Business threats: Is it time to renovate?

It’s easy to go into denial about what may be some very real business threats for your business, but to achieve your goals in these "interesting" times, you need to be willing to do some honest checks and balances.

I was recently working with a successful businesswoman who decided it was time to renovate her business.

She had been operating for around seven years and grown from a home garage based workroom to a bustling factory with a staff of 20.

We inspected the foundations she had laid back in those early days to make sure they were still capable of carrying the business forward to her new goals. If they didn’t stand up to scrutiny, it was time for renovation.

Here are some of the foundations that were inspected and questioned as being possible business threats.

• Do those billing systems that grew as the business expanded need an overhaul to make them more efficient?
• Was the manufacturing technology as productive and up-to-date as it could be?
• Did the computer technology need attention and improvement?
• Was it time to look at a new image and marketing strategy?

We also revisited the company philosophy and the mission and values she had started out with. Were they still valid and inspirational or did they need some updating? She then reassessed and overhauled job descriptions and team agreements with her staff.

Now hand in hand with renovating a house to keep it sufficient for the family requirements is the day-to-day house maintenance. For example, keeping an eye on the plumbing and electricity to make sure the pipes are not rusting or the wiring becoming dangerous.

In business this translates into doing the T (threats) part of a SWOT analysis, not only on the big picture of the business but all the vital little components of smooth running, which if not given attention and maintained properly can bring the whole business to a halt.

I discovered this the hard way a couple of years back when I lost everything on my computer. My backup system had been acting strangely for weeks, but I kept putting off having it checked for all the usual reasons until it finally crashed.

So the lesson is take a regular look at your business threats and see what needs renovating and what needs maintenance. Be accountable for what needs renewing, repairing or updating now to avoid drama and losses in the future.