A quick survey of people around the world will easily show that many people would rather be employed than start their own business. The business world is considered to be dangerous and demands a lot of responsibility. However, the irony is that without entrepreneurs, employment would virtually be eliminated and everyone would consequently be forced to be involved in some form of business. One needs to prepare himself well and apply some important principles in order to succeed and even reach very high levels that were not expected initially. It requires good planning besides applying pre-requisite management and organization skills. This is a challenge that may require patience, persistence, dynamism, and continual evaluation. Customers, the support staff, and partners will probably be the heartbeat of the business hence good rapport, leadership, and marketing skills are required. (Wilkins, 1999)
To succeed in anything one has to prepare to succeed. Preparation is important for anyone who desires to be involved in a business venture. Some researchers have suggested that the main ambition of doing a business should not be just to make money. Rather, one needs to embark on a venture that promotes the values and principles they agree and believe in. That way, one will get the inner drive and passion required that may keep the business running when nothing else can. More importantly, they may also feel to be attaining self-actualization in their lives. (Benfari, 1999)
One thing that amazes me is the range of goods and services that I currently use. This is because I have been so attached to some products that I knew about just recently. It is therefore clear that someone packaged and marketed these products in a very appealing way. If one is not prepared to do the same, then it will be very hard to succeed especially with the high competition. (Dessler, 2004) This requires strong willpower, resilience, and good research on the targeted market niche. Since it is all about convincing customers, one has to package his product as different, better, or even necessary. One has to see the bigger picture including anticipated challenges and opportunities but remain positive. It will be very difficult or even impossible for the venture to succeed if you don’t believe in it yourself.
A business venture may easily tighten someone’s coping abilities due to the enormous responsibilities and challenges involved in causing stress. A person with an adaptive approach and one with good stress coping skills will therefore be appropriate. A question to consider is whether you are ready to invest time, money, skills, and make adjustments in your lifestyle besides the patience needed. (Benfari, 1999)
It may prove worth seeking professional advice on matters relating to the business that you want to set up. This will enable you to get important information from which you can confidently base your decisions. Besides, it may prove invaluable to learn all the technical skills that will come in handy when running the business. This may include filing, decision-making techniques among other skills. Going into business with partners has a number of advantages. Apart from offering financial help, the diverse opinions and specialties may yield the right decisions that the organization may need. (Brown, 2003)
Communication is a way of passing ideas, thoughts, feelings, and opinions to a person or persons. It may include various forms including verbal and body gestures, circulars, reports of electronic media among others. For a business to succeed, communication has to be passed effectively with an aim of promoting it at all the concerned levels. (Dessler, 2004)
Passing communication efficiently and effectively plays a big role in sustaining a business. This allows the formation of good relations within the business and an efficient organization. Some consider communication as the most important ingredient in a contemporary business setup. This is because good communication minimizes conflicts within the business organization and partners or between the organization and customers. A proactive and creative workforce is vital for an organization to succeed. Failure to attract this resource due to communication gaps will lead to the collapse of the organization. One has therefore to apply good management and leadership skills to guide, encourage and motivate the workforce. (Dessler, 2004)
An ability to communicate fluently with accompanied body gestures will go a long way in enhancing good communication positions. A number of managers and leaders commonly attend courses to sharpen these skills. It is also important to always establish a level of professionalism in all forms of communication both in and out of the organization. Apart from promoting the same within the organization, it is likely to enhance performance. One needs however to be careful not to appear rude or distant from others. Besides, it is important to try and focus on the positive side of things. While giving facts about a struggling business in the boardroom for example one should also talk about the projected profits. (Brown, 2003)
In organizations, it is common to split the workforce into small groups. These are more likely to handle tasks effectively than an individual toiling alone. Important information that may be passed to the group includes: informing the group of their goals and objectives, answering questions relating to the group tasks, and imparting to members any decision taken. Besides, group communication presents a chance to build confidence and trust among members. Poor communication within a group is therefore likely to botch up a project. (Benfari, 1999)
Considering the theory of specialization of labor, it is believed that when humans perform tasks repeatedly, they become specialists in their areas. Small groups in an organization will therefore enhance the skills of your workforce. Besides, it will enable one to notice exceptional leadership qualities within the workforce, allow one to notice talent and creativity, and reduce management workload and responsibility. (Brown, 2003)
Small groups allow a high level of interaction among members. This will build trust, enhance coordination, and generally promote the effectiveness of the group. People working in groups are very likely to feel the enormity of their tasks and roles. (Brown, 2003)This is because labor is divided or shared among few people who know that they are accountable for their work. When dividing labor in the workplace it is important to consider factors like diversity and ability. While it is important to ensure that every group has at least one person with leadership qualities for example, it may not be logical to assign a vigorous task to people who are physically disadvantaged.
