(Article by Rupert Janisch published in Western Daily Presss monthly business supplement June 26^th)

This month we had the pleasure of featuring in a double-page spread in the business section of the Western Daily Press.

The three articles focused on our work with high growth businesses.

The journalist asked for our advice to high growth businesses – which of course made us rather uneasy:

“Excuse me, we don’t give advice!”

However, we had a good think about the key challenges we regularly see as we help entrepreneurs in high growth businesses, and shared the following 10 tips with the readers:

Work smarter, not harder

Time is precious, so prioritise your own efforts carefully. Are the tasks you are currently spending your time on the ones to make your business successful? Are you the right person to do them? This is one of the most frequent areas we help business owners and managers tackle getting their priorities right and being effective.

Stop being a hero

High growth businesses are often in constant crisis mode, so business owners end up spend most of their time responding to queries and troubleshooting. It can become addictive and end up as the culture of your business. However, this is not sustainable and will limit growth.

Take the time to think

Business owners often tell us that one of the key benefits of coaching sessions is learning how to work on the business, rather than just in the business. As the leader of your business you need to take a step back and look at how things are working and the bigger picture, examine your long-term business goals and develop your plans to get there.

Make it happen

Business coaching has the great advantage that we help you create your own goals, strategy and plans you own them, you believe in them and you are responsible. To move the business forward on a deliberate path takes focus and perseverance and you may need to fundamentally change some of the ways you or your business has operated so far. The likelihood of you implementing them is much higher than if we came as advisors and told you what you should do.

Believe in yourself, but don’t be a fool

Entrepreneurs are the driving force behind creating and growing new businesses but they can also become the very people holding it back. As your business develops, so do you need to develop! You need to become a leader, bring in expertise, change your own role, learn to delegate and trust the people you have hired… and the list goes on.

Tackle underperformance

Employees are an unending cause of frustration in many businesses. Owner managers often come to us asking how to manage problematic or underperforming employee(s). The problem may in some part lie with the owner, but an experienced coach can help explore the underlying causes of the problem.

Keep your eyes on the money

Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity and, we may add, cash is king. It is vital that cash flow is monitored closely, particularly in high-growth businesses. Funding is regularly a key bottleneck for growth businesses. A good business coach can help you critically evaluate your financing needs, get you and your business ready for investment, and help you understand sources of financing and how to access it.

Lead change

Most growing businesses will at some point have to go through a revolution rather than just evolution to enable future growth. The change may involve a radical change in strategy, acquiring another company, going international, implementing a new production process or a complete reorganisation. Such change can be both exciting and empowering, or scary and alienating. A good coach with change leadership experience will help the business owner/manager lead change.

Be a competitor

Growth businesses should by nature be highly competitive. However, business conditions change constantly and yesterdays market-leading offer may not cut it tomorrow. To keep competitive you must understand your customers needs well, also as they evolve. Keep customers loyal with good service, stay on the look-out for new opportunities and beware that competitors might start to bite back once they notice you.

Innovate or die

Constant innovation in all areas of a business is the key to maintaining your competitive edge and to long-term successful growth. It is very easy to start losing momentum in a growth business to rest a bit on the laurels. It is through innovation, doing things differently, looking at the problems differently that most barriers to growth are overcome.

For the full double-page spread in Western Daily Press click here.