| Bop
a Bunny
By Evan Wise, Managing Director
of Management One
I
was waiting for my wife to shop at the mall the other
day and began watching kids at an arcade. The game that
intrigued me the most was something like Bob a Bunny.
I used to play that with my kids and was surprised to
see it still existed. The difference was this time I
was an outsider, not involved with a mallet waiting
for the next pesky bunny to rear its head so I could
bop it on the head. As an outsider I could see the relevance
of the game to small businesses with which we deal.
Many
business owners operate their business like the bop
a bunny. They come to work each morning armed with a
mallet and then wait for the phone to ring or a shipment
to be delayed. When it happens they spring into action
with the hammer. Bop! Then the accountant sends the
financial report for the month. Expenses are too high.
Bop! We restrict everyone’s time and maybe let
one person go. So then quality and service suffer so
what do we do…. Bop! You would think that once
you bop a bunny it would stay down but no, here it comes
again. The same bunny you just bopped a second ago.
The
fact is that without a strategy and a view of the business
from an overall perspective, bopping one bunny will
cause another to pop up somewhere else. Your business
struggles to survive but you never really prosper. At
some point your money runs out and it’s Game Over.
Now you search your pockets to find another infusion
of capital to keep stay in the game. If you don’t
change something though, that quarter will run out after
you bop a few more bunnies.
The
problem is that if all you have is a mallet, every problem
and issue is addressed like the bunny. Problem solving
takes a real process, time, effort and diligence. When
we see a crisis, we look for the underlying problem
in order to find a solution to eliminate the problem.
That’s one bunny that won’t pop up again.
In
order to solve problems effectively we must first establish
a strategy for the business. In bop a bunny the goal
is to get as many points as possible. In business it
is to get a certain revenue or profit. The problem in
business is that it isn’t as simple as just taking
a mallet and bopping a bunny. The bunnies have no interest
in your success or failure. That isn’t true of
the bunnies you are bopping in your business. Your bank,
your employees and your customers all care about how
you treat them and handle their concerns, issues and
problems. They are willing to contribute to the success
of the business IF you let them. Successful businesses
have meaningful strategic plans and solve problems efficiently
and effectively. Businesses that struggle seem to bop
at problems just like the kids in that arcade.
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