I’ve heard and seen many causes for small business failure: poor planning, products that people aren’t interested in, costs that price products out of the market, cash flow challenges, etc. Rarely is one of the most critical drivers mentioned, the organization and culture. These two considerations can save a poor business or doom a seemingly successful enterprise. The culture and alignment of the workforce need to be nimble, aligned to goals, empowered to make decisions, have clarity of roles and be well led.
In order to develop a high-performing business organization, the following characteristics must be done well. While they seem intangible, they combine into a noticeable culture that makes for a powerfully performing business.
Imagine the Unimaginable. Free the minds in your workforce to look at problems and solutions in a different light and encourage free thinking. By encouraging ideas from all workers, you’ll benefit from the abundance of viewpoints, experiences, and backgrounds of your employees. Imagination is critical to creating, innovation, approaching new situations with open eyes and freeing a business from the past.
Preparation trumps planning. Early strategists said that a plan in battle never survives the first shot. They meant that no matter how well you’ve planned, when you launch the plan, the unexpected will happen. You may find that your customers or competitors don’t act the way that you’ve anticipated. The market might change. Any number of variables can impact your plan. If you’ve taken the time to ensure that your organization is prepared for change and is ready to adapt to changing situations, you’ll be able to reach your goals. It may not happen the way that you’ve planned, but its the results that matter, not the plan.
Failing to try is a failure. Create a workforce that is encouraged to experiment, brainstorm, and try new solutions. Use the creativity that is inherent in all of your workers and empower them to create new ways of doing things. To do this effectively you’ll need to establish boundaries around resources and constraints as well as responsibility and authority.
Listen to you employees. Use their experience, expertise, and creativity to help you solve your business problems, craft new offerings, and creating plans to realize your goals. Don’t isolate your decision-making and information gathering to a few leaders and specialists. Rather, use the combined power of your workforce to craft the best solutions and avoid problems early rather than when the cause problems and cost money.
Get out of the workplace. Interact with your customers, suppliers, partners, vendors, etc. and ensure that your are in tune with their needs and desires. This will help you validate your assumptions made in planning or product development. Don’t get caught up believing that whatever you and your leadership team brainstormed in front of a white board is reality. Validate these assumptions and correct them where necessary. This will exponentially improve your chances for success and keep you from wasting money on bad ideas.
Creating a culture isn’t a one-step process. It must be developed over time, fostered by leaders, and proven over time. It should be noticeable in your mission and values and you must take care not to damage it by acting in contradiction in times of difficulty. If you do, you will be rewarded with an organization that can move quickly towards the goals you’ve set for it, adapt on the fly, and have low turnover. Whatever your leadership style, ensure that you build the values that I mentioned into it and you’ll be amazed at the results.
Michael Nelson, who has been an entrepreneur and strategy coach & consultant for over twenty years, has written a practical strategy guide on the best small business ideas. For a limited period you can get a free copy by visiting his small business resource library and also get tips to help make your business the most profitable small business it can be.