In business life, it’s not always the number below the line that determines real success. It doesn’t take away the fact that profitability is the main rule of business, because loss-making companies simply don’t survive, but on top of the green numbers, there may be more that determines success. This can be almost as important, to get real satisfaction out of your business. Here are a few guidelines to give a face to long term and happy-go-lucky success in business life.
1. Achieving goals
Knowing the goals you want to achieve is important, but goals in business come in many shapes and sizes. In addition to profit goals, companies also have goals such as growing market share, achieving high customer ratings and, for example, reducing defective products.
Anyway, you can’t achieve goals you haven’t set yourself. Your goals will then be communicated to your staff and the results will be measured. However, many things can be unclear about goals and this leaves the staff free to pursue the goals or monitor progress in their own way. Setting and achieving clear goals gives a feeling of fighting and conquering together. This makes you happy and makes success more tangible.
2. Making things grow
“Growth” is quite personal, even for a manager. In this perspective, a business is just like a child. As the parent of a business, you get a certain satisfaction in letting it grow, through childhood, to a flourishing maturity and independence with an endless horizon. In this process, the lives and fortunes of the employees, the shareholders, your local environment and even your country grows.
3. Low through-flow
According to an article in Forbes, the throughput of employees is higher than ever before. Striving for a stable base in employees, who are loyal or decide to come back after they leave, is a huge success for a company. It compliments the developed company culture and the mutual atmosphere.
4. A balanced life
Only work and no playtime, beat the employee to death and often make them a jerk. The reason that life doesn’t equate to work is only part of it. A rich industry leader who never takes a restful walk hand-in-hand with his partner is not a success.
Measuring the balance in your life is not productive, but if you lose the balance, it’s easy to measure. The lack of happiness, declining health, broken marriages and estranged children… are all heavy weights on the wrong side of life balance and a very clear measure.
5. Sharing success with others
Ebenezer Scrooge and, before him, Jacob Marley, from “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, piled their riches sky-high. It cost Marley everything in the end.
“But you were always a good businessman, Jacob,” Scrooge said, who now began to apply this to himself.
“Business!” Shouted the Spirit, who rubbed himself back into his hands. “Human life is what I trade in. The common good was my business; charity, grace, patience, and benevolence were all my business. The transactions of my business were just a drop of water in the all-encompassing ocean of my business!”
Sharing may be the true measure of success. Whether it’s wealth and money, time or patience, knowledge and wisdom and good will. Business success exists only as a shared success and should therefore be shared. Honor who deserves honor.
