At times, business success can seem like a fluke that happens by chance. In reality, business achievements are a combination of factors working together with each one contributing to the overall success of an initiative.
Driving continued success comes down to determining what actions, people and processes will be most effective. To help, 11 experts from Newsweek Expert Forum each offer one recommendation for how leaders can continually drive repeatable success.
1. Have Strong Leaders in Place
Success is a result of strong leadership that can react and adapt to the changes while still driving toward a mission and vision. Having strong leaders and partners supporting the vision who can adapt and drive the execution is integral to achieving success. Focusing on people, talent and human capital will create the results, allowing for further growth and diversity of thought. - Nita Kohli, Kohli Advisors
2. Define 'Success'
First, you have to define success because success is a very personal thing. Define when you feel you are successful, then create plans that help you build to that moment. In my view, repeatability shouldn't matter. Success should be consistently evolutionary, not iterative or repeatable. - Endre Walls, Customers Bank
3. Persevere
Never quit. As cliché as it may sound, I literally cannot think of any better advice for anything, let alone business. If you want to achieve a goal, the single best way to get there is by continuing to try for it and working toward it. If you quit something because it is difficult or seems impossible, it will be. - Cynthia Salarizadeh, House of Saka, Inc.
4. Build on Every Chance Opportunity
There are no flukes when it comes to success or failure. Something you did caused an unexpected result and chance got the credit. So, when chance brings an opportunity or success, build on it. Turn a chance meeting into an intentional relationship, or use income from an unexpected sale to fund marketing to a new target market. This strategy creates more opportunities and greater success. - Frank Cania, HR Compliance Experts LLC
5. Implement Accountability Standards
Habitual daily and weekly training standards will hold your team and yourself accountable. One way I keep myself accountable since I don't answer to anyone is by creating deadlines with consequences that I vocalize to my team. If I don't live up to it, I now have the consequence of not being a man of my word. - Justin Brock, Bobby Brock Insurance
6. Embrace a Culture of Acceptable Failure
If you want repeatable success, you have to embrace a culture of acceptable failure. That may sound counterintuitive, but no individual, team or company is a continual hit machine. Success typically comes after a healthy amount of failure as individuals or teams work through a problem to find a solution. It's in the midst of strategic risks that breakthroughs happen. - David Wright, Pattern
7. Prioritize Impact, Not Money
Always focus on the impact of what you do, not the money. We believe the money will come if we're having impact with clients. Our company is a low-profit limited liability corporation giving back to charities that truly align with our clients' missions. When you are invested in the mission and in the impact others are experiencing, you will never be bored and you'll always feel like you're making a difference. - Kevin Carr, Edera L3C (operates the National Coordination Center)
8. Create Processes To Measure Results
When it comes to success, I like to measure by numbers rather than feeling. For our agency, we set success metrics and KPIs and build roads to meet them. We constantly monitor, recalibrate weekly and then recalibrate more aggressively monthly. This has kept all of our goals not only in our sights, but also ingrained in all of us. - Chris Tompkins, The Go! Agency
9. Overprepare for Everything
One sure way to achieve success in business is to overprepare for every event and encounter. Being overprepared can consist of but is not limited to understanding your environment, having detailed information on participants in an important meeting or having well-thought-out contingency plans for a proposal should it be challenged or require modification. This strategy has served me well. - Matt Drayton, Drayton Communications LLC
10. Leverage Quality Data
It all comes down to the quality of your data. Do you have the systems in place to collect data to uncover why it was successful? Was it because of something within your control? Uncovering this often comes down to having the data to truly analyze the results. Once you have the right data and the right processes, you can turn your most successful fluke into a programmatic success. - Melissa Puls, Ivanti
11. Envision Turning Success Into More Success
We'd like to believe that success is due to our work ethic and motivation, but there is luck involved in success. However, things like perseverance and mindset do also play a role in success. You can be the luckiest person alive and have one opportunity after another fall into your lap, but that's not enough to succeed. You have to be able to envision how you can turn good fortune into more. - Elliott Smith, The Ohana Addiction Treatment Center
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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