Running a business is challenging, and one of the biggest challenges is dealing with problems that arise. 

These problems can range from small issues to major crises, and they can be time-consuming and stressful, affecting your business’s bottom line. This can include:

• Acquiring the necessary digital tools to accelerate efficiency
• Strengthening and maintaining customer relationships
• Adapting to external global conditions 

While addressing these issues is important to the continuity of your business, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should be the one to handle them. As a business owner, your focus should be on fulfilling your organisation’s vision and future growth. 

So it’s important to understand why you keep getting pulled into these problems and what you can do to prevent that from happening.

Why you keep getting dragged into business problems

The business problems you and your management team deal with are often just symptoms of deeper issues that need to be addressed.

There are several reasons why you may be constantly dragged into business problems, such as:

• Hiring the wrong people: When you hire the right people your business becomes much easier to manage. Spend time understanding your growth plans and what roles will be needed in the future. Start looking for these people now so you can court them for these future roles. 
• Lack of delegation: As your business grows, it’s important to assign different areas for each member of your management team. Doing everything yourself can make you feel overwhelmed and prevent you from focusing on the bigger picture of your organisation’s future. 
• Poor communication: Lack of communication can result in ineffective solutions for problems, which can encourage these issues to continue recurring. Ineffective communication can also lead to misunderstandings among your team members, which can lead to errors and even bigger business issues. 
• Micromanagement: Similar to a lack of delegating, micromanagement will prevent your team members from having the opportunity to learn and grow in their roles, lacking the confidence and decision-making skills to put out fires by themselves. 
• Underdeveloped team: Establishing a strong leadership team is crucial to the continuity and growth of your business. They should be able to lead in your place when necessary. If they’re not capable of making major business decisions, you’ll be the one who has to deal with all the problems that arise.

Underperforming staff members can shift many problem-solving tasks to the business owner or manager. You can uplift your underperforming staff members and encourage them to be more involved in the organisation, particularly in preventing and addressing business problems.

How to avoid being dragged into problems in your business

Once you’ve identified the factors that are dragging you and your business down and hindering you from focusing on your growth, you can develop strategies to ensure that future business problems can be effectively addressed by your team.

1. Hire the right people

Finding the right people for your business is the first step to ensuring that you don’t have to work on every problem that pops up, because you will have capable people to handle these issues. 

Make sure your hiring process is robust and targeted at finding high-calibre candidates. Having a great brand and vision will attract quality people who have the same values and ethos.

Aside from the current positions you need to fill, you also need to identify key future roles that will become essential in your business growth. Doing this will help you assess a candidate’s potential growth and development to see if it aligns with your business trajectory.

Head-hunting the right people and building relationships with them now can also give you a network of contacts that can become useful in the future as you develop more roles for your organisation.

2. Delegate tasks

Identify tasks that can be delegated and assign them to team members who have the skills and knowledge to handle them. 

By assigning staff members specific business areas to oversee, they can be the ones to handle any issues that crop up in those respective departments. This will free up your time to focus on more important tasks. 

Here are tips you and your managers can use to delegate tasks effectively:

• Identify the tasks to be assigned: By reviewing pending and recurring tasks in your organisation, you can identify which ones can be delegated and which ones genuinely need your attention. 
• Leverage your staff’s strengths: Assigning tasks based on your employees’ strengths and specialisations will ensure that every project will be completed effectively. 
• Provide the right resources and level of authority: There will be some tasks that will need special training, resources and tools. It’s important to provide these to your employees so that they can accomplish their assignments without any issues.

3. Communicate effectively

You and your team must communicate clearly and regularly, as this encourages your staff to brainstorm potential solutions and improvements, which can prevent current business issues from happening again in the future. 

You can improve your communication skills, and by extension, help your staff become better communicators by doing the following:

• Prepare your message in advance: Knowing what you want to say, even writing it down beforehand, will ensure that you effectively express your message and that it’s interpreted correctly by your staff. 
• Observe nonverbal cues: When you have an important message to be discussed, it’s better to do it personally, or at least through video conferencing, so that you can take note of your staff’s reactions and expressions. This will help you ask relevant follow-up questions about what they think of your message.
• Practise active listening: Effective communication means encouraging your employees to express their ideas and opinions, making sure that you’re completely focused on what they’re saying and that you don’t interrupt them. This can build stronger relationships between you and your team while also improving your communication with them.

4. Trust your team

Trust your team members to make decisions and take responsibility for their work. This will empower them and allow them to grow. The first step to developing trust between you and your team is by being transparent with them. 

When your business is encountering a problem, it’s important to inform your employees, especially your management team. Communicating this to your team will help them prepare and address the issue while also demonstrating your trust in them.

Scheduling regular check-ins with your team can also strengthen your relationship with them, allowing you to know them on a personal level. 

5. Build a strong team

Invest in building a strong team by providing training and development. A strong team will be capable of identifying and addressing business problems as soon as they arise. 

You can build a strong leadership team by assessing the needs of your organisation and ensuring that you hire the right managers with the appropriate skill sets and specialisations. Fostering inclusivity and equity can also help you build a harmonious and diverse team.

6. Manage your time efficiently

Learning how to prioritise and manage your time can help you identify if a business problem needs your specific attention or if it’s something that can be assigned to one of your team members. 

It’s a knee-jerk reaction to think of any business challenge as “your problem” but that isn’t always the case, especially if you know how to prioritise properly.  You can use templates or guides, such as the Eisenhower Matrix, to help you prioritise and manage your time more effectively. 

Key time management strategies that you can incorporate into your routine include setting S.M.A.R.T. goals and time constraints for your tasks. The former will allow you to develop realistic objectives while the latter will ensure that you stay focused and efficient in accomplishing your to-do list.

As a business owner, your priority should be to increase growth and profitability for your organisation. Constantly putting fires out can prevent you from reaching your overall business objectives, so it’s important to develop strategies that will help you and your team efficiently address recurring and unexpected challenges when they arise.
We understand how precious your time and energy are as a business owner. Book a call with us and we will help you identify the best ways to reclaim your time while making sure that the business problems you’re facing are solved.