It’s surprising how many assumptions are blithely made each day in the world of commerce with little evidence to back up those suppositions.
One person who never shied away from calling out jargon-laden management theories was Peter Drucker. This well-known titan of commerce believed there was too much focus on leadership and not enough on the day-to-day decision making that charts the course of a business.
As the saying goes, the devil is often in the details. Those seemingly small daily or weekly decisions shape a businessman’s destiny over time. Perhaps it’s time to take a closer look at your company’s decision-making process. Don’t say you don’t have one. It may be a default position where drifting from one crisis to the next defines the course of your business. If so, it’s time to apply logic and a systematic approach to steering the enterprise.
The first place to begin revitalizing your business is to ban business jargon. Every time a bit of jargon erupts in a business meeting, call it out. Ask the staffer or manager to put some concrete details on the table, by fleshing out the proposal with a series of quantifying questions. Use the ‘Smart’ method and ferret out those meaningless slogans.
There’s nothing quite like a dose of facts and figures to add clarity to a business discussion. There will be a push back, because workers are wary of accountability. It’s human nature to want some wiggle room. Jargon provides a rich supply of wiggle room and that’s not good for your business. Historic, statistical data on the performance of the company or department speaks volumes and often reveals a logical course of action.