There’s a lot that can go wrong when running a business. From natural disasters to cyberattacks and poor business management, business crises are only too common. This is why it’s so important for business owners to develop a clear plan to avert a possible business crisis. Whatever kind of crisis your business could face, here are some of the best steps and tactics to implement.

Focus on Regular Training Sessions

One of the best ways to avert a business crisis is to conduct regular training sessions across your business. This helps keep team members up to date with the latest crisis management techniques. It also ensures everyone has fresh knowledge of best practices for their performance.

It’s also a good idea to implement regular drills and simulations to practice crisis management under realistic conditions. This makes it easier for your team to understand their roles and responsibilities in the event of a business crisis, which makes implementing a crisis management plan more effective.

Develop a Crisis Management Plan

In order to efficiently avert a business crisis, you should have a solid crisis management plan in place. This lays out the exact steps and procedures you can take to prevent and recover from possible issues.

The first step in developing a crisis management plan is establishing what possible risks could affect your business. Start by making a list of all the potential threats that could harm your business.

Once you have established what potential crises exist, you can consider the risk factor of each one. Think about how likely it would be for the crisis to occur and what kind of damage it could generate.

Now you can rank each crisis in order of risk, and establish a plan of action to mitigate the risk of each one. The plan should include clear steps to take to mitigate the risk of the crisis, prevent the crisis, and recover from a possible crisis.

Establish Crisis Management Roles and Responsibilities

When you have a crisis management plan in place, you’ll want to establish a crisis management team. This involves handing out certain crisis management roles and responsibilities to different individuals.

This will generally involve a crisis management leader in charge of the team, as well as various other team members with clear responsibilities. Ensure there is a solid communication plan between the crisis management team, and that everyone is clear on what they need to do in the event of a business crisis.

Prepare Your Business for Fast Responses

If you’re going to avert a business crisis, then you need to be ready to respond to the crisis as soon as possible. Ideally, this involves identifying signs of the crisis before it takes place so that you can prevent it from happening.

One of the best ways to implement rapid responses is to keep an eye on your business data and analytics. Constantly monitor business performance, and identify any trends or occurrences that are out of the ordinary. This could signal a potential crisis about to happen.

Of course, having your crisis management plan and team, in place also means you can respond to the crisis as swiftly as possible.

Consider Crisis Management Software

Crisis management software systems exist that could help you deal with potential risks your business faces. This could include software tools for communication and incident management in the event of a crisis.

Compare various software options and understand exactly what you ended from the system. The right crisis management software could help you respond to incidents a lot more swiftly.

Constantly Review Your Business Plan

One of the best ways to avert a business crisis is to constantly review your business plan. At the start of each year and each quarter, go over your business plan and look for possible problem areas and trigger points. Understand what you will do when you reach these trigger points and try to factor in a plan B.

This will help you be prepared for any surprises or incidents of underperformance in your business. Always be as critical as possible when reviewing your business plan to help you identify possible issues that could arise.

Knowing how to avert a business crisis is essential. It could save your business operations, and help you get through any kind of difficulties your business faces that are beyond your control.

While you can’t always prevent crises from happening, you can have a clear plan to mitigate their risks and recover from them. Following the steps above should help you achieve this

Magic happens when business owners ask: ‘Why are we doing this?’, says Sylvia Schutte, founder and managing director at Stratitude, a marketing agency.

It’s especially important that business owners translate the ‘why’ to their employees and help their teams to understand the bigger purpose behind each task, she adds.

“If I can make my team think about and understand the bigger purpose behind [every] social media post, press release, new website or an SMS campaign, then the ‘how’ comes naturally.”

Leaders are in a great position to articulate the values a company is trying to enact and to shape the story of how today’s work connects with those values

It’s just as important that that employees align their personal purpose to the company’s, says Schutte, otherwise they can become disengaged and disconnected from the business.

