How to Avoid Business Complacency

As a business owner, you need to be able to see the fine line between being comfortable with your position and being dangerously complacent. Otherwise, you run the risk of hindering your business’ growth, or even actively sabotaging its success. Let’s review why this is.

I want you to think back to how your business operated just a few short years ago. How similar was it to the way you currently do things?

Hopefully, not very.

Consider this: in 2013, mobile technology was just starting to become more commonly used for computing than the PC. In 2016, “unified communications” was still a buzzword, and collaborative solutions were experiencing widespread adoption. Today, just a few short years later, these are some of the basic solutions that all organizations should be leveraging.

Many businesses can easily fall into the trap of believing that their past success guarantees more of the same in the future. This comes with a few operational and behavioral warning signs. For example:

• Are any potential changes or growth opportunities avoided or rebuffed through the use of highly selective facts?
• Do conversations amongst your team skirt around topics like new markets, possible competition, or other developing business opportunities?
• Are failures used to postpone new attempts instead of as learning moments?
• Do meetings frequently end in a holding pattern?

These factors all signal that a business has slipped into patterns that are comfortable, rather than habits that are operationally sound. “Okay” becomes the standard, as do shortcuts and cut corners. The question is, do you want your business to be “okay”, or do you want it to be a success?

Fortunately, once you’ve identified it, there are many ways to mitigate complacency. Ask yourself a few more questions about your business, its policies, and its culture:

• Is there any way that your processes could be made more efficient?
• Is your service offering a good fit for your current audience? What needs will they have in the near future?
• Are there any technologies that could soon cause a disruption in your market, or could be used as an invaluable tool?
• How engaged are your employees?

Many of these questions will require a big-picture perspective of both your business and your industry. Macro-views like these can be challenging, especially when one is accustomed to the micro-perspective into a single business. Answering these questions on your own will prove to be challenging as well, and then you still have to resolve any issues that they unearth.

Techworks Consulting, Inc. has plenty of experience with managing the technology that businesses rely on to be successful and efficient. While up-to-date technology isn’t the only thing necessary to avoid becoming complacent in business, it is a good start, and one that we can help with. Reach out to us at (631) 285-1527 to learn more.