Here are the top 3 reasons to systemise your business in a pandemic;

1. Reduce Key Person Dependency: businesses know too well the unnecessary stress caused when a key staff member is unexpectedly out sick, injured or just isn’t available. During the pandemic, this could be more of a problem, but can also be an ongoing problem for business owners regardless. Relying on key staff members can cause projects to grind to a halt, work can pile up and there can also be delays in the customer experience. By systemising a business, two people will be always trained in how to do a particular task. Therefore, if someone is out unexpectedly, the second in command can still do payroll or deal with a customer complaint or fix the boiler or whatever needs to be done, simply by following the documented procedure which they have been trained up in. This reduces what’s known as “Key Person Dependency” and gives business owners greater peace of mind knowing that all the knowledge isn’t stored in one employee’s head, or the owners head. It is well documented and anyone trained in it can pick up the slack.
2. Keep all employees accountable in an efficient and transparent way: accountability is key in general, but particularly in a pandemic. Businesses now have more things to do, to check, to clean, prepare etc. particularly in sectors such as hospitality and retail. Employees therefore have more things to remember and do. But what if there is a day, where they forget to do something really important or they do not take the care to do something properly! You might already have some kind of “open checklist” but it might not be running with maximum efficiency and transparent accountability. Systemising with my fool proof checklist ensures employees sign off that all the steps were completed correctly, with a signature. This encourages people to ensure its completed properly and also if something isn’t done correctly, the person responsible is visible to the Manager. Very quickly with this level of accountability, the business will be streamlined for maximum efficiency and transparent accountability.

3. Free up time to work strategically on your business: the pandemic has not only sucked more time from business owners to deal with problems, challenges and changes but is also offering opportunities to innovate and grow. Many consumers have changed expectations, businesses are having to diversify their offering, and some have had to change the way they operate. If you’re a business owner that is sucked up in the day to day operations of your business, you will find very little time to work on your business and you could be not leveraging growth opportunities. This is where business systemisation comes in. You can systemise your business to such an extent that it runs without you, freeing up the time to work on your business strategically. Imagine having spare time each week to develop new ideas that could grow your business, without having to use any of your spare personal time?

If you are a business owner who would like to discuss Business Mentoring and Business Systemisation, book a Discovery Call here and we can also check if you are eligible for complimentary mentoring from your Local Enterprise Office.

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Most of us will unfortunately fail to achieve what we want, because we don’t set goals, particularly in business. Or we end up setting unrealistic or broad goals, which is the same as not having any goals at all. There’s also a big difference between deciding we want to do something and actually taking responsibility to get it done.

There is also a science behind achieving goals. When we consciously decide to achieve something, our chances of doing so increases from 10% to 25%, and when you make a plan of when and how, your chances of succeeding become 50%. However, the stats get very interesting when you commit to someone that you will do it. By just telling someone stretches your chances to 65% but when you create a specific accountability appointment with a person you are committed to, your chances jump up to 95%!

For many business owners, having an accountability partner is hugely powerful and critical to their long-term success.

What is accountability?
Accountability is taking ownership of your situation and answering or accounting for your actions and results. It’s about owning your actions and the outcomes that arise from them.

What is an accountability partner?
An accountability partner is someone who coaches another person to help him/ her keep committed to goals.

Why accountability partners are important for business owners?

Helps you achieve your goals
An accountability partner will help you to achieve your goals by making sure you stay on track. What you want to achieve, the timeframe and how you will measure it.

Keeps you grounded and on track
They can help you check back into what you originally said you wanted to achieve, and why. Reminding you at the beginning why you really wanted to do this.

Increased chances of success

Having someone to answer to for your actions & results and committing a time to report back, dramatically increases the likelihood of achieving your goals.

Help to track your learnings
There will be huge, valuable learnings as you progress through your plan to achieving your goals. Journaling is a great exercise to reflect as you make progress.

Access to a sounding board
As you progress through you will have access to alternative ideas and perspectives that you might not have seen and that could help to propel you in the future.

