What kind of business leader are you? Do allow outside forces to dictate your decision making or do you take charge of your company and create your own path?

Do you believe a pro-active business approach revolves around the idea that it's essential to be fully aware of the dynamics of your market? Does it just involve anticipating changes in your industry or with your competitors? What about anticipating factors internally with your team members well before they actually happen? This form of management is practiced by successful business leaders all over the world, and it can be a powerful tool for success in the right hands. 

By contrast, a reactive approach places you at the mercy of any major changes that you did not anticipate or prepare for. For example: your company’s entire software system is in need of an update after the latest advancements have taken the industry by storm. Do you invest in these needed changes as they occur, or do you wait until the loss in productivity forces you to? What do you think the impact has been on your business and have you lost out on a substantial amount of time, money, and sales?

How do you take actions that will prepare your business for updates or changes like this? Does the business landscape evolve daily or weekly? How do you prepare yourself, as well as your leadership team, to anticipate potential issues or opportunities for advancement before they happen so it strengthens your organizational responses to different environmental factors? Like the example above, do you budget for upgrading your system processes so you will immediately give yourself a leg up on competitors slower to adapt? 

Businesses that want to remain relevant to their customers need to keep well-informed of new ideas and technologies as they are being introduced to the market. But how do you anticipate something that hasn’t happened yet?

Have you thought of how working with an advisor or business coach can elevate your business from average to a step above the competition? Business coaches are experts in studying business processes and understanding market trends. What kind of valuable insights do you think they could provide to help you put together a plan to take action?    

Adopting a proactive approach does more than help grow your revenues. With a clear idea of what to expect in the future, an organization and its team members are prepared with a strategic plan, to counter the effects of a major policy change or critical alteration in the industry procedures.