The Motivation Problem For Small Business
By Jim Symcox on Nov 15, 2007 in Business Growth
Entrepreneurs can plough a very lonely furrow and yet they’re masters of their own destiny. However despite that freedom I’ve met a number who’ve been so long at the grindstone that they feel demotivated and wonder whether they should jack in the business and go and work for a living.
I talked about this to Moyra Franklin from Bombox who’s spent many years in a busy solicitor’s office watching people getting rid of the millstone of their business from around their necks only to find that someone who bought it for a song has turned it round to a great and glorious future.
Of course the only problem is that to buy a business and turn it round takes a lot of guts. You don’t have the background or skills of the original owner. And if you’re not careful you can grind what’s left of the business into the ground.
In fact my friendly multi-millionaire “uneducated chip fryer”, as he insists on referring to himself, told me about a case in point with one of the suppliers to his business. This supplier had been bought out by another company who’d immediately sacked the top management and then proceeded to rule the firm with a rod of iron, whilst at the same time not having a clue about the business.
The result a major profit slide as employees began to worry about protecting their jobs and doing the minimum to raise a fuss so that they weren’t too exposed.
No way to run a business is it? And yet I’ve also seen well meaning company bosses do exactly that too.
Their problem is that they have no one brave enough to expose the problems they’re creating for themselves and their workforce and customers. How will it end?
Given the current credit squeeze I suspect they may have to move operations abroad or simply close the whole business down. I’ll keep you “posted.”
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Rob Artisan | Nov 18, 2007 | Reply
Jim,
interesting post; lack of interaction is a real problem
Working as part of a community has many benefits if you allow employees to contribute
Rob
jimsym | Nov 19, 2007 | Reply
Hi Rob,
There are psychological problems too if you’re not careful. for example a company’s employees could come to believe their own PR and not appreciate honest customer feedback.
Jim