Secrets of business success

Over the years I’ve been researching what makes some businesses really successful and what makes others average or worse fail.

On the face of it it’s fairly simple – sell something for more than it costs. The truth is that it is easy when you’re your own. The problems seem to start when you start working with other people, employees and sub-contractors.

What I think a business needs is an effective people management system. And, from looking into this I believe this starts with the way you recruit. You need to attract the right type of people to work with you.

But, before you can do this you need to think REALLY carefully about who you are. Questions like these can help:

• What do you want to achieve?
• What do you care about?
• How do you expect people to behave?
• What do you stand for?
• What won’t you stand for?

In business speak these are your vision, values and purpose.

Once you have these in place I suggest you focus on something called “engagement”. This is about people having a positive attitude to work and willingly giving their best.

To do this effectively I think you need a few things:

• A compelling business plan so everyone know where there business is going and why
• Clear position agreements so people know their role in the plan
• Support for people to help them perform to the best of their ability
• A culture where people can provide feedback to the business
• Accountability and transparency in all aspects of the business
• Frequent communication so everyone knows what is going on

If you would like to explore engagement to improve business performance let me know and I will set up a On Track session.