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5 Biases that hinder great decisions:

Confirmation Bias – We love to be right.  We go so far to look to confirm our own beliefs and easily ignore or discount those positions that are alternative to our beliefs. Many times, this bias sets us up to confirm regardless of failure or success that we were right!  Watch out for this Bias, we do this one so naturally that we almost always need to surround ourselves with a very capable strong-willed opposition that we respect to break the habit.

Availability Bias – Often we only search out what is readily available and therefore overweight our decisions on these factors.  What we saw or heard in recent history is easy to recall and therefore we give ourselves permission to skip steps because we remember something and therefore it must be right.  If we find data that supports a position, we start to become agreeable with it and start to not find any support of alternate positions.

Anchor Bias – We think what we know to be factual and therefore we usually stick pretty close to our current reality and have a tough time breaking out of our current state of mind.  The trouble is that our mind often Anchors on something that is not based in fact and we treat it as though it is.  We could simply been told something recently and without realizing it our mind took that as an Anchor.

Over Confidence Bias –  Yes, we have confidence, but be wary, sometimes it is our flaw. We cannot see any failure with our own ideas because we thought them up.  Many flawed decisions come from we were successful in a decision in the past and as such we believe we are immune to bad decisions.  This bias needs us to slow down, consult with our team, and consider how the decision can fail and why.

Speed Bias – This is in effect a multiplier of our biases. We want to solve something fast and as such we are likely to fall prey to our biases as we are in the fast lane.  Many decisions made in hast are full of biases.  We need to get to a decision and as such we start to skip any steps that can solve for these and the many other biases that we are likely to encounter.

5 STEPS TO PUT YOU ON THE PATH OF BETTER DECISIONS

1>See more perspectives at multiple levels

• Walk the walks of the customer – Live the Customer experience at least twice from the start to the finish, one of you and one or more with an industry competitor or competitive industry
• 4 inside corners – get feedback from 4 different internal perspectives (operations, sales, marketing, and finance)
• 6 outside views – get feedback from 6 folks from outside your company and industry.

2>Find more than one alternative

• same resources – what other alternatives could you spend the same resources on
• follow the same process and test each – don’t skip steps on any alternative, be true to the process
• really consider more than one – Decisions are better when you add at least a second alternative to the mix….but you really need to find and consider it.

3>Follow a decision-making process

• Do a GAP assessment – Look at today’s people and organizational competencies vs where they need to be for success
• Watch your questions – find and use expansive questions and watch out for the questions that are full of supporting our biases.
• Find the negative view – Give ownership to an opposing view that you must consider. This is tougher than it sounds as most will fall to another bias – agreeability bias where they will tend to agree with others around them.
• Consider Risks of incorrect assessment – What are the risks of failure of the alternatives being considered.  Build this into the process, it will ensure you are more ready to take on the challenges.

4>Test it with a minimum viable product – prototype it

• Pre-development of the final product – keep the initial investment small, test the market, test the idea, test the solution
• As soon and as often as possible – don’t wait till you are done development. Get testing as early as possible
• Capture, improve and retest – take what is learned out of tests and make the final product better. That way when you get to launch, you are already running with a solution that is better than your original idea.

5>Commit to the challenges beforehand

• Double to triple the time – Look at whether the team and the project survive if the time estimate was entirely wrong. How will you decide the projects fate when this happens.
• Double to triple the resources – Look at whether the team and the project survive if the cost estimate was entirely wrong. Will you commit to the additional resources and with what condition?
• When or why do you change the decision – identify today the factors before you get there. It will help you make a more informed decision today and have you or your team ready for future decisions that may happen in the future.

Derived from readings of Chip and Dan Heath (Decisive), Daniel Kahneman (Thinking Fast and Slow), Luc de Brabandere and Alan Iny (Thinking in New Boxes) and the “5 common unconscious Biases that lead to bad decisions” Stephanie Vozza article published on Fastcompany.com on 04 16 2015

Thank you for considering our values when looking for us to partner with you.

We operate on an exclusive basis and if you have any questions or would like to be considered for membership/partnership, please contact us here.

