Small Business

Don't End Your Day Without Doing This

By Jeff Haden

Updated on: March 24, 2011 / 11:16 AM EDT / MoneyWatch

It's true: LeBron, D-Wade, and Chris Bosh can help you improve your business. Here's how.
Every NBA team reviews the way it played the last game. Then the coach and players continue the exercise in self-reflection in front of the media at post-game press conferences.

You can and should do the same by holding your own post-business day "press conference" to get a more objective view of how you performed. I'm not suggesting you review the performance of your business on an emotional level as the aforementioned players have on occasion. Instead, at the end of each day pretend you are asked to explain the reasons behind decisions, whether you achieved specific goals, and why you "won" or "lost" that day.

Pretend you're asked questions like:

"Wow -- you closed a lot fewer sales today than average. What threw you off your sales game? What adjustments did you make mid-day?"
"Today you excelled in a lot of different areas of the business. What caused such an outstanding performance?"
"You claimed going into the day you were focused on renewing contact with at least four previous customers. What kept you from pulling that goal off?"
"I couldn't help noticing that you didn't communicate very well with other members of the team. Is there an interpersonal issue we don't know about?"

Granted, those questions have a sports flavor. Yours don't need to. Just focus on how you performed against your goals, targets, and initiatives. What went well? What went poorly?

If sales were down, why, and what I do to improve results tomorrow?
If efficiency was down, what can I immediately do to turn it around?
If a project exceeded expectations, how can I leverage that success on subsequent projects?
What interpersonal issues popped up? What, if anything, will I do as a result?
Which tasks on my to-do list did I accomplish? Which did I not accomplish, and why?

Identify the key drivers of your business and review your performance against those drivers. If you fell short in any area, put the issue at the top of tomorrow's to-do list, along with any tasks you didn't complete today.

If it helps, have a partner or colleague ask key questions, and return the favor. You'll keep each other on track.

Ask -- and answer -- the right questions, and you'll hit the ground running even harder tomorrow. Just remember that unlike a few Heat players after a recent loss, crying after the close of business is optional.

Photo courtesy flickr user Keith Allison, CC 2.0