Jeweller - November 2020

PROACTIVE
POINTERS
Set aside
time each week
to evaluate
different parts
of the business
Focus on
assessing: your
customer base,
opportunities
and challenges,
efficiencies,
and staff
Be flexible
– if you are
procrastinating
one task, move
on to another
and return to
the first later
• Monitor staff morale/productivity – Are you
monitoring employee productivity to find early
indicators of morale issues?
Are you asking staff for ideas of how the business can
improve performance and speed while increasing
customer satisfaction?
It’s wise to put these sections into a weekly calendar
– but don’t feel the need to be rigid about scheduling.
It’s perfectly fine to allow for movement within the
week, but try to avoid allowing the sessions to slip
into subsequent weeks as this readily translates into
a habit of deferring work.
Focus on flexibility
Retailers should allow for flexibility during their
weeks for a variety of reasons. Firstly, if energy levels
are low on any given day, owners and managers may
experience a diminished ability to concentrate.
If so, opt for some ‘mindless’ tasks that need to be
completed and postpone the truly important work for
the following day. Prepare for these tasks by hitting
the sack early that evening to ensure you have the
energy to tackle important jobs the next day.
Another reason to maintain a flexible schedule is to
allow yourself the opportunity to flick between tasks
based upon how you feel at the time. There are days
when you might have scheduled blog writing time but
instead stare at the screen for five fruitless minutes.
Whatever the reason for your inability to deal with the
issue at that moment, it makes sense to shift your
focus to the issue your mind wants to address.
In other words, don’t fight nature, as this is a futile
pursuit that leads to a general lack of productivity.
Interestingly, when you allow your mind to work on
what it wants to address, you not only complete that
task more quickly but also find it much easier to
focus on the scheduled items when you return
to them.
This simple approach will not only help you ensure
you’re touching all the bases in your business each
week but also ensure you’re pre-empting many of the
issues that affect business owners who only deal with
those based on urgency.
Now go and focus!
S E CUR E
E A RRI NG B ACK S
P r o u dly d e sig n e d a n d
m a n u fac t u r e d in the U K
S A F E
S ECU R E
NON-S LIP
H YPO-A LLERGE NIC
C OMFOR T ABLE
DALE FURTWENGLER is the founder of
Furtwengler & Associates. Hs is a speaker,
author and business consultant. Visit:
pricingforprofitbook.com
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