The Importance of Allowing Personal Growth to Influence Business Growth

The Importance of Allowing Personal Growth to
Influence Business Growth

Anyonita Green

I once worked as a vital member of a small, family-owned and operated business where a combination of changes in the market and an all-out refusal to adapt new ways of doing things stunted the business’s growth. Of course, had my past employers been fully aware, I’m sure things would have been different. But when someone in a leadership position is afraid of allowing personal growth to influence their business, the business suffers.

Naturally, if you presumed that the work environment was micromanaged because of the close-knit ties amongst the colleagues who doubled as family members, you’d be correct. As someone who was coming to the business (and into the family) from the outside, I was scrutinised, far more than I would have been in the same entry-level position at a larger company. Suggestions made to improve things were never scoffed at, but they were taken with a big dose of I don’t think so even before they were properly considered.

My past employers harboured the opinion of “We’ve been doing things this way since great-great-grandpa started the business back in 1903; why change now?” Even in an optimal situation with the best market outlook, the highest possible profit margin and a generally satisfied clientele, this type of thinking is dangerous and counterintuitive to growth. You can imagine what such a drastic closed mind would mean for a small, struggling business in the throes of a nationwide economic recession.

Family traditions and rituals can be beautiful avenues for linking us with relatives and for reminding us of our heritage and reminding us of loved ones no longer with us. For that reason, I understand my past employer’s need to keep as many things as possible the same. On the other hand, there comes a time to realise that changing things isn’t synonymous with forgetting. As leaders of a business, of a small family, of an ever-expanding corporation or just of ourselves, it is vital to make space for personal growth and to allow that growth to permeate its way into the rest of our lives and trickle down to effort change.

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Anyonita is an associate with the Centre for Enterprise, working with administration and improving the Centre's on-line presence. When not contributing to the Centre, she spends her time as a freelance blogger, a knitter and an inspiring chef.