Small business owners are notorious for being so busy focusing on their business that they neglect themselves. After all, keeping a business profitable is no small task, and it can often require unlimited time and attention, especially in the beginning stages. But as the business owner, you bring a huge amount of value to the table and play an extremely important role. As your business grows, as should you!
Building a culture of learning, development, and growth alongside the growth of your business is a recipe for success. A company that obviously cares about the personal development of its team members is sure to have a more engaged workforce and lower turnover rates. And it will be more likely to attract top talent which inevitably contributes to the greater success of the organization. Clearly, personal growth is important for everyone involved in your business. So how do you embed these values into the culture of your company? Well, it starts with YOU.
Invest in Yourself, & Encourage Self-Investment
Personal growth will inevitably look different for everyone. Define what personal growth means for you as the business owner and set goals for how you will embark on that journey. Be vocal about what you are doing to continually better yourself as an individual and as a leader. Communicate to your team members what you are learning, and this will hopefully inspire similar action in them.
It’s important for each member of your team, members of leadership or individual contributors, to have a clear understanding of how they can invest in themselves as a member of your company. Whether you create opportunities for industry learning, certifications, financial education, or even book clubs, it’s important for you as the leader of your organization to create and support opportunities for development.
Consider Hiring a Life or Business Coach
Consider hiring a professional coach to help plan and track the growth you desire. Whether it’s a life coach or a business coach that would be more beneficial to you, there are highly skilled professionals out there who are ready to invest their skills in you and to hold you accountable to the goals you want to achieve. A coach in either capacity will help you determine what is most important to you and how to achieve those things. Hiring a coach will require financial investment, but the trickle-down effect of that investment will be invaluable.
Set Goals with Intention
We’ve established that setting goals is important, but how you set them is equally crucial. Unlike business goals, when setting personal goals, it can be a little more difficult to define exactly what success looks like. For this reason, it’s important to be strategic in how you measure your progress in these areas. What are some benchmark milestones you anticipate in the personal growth you are aiming for? For example, if better time management is a goal of yours, a benchmark might be being able to dedicate certain hours of the day (after 6 PM) to only family quality time, without being stressed about work. This would arguably be an outcome of having achieved better time management skills. The key is to find ways to set personal intentions with measurable outcomes.
You should never feel selfish for investing time and resources into yourself as a business owner. And the same should apply for employees. Learning and development by anyone in a business will inevitably sew into the greater success of the company. Setting learning, development, & growth as values at the forefront of your company culture will prove to have a large payoff in the long run.