Six Month Review

For some, the key landmark at this time of year is the summer solstice, which just passed; or the first day of summer. To others, it is the end of the 2nd quarter of the business cycle. Either way, the year is just about one half over. What can we learn from the first half?

What did we do right? What could we do better? And what are the critical success factors for the next six months? We are still in the depths of a bad economy, so we cannot expect external factors to be of assistance. Consumer confidence has not picked up, so we can't count on euphoria.

We can only count on ourselves. We have to do the right things. We have to examine what it is that keeps our existing customers or clients coming back and make sure we keep doing those things. If we are not doing enough, we have to do more. It is not just price. Service and quality are critical. Reliability is necessary. Flexibility counts. What else?

We have to remember that our employees are the ones that are responsible for our customer relations. Happy, engaged employees contribute hugely to customer loyalty. Even in the age of layoffs and benefit cutbacks, we can work hard to keep our employees as happy as possible under the circumstances. We can work to inspire them, to earn points for credibility, transparency, honesty and integrity. How we treat our employees is part of our brand- don't forget that.

We can cut cost and lay off employees, but it is rarely enough. We have to keep business coming in the door. We have to pay our suppliers. We have to ask for everyone's contributions- effort, ideas, teamwork and sacrifice.

Entrepreneurs need to ask of themselves what they are asking of their employees. If there is a general wage freeze or cut, the owner should be doing the same to his own wages. If he is asking additional hours from others, he should be putting them in himself.

If something is taken away from employees, they ought to be given an incentive of some sort to get it back. Employees ought to be able to earn back what they gave up if certain benchmarks are hit. This builds teamwork, morale, employee engagement and employee loyalty and gives the employer credibility if he ever has to ask something of the employees again.

Use the midpoint of the year to measure your accomplishments and your opportunities for improvement. Then do something with the information.

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