Article by Business Woman - Jan B. King |
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Jan
B. King
Business Woman
Jan
B. King currently leads a consulting practice
primarily devoted to helping traditional
publishers, writers, and educators with
content development and curriculum design
for print publications and innovative
web sites. In addition she teaches small
business management topics and writes
and speaks extensively on employee-ownership
and participative management. |
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Jan B. King> Business Leadership
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The 50 Critical Questions Essential to Running
a Great Business - Jan B. King |
There
are hundreds of questions essential to running
a great business. Of all of the questions,
I consider these the 50 most critical. Consider
making each of these questions the topic
for weekly management meetings. Do we have
a vision about where we are going as a company?
1. Do we plan adequately to grow the company?
2. Do we communicate the plan to all who
are involved with the company?
3. Do we have good cash management?
4. Are we building cash?
5. Is the overall financial condition of
the company improving or deteriorating?
6. Do we have timely and accurate financial
data to review?
7. Does the data we have help you make decisions?
Do we need more? Do we look at all the
data you receive each month?
8. Do employees understand how their work
impacts the company financially?
9. Is our company performing well compared
to industry standards?
10. Do we have adequate internal controls
to prevent employee theft?
11. Do we meet with employees at least once
a month to review variances and trends?
12. Are we losing market share?
13. Have we surveyed or otherwise communicated
with our customers for their input in
improvements in service and new products?
14. Are overall customer complaints trending
up or down?
15. Do we clearly understand our customers
and markets?
16. Do we know where we are positioned in
our market?
17. Are our products and services out of
date?
18. Is our pricing appropriate and competitive?
19. Are we regularly creating new products
and offering them to existing customers?
20. Are we satisfied with our revenue growth?
21. Are all of our product sales profitable?
22. Is our customer base shrinking or increasing?
23. Can we identify customers or groups
of customers whose business is not profitable
for us?
24. Are we satisfied with our plans to expand
via the Internet?
25. Do we spend time with our direct reports,
one-to-one?
26. Do we spend time with our top customers,
one-to-one?
27. Are our sales and customer service people
superstars?
28. Do you celebrate the achievements of
the company and its employees?
29. Do we do self-audits on our own records,
and the maintenance of equipment?
30. Do we have back up suppliers for most
of our manufacturing process needs?
31. Do we have adequate internal quality
controls or do customers know first if processes
failed?
32. Have we adequately protected our intellectual
property?
33. Are our facilities that are adequate
for today also adequate for our growth plans?
34. Are we adequately minimizing the threats
to our business?
35. Are our facilities and information systems
prepared for a natural disaster or other
physically
destructive force?
36. Do we have adequate back up procedures
for our information systems?
37. Are we making the best use of available
new technologies in manufacturing?
38. Have we talked to our suppliers about
better prices or terms or other changes
to our
relationship to benefit us both?
39. Do we regularly chart and review operational
performance?
40. Do we spend enough time to be sure we
are hiring for the long run?
41. Do we follow compliance laws and have
written policies as required?
42. Are we following procedures that are
most likely to keep us out of employee lawsuits?
43. Does our compensation and benefit structure
allow us to hire highly talented employees?
44. Are our employees overworked? Do we
spend a lot in overtime and temporary help?
Is that
number increasing?
45. Do we tolerate gossip or other behavior
that undermines employee morale?
46. Do we ask employees to review the company?
47. Do we give enough types of feedback
to employees regarding their performance?
Do we
review them individually at least annually?
48. Do we insist our employees stay employable?
49. Is the CEO accountable to someone for
his or her decisions and actions? Does the
Board (if
you have one) communicate their expectations
about the company?
50. Is the CEO accountable to someone for
his or her decisions and actions? Does the
Board (if
you have one) communicate their expectations
about the company?
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::: Business
Motivation Home> Business
Articles> Author
Jan B. King> Leadership article
|
Jan
B. King , views on business and
on publishing have been widely quoted in
Working Woman Magazine, the American Bar
Association’s Bar Leader magazine,
Small Business USA, Business Finance, the
Los Angeles Business Journal, and on business
web sites such as webhire.com, office.com,
ybn.com, portera.com. She has also appeared
on Making It! a small business television
program on KTTV Los Angeles, The Economic
Journal, a PBS business program, as well
as on numerous nationally syndicated business
radio programs.
Additional information on the author can
be found at www.janbking.com. |
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Business Success |
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Jan
King Books |
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Jan B. King |
Business Author &
Consultant.
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