Business success seems simple enough: you begin with a plan, you have some goals and strategies and you carry them out. However, the reality of operating a business can be very different.
The joy and freedom of running your own business can be clouded when business owners struggle for direction, get swamped by administration, suffer inconsistent cash flow and get stressed about staff or clients. Sound familiar? These problems can distract business owners from growing and taking their business to the next level.
Here are the next five tried and tested tips which will boost your business performance.
Tip 6 - Hire the best staff you can find and build the dream team. Get the right people with the right attitudes, beliefs and skills in the right positions. It is your staff that can provide a positive experience for your clients and make the wheels in the business run smoother. This is such an important area to get right.
Tip 7 - Reward excellence. If you want the best team, you are going to have to make a solid financial investment in the right people. Pay people a fair and reasonable salary or wage, then offer additional incentive payments. These incentive payments should be linked to a person's individual performance and the overall performance in the business. The process for calculating incentive payments needs to be transparent and clearly communicated to staff. Incentives are an important recognition tool and a way of sharing the businesses success with staff due to their efforts.
Tip 8 - Invest in staff training and development. Ongoing (internal and external) training programs demonstrate to staff that the organisation is genuinely interested in and responsive to their needs for improvement. The organisation also benefits by equipping staff with the skills and tools to perform at their best, which is good for business.
Tip 9 - Streamline and systemise. In Demings immortal words "96% of your success depends on your system". Think of the differences between a business with documented procedures and systems and one without and then consider what would happen to each business if the owner or manager were hit by a bus tomorrow. Which would survive? Create processes and systems that standardise your business operations and save time, energy and money in the long run.
Tip 10 - Be committed to continuous improvement. Review your practises, operations and performance regularly. Take time out to reflect on lessons learnt to improve the way you do things.
If you think your business performance could be better or you'd like some perspective about what's really taking place in your organisation, pick up the phone and contact us now to take advantage of our FREE initial consultation.