The Business Wobble Map
A one-page diagnostic that separates the visible irritation from the commercial issue underneath it.
Area 1
People
The wobble
The same questions keep landing on your desk, or the same problem keeps finding a different person to haunt.
The diagnostic
- What only you can currently do?
- What are people asking you twice?
- What gets fixed repeatedly but never solved?
The tell: If the answer to any of those is “too much”, the issue is usually ownership, not headcount.
Area 2
Cash
The wobble
Money comes in and goes out, but the business still feels tighter than the numbers imply.
The diagnostic
- What do you only understand after the month closes?
- What would you know sooner if you had a weekly signal?
- What decision are you postponing because the cash picture is murky?
The tell: Rear-view cash is a scoreboard. It is less useful halfway through Tuesday.
Area 3
Time
The wobble
The diary is full, the queue is long, and the important stuff keeps sliding to “tomorrow”.
The diagnostic
- What would stall first if you disappeared for five working days?
- Which meetings exist because they always have?
- What are you doing that a system, a doc, or a named owner could take off your plate?
The tell: Busyness is often a symptom of unclear ownership and delayed decisions.
Area 4
Sales
The wobble
Activity is high, but the pipeline feels hopeful rather than real.
The diagnostic
- Is the issue demand, conversion, follow-up, or offer clarity?
- What behaviour predicts a good quarter for you, and are you measuring it weekly?
- What would a small pilot disprove cheaply before you commit bigger?
The tell: If you cannot name the one behaviour that predicts the result, you are probably managing noise.
Area 5
Direction
The wobble
Lots of motion, not enough decisions that stick.
The diagnostic
- What issue would you deal with first if you were being completely honest?
- What decision keeps getting reopened?
- Who currently gets the unvarnished version of what is happening?
The tell: Direction problems usually show up as repeated conversations that never quite end.
How to use it
- Read all five.
- Circle the one that makes you wince slightly.
- Write one sentence on what is actually happening there.
- Pick one small experiment for next week: move a decision earlier; give one job a named owner; stop a meeting that exists because it always has; or ask the question everyone is politely walking around.
The aim is to make the next wobble less expensive, not to prove who was right.
If one section made you wince, reply with the heading. That is usually the useful place to start.
Prefer to talk it through? Book 15 minutes with Tom. No presentation required.
A Mr Purple resource. mrpurple.com.au