Voice of the Business

Who do you listen to?

There are many voices in business—those of the entrepreneur, the CEO, the leadership team, employees, customers, business counselors, the market, investors, and more. And while well-intentioned, and trying to help you succeed, we at Vector Reports have always been perplexed at the number of business failures in spite of all the good advice received.

The entrepreneur, in today's social hierarchy, is often positioned as the one who "knows" in their role as leader. We understand they almost have to live in the future and hold the vision for all, as opposed to living in the here-and-now. It was as if leaders were trying to lead from the future, acting as if what they imagined should be, was already real. But growth and change require starting with the now and what is—leading from the present, grounded in current reality, and guiding the organization step-by-step toward the future goal in mind.

We have observed CEOs are almost always seeking out information so they "can know" what's going on in the market it operates within that might affect their plans.

Internal department leaders are subject to misaligned rewards systems, possible personal biases, and don't always share what is going on in the business up the ladder. Lean philosophy teaches how important it is to listen to the people who perform the work, because they're the ones who really know what's happening right now, but how many of us who are building the business are actually doing that?

The external market constantly sends signals, early-stage investors are often quite vocal, and counselors / mentors bring their experience which can also be biased by their past. And customers vote with their feet.

One important question to ask is, "How do you learn what is really happening in your business?" when there is a cacophony of voices constantly saying do this, or worry about that, or ignore this and pay attention to that, and so on.

Learning to Listen

The human brain filters out most of the information it receives. Your subconscious only forwards the messages it recognizes as relevant to a pattern of what it has learned is important enough to forward to the prefrontal cortex, where decisions are made. And that amount is far less than 1% of the total input. Which means we, as humans, are guided by the past, past patterns, past experiences—bias.

In Learning to See by Mike Rother and John Shook, they guide leaders through value stream mapping—a key tool in lean that helps reveal what's wrong and what should be improved. We've seen lean sensei walk the factory floor, observing the current state, and then immediately identify areas of waste, and often scolding the manufacturing manager for letting it persist.

We knew a similar expert and would joke that he could walk into a factory, take a long, slow breath through his nose, pause, and then declare: "The problem is in the fourth process step, near column G-17." He explained that the factory was always communicating what was—or wasn't—happening. And we could get those messages too, if we trained our senses to understand its signals.

Throughout the many change initiatives we've led or supported, we've seen leaders shut down their awareness—closing their eyes, their ears, and tuning out the "noise" claiming sensory overload. They would retreat inward for guidance. While introspection can be valuable—especially in meditative practices and personal growth—it's rarely effective in moments of crisis when current, integrative and systemic information is needed.

We invite you to consider:

• What voices are you hearing?
• Which voices are you missing?
• How you separate opinion from fact?
• How you do this quickly and accurately?

The Voice of the Small Business

As a thought experiment, imagine your business as a living being. It has a brain, bones, muscles, internal organs, a voice (all with analogous business counterparts)—and it's still young, still learning, still growing.

It's not skilled at everything yet, but it was designed for a purpose.

What would a business say if it could express its voice?

What thoughts, feelings, irritations, or frustrations might it want to express? What would it say to you—the entrepreneur, the CEO, the leader, or process owner?

Maybe, it would speak of immature processes.

Perhaps, some people or processes feel left out, neglected, or left behind—or worse, non-existent for a needed role.

Maybe, there are unknown-unknowns!

What if your business needed all its component parts working together to fulfill its purpose?

What might messages sound like:

• We're not working well together right now?
• The supply chain has missing links?
• We are not listening to customers?
• Revenue is hurting right now?
• Competition is winning?
• Product not moving?
• Too much inventory?
• And there is trouble in … [fill in the blank]?

Now imagine that these messages are being ignored or disbelieved.

What might happen to that business?

Leaders don't intend to fail, they know what could be. And that vision can lead to behaviors that live on hope, instead of living in the real world of what is actually happening around them. In those cases, all kinds of additional dysfunctional behaviors tend to show up, like:

• Leaders dismiss the message, which sends the inadvertent signal that leaders don't care
• Messengers asking themselves why they should take the risk of delivering a full and truthful message
• Filtering bad news out (sometimes simple denial of facts), and
• Self-preservation and bias behaviors rule the day

And those dysfunctional behaviors typically build downward spirals to self-destructive outcomes, making the future existence of the business turning into an almost ineluctable demise.

Have you seen that in other small businesses?

Now, then, what about your own small business?

Is this happening in your business?

But, then, how would you know, unless you already ARE listening to the voice of your business?

We see this dynamic in nearly every client engagement in one degree or another. However, once they start listening, they tend to have an awakening, clarity or an "ah ha" moment, and begin to turn things around.

We find that more experienced leaders facilitate the "voice of the business" to be amplified through their team members. But that said, depending upon the size of your business and your current state, you may need an impartial outside standard to compare to. We invite you to use VIA-Business to facilitate the right discussion topics that give your business a more succinct, accurate and louder voice.

The Power of Informed Decision Making

Entrepreneurs, leaders, and employees dedicate tremendous effort to building successful businesses, and their hard work deserves recognition. However, success does not solely hinge on the amount of effort put in—it requires informed decision making and a deep understanding of the current state of their business processes.

Our experience is that listening—through an open culture of problem solving—to the people who run your business processes is the right way to go. If you don't quite have that yet, or are too small to 'know everything' per se then a business diagnostic may be right for you.

Success in business is as much about identifying and addressing the core issues as it is about hard work. By embracing a diagnostic approach, businesses can avoid predictable pitfalls and pave the way for genuine, sustainable success.