There are innumerous businesses around the world. The businesses can be segregated on the type of ownership, nature of operation, medium of operation, etc. But there are a few things that remain common to all businesses. A business is an entity established to earn money by rendering service or selling goods. At the same time, a business will always have an authority who will make decisions or drive the organization. A company involved in business dealing will have employees. These are just a few common points that every business will have.
Every business is different and thus, would require different policies, strategies, etc. But, there are a few golden rules that every business owner can make use of irrespective of the type of business. These golden rules are classics that apply to all businesses with a few tweaks.
#Advice 1: Distribute Responsibility
A business owner often wants to be in control of the situation and as a result he or she ends up doing almost everything here and there. The rule here is to assign roles and responsibility and let the individual take up the tasks. With dedicated people involved in completion of a task, you can focus on matters that are more important. A few ways to distribute responsibility include:
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- Creating Specialized Teams: A team of people who specialize in a particular area can really ease you work. If you have a software application development business, then you might want to have a team of designers, a separate team of programmers, and another team of testers. These teams will specialize in their functions and at the same time work in coherence with each other. If you are a small business owner and do not require a team as such, then having three different people for the roles or one person who can do all three is a desired choice. If you want to be updated on the happenings, you can only choose to get reports of daily progress.
- Enabling Self Service: A business requires teams or individuals to work closely and cooperate with other. At the same time, there would be teams that are tasked with facilitating internal processes. These teams are often overloaded with requests that can easily be done with some self-assistance applications or Software. A big business owner can invest in development of such portals by connecting with a software application development company. This helps in streamlining work and enables individuals to perform efficiently. You can choose to be the approving authority in case you suspect misuse.
#Advice 2: Make Smart Decisions
All business owners or CEOs are required to makes decisions and they have to rely on facts and data before deciding things which can be crucial for any business. But, making decisions related to finance or man power require a strong research and careful consideration. Here are a few tricky situations where you as a business owner would have to make a choice.
- Hiring vs.Outsourcing: This is one of the most common dilemmas that business owners often face. At times, hiring seems to be the right thing but then outsourcing is way more cost-effective. The right decision in this case would require consideration of the difference in the amount, commitment, resource usefulness, etc. For example, if you want to get a Software developed, then you would have to decide between having an in-house team or a software application development.
- Humans: Digitalization is everywhere and it is going to remain that way for years to come. New technologies target at reducing human work and as a result businesses often need to include technologies for better outcomes. If companies are reluctant to be a part of the technological advances, then they might end up losing the competitive edge which can be fatal in the business. But, this does not mean you would not need humans; it is only that their involvement will be limited. Consider choosing part-time workers or freelancers in such cases. For example, choosing an online platform for your software application development needs and limiting the number of team members who are programming and coding.
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#Advice 3: Adopt Measuring Tools
It is good to have a measuring tool in place and even better to communicate the parameters to your employees beforehand. This helps business in identifying what has worked and what has not. At the same time, it helps in employees to set goals and evaluate themselves against the set checks. The measuring tools can either be quantitative or qualitative. Let’s look at each of these in detail.
- Quantitative: At times, the work that you do can be analyzed using numbers and figures. For instance, if you are a salesperson, your performance can be evaluated in terms of the revenue generated. Similarly, if an application is developed, then the assessment can be on the basis of the number of downloads. Sometimes, companies allow clients to rate services on a number scale and this can be used as a quantitative score.
- Qualitative: At times, you work cannot be evaluated on the basis of figures like revenue generated, sales lead, etc. Other than this, your role and responsibility might be focused on customer interaction or training and therefore no quantitative element would be involved. In these cases, a qualitative assessment tool is handy where a supervisor can score you. The qualitative aspects include interpersonal skills, behavior, values, innovation, etc.
A successful business requires an amalgamation of all the three listed advice. Use them in your business and see the difference that some small changes can bring.
