While this blog title might have caught your attention and made you think we might be losing it, just hear us out! While perusing industry news recently, we came across this great piece from Total Landscape Care, about how taking a child’s approach to running your business might refresh your mindset and better your business. When you think of children, what characteristics come to mind first? For us, it was fun, creative, imaginative, and oftentimes bluntly honest. Don’t those also sound like some great attributes of a leader?

Here are three reasons to consider bringing in a kid to run your business for a day. We suggest maybe on “Take Your Kids to Work Day.”

Creative Thinking

Kids don’t yet know what impossible means. To them, the world is limitless with opportunity so this is the mindset you should try and take when brainstorming ideas for the business. Think about if anything were possible, what would you do for your dealership? Not every idea that comes from this brainstorm will work for your dealership or is feasible, however, it could lead to a line of thinking that could generate an idea that would work! Push the limits of your business strategy and see what great concepts may come of it!

Ask Questions

Another thing children are notorious for are for being very inquisitive. How many times have you heard a child ask why and then continue to ask why after every answer? This helps them gain understanding and the tools to interpret other similar situations, ultimately providing them with better decision-making skills. So why not apply it to your dealership? Look at some of the processes you have and ask yourself why? It’ll allow you to dig deeper into some of the decision-making that went into those elements and whether there are ways to improve them or try something new.

Be Positive!

Kids are also known for being able to make friends with anyone. They don’t pass as much judgment as we do as adults and so it gives them the opportunity to connect with others on a different level. Consider taking on this kind of perspective for even a day and see the results that can be driven from it. It might transfer over to getting to know your employees a bit better, or even your customers!

Honesty

Children are sometimes brutally honest. Take out the brutally part and practice more honesty within your business. Whether that means holding people accountable, being more transparent with your customer when a problem has arisen, or just being more direct and open with your employees about your expectations for their work, think of what a kid would say. Then, apply it in a way that’s constructive for your dealership. You may just find that both customers and employees will respect you even more for it!

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At the end of the day, it may be a bit crazy to bring in a kid and have them run your business for a day. However, the thought is what counts! Consider running your business with these principles for a day, better yet a week, and see the changes that can occur.

Want to hear about some other principles, read Total Landscape Care’s full piece here.