“The right relationship between prayer and conduct is not that conduct is supremely important and prayer may help it, but that prayer is supremely important and conduct tests it.”

- Archbishop Temple

I frequently find that the best business wisdom isn’t.  That’s because wisdom, regardless of where it originates, tends to have broad application.

In that vein, I was struck a few years back by the insight in this quote by Archbishop Temple, which places the spirit and caliber of our earnest effort over the ends for which we strive.  Shouldn’t we be thinking about business this way?

Riding the Archbishop’s coattails, we might say:  

The right relationship between continuous improvements and results is not that results are supremely important and continuous improvements may help them, but that continuous improvements are supremely important and results test them.

Viewed this way, results are merely the litmus test of the quality and effectiveness of our continuous improvement efforts. This may not seem revelatory if you are part of the quality crowd, but in my experience it is not the predominant view held in business.  We hear individuals described as results-oriented, but how often are they said to be improvement-oriented or growth-oriented?

The implementation of defined retrospective loops, where we inspect our practices and adapt based on our outcomes is something that we tend to forgo, believing that it is takes time and effort away from the business of achieving results.  But, investing our energies in relevant personal and organizational improvement, learning, and growth does not detract from our ability to produce.  Rather, these activities enrich us as individuals and organizations, while enabling more effective production and higher quality output.  Perhaps that’s why W. Edwards Deming, the famous statistician and business consultant, stated “Learning is not compulsory… neither is survival.”

Finally, while this “paradigm shift” is wholly justified by it’s ability to enhance our returns, it appeals to me for one additional reason.  It further humanizes business by compelling us to focus on activities that support our self-actualization.  Talk about  a win-win.

“A man who never makes a mistake never makes anything.”

- Herr Hunt, my third grade German teacher

When I was in third grade, my teacher invited a guest instructor, Herr Hunt, to come in for a few weeks and teach us a bit about Germany and the German language.  While I’ve forgotten most everything from that experience, save how to count to twenty in German, there was one comment made by our instructor which has never left me.

Whenever Herr Hunt would see that we were afraid to answer a question, he would say, “A man who never makes a mistake never makes anything.”

You mean that it’s OK to make mistakes?

Wait…Wait… You’re not just saying mistakes are OK, you’re saying they’re necessary?

The idea was a revelation, and ultimately a valuable counterbalance to my already overdeveloped perfectionist tendencies.  Yes, even at that tender age.

You don’t have to be a recovering perfectionist, like me, to have been tainted with our society’s pervasive contempt for mistakes.  How often has your significant other commended you for a mistake?  How frequently have you witnessed a grade raised or bonus increased on the grounds of a mistake?

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that we necessarily have to reward mistakes, but in our culture we are on the other end of the spectrum.  We seem to be at war with mistakes, and in that war we are largely unaware of the collateral damage to innovation, learning, and our ability to improve.  Fear of making mistakes stifles our collective creativity, risk taking and, ultimately, our growth.

As business owners and leaders, we have a responsibility to our businesses and our stakeholders to maximize value.  Doing so means getting the most out of each relationship.  One way to quickly add value to our organizations is to normalize our perception of mistakes, by turning them into tools for learning and growth.

I suggest starting with:

• Education – Raise awareness as to the vital role mistakes play in achieving successful outcomes.  From idea generation and selection to planning and implementation we must leverage our mistakes to reach desired outcomes.
• Encouragement – Encourage communication and acceptance of mistakes.  Remove any stigma of shame associated with mistakes, get them out into the light of day and encourage everyone to learn from them.
• Integration – Integrate acceptance of mistakes into your processes.  When brainstorming, value all ideas regardless of which you pursue.  When implementing, record and discuss blind alleys and wrong turns that you’ve made, as a way to share learning.
• Commitment – Don’t stop.  Many things that are simple, are not easy.  Old habits take time and repetition to eliminate.  Stay committed.
• Tempering – While we don’t want to demonize mistakes, we’re not trying to encourage a proliferation of mistakes for their own sake, either.  Rather than a culture of “make no mistakes” or one of “make lots of mistakes”, strive for a culture of “we embrace and learn from our mistakes”.  Redirect the energy spent condemning mistakes into energy dedicated to learning from them and codifying their lessons into your collective business knowledge, processes and wisdom.

