Have you noticed when you see your doctor they ask a few questions to establish your current health status. They take around 10 minutes to do some basic checks like blood pressure etc, and hopefully send you merrily on your way.

But when was the last time you carried out quickie health checkups on your business? I’m not talking about financial advice from accountants or other professionals. That is the equivalent of being referred to a specialist. I am talking about the day to day running of your business and the projects under your management.

Making time to regularly speak to key members of staff for a maximum of 10 minutes can alert you to problems so you can make minor course corrections to keep your department or project moving as expected.  Asking very focussed questions is the key. If a larger problem is revealed during the 10 minute checkup, schedule a more extensive meeting to allow all persons involved time to collate all the relevant information to expedite a resolution.

As tempting as it might be to try and fix the problem right there and then the chances are, if you a maintaining these regular quick checkups, you will regularly avoid major problems in the future.

It is also worth noting the majority of problems are caused by a small number of areas or individuals. Quick checkups will allow you to quickly identify these root causes and allow you to allocate alternate or additional resources.