Recently an architecture firm owner shared with me his frustration, “we’re excellent designers, but my firm is in chaos!”
He’d been out to lunch with a repeat client and the client shared some shocking feedback.
“You guys are great designers,” said the client. “But your service sucks.”
Ouch.
This brutal but honest feedback was a punch in the gut. He knew they needed to turn things around, otherwise, they’d lose their best clients.
This problem kept him up at night. Instead of being able to be present with his family, he was constantly worried and stressed about keeping the firm running smoothly.
Thoughts of negative word of mouth made him sweat. He felt like he had 100 plates spinning, and wasn’t spinning any of them well.
I thought about this today when I came home from the gym early in morning and saw my 12-year-old daughter preparing breakfast.
You see – we have six kids – and to keep things running smoothly around here – to avoid complete and utter chaos – we leverage two powerful tools – systems and delegation.
My daughter wakes up at 5:30 am every morning and gets breakfast ready for the family. My son wakes up and sets the table.
When my wife and I get home from the gym, breakfast is ready and kids are sitting a the table (usually).
They do it because we’ve set expectations and trained them to meet these expectations.
It’s the only way Carly and I keep our sanity with eight people living under the same roof.
It doesn’t always go like this.
On days when we sleep in and we don’t follow our ‘system,’ we wake in a bad mood. Fighting breaks out and before you know it chaos ensues. Carly and I are frustrated, stressed and angry.
This scenario doesn’t end well.
Running a family, like running a firm, is incredibly complex.
What I’d have you consider today is that to get your firm to run like clockwork, to create a self-managed firm that gives you peace of mind and confidence, you must harness the power of two keys: people and systems.
This is why I created the DREAM Practice Accelerator. To help small firm owners create a firm that is (d)ependable, (r)ewarding, provides and (e)xceptional experience for you, your team and clients, is (a)utonomous, and has a powerful (m)ission and purpose.
If you’d like to end the chaos, or just take your already successful firm to a higher level of success, the best place to start is by attending my free LIVE Architect Masterclass on: “4 Keys to Put Your Architecture Firm on Autopilot So You Can Focus on Serving Raving Fan Clients Instead of Dealing with Chaos
(Even If You Have a Small Team and No Free Time)”
I look forward to seeing you there.
Carpe diem.
Enoch
