Growing Pains
As business owners and leaders how often do we make the necessary time to give ourselves the space to look around us and assess where we are and where we are going? Particularly in SME businesses we are often so busy ‘doing’ that there isn’t the time to focus on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ about what we are doing each day. Also, to reflect on the people that we have and need around us and the ways in which our teams have to flex in order to grow.
Culture
It’s pretty well documented that business go through different inflection points as they grow; what started out as the vision of the MD and maybe one or two trusted right-hand people, can quite quickly becomes a business of, say, 10, 20, 50+ people, with perhaps differing ideas or nuances about the direction in which the business is travelling.
Over the last few years, I have spoken to several business owners and senior leaders who have talked of feeling like they are losing the thread of the culture within the business they created… as bigger and more complex structures have been put in place (or have organically grown through promotion, recruitment or even acquisition) that subtly change the rhythm of the business. Change is of course inevitable, and growth is incredibly exciting, but sometimes it needs that extra effort on the blueprint to make sure everyone can align with the plan and that the culture is authentic and firmly on the agenda – after all, it starts with the leader!
Best Performance
Similarly, as businesses grow it is sometimes difficult to see the wood for the trees of where (and when) to invest your time and resources to make sure that you are getting the best performance from your teams; at the same time as the best infrastructure in place to serve your customers and allow you to continue to grow…and sometimes, priorities must shift and adapt – particularly in the midst of a global pandemic! It is also sometimes a tricky job to recognise that the people who were so awesome at setting up the business and getting it off the ground might not be the best people to lead your team as the business matures and changes shape… and that’s OK.
Business Success
If this has struck a chord and maybe as we head towards 2021 you’d like to put some more energy into your business blueprint; or you sense that your business is in need of some cultural clarity or a tune-up on priorities, the Game Changer Cards for Business Success are designed to help kick start your thinking and give you a framework to open the debate with your leadership team. Built around a podium-placing system, you can use them to rate your business as gold, silver or bronze and start to work on the actions that you need to take to get you to where you want to be.
Available to order now at the Mosaic People or Inspire-Ignite shops.