Jeffery Eschak CPA, CMA

Our One Core Value:

The Growth Imperative

The Growth Imperative is the conscious decision as it relates towards growth whether to grow or to decline. 

We see only two directions in business, personally and professionally. Our beliefs are strongly rooted in making decisions with the intention to reach the objectives of the owner or stakeholder group so that unity and clarity can be achieved by the business.

1. The first direction is growth.  This is the mindset and direction of intentional positive action towards reaching a greater future desirable state. Can be known as improving, increasing, developing, progressing, advancing, evolving.  It is the direction associated with leading change.  Strategic Growth is the decision to focus on a smaller list of objectives to achieve growth.  Growth can have many meanings to many people so clarity is needed to ensure alignment of direction is consistent.  Although Growth is usually seen as a positive, it can have negative implications for some people that would rather see another direction taken. Growth is not always in top-line revenues, it can be measured in customer service, employee engagement, increased profitability, or even a better work-life balance for the owner and/or management.
2. The second direction is decline. This is a conscious choice to take or not take action that decreases a future state into one that has less but is still the desirable state.  Can be known as weakening, lessening, exiting, falling, dropping, downgrading, deteriorating, backsliding.  Although many feel that a decline is negative, there can be many reasons that support a decision of decline as a positive one. Strategic Decline is the decision to divest in one direction and transfer that now found capacity towards a strategic growth initiative.  Decline when coupled with a growth directive is a healthy and strategic although usually a very difficult decision to make and implement.

Fundamentally as a business we believe that The Growth Imperative decisions are made each day and it is those choices made with intention and an awareness to the growth imperative that ultimately create a future that is more desirable for the stakeholders of that business. We believe that in an ever-changing world, in order to compete we need to be challenging the status quo and pressing for growth at all three levels: personal, professional and business;

What about Status Quo?

We believe that Status Quo doesn’t really exist.  What we see often in a state of status quo is that we “think” we are holding our position but are usually actually in decline unconsciously. The problem with operating with a status quo mindset is that it assumes everything is in a static state however the world is very dynamic. The world continues to move and change.  Competitors are shifting strategies, customers are changing expectations. Suppliers, employees, governments are all changing and as such one is actually losing ground.  It is this unconscious loss of ground that we want to avoid when we face a status quo decision. We see a conscious choice to stick to status quo is really a conscious choice of decline.

We understand that status quo would be highly desirable for many but we believe that maintaining a market position, a revenue level or a profitability level really requires growth.  The growth of individuals or processes, the growth of software or systems, the growth of products or services that equate to the pace of the world around us.

Which is why we see The Growth Imperative as the conscious decision as it relates towards growth.

Our Golf Inspired Supporting Values:

Golf teaches many lessons that extend beyond the game itself. The following are some golf inspired values that support our one core value:  The Growth Imperative.  These values extend to our practice of being a professional at what we do here at BlueOnyx.ca:

Backswing Mechanics (Knowledge & Practice)

We focus on what needs to be done rather than what has been done or what is being done right now. It takes a great amount of humility to have the awareness and knowledge of ones current state to be able to set the stage and prepare for where one needs to be.  It is our belief and focus to improve through insightful knowledge and practice that makes us a Backswing Mechanics Expert. 

Leverage the Sweet Spot (Strengths Zone)

Relentless focus on being in and having others around us in their sweet spot. Everyone comes with personal strengths and weaknesses and it is the time spent in the strengths zone that we add the most value to ourselves and to those that we serve. Being resourceful and leaning on others strengths will ultimately help us stay in the sweet spot and in-turn bring value to those others that we are partnered with.

The “Real” Approach (Humility & Transparent)

Be real with what we are faced with, with ourselves and with those around us and look to work with others that are focused on being real. The “Real” Approach also ensures we are focused on the next move and what strategy will get us all moving towards the aligned result. We view the “Real” Approach as ensuring that all the stakeholders are aware of and can be engaged in the solution.

