I was waiting for my wife to shop at the mall the other day and began watching kids at an arcade. The game that intrigued me the most was something like Bob a Bunny. I used to play that with my kids and was surprised to see it still existed. The difference was this time I was an outsider, not involved with a mallet waiting for the next pesky bunny to rear its head so I could bop it on the head. As an outsider I could see the relevance of the game to small businesses with which we deal.Many business owners operate their business like the bop a bunny. They come to work each morning armed with a mallet and then wait for the phone to ring or a shipment to be delayed. When it happens they spring into action with the hammer. Bop! Then the accountant sends the financial report for the month. Expenses are too high. Bop! We restrict everyone’s time and maybe let one person go. So then quality and service suffer so what do we do…. Bop! You would think that once you bop a bunny it would stay down but no, here it comes again. The same bunny you just bopped a second ago.

The fact is that without a strategy and a view of the business from an overall perspective, bopping one bunny will cause another to pop up somewhere else. Your business struggles to survive but you never really prosper. At some point your money runs out and it’s Game Over. Now you search your pockets to find another infusion of capital to keep stay in the game. If you don’t change something though, that quarter will run out after you bop a few more bunnies.

The problem is that if all you have is a mallet, every problem and issue is addressed like the bunny. Problem solving takes a real process, time, effort and diligence. When we see a crisis, we look for the underlying problem in order to find a solution to eliminate the problem. That’s one bunny that won’t pop up again.

In order to solve problems effectively we must first establish a strategy for the business. In bop a bunny the goal is to get as many points as possible. In business it is to get a certain revenue or profit. The problem in business is that it isn’t as simple as just taking a mallet and bopping a bunny. The bunnies have no interest in your success or failure. That isn’t true of the bunnies you are bopping in your business. Your bank, your employees and your customers all care about how you treat them and handle their concerns, issues and problems. They are willing to contribute to the success of the business IF you let them. Successful businesses have meaningful strategic plans and solve problems efficiently and effectively. Businesses that struggle seem to bop at problems just like the kids in that arcade.