Business Changing

Profit and Growth Specialist

Reasons why most businesses do not become a big success

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There are many reasons why most businesses do not become a big success. The most recurring reason I see as to why they do not succeed is due to how they are run. We all want to be seen as an effective leader and manager yet so many leaders in business are sabotaging themselves by performing as a ‘C Grade’ leader. If only they would do some of the harder things that the best leaders do.

 

Here are a few tips on what I see the leaders of successful businesses do, day in, day out.

 

The most successful businesses have strong leaders who are able to make hard decisions and follow through on them in a timely manner. Many leaders have been sitting on their hands for too long on things and turn a blind eye. It’s likely your team will be looking to you to help fix this situation. What decisions and things in your business have you been turning a blind eye to? Are you strong enough to do something about them this week? Or stick with status quo and continue to ignore?

 

Most leaders are too busy fighting fires today. Good leaders free their time up from such fire fighting and have more time to be future focused. So they have a good to great idea of where they are going to end up a few years from now business wise and how to get there. They put time into the challenges that might arise in the future and work out how to get around them. They get their team really excited about where the business is heading. Get them to come along for the ride and you will have such a better chance of getting to that great future place. Human beings love being a part of something future focused, bigger than themselves. If you do not know where you are heading, then wherever you end up will do – and you could have achieved so much more if you had of thought about it a few years earlier!

 

Many leaders are doing things that they do not enjoy nor are they good at. Everyone has their own personal unique abilities. A leaders time is worth a lot of money per hour. The best leaders have built their team so that they are able to focus on the things that make the big profits for the business. Some people say to me “I cannot afford more resource to take some of the work off my shoulders”. I say to them “You will be able to pay for the extra resource by putting your freed up time into growing your business meaning this new cost has a positive ROI”. If you use your time wisely, you can afford the help. The impact can be massive when you are able to get to those things that will make all the difference for your business.

 

The best leaders I see are those who hold their team and individuals accountable. Accountable means that you have those hard conversations and equally ensure that your people are delivering to their responsibilities. Who are you not holding accountable in your business? What will you do about it? Speaking of you holding others accountable, the best leaders openly ask their team how they can improve as a leader. When was the last time you asked someone in your team what you could do to improve as a leader?

 

Being an effective leader will make all the difference to your business and teams performance. Great leaders make the hard decisions needed and put their time into the things that will make their business successful in the medium to long term. If your business or team is not going as well as it could, how much of that is due to your performance as a leader?

 

As originally published in the Sunday Star Times and on Stuff.co.nz on April 16, 2017.

 

Zac de Silva is an award winning business coach who owns www.businesschanging.com as well as being the co-founder of the Nurture Change Business Retreat in Fiji (www.nurturechange.com). If you like the questions that Zac poses, check out www.accme.co which will get you thinking on how to run a better business and be a better leader.

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