Everybody Should Play the Business Owner’s Game, Not Just Owners

There is a game every person at work should be playing every minute of every day, with every decision they make. It’s called The Business Owner’s Game, and is at the core of building a successful business or career. It transforms your relationship to work.

The objective of the Business Owner’s Game is simple: More money in less time.

Successful business leaders play this game all the time to increase their revenue (or income) and reduce the amount of time they have to personally spend increasing it. The smart leaders have everyone at work playing the same game. The objective is to discover the “highest and best use” of everyone’s time, and get them focused on doing those things.

More Money in Less Time

Anybody can make more money in more time; it’s easy—just work more hours. Except you only have 168 hours in a week. So the better idea is to discover how to make more money in less time. A lot of people intend to make more money every year, but how many of them intend to do it in less time?

Why do we all have the first graph, but not the second one? Because we’re stuck in Industrial Age thinking about how money is made, by trading time for money.

A traditional employee thinks that way as well, but shouldn’t. The Industrial Age was wrong. Everyone working in every business should be on a manic pursuit to answer the question, “How do I make more money in less time?” Your business would make more money if all your people thought this way. And if you, as a business owner, want to build a successful business, you can’t afford to succumb to this old Industrial Age habit. Let’s learn the Business Owner’s Game.

The Game: Two Simple Questions

The good news is that the Business Owner’s Game is very simple. There are only two questions:

1. Is this (whatever I’m doing right now) the highest and best use of my time?

The answer to at least seventy-five percent of what we’re doing will be, “No.” Whatever we’re doing is rarely the highest and best use of our time. We just haven’t bothered to get it off our plate (short-term decision-making).

If the answer is no, and it almost always is, then move on to question number two:

2. If this is not the highest and best use of my time, then how do I do it for the last time?

The answer to that question will lead you to freedom.

If you are serious about getting things off your plate, you’ll come up with a number of ways to offload things that don’t belong there. Freedom Mapping is just one common answer to the question. But if you’re afraid, distracted, believe your business is unique (it never is), have a big ego, believe you’re indispensable (you almost never are), or a dozen other excuses, you will find 1,000 ways to not get things off your plate.

Business Owner vs. Income Producer

This is the most important game a business owner and everyone in your business can play. We waste more time and money doing things others should be doing than just about any other way.

If you are playing this game, you are a Business Owner (even if you don’t own the business, you own your destiny). If you aren’t, you are only an Income Producer, the fatal mindset of the “employee” (yes, Business Owners can be employees of themselves!) You may think you own a business, but all you really own is a job.

How Staff Members Should Play The Game

When Krista first came to work with us, we asked her to create a Freedom Map of the processes she ran. A year later we had her go back over this with the two questions in the Business Owner’s Game, to discover the highest and best use of her time. She circled everything in the process that did not qualify, and we hired Lauren who loved doing those things and was great at them. Both of them were firing on all cylinders now. As she gained experienced and the job changed, we had Lauren re-draw her Freedom Maps another year later, and hired Donna to do the things that were not the highest and best use of Lauren’s time. As Donna gains experience we will have her do the same thing.

Don’t Hire For Jobs; Hire For Effectiveness

We never hire someone for “a job”, but instead, we hire them to take over things that aren’t the highest and best use of someone else’s time. Does anyone ever get to 100% ideal use of their time? Of course not, but everyone in our company is always closer to it than they would be working anywhere else. And they all have more freedom and more meaning in their work as a result.

Get Off The Treadmill

What is the highest and best use of your time? How do you the other things for the last time?

Apply the two simple questions in the Business Owner’s Game to everything you do for one month and see what happens. It will transform your business if you are an owner, or your job if you are a Stakeholder. It will begin to give you the answers that allow you to make more money in less time, get off the treadmill and get a life.

Jabez, Agur and Volkswagen

I own my second Passat in three years. I believed in the "clean diesel" bill of goods sold to consumers by Volkswagen, now exposed to be a major hoax and sure to result in a series of federal and international criminal indictments and consumer lawsuits. Volkswagen got itself into this major mess out of its oft-stated goal to be the globe's largest auto manufacturer.

It is hard for a Christian business person to argue against growth. Neither do they wish to argue against the sacrifice of integrity. And yet, they seem to regularly clash against each other as they have done with Volkswagen and so many other case studies in the history of enterprise. Enter the prayers of Jabez and Agur.

The Jabez Prayer received new life and a lot of conversation a few  years ago.

"Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." - Chronicles 4:10

Less known, and perhaps more provocative, is the prayer of Agur.

"Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die. Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God." -Proverbs 30:7-9

In effect, Jabez prays for an increase in his efforts and a cessation of all difficulty, while Agur prays for ethical groundedness even if he must struggle. Those who engage in business like the Jabez orientation, and yet the prayer of Agur speaks at the soul level, reminding the business person of the need for carefully cultivated integrity and a God-centered perspective of all things.

