Having Your Phil

February 2nd, at approximately 7:30 a.m. local time on Gobbler's Knob in a small town in western Pennsylvania, 20,000 people and a national radio and television audience anxiously await the prognostication of America's favorite furry forecaster. In a tradition dating back 119 years, Punxsutawney Phil emerges from hibernation?and if he sees his shadow, it's back into the burrow for six more weeks of cold weather.

The celebration of Groundhog Day in America and Canada has its roots in the ancient Roman Feast of Lights and the early Christian tradition of Candlemas Day. However, it took a giant leap in popularity - as did Punxsutawney Phil and the entire town - with the 1993 release of the popular Bill Murray-Andie McDowell movie.

In the film, Murray plays a cynical weatherman - appropriately named Phil - sent to cover Groundhog Day for the fourth straight year. Having made no effort to hide his frustration during the newscast, he goes to bed the night of February 2nd only to awake at 6:00 a.m. the next morning and discover it is Groundhog Day again?and again?and again.

Are you struggling to achieve your goals and grow your small business? Albert Einstein said, insanity is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." To truly make a leap, you have to commit to doing some things differently.

Success Handler Action: With your team, look at your small business from the "10,000-foot level," identifying areas where issues continually arise. Think about the reasons you keep encountering the same obstacles. Here are some questions to help you get started:

~ What are the things you do best?

~ Where are your biggest and most frequent frustrations?

~ Why are there differences between these results?

~ When was the last time you successfully changed something, and how did you do it?

~ Who are your team members most adept at taking action on new initiatives?

The next step is to determine which areas you want to focus on changing first. Prioritize your challenges by order of highest potential impact on your small business. Then consider possible options for fixing each one. Ask those you trust for their recommendations, and talk to other business owners about how they handle these same issues. The more input you receive, the more likely you'll reach the right conclusions.

Success Handler Action: The best way to improve those situations that are keeping you on a circular treadmill of frustration is to begin addressing your challenges one at a time, taking a proactive approach to change things. Here are five steps for implementing solutions in your small business:

1. Select the option you think is most appropriate for overcoming a specific challenge.

2. Communicate the upcoming change to everyone affected by it.

3. Train key team members, then document in writing the new processes/procedures.

4. Measure the effectiveness of your solution, tweaking wherever necessary.

5. Recognize and celebrate with your team all positive improvements.

Harold Ramis, the director of "Groundhog Day," envisioned Murray's character awakening over and over again for 10 years before finally freeing himself by learning to treat people differently. While that amount of time may have allowed Phil to learn a poem in French, create an ice sculpture and expertly play the piano, it nearly drove him crazy in the process.

Before overloading on your fill of doing the same things and getting the same results - over and over - start changing your approach in a few essential areas. You may just find that tomorrow arrives bright, sunny and with the beginning of six weeks of incredible progress for your small business.

Copyright © 2005 by Success Handler, LLC. All rights reserved.

The Coach, David Handler, is the founder of Success Handler, (http://www.successhandler.com), and specializes in helping small business leaders, franchisees and franchisors find clarity and take action. He understands the challenges of running a business, because he's been there ? as a small business owner, franchisee, franchisor, corporate leader and trainer. Much like sports coaches, his coaching will show you how to compete on a level playing field in your industry.

---

Get More Impact From Your Annual Conference

How can you get more attention for your conference and... Read More

Before You Head Off, Make Sure You Know Where You Are Going - The Importance of Clear Objectives.

The title of this article sounds like simple advice, but... Read More

Examining the Relationship Between Employee Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction

Researchers have undertaken numerous studies to look at the connection... Read More

A Tricky Supervision Challenge

Many managers believe that treating their team members as responsible... Read More

Crisis Management Tips

The term crisis management has different connotations. In this article,... Read More

How to Leverage Your Strengths for Peak Performance

Ask almost any business leader how to most effectively develop... Read More

Preventative Maintenance of Company Delivery Vehicles

If you have company delivery vehicles at your small or... Read More

How Managers Can Help Retain Their Best Employees

A major problem for employers today is attracting the best... Read More

Two Critical Success Factors in an ITIL Implementation

Any IT manager who wants to pursue the IT Service... Read More

3 Simple Things the Best Managers Do - And You Can Too!

If it's so simple, why don't managers all over the... Read More

Implementation the Catalyst of Change for Management to Reach that Next Level of Success

From the personal and professional experiences of other colleagues and... Read More

Just The Facts

Attitudes are more important than facts. Dr. Karl Menninger... Read More

13 Comments on Bad Meetings

Bad meetings are a cultural malady that senior executives pass... Read More

The Gift of Gratitude

Gratitude might seem like a soft or even an obvious... Read More

How to get an Audiences Attention

A trainer dryly discussing how to motivate people in an... Read More

How To Get 10% More Work Out Of Your Employees

It is getting harder to run a business for a... Read More

Is Your Business Ethical?

Ethics - in a profession or trade - is that... Read More

Problem-Solving Success Tip: Define the Problem First

Define the Problem First. It seems obvious, but how many... Read More

The Silent Assassin - What to Do When They Visit You?

IntroductionThere are a group of people in the community that... Read More

14 Ways to De-Stress Employee Vacations

Employees truly deserve paid vacations. Theystruggle through stressful jobs most... Read More

How to Make the Best of it - Take Your Weather with You

I once worked in a place where there were three... Read More

If You Build It, Investors Will Come

When you begin to write your business plan or a... Read More

Ten Secrets of Super Successful Meeting Planners

Whoever said that being a meeting planner was easy, lied!... Read More

CEO: The Key To Fix ingThe Marketing/Sales Collaboration Problem

We all know that achieving better alignment, synergy and cooperation... Read More

Lean Principles in Action

AbstractThe electrical products industry is one characterized by fierce competition,... Read More

You?re Hired, Now Go Home: Managing Workers at a Distance

Telecommuting or virtual work opens up a wider net of... Read More

Contract Management Software: the Solution to the Problem of Coordination

Charles Petrie, from Stanford, released a short article entitled "The... Read More

Getting Information From Prospects

You're at a networking function and you've made that all-important... Read More

Choosing the Right Corporate Training

According to a Gallup Poll, 80 percent of employees said... Read More

How Invisible Communication Barriers Kill Productivity

Many kinds of interferences or disturbances can confuse a message.... Read More

Juggling Demands in an Organization

JUGGLING DEMANDS: All leaders constantly juggle a multifarious array of... Read More

Money, Motivation, Success and Who?

It was 7:30 on a Saturday morning, and I was... Read More

The Death Spiral

Sometimes things just happen. Maybe we lose focus and take... Read More