An effective way of managing our business is to protect its core at all costs.

At the centre of the Earth is its core. Should the core begin to cool, the geomagnetic field of our planet would dissipate and the atmosphere would be no longer. Without this atmosphere, the Earth would be battered by solar winds and planet Earth would be rendered uninhabitable.

A business can be thought of in the same light. Should something happen to the core, the entire business would suffer. Most business owners rarely think of their business as having a core. The core consists of those crucial elements that, should they not happen or be present, they would cripple the business. 

It is critical that you identify the components that make up your core and protect them at all costs. - Tweet this!

Your business core may consist of:

• Products and services that drive business
• Sales and marketing
• Finance
• Administration
• Service Delivery
• Leadership
• And all of the policies, procedures and systems that are involved in the above

What typically happens when a business goes through change is that they take their eyes of what is in their core and it begins to fail. The leaders are then left scratching their heads as to what is happening and how they can quickly implement a fix.

Let me give you a real life example that is happening right now. In the Australian Outback of New South Wales, there is a small country town called ‘Broken Hill’. It has a population of about 18,000 people and thrives on tourism and more importantly mining (it is where the mining company BHP began).

Recently, the town has run into a problem. They’ve been advised that their water supply is about to run out midway through 2015. Currently, they rely on water being brought up from a river system. However due to this water being re-routed to farmers and to the ongoing drought which has evaporated most of the water, they are left with a very limited water supply. 

A crucial component to a developed community and to a functioning mine is a water supply. Without water you cannot sustain a large population or undergo mining operations. So, active water supply to a town would be considered part of the core of that business.

While the government and council have been battling a declining population and have been busy investing and innovating to ensure the future of the city, they neglected the town’s core constituents and now are on the brink of collapse. They now need to take very swift action to ensure the town has a continuous supply of clean water to an extremely isolated part of Australia.

In your business, it is critical that you identify the components that make up your core and protect them at all costs. This is especially true when you are going through periods of change.