Quickly navigate
When you became a founder, chances are you did so with gusto and excitement fuelled by a consistent buzz from your brilliant business idea. But along with growth, are the inevitable business challenges that are a natural part of all women entrepreneurs’ journey.
There’s no escaping them. How you handle them, however, can make the difference between navigating a well-maintained, sturdy boat through choppy waters or flailing around in arm-bands in a category 5 cyclone.
Developing a calm, composed approach involves cultivating certain strategies, three of which we recommend to all the women entrepreneurs we work with. Just this month, we’ve used these strategies to work through a financial “crisis”; a supplier let down and a long-standing, time-consuming recruitment drive that left one entrepreneur back where she started, depleted and flat.
Tip-1: Learn to detach
What often appears to be the problem is actually not the issue at all but a symptom of something much deeper. But you’ll never find this out if you go straight to gear six and stay there, mired in worry and desperate for a quick fix.
The first step then is to detach yourself emotionally from the problem. Emotions cloud judgement and make problems seem bigger than they are.
“But every fibre of my being is woven throughout this business,” you cry. “How can I possibly detach?”
First, start by acknowledging the emotions you’re experiencing without letting them dictate your thinking or decision-making. It’s natural to feel passionate about your business but without a sense of detachment, you’ll be unable to reflect calmly and clearly about what actions to take.
In the case of the financial challenge mentioned above, our women entrepreneurs’ clarity of thought was blurred because of her high emotion and stress when a promised fund failed to materialise by the due date.
Unsurprisingly this event was causing immediate panic. But addressing the problem at the surface-level, in a reactive way, would have left an ineffective sticking plaster solution, and the likelihood of more of the same.
When you find ways to remove feelings from the picture so you can detach yourself, you clear much needed mental space which shifts your focus to objective analysis.
Tip-2: Assess the underlying cause
One you’ve detached, it’s time to reframe. This way we can reflect and learn and avoid repeating it again.
This involves assessing the underlying cause of the problem through a series of logical steps.
Dedicate time to break it down into smaller, manageable parts, and treat it like a puzzle – a Rubik’s Cube if you like. In our work with women entrepreneurs, we use the Wyseminds Powerball to help achieve this. It’s built on four key growth drivers – team, purpose, customer and business – and is a useful method for getting at the root of the problem.
Question your way to the answer by asking things like what’s making you so annoyed? Is the problem linked to finances, service, operational inefficiencies or the team? What behaviour or decision sparked it? What in the company is misaligned?
With our entrepreneur struggling with her cash flow challenge, we talked to her about the circumstances surrounding the event and dismantled it piece by piece. Doing this helped her to take a step back and see what was wrong from a broader perspective.
This may sound obvious, but when confronted with challenges and time is scarce, it’s easy for layers to build and obscure their root cause. The unravelling process of the Powerball helps pinpoint what lies at the heart of the problem so you can tackle the real-deal, not just treat the symptoms filling up your to-do list.
Tip-3: Put the problem into third position
Now it’s time to move the challenge into third position. By this, we mean adopt a neutral perspective so you shift from reactive to proactive.
Here’s where you need to try and look at it like an impartial observer; a mediator who opts for a balanced resolution that suits everyone rather than a blame game approach. In third position, you see and hear yourself and others, but from afar: as if you’re watching a movie, rather than actively embroiled in it.
In third position, you shift from emotionally-charged business founder to level-headed observer, making it much easier to consult everyone involved: your team, your suppliers, even your customers.
This collaborative approach not only helps solve the immediate challenge, but promotes a culture of openness and transparency, and strengthens relationships, builds trust and creates a more cohesive team dynamic.
Business challenges are inevitable, but they don’t have to be overwhelming. By remembering to detach yourself, weed out the root cause, and move into third position, you solve problems faster and more efficiently while building a more resilient business for the future.
Are you stuck in a rut of fighting small fires that never seem to go out? Wyseminds coaches are a specialist team supporting women entrepreneurs on the path to improved business performance. Why not shift the gear down from six, try our Business Growth Programme and see how we can help grow your business?