Increased self-awareness
Most people fail in achieving their goals because they lack self-awareness and often have something or someone to use as an excuse. One of the most important roles of your partner is to help you to keep honest with yourself, whilst gaining insights into things that might be holding you back.

Helps uncovers blind spots
Every one of us will experience blind spots, things we cannot see and therefore cannot fix. Your partners can help highlight what you might not be seeing.

My own personal experience of accountability partners

As a business owner, I have benefitted hugely from having two accountability buddies, over the years. One is for my long term strategic plan. We speak every Saturday morning before the kids have surfaced for a half hour and discuss each other’s plans, whilst holding each other accountable. More recently, I joined the PSA (Professional Speakers Association) and on our first call they recommended reaching out to someone else to have an accountability buddy for public speaking. I gravitated towards an amazing lady, Camilla Long who happens to be an amazing public speaking coach in NI. We now hold each other accountable for our public speaking progression on a weekly 30 minute call. Both of us marvel at the progress we have made together in such a short space of time! 

If you are a business owner who would like to discuss Business Mentoring and accountability, book a Discovery Call here and we can also check if you are eligible for complementary mentoring from your Local Enterprise Office.

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Many companies even end up going out of business, because they haven’t fully considered customer demand or the feasibility of their business models. It’s also so easy to get distracted and chase after every shiny new idea, so having the right people around you can serve to keep you grounded and focused. Learning from those who’ve already walked the path is an excellent way to avoid making costly mistakes.

One thing many successful entrepreneurs have in common is a close relationship with a mentor. The business world business is full of examples of experienced mentors working with promising individuals to realise their potential.

Around 92% of entrepreneurs also report that mentoring has a positive impact on the growth and survival of their business. Just five meetings with a mentor has shown to have a considerable impact on improving growth potential.

What are the benefits of having a business mentor?

1. Helps you set realistic goals and holds you accountable to them: to keep moving the business forward, new goals need to be set. A mentor will initiate goal-setting, hold you accountable and celebrate the important milestones to help the business owners stay engaged and enthusiastic.
2. They can provide unbiased views:  and that’s a big differentiator between business mentoring and coaching. A business mentor will view your business with fresh, unbiased eyes and guide you, instead of solving problems for you.
3. You will get an external perspective to support decision-making: A mentor will maintain a suitable distance from your company and will more easily be able to see pain points, as well as new opportunities and areas with room for improvement. A mentor can also approach your problems and questions without any emotional baggage, and help you to face some of the harder truths.
4. You’ll learn from their mistakes & successes: A business mentor will have more entrepreneurial business experience than you, and can serve as a trusted confidante. One of the biggest benefits of finding a business mentor is that you can learn from their previous mistakes and successes. Your mentor doesn’t need to have experience in a particular industry nor do they have to be up on the latest trends or technology—you’ve got other sources for that. Your mentor’s role is to share lessons from their experience in the hope that you can learn them quickly and easily.
5. They will motivate, encourage and challenge you to live beyond your potential: Business mentors are crucial for business success by helping the entrepreneur to maximise their potential and pass through the pivotal moments of their professional journey. They will be there consistently to keep motivated and accountable and ready to proactively solve any challenges.
6. Can help solve problems with confidence: Business mentors can expand an entrepreneur’s viewpoint, helping them with multiple perspectives to solve problems and give confidence to deal with these proactively.

What is a business mentor?

A business mentor is someone with business experience who can act as a trusted confidante over an extended period of time with an objective to providing advice, guidance from a fresh perspective, problem solving, trusted collaboration and in addition holding business owners accountable to staying focused on their long-term goal of making their venture a success.

When is the right time to work with a mentor?

If you’re a business owner, then it’s never too early to start searching, even if you’re a start-up or an established business. But the right time is usually linked to an event or turning point or there is a decision to be made or a change about to happen, and the business owner needs some confidence to move forward quicker.

I am a registered business mentor for Local Enterprise Offices in Offaly, Laois, Tipperary and Wexford and lots of businesses are eligible for some complementary mentoring sessions.

If you are a business owner who would like to discuss Business Mentoring, book a Discovery Call here and we can also check if you are eligible for complementary mentoring from your Local Enterprise Office.

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