If you have staff or you're thinking about getting staff... you should know about this.
We're supposed to judge people on what they actually get DONE in the real world, right?
But what tends to happen in every company is that we start judging people on what they TELL US that has happened versus what ACTUALLY HAS happened.
Jim Rohn has a great bit about this.
He's talking about handling salespeople in your company. You tell the salesperson on Monday: "John, make sure to do 10 calls this week."
John agrees. You call him back on Friday and say:
"John, how many calls did you get done?"
John starts with this story.
"Well, you know, my pet turtle, she got ill! And then my wife said we should go to the shopping mall to get some medicine. But then it got way worse. And then lightning struck the pet ambulance and it drove into our house! It was horrible. But then it got reaaaaaaaallllllly bad..."
And John goes on and on and on with his pet turtle story.
So you have to interrupt him and say:
"John, John, wait up! I keep track of these things you know? And I track it on a piece of paper. It has all of these boxes and the boxes are so small that a story won't fit!"
"So what I need from you is a number. Specifically, the number of calls you made."
So what if John tells you the number is 10 or above?
That's GREAT! That's awesome! We might have a winner here!
What if John tells you the number is below 10?
Well... that's not so good is it?
And what does the number tell us?
The number tells us EVERYTHING.
EVERYTHING!
As business owners we need to boil things down to KPIs. That's our job.
May sound harsh. May sound like late-stage capitalism.
Well... it's what we're supposed to do. Because we all get paid for the stuff we get DONE.
Focus on what is actually being done. Numbers. Not stories.
Talk soon,
Adir
P.S. If you'd like to work with me and my team, fill out the form below and we'll be in touch to see if we're a good fit.