“Do your employees know your business’s purpose? If yes, do they know how they personally contribute towards that purpose?,” asks Schutte.

Here are Schutte’s 5 steps for building a purpose-driven business:

1. Consistently communicate your company’s vision

The vision, brand, values, beliefs and aspirations of the business should drive its true purpose. Work with your employees to define your purpose, and let this drive the campaigns you develop.

By consistently communicating this message, you enable your customers and employees to connect with your brand and experience your real purpose.

2. Marketing and HR should collaborate to communicate your company’s purpose

To ensure employees understand the company’s brand, purpose and culture, they need to be exposed to it from day one and throughout their employment journey.

While marketing works at communicating the brand to customers, the collaboration of HR and marketing communicates the brand to employees.

3. Your managers must drive the culture

People find meaning when they see a clear connection between what they highly value and what they spend time doing. That connection, however, is not always obvious. Leaders are in a great position to articulate the values a company is trying to enact and to shape the story of how today’s work connects with those values.

While businesses are usually pretty good at sharing financial data, it’s the human stories that will have the most impact on your employees

4. Share stories of impact

People need to feel a sense of purpose in what they do. Help them to understand how their individual roles have created a positive impact. Share stories of people and how the business has had an impact on their lives. Bring in people (clients) who have been helped by the company’s products or services, and let them talk to your employees.

While businesses are usually pretty good at sharing financial data, it’s the human stories that will have the most impact on your employees.

5. Don’t be afraid to have hard conversations

Often, leaders will overlook or ignore behaviour that is not aligned to the brand, culture or purpose. It gets even trickier when the inappropriate behaviour is displayed by a top performer. This is harmful to the business and creates an impression that culture is only applicable to some. Address issues and have hard conversations when needed – they are more important than you think.

By: Siobhan Zurnamer, Marketing Lead, Giraffe

This article is part of a series on recruitment, to help you hire the right people. Part 1 is Recruitment Made Easy for SMEs, which answers frequently asked questions about candidate sourcing. Part 2 gives you a step-by-step guide on how to write job specs to attract great candidates.

Hiring is both time consuming and costly. To ensure your recruitment strategy is efficient, inclusive and fair, it’s critical you focus your efforts on creating a solid screening process.

What is a candidate screening process?

Companies use a screening process to evaluate a candidate’s background and qualifications, and to eliminate unqualified candidates from the pool of job applicants. An effective screening process allows companies to save both time and money by ensuring that they minimise the amount of in-person interviews they conduct.

Screening candidates will include conducting background checks, sending job applicants follow-up questions to answer, or other assessments to test a job applicant’s qualifications.

A screening process will depend on the size of your company and the type of role for which you’re hiring, but it should include a few critical steps.

We’ll cover how you can run an effective screening process to ensure your strategy is as efficient and unbiased as possible.

How to screen job applicants

1. Write a clear job description to attract the right candidates

Writing a good job description can save you a tonne of time when it comes to screening job applicants. Clear and compelling job descriptions are particularly important for small businesses that don’t have the resources or capacity to sort through thousands of CVs.

Ultimately, it’s critical you ensure your job description allows you to correctly identify qualified candidates from the start, while enabling you to attract the widest pool of applicants possible.

2. Look out for red flags in candidate CVs

Screening candidate CVs effectively are essential. It’s important to spot any red flags that might indicate a bad candidate:

a) Watch out for spelling, formatting and presentation mistakes. Although not essential for all roles, good spelling and grammar indicates a good education.

b) Check how many times the candidate has changed jobs in the last year. Candidates who change jobs regularly are unlikely to stay long with your company resulting in the need to replace and retrain.

c) Avoid candidates with long unexplained gaps in their work experience history – always ask why there was a long gap.

d) Avoid candidates who have been out of work for more than six months without a good explanation. The longer someone is out of work, the harder it may be for them to adapt to a working environment.

e) Avoid job applicants who don’t provide references.

