Turning Breakdowns into Powerful Breakthroughs

Its one of “those days” when…

Your assistant forgets to send the “welcome package” to your brand new program enrollees. Ten withdrawals happen within the day.

The product launch is behind by two weeks and when you finally go live your site goes down.

You spend months planning an amazing live retreat for 100 people – 25 show up.

We’ve all experienced the breakdown – that place where something unexpected surfaces that compromises the desired outcome.

In my experience breakdowns occur mostly due to one of two reasons:

Reason #1

We are moving so fast we haven’t taken the
time to properly systemize and plan.

Reason #2

We are going the wrong direction in our life/career
and the Universe is delivering a message to get back on track.

Let’s tackle Reason #1 first.

Entrepreneurs like to get results. They like to do what makes them feel good. And they love the creative juice of ideas and opportunities.

Mostly, they don’t like to figure out HOW to get to the outcome. So because we move at the speed of light we often break as many things as we build.

This strategy is costly – energetically, financially and often times results in peaks and valleys.

Take my client Susan (name changed to protect her identity.) Susan has a habit of taking on seven billion projects that all need to be done within one month. And I’m not talking about a website and a couple of marketing documents – I’m talking overhauling all of their products, launching a live event, delivering two new online courses and of course creating an entirely new company with a partner!

Excited at first her team would step up to the challenge. Then reality hits – no way we can get everything done! Exhaustion, overwhelm and hopelessness eats away at the moral.

And…on top of everything…they don’t achieve the timeline anyway because it was unrealistic. So now Susan is frustrated with why her team can’t keep up.

I point out to Susan that every day she has given them a new priority. Most of the tasks are completely new. And there is no written plan or systems to explain HOW to complete the task. So the breakdown of missing the deadline is a result of her lack of realistic expectations.

If you look back over the places in which you’ve experienced a breakdown, what you will find is this: it always starts with the entrepreneur’s lack of willingness to slow down and put the right elements in place.

Breakneck speed does not result in fast cash.

Here are some ideas for turning these kinds of breakdowns into profitable breakthroughs:

1. Identify the true source of the breakdown.

* Does your team member have the right skill set to be in charge of that task?
* Have you given enough training or guidance (aka a system) for someone else to accurately complete the task?
* Are you using the right technology for the job?

Uncovering the source of the breakdown gives you ammunition for how to fix the problem.

2. Determine the best and most cost-effective resolution.

Knowing what to do to resolve the problem provides you and the team a roadmap towards sanity. Brainstorm possible solutions, pick one and decide on a timeline to implement the fix.

3. Test and track results.

Its not enough to implement the solution – you want to track how well it solves the problem and make sure the problem is completely fixed. Take three months to track the new system, how well it works, and if it completely resolves the initial breakdown.

Now on to Reason #2.

But before you go….what breakdowns are you experiencing that derail your progress towards your goals? Share them in the comments below.