You’d like to think that your company is going to go from strength to strength once you’ve put all of your pieces in place, and hopefully, with a bit of luck, it will. But while it’s important to focus on the things you can do to push your business forward, it’s also important to be aware of some of the things that can weaken your business. Some of them are subtle but can have an overly negative impact on your operations. Below, we take a look at some of the common mistakes that businesses both large and small make. Make sure you’re not making them at your company!
Assembling the Wrong Team
You’re only one piece of the jigsaw that is your business. Your staff forms a much bigger influence. If you hire correctly, then you’ll be able to push your business in the right direction; if you don’t, then you won’t be able to reach your full potential. Most entrepreneurs are adept at ensuring they don’t hire a bad employee, but that doesn’t mean that they’re good at hiring the right employee. When it comes to bringing a member of staff on board, make sure you’re looking beyond their resume, and ensuring that they’re a right fit for your overall company culture.
Fundamental Errors
Most high-flying people – that includes you and your staff – have great belief in their abilities, and for the most part, they’re correct. But all humans make mistakes, and in business, they can be costly; billions are lost each year across all industries due to simple human error. While there is no way to abolish all human mistakes, you can minimize them. By integrating digital workflow management into your business, you’ll be running the risk of losing important documents (which are nearly always down to employee error). We’re not perfect creatures, especially when we’ve been working all day!
Striving for Perfection
You would think that striving for perfection would be a positive thing, but it’s not: it’s foolish. For starters, there’s no such thing as perfect. But more than that, at some stage it just becomes a waste of money, resources, and manpower. While there’ll be sometimes when you want to spend some extra time making sure your project is as watertight as possible, at others, it’ll be sufficient if things are just “good enough.” Focus your energies where they really matter.
Overestimating What’s Possible
Everything is possible, and you should never believe anything different. But there is an asterisk next to this sentence. Everything is possible over a long enough period; it doesn’t mean that everything can happen right now. So don’t overestimate your abilities or what can be achieved in the coming year. Stay realistic!
Ignoring Feedback
Finally, feedback. There are more tools than ever before to get feedback from your clients, so make the most of them! A company ignores feedback at its peril. You have people giving you all the answers for the future you would need. Make sure you listen to them!
