Aligning Personal and Business Goals is Essential For Small Businesses If They Are to Succeed By John H Walters
This is an important issue for all small businesses as the personal and business life of an owner is so intertwined.
I’ve visited a number of businesses recently that have been suffering because the personal goals of the owner have not been aligned with the business goals.
One business, in particular, springs to mind where the owner has an excellent opportunity to grow his business, but in order to succeed he needs to invest more time and effort on marketing and he is critical to the marketing effort.
The business goal and supporting actions are clear. He needs to increase his marketing effort to capture additional revenues.
However, he has reached a stage in his life where he would prefer to spend quality time with his grandchildren and more time on the golf course with his buddies.
As such, his personal goal is clear, he wishes to spend an increasing amount of time away from the business to devote to personal pursuits.
In summary, his personal goals are inconsistent with the business goals leaving him frustrated and the business stagnating. He clearly has to do some soul searching in order to find a solution.
The above conflict was fairly easy to spot, but not all dilemmas are so obvious. They can exist just below the surface and can be draining the potential from a business.
I would recommend that all small business owners spend a few minutes to download and complete the attached form. It will provide some valuable insight that can then be used in business planning.
Having completed the form, the owner that I referred to earlier, is now better positioned to identify the cause of the conflict, albeit fairly obvious in his case, and evaluate his options.
Does he:
a) Exit the business to spend more time on his personal pursuits.
b) Bring in additional resources to free him up to spend more time away from the business.
c) Put his personal goals on to the backburner, which will still leave him somewhat frustrated.
The answer to the above will be found after some soul searching. However, the point that I wish to make is that by completing the form business owners can more clearly see areas of potential conflict.
Once identified, they can systematically go about resolving the issues in order to align personal and business goals and successfully realize your goals.
By John H Walters
1-2-1 Business Consulting is a Maryland Based consulting company that specializes in:
Operational Planning and Execution – We will help you to create value by developing and executing a business plan that is aligned to your personal and business goals. We will be with you each step of the way when you need to raise funds: preparing a compelling business case, making introductions to financial institutions and supporting you in your subsequent discussions with the financial institutions.
Performance Improvement. – Whether sales, production or process related, we help you to quantify the problem or opportunity, develop and implement tailor made solutions and put in place appropriate measures to hold the gains.
Use the link to go to 121 Business Consulting to download the Owner Goals form free of charge. http://121businessconsulting.com/Blog/?page_id=45
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