Earlier this week, I had the most amazing cup of coffee. The flavor was perfect with hints of chocolate and caramel and it was very smooth with no bitterness. I took my first sip and immediately stopped and savored the flavor. As I enjoyed this cup of coffee, I felt my mood lighten up and my energy level soar. What a perfect way to start the day.
But, as I finished my coffee, I started to feel sad. Sad because the cup was almost empty, and I had no way to recreate this cup of coffee. As you non-coffee drinkers might not know, a perfect cup of coffee is a combination of optimally roasted coffee beans, the correct ratio of beans to water and water at the ideal brewing temperature.
I roasted these beans a few days earlier, and I was fairly certain that the beans were from Timor (I really should mark my containers better).
Since I was traveling this week, I didn’t have my scale, so I wasn’t sure exactly how much coffee I had put into my pour-over and I was using an electric kettle and I wasn’t sure what the temperature of the water was (but I know it was below boiling). The only thing I knew for sure was the beans were roasted until just past second crack, which is my standard process when I roast my beans.
Without these vital data points, I am forced to work hard to try to recreate this perfect cup of coffee. And I still haven’t been able to do it.
As I considered my predicament this morning while enjoying my now sub-par cup of coffee, I started thinking about my clients and how often they find themselves in this situation. Business was humming right along and then suddenly they find themselves in a situation where productivity is low, quality is lagging, or profitability is down.
That is usually the time when my clients reach out to me to get the business back on track, whether that means enhancing productivity, developing strategic plans or coaching the management team.
But, what if we took a more proactive approach and characterized the company during periods of prosperity? By identifying those key performance indicators (KPIs) that are contributing to the success of your organization and tracking those KPIs, action could be taken when shifts are seen. This could positively impact profitability, employee engagement and productivity – it would be like everyone in your organization just enjoyed the perfect cup of coffee – energized, excited and ready to take on the challenges of day.
Ready to enhance profitability in your business? Email Julie today to get it buzzing tomorrow.