There’s a common theme we see over and over with the women founders we coach.
Arriving at a point of overwhelm and frustration, they’re no longer loving the business launched with such gusto not so very long ago.
As women, we’re often programmed to diminish our own instincts and vision in favour of a broader life role. And even when we know this approach is not working any more, we keep doing it anyway. Day in, day out. Month in, month out. You tell yourself this is to be expected, it’s normal, all successful business owners encounter this.
And on you go until you hit a hurdle – and that’s the wall of misalignment. In our masterclass on 16 and 21 May, fellow Wyseminds coach Henk Jansen and I explored what lied behind misalignment within a business, and the strategies you can use to slot things back into balance.
Misalignment: wrecking a beautiful marriage
Misalignment can appear the day you get your first customer, marking the end of that beautiful first phase when it was just the two of you: you and your great business idea.
As more and more people arrive in the form of team members, new customers and new suppliers, misalignment makes its presence felt more acutely and eventually can’t be ignored any longer.
You’ll know when that moment is here. It’s when you notice that joy in your business is missing and your team, once so light-hearted and enthusiastic, are flat and unmotivated.
Loss aversion: the fear of risk
What causes misalignment is something called ‘loss aversion’, a key part of Prospect Theory, a concept developed by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in the 1970s. It explains how people make decisions in times of uncertainty like when there’s a chance they might gain or lose something.
People tend to feel the pain of losses more intensely than the joy of equivalent gains, an asymmetry that affects decision-making and helps us to understand why people, especially women, often avoid taking risks that might result in losses, even if the potential gains are substantial.
A good example of this is the way so many entrepreneurs cling on tightly, staying with the familiar as their business expands. After all, this is what’s kept the business afloat and growing so far. Why risk changing things?
Altering perspectives at the top for trickle down benefits
Learning to trust that other people can run aspects of your business as well as, if not better than you, is the first step towards stepping away from misalignment.
Deep down you know this to be true. If you’d wanted to make money being the tea maker and fixing printers, you wouldn’t have become an entrepreneur.
This week’s masterclass will focus on realigning four key drivers – purpose, team, customers and business – so things start to balance things out and feel easier. We bundle these drivers into a tool called the Powerball, to help founders make the changes necessary for seamless growth to flow.
But the very first step starts with you. It’s about altering the perspective at the top for trickle down business benefits.
A better way forward
To break free of the beliefs preventing you trusting others means taking a long hard look at yourself. It requires peeling away the unwanted emotions that are keeping you stuck at the wall of misalignment.
“Who are you to tell me to take an honest look at myself?” we hear you ask.
At Wyseminds, we’ve been to those high walls that block growth in the early days of a business. As seasoned business specialists, we’re motivated by a genuine desire to show you that there is a better way, one that’s happier and more productive and doesn’t mean closing your company before you’ve really got started.
The guardrails keeping things in line
The masterclass covers the types of questions to ask yourself as you unravel piece by piece what lies at the heart of your misalignment.
Doing so brings an understanding that it’s you who’s blocking your path to growth, no one else. We’ll show you how to put in place the guardrails of purpose and values to ensure the essence of you remains embedded throughout your company when you’re not there.
If you suspect misalignment is having a negative impact on you, your team and your company, why not take our free growth evaluation and get in touch for coaching support and guidance to move your business to the next level.
Business growth programme