Regardless of how often your day-to-day challenges change, your “business compass” should remain pretty constant as you navigate through these ups and downs.

So what’s at the center of the way you make decisions and prioritize your time?

Do you consider yourself “performance-driven,” “results-oriented” and “solutions-focused”? Yeah, most business leaders do. But those overused buzzwords are more about the ends, not the means to get there.

So what do you focus on to successfully reach your end goals?

As a dairy owner, do you tend to focus on herd health, equipment and machinery, technology, calves, cow comfort, industry involvement, facilities, employees, nutrition, genetics and reproduction? As a vendor, do you focus on signing up new clients, retaining current customers, launching new products, going to countless meetings, providing customer service or developing staff?

If you’re struggling to figure out what’s at the center of your business philosophy, visualize the way you spend your time and energy as a pie chart. What’s the biggest slice of the pie? That’s most likely at the core of what you put first.

I’ll admit it. I’m biased when it comes to the people part of business. And although I’m focused on profitable results, I tend to take a “people-centered” approach.

You see, it’s your people who actually make the decisions and do the work every day. If you provide your people with the tools, training and support to do their work, they’ll be more prepared to accomplish all the other important needs of your business.

Regardless of what you think is at the core of your business, your people make decisions and do the work. Ultimately the people you pick to be on your team make the difference. Ignore them and overall performance will suffer. Focus on them and watch how your results begin to improve.  PD