3 New Rules That Businesses Need To Abide By

It is normally for start-up entrepreneurs to have self-belief to the point of madness, then to fall into a category where they no longer believe that what they are doing is possible. The challenges are insurmountable, and like anything in life, when one thing goes wrong, so does a dozen other things.

This is the point that many entrepreneurs grow resilience, at least until next time.

We sit in a changing world. One where the tables have turned and the focus has been solely on the employee. If you motivate your staff, they will make you successful. But what this theory forgot was that people are complex, different in nature and each have their own way in which they would like to work. Some are competitive, so if someone else gets a promotion over them, it’s like world war three. Others try hard and never quite make the mark, not because they are not capable enough, but somewhere along the line they stopped believing that they were and no matter how much encouragement you gave them along the way, that conversation they are having in their head is dominating their thoughts.

I could go on, but that might bore you. As an entrepreneur, it is things that we already know.

The thing that stands out in today’s modern world is less about the complexities of the employee, and more about the customer. What is the customer experience and how can you build a team dedicated to ensuring that your customers experience is exceptional every single time? It’s a challenge indeed. You cannot control human behaviour or for that matter what has happened in the day prior to the person stepping foot into your domain.

There are 3 rules that businesses need to abide by to achieve success in this modern and sometimes hard to read world.

1. One-to-one marketing is the only way to operate whether your target audience is B2B or B2C. Every customer needs to know that you understand them and will do whatever it takes to provide a quality product or service.
2. Employees need to be feel wanted, needed. That means that they need to feel like they have a place in your business that only they can do (although smart businesses people would never allow themselves to be that vulnerable). A simple “thank you” or “you are doing a great job” is all that is needed…well, some of the time. As people are complex and each and every person is different, constant re-evaluation and modification on how you manage individuals is paramount to achieving the best performance out of your people.
3. Technology is not only the foundation of your business, it is the performance indicator. With technology you will know everything you need to know about how to run a successful, profitable, and people-orientated business.

Each year, re-evaluating the use of technology in your business and ensuring that your team has complete buy-in is imperative.

If they ‘own’ the implementation, they are more likely to want to see it succeed. If they respect the person who chose the technology, they too many follow diligently the rules of engagement.

People internally need continually reinforcement. Our challenges as an organisation have been catapulted by not understanding the different generations fast enough and adapting. We had no idea 10 years ago, that if someone doesn’t get a job they applied for, they may right a fake review on a website about your company, as if they did. You can’t change that, but you know that the vetting process needs to be much more diligent.

I am part of a new and exciting business, that will be run by a true leader. As the majority shareholder, it is my baby, but I have let go and am letting people be empowered to make big decisions without my input.

There is a reason for this and it’s simple. A changing of the guard. A time to give others the same opportunities that I have been given. And new innovations and new ways of doing business is a game, and it requires a flexible approach, but mostly it requires a team spirit. We have spent too many years focused on this ‘leadership’ methodology to realize that it is team that determines the success of a business, not an individual.

Rules will change over and over again. Our job is to change with them.