Your business has survived many years, and now you have a chance to grow it to the next level.
You have a great business plan, strong people and enough financing. But results are not forthcoming. How could such a great combination of resources and talent not create a winning formula?
As you question key players and staff, it becomes clear they don’t have the conviction to succeed. Whether your idea centers on entering a new market, developing a new service or squeezing costs without cutting heads, there is an opportunity for everyone to win, yet no one believes in your idea. Perhaps your plan is dead on arrival.
This is true if you or other owners are motivated as much by protecting your wealth as by creating new value; salaried workers don’t feel empowered to make changes; hourly workers don’t connect the quality or quantity of their work to the company’s success or pay increases; no one has had to sell an idea, product or service to make a mortgage payment; or you have insiders who see success in maintaining their positions, as opposed to outsiders trying to get customers, partners and vendors heard and served by insiders.
This happens to several types of businesses and in various environments including:
* Individuals who say they want to be entrepreneurs but don’t take the risk.
* Departments which are unable to achieve results regardless of resources, people or time.
* Companies that lose touch with their markets by losing touch with their best and highest use.
Consider the following solutions.
* Pick and reward passionate, busy people over loyal, subservient workers.
* Recognize that people cannot control their circumstances but can control their reactions. Reward those who react positively to change.
* Cut out dispassionate people and championless activities before they infect the growth plan.
* Differentiate good people and ideas from bad timing and underresourced efforts.
* Wherever you see yourself or your organization going along to get along, stop and ask why.
In spite good efforts at accomplishing great results, it comes down to moving mindsets from ambivalence to conviction. People are usually more competent than they are confident.
Before your embark on that new plan to seize the day, take a hard look at those who must carry it with you and ensure it is within their grasp as well as yours.
Andrew J. Birol is president of Birol Growth Consulting. He helps owners grow their businesses by growing their best and highest use. He can be reached at (440) 349-1970, by e-mail at [email protected], or on the Web at www.andybirol.com.
