Are You Hindering The Success Of Your Business?
When you have issues or challenges in your business or your business is struggling to achieve the plan or strategy you have set where do you look for solutions? You may look at changing areas of your business such as making your business more efficient, improving customer service, introducing new marketing or sales activity, employing more staff or implementing a new system. However do you ever consider whether you are actually hindering the success of your business?
Here are some ways in which you may be hindering the success of your business:
Decision making. Are you missing out on new business or stopping your employees from getting on with their work through slow decision making or because all decisions have to come through you? Are you causing disruption in your business by making rash decisions and then changing your mind?
Behaviour. Are you interrupting your staff whenever you need something and preventing them from completing work for customers? Are you feeling so stressed that you cannot focus on achieving your business goals? Are you not being informed of what is happening in the business because your staff are afraid to approach you due to your tendency to lose your temper?
Relationships. Are you missing out on business opportunities because of the breakdown of one of your working relationships (e.g. with a fellow director or key supplier)? Is your business growth being restricted by a disagreement with your business partner?
Attitude. Are you displaying a negative attitude at work such that people don't want to be around you, your employees feel de-motivated and customers don't want to buy from you?
Delegation. Is your inability to delegate or outsource stopping your business from growing? Are your employees frustrated or leaving because you are not giving them any responsibility?
Working on the business. Does your business lack direction because you are too busy working on the day to day of the business to step back and reflect on your business strategy? Is your focus on servicing current customers stopping you generating new business?
Time management. Are you wasting time at work or in your business through poor time management? Are you putting off doing things that are important to the future success of your business and doing something more enjoyable or easier instead?
Confidence. Is your lack of confidence preventing you from doing a presentation that could win you new business? Do you avoid business networking that could help your business succeed because you don't have the confidence to walk into a room full of people you don't know?
Communication skills. Are you doing everything to avoid discussing performance issues with a member of staff even though those issues are impacting customer service? Are you losing sales because you are spending too much time talking to prospective customers about your business and not enough time listening to their needs and requirements?
Taking advice and getting support. Is your reluctance to pay for advice and support on your business costing your business a lot more than the advice or support would cost? Is your business suffering because you are spending a lot of your time on business areas that are outside of your area of expertise?
These are just some of the ways that you may be hindering the success of your business. Hopefully this article will have got you thinking about your own personal performance at work and in your business, how that may be impacting the performance of your business and what changes you need to make.
If you would like support to improve your personal performance at work or in your business please call Liz Makin on 01780 765270 or email Liz@makinithappen.co.uk for a free consultation session..
You can also read other business and stress management tips articles that will help you with your personal performance at work or in your business.
Author: Liz Makin
Published: May 2013
Makin It Happen has a range of personal development online courses to purchase, created by Liz Makin, including anxiety management, communication, resilience, soft skills, stress management, time management and coaching. Liz Makin also provides personalised business coaching, business mentoring and stress management services to business owners, directors, managers and professionals.
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