Leadership
Everything begins and ends with proper leadership and many times people confuse leadership with being the boss. Poor leadership leads to poor businesses. When dealing with business, the leader must be a visionary with the ability to communicate effectively enough to result in purpose driven activity. This delivery can use numerous forms such as motivation, inspiration, training and education. The most effective of all is action since most individuals are energy driven and passion is contagious. Therefore, having leadership that can lead from the front or lead by example is the key to inform the direction your business will go.
Vision
Vision is the ability to catch a glimpse of the future and relay it in the present. All successful business persons have worked with a plan of some sort. Even if it was not perfectly clear in black and white, there was always a sense of where the business would be in 3 years or 5 years. Without this, decisions would essentially be very myopic and would even open the business to the increasing risks related to the ebbs and flows of the natural business or economic cycles. Before getting into business, determine where you would be heading in the next year and beyond. This process would also help to determine sustainability and scalability.
Teamwork
Many people believe to attain success they should do it alone or with the smallest team possible. Empirical evidence would suggest that two or more heads are better than one and the mindset that someone would steal your ideas, though sometimes realistic, can also save you a lot of trouble and distress. Different people have varied strengths and our ability to appreciate the contribution of others would actually stack the odds of business success in our favour. In this case, we use leverage and everyone achieves more in a shorter timeframe.
Systems
Without systems, no true franchise would ever exist. Can you imagine if everyone did everything their way? This would ultimately result in total chaos. Systems allow for greater efficiency and should remove the incidence of errors. In every business, once a system is developed, it might be necessary to review the system in case there might be a better way to do some process. Additionally, systems provide more accountability so planning can be more accurate and reliable.
Service
Whether dealing with a physical product or the provision of a service, business demands service. The way we speak to each other, the way we may dress, the way we present our business is all a reflection of the success that we might desire. In today’s competitive environment, it is necessary to remember that no one has to do business with you but they can choose to do business with you based on their relationship with you or confidence in your brand. The way we provide service to our clients would essentially lead them to refer business to us and facilitate repeat business with us.
