Solve your Problem

Most businesses experience several core challenges or problems that will affect their strategy, their people, their results and the crises they will inevitably have to deal with, as their company either grows or dies!

The team at People and Business Insights has observed, via deep fact-finding and feeling-finding conversations and analyses, (… and from debriefing approximately 3,300 business owners and managers through their own Success and Self Discovery (by using “ADVanced Insights Analyses” & “Leadership Coaching Reports”), that these problems revolve around inherently bad assumptions or just plain old ignorance in seven main areas:

These seven areas provide a reality check for immature and naive business people (… and there are quite a lot of them who confuse their technical skill and getting it into the marketplace, as having and running a business). They are:

• 1- Lack of clear & resonant values, vision, mission & goals
• 2- Having under developed, insufficient or no real business, marketing, recruiting & training plans or processes,
• 3- Weak, non-existent or only lukewarm Customer Value Propositions, and not having U.S.P.’s aligned to customer needs and expectations
• 4- No profit plan, and trying to fund growth from cashflow
• 5- Little or no strategies, tactics or learning program to adapt leadership & communication styles with employee and customer needs to deal with the transition steps of inevitable change
• 6- No stimulating and reassuring culture or a culture of non-engagement & dissatisfaction
• 7- Not following through on commitments, or changing expectations without updating those concerned, resulting in confusion, wasted time and quiet resentment

As a business grows it develops, in some sense, a life of its own. And this is because of the introduction of complexity. And, the most complex element of any business, and usually it’s biggest investment or cost, is its people.

This is a simple core fundamental that business leaders and managers must absorb, and integrate, into their mentality and strategic planning. It’s a natural part of growth that people come and go, or you need to let them go. This fact, alone, means that you must be absolutely committed to always be recruiting. Much as a business needs and must have a marketing engine, it must also have a recruiting engine, too!

Now, imagine up to this point that you have somebody who comes and work with you and tries to helps you develop your business.

Do you really think they would be engaged, committed, and vibrant in the pursuit of helping your business grow or sustain, if you haven’t dealt with the seven issues highlighted above?

• 1- Let’s think about it – no mission, which is shorthand for “…what the bloody hell am I doing here?”
• 2- No plan or plans – which is your shorthand for “if you don’t know where you’re going you’ll probably end up somewhere else!” … And who wants that?
• 3- No real Customer Value Proposition, meaning “How connected to our customers are we, and will they want to come back?” No USP”s (… unique selling proposition, no unique and special personality, no unique systems and processes, no unique service points) … which usually means “I won’t be here that long, because I want to work with an organisation that has something special about it, or is doing something really special for its clients and the community in general.
• 4- No profit plan can mean no money for training, marketing, career development or sustainability. You can also mean that we might be guessing at our pricing.
• 5- No training plans or leadership development processes which means we don’t believe in our people or we don’t know how do you develop them, especially in relation to dealing with change … which is not going to go away. People crave personal and professional development – they want to grow and improve and contribute. If you deny them this opportunity they will definitely be looking elsewhere, and will leave your organisation, often at the most inconvenient of times. This is a reality, so don’t complain when it happens if you haven’t done anything to prevent it.
• 6- No stimulating or reassuring culture means having to work in a boring and unsettling environment.
  • Leaders know the culture eats strategy for breakfast, every day of the week. It’s a life-giving force and a non-negotiable responsibility to make your company a great place to work.
  • Do you honestly believe that an individual will want to stay in an environment that does not acknowledge or nurture them, or in which they can feel part of a team that cares about them and the others with whom they work?
  • There’s an old saying that “… teamwork makes the dream work”, and it’s absolutely bloody spot on! Real teamwork is the best competitive advantage of all.“’Nuff said…
• 7- Little things create big differences – differences in knowledge, attitude, skills and habits. Follow-through, honouring commitments or the expectations that you have created, is one of these things.
  • And, it really “pisses people off” when you don’t, even if there are behavioural styles or sense of common courtesy prevents them from saying so or punching you in the face.
  • I’m not over-dramatising here – the stress, anxiety and emotional turmoil that this causes people is remarkable.
  • The reactions range from frustration, to impatience, to anger (and in some cases absolute rage), as well as gossip, bitchiness, passive-aggressive and critical responses.

The great thing about each of these seven issues, is that they are seven opportunities in disguise. You can do something about them and change your and other people’s realities … not to mention the successful environment you create your business that allows achievement to just flow!