Looking for growth in your business?

The publication Management Today quoted the following this week:

?

More than half (58%) of SMBs fear stagnation in 2024, including 53% of businesses that reported growth in 2023, according to research from communication platform Slack and charity Be the Business.

UK firms find the most challenging stage of change to be when they exceed 25 employees and ￡100,000 in revenue, the study revealed.

The survey identified a range of internal issues hampering growth, including poor management (highlighted by 45% of respondents), poor communication and collaboration (38%), lack of motivation (36%) and employee burnout (33%).

?

Have you seen any of this in your business? If so, how are you going to tackle it?

?

One of the areas where we have a lot of experience is in leadership development for the senior management team. We have an approach which is essentially offering a mastermind group internally for them.

?

How does this work? In a mastermind group,?the members are the main focus of the discussion and they run the agenda of the group. Each member's participation is important: peers give each other feedback, help brainstorm new ideas, and set up accountability structures that keep each other focused on the end goal. In other words, they’re working on your business and developing as managers and leaders at the same time.

?

What can be added to this is speakers on appropriate topics and coaching.

?

It works because adults learn most from experience rather than academic study and this learning can be enhanced by providing the opportunity to reflect on experience, extract the lessons and apply the learning immediately. This is an advantage over business school-type programmes with set content which then must be applied back in the workplace.

?

The benefits of a programme like this are that it

·????? Is tailored to the individual needs of each person

·????? Enables them to feel supported in tackling business challenges

·????? Enables managers to learn from each other

·????? Ensures they are working on real business challenges

·????? Encourages moving forward together with a shared understanding and commitment.

?

Particular times in a company when an approach like this could be most beneficial are:

?

·????? When succession planning is needed, and the top team need to step up. This could be when the CEO is looking to retire or move into the position of Chair

·????? In anticipation of rapid growth when more capability is needed in the business.

?

We have long experience of running mastermind-type groups like this. Come and talk to us.

?#leadershipdevelopment #coaching #businessgrowth #successionplanning