“Pick one thing and fix it. And then pick the next thing.”
During this past summer our group of companies here at Countryside has been going through change. Added to amalgamating the group into one Company we made a major business software switch. This included ending almost everything that was familiar in the office and learning to do things in a new way.
Anyone that has ever gone through a business system switch will tell you it is a painful time. At just about when you think you will definitely not survive it starts getting better. At about the time you think it’s going well you hit another wall, with a dozen unforeseen issues. It can be enough to make you want to quit. Frankly some companies do abort after investing tens of thousands of dollars.
Obviously, the team that is training and helping you on-board makes the difference, whether it will go well or terrible. Recently in another of many meetings, Ken, one of the systems guys offered an excellent piece of advice.
He said, “We just want software to work. To just do everything we want it to do right away. But the reality is it will break, there will be issues as we build what is right for you. When you look at all the issues at once, its overwhelming. And when you try to fix them all at once, you get a conglomeration of mediocrity. The key, Ken said, is to pick one thing and fix it.”
Pick one thing and fix it. And then pick the next thing.
Author, speaker and businessman, Mike Michalowicz (don’t ask me to pronounce that) wrote a whole book elaborating on this principle. In the book called Fix This Next he argues that there is a “Business Hierarchy of Needs”. Each business has several non-negotiable building blocks of needs. Within each block there are components of needs to make it functional. The goal is to pick the current component with the greatest weakness and fix it. And then pick the next one and fix it. Below is an example I formulated for Countryside a few years ago.
As a visionary, one of my personal weaknesses is to focus on the ideal. I know what it should be like, what it could be like even if it is 5 or 10 years away. But the next step or the series of next steps make me freeze up, and I do nothing. Thankfully I have people around me that know how to “fix this next”.
In the short time I have operated Countryside there is one thing I try hard to remember. Well, two things actually. First, to remember there will always be problems. They are infinite, as sure as death and taxes. Life and business are like a mountain range. For every peak there is a valley. But for every valley there is a peak. You can absolutely count on it.
But secondly, and more importantly, remember to look back at the progress you have made, and be encouraged by it. Success isn’t so much about arriving or reaching a destination. It is better defined as progress within a worthy endeavor. And progress is simply putting the next foot forward, doing the next right thing.
To pick one thing and fix it.
