CGT; credit crunch; economic woe deepening by the day; trade minister Digby Jones set to walk out. Let’s face it, the news doesn’t make pretty reading.
It certainly sounds like it should be an testing time to be trying to grow a business. But let’s not be alarmist. There’s no mistake the climate could be more favourable, but economics alone won’t dictate whether your business survives and prospers.
Pause: this isn’t a motivational pep talk about how ‘it’s what you do that counts’, either. As leader of your business you’re pivotal of course, but what will really decide its fate are the people you employ.
Entrepreneurs have the vision to spot opportunities and develop models to exploit them; but those models don’t operate themselves. You know all this of course, and if you don’t, then envisage the impact of losing the three most valuable people in your company. Then consider if you’re doing enough to ensure you won’t lose them.
Forget economic doom and gloom, attracting and retaining skilled workers prevails as the biggest headache for global entrepreneurs, according to research out this week.
The Boston Consulting Group and the World Federation of Personnel interviewed 5,000 entrepreneurs in 83 countries, and found managing talent to be the most critical challenge for businesses.
Tellingly, leadership also rated high in attributes essential to success.
I’d be patronising if I talked about how ‘it costs more to recruit than retain’; but seriously, if it’s that obvious, why does it happen so often?
Money is a real issue and the challenge for small businesses to pay big business salaries can’t be underestimated – but it’s not all about salary, otherwise people would never leave the City and they do.
Equity and share options are the obvious solution but only stretch so far down the ranks and, conversely, work-life balance and social incentives rarely wash with the fiercely ambitious.
The real issue, as I see it, is installing clear policies to manage development and that involves opening your own position for scrutiny. You should be able to justify your own role in your organisation above and beyond that it’s your business.
There seems to be a cynicism in UK business that surrounds founders ‘stepping away’ or taking ‘advisory roles’ where they ‘focus on strategy’ etc. It’s often sneered at as an acknowledgement they don’t have the skills or commitment to continue leading the business or they’ve been elbowed aside by investors.
This should stop. Isn’t it healthy for everyone in a company to hold a position on merit and have the ability to rise to a level their performance and talent dictates? Even if it’s to the very top?
Likewise, installing HR / people management procedures can seem tiresome in small businesses, and filling in appraisal forms and setting KPIs aren’t always well received by staff engrained in a start-up culture. Yet, if you’ve aspirations of growing you need to be able to measure performance and set staff goals for progression.
Otherwise, they’ll see look for that progression elsewhere. So perhaps it’s time to worry less about what’s going on in the world of business and take a closer look at what’s going on inside your business.
