Q: I am not as happy with results recently. My partner and I discussed the situation and concluded that we”™ve allowed things to happen ”“ or not happen ”“ to the detriment of the business. It”™s us. How do we as business owners get the business back on track?
Thoughts of the day: Owners need to be leaders as well as doers, and then build a culture of leadership throughout the organization. To be successful, business owners must set aside regular planning and evaluation time.
Most business owners are fairly autocratic and heads-down practical in their choice of vision. Their way or the highway. Get the work done, get paid and go home. In these scenarios, at least the organization has some form of a vision to follow. But the possibility exists that valuable input from employees gets lost as people seek to conform to, rather than confront and debate, the owner”™s vision.
The attitude of head-down working, common to so many hard-working business owners, can lead to the business getting stuck. Customers”™ needs expand. Competitors come and go and change their tactics and strategies. Marketplace shifts are subtle and often go unnoticed. Most of this gets overlooked in the press of daily business.
It”™s easy to get caught up in the flow of the business. Being busy with day-to-day challenges takes the place of leadership. Then one day it”™s a whole new ballgame and the business is nowhere near prepared enough to compete effectively.
Owners need to set aside regular analysis and planning time, not just for themselves, but for everyone in the organization. Leadership is about challenging people to develop their thinking and planning skills.
Get out of the habit of working flat out from the start to the end of the day. Ensure that people have time to meet, to work out problems and analyze how things are going. Teach people to look critically and collaboratively at what”™s going well, what needs fixing and how things might be changing. Teach people to discuss, debate and solve problems cooperatively.
As an owner, you want to build your collaboration skills. Practice being inquisitive. Listen in order to understand and appreciate what people are going through. Be patient. Give your people time to work through problems and develop solutions. As they do, they take ownership and begin to lead.
Distribute leadership responsibility. Ask people to provide their suggestions, meet to debate options and then implement solutions. When things go right, praise the players. When things go wrong, ask the players to find new solutions. Observe, guide, but don”™t command. Eventually you’ll have an organization made up of people who can think for themselves, leading the way forward within an overall context.
Most business owners start out with a clear idea of what they want to accomplish ”“ a good product or service, satisfied clients, good employees, profits or impact on the marketplace. Those are the dreams that fuel the start-up phase of the business. But as time goes on, the day-to-day challenges get in the way of long-term planning, evaluation and recalculation.
The business grows, gains customers, adds employees and faces marketplace challenges. The original vision of the company needs reshaping, taking into account all the experiences ”“ positive and negative. The world keeps changing, and as the business evolves within that ever-changing world, so must the business”™ mission, vision, purpose, goals and measures of success.
Develop the skills of leadership, analysis, action and reevaluation at every level of the company. Encourage group insight, awareness and collaboration. Help to secure your company”™s future by teaching your employees how to cope with an ever-changing world.
Looking for a good book? Try “The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations” by James Kouzes and Barry Posner.
Andi Gray is president of Strategy Leaders Inc., strategyleaders.com, a business-consulting firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurial firms grow. She can be reached by phone at (877) 238-3535. Do you have a question for Andi? Please send it to her, via email at AskAndi@StrategyLeaders.com or by mail to Andi Gray, Strategy Leaders Inc., 5 Crossways, Chappaqua, NY 10514. Visit AskAndi.com for an entire library of Ask Andi articles.
