Could a guiding question be a game changer for your speaking business?

When you are growing your speaking business, any business in fact, you will be faced with loads of decisions, options, and problems to deal with.  It’s exhausting.   But there could be a very simple solution, you could take the technique used by high-performing teams, such as the British Olympic rowing team: a guiding question.

The British Olympic team is a great example of the value of a single, simple question. Their question was: "will it make the boat go faster?".  Brilliant don’t you think?  The question gave them a filter to put everything through so that they could focus on their goal of increasing speed and efficiency on the water to win gold.

I love the idea of having a guiding question for your business.  Imagine if you had such a question how much easier it would be to make decisions, to keep your focus, to get anyone you bring on board to work with you, either as an employee or as a contractor, focused on your goals?  Consistently asking your guiding question will help you to filter out the noise, the distractions, and the less important tasks that don’t contribute to the ultimate objective. 

If you’ve got limited resources, which is not unusual especially when you’re starting out, a guiding question will help you prioritise.  It will help you to allocate your resources and not waste time or money.

This all sounds very simple.  It is, but simple is not necessarily easy.  To find your guiding question you need to be clear on what your goal is, for your speaking, or if speaking is only a part of your business, for your business overall.  Vague, abstract questions aren’t going to work.

The British Olympic Team’s story is a great reminder of the extraordinary power of a simple question. In your speaking business, a guiding question can act as an anchor, keeping you firmly grounded in your goal in the storm of daily decisions and challenges.   See what I did there?  I linked it to boats and water.  😂

What is your equivalent to "will it make the boat go faster?"