My experience as an ActionCOACH business coach and from my many years as an entrepreneur I have noticed many business mistakes that owners and executives make that damage the organizations they work for. The following are five common mistakes that come to mind. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

  1. As an owner, executive, or collectively as an organization – Thinking You Have All of the Answers.
    Plain and simple, we all have blind spots. Be willing to embrace the fact that you will be wrong about things a vast majority of the time. You must keep an open mind and banish your “I Know” attitude. Continuous learning is essential to your success and ability to avoid this mistake.
  2. Not Being Aware of Which Hat You Are Wearing at Any Given Time.
    Unless you own or are an executive in a very large (varies by situation) organization, you probably wear several hats to meet your daily responsibilities. This is particularly important when your role includes “working on the business” activities and “working in the business” activities. When you attempt to wear multiple hats, or confuse which hat you are wearing, lack of focus results.
  3. Catering Too Much to Your Existing Customers.
    Your existing customers helped you get to where you are today. While it is certainly important to do everything you can to keep your customer retention rate as high as possible, too much attention to existing customer needs may blind you to other opportunities within your marketplace. This is not to suggest that you abandon the needs of your customers. Rather, it suggests that it is a delicate balance between the needs of your current customers and the needs of your potential customers.
  4. Catering Too Much to Your Potential Customers.
    Understanding the needs of potential customers can broaden your horizons leading to developing new products, services, or niches within your marketplace and enhancing organizational capabilities. Of course, as mentioned above, you must balance this forward-looking focus with a current focus. This is not to say that you won’t get new ideas for products or services from your existing customers. It is that existing customers mostly picture your company the way it was when they signed up.
  5. Not Having KPIs That Reflect and Relate to Your Organizations Goals.
    As the saying goes, “If you can’t measure something, you can’t manage it.” Measurement is the first step to improvement and control of the activities within your organization. Many companies have Key Performance Indicators that are not related to company goals, these must be eliminated. On the other hand, your organization must have KPIs, that track progress at every step toward achieving company goals. The best KPIs are key performance INDICATORS, future-looking not necessarily backward-looking measurements.

These mistakes are not difficult to avoid if you and your team are aware of them. However, if you or your team are making any of these mistakes, your company will fall behind your competitors.

Finally, an additional mistake is thinking that these five are the only mistakes that can hurt your organization. My ActionCOACH colleagues and I can enhance your ability to avoid these any other “potholes” on your road to success. Contact me to arrange a complementary, no obligation diagnostic consultation to assess how I will assist you to avoid these mistakes and accelerate your journey to success.