Vision

This is when they realised that they had not slowed down to think deeply enough about their vision. This was a Powerful topic for participants - to ‘lift their eyes’ so to speak and tease out the vision, strategies and goals for the business, and to then move onto developing an action plan for the next 12 months. Observing the participants working through this process was gold for me. 

Finance

The power of understanding the financial levers for a business - for example measuring and working the GP%, and the cash cycle - because cash is ultimately king. The 3rd ah-huh was the importance of understanding finances deeply enough to enable the right questions to ask of the internal finance person and external accountant.

Systems

They all recognised the power of systematising their business and that it is quite normal for businesses to grow ahead of their systems.  A common dilemma for business owners is not knowing where to start to systematise their business - the coaching session really helped to clarify this - we worked with them separately on what they deemed as the highest priority process. This is when they learnt the practical application of the systems methodologies that Glenn has used over his 20+ years of business coaching. 

People

The Engine Room HR wheel was the gold nugget here - The 24 pieces of the jigsaw model made the complex intangible topic of people management so much easier to comprehend and to know what elements to focus on in the short to medium term.

Marketing

Marketing is one topic in business that can be seen as non urgent and therefore can be delayed until a rainy day.  Ironically some of the urgent priorities that gets in the way of marketing is a byproduct of inadequate marketing some time prior - for example dealing with a difficult client or submitting a quote/tender to a non ideal client in order to feed the work pipeline.  The participants main ah-huh from this topic is that effective marketing will attract more of the right clients at the right rate.  And Engine Room we suggest that two thirds of most business challenges evaporate if the right clients arrive at the right time