In business, strategy is everything. Whether it’s marketing, social media, pricing, product launches or another element within your business, planning it strategically will help you and your business to thrive.
Good strategies can outline you and your business’s direction, guiding your daily decision-making, so you know where to allocate resources, etc. Part of that strategy is knowing when we need to push that little bit harder or ease off and give ourselves some time to rest. If we don’t get this right, then we risk burnout and other mental health-related stresses.
But what is the best way to plan your downtime and seasons of ‘going all out’?
The Leader’s Dilemma: Celebrate the Win or Plan What Comes Next?
I recently came across an interesting story in my peer group.
It talked about pretending you’re a victorious king, coming home from a long and hard battle. As you climb to the top of your palace and survey your kingdom, and celebrate your successes and achievements, what do you see in your kingdom that needs to be addressed? How will you lead your people into prosperity? Yes, we may not all be royalty, but that first part makes a great deal of sense. We always need to celebrate our successes, but the most ambitious and successful leaders will always be wondering, ‘What’s next?’ ‘What can I improve?’
I tend to be the king who comes home from a battle and starts planning the next kingdom to conquer or the next quest. I have a hard time stopping to celebrate the wins, honor the lost or acknowledge that rebuilding needs to happen. It helps me to be a great achiever but tends towards poor management of the most important (the people you serve). I get so lost in the big picture that I forget the day-to-day management that needs to happen to create a prosperous kingdom.
Planting, Harvesting, and Rest in Business
It helps me to break it down in terms of farming.
My family were farmers until my granddad and his brother became CPAs and “moved in town”. They were tobacco farmers in South Georgia, and that spirit is probably embedded in my DNA. In farming, you have three distinct seasons: Planting, Harvesting, and Rest. And these seasons can be applied to the business world, too.
Let’s start with planting. Every good farmer has to intentionally go into the field and start prepping the soil, choosing the right seeds and actually planting the crops. They cannot stay in the ideation phase for long. They must make choices. They must decide which crops will be planted and which grow best in their environment. Not only that, but they must also choose the right season to plant. They must decide the right seed, the right soil, and the right time to start planting. You don’t want to start planting too early or too late. Quick note: The community around them also helps to decide what, when and how crops will be planted and tended to.
Now apply that to business. You start with preparation, choosing the right team around you, and getting the ball rolling. You get out of the ideas phase as quickly as possible and set people tasks where you know they’ll thrive. Get your timings right and you’ll reap the rewards.
Harvesting is when you get down to the real labor. Sweating, back-breaking work that is the fruit of your planting. You could have a good harvest or a bad one, depending on the choices you made in planting, or maybe the weather was poor. The advantage of service companies is that we have more control over conditions than farmers do. Yes, the economy can change, but so can our strategy. We can decide how often we pull the weeds, cultivate the soil, and what seeds to sow. I heard a quote recently from W. Edwards Deming that said: “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results that it does.”
If what you are harvesting is poor, you have a poor system. If your harvesting is good, you have a good system.
After harvesting, the farmers would take a rest. The field needed it, the farmers' workers needed it, and the machinery needed it. That didn’t do away with the movement of the farm. The farmers needed to change the oil in the tractor, milk the cows, and cultivate the soil for the next planting season. They needed to maintain things, but the season was not for “pushing”. That is a term I have been pondering after a peer group meeting. “Pushing” to me is the hard work that is needed to build the firm of my dreams: re-pricing and sales process, overloading your calendar, complex projects, strategic initiatives, doing tax returns or monthly closes.
I just went through a pushing season. It’s important to recognize that your life has seasons.
Take Stock, Find Your Season, and Align Your Business Strategy
At any given time of the year it’s good to take stock and properly ask yourself some questions:
- What season are you in?
- Are you Planting, Harvesting or Resting?
- What does your kingdom look like in the next phase of your business?
Now, think back to the last time you had a resting season and question whether you need to slow down and start one.
- How can we help you, regardless of what season you are in?
- Do you need to talk to a fellow entrepreneur who knows exactly where you stand tax-wise, financially or how to deploy your personnel effectively?
If you don’t know which season you are in, take an hour and allow yourself to ponder which season is right for you.
Then, pull on your boots and get to work….unless you’re resting.
Whatever stage you’re in, we can help make sure you’re prepared for what comes next. Get in touch to see how we can grow your business sustainably.