Today’s article is going to be hard-hitting. Some SMEs have been up and running for years but still not getting the intended results, why? One main reason is that they or their employees are making the same mistakes repeatedly not realizing that they are doing it wrong all these while.
It sometimes takes painful truths to realize where the business went wrong. The good news is, if businesses can recognize these mistakes and most importantly taking the action to CHANGE, then your business will bloom.
Today, we shall focus on the employees.
5 Deadly Mistakes Employees Make That Will Destroy Any SME
1. Positive Thinking Only
I don’t believe in positive thinking. Positive thinking is driving your car every day and thinking positively that the petrol tank will never get empty. It’s not going to happen. Do you know what’s missing? Taking action! If you do not want to have an empty petrol tank, you need to take action to pump in more petrol.
Employees may make a similar mistake. If your employees hope for good results every day but not taking any action, there’s no way anything going to change. There’s no way you are going to stay dry if you stand in the rain no matter how much positive thinking you have. If you want your business to have results, make sure your employee does not only have positive thinking but take action as well!
2. Taking Wrong Actions
Taking action is excellent. But the word of caution, make sure you’re not going the wrong way. Taking action to run away from danger by running towards oncoming traffic is going to kill you instantly. It’s insane. Likewise, expecting a good result using the wrong action will kill any business also.
You must ensure and constantly remind your employees to have the same focus and goals that the company has. Alignment is key here. The management has to first ensure that the goals set and the strategies implemented is the right one for the company. With this, everyone will gain.
If results are not there, stop and analyze where you went wrong. Like how Thomas Edison put it, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”.
Learning from mistakes and not repeating them is what makes any company stronger.
3. Not Believing
A major problem most businesses face is having unbelieving employees. Companies may set high standards and targets and employees may see it differently and having a mindset like:
“The management is crazy!”
“There’s no way anyone is able to do this”
“Ask the management to show us first, if they can do it then I’ll do it”
This is a big problem. Employees must believe that they can do it or else the target will just be a number. There is no way your employees will hit your target if they stay in this mud hole.
Make sure your employees are well equipped. Provide enough job training to ensure that they are the best and competent in their work. If they are skilled but still have a negative mindset, it’s time to break that barrier and to show them that “It’s possible!”. The best way to do this is through motivational training. Sales Ninjas has designed an intense and highly challenging Motivational Training called Sales Ninja Warrior that will push the participants to their limit to overcome barriers and any fears that they have.
4. Learning Less
To improve, you need to learn. If anyone stops learning, their journey ends there. Your employees need to have the passion to learn new things that will improve themselves or improve their skills. If any employee is repeating the same mistakes over and over again, it’s no improvement. That employee has stopped learning. If that employee is not willing to change, he’s gone.
Set a culture to have consistent improvements. You’ll be surprised how better things can get when your employees work with passion. It’s mind-blowing.
5. Political Agendas
It’s very common for employees to have political agendas in the workplace. You stab me and I’ll stab you back 5 times harder. This needs to stop. Employees that prioritize their own benefits at the expense of others will eat away the company like a parasite.
Working together and having synergy is where businesses will grow exponentially. Make it a point to stop office politics and work as a united team. When an army is going to war, having internal conflicts within the army and having soldiers shooting their teammates in front of the enemy will be the end for them. If your team is fighting each other, your competitors will easily and swiftly take advantage of that and destroy your business.
Sometimes, hard action needs to be taken to ensure that work politics are eliminated.
Summary
To ensure results, sometimes hard changes are needed. Though it may be unpleasant, it still has to be done. Employees have crucial roles to ensure the success of any SME.
