One: Remain focused
Focus and purpose are essential in successful of business management. It can be hard to stay objective when closely tied to your business, because assumptions, habits and bias all get in the way of constructive decision-making. Two: Innovate These are great times to be thinking differently and looking for new ways to maximise company performance and to add value to your relationship with clients. Three: Embrace Change There is a competitive advantage in being able to adapt to change. Many SMEs are now looking to utilise technology as a means of workflow management, empowering customers and adding value to a relationship. Make sure you keep rebuilding your company and use all the new technology tools that make sense for your company. Four: Up-skill your team Seek to up-skill you talent so that they can bring more value to you and your clients. Select a development programme that offers clear links to ROI and provides a bespoke approach for your organisation. Five. Be clear about what value you bring to clients What makes customers buy from you? Are you unique? Would you survive if there was a carbon copy company out there? Make sure you keep the value proposition in the forefront. I found myself with an interesting group of business people last week. Each was an optimist (by their reckoning). Each had ‘the glass is half full’ mentality, each had a sense of direction and of conviction. And as I drove home after the meeting I thought to myself that although we face economic turbulence the like of which we've never seen, and there's plenty to be gloomy about, each person that day thought that there arethings to be optimistic about - opportunities and such. But in reality it is not the relevant opportunity that I am concerned with here, but the nature of optimism in management.
I would contend that optimists are better equipped to manage difficulty: they have a capacity (or naivety) to take on new and challenging tasks, extend their remit, and learn new things. But this gusto must be tempered by realism and substance. In order to lead into new uncharted territories you need the courage of your convictions and a good dose of collateral evidence/research. Gen Colin Powell once said: ‘Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.’ And I do agree. But there are many downsides to being an eternal optimist. You can overstretch yourself, get carried away with a sense of expectation that never actually comes, and suffer disappointment (which a pessimist will never have to endure). A lot of pessimists take the view, 'I'll fear the worst and then I'm never going to be disappointed'. But remember you do get better results from collaboration, enthusiasm, optimism and conviction. Or am I being optimistic? |
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