Their list consists of Hunger, Desire, Avoidance, Emergency



In over 20 years of working with growing businesses I've found them truly the most frequent triggers for action. I imagine you're familiar with them in your personal life. Each drives us from having an idea to make a decision and take action. Three of those motivators are internally driven and the fourth is externally triggered.

I wonder if you realize how they influence your actions in leading and managing your business? And how much your business success depends on each of them? Lack of the first two means no meaningful action will take place and success sits on the sidelines, waiting.

Hunger for success is at the root of entrepreneurial endeavors. At times it's a hunger to achieve a financial goal. At others it's a passion to get a new product or service or technology into the marketplace. That hunger is enormously useful for my start-up clients. It keeps their attention finely focused. It underlies their management decision making and cuts through their distractions.

Desire takes many shapes in the business world. The desire for recognition is powerful for my clients rising in leadership roles inside organizations. They know that the recognition and advancement they're seeking depends on their achieving the target goals set for the organization, and motivates them to sharpen their collaborative and team building skills.

Emergencies are probably already familiar to you.

Just as in personal situations, business situations can demand a change of plan. The leader's plan, the manager's goal, and the entrepreneur's vision can all stall out when unexpected external circumstances occur.

And upon occasion those unexpected events can constitute an Emergency. Each of these can be a powerhouse motivator to action. They each keep your leadership and management attention on the actions most important to your business's success.

But are you familiar with the power of "Avoidance?"

Avoidance is a hidden motivator that deserves deliberate attention in every business. Maybe that's not what you expected to hear from me? Well, in any plan I work on with my clients, the question we're sure to include is "And what if our assumptions are incorrect, wrong, or just slightly off?" That question ensures time is spent on the 'contingency' thinking that makes plans robust instead of reactive.

One of my small business clients, Jack, was faced with an involuntary change of his business model due to a law that was enacted. He had the Hunger for success and the Desire for recognition with his clients. The idea was there - redeploy the company's skills and reputation in the industry to serve the same clients with other valued services. The decision and action were missing.

He'd put off doing his contingency planning before the law was enacted. And for more than 10 months after it reshaped his industry he sat immobilized until I began my work with him. Finally we'd figured out the 18 months of marketing he would have do to build his 'new' business, and he'd begun reorganizing his operations.

Then three of his five key people left. That constituted an emergency!

Half his revenue was already gone. If his old specialized business would be shrinking even further in 6 months but still had valuable clients to serve today, and his new brand and services had not yet built momentum, then who to hire? What skills and experience were needed? What training was worth investing in?

In too many instances I find business stalled because leaders are unprepared for handling the Emergencies and handle them poorly. They rely on Hunger and Desire to create their momentum. They resist putting any time or effort into Contingency planning, and wait until the Emergency raises its head to 'handle' it.

When I calculate the costs of time and expenses spent on cleaning up emergencies rather than on contingency planning there is anywhere from ten to thirty times financial impact on the business.

Not only was Jack not ready for the emergency of staff leaving, he was nearly a year behind his competition in reshaping his business with his clients. And every one of the steps needed to handle the 'emergency' would have been prepared under less stressful circumstance in the contingency planning. And the situation would have been solved less expensively.

By skipping over Avoidance, entrepreneurs haven't built up the analytical skills and decision-making processes for taking Emergency actions.

How to incorporate Avoidance in your business? The normal day-to-day execution of your plans should be delegated to competent, capable, experienced people. Twenty percent of their time should be spent on contingency planning for their own areas of your business on behalf of the company over all. You need everyone on your front lines building the skills and agility for the company to be able to respond to 'emergencies.'

Handling the unusual and unexpected events of business is 50% of the focus of leadership. It is a High Payoff activity that needs your attention, if you want to accelerate your results, and get them accomplished easier, Your time needs to be spent on raising the Avoidance questions for your company and getting responses thought through so you're prepared for those 'emergencies' and can get them solved faster when they do occur.

Copyright (c) 2008 Linda Feinholz