4 Skills Needed to Sustain and Fortify Your Business Before You Grow.

by | Dec 8, 2016 | Strategic Planning

Building a great business can’t be left to chance only. More than 90% of new ventures fail because of mismanagement by unsuspecting owners. The excitement of building a business is not enough to help it survive in this ever-changing environment. You can’t just “fly by the seat of your pants.” Even if you are able to acquire substantial amounts of money, if you haven’t worked on foundation building, your venture will not hold up. CB Insights has a collection, “146 Startup Failure Post-Mortems”. It is a definitive collection of business start ups and the circumstances that reveal explicit reasons for their failures. Most of the reasons related to the lack of Management Skills in the owners. The truth is, fundamental principles and procedures must be designed and tested before any thoughts of scaling are considered. Entrepreneurs would be far more prepared to build a successful venture, if they were aware of the Management skills required of a successful business. Following are 4 Best Practice Management skills that you need.

You will be able to clarify and design your Mission.
With this skill you will define what contribution you want to make to society.
This is like the “President” of your organization that dictates the direction of the what, when and why of your venture. It declares to affiliates, employees, customers and the world the reason your venture is organized. Your Mission will remain the same as long as your venture exists.stirling-1224784_1280-2

You will be able to clarify and design your Values.
This skill is critical. Your Values will set you far above the competition if they are designed within state-of-the-art management guidelines. Your Values are the “glue” that holds your organization together. They are the elements that make up your culture and the characteristics of your activities. In other words, it is the essence of how you do business. Values are the main elements that help your organization run smoothly. They are extremely important.

You will be able to clarify and design your Vision.
You will dream a big dream at this point. You will see your business as a big business from the beginning. “Our Vision is what we become in life”, Tony Dungy. Don’t settle with a small business perspective. Think big from the beginning. With your vision, you will set 3 to 5 year goals. Best Practice Management skills will help you achieve your grand Vision.

You will be able to clarify and design your Management Strategy.
With Best Practice Management skills you will match your strategy to your Vision by designing and documenting repeatable Systems that all affiliates can follow and help improve as you go along. Of course, you will incorporate standards and measures to keep you on track. This guide will give you the confidence you need to sustain and fortify your business.

Best Management Practices will help you perform many other management practices in ways that can make you become an industry leader in the world . I have listed just a few of the skills you’ll need. Our Information Age allows us to learn anything we desire just by Googling it or using “You Tube University”. As you can see, it won’t be easy; but no important achievement is gained without consistent, hard work and continuous learning. Save time and eliminate many mistakes by knowing how to manage your new venture.

See also: “20 Directive for Small Business Success: Do or Die”

A Business Core® for Your Business Helps You Manage For Success

by | Dec 6, 2016 | Performance Management

ball-1055956_1280-998x1024-2

 

 

When you begin your new business, begin with a grand end in mind. In other words, think “Big Business” from your beginning. Your Vision for life will become your reality. This “Big Business” perspective will help you keep a growth perspective and influence your actions toward performing the role of Director of your business rather than the technical expert only. In order to perform as the Director you need a complete “score” (in music terminology)or a complete architectural plan to guide your actions. You will need a comprehensive framework that will support your business from 1 to 100 or more employees. This is a Business Core®.

This Core consists of a well designed Mission, Values that you personally are guided by, a Vision of your enterprise when you reach your 100 or more employees, a Strategic Management plan for achieving your goals and objectives, a description of the Talented employees that will help guide you toward your Vision and a complete description of the Systems that you will use for business operations. I know, this is a lot to do when your time is limited, but success requires diligent, carefully considered and purposeful effort. This is how entrepreneurs have grown their businesses to large corporations.

The advantages of designing the Business Core® are enormous. First of all, it gives you confidence when you’re making business decisions. You’re not taking “shots in the dark”. You have a comprehensive guide for running your business that you have committed to. This can eliminate a lot of frustration and uncertainty. If you have a new business, you need to make each action you take relevant to your business goals. This is difficult to do in our complicated environment where there are many distracting elements. This comprehensive guide will help keep you grounded in your business Vision.

                                   “The neglected leadership role is the designer of the ship.” Peter Senge

1. The comprehensive framework makes performance management easier and more objective. These clear objectives and targets will give you measurable feedback that can be observed by everyone involved in your operations. If an employee is not meeting his or her objectives, it will be evident when measured against the elements of your Core. This will allow you to make objective decisions concerning hiring, training, promotion or reassignment.

2. The comprehensive framework makes project management more efficient and effective. You will choose projects that fit your Core and avoid others. You will be able to communicate the need for the project and procedures for the project within your comprehensive framework. When your affiliates understand your decisions and they fit into the organization goals, they are likely to be more motivated to help you achieve the desired results.

3. The comprehensive framework helps you to manage the change that every business must experience because of our fast changing knowledge base and technology. You will be able to test the required changes against your Core to determine the effects on all elements of your framework. This will help you efficiently make the changes needed in any of your Systems and you will also be able to determine the effects throughout your business.

There are many others advantages of managing within the parameters of a comprehensive framework. Basically, you can avoid many of the mistakes that new business owners make. You will be prepared for contingencies. You will also have a business with operational integrity with committed employees. You will enjoy personal motivation because you have clear direction that can be measured and controlled as you grow.

See also “20 Directive for Small Business Success: Do or Die”