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This series covers the 12 Habits of Effective Entrepreneurs. Click here to view previous articles.

Habit #12 – Remediation

“We know the facility is in need of repair, but this will have to wait. We need to spend more money on marketing so we can generate sales.”

A few months after this meeting, the compliance letters came. They threatened exorbitant amounts of fines and a possible shutdown as a result of failed inspections.

In the end, it proved to be too much, and the company was forced to close and sell off the facility, plus all other company assets.

When you ask, “What is the problem?” enough times, you get to the root of it.

And, in this case, they failed to ask the question.

The Habit of Remediation

The problem was, they didn’t practice the habit of remediation. Remediation is the process of inspecting, correcting, and improving. It is solving a problem and creating efficiencies, and it is best done sooner rather than later.

Instead, they focused on growth without also looking around the other areas of the business to determine what needed to be fixed or improved on a regular basis. They also failed to allocate funds properly across the entire business and incurred a high debt-to-equity ratio, again focusing mainly on growth. As a result, the funding arm was broken, and the operations arm was then broken as well. Even if the sales did increase, they could no longer deliver.

The habit of proactive remediation is essential to every business, large or small. It is the practice of reviewing every aspect of the business on a regular basis and allocating resources to address each area. As the leaders of this company learned in a very painful way, the cost of not practicing remediation can take you to a point of no return.

How Can You Practice the Habit of Remediation?

This is where the other habits we have discussed come in to play supporting roles.

Inspect

Reflect on the main areas of your business, both on the income-generating side and on the operations and administrative side. Evaluate the health of each in terms of income and expense. While not all areas produce income, each area should be operating with value and efficiency. Inspect to identify the areas that need to be corrected and improved. Be sure core routines are in place to keep the wheels turning while you do focus on areas like growth.

Correct

Address the issues that need to be corrected as a matter of priority. Failing to correct issues only compounds them, and as the company leaders above discovered, they are much more costly if they are not triaged as the priorities they need to be. Sometimes correcting just one thing prevents a multitude of costly issues. Ask regularly: “What is that one thing?”

Improve

Improvement is important. It creates efficiency. Once issues are corrected, the next layer to be addressed as a matter of consistent practice is to continually seek process, service, and product improvements.

Once these three wheels of remediation are turning in business, no matter the size of the business, it sets a solid foundation for business success.

And success is a matter of continual, consistent habits. What are you doing today to practice the habit of remediation?

As the CEO of Strength Leader Development, Deb Ingino is a highly sought-after international executive mentor, coach, trainer, and speaker. Deb is well versed in global business operations and helps business leaders and their teams to discover and leverage their strengths, so they can create highly collaborative teams that deliver great results. With a refreshingly direct style, and using the Maxwell Method, Deb helps leaders and teams to deliver profitable results. Connect with Deb to learn more about her mentorship and coaching programs to equip you with advanced strategies to elevate your results