Killing Complacency: The Risk of Growing Careless with your Company

When it comes to successfully running your own business, there are certain beneficial changes that often go unmade as a result of complacency. Whether this is a certain sales pitch that’s already deeply integrated into your sales teams, the way you chose to hire your employees, or simply the manner in which you organize your meetings, sometimes there are areas in dire need of changing that simply remain unchanged.

Whilst making costly or time-consuming alterations to a running company can be daunting, complacency usually ends up being the most expensive habit of all. However, it’s one thing to let your company stay in a state of steady self-maintenance, but it’s another thing entirely to let yourself lose time and money where you don’t need to. A little upkeep can go a long way.

I’ll Find Time Later…

Far too many times do we tell ourselves this when the need for change arises. Whether it’s an unscheduled meeting that’s been floating in the air for months, a continuously high turnover rate in a specific area of operations, or simply a phone call that keeps getting delayed, it’s easy to stick our heads in the sand and go full-ostrich on matters we don’t deem important enough to take up our valuable time. But if you don’t make time to do it (whatever it is) today, you won’t make time to do it tomorrow either. Or a week from now. Or a month. Or a year. You get the idea.

Make the Change

One strong example of a workplace matter that often doesn’t receive the attention it deserves is hiring and employee retention. Because high staff turnover can be a constant issue for many businesses and companies, it often becomes commonplace to treat it as a workplace norm that doesn’t need to be dwelt on. But, taking into account the costs of employee training and turnover, it’s actually far wiser to spend a little time and money investing in your employees today and seeing the return tomorrow, instead of never investing and continuously losing money from a solvable issue. Whether this is through additional benefits, pre-employment testing and assessments for a better interview process, or simply a little workplace flexibility, accommodating your staff’s needs and ensuring they’re a good fit for the company can offer you long-term stability, not to mention save you a fortune in rehiring.

Another example of this could be the manner in which you train your staff. Let’s say sales haven’t been achieving the best they’re capable of for a while – a usual conclusion to jump to is that your sales staff aren’t cut out for it, and you need to re-hire. While this sometimes may be the case, it’s imperative not to jump to costly conclusions. Maybe hiring a sales trainer for a short period could give your team the boost they need and increase your profit tenfold, or perhaps morale could be improved with something as simple as occasional team events. The changes don’t always need to be entirely costly or time-consuming – in many cases, it just takes a little initiative.

Invest to Improve

Regardless of how well a company is run, there will always be areas where the screws need tightening and the gears need oiling every now and then – without doing so, you risk allowing the loose parts and growing rust to eat away at your organization from the inside. Instead, by renewing your work environment and finding new ways to refresh and invigorate it, you can save yourself from continuous disaster. So, next time your phone rings and you remember that talk you scheduled with someone about improving a certain area of your company, pick up. Don’t reschedule for tomorrow, next week, or say you’ll “get back to them”. Take action now, and reap the rewards tomorrow.