Sam, our VP, brought up a great issue today. Sometimes we’re flexible about things when we should be firm. And this can be a problem - it can send the wrong message to clients, and certainly sends the wrong message to our staff.

So we’re fixing it. We’re still going to be flexible on many things, but will hold firm on things that affect the bottom line and make a difference with how we operate. When we make a decision we’re going to stick with it, not to the point of arrogance or trouble but at least to see it through and not second guess ourselves.

I’ve noticed this pattern in other small businesses. One of the hallmarks of being a small business is that you can change direction quickly. The drawback, of course, is that this can be abused and result in a business that changes direction every month, or every week. Too much change is a weakness.

But flexibility also allows small businesses to stay nimble, enter new markets, and test things out in a way that a behemoth never could. This is one of the reasons so much innovation occurs in small businesses, the structure supports constant change and adjustment.

What are you flexible about?

What do you hold firm on?

And what has that done for you?

This entry was posted on Monday, May 15th, 2006 at 7:47 pm and is filed under Deep Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.