f) Make sure you get at least two references (that are not the friends of the candidate).

g) When talking to references, don’t trust anyone who can’t say what the candidate’s areas for improvement are. A genuine reference who knows the candidate will always be able to say what their weaknesses are.

h) Don’t overlook first time job seekers – they may not have experience but if their CV shows a strong desire to work in your field of business, consider taking them on as an intern for three months. South Africa has a major youth employment crisis yet most businesses insist on candidates having work experience. Small businesses are best positioned to take on first time jobseekers as the hands on training and small company size can help upskill first time jobseekers quickly. Giraffe is offering its service for free to exempted micro enterprises that are willing the take on first time jobseekers.

i) Don’t let the lack of a matric qualification put you off. Many South Africans are unable to get matric but that does not mean they are unable to work. These candidates are often the most willing to be given a chance to prove themselves.

3. Use screening tools to do the job for you

Your screening process should allow you to filter out candidates that do not meet the necessary criteria for the role. This task can be very labour intensive. We suggest using software tools that will help you reduce the administratively intensive part of sorting through CVs.

For instance, Giraffe’s job board automatically screens candidates as they apply. This way employers can easily filter out applicants that don’t meet the minimum criteria for the role.

4. Conduct phone interviews

By conducting phone interviews in the early phase of the interviewing process, you can save time and money that would otherwise be wasted on meeting unsuitable candidates face to face. Phone interviews also helps you significantly cut down on the recruiting costs. Even better, use tools that do the phone interview for you.
For example, Giraffe effectively does the first round phone interview for you- by asking candidates to submit a voice note when they apply for a new role. This gives the employer a much more nuanced view of the candidate before they decide to shortlist them.

Using technology like this can significantly reduce time wasted on irrelevant candidates and help streamline your recruitment process.

Using these four tactics will help you effectively screen candidates, help you find the best staff for your business, and  reduce the time and money you spend on recruitment, while ensuring you hire the best applicants.

About Giraffe: Giraffe is a job board that automatically screens candidates so you don’t have to. Giraffe enables South African businesses to recruit medium-skilled staff faster and more affordably than any other recruitment method. Because Giraffe has automated the boring parts of the recruitment process – candidate sourcing and screening – business owners and recruiters can focus on more important tasks like interviewing the best candidates and managing retention. Simply post a job on Giraffe. Let Giraffe automatically screen candidates as they apply. Log in, see which candidates have passed your screening, listen to their voice notes and hire the best ones!

By: Christian Harbeck, Franchise Partner at ActionCOACH

Entrepreneurs share very similar characteristics – they are determined, confident, self-driven and many demonstrate a strong appetite for risk. It is these positive traits that drives success. On the flipside, these characteristics can result in entrepreneurs resisting the support and guidance from others when facing business failure. Why? Because when you are decisive and used to being in charge, it is difficult to accept help.

Here are the top three causes – Pride, Prejudice and Price

Pride becomes an inhibitor

One often talks about pride and ego in the same sentence. As if having an ego is a bad thing; it really isn’t. Your ego is your sense of self-worth, it is what makes you the confident entrepreneur you are. The problem is most of us don’t like being wrong or not having an answer, so we resist the support of others – as if their input would somehow make us unworthy. This is a natural human condition and probably our biggest downfall as a species.

The reality is that pride creeps up on you, when you are used to doing things alone, as with many entrepreneurs, your frame of reference becomes “how do I solve this?” or “I should know how to course correct”. This going at it alone thinking becomes a habit over time. This mindset actually stops you from seeing the reality of a situation, it limits your ability to find better solutions and it can ultimately be the death knell of your business.

Fear of being wrong is prejudicial

Fear lurks in the subconscious mind like a slow growing disease. We all have fears – some big and some small – but it is our ability to look inside ourselves and accept the vulnerability that comes with maybe being wrong, that propels us forward to be a stronger business builder.

