How to avoid tunnel vision when taking fundamental decisions
Fundamental decisions are irreversible
Are you thinking about selling the company? Do you want to make drastic changes? Are you unsure what strategic direction to choose? Whatever the strategic decision you would like to take as a business owner, it is always good to think twice. Such drastic decisions are often irreversible. And their impact can be huge.
A canvas guides you and broadens your perspective
A canvas like the famous Business Model Canvas, or our Business Ownership Reflection Canvas, is in essence not more than a blank sheet of paper, with a couple of predefined boxes. These boxes give you the guidance required to open up your thinking perspective into directions that might not all be that evident. The blank sheet allows you to list all topics that you can think off, and later on reflect back on them, without losing the broader perspective.
Our canvas keeps business owners looking at the total picture
The Business Ownership Reflection Canvas serves a specific purpose. It gives you a plus-minus-delta column about the business. What is running good in the business, and what isn’t. And, how would/could you change that? Same story about yourself. What makes you happy, and what doesn’t? How would you like to change this? Basically, this is a simple SWOT combined with a personal plus-minus-delta exercise.
But the most important factor, however, is the middle column that connects the two perspectives. The column that helps you reflect on how you feel as owner of that business. This is the info that is most forgotten to reflect on.
For example
Maybe your business is not going well, and you don’t feel happy. One minus point goes into the business column, the other into the personal column. The most easy solution for this situation is to sell or quit the company. No more minuses, right?
Hold on. What’s the middle column saying? You are a respected person in the local community because you own that business, and you have a great team that you love to wake up for in the morning. If that’s what it does to you to own that business, than neither selling or quitting are the right solution.
This is a typical situation that can be revealed by the Business Ownership Reflection Canvas. It is the most important instrument when one of our advisors does an intake with a business owner about the future of the company. Whether it is to understand the main reasons for selling, or the context of a strategy disruption, the Business Ownership Reflection Canvas easily reveals the total picture of such irreversible decisions.
That’s why our advisors and sparring partners will always suggest you to download the Business Ownership Reflection Canvas, take the time to reflect, and discuss it with your sparring partner, before we dive into a more fundamental trajectory with you.
Read more about the Business Ownership Reflection Canvas here …
We are here to help you
In order to help your thinking process, ImpactBuilders has this to offer you:
- a free business ownership reflection canvas to structure the thinking process and keep the overview on all aspects that determine your existence as an entrepreneur and business owner.
- a sparring partner that helps you understand your real reasons for selling, and ensures that you will be selling for the right reasons, to the right buyer, for the right price – and you will be happy with the consequences.
