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Health & Fitness

Are Screaming Babies Running Your Business?

Managing all the areas of a small business can be the equivalent of taking care of a houseful of infants, each with their own needs, wants and demands.

Managing all the areas of a small business can be the equivalent of taking care of a house full of infants, each with their own needs, wants and demands. How do you keep the peace while spending your time on the highest priority areas that drive growth? 

Anyone who has raised children will tell you that multitasking is a way of life for a number of years. Babies, by their very nature, have several primal needs (eating, sleeping and changing) and a limited way of communicating what they want when they want it. Until they learn to talk, their only way to get attention is to scream, cry or otherwise disturb your routine enough to get you to attend to them. In essence, the only way to get through the week is to get really good at managing priorities. 

Where Are Your Business' Screaming Babies?

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The things that divert your attention from your most important tasks may not look like cute little bundles of joy but the concept produces the same result. That feeling of attending to everyone else’s issues or dealing with things that you would rather not spend time on. 

Most business owners labor under the weight of numerous screaming babies and like busy parents, learn to do whatever it takes to stop the screaming so they can get back to doing what they believe is most important. 

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Now, your children are clearly more important than the many low-level tasks that can derail a business owner’s preplanned schedule at the drop of a hat! So what do you do to minimize these constant disruptions so you can at least feel like you’re getting important things done? 

  • Recognize what these "screamers" look like. If an employee is responsible for following up with customers to determine their level of satisfaction but you continually get phone calls with complaints, determine why the system you created is not working. Maintain your process by fixing the problem so you can resume your priorities and have to field fewer disruptions.
  • Make sure you’ve identified what’s important to you. Many times, the screamers fall on your desk because you make time for them. If your focus is not on more important tasks, the universe will find ways to direct these interruptions your way. I had a client years ago that suffered from chaos on a daily basis. Funny thing is, the chaos vanished every year when he went on vacation!
  • If the screamers persist, make them a priority for someone else. Too many business owners end up taking on tasks that they feel can only be done by them. Even when there are employees who may be more capable, they continue to overwhelm themselves because they don’t delegate.

Whether With Kids or Business, Expectations Are Critical 

When my kids were infants, I would run to them every time they decided to communicate the only way they knew how-by screaming! Eventually, they grew out of this and although the demands for mine and my wife’s time did not diminish, we at least felt like we could control the disruptions better because as we communicated our expectations and over time, they adjusted.

But screaming babies in your business never grow up! If you want to reduce your stress, improve your productivity and generally feel better about running your business, find those screaming babies and set some expectations that everyone can live with.   

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