It is also necessary to avoid over monitoring the group activities. They may know and have a better way of handling task. This can be allowed as long as they complete their assigned project on time meeting all the set requirements. It may also go a long way in enhancing the much needed creativity and leadership within the group. (Brown, 2003)
A successful organization is one that allows its employees to develop new ideas, exceed set goals and create new standards. This cannot occur without effective leadership within the organization. To promote an effective workforce, one has to be ready to learn and practice good leadership at the workplace. To do this, one has first of all to define and identify the leadership qualities in the organization. Leadership is not about barking orders to others but rather it’s about helping others achieve their full potential, team building and coordinating. (Benfari, 1999)
It is also very important to promote leadership at the workplace. One way to do this is by closely monitoring and evaluating the workforce to identify potential leaders. One can also reward people who have displayed leadership skills besides treating every employee like a leader and encouraging him/her to always act like one. A skill practiced by some leaders is one whereby employees are allowed to evaluate themselves and pass the information to the manager rather than being answerable to the manager without their input. Moreover, one should emphasize the fact that all employees in the organization are important including the one who may consider himself a low level employee. (Brown, 2003)
A leader may be considered as someone with an ability to make decisions even without some information at hand. They can be able to plan and organize work even without help. They are more willing to give than take. To handle important tasks, a leader needs to be critical, independent, strong willed and determined. Rather than focusing on their positions, they should be interested in making things work. They have good communication skills and can motivate workers. Moreover, they can change the focus and perspective of the employees to one required for the organization to achieve certain goals. (Hesselbein, Goldsmith, & Beckhard, 1996)
A leader should be someone who is not just an administrator but an original innovator. He should be able to encourage and inspire trust rather than just focus on systems and processes. Besides, he should have a long-range perspective with an ability to focus on the end results. (Benfari, 1999) Moreover, he should be his own person who does the right thing and challenges the status quo.
When promoting employees to leadership positions, it is important to base their promotions on formal conditions that have been put on paper. Those promoted should be people who have shown exceptional leadership qualities with a potential of improving. This is the only way creating an able leadership that is not biased against any talented employee. An employee feeling that his achievements are and will not be appreciated is less likely to be productive. (Hesselbein, Goldsmith, & Beckhard, 1996)
A number of researchers have suggested that it is much easier to balance between business and your life if you build your business to support your life than the other way round. This includes aligning your business to your values. It is important to ensure that you get that important break for the sake of your wholesome health. As much as a business may play an important role in someone’s life, even more important are areas focusing on family, health and the general wellbeing. A number of prominent business people have committed suicide while others have drowned into deep depression. This is because when their businesses experienced problems, they found that they had not invested anywhere else to get that important encouragement and support. (Benfari, 1999)
Balancing in business is very crucial. This ensures that important areas that are core to the business are not ignored. Some organizations for example over focus on profits at the expense of the workforce and more importantly the customers. In this case, the maximization of profit becomes more important than the marketing performance. This brands the organization negatively leading to its collapse. On the other hand, companies that ensure both internal and external balance are likely to succeed. Internal balance is balance between the management and the workforce while external balance is balance between the organization and customers. (Benfari, 1999)
One should also ensure that the organizations’ employees find balance between work and their lives. Overworking employees will not yield much for the business but is more likely to reduce enthusiasms and creativity at the workplace affecting the business negatively. On the other hand, workers who know that the organization values their wellbeing and who feel that they work within a certain degree of freedom are more likely to increase productivity. (Bennis, 1989)
Although contemporary organizations are more tending towards democratization and liberalization, strong leadership is required for the business to succeed. One therefore needs to come prepared both physiologically and technically in order to succeed. One has to be able to create teams at the workplace. In order for this to happen, leaders and employees have to adapt to a new lifestyle and behaviors in order to achieve their business goals. (Benfari, 1999)
The current business world is very competitive. This means that the management has to apply basic approaches desirable in this environment. A management style that meets both cultural and traditional needs of employees therefore needs to be developed. One has to learn the cultural background of employees and apply it within the organization. For example: It is increasingly difficult in the modern cultural environment to manipulate workers rather than allow them to work in an environment where they enjoy some freedom. (Bennis, 1989)
For a business venture to succeed, one has to learn to become a good leader and manager. One has to apply the most effective methods to unite workers, enhance their creativity and lead them to achieve set goals. As a manager, he will rely on data and specific information to make decisions. Plans to expand the business may be based on projected profits and available capital. He will also be required to make decisions as a leader without some clear facts backup. (Benfari, 1999)
The business will not just rely on your direct efforts and ingenuity to succeed. This emphasizes the importance of building a vibrant, committed, creative and enthusiastic team with good leadership skills at the workplace. The workforce and customer needs which keep changing with time have always got to be addressed. One therefore needs to be dynamic and observant offering new solutions to cut a competitive edge. For example: a car manufacturer who has marketed cars with features that cut fuel expenses may need to come up with something better that meets customer needs. On the other hand, offering courses to workers that increase their skills and increasing their salaries can be positive. (Benfari, 1999)
The challenges to setting up a business venture are obviously enormous. However by applying the principles described above, one will find himself in a better position to cope. It is all about pulling together important resources, good planning, effective marketing, good leadership and management and maintaining an efficient workforce.
References
Benfari, R. C. (1999). Understanding and changing your management style. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bennis, Warren G. (1989). On Becoming a Leader. Reading: Addison-Wesley.
Brown, D. C. (2003). Leading complex change. New York: Touchstone.
Dessler, G. (2004). Management: principles and practices for tomorrows’ leaders (3rd Ed.). New Jersey: Upper Saddle River.
Hesselbein, F., Goldsmith, M., & Beckhard, R. (Eds.). (1996). The Leader of the Future: new visions, strategies, and practices for the next era. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Wilkins, A. L. (1999). Developing corporate character: How to successfully change an organization without destroying it. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.