Recovery Addict (Adaptable & Resilience)

We not only are but we will help others be addicted to recovery. It is with our continued focus to growth that we will be able to find the best recovery whether it was in the long grass or stuck behind some trees and requires a full recovery. No plan goes perfectly and we need to be great at figuring out the next shot and deal with the many different levels of recovery.

The Save (Results matter)

It is ensuring that our focus to getting the best result aligns with our original objectives and not getting distracted from these results. Tenacity on its own is good however it needs to be paired with a drive of urgency to accomplish getting the objectives completed in The Save.

Learn more about us here

Author:  Jeffery (Jeff) Eschak CPA, CMA

Updated: December 6, 2017

Company: Blue Onyx Growth & Leadership Advisors Inc.

Head Office Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6R 2T7

We believe that great organizations not only exist but thrive in today’s world.  The efficiency of capitalism, the drive of success, and ultimately the experience that a great organization can give its customers, employees, and owners:

• Growth Imperative:  We believe that in an ever changing world, in order to compete we need to be challenging the status quo and pressing for growth at all three levels: personal, professional and business;
• Abundance:  We believe that those that are aligned to bring value will have an abundance of opportunities;
• Capitalism:  We believe in a balance of the value created and the value received which in turn is measured in the results in the marketplace. How one competes, wins and succeeds is determined on how they adapt to the ever changing world that we live.  Capitalism keeps us keen, keeps us moving and keeps us striving to succeed.
• Intentional:  We believe that being intentional matters.  Whether it is a strategic decision or a simple choice of today’s tasks, operating with intent and positive action matters to the result and its overall alignment with an organization;
• And we believe that with great intent, every business can be a great business and that we at BlueONYX.ca can help this happen.

Learn more about us here

Author:  Jeffery (Jeff) Eschak CPA, CMA

Updated: December 6, 2017

Company: Blue Onyx Growth & Leadership Advisors Inc.

Head Office Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6R 2T7

Does your business consume cash or create it?  This may sound like a simple question to answer but let’s look at the cash cycle and working capital requirements. Take a look at your largest sales item or category.  Do you need cash to fulfill the sales before you collect on it?  If you were to 10x your sales in the next 30 days would this put a strain on your cash reserves and would you need to go to an external source to get Cash such as a bank or parent company?

Most startups have great control over Cash but as the business grows it often is overlooked.  As John Warrillow wrote about in “Built to Sell”, the Cash Cycle of your business can dictate the sell-ability of your business.

The Cash Cycle Defined

Effectively it is the timing of the flow of money.  When the Cash enters and when it exits and how much is left behind.   Often the Cash is exiting in the form of expenses or COGS (cash of goods sold) before it enters as an account receivable paid.  The most effective cash cycles are the ones that finance their own growth in revenues.  The least effective are the cash cycles that need extra funds to finance any growth in revenues.  The Cash Cycle once understood in a business dictates working capital that is needed for growth.

Let’s look at some of the items that appear on the financial statements of a business and determine if they are a Cash COW that is paying its own way and helping improve the cash cycle or if it is a Cash HOG that is consuming cash before paying its own way and hurting the businesses ability to grow.

Collections is a Key to a successful Cash Cycle that in turn increases the value of a business.  Let’s look at the common Collections procedures that are very typical today for most businesses and how they affect the Cash Cycle:

The Cash Cycle is often ignored as the belief that one just has to put up with it or sell through it, however strategies exist that can help improve the Cash Cycle and turn your business into more of a Cash Cow and finance it’s own growth which will put less limits on your growth and your company value.

• Get help, often a business needs an external perspective to help see and adapt itself to a more valuable entity.
• Ask your accountant or advisors how this would work and what the benefits of it would be.
• Align your staff with policy, process, and compensation to get the best results.

I recommend receiving your free Value Builder Score on our website that will help identify this and other ways to improve the value of your business for yourself, your employees and any future sell-ability of it.  Many have found that they can increase the value of their business by 71% by improving the score on the assessment.

Author:  Jeffery (Jeff) Eschak CPA, CMA

Updated: December 6, 2017

Company: Blue Onyx Growth & Leadership Advisors Inc.

Head Office Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6R 2T7