Is running a business hard or do you just need to get organised?Effective leaders never leave this to chance
- 15/03/2023
- Posted by: Jo Bombos
- Category: Your Business Growth
Why is it that so many Australian business people are convinced that running a business, in particular a small or medium enterprise, is “hard”.
And they have efficient, effective simple marketing tools literally at their fingertips, (… and cost effective, to boot), … with the planet as their expanding marketplace awaiting their invitation to connect, “talk turkey”, and do business.
We are presented with the basic truth … that when you boil it down most businesses owners are working on the wrong things at the wrong time, responding to the “urgent”, and not initiating or working on the necessary.
Why is it so?
One reason is that growth is accompanied by …. Complexity.
And, the number one contributor to complexity is completely misunderstood.
Sometimes it’s the lack of Vision or no clear Mission
- A Vision Statement answers the question “Why Are We Here?
- A Mission Statement answers the question “What are we/must we be doing?
And it’s definitely worthwhile engaging in completing these questions.
However, most feel that it’s the pace & scale of change, the “economy” the virus, the internet, “innovation”, emerging disruptive technologies … ?
Nope!
- It’s People – Individuals are complex … and with each extra person that comes on, a bit more complexity arrives, then a bit more, a bit more until … ?
Research conducted with 650+ Business Owners, and their CEO’s and Managers, across 35 different industries indicates that people and the associated flow-ons from them, are at the heart of the “hidden agents” at play in your business.
- These “Hidden Agents” are there, but not always easy to articulate
- For the management team and all relevant stakeholders to not be able to clearly identify the “Hidden Agents” (the ones that regulate the growth of their enterprise), disempowers the entire team, slows them down & bogs down the momentum and flow of the real success of the business.
Some of these you will have felt intuitively, or confronted directly, however you may not have previously, or have had your entire management team list or rank which of these the enterprise is feeling, or reeling from, as clearly or succinctly. These Hidden Agents are …
1. The 27 Challenges:
- Profits are inadequate to grow the company,
- The need for an improved business design,
- Customers are migrating away from your products or services,
- Continual cash flow challenges.,
- Limited capital available to grow,
- Employee turnover,
- Hiring quality people,
- Staff morale and “Voltage” challenges,
- The need for a flexible planning model,
- The Need to have better staff buy-in,
- Project Management and resource coordination challenges,
- Leadership/Team & Employee communication gaps,
- New staff orientation, staff & team training,
- Unclear values throughout the organisation,
- Dealing with the cost of lost expertise of knowledge when employees leave,
- Chaotic periods destabilising company.
- Organization needs to understand how the company will grow in the future,
- The impact that staff satisfaction has on the company’s profitability.
- Company culture is generally resistant to change.
- The market place and your customers change too quickly.
- Difficulty forecasting problem areas before they surface.
- Having difficulty diagnosing the real problems, or the real obstacles to growth.
- Too slow getting product/services to market.
- Not able to quickly get systems and procedures in place as company grows.
- Weak product/service development and differentiation in market.
- Challenge expanding sales.
2. Getting the right balance priority & balance between The 3 Gates of Focus:
- 1- Profit
- 2- People
- 3- Process
3. Leadership Modality & Style – what type of leadership is needed and in what situations?
4. Your Builder/Protector Ratio – what is the necessary balance of confidence and caution needed for this stage of growth to be successful.
5. Navigating “Flood Zones” – what to do when you are overwhelmed with too much work and not enough time, and it keeps “coming at you”
6. Being caught in “Wind Tunnels” – how to work with the transitions of change, instead of just “hanging on” in a hurricane of new demands, new technology, new social and work “realities”. Knowing when and how to let go and evolve is vital.
7. The Not-Negotiable Rules for the Stage of Business Growth that you are in right now, (… and for the Stage of Business you will enter next)
Another compounding factor is that across most enterprises, and within the Value Chain, there is no commonly understood “language of growth”. Creating a language of growth is about understanding that Language doesn’t describe people’s experiences, it defines it.
Because of this, individuals interpret, or misinterpret conversations, digital communications, and discussions in meeting
There’s an old saying “If you don’t know where you’re going you’ll probably end up somewhere else
In essence, so many business owners and managers are “making it up as they go” and often relying on lazy, under-skilled or lazy advisers.
Why?
Because they are not aware of the K.A.S.H. – the Knowledge, Attitudes, Skills and Habits needed to see, understand and deal with the Hidden Agents.
The great thing is they can be assesses, understood and overcome. It’s your dedication as a business owner or manager that makes the difference here.
Remember, the future belongs to those who learn quickest, plan better and get busy bringing their goals into reality. Talk to us about how … and we can show you some great solutions.
Your success. Our passion.