Maintain Attitude and Altitude, or you will surely crash
I was directed this week to a survey done by the Bank of Scotland, aimed at identifying the attributes displayed by Britain’s more successful small business owners.
Why is it that surveys done by the banks are so bland - they never seem to produce any really stimulating results? Is it PC to not upset any of their clients perhaps? Anyway, this survey was unexcitingly ‘par for the course’.
After analysing over 4000 interviews they decided that there were four distinct business personalities looking after Britain’s SME business sector.
One in five entrepreneurs in Britain is a ‘high flyer’
‘High flyers’, approximately 17% of those surveyed, were identified as those business owners who demonstrated strong and consistent growth for their businesses over the past three years. They tended to be successful business leaders with an optimistic outlook on the UK economy and were investing in the future.
‘Steady Growers’, at 35%, were identified as owners achieving moderate growth for their businesses over the past three years with a fairly optimistic outlook on the economy etc.
‘Survivors’, also at 35%, experienced little or no growth in the last three years and expected their performance to remain much the same for the following year or so.
And finally, ‘Strugglers’ at 13%, fortunately representing the smallest group. These are business owners that have experienced no growth over the past three years and tended to be pessimistic about the prospects for both their businesses and the economy.
So, nothing exciting there! But if you are interested in reading the survey it is available on their site – see link at end
What was interesting, but didn’t surprise me
Of the ‘strugglers’ group, more than one in five of its businesses were over 20 years old, and they had found more difficulty running their businesses over the past five years.
Contrast that to the ‘high flyers‘ group where most of the businesses were under five years old.
Passion
Does this remind you about my article of 18th July in which I discussed passion. And, how, after being hammered by bureaucracy, long hours, poor returns or whatever, and being held ‘hostage’ to their business, the owner’s passion is inevitably cooled, resulting in the business’s decline towards failure.
To me, this survey revealed an unintended ‘gem’ - clearly supporting the view that once you’ve lost the passion for your business, you will continue to struggle – maybe for ‘20 years’ or more according to the survey, or until the business (or you) finally fails.
So, what’s the Answer
If you are being held ‘hostage’ to your business, break the shackles – and get your life back. Either find some way to rekindle that passion (talk to me about how) or get out and start another business with a fresh passion. Make a decision now - desert the ‘strugglers’ and join the ranks of the ‘high flyers’.
You’ll be surprised at how reinvigorating this can be on your life, and the lives of those nearest and dearest to you.
Now, go make some money the smart way!
Doctor Richard C.
September 7th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Hi Richard
Passion comes in many forms. Yesterday, by chance, I watched a rather sweet comedy on TV: “The Englishman Who Went up a Hill, but Came Down a Mountain”.
It was down to passion that a whole village laboured, toiled to turn a hill into a mountain (raising its summit 20 feet so it would be classified as a mountain and not just a hill).
What’s the old saying? “Passion can move mountains”?
Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
September 14th, 2007 at 4:04 am
Richard,
So true in so many ways. Holds true for employees as well as owners - when you lose the passion, you either rekindle it or you better find a new passion elsewhere. My guess is that employees fall into much the same set of buckets - a few are true high-flyers, some are steady growers, some survive and some struggle. For the survivors and strugglers among employees, I think the choice is rekindle the passion, leave of your own accord, or find yourself being asked to leave.
September 16th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Hi Kent
I’m in two minds about this - employees losing passion. Who caused that loss? The employee or the employer?
Interestingly (or should I blame it on synchronicity again?) this morning I read this article in the Saturday Times: “Forget burnout, now it’s boreout”.
How a boss can kill off your passion in your work by not delegating tasks, or not giving you the type of work that both plays to your strengths and feels like a meaningful task. Even though you ask your boss/manager for more things to do he/she refuses to delegate, making you feel under challenged, undervaluated and dissatisfied.
So while your boss is heading for a (passionate) burnout, you’re heading for a boreout.
Article is based on the publication “Diagnosis Boreout - How a lack of Challenge at work can make you ill” by Peter Werder and Philippe Rothlin
Funnily enough the symptoms of a boreout are the same as for a burnout. Suffering from a burnout is not a sinecure - been there myself. When I returned to work after 6 months ‘off sick’ my bosses deemed it preferable to ‘promote’ me to a new department - logistics.
Boring! No more IT-projects, no more quality control projects, hardly any direct contact with customers. Just plain boring!
So when the chance was offered to run a retail shop in a ’strange new land’ it didn’t took me long to say goodbye to the workplace I’d been in for 19 years - most of those years with much pleasure. And the rest - as they say - is history.
Passion needs ‘fire’, either from in yourself or ‘kindled’ by your job/task. And as employee that last part rests IMHO mainly by your boss’s attitude. Lack of trust can kill even the most ‘passionate’ employee.
Karin H.
September 16th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Karin,
For me the question is not “who caused the loss,” but “who is going to rekindle the passion?”
If I am working with the employee, my question will be, “What are you going to do in order to bring passion back into your own life?” If I am working with the leader, my question might be, “What are you going to do to allow your employees to bring more passion to their work?”
I disagree a bit with your last paragraph. In the end, I believe we are each responsible for our own lives. If my passion for the work has died, it’s up to me to find a way to bring passion back into my life. I don’t trust anyone else to do that for me. To the extent I rely on someone else to help me live a fulfilling life, I am setting myself up to be a victim. It’s up to me to find work that honors my passion. That’s what you did when you took on “Wood You Like” and that’s what I did when I evolved from executive into executive coach.
September 17th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Hi Kent
I understand where you’re coming from. For me it is a 50/50 issue - as you also incidate a bit.
Keeping or rekindling the passion is IMHO a shared responsibility between employee and employer, as in a two way traffic (ask and demand situation, both ways).
If that doesn’t happen (or stops happening), if it becomes a one way street (by either the employer or employee) it will turn into a ‘dead-end’ and then yes indeed it’s best to part company (either leaving yourself as employee or being asked by the employer).
But on the other hand I still feel that an employer should carry the largest ‘burden’: i.e. creating/having an attitude towards employees that brings out the best of them - for mutual benefit - hence my remark about lack of trust.
Karin H.
September 19th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Hi Richard,
Although I agree that the Bank survey makes pretty boring reading - I guess it is factually correct. The percentages within “Survivors” & “Strugglers” when added together = almost 50% of small business owners. I am guessing that you would like these 50% to contact you and allow you put them back on track - right? This makes it easy to understand why so many businesses actually fail.
Passion is a key ingredient to business success. I would go as far to say that passion is key to a successful and enjoyable life.
One of the key reasons for my leaving my last employer (circa 2000) and setting up my own company was due to the loss of “Passion” for the job. Some of this loss of passion was down to putting in 110% effort and not being adequately rewarded for doing so!
I now put in 110% of effort (and passion) into my business and although I’m still not (in my view) adequately rewarded (financially at least) for what I do - I am still as committed and passionate about everything that I do within my business.
I am glad that I am not one of the entrepreneurs that falls within the bottom 2 groups !
Jamie O “Making Your Cash Flow”
October 1st, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Well that stimulated a bit of discussion.
To those references about employees, the rule (in my business anyway) is ‘employ attitude - teach skills’. Attitude, passion, mindset, all these are pre-essentials to engaging anyone - and if skills come along with the applicant then you’ve got yourself a ‘gem’.
And once you’ve got the ‘gem’ onboard, nurture the attitude, passion, mindset and skills - keep them shining bright. And they will stay with you and add tremendous value to your business.