20 Days To A Better Business: Day 7 Create a ‘To Stop List’
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Each Monday we focus on one activity you can do today or over the next week to build yourself a better business. These short, actionable posts will show you what steps you need to take to take your business to the next level.
In case you’ve missed the previous posts, you can catch up here: 20 Days to Build A Better Business.
This is Day 7: Create A ‘Stop Doing’ List
It was Peter Drucker, the legendary management thinker who first suggested that choosing what not to do was as much a strategic option as deciding what to do. Drucker’s theory of “purposeful abandonment” championed business leaders to quickly sever ties with projects, processes or policies which had outlived their usefulness.
Jack Welch the former CEO of GE famously sold or exited each of the businesses that GE owned where it was not number 1 or number 2 in the market in which it operated.
Drucker’s view (as quoted in Inside Drucker’s Brain) was that the first step in growth planning was not to decide where and how to grow, but decide what to abandon. ”In order to grow, a business must have a systematic policy to get rid of the outgrown, the obsolete, the unproductive [areas of the business]“.
The more projects you have to focus upon the less time you have for each project. So by killing off projects and stopping spending time on them, you’ve got more time available to focus on the projects that have the most promise.
So, in your new found time which you’ve gained from Day 1: blocking out time to focus on your business, you need to start right now by making a list of a projects, policies, processes or products that you should consider stopping. Get input from your partners or employees for suggestions and evaluate each of these ideas on it’s merits. Then commit to stopping or ‘killing’ one of these items in the next month.
So, in the comments section below, tell us what projects you are going to look at adding to your ‘To Stop list’.
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Very important point Matthew, and one I’ve been applying in my life over the last 6 months.
On a side note, I socialize frequently with a retired GE vice president who spent a lot of time with Jack Welch and has behind-the-scene stories.
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Matthew Needham Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 11:53 pm
Thanks John, appreciate your regular comments on this series. Stop doing things sounds so easy, but it’s one of those things that because we’ve invested our time and emotions in the various projects that we’re inolved with it’s impossible to give them up.
Sounds very intriguing these “behind the scenes stories”!
I think this a brilliant strategy not only for businesses, but for individuals as well. We are inundated with work, family, religious and extracurricular activities that we can never really excel at any of them. Instead we feel burdened, tired, and resentful at times at wasted energy. Let’s simplify our lives by focusing on our top priorities…then maybe we can ROCK in our businesses…and personal lives. Thanks for a great post.
Having too many things on the go is causing my productivity to slump a bit. I’m being more thoughtful when it comes to blocking out time for certain projects and being diligent in keeping to those blocks for work. I absolutely need to put a stop to some of the other processes that are going on to help me focus better.
Hey Matthew,
I like this series so far. This one in particular is something I can use NOW. Really, simplification has been my biggest focus for the past few months now (was getting a tad crispy).
Have a good day!
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