Peak Performance Blog

I Want to take my business to the next level…But!

Posted by Norm Gauthier on 10 February 2012 | 0 Comments

We often hear a business owner say “I want to take my business to the next level, But!” Some of the more common buts go like this…But, I’m concerned that some of the people who work for me don’t have what it takes. They have difficulty following procedures, spend time on unimportant tasks, and have trouble thinking for themselves, let alone out of the box. And, they look to me for all of the important answers. With those issues, taking the business to the next level will be difficult if not impossible, and certainly not in the owner’s time frame.

What the owner needs are some partners. When I say “partners”, I don’t mean legal partners with a financial investment in the business. I mean people who have an emotional investment in the business. Successful business people find ways to make people feel like owners even though they’re not. As the owner of the business, you may never have a team that’s as passionate as you are about growing. However, there are things you can do to dramatically increase your team’s level of ownership and passion.

Here are some ways to make that happen:

1. Conduct Joint Planning & Goal Setting – Typically, goals are set by leaders and passed down. Since the team had no input or hand in setting the goals, there’s little chance for real buy-in. What’s worse, when goals aren’t met, the team blames unrealistic goals, rather than their own performance. Leaders realize that they have to share as much information (company goals, historical performance, strategic objectives, etc.) with the team as possible to set their own goals. It doesn’t mean that you abdicate your role and responsibility for approving all goals; challenging those goals that are either too aggressive or not aggressive enough.

1. Help Employees Understand the WIIFM – Most leaders try to motivate by rallying the troops around what’s important to the company. That’s certainly important…but it also has to include the people side of motivation i.e. Understanding the What’s In It For Me (WIIFM) side of the equation. It’s not that people are inherently selfish; it just means they’re human. Work with your team members to understand how they’re personally impacted by the business goals that have been set. Notice I didn’t recommend you tell them how they’re impacted. Everyone is different. You (and/or your leadership team) need to work with each team member to find their own unique “why”. If mangers have taken the time to know their people, this is not difficult.

1. Don’t Have All The Answers – Don’t let your ego get the best of you. In today’s world it’s impossible to have all the answers. The people who work for you know that, so ask for their ideas and input. Listen and make the best decision possible for the business. This isn’t “management by consensus”. Ultimately, as a leader, the final decision is yours’ to make. At times, in the moment decisions have to be made, but in most situations there is time to ask for input and ideas. It’s critical to make your team part of the process. By being the person with the answer encourages the team to depend on you. By challenging them to come up with the answers creates problem solvers.
2. Encourage Constructive Conflict – Does your team get along great? Do you always seem to agree with each other? Do you have trouble remembering your last major team conflict? This may seem strange, but if you answered yes to these questions…you’ve got problems. A team needs constructive conflict to evolve. Think of it as Darwin’s theory of evolution for business. If good ideas don’t crush bad ideas, and great ideas don’t crush good ideas, a business (and its employees) will become stagnant and die.

Thinking differently about how you manage your business in these areas will do a great deal more than just increase revenues. Having additional “partners” in a business will also increase productivity, improve morale, reduce turnover, enhance customer loyalty, increase margins and reduce some of the stress over whether you can take your business to the next level….

We help business owners get to the next level. If you have input you’d like to share, we are interested in hearing from you.