TAKE YOUR BUSINESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Your business will stagnate if you keep to the status quo. You cannot just keep doing what you’ve always done. Take former movie rental giant Blockbuster as an example. Even its brand familiarity and market dominance was not enough to save it when other companies reacted to critical market changes, and Blockbusters didn’t. Review the following steps to ensure that your business strategy evolves and develops to make your business grow.

Step One: Cultivate creativity

Every business has to innovate to stay in the race. Cultivate creativity in your company. Bring diverse employees with diverse ideas together and encourage them to brainstorm current trends and developments, keeping in mind the needs of your customers. Keep them challenged with new projects which will stimulate their thinking into producing bright and innovative new ideas.

Step Two: Optimise collaboration

Teamwork makes your company work. A good team is more than the sum of the individual members; it is more creative, more efficient and more productive. Every member’s strengths and weaknesses bring out the best in all the other members, so that everyone will have something special and diverse to contribute.

Step Three: Take some risks

As soon as you have taken steps to make your company more creative and innovative, you have to step out of your comfort zone and put these new ideas to the test. Don’t let objections deter you – boldness is critical in growing your business. Know what your acceptable level of loss is should the idea fail, then roll up your sleeves and go for it.

Step Four: Accept failure

Not everything you try will be a success. Don’t expect that from yourself, your team or your company. Treat the failures as learning experiences and dissect them to see where you can improve next time. To take risks, is to fail sometimes, but you don’t just want to survive – you want to thrive! Expect of yourself and your employees after a failure to get up, keep going and try again. Fix what you can, try something new and persevere – your next initiative might just be the big break!

Step Five: Prioritise for success

Time is precious, so don’t waste time on insignificant projects which delay your progress on the tasks that really matter. Select the projects upon which the success of your company will be built, then spend your time on those. You cannot say “yes” to everything – prioritise. The world is changing ever so fast, so make sure you focus your efforts on the important things, so that your business can get ahead of the pack – and stay there.

This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied upon as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your financial adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)