Are You Willing?

Last year I wrote an article about business owners who won’t face the truth about what is happening in their business. It can be a lot of things they don’t want to face but especially their involvement in what is going on.

There’s another type of business owner or manager who knows there is something wrong in their business or team, may or may not know exactly what the problem is, and accepts it. You will hear them say things like, ‘that’s just the way it is’ or, even worse, ‘you can’t do anything to change it’.

Now that just simply isn’t true. You can do something about it and you can change it. Is it going to change in a hurry? No. But if you don’t do anything the consequences will be much worse. Why are business owners and managers so willing to accept things as they are and not try to improve them? That’s a whole other article.

Let’s be really honest here. If there is something in your business or team which needs to be fixed, it’s going to take effort. Maybe that’s why business owners and managers don’t act… Depending on what the issue is, you can be sure at some point the people within the business will have something to do with it. That’s a given. So it is imperative you understand exactly what the issue is so you can tackle it from every angle. But be prepared for other things to arise as you start to make changes. Sometimes you are only touching the surface.

A key component which needs to be present for the change to begin is willingness. Willingness from the business owner or manager to make the change happen. You then of course need to have willingness from the team to come along for the ride. But without willingness and direction from the business owner or manager nothing will change.

So if things aren’t ‘right’ in your business or team, find the willingness to change it and provide direction. You’ll know you’ve got it right when performance improves.