By Bonnie Robertson

We put it off. We procrastinate, even when we know it is not in our best interest to do so. We all like to find reasons for avoiding our annual physicals and trips to the clinic. We don’t have time, good doctors are hard to find, can’t fit it into our busy schedules…blah, blah, blah. If we are really honest, we avoid having to hear anything that might be bad news. We also know that if there is something to correct, not knowing is an excuse to keep from doing something different.

The same happens in our organizations. Health check-ups can prevent major health problems and alert us to habits or behaviors that could eventually make our organizations ill and unable to function.

So how and when do we complete a health check up for our companies? The answer could be the same as our own health – whenever needed – yet a rigorous and complete physical at least once a year with basic check-ins on a quarterly basis are critical to the future health of your company.

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We know that basic indicators for our own health include things like blood pressure, weight, cholesterol readings, and any aches and pains that might be a way our body lets us know that something is happening. How do we check on the health and well-being of our company?

The Environment
Habits and “how we do things,” even if they’ve worked in the past, may be out of step with the changing environment. We may have outgrown our management practices. Here are some questions to ask:

Has the marketplace changed? Are customers seeking a different kind of service or solution for their changing businesses? If so, how do you know? As this industry matures, how are you stacking up to your competitors? What are the potential opportunities and risks your company faces in the next five years? How will you monitor these opportunities and risks?

Where do you find the answers to these questions? Through industry experts (both your industry and your customers’.), other Partners and anyone else in the business that you trust can provide insights to environmental changes that could impact your company’s future.

Customers
How have your customers changed in the past five years? What are your strengths in serving your customers? What are your weaknesses? How do you know? What will they need in the future? Who are your ideal customers in the future? What differentiating service do you have to offer these ideal customers?

Effective customer feedback processes are critical to getting to the reality of what your customers are experiencing with you and your team. Assuming you “know” what your customers need and want now and in the future, without effective processes for checking your reality, can be one of the greatest health risks to your company. What metrics, feedback, or trends about your customers can you check out with data? By the time your customers complain, or go somewhere else, it may be too late for healthy treatment.

Employees
The talent of your business is the most vulnerable of your inventory and service package. Are you keeping your talent focused and educated to serve the customers of today and tomorrow? How do you know? Have you built an environment where the best talent can perform? What is it that team members need in that environment to build their skills and be connected with the priorities of the organization?

Planning, objectives, and one-on-one coaching sessions with team members provide an opportunity to gauge the fitness level and strength of your talent. Employee feedback processes can indicate where you may need to make adjustments in order to facilitate the growth of your company and your employees in tandem. Once again, using data as a means to check out “assumptions” about employees is important in tracking the real health of your work environment.

Business Processes
Entrepreneurial businesses thrive on the freedom and creativity of constant adjustment and flexibility in “how we do things.” However, the maturity of all organizations, of all sizes, calls for some review of business processes that enable the company to run at various speeds and with greater results. In a way, business processes are the “blood pressure” of your business. When this blood pressure is too high or too low, various health problems will arise.

These processes include internal management processes, such as billing, payables, cash flow, planning, team member communication, and coaching. In addition, those processes that provide for the connection with your customers always need frequent health checks. These include sales, marketing, and delivery methodologies, as well as sales to delivery handoffs, project check ups, customer communication, and customer feedback. Business processes are most effective when they are not complex and are visible to all team members. How does service flow through and out of your organization? How does feedback and money flow back in? Mapping out the answers to these questions will help you find blockages that could be putting your organization at risk.

Financial Results
Profit is not the purpose or mission of a business. However, profit is the ultimate health indicator that the business is functioning effectively and is in good health. Profit of a company will and does fluctuate as businesses invest in new growth areas or have suffered from some form of set back. Getting your company back to a profitable health is the ultimate in the wellness plan for your company.

Profit is not the only financial indicator of financial health and well-being. Debt ratios, revenue growth trends, expense growth trends, accounts receivables and payables, and other financial measures provide insight into the financial health and well-being of your company. None is more important to the continued health of the entrepreneurial organization than cash flow. Constant, not just once per year, forecasting and monitoring of cash flow is the breath that keeps your company alive.

We are all “busy,” and it is easy to let health check-ups slip by. The discipline to keep an eye on the health and well-being of our company is definitely worth the effort. usiness success.

About the Author

Bonnie Robertson has more than 18 years of experience in management and business consulting, during which she has worked with organizations of various sizes and industry focus to assist with management, leadership and organizational strategy and development, change management and integrations. Prior to founding The Robertson Company, she was the Director of Strategic Partner Relations for Microsoft Business Solutions. Prior to the acquisition of Great Plains Software Inc. by Microsoft, Bonnie served Great Plains as a strategic business consultant to channel partners as well as being a member of the management team in charge of organizational and leadership development. During her leadership as Vice President of Organizational and Leadership Development, Great Plains won multiple Best Practices Awards sponsored by Arthur Andersen including Exceeding Customer Expectations, Motivating and Retaining Employees and Strategic Leadership as well as being repeatedly named one of the best workplaces in the United States, appearing on FORTUNE magazine's list of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America. In 2004, Bonnie founded the Robertson Company for the purpose of research and further development of entrepreneurs and their business success.