Will it make your boat go faster?

Does it make the boat go faster?

I read a great book that talks about Ben Hunt-Davis and how the team won Olympic Gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and their very simple but effective question in the bid for gold.

Everything they did big or small had one question, and I bet you can guess what it is, yes you're right “does it make the boat go faster.”

I have used this mantra everywhere I have gone. I look at what empowers and drives the business and then everything we do big or small I ask myself the question, does it make the boat go faster.

Working in the sports industry for many years I started to think about what was the product we were selling. We needed to look at ways to enable us to grow a sports business that was authentic and delivered results in all areas and not just on the pitch.

The question I came up with that ultimately helped us grow and can be applied to any business is “does it improve the customer experience”.

If the answer to this question was yes we ploughed on if the answer came back no then we stopped wasting our time.

Too much time and effort go into things that have no real drive on our business or us.

The great thing about using "does it make the boat go faster “strategy is every decision big or small will deliver your ethos and will drive your business. No more wasting time or energy on things that have little or no benefit to the overall success of your company.

So think about what the question in your business is and will it make your boat go faster.

Ensure that everyone within the organisation understands the question and applies it to everything they do both on a micro and macro scale.

Make your boat go faster and you may hit gold!

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