If your answer is some version of the second road, then congrats, you’re doing amazing.

But if you’re like the rest of us Business Owners, you’ve experienced Speedbumps to Business Growth.  Your leadership skills are the key to smoothing out those speedbumps and speed up your growth.  Here’s how… 

Statistics show that 30% to 50% of all new businesses fail during the first 2 years.  The typical reasons a business goes under is because of one or more of the following: 1) not enough clients; 2) not enough money; 2) a bad team.

The first 2 reasons are  pretty self explanatory.  When an Entrepreneur can’t figure out how to find and get new clients consistently, then the business never really gets off the ground because there isn’t a steady flow of cash.  The third reason is a bit trickier though,  because businesses can limp along with a dysfunctional team for many years. In fact, in the 25 years that I’ve worked with 100s of businesses, I’ve never once met one that had a perfectly functioning team.

Here are some of the signs or symptoms of dysfunction in a team:

The Impact on the Business

Severity and frequency determine the degree of dysfunction

If your business experiences these symptoms regularly, then you’ve already noticed how it’s affected your bottom line as customers are impacted and you pay for costly mistakes.  What you may not have thought of are the opportunity costs due to the damage that it’s doing to  your reputation.

If you want to reduce these Speedbumps to Your Business Growth you’ll want to improve your team and positively affect the symptoms of dysfunction in your business.

Here are some simple proven techniques and strategies you can implement to improve your team.  After 25 years of  helping my client build better teams,  I’ve found that positive changes happen more quickly if you apply small simple changes consistently rather than try to implement a large change project all at once.  So try these techniques.

1.  Don’t Let It Slide:

The moment you become aware of a mistake, missed deadlines, communication breakdowns or any other people issue, say something.

It’s in our human nature to avoid conflict.  This often means we see an issue and in our heads we say something like, “she just started, she’ll get it” or “he’s such a good employee, I don’t want to put him off” or some other ‘kind’ excuse why you shouldn’t say something.  Each time you avoid the conversation, it sets up a pattern of behavior that doesn’t serve you or your employee.  And it isn’t kind either, because resentment builds in your higher performing employees and eventually it’s the last straw and someone explodes.  This leaves the whole team feeling uneasy, uncomfortable or anxious.  None of which contributes to good work and good customer care.

Instead notice the behavior, pull the person(s) aside and let them know that “this isn’t how we do things here”. Then follow it up with a clear statement of your expectations by saying, “try this instead”. Then lay out your expectations and let them do it.  And recognize that it takes time and consistent repetition before everyone gets it.  Keep that in mind and practice patience when you have to repeat yourself a few times.

2.  Acknowledge Exceptional Performance

As children we all loved getting gold stars.  As adults we still love being acknowledged for our accomplishments.  Take every opportunity to do that with your team and watch how your team’s performance improves in a few short weeks.

3.  Conflict as Growth Opportunities:

When a group of people interact, there will always be disagreements.  How your company deals with disagreements will determine if it will become conflict.  Face it we all grew up in imperfect families and in those families we learned how to handle anger.  Some families were silent seethers, others screamed and yelled, others buried their anger and never expressed it (well at least not consciously), and still others were passive aggressive.  Companies also adopt these same behaviors.

Instead write, communicate and implement a “how we do it here” conflict resolution process.  Then remind them if they forget and reward them when they do it well until it becomes a part of your company culture.

4.  Tie People Performance to Financial Performance:

Every person in your company contributes to the smooth running of your company or not.  How well they understand what actions contribute most determines your teams’ performance and ultimately, your financial performance.

Whether your team deals directly with your customers or they provide support from behind the scenes each has 3-5 things they can concentrate on to improve their performance.  Have them identify theirs then measure the results.

If you consistently implement just one of these hacks, you’ll notice a difference in the performance of your team in as little as a few short weeks.  Research shows that we humans create a habit in 40 days.  So if you do any of the hacks consistently for 40 days you’ve created a business habit that becomes a consistent part of your company culture and sets your business up for years of success.

Try it and let me know your results in the comments below and if you need help implementing these Hacks, check out my 1 hour Seminar Training Series here.

If you want the other 6 hacks, download it for free here

                          Angela