THINGS TO NOTE IN RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS

Running a business and running a successful business are two sides of a coin. From personal experience as an SME Solution Provider, some common mistakes that companies, especially small or one-man business operators make are highlighted below as a learning point.

·        Pay right

The pay should provide for the basic needs of the staff after deducting transport fare with sufficient savings else you have employed a potentially unhappy staff. Eventually, the focus will be how to cut corners and make some extra more money at the expense of the company. Pay peanuts and you'll end up with monkeys.

Ensure you are at per with other players in the industry else you’ll end up losing good hands to competitors. At the end, the stress and cost of searching for new hands, hiring, training, mentoring and motivating far outweighs the benefits of paying lower salary. However, pay attention to the bottom line!Profitability of business is what will ensure the continued existence. In essence, there must be a balance between matching industry wage standard and remaining in business. This must be well communicated with the staff and growth potential visible to be assured of commitment.

·        Employ experience and ability not certificates

From experience, holding high number of qualifications does not guarantee performance on the job! While conducting interviews, many applicants have failed to defend what the certificates. There was an instance when a Master’s degree holder in Economics couldn't give the basic definition of Economics and ended up bursting into tears. Look for who can do the job based on their experience and your interaction with as long as they have the basic qualification.

Focus should be of employee who share the same aspirations, motivation and have belief in your dreams and vision. Be wary of smooth and boastful talkers during the interview and as the saying goes; the empty barrel makes the loudest sound.

 ·        Don't be jack of all and master of none

Put in place processes that guide your operation that is easily understood and transferrable from generations to generations. In business, we cannot know everything hence we need to get people that will COMPLIMENT our knowledge and experience. With a well-defined structure and process, operation is smoother and work goes on even without you being around. Avoid the pit holes of the past, especially in One-Man-Business where the owner is the all-knowing and operation stops if he's not around. Most of the time, they find it difficult to related with employees that love his/her independence and creativity.

Learn to delegate to build the capacity and competence of your staff. Responsibility is another way you can motivate your staff. Note however delegation/responsibility must be backed by necessary authority to enable the staff function properly. This ensures continuity even after retirement of the owner. This is one of the reasons why most businesses never survive after the owner.

·        Communicate regularly

Share your knowledge, experiences, visions, motivations and aspirations with your children and staff. Document it to serve as operational manual or guide for would be successors and ensure continuity after the exit of the business owner.

Also ensure regular flow of information to and from the staff. This is to avoid gossip, growth of grapevine, rumor  etc. while ensuring that you are also aware of the feelings and aspiration of the employees.

·        Don't bully but appreciate your staff

Some business owners and senior officials take pleasure in tongue lashing and humiliating their staff all in the name of rubbing their own ego or subduing them. Respect is commanded and not demanded! Treat others how you want to be treated. The only end result is that it will demotivate the staff, destroy their self-confidence, and instill fear which destroys their creativity. This eventually dovetails to high staff turnover, low morale, and lack of continuity, high cost of operation, high cost of staff retention and finally business failure.

This approach is a sure bet for any organization that desire to grow. In the part two of this article, you will find the concluding part of more important things organization must not ignore if success is desired.