Successful leaders foresee the consequences of their actions…

To the people that I work with, this illustration will surely bring a smile!

It is the foundation of ALL the work I do with them. It's a tool to reduce the complex cause-effect relationships of business into meaningful perspectives and actionable activities.

Keeping these three elements in balance is the foundation of keeping your business...well...in business.

Every private business functions through the interrelationships between these major elements: You (the Ownership), the company (Mothership), and your teams (Employees). For any business to grow both sustainably and ethically, the Ownership must maintain the balance between their own needs, the needs of the Mothership, and the needs of the Employees.

The Ownership needs proceeds (or net profit) from the Mothership to achieve his/her definition of success. The Ownership needs the Employees' time, attention, and dedication to support his/her vision.

Employees also require a portion of proceeds from the Mothership for their time and work. They need a supervisory and physical environment that is helpful to their work. From the owner, they need security in their position, respect, a path to their future, and appreciation for when going above and beyond.

The Mothership needs Ownership to provide the resources necessary for sustainability. Strategy. Restraint. It needs the Employees to be engaged and amenable to growth as the Mothership grows.

For example, if the Mothership grows (or shrinks), it may require keeping a greater percentage of the proceeds that had earlier been earmarked for the Ownership. Perhaps also more time, effort, and attention. If the ownership is unable to adjust its expectations for proceeds or time, it would have to turn to the Employees to increase their efficiency, commitment, or independence.

If the financial need of an Employee grows, the Mothership would require the employee to increase capacity and productivity. Conversely, the Mothership adjusts its reserves for other expenses or investments in its growth.

You get the idea.

Any pervasive challenge to a business begins when one element is adjusted without regard for the others.

The point where the business first begins to lose its balance.

Continuous one-sided adjustments add to the imbalance and lead to decline. Continuous decline leads to distress. Continuous distress leads to insolvency.

Over the following months, we’ll explore a number of topics from the Balance Driven Business philosophy. We’ll begin with the most common challenges where businesses begin to lose their balance and put themselves in spirals of decline. The interaction between the Mothership and Employees.

Don’t miss the next article...Follow hashtag #balancedrivenbusiness

NEXT TIME: How we break the relationships that Dale Carnegie called the “sacred, symbiotic bond between the employer and the employee.”

Image: Pixabay/Peter-Lomas