What’s your motivation?

When I ask small business owners where they want to be in three years, I find they usually answer in one of two ways:

1) They have a number in mind. These are the goal-oriented folks who want to achieve a certain net profit. Could be that the number is to improve their family life and standard of living, could be that they want to make more money so that they can give more.

2) They picture their organization looking a certain way. These are the process folks who imagine a company with a certain level of function and capability. They imagine particular people in particular roles, and want to figure out how to have an organization that functions the way they would like it to.

It doesn’t matter which group you fall into - the actions required to get there are the same. If you want to achieve a certain number, then you need an organization that supports it. If you want to create an organization with particular functions, you need to make enough money for the organization to be sustainable.

Step one is create your organizational chart as it is today.

Step two is to create your organization chart as it needs to be three years from now to either produce a certain number or a certain capability.

Step three is to put a timeline on it and decide when you are going to fill which roles.

Find out more about this in our Leadership module.