The fear of being wrong is a very common prejudicial belief system and there is no shame in that. However, if the fear stops your business from getting ahead, then you should realise it is time for a change. In my experience, business owners who are more open to discuss the difficulties they encounter are more likely to make the necessary changes before they become a business threat or are facing business failure.

Making mistakes actually gives you the opportunity to learn, adapt and grow. Let’s face it, a successful business aims to make profits to sustain its employees and owner. By accepting that there are times when you need guidance, you can inject new life into a problem and ultimately sustain a healthy growing business for yourself and your employees.

You can only benefit from having a fresh pair of eyes on your business

Help is a business expense

There is a misconception that business advice and professional guidance are pricey. The reality is nearly every millionaire has at least two (or more) coaches or mentors to help them get perspective, challenge their thinking and provide systems and tools that have proven to work. Successful entrepreneurs view a business coach, mentor or any kind of professional development as an investment not an expense.

You can only benefit from having a fresh pair of eyes on your business, and the advantage of an additional set of skills to take an in-depth look at the structure and the day to day running of your business.

Ultimately, this knowledge allows coaches to suggest changes at an operational and structural level of a business that allows it to operate more efficiently and to reach key business objectives. A coach can enable you to be the best marketing manager, or sales director, or training coordinator.

As difficult as it may be for business owners, trusting an outside business expert to come into your business can literally save you from business failure – especially during tough economic times. After all, a business coach and an entrepreneur have the same goal, for the owner and the business to achieve big success.

About the author: Christian is an ideal ActionCOACH, who is passionate about taking businesses and their owners to the next level. As an entrepreneur with strong work ethics and honesty, he constantly demonstrates persistence and resourcefulness in finding and creating innovative solutions that support and assist his clients.

“Build relationships based on value,” is one of the first lessons Sylvia Schutte, founder and Managing Director at Stratitude, a full-service marketing agency, says she learned in her first three years of running an agency.

“I’ve learnt to not try and compete on price, as there are just too many small agencies and freelancers in the industry. Plus, whenever I see that a potential client is comparing our proposal with that of a smaller agency or contractor, I immediately know they aren’t right for us.”

In October this year Schutte celebrated a decade of running her agency. She started her business in 2009 with four employees and today she has a team of 18 employees and three interns, of which one is a person with special needs.

The agency has clients that includes ThemFour Seasons, Constantia Insurance, Cell C GetMore, Indwe Risk Services and Bosch Automotive and is the exclusive South African member agency of Advertising & Marketing Independent Network (AMIN) Worldwide, an alliance of over 50 independent marketing agencies from around the world.

Schutte says the idea for Stratitude came from recognising the frustration that clients feel at having to brief and work with multiple agencies.

“I saw a gap in the market for an integrated agency that could develop a communications strategy for a client and then offer all the marketing services in-house, from digital and direct marketing, to advertising, PR and social media.”

With a decade in the advertising and marketing industry, Schutte shares advice that has stood her in good stead over the years.

1. Be optimistic

A positive outlook makes all the difference. Even when you’re faced with problems and obstacles – optimism enables you to see the opportunity in every situation.

When we reach a crossroads with a client or we don’t win a pitch, I always ask why and then take a good, hard look at what we did, to see how we can improve the next time.

As Oprah says, failure is a signpost to turn you in a different direction.

I don’t pretend to know everything, I have admitted when I have made mistakes and asked for help when I needed it

2. Surround yourself with people you like

This doesn’t mean surround yourself with people like you. You want people who complement you, not compliment you, so whether it’s those who work for you or it’s your suppliers or clients, the people who share your values are the ones who will hang around and help you make great things happen. Even though we have a broad mix of personalities, skills and capabilities in our agency, we work really well together and have an amazing company culture.

3. Create an environment where magic can happen

Let everyone be creative and allow everyone to come up with new ideas and new ways of doing things. Some of our greatest work is the result of an individual taking ownership and running with an idea. I am also the voice in the office that always asks “Why are we doing this?” If I make my team think about and understand the bigger purpose behind a social media post, a press release, a new website or an SMS campaign, then the how comes naturally.

