Recession Response Issue | Page 14

The Busine Hierarchy O HOW ORDER MANAGES A CRISIS AND BE The Business Hierarchy of Needs (The BHN) is the DNA, or make up of your business. Because of the crisis we are facing, we have never needed this model more than right now. It will guide us through the new and varied challenges. Of the five levels of The Business Hierarchy of Needs, the Order level may be the most crucial during times of crisis. Order is the creation of efficiency throughout the organization. With Order set in place, your business will run more efficiently. There are days that everything feels emergent. When there is triage needed it’s crucial to know exactly where to start. For instance, if you need heart surgery, the surgeon won’t start with your feet. Along those lines, some business owners are feeling panicked and unsure knowing what to do. This can result in potentially focusing on the wrong area to find what vital need requires fixing first. For most businesses right now, the vital need is most likely within the Order level – in the stability of the organization. As a reaction to the present crisis, a lot of businesses are putting band aids on issues and creating short term results. Some are attempting to amplify sales, opposed to managing profitability through modifying their offer. Others are offering deep discounts because they are trying to get more sales to sustain their business. But remember, that’s not considered profit, and can compromise your business. There is an uptick in those seeking loans and debt, which is another short term solution to an inevitably larger issue. It’s important to note that all levels of The Business Hierarchy of Needs work in synchronicity. So while we can focus our efforts on bringing more to the Order level, it’s always an element that is at play. The goal for small businesses is to achieve organizational efficiency and autonomy. There should be no dependency on the owner themselves. Real organizational efficiency extracts the owner from the business process so it has no dependency, and can run on autopilot. Even though you may be scrambling to pivot your offerings 8 • MikeMichalowicz.com