Is your business hiding silent killers?

In every company there are elements restricting its progress which its leader/leaders cannot see.

Objectivity is difficult to achieve when something is familiar, so when you work five-day-a-week within an organisation, its unique way of functioning can seem like the only option. However, it is vital that you identify the invisible resistors within, so your business can advance beyond its current performances. As well as this, letting these suboptimal elements persist can be more damaging than you might imagine. They may have remained unnoticed until now, but can act as silent killers, which if ignored, can ultimately cause business failure.

In this article, I suggest methods you can employ to spot these aspects and how you can turn their inhibiting affects into catalysts for growth.

A limiting mindset – Busy being busy

When I ask business leaders how they are, they often say: ‘I’m just busy being busy.’ On the one hand, this has the positive conations of diligence, dealing with operational challenges and giving their all to their organisation. On the other, I would argue that this state is unlikely to produce high productivity and regularly results in neglecting some of the less urgent, but more important tasks. It is also likely to leave a company too dependent on its leader/leaders.

As well as this hectic day-to-day routine, some leaders will also avoid thinking ahead, because either consciously or subconsciously they find strategising daunting. I sympathise with this attitude, because I know from experience that formulating plans that are both motivational and achievable is a difficult balance to find. Your targets should demonstrate your organisation’s ambition to improve, but setting your sights too high could result in failure, which has the opposite effect of disappointment.

A missing element – Think ahead

At this point, you have to be brave. You have to take the plunge and dedicate to a specific plan of action. What I am not advocating here is that you jump into new initiatives without proper consultation and planning. This is a necessary part of creating an inspirational and attainable mission. As these resistors have been invisible to you, they represent unknown unknowns, which you will never have been considered before; consequently, requiring some research.

As you read this, you may well be thinking: ‘It’s all very well, saying this, but if my time is limited already, how am I going to find more to identify these invisible resistors and plan ahead?’

My response:  

• Your routine will have to change, so you can dedicate more of your schedule to considering these things.

• You can assign members of your staff to audit your systems and processes and report back to you with their findings.

The top option is preferable, but it is also good to get a different perspective on things, so involve your colleagues where you think they can be best utilised. This might involve instigating a new programme of R&D, that assesses your current situation and looks ahead to more ideal opportunities.

A different perspective – The bigger picture

One of the fundamental mantras I try and instil within my clients is, ‘work on, rather than in your business.’

This essentially means don’t get so caught up the minutiae of everyday work, so you forget the bigger picture. As leader it is your job to decide the direction of travel for your company. Therefore, as much as it might seem helpful to support your employees throughout their projects, it is far more important that you are working on identifying the invisible resistors, deciding strategies to overcome them and considering the goals you want to reach.

Ignore these suboptimal elements and the risks include: 

1.      Leadership myopia – where the leaders within your business do know about or understand the invisible resistors. This will be detrimental to more senior members of the team particularly. They begin to feel overwhelmed, as they are required to extinguish more operational fires.

2.      Offering inertia – where the service or product you offer no long competes sufficiently in your market. This will stunt the growth of your business, as it has no dependable springboard, in terms of profit and expertise, to advance from.

3.      Organisational stagnation – where the invisible resistors have been allowed to develop so long that they are not just slowing your progress down, but actually causing it to regress. The ultimate threat here is that the company can no longer function properly and fails.

Finding these invisible resistors is all about identifying the aspects of your organisation that could be performing to a higher standard. Whilst lower levels of performance might be acceptable for period, this is a dangerous precedent to set. If you simply cannot decide upon which elements might be holding you back, it could be worth talking to an external party, to get their view on the situation.

Continual interrogation is an essential mindset, that might seem negative, but is indicative of top performing leaders and businesses. By all means celebrate company victories and take a more hands on approach when your direct input is necessary, but try and step back to a more strategic role, where your future focus is driving your organisation forward. Adopt this perspective and you can avoid the negative scenarios I have described above.

Don’t let silent killers hide within your business, and don’t fear them either. Know that catching them can be the catalyst to take your company to the next level.