4. Keep on learning

I don’t pretend to know everything, I have admitted when I have made mistakes and asked for help when I needed it. I also read every book I could find and attended many talks by other entrepreneurs, who often faced the same issues and obstacles I experienced. All of this provided a bit of support and would open my mind to new ideas and different ways of doing things.

Three years ago we became the exclusive South African partner of a global network of independent agencies called AMIN Worldwide, and the insights and ideas we get from them are priceless. The same goes for continuous training and exposure, where my team will learn about new trends and best practice from industry talks and courses. We also invest in learnerships, which always come back to benefit the business.

5. Don’t make decisions in a haste or when emotional

I’m very guilty of reacting without first thinking things through. By taking some time and literally sleeping on it, the solution usually ends up being in a completely different direction to my initial reaction. While I still often get this wrong, trust me, it does work. I even tell clients to sleep on a creative concept or strategy before giving us their feedback.

6. “Drive care in the agency”

I always say that anyone can prepare a plate of food, but you can really taste the difference when someone cares about what they are dishing up. We drive care in the agency; care about the work we do, care about the team we work with and care about our clients and their businesses. Every time someone has stopped caring, we notice it immediately, and shortly thereafter there’ll be a resignation letter or a performance talk.

Surround yourself with a team you can rely on

7. Stay focused on the vision and mission

Stratitude is a full-service agency but I’ve often questioned whether or not we should drop some of our services and rather specialise in one or two disciplines. Then I remind myself that I started the agency because I could see a client’s frustration at working with multiple agencies and often being charged a premium to have the same work done. Our clients see this value, which is why our doors are still open ten years later.

8. Remember, building relationships is key

We cherish our clients as if they are extended members of our team, and they see us as extended members of their team. We never take them for granted and always focus on helping them succeed, be it in our strategies aligning with their business strategies, how we work with them, how we develop campaigns and how we measure them. If we aren’t making an impact on their business, we aren’t adding any value.

9. Hire the right people for your agency

As an entrepreneur you’re hardwired to do everything yourself because you want to be involved in every single operation but, the risk is that you start losing sight of the bigger picture. Surround yourself with a team you can rely on and then trust them to make the right decisions. This frees up your time to grow the business beyond what you could have achieved on your own.

About five years ago I realised that Stratitude would never grow if I tried to control and manage everything myself. I developed an organogram for the agency and had very specific roles and skills that I identified, which I had to restructure the business around and then hire for. I interviewed for quite some time until I found the right people for these roles and then spent a lot of time mentoring them into the “Stratitude Way”. Today I can happily say that it has paid off, because that entire team is still with the agency and not only are we flourishing, but I love working with each and every one of them.

10. Remember to love what you do – and to practice self-care

While I keep office hours for meetings, it’s not unusual that I work early into the morning or late at night. Running a business takes time and dedication, so you really have to love what you do. But it’s also about finding that balance and making time for your other passions and your family. I swim and run, which clears my head, and I go to the beach or mountain with my family, which helps me put things into perspective. By now my team is used to me coming back from a holiday with a head full of new ideas, a soul that’s well rested and a heart filled with passion for what I do.

Stratitude is ten years old and while I’ve had my share of challenges and lessons, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Here’s to the next ten years.

ALSO READ: 10 Pieces of Business Advice From My 10 Years in Business

“One of SA’s fast-growing fintechs is hiring but can’t find skills,” reads the headline of a press release from the Ikhokha team.

iKhokha helps SMEs in South Africa to process card and digital payments. The company would like to fill more than 50 positions in the next year, and it is trying do so with great difficulty.

South Africa lacks the technical skills that fintech companies need to develop new solutions, ensure ongoing innovation and expand their businesses, the press release states.

