Throughout the history of the Virgin brand, with its many incarnations, Richard Branson has often been faced with the prospect of failure and defeat. While this might be par for the course in the minds of some entrepreneurs, it can be demoralising for their teams. Here he outlines four tactics to keep spirits high when the times get tough…
“Failure is an inevitable part of running a business. That fact doesn’t make it any easier to deal with, but it is important to remember – especially when things aren’t going well with your company,” explains the Virgin Group founder in a recent chat.
“One key thing to keep in mind: When times are bad, it’s important not to place the blame on your team. They will be dealing with the same feelings of deflation, and will look to you for guidance on how to respond. As I said, bad times are inevitable for entrepreneurs. Here are my four steps for helping to motivate a team during these times.”
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1. Start talking. As soon as possible, begin discussions with your team about what’s going wrong with the business. Have an honest and open dialogue in which everyone can offer their ideas and opinions. Discourage them from blaming others, but own your personal mistakes and allow other team members to do the same. Encourage your people to bring their expertise into these conversations. Nobody else knows their area of the business better than they do, so let them share their views on what’s happening.
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2. Focus on the future. It’s important to dissect what has happened and perform a post-mortem on your business to make sure that you don’t repeat the same mistakes. But it’s equally important to be focused on what happens next. When things go wrong in business, consider it an opportunity to take stock and determine whether you’re heading in the right direction. Decide whether your business could benefit from pivoting its focus to something else – maybe one part of your product or service is proving popular even if the business as a whole isn’t working out. If that’s the case, re-focus your efforts on this aspect.
3. Remember why you started. When everything goes wrong, it’s easy to forget why you got into business in the first place. But remind yourself why you were passionate about this project. As I’ve written before, no business will succeed if the only goal is to make money. Whenever we launch a new Virgin business, we look at how we can offer a product or service that’s truly different from what everyone else in the industry is offering. So during tough times, stop and think back to when you launched your startup. What was it that you wanted to achieve? Spend time with your team, discuss your goals, and revise them if necessary.
4. Put staff first. Remember that above everything else in your business, your staff should be No. 1. If your people are happy and engaged, customers will follow. I’ve spent much of my time during the past 40 years working out how we take care of our staff at Virgin. We have now set up many different initiatives to help our people enjoy a healthy work-life balance. At Virgin Management, for instance, this includes flexible working schedules, unlimited leave and shared parental leave. These programs have been successful, and they’re a great reminder that if you look after your people, they will look after your business.
Entrepreneurs are only as strong as the teams that surround them. But you need to make sure that you include them in conversations when times are tough. The people on the front lines of your business will often have the best ideas on how to improve things for customers.
