What's the difference between experiencing Swan Lake versus 3 old guys doing an impromptu rap show on the sidewalk? Swan Lake is a tightly choreographed sequence of dance and music, usually well rehearsed, designed to delight the senses. The 3 rap guys are having fun doing it for themselves - but without too much concern for any audience. Most small businesses have far more in common with rap than with more formal dance - but which is more inspiring?

Business shares many facets with dancing. A well rehearsed light and sound show is always more impressive. That's easy to create in your business - if you take the time out to choreograph the various dances: the supplier dance; the client dance; the staff dance; the money dance; ...

Most dance productions feature dancers. [Let's not let our imaginations run so much riot here gents that we lose the thread, OK?] The dancers are choreographed by a director who does not dance! The director sits at the back of the theatre to get an overall view of the visual impact - which would not be possible if s/he was shuffling across the stage. The first thing to realise is that YOU are the director of choreography for your business. This means that you need to stop moving and go sit down at the back for a while and analyse how graceful your team looks onstage.

Bottom line - as director you're not supposed to do the actual work. You're supposed to guide, teach, and lead. The dancers [you're allowed to call them staff members] are supposed to do the work - and they're supposed to look good doing it! This won't happen unless you take the time to lay down some guidance.

As bosses we simply don't trust our employees enough. Not only do we usually try and get the cheapest worker, but we often don't adequately brief them as to what needs doing, or how to look good doing it. This means that sooner or later this new person will mess up [at least in our eyes] and this will further reinforce our attitude that you simply can't trust people!

One of the worst ways that this hurts us business owners individually is the load it places on us. As long as you're in the firing line doing the work that you're paying others to do you don't have time to step back and think, and lead. This business is your path to financial success [and hopefully success in the other facets of your life] and you need to lead it where you want to go. But if you don't have the time to think about where you want to go, how will you know which direction is good? And if you don't know which direction is good, where the hell are you going right now?

Right now most of us have an entire dance troupe at our disposal. Chances are they're not dancing the same dance. They're probably not even listening to the same music. Why not take a few minutes off to do the director of choreography thing? Look at how well each individual is moving, and how that relates to the rest of the group. Look for those standing still [either because they don't know what to do, or because they don't know how to do it] and find a role for them - whether that's inside your organisation or elsewhere.

Then look for all those parts of your business dance that simply don't fit into the sequence - all those things that are being done but no longer need doing, or those things that need to be fine tuned to fit your current audience of clients.

Do they inspire like the Lord of the Dance team, or are they more like a primary school Easter social? Which would you rather deal with? Maybe it's time to rewrite your own dance and re-choreograph your team?

A last thought on why you might want to invest some time in doing this choreography stuff. Your business has a much higher value when your team dances well and looks good, than when it resembles a Sunday School picnic which needs your personal attention 120% of the time to keep the kiddies from attacking each other!

Last month I decided that the time until 13h00 each day was sacrosanct, and that I would spend that time doing nothing except getting the choreography right. The remaining 3 hours of each day would have to hold all the other admin stuff. Interesting results. The businesses are doing way better than before; I'm relaxed; and most of the stuff I was doing either went away or is now being done by another member of the team. But most of all, I am now doing the stuff that I love doing! Good luck with your dancing...

© Peter Carruthers, www.petesweekly.co.za

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