By Virginia Mburu
It is early Monday Morning…….
Mwakazi, Pendo and the children - Jabali
and Waridi are ready to start the day. The parents take the children to school
and continue discussing the procrastination bug (refer to previous article here).
“I need to sort out a few frogs in the office”,
Mwakazi reckons. “Same here” responds Pendo. They have arrived at her
workplace and Pendo alights.
Mwakazi gets to work early as usual. He catches
up on news from his favorite paper. An interesting article on the cover page “Baba
while you were away……….”
He briefly scans the other pages and moves to
the properties section. He takes some time in this section noting new
developments and contacts that are important to his business- Makao
Interior Designers.
Meet the
team
He gets ready for a ten o’clock project team
meeting to be held in an hour. In his team is Juhudi, Kutenda, Furaha, Zawadi
and Kusema. Some have been with his company for long while some were recruited
recently as the business grew.
He gets to the meeting room on time. Only Juhudi
and Kutenda are in attendance. After the usual pleasantries, he asks
about the whereabouts of Furaha, Zawadi and Kusema. Kutenda remarks that
they should be arriving anytime.
Two minutes later Furaha and Zawadi walk in
profusely apologizing for being late........
“Let’s get started. Before we get on to today’s
agenda I have a story”, Mwakazi says. He goes on to narrate the “another day with the frog story”. He
asks each of the employees to identify the frogs that are plaguing their work.
Late comer
As this exercise is going on, Kusema walks in
panting. “I’m sorry Sir, I had dashed out to pay electricity bills.
I got a call that the disconnection crew is at home”. Mwakazi tells him to
sit. “Let me reiterate this for the last time, our meetings start as
indicated in the circulated agendas. See me after the meeting”.
The next agenda is on how to handle the new
contract- the new apartments on Kona Drive. They start discussing how they have
done similar projects in the past.
Kutenda, the last recruit who joined them
five months ago also adds on what used to be done in the last place he worked.
They ultimately come up with the strategies, action plans, deadlines, performance measures, responsibilities etc.
Mwakazi reminds the team that lateness
will not be entertained and reminds Kusema to see him after the meeting. By the
end of meeting, it is a few minutes to one and they break for lunch.
Plain plan
Juhudi- the team leader circulates the Kona
Drive Apartments design plan the following morning. Mwakazi does not quite like
the plan. It is so, so plain. The usual plan with only minor changes. Nothing
exciting! “If I do not like it, what will the customer think? Something
has to change- Fast”, He says to himself.
Mwakazi is a member of Interior
Design Business Owners Association. The association organizes networking events
and they have a meeting after lunch today. They have invited a business growth
coach and he is looking forward to listening to what the coach has to
offer. He actually arrived earlier to take a front seat.
“Good afternoon! Today, we look at how you
can lower your standards”. The coach said to everyone’s surprise. Now he
had the attention of everyone in the room. “Yes, you can lower your standards
and it does not take effort to do so".
Mediocre
product
How often do you or your team members keep
saying “this is the way we do it” How often do you hear a person who
was working elsewhere say, “this is how we used to do it”. What is
likely to be result of this kind of conversation- A standard non-exciting or
even mediocre product!
Is it any wonder that you lose that
contract to your competitor? Let’s hear from the audience how we can change
this sad scenario”
A number of hands were raised and as
the members contributed to the debate, Mwakazi’s mind drifted to the
discussions in yesterday’s meeting and the resulting plan on his desk. No
wonder he had his misgivings on the plan!
- What can he do to come up with a better plan?
- What kind of thinking should his team adopt?
Over to you Passionate Entrepreneur-Please assist Mwakazi by sharing your thoughts
in the comments section below
Whatever you do, make sure
it results in less work, more money and positive impact.
Update
Virginia Mburu
Passionate Entrepreneurs
Coach
Virginia empowers and
motivates Passionate Entrepreneurs to realize their purpose and pursue it. She
then assists the entrepreneurs to clarify, prioritise and focus on management
and marketing strategies and action plans that will get them to work less, make
more money and positively impact within one year. Download some of
her gifts- absolutely free lessons on www.biasharacoach.blogspot.co.ke
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