--Some seem to respond to these prayers as if one must make a choice between them. If so, which would you prefer? Which one calls to you the most?

--Others conclude that these prayers are not in conflict, rather that they reflect a progression. In effect, as Jabez lives longer and becomes more wise, his prayer shifts to something more like Agur prays. Does this reflect your pilgrimage as you have moved from the amibitious intern to the CEO who views her or his role as a steward of God's gifts?

--I think about these prayers a bit differently. For me, these prayers are not in conflict. Neither is it a progresssion a person goes through from Jabez's immaturity to Agur's wisdom. Instead I think the Agur prayer is the foundation for anyone who holds a Christian orientation. Then and only then, with the commitment to live in integrity, to be detached from material possessions, and a God-centered orientation firmly in place, can one move to pray that God would enlarge such a territory and to reduce the pain of the journey (and there will be pain).

Comparing and contrasting these prayers makes for a good exercise among a leadership team -- even if they are not people of faith. They are Jewish prayers first and foremost. And they reflect heart cries that people of all stripes tend to have. What other prayers or heart cries might be uttered that would embellish or edit what Jabez and Agur have said? What next steps are called out of those who serve your customers beside you? How does your firm reconcile the impulse to grow with the need for integrity?

I cannot get it all done!

We have all heard it: “I NEED more time!”, or “I cannot get it ALL done!”. And many of us have said it, too.

Here are some relatively short perspectives on those statements: perhaps you may find a nugget or two that will be useful. 

1. The real issue is most often NOT TIME! After all, we all have the same amount (except for those of you who sleep too much! And as I understand the universe God gave us, there will not be created any more time for any of us.

2. I have discovered that the more likely real culprit is TASKS (that we feel need doing AND need doing by us).

3. So change your viewpoint from Time Management to Task Management. What does that look like?

4. Begin by making a list of the TASKS that you need to do. Prioritize them with two parameters: a. Important versus Urgent; b. Long/hard versus Easy/short.

5. Next, chunk your time(s) for a day or a week into significant chunks (where you can tell people to NOT interrupt you).

6. Then begin!

7. Do ONLY the Important because that is your job as a leader: delegate the urgent to others.

8. Do the Long/Hard ones FIRST, and until they are done. (If you leave them til late afternoon you will rationalize why to leave them until tomorrow!).

9. Then do the Easy/Short ones.

10. While some of you will find this useful others will find it frustrating because some tasks will not get done.

11. Here is the exercise to help that situation:

    1. First, list those tasks that ONLY YOU can do, or you can do so much better than anyone else. These become priorities.

    2. Next list those tasks that you feel you ought to do: if they fit your time chunks, schedule them in. If not, see c below.

    3. All other tasks NEED to be dealt with by deciding that they really no longer need to be done; or, they can be delegated to others.

    4. Lastly, be certain that you really understand how you spend your time. See 11.

12. One of the least known and understood aspects of time/task management is that we have incorrect or incomplete knowledge of how we currently spend our time. So figure out a mechanism to track for two weeks how you spend your time (in 15 minute blocks). Use a recording tool/application, ask your assistant to track it, etc.

13. In most cases you will be surprised that how you thought you spent your time – and on what you thought your were doing – is grossly incorrect.

14. So now re-visit the exercise of how to chunk your time, and then fit in the TASKS (that only you can do or are responsible for!)..

Closing The Execution Gap

Jesus was very clear on His mission, and no person, crisis or circumstance was able to get Him off line. Do you have clarity about what your goals and top priorities are? If not, then your work force is diluted. You will find that your energy is dissipated, flying off in multiple directions—being swallowed up by the “black hole” of confusion and misalignment. The inability to take the organization’s high level priorities and translate them into productive behaviors is a problem. Ram Charan and Steven Covey call this “the execution gap”.

Simply put, what is alignment? Alignment exists when there is agreement on the goals of the organization and the process of allocating resources to achieve those goals. It reflects the ownership of team members. There is commitment, not just consensus. The systems and structures must support the strategic vision. And members must understand how top strategic objectives translate into personal goals.

A study by the Harris Group reveals astonishing statistics why execution breaks down.

1. Only 15% of those surveyed can identify their organizations most important top priorities or goals. There are various reason for this. They either didn’t have any, or they constantly changed, or there were too many. Where they did exist they were simply under communicated. In many cases the leaders were clear, but the rank and file were unsure. And since the frontline produces the bottom line, the problem is obvious.

2. Only 19% felt passionate about their organizations goals. Four in five felt no ownership. Since they’ve had no say in the process, the product—or goal—was not embraced. If there’s no connection, then there’s no involvement, which means there is no commitment. The process is as important as the product.

People embrace what they help create.

