Success Factors

August 8, 2008 Written by Frances Schagen

“We didn’t get the house tea blend with this shipment and we’re almost out.”
Mary had reluctantly interrupted our meeting. She knew that Joanne held our pow wow sessions as inviolable, but she also knew that a Tea House without tea wasn’t good either.

Joanne excused herself to straighten out the situation.

She was back very quickly, and I asked her what had happened.

“Our supplier produces a special blend of tea for us. It includes a unique tea plant from Africa that sometimes is in short supply because of the weather. We already identified a more common plant that can be used when that happens. I asked Mary to call them and find out which one they will be shipping and when. We should be able to make it another 5 days with our current supply.”

I congratulated her on having a unique blend and on having a back up plan. I asked her if she wanted to follow up on it. I needed her full attention to go over the monthly figures.

“No. Mary can take care of it.”

Now I was the one who needed a minute to process what had just happened. This is one of the few clients I have who never gets frazzled. Everything works exactly the way it’s supposed to. What was it she was doing and how could I bottle it up and sell it to my other clients?

As I drove home after our afternoon meeting, I thought about the clients I have who are most successful. What was it about all of them that made them better than the others?

Let’s see:
They tend to be in action mode not reaction mode.
They empower their staff to take care of their duties.
They know who to call when things don’t go as planned.
They get things done.
They are relaxed, yet driven
Busy not frazzled
On top not overwhelmed

If I had to break it down into three things it would be

1) They are very clear about where they are headed.
2) They delegate like crazy.
3) They create processes for everything.

Develop Strong Teams, Know Where You Are Going, Your Effortless Business
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1 Comment
  1. Georgina Taylor Georgina Taylor
    August 13, 2008    

    Great anecdote and suggestions, these two in particular struck a chord “They are relaxed, yet driven/Busy not frazzled”. Many assume that you can’t distinguish drive/motivation from nervous Type A behavior, which is a flawed assumption. The most driven people will take a step back and realize that being so flustered is actually stealing them of energy and productivity, thus representing a constraint. Thanks for the post!