If You Had to Improve One Skill, Make It This One

by Sean Foster | May 13, 2025 | Communication

Last month the BIG group met for their quarterly planning session and we also ran a mini-workshop on communication. At first this subject may sound a touch dab :), but alas, it is far from that when you start to consider the way your life is affected through your communication skills. What piqued my interest in this subject came from the likes of the sitcom series: Suits. Although fictitious, it is difficult to move past how, through effective wording, deliberate body movements and facial expressions, a skillful lawyer is able to extract the truth from a non-compliant witness.

Back to the here and now and you in your business. How much more impactful and effective could you be if you could improve your communication skills by a percentage. You choose the level of that percentage. While in my search for how to run a workshop on this subject I came across a great podcast on the subject. Add this to your highly recommended list: Jefferson Fisher Interview.

What I have repeatedly learnt over the years is that learning is not a binary equation, instead learning only comes through repetition, immersion and the doing, i.e. listening to the podcast is just the start. The 5-pillar model shown below, only makes sense after you have delved a little deeper into the subject. But to truly embrace your learning, you should teach it. If you would benefit from improving your communication skills, then 100% guaranteed your staff will as well. That’s your teaching opportunity.

Budgets 🤢or 💃

We have a little over 10 months left in this financial year to create meaningful change in your business. And just in case your head is buried in the sand, the environment out there is pretty unstable at the moment, so staying on top of your finances and leveraging opportunities is as crucial as ever. And this all starts with creating a budget.

The biggest misnomers regarding budgets include: “I only need to check my bank balance to know how I’m tracking, besides what good is predicting the future when - either the performance is the same year after year, or it all depends on how much we sell!"

Only you will convince you, and I cautious to not tramp on your firm believes, besides pointing out:

1. In Sukuma we have great What-If scenario planning calculators - with these you can start preparing in advance for different possible outcomes, if at least, to show yourself how good or bad this year's performance could be if …..
2. We have now added a new feature that budgets how much money you should be setting aside every month for Income Tax. If you are familiar with the book: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, then it is along those lines.

If you would like to have a chat regarding your business on whether you should or should not create a budget then I would relish the opportunity. And, yep, I don't recommend a budget for every business, there is this thing called priorities 🙂.