1. People spend only 49% of available work hours on their most important goals. Most of the time was spent on the urgent activities and not the important ones. Distraction is a major time waster. Emergencies always steal the limelight if priorities are not absolutely clear.

2. 51% did not know what they should be doing to achieve the organizations goals. They knew the goals but didn’t know how to translate that into productive execution. People need to know, not only the goal, but also where they fit in the plan and how they can execute.

Clarifying your goals and priorities closes the execution gap and results in productive behavior.

To achieve things you’ve never achieved before you need to start doing things you’ve never done before.

That happens when you align your daily activities and behaviors with compelling priorities.  There is a power unleashed in your life, both personally and professionally when you have a clear and compelling understanding where you are going.

So how do you know if you have a compelling vision? Rate yourself on the following with a (3) for “yes”, (2) for “sometimes”, and a (1) for “no.”

• Everyone on my team shares the same vision.

• Our vision excites, inspires, and motivates us.

• Our vision helps us understand why our activities are important.

• Our vision provides guidelines that help us make daily decisions and identify priorities.

• Our vision creates a clear picture of what we intend to accomplish.

How did you do? Now that you know where you are, you can make the appropriate changes.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” - Peter Drucker

Closing the gap between priorities and performance will help create the future you want, and we need!

Why Time Management Doesn’t Matter Until You Get One Thing Straight

Imagine you are a kid again and your parents tell you on Monday to clean the garage this Saturday, with the help of your siblings. But during the course of the week, you forget what they asked of you, and instead, you decide to set up a lemonade stand at the corner of your block to make some extra money. On Friday night, you’re determined to make a big profit, so you start planning out the day…

What is the optimal time to open for business?

How many batches of lemonade should I make in advance?

How can I make the process as efficient as possible?

What should the price be?

Who should I get to help?

How can I attract the whole neighborhood to the lemonade stand?

As you fall asleep that night, these questions swim through your mind.

Saturday morning comes, and you get right out of bed at 7:00 a.m. to start making lemonade. It’s going to get hot early, so you want to get a head start.

Everything goes as planned! You sell a lot of lemonade, the neighborhood seems like it has a skip in its step, and you go home fifty dollars richer. But when you come back to your house, your smile fades as you see your parents in the driveway and realize…

you forgot to clean the garage.

As punishment, your parents take away half of your earnings and tell you that you have to spend the rest of the night cleaning the garage. To top it off, while you’re working, the rest of your siblings get to go off and see a movie.

---

Everyone talks a lot about how to manage your time. There are countless books and resources about the subject from gurus who can really help you get a grasp on using your time well. But before we talk about good time management, you need to make sure that you’re actually doing the right things in the first place. The kid in the story made fifty bucks selling lemonade, but that’s not what his parents asked him to do. He can make all the money he wants, but he would still miss his original responsibility: cleaning the garage.

Time management is useless until you get your priorities straight. Efficiency in the wrong things is foolish. Just like the kid in the story, you can be extremely efficient in an endeavor, and even make a lot of money and experience happiness…but it doesn’t matter if you’re doing the wrong thing. What we need is not to be more efficient, but more effective. Efficiency is doing things right, effectiveness is doing the right things.

The Path to Effectiveness

1. Take an inventory of your life. What are you involved in? Make a list of everything you’re committed to…work, family, relationships, church, boards, volunteer work, personal projects. Write it all down and see what’s there.

1. Take an inventory of your heart. What are you passionate about? Are you in the right job? Are you making the highest contribution with your gifting? Do you feel like your schedule doesn’t accurately reflect your desired life? See if your life inventory matches up with your heart inventory.

1. Make any necessary changes. After examining your life inventory and your heart inventory, what changes do you need to make? Start aligning the two and investing in the things that you’re called to instead of the things that the world is requesting of you. Get rid of the good so you can take up the best.

1. Pursue that which you love. After you have gotten rid of the things that are crowding your life, you’ll have the time to invest in the things that really matter. What are those few things for you? What is essential? Where can you make the highest contribution? Start taking steps toward those few things and apply all your energy to driving them forward.

1. Reject the stuffers. As you move forward with your new priorities, there will be people that want to stuff their own agenda back into your life, or make you doubt the decision you made to pare things down. Don’t listen to them! Don’t get clogged up again, involved in things for the sake of pleasing others. Reject requests that will distract you from the priorities you’ve set ahead of time. Once you start intentionally spending your time, it will be tempting to slip into the old way of doing things: submitting to the priorities of other people. Stay strong, hold the course, and pursue what you know to be the most important work.

Only now that you have the right priorities in place can you begin thinking about time management. Now, the books and resources on time management will actually help you instead of assisting you in doing the wrong things faster.

One question as you leave: Are you currently running a lemonade stand that should’ve been taken down a long time ago?