Freedom. Control of our own destiny. Making your mark on this planet. Financial wealth. Growth. More fun.
These are a few of the many reasons why entrepreneurs and key leaders desire the positions that they’re in. Unfortunately for most small business leaders, they don’t experience the very things that attracted them to the position in the first place. In fact, they are continually frustrated!
5 Most Common Frustrations of Business Leaders
There are five big frustrations that keep most business leaders up at night. Do any of these sound familiar to you?
- Control – you don’t have flexibility over your own schedule. You’re working harder and longer hours that you’d like.
- Profit – you aren’t making enough money to invest in the people, training, technology, and equipment – and your own compensation – that you want.
- People – no one is really on the same page! Employees, vendors, customers, even owners and partners. It feels like you’re a referee on a day-to-day basis.
- Hitting the Ceiling – you feel like your business is stuck. The team and company were on a great trend, but for some reason you aren’t anymore. Maybe you’re not growing fast enough, or maybe you’re growing too fast! Maybe you’re not as efficient or as profitable as you’d like. Or maybe you just want more balance in your life.
- Nothing is working – no matter how many great books you read or how many seminars you go to, whatever you take away from them to implement in your business doesn’t seem to stick.
If you’re wrestling with any of these frustrations, don’t worry – it just makes you normal. Most small business leaders struggle with these issues. The good news is, there is hope. While most companies have these problems, some business leaders don’t. They’ve found a way to overcome these frustrations.
Overcoming the Greatest Frustrations in Business
Small business leaders that are experiencing the freedom, profit, team, and growth that they want have committed to strengthening six key areas of their business:
- Vision. Agree upon a clear vision in writing with the leadership team, and then getting everyone in the company 100% on board with the vision
- People. Get the right people – people that share your core values – in the right seats. These are people who are really talented “rock stars” for their positions.
- Data. Get a pulse on your business through a handful of activity-based numbers that are reviewed weekly. Ultimately, assign 1,2, or 3 measurables for each person in your organization – so that you have an absolute pulse on the activities of everything that’s happening.
- Issues. Develop your team to openly and honestly calling out issues when they surface – and solving them for the long term greater good of the organization. Don’t treat symptoms with band aids or duct tape – get to the root cause and solve it for good!
- Process. Document your way of doing business from a simplified high-level approach so that you drive consistency throughout the business. As a result, you’ll be able to scale your company to whatever size you want – and it will be easier to manage, more efficient, more profitable, and fun!
- Traction. Bring accountability and discipline throughout your organization by agreeing on 3-7 priorities every 90 days. Involve everyone in the company in a weekly meeting pulse.
Live the Life You’re Dreaming Of
End your frustrations now. Focus on the six key areas of your business with your leadership team, and everything will begin to fall into place. You and your leadership team will be freed up, you’ll be accomplishing more in less time, and it will feel like your business can run itself.
Next Steps
This article originally appeared on the GPS for Small Business blog on July 13, 2016.