Leaking 25 Olympic Size Swimming Pools Every Day!
I was astonished to read that Thames Water leaks more water than any other water company in the UK, losing the equivalent of up to 25 Olympic size swimming pools every day from its pipes!
That’s some serious leakage; it’s no wonder they are on the brink of collapse, reportedly struggling under a £14bn debt pile*.
It’s a reminder to us all to look at our efficiencies.
Here are some questions to review in your business and work on this week:
- Does everyone in the business know the numbers needed to deliver the plan? (This all starts with you, as the Leader).
- Are all processes documented and/or systemised so they’re not all stuck in someone’s head or duplicated?
- You cannot manage what you cannot measure! Do you have a scorecard in place to keep you on track and to alert you to any problems before they arise?
- Does everyone in your team know what their 100% looks like?
- Are they accountable? [Note: if two people are accountable for the same task/function, then nobody is accountable].
- Do you have daily 15-minute team huddles that ask two simple questions: What happened yesterday? What are we going to do today?
- Do you know where your last 20 customers came from? What marketing worked? What really performed from a business perspective?
- What happened to every lead that came into your business last month? When did they drop out and why? What didn’t work in your business – the marketing? The customer journey? The sales process? A team member? …
Not only will this help identify any leaks, it will also reduce your costs and free up time for you and your team to be more productive on those things that will make a real difference to the growth of your business.
BW,
Martin
Martin Norbury
Investor | Business Mentor at Advocate | Author of I don’t work Fridays
* Source: BBC
