The past 6 years have seen many businesses come and go. The global economic recession experienced by many countries has impacted on nearly every person in some way, shape or form. Employers and employees alike have had to re-examine how to make the best use of the money available to them and some very difficult decisions have had to be made. These decisions have included letting people go, downsizing your business and going cap-in-hand to your bank looking for an extension on that bulging overdraft.
You know that your business has great potential (you wouldn’t have started it otherwise!!) but you may be struggling to see how you can drive it forward and make it grow they way you would like to. Time has become shorter for many business owners given a reduced workforce and close examination of every aspect of maintaining the business as it is. This makes future planning and development a real conundrum.
For some businesses, who may be experiencing a certain amount of growth, there are many dilemmas also. You may be barely making a wage for yourself, yet you know that in order to deliver on the commitments you have, you need to bring in more people to work on the projects. What to do, what to do??
Here’s our basic 4 Step Plan:
Step 1 – Take stock of where you currently are. Whether you are struggling to pay your debts or have a significant turnover, you need to get a realistic view of where your company is at both financially and in terms of your market share.
Step 2 – Carry out Strength Analysis of your team. See where your employees strengths lie. Do they need to be up-skilled in order to reach the targets you need them to hit.
Step 3 – Create a shared vision with your team. Business owners are sometimes very surprised to learn that many of their employees don’t just see their job ‘as a job’. They have invested in their education in order to get to the level they are at and when they take the job, they want the business to grow and develop and be part of that (especially in smaller businesses). If they are involved in creating an overall vision for where the company is headed, they will generally work harder to get it there.
Step 4 – Create a clear step by step plan for everyone! If you ask an employee to clean the office and they don’t do it to the level you expect, maybe you need to be clearer on what your expectation is. Taking the time to provide clear instructions will be much more efficient in the long run.
(We also have a secret Step 5 – take time out for yourself!! If you run yourself into the ground, you will not be able to give your business the concentration it needs. Take a break, turn the phone off or decide that every Sunday is ‘No Work Sunday’).
With our experience of supporting developing businesses to grow in a sustainable way, you can now examine, develop and execute a plan to build your business without it swallowing up that little bit of income you actually have. We offer very competitive rates to businesses looking to not only develop the overall business but also in developing the personnel working in your company. If your employees can buy into the overall vision of the company, and see that you are willing to invest in them, straight away you’re on a stronger footing for moving forward, plus they will work harder for the company.
Let us take the pressure off you and develop the strategy YOU want to make your business even better. Contact Allen today on 086-8058404 or at allen@cacoaching.ie.