Over the years I’ve come to realize that for those who can graciously accept their charity, nothing pays more handsomely than a mistake.  May you accept and prosper from yours.

If you want to learn how coaching can help you achieve top business performance, increase your personal satisfaction and achieve your dreams, please contact me for a Free One-Hour Strategy Session.

In his recent article, Twitter A Dead End Investment For Small Business, Robert Bacal warns that unless you are doing it for fun, small business owners should not invest time in Twitter and expect business results.  Though I’ve only been experimenting with Twitter for business the last couple of weeks, what I have seen so far tends to support many of Mr. Bacal’s conclusions.  Having said that, I’m not convinced we should write Twitter off completely.

In his article, Mr. Bacal writes:

Here’s the bottom line for those in a hurry. Do NOT invest the time on twitter with the expectation that it will yield business results. If you want to participate because it’s fun, then do so. But don’t do it for business, because you’ll be disappointed now, and in the future.

While this is probably true for many small business owners, I tend to get nervous when I hear a blanket statement.  Without examining your particular business needs and marketing plan, I wouldn’t unilaterally cast Twitter out.

One Data Point – My Site

I’ve been experimenting with it as a means of driving traffic to my new website.  How successful has it been?

Well, so far 31% of my new website’s traffic has come from Twitter.  Having said that, the bounce rate for my Twitter traffic is 72%, while the pages per vist and average time on site stats are about half that of my direct hits and facebook referrals.  So, the Twitter traffic is coming, but they’re about half as committed as the rest of my traffic to stick around once they take a peak.

What does this mean for my Twitter experiment?  Well, for me, it means it’s not over…yet.  While my Twitter traffic is not sticky, it is still a significant portion of my overall site traffic.

Small Business Hope for Twitter?

Contrary to Mr. Bacal, I can imagine Twitter providing value for some small businesses.  For example, I know of one local business that occasionally distributes a dollar off coupon for Gelato via email;  if you mention the email, you get a break on the Gelato that week.  Is it possible that some subset of their customer base wouldn’t want to give out their email address, but would follow them  on Twitter?  How much more effort would it be for them to tweet their coupon in addition to sending it by email?  Would they get enough business to warrant the time?

In the end, I see Twitter as just another communication medium, albeit an immature one with a, currently, poor signal-to-noise ratio.  If you can find a way to get your message to the right audience via Twitter while achieving your desired ROI, by all means do so.    As is so often the case, it is ultimately about alignment.  If a technology, and what it provides, aligns with your business strategy and goals, use it.  Otherwise, concentrate your energy elsewhere.

I would be especially interested in hearing from any small business owners that are currently using Twitter as part of their business efforts.  What’s working for you?  What’s not?  I look forward to your comments.

This weekend, I was spending time with a close friend and business owner.  We were discussing her recent business challenges and opportunities and she was updating me on her application to participate in the 8(a) Business Development (BD) Program.  For those of you who are not familiar, the 8(s) BD Program is the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) program is designed to help small disadvantaged business owners compete and access the federal procurement market.  So, I thought it might help my readers to understand a little more about the opportunities presented by 8(a).

In talking to my friend, the application process can be  bit time consuming, but the rewards can be great.  From the SBA’s site, some of the benefits include:

• Participants can receive sole-source contracts, up to a ceiling of $3 million for goods and services and $5 million for manufacturing. While SBA helps 8(a) firms build their competitive and institutional know-how, the agency also encourages them to participate in competitive acquisitions.
• Recent changes permit 8(a) firms to form joint ventures and teams to bid on contracts. This enhances the ability of 8(a) firms to perform larger prime contracts and overcome the effects of contract bundling, the combining of two or more contracts together into one large contract.

To participate in the program applicant’s must:

• be a small business,
• be unconditionally owned and controlled by one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals who are of good character and citizens of the United States, and
• demonstrate potential for success.

Don’t know whether you would be considered a small business by the SBA?  Don’t know whether you would be considered a disadvantaged business by the SBA?

Take a look at the 8(a) BD Program info on the SBA site and find out.  In addition to all the information on the site, you can contact an SBA representative who will answer additional questions by phone.