A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DONALD’S KEY CHALLENGE AUDIT SHEET^©

7 important things that the
‘Business Key Challenge Audit’
will tell you about your business:

(to download this document, click on the link at the bottom of the page)

Simply put, every business is trying to get from where they are now, to some better place they commit to be, with higher sales, more loyal customers, a more effective team, world-class operational efficiency and improved profitability.  The problem is that many businesses are not clear about where ‘here’ is. They’re not being realistic about the challenges they face, nor are they in agreement about how to fix them

The ‘Business Key Challenge Audit’ process is important and insightful. By taking just a few minutes for you and your management and supervisory team to independently and honestly complete this 1-page exercise (see Page 2), then analyzing the results, here’s some of what you’ll discover… 

1. 1. The number of challenges that your business faces, now and in the foreseeable future. Challenges that require your urgent time and attention.
2. Is there agreement on what those challenges are? Did most team members put their Xs in the same place…or do you have wide disagreement about what needs fixing? “Is everyone singing from the same hymn sheet?” If you can’t even agree on what needs fixing, how can you start taking effective action?
3. Which challenges are most important and need to be addressed first? Typically, these are the challenges that get the highest number of votes from you and your team.
4. Which members of your management team ‘get it’…and which don’t? Did some team members X off only 3-4 challenges, while most checked off 12 to 18? Do those who checked off just a few simply not ‘get it’…or are they disengaged from the company and their job?
5. Are you, as the boss, truly in touch with the challenges of the business, as seen by your team …or are you in a state of ‘comfortable denial’?
6. It will be revealing to chat with those who X’d off some items that most others did not. Ask them why they saw that particular item as a challenge in the business. Often, what is first thought to be a marginal and minority view turns out to be a valid and highly important insight from one person or department within the business.
7. The ‘Business Key Challenge’ exercise, properly executed, will start a process of open and frank discussion, debate, innovation, decision, action and implementation that will make a major impact on the growth and profitability of your business.

Important note: For each decision that you and your team make to address a challenge, get very specific about what action will be taken, by whom, by when, measured how and rewarded how.  Remember, businesses don’t die from a single shot to the head…they slowly and surely from a thousand uncompleted tasks.