“To challenge entrenched market players, digital businesses need to innovate, but at times battle to find the technical expertise to do so. It’s ironic that in South Africa, with a 29% rate of unemployment, the situation is even more challenging.

“Not only does the number of jobs far outweigh the number of skilled applicants, but because we are behind first-world countries when it comes to digital proficiency, so is our talent pool,” says Matt Putman, Ikhokha CEO.

“Candidates often lack the technical know-how and experience required to develop globally competitive solutions.

“We have to adopt a new mindset when thinking about education and learning in this new digital world. Continuous self-learning through multiple mediums is being driven internationally,” Putman adds.

The hiring drive is to support the company’s growth. “iKhokha has quickly grown from a small team to more than 100 staff members, but to support our growth, we need to grow our staff complement by 50% in the next year,” he says.

The 50 plus vacancies at iKhokha include mobile and full-stack developers, risk analysts and software engineers through to creative, HR and finance roles.

In demand

Not surprisingly, because of the digital skills gap, talent is in high demand. “Our Umhlanga based business in Durban needs top calibre people, but the best talent is in high demand and we are competing for placements with other growing digital companies in SA and other countries,” says Putman.

The 2019 State of South Africa’s Software Developers Nation report compiled by tech talent marketplace, OfferZen, confirms South African senior software developers working in the fintech and cloud services sectors are the mostly highly paid developers, earning an average of R65 000 to R70 000 per month.

Hiring strategy

To attract top calibre staff, iKhokha has focused on creating a business that has an informal, casual and collaborative culture. Putman adds that, “Our development team has an average age of 26.”

Stephanie Brown, head of talent at iKhokha, explains, “We are guided by what international digital companies are doing around talent management. They are upgrading skills using innovative learning methods while creating strong company cultures that combine people, purpose, profit and the planet. Young people are looking for new-age work cultures, less red tape, more room for growth, flexibility and exposure to leading technologies. They also want to work for mission-lead companies. Because the market is so constrained, retaining the great people you have is as important as bringing in new talent.

“Our talent acquisition strategy has already attracted top talent from FNB, Standard Bank, Accenture, Deloitte and RCL FOODS. These staff are thriving in a scale-up environment, while enjoying the relaxed Umhlanga lifestyle,” she says.

Puttman shares more about the implications of SA’s digital skills gap and wanting to build a successful tech company outside the usual tech centres of Cape Town and Johannesburg. 

1. What strategies have you implemented to attract the kind of talent you need?

We have developed a work culture and way of working that is tailored for what millennials are attracted to from a career perspective. Key themes being – informal environment, flexible work hours, collaborative teams, flat hierarchy, a purpose driven mission (to democratise entrepreneurship through mobile innovation).

From a talent acquisition perspective – our recruitment process is swift, we are always building on our employer brand using mediums like LinkedIn, Facebook, a well-crafted About Us page, public visibility of our tech stack, employee interviews on our iKhokha Life Blog.

2. The scarcity of tech talent, what cost implications does this have for startups?

The cost of tech talent has definitely increased substantially over the last 2-3 years and this means that startups need to be very deliberate and forward thinking in their employee choices when making key technical hires.

At iKhokha we have invested in creative strategies to try create some level of cost efficiency. For example we have built an internal talent acquisition team, that has been a key way that we can keep recruitment costs down. Driving a healthy internal employee referral program is another key strategy. Finding candidates that are more interested in joining a purpose lead business with room for growth rather than short term financial gratification also plays a role. Finally making sure that we up skill junior or mid-level people, and help them develop into senior resources.

3. Has the lack of talent had any impact on Ikhokha’s growth?

It has at times meant that we take longer than we would like to, to deliver additional features or grow or strengthen parts of the business. But it has also caused us to be innovative in how we tackle problems, we use AI and automation to solve certain resource challenges and we work with outsourced international talent to help us solve big challenges. Internally we then develop additional skill sets and experience from these collaborative projects.

