Working from home for me has created opportunities for some interesting days. Today I am the CEO of Rivera Business Development, the Headmaster of the Bilingual Academy for Leadership Excellence, Chef and Housekeeper. Not every day is like this. I am careful to do this when I have met my vital goals for the week.
That was just the background for why I want to speak about spending quality time with your business. Yes, I am treating your business like a person for now. I do not know how you juggle everything you do to spend quality time with the important people in your life. What I do know is that it is not as easy as it used to be.
We have more communication tools than ever before, and we are communicating less. Instead of having to answer the phone or return a call, respond to a letter, or fax a response, we have to do these things and much more. We have cell phones with voicemail and text, multiple email addresses, social media accounts, written documents and more to respond to. Oh and everyone feels as though they need an immediate response. How can you we spend quality time with your family, let alone your business?
When was the last time you scheduled quality time to get to know your business? Has it changed? Has your customer base changed? Are your employees, providers, and clients happy with your services? I am not speaking about working on a strategic plan or other formal business plan. What do you envision when you think about quality time?
I see myself spend an afternoon with one of my adult children where I am fully present to everything we are doing together. If we are having lunch, it is all I am focused on. I am not sneaking a peak at my phone. Let alone answering a call or text message. I turn off the ringer to avoid distractions. Quality time is really time spent focusing on what you are doing at a certain moment in time and nothing else.
Your business needs you to look at it and see it for all that it is.
Notice everything that it provides for you and your family. Being grateful for the employees that hang in there, even in tough times. How can you do things better for your business? Have you been distracted or avoiding an important conversation with someone in your company?
During my quality time with my business in the past few days, I thought about how much our customer base has changed. Realizing this made me think about what needs to change in how we do business. I realized how much I have changed since I started my business and how that reflects on everything we do.
There is much to learn from spending quality time with your business. Try it. You will learn a lot about it and yourself as a leader.