How a Toy Can Help You See if Your Business is Functioning at its Best

I remember these plastic toys where three parts fit together to make an animal. There was a head, body, and back-end. I had the giraffe, hippo, and gorilla. Sometimes for fun I would put the giraffe head on the hippo body with the gorilla rump. Those miss-matched animals were funny, but not functional. If these toy animals represented the current state of your business, would you be unified or a hot mess?

”Imagining how a toy might represent the current state of my business helps me have fun with strategy.”  - Cathy Lindemann, WISe Business Coach in Residence

As we head into summer, find time to deconstruct your business. Is your vision for 2023 still aligned with your work streams and goals? If you identify some miss-matched parts, don’t panic. Now is the time to reconstruct your business and get all your parts working together. 

Your 2023 vision should be what’s leading your company decisions. Are you making strategic choices that maintain the integrity of your annual plan? Or, has the tail begun to wag the dog and undone some of your intentions? 

The work streams you have in play will reflect where your business energy is being spent. Are these work streams building your 2023 vision? Or, have your work streams taken on a new form that doesn’t resemble your vision?  

At the end of the year you’ll be evaluating your annual results. That hindsight view is very telling. It’s going to be immediately noticeable whether or not you achieved your 2023 vision. Consider now what you need to do to ensure your achievements at the end of the year tell a unified story about your business progress.  

When your vision, work streams, and goals align you’ll have a cohesive business. Take some time this month to view these parts of your business and make sure they fit together the best way possible.

Book a one-hour business coaching session with Cathy here.

Cathy Lindemann is the WISe Business Coach in Residence,President of Evolution Creative Solutions and on the Steering Committee for WBENC Ohio River Valley and Founding Member of WISe Wellness Guild. Cathy specializes in helping small businesses become "unstuck" for immediate growth and supporting strategic growth through WISe partnerships. Connect with Cathy on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/cathylindemann.