4. Do you think the choice of location (Durban) has an impact on your ability to find talent compared to Cape Town or Johannesburg?

Yes. It is a challenge as many of the experienced people move to Cape Town or Johannesburg to fast-track their careers, but we are hoping to reverse that trend over time by building a meaningful success story in Durban.

By: Kealeboga Mokolobate, Transformation Facilitator, Transcend Corporate Advisors

This is a two part series on the Youth Employment Service (YES) programme. In this second part we look at how SME owners can apply and benefit from the YES programme. See the first part about youth seeking employment here. 

1. Be forward thinking – speak to you customers and clients

As a small business owner, it is especially important to be clued up on the YES programme and the B-BBEE Codes broadly. YES is widely known, but if as a small business, you cannot participate see if your larger network is interested in participating, but requires a host [under the programme, businesses which do not have the capacity to place more people in their organisations have the option of sponsoring the salary for a one-year placement in small and medium enterprises]. If you are a suitable host, you would not only be adding value to your customers, but you would also be able to take on an extra headcount that would be on the payroll of the YES-registered entity.

YES employers are expected to keep progress reports and be able to advise YES candidates on absorption

2. Ensure you have maximum impact from YES candidates if you are a YES host

The YES programme is meant to have positive impact on the youth and for SMEs, but this relationship must be beneficial for all. Be mindful of the core services you render and host youths that can add value in those areas – take this opportunity to better your workforce.

Ensure that the candidates add value to the business. YES employers are expected to keep progress reports and be able to advise YES candidates on absorption, so keep the YES employer (sponsor) in the loop on the progress of the candidates.

It is very important to remember that youth unemployment and the struggle for SME growth affects us all

3. Prepare to find a superstar and budget to them

The duration of the YES programme is a year long, and in order to move up a level at 2.5% – 5% absorption is required of the YES employer. If you would like to keep a YES candidate, you should budget for this candidate to take them up in your payroll. If they are a superstar, they should be worth it for your business. If you may require a bit of assistance, consider entering into an ESD programme (if you qualify) that can help you manage the absorbed candidate’s payroll.

In conclusion, it is very important to remember that youth unemployment and the struggle for SME growth affects us all. But for any system to grow, cohesiveness and effort from all sides are important.

As a corporate, endeavour to give all YES candidates a worthwhile and valuable experience, as a YES candidate – bring your best self to the work environment and roll with the punches, see every challenge as an opportunity, and as an SME hosting YES candidates be an ambassador for entrepreneurship, add value as a host and have a growth plan in mind.

You know you are supposed to detox every now and again, yet you tend to postpone this, or never do it and complain about all sorts of pains and niggles. Maybe you then do the detox, and you feel so much better?

Toxins create havoc in our bodies, and also in our teams in the form of unhealthy workplace conflicts.

John Gottman is an American psychological researcher and clinician, who has completed over four decades of research into relationship health. The outcomes are also extremely relevant to working in teams, which in essence are a web of relationships.

Gottman found that he could predict the breakdown of relationships based on the presence of 4 toxic communication styles in a workplace conflict and how they were dealt with when they showed up.

These are:

1. Criticism

Offering feedback and critique is helpful, but criticism consists of blaming or attacking your partner as a person. Being critical about someone’s character or personality creates a sense of being assaulted, rejected, and hurt.

2. Contempt

This a very erosive toxin in teams, as it doesn’t address any issues directly. It comes across in communication styles such as mocking, hostile humour and ridicule as well as body language such as disdainful rolling of eyes. It creates a sense of worthlessness.

3. Defensiveness

A natural and typical response to criticism or blame, it however isn’t helpful in the team dynamic. Defensiveness often comes across as a counter blame, or being the victim in a situation. It escalates the workplace conflict.

4. Stonewalling

In this approach, all communication is cut off through withdrawal, cutting off, silent treatment or saying that one is too busy. This common response when dealing with workplace conflict seems impossible.

