SHARPEN YOUR AXE THREE STEPS TO REFINE YOUR BUSINESS DURING SLOWER TIMES. By Thomas Trimingham "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." - Abraham Lincoln Abe's quote about sharpening his axe is an idea that is so practical it can be applied to almost any task that requires a combination of equipment and skills. Preparation made to improve both techniques and tools makes the moment of action so much easier. To a casual onlooker it might appear as though you're a magician, somehow doing a hard task easily without any friction, when really you've spent hours honing the skill. The best time to practice this is during downtime at your shop. The challenge is to translate this concept into practical steps you can use for your specific situation that will benefit your business. If you're currently in a printing company that's experiencing a slow period of business, you should sharpen areas in your company now before getting busy again. Not only will this help refocus energy to improvements you can make, it can also create higher efficiencies and possibly more profitable results over time. It takes only three steps to hone in on best practices in a short time span: analyze, organize, and streamline. ANALYZE - BUT DON'T CRITICIZE The first step is the hardest because it's where the problem is actually defined. Analyzing an area of your company is not about making any determinations or decisions. Instead, it's all about looking at it from multiple angles until a clear picture emerges. The reason this is hard for a lot of owners and managers is that whenever they start to analyze, they attempt to create solutions simultaneously, leading them to make decisions before the whole picture is visible. OCTOBER + NOVEMBER 2020 | SCREENPRINTING 37