Business Failure Is A Symptom

by Coachcubas

April 29, 2008

Let’s highlight an essential element of Business Literacy—Agility. This is such an integral success factor that The Malcolm Baldrige Quality Principles score points for this quality.

The following relate to rigid mindsets that defy Business Literacy

Use these as a checklist for your situation—

Three reasons small businesses fail hard:
1. Lack of planning, not funding. If they have a formal business plan, they don’t bring it out.
Usually there is a lack of a written marketing plan, which represents up to 70% of the business plan.

2. Owners/Leaders don’t listen to advisory input. They make unilateral decisions and they are stubborn. This symptom often relates to the experience and fear of having to learn a new way and the leader may lose control. Can you feel the catastrophizing build! That’s not leadership, that’s being bossy. Ever wondered how those two words relate?
When they want to do everything alone, one must question what the underlying insecurity it. These types don’t know when to hire expertise because they won’t ask—the circumstance is like the joke about men asking for directions! (So, they invented the GPS!)

3. These leaders focus on widgets rather seeing over the horizon then working back. They confuse production with productivity. Counting units is fine however, when we don’t factor in the cost of driving our personnel into the ground, we’re not seeing the reality of the outcome.

What do you think? What’s your experience with agility?

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Coachcubas

As a credentialed business coach and analyst, one of my primary functions is to work with individuals and company managers to clarify where they are presently, where they would like to advance, and what tools they have and need to achieve their desired outcome.

I use a variety of tools to assess perceptions including Platinum Rule instruments, my experience and training in assessing behavior. My preferred tool is the EQ-i®, emotional intelligence inventory. I have specialized training on the EQ-i® and DISC Inventories and access to multiple other sources including a company culture index. I prefer the EQ-i® because it is the least judgmental instrument I have found. It focuses on strengths and areas of development related to the goals set by the individual. For example, people are more likely to apply the EQ-i®’s information rather than label themselves by the Myers-Briggs categories.