Although most of us tend to revert to at least one of these behaviours in stress/workplace conflict situations, they usually don’t help to resolve conflict and tension, but rather perpetuate them.

The intent is to become aware of how and when these show up when working in teams or between team members due to their impact on team cohesion. Once there is awareness of how and when they show up, you can pause and reflect and find alternative ways to deal with that situation.

Here are some simple antidotes to these toxins:

Criticism – instead of focusing on the other person, become clear about what is going on for you. Use ‘I statements’ instead of ‘you statements’. Create ‘I statements’ from the questions: What do I feel? What do I need?

Contempt – this can feel like a big ask: start looking for the good in what the other person does, and express these to them. Respect is something that is given before it can be recieved.

Defensiveness – take the opportunity to identify what is true about what is being shared (even when shared in an unskillful way). Is there 2% you can take ownership of?

Stonewalling – workplace conflicts have a big impact on us, emotionally, physically and mentally. Taking a break when things get very heated is helpful. Cool things down with the commitment of coming back to the conversation to resolve the difference.

Prioritise the team’s health

It’s essential for the health of the team to continuously complete detoxing exercises. The impact of these toxins [can prevent the team from performing at] maximum capacity.

I help leaders and their teams to detox and co-create a ‘protocol of conduct’ around toxins, creating an accountable and supportive team that is more engaged and present. In addition to toxins, becoming aware of unconscious bias, preference, rank and so on, can help to develop a healthy team dynamic.

I recently had occasion to celebrate 10 years of running my own business. I thought back to some of the business lessons which I have learnt over the decade, and decided to write them down. I trust that they will be of value to other small business owners as well.

1. A business plan helps, but needs to be updated

When I started my law firm, I had very specific plans, but things soon turned out differently. Where I planned to go, and where we are now, are two totally different places. Yet, the plan is important, as it focuses attention on what is necessary to make the business successful. Update it regularly to keep the focus.

2. Build relationships with stakeholders

This is surely one of the most important aspects in our firm. When problems arise, these relationships help greatly in resolving those problems.

3. Adapt to clients’ needs

We tend to think that we know and understand what our clients need, but this is not necessarily the case. Often, we were able to tailor-make our services to adapt to a specific client’s needs. In this way, we were able to retain clients who would otherwise have moved their business elsewhere.

4. Focus on service, not income

When we focus on getting the work entrusted to us done properly, the income will follow. We have learnt that if the work is done, the income is there, but when you start focusing only on work that produces high income in the short-term, service levels drop, as you are no longer willing to walk that extra mile.

5. Cash is king, profit is less important

This is a cliché, but it is very true and extremely important: without cash in the bank, the business is doomed. From day one, manage the debtors’ book, and do it religiously: it is easier to learn how to do it when monthly income is R40 000 rather than only when it is R400 000, and bad habits have been formed.

6. Save for a rainy day

Once again a cliché, but also very important: every month, put away the cash you don’t need immediately. In this way you earn better interest, and you also build a nest-egg for the day that you need to spend money on expansion.

7. You need money in order to grow

In order to grow any business, you need to invest, i.e. spend money, in growth. This may be in the form of equipment, premises or staff. The point is, without spending money on these issues, you will not be able to grow. And if you do not grow, you stagnate and eventually move backwards, as the competition will move ahead of you.

8. Know when to stand firm and when to let go

Clients, employees, service providers will all come with requests from time to time, be it for increases in salary, reductions in fees or better terms. For this, you need to know and understand your budgets, so that you will know the impact of a potential decision on the finances. This will help greatly in making a decision.

9. Think lean

No matter where your business is in its life cycle, always consider where money may be saved, as, in the end, if you waste money, you are wasting your money!

10. Live according to your beliefs and values

Lastly, but most importantly, write down the business’ values and see whether the team works according to those values. When hiring new staff, make sure that they agree with your business’ values.