Choosing your response
Strategic or Operational?
Entrepreneurs are by nature action-oriented and they trust their instincts. So they are quick to assess any new challenge and decide on a response immediately. But before leaping into action, it is important to ask yourself an important initial question: It is a strategic issue or operational issue?
The answer will help you make better decisions about both the immediate response and the long-term action required.
Consider this example: You’re about to complete your month-end reports when suddenly your system freezes then crashes and you cannot access the files again. Sounds like a crisis that needs urgent action, right? But before you launch into the operational solutions and call tech support, run the back-up, or install a software patch, ask if there is a strategic issue to be resolved here. Especially if this has happened before.
Have you outgrown the software? Is your hardware sufficiently robust and reliable? Are the staff adequately trained? These are long-term issues that may need to be addressed. The problem may need to be fixed now, but how can we prevent it happening again? What needs to change?
And most importantly, what have we learned that we can apply in response to future challenges.
Keep learning, to be better and do better.
Your Uncle Ralph, Del Chatterson
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