before Christmas.

Niche Forecasting has developed a package to help business owners and their staff come together to do just that. Helping clients find easy ways to achieve the projects they never seem to get to which could be anything from: setting up a loyalty program, establishing better staff training, having more rewarding sponsorships, increasing staff engagement and moral or changing the marketing/branding direction. The ‘would do’s’ that will improve and develop your business can be made into a reality. Visit www.nicheforecasting.co.nz for full package details, Allison says there is still enough time to complete the initial process before 2007.

ENDS

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