It’s a constant refrain as I speak to business owners about the issues they face from day to day. If it weren’t for my staff or suppliers or customer’s life would be so much easier. Why is it that people are the biggest barrier to business growth?

Well it depends how you look at it, is the glass half empty or half full? If people are the biggest problem then people are also the greatest opportunity.

Whilst looking at the issue from your point of view can only lead to frustration, looking at it from the other persons point of view can often bring the fresh insight that you need to come up with a solution to clear the blockage.

‘What’s their problem’ said in the right way can be the key to unlocking the real potential that exists in that member of staff, supplier or customer.

In these days of big data, analytics and information the temptation is to bombard the other person with facts in order to persuade, cajole or browbeat them into agreeing with your point of view. But unfortunately people, (even us if we admit it) do not always make decisions on the basis of logic. Whether we like it or not, we are all creatures of emotion and feeling and increasingly the importance of how we make people feel is being recognised in the business context.

So if we can make someone feel better about themselves, in what we are suggesting then we stand a much better chance of achieving our objective. How do we do that? By looking at the issue from their point of view, by seeing what their problem really is and by offering a solution which makes them feel better about themselves and the issue.

Need some help with this? Often some impartial eyes can help so don’t continue to beat yourself about people problems. At Business Doctors we recognise that you and the people around your are the greatest assets you have in achieving business success and we are always happy to talk about how you can have a business which leaves your staff, suppliers and customers with that essential ‘feel good’ factor.