To Move Forward, You May Need to Change

Photo Credit: Stark Photography

It’s said that nothing succeeds like success. If you want to grow your business, though, sometimes you have to recognize that what made you successful up to now won’t guarantee success going forward. In fact, it may hold you back. That may include the members of your team.

Letting go of a team member is often not an easy decision. The decision is even harder when that team member has performed well in the past. Yet, there are times when you may be faced with that dilemma, because your business is moving in a different direction, or that person has not kept up with how the business has developed or is simply not interested in updating or expanding their skills.

If you’re running a lean firm, trying to keep your staff to a minimum, then you can’t afford to hold onto an employee who is not performing at full capacity. Replacing that person with someone who has a different set of skills and experience could be just what your business needs now to take it to the next level. That in no way reflects badly on the current team member nor diminishes at all the contribution they have made up to now. It is simply an acknowledgment that to grow a different staffing mix is required. Think of when an entrepreneur and founder of a startup is replaced with a CEO because the company has entered a new phase in its lifecycle that requires a different type and level of executive management.

Change is a natural and necessary part of every business. And with change comes disruption. The old has to give way to the new. It can be hard to accept, but it’s true nonetheless that who got you to here may not get you to there. At present, with so much change going on in our industry, it’s worth taking the time to assess if the team you have now is the team that will serve you well in the future. Better to make the hard decisions now and be ready for what’s to come than wait and disrupt your team when you want them performing at their peak.

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