When I was 23, I became the youngest School Director at an institute in California. I’ll be honest, I really didn’t know what I was in for, so I had to learn from my peers - and quickly! It was soooo nerve-wracking, but I jumped into action. I sat and listened to colleagues talk, and took notes. I asked tons of questions and wrote down the answers. I observed everything around me at the school, and wrote it all down. My pages and pages of notes began to draw a picture for me of the state of the business at the school. I learned how to be great at my job by deeply understanding the environment around me.  

Now I consult on others’ businesses professionally, and I take the same approach to my work as I did as a School Director...I call it Shadow Time! I shadow, I observe, I ask questions, I write down the answers, and I consult based on these findings. Today, I am encouraging you to take this approach with your business. 

It’s easy and efficient: 

• Schedule a time with your team (in order not to scare them or throw them off) to observe the daily happenings of the office. Pick a place where you won’t be noticed or be a distraction. 
• Write down all of your observations and questions you have for staff. 
• Reflect on what you’ve written down. Think about what needs fixing and what’s working well. 
• Organize your notes into issues of top priority based on your reflections. 
• Tackle them in the order you’ve created!  

Be sure your staff understand that you’re not there to judge them, you’re just there to learn how things are and how they can be improved. When it comes time to organize your notes, have fun with it! Use fun and cute office supplies to make your notes easier to read and navigate (see my list of faves below.) Enjoy the process and it’ll go much easier for you. The sooner you get a good grasp on the state of your business, the sooner it can become self-managing and you can take more time away from it! In a future episode, I’ll talk more about creating ‘mini-yous’ at the office, so YOU can be away more often. 

Stay tuned to the next episode where I take you through building a master plan to tackle the issues that come from your Shadow Time!

Download my free Business Audit: 

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EP 1- How to Conduct A Biz Audit