The Secret to Business Growth? It’s Avoiding the Biggest Business Mistake Everybody Makes

By Christan Hiscock

In front of you, there are a thousand boulders. Each one represents a different part of your business. To advance, you could put equal focus on each boulder, moving them all ahead one foot. That’s a lot of effort to only advance one foot. It also represents the biggest business mistake that business owners make.

If you choose to put all your focus into one boulder, however, you would do the same amount of work and advance a thousand feet instead.

In business, there will always be a thousand things that vie for your attention. The biggest business mistake that owners and managers make is trying to focus on all of them. What the most accomplished business professionals understand is that trying to do it all, or micromanage it all, adds needless drag to business growth. And if you’re in the slow lane, everyone else is going to pass you by.

I’ve learned in my business journey that if you want to advance faster and go farther, you first need to understand where you are and the issues you face, and then your primary focus needs to shift to the single area that will create the most impact for your business.

Business is a team sport

Let’s move our metaphor onto the court: think about basketball. The team works as a cohesive unit to win the game. But each person on the team has a specific role they fulfill, and in order for the team to win, they must play that role to the best of their ability.

The coach sees the game from the bigger, outside perspective, and gives feedback to improve performance. That can be as a unit or to individuals, depending on the need. On the floor, the players act and react to everything that’s happening. The point guard calls the shots based on what he or she sees in the current moment. Then every other player on the court moves and adjusts to get free to receive the ball. After that, whoever gets the ball reads the defense and decides whether to pass it or take the shot.

Depending on the type of defense and the skill of the players on the opposing team, one person will get the ball more than others. That’s reality if you want to win. Against a different defense, it will switch. If you put your focus on getting the ball to each person on the team an equivalent number of times, you will never reach your full potential because you aren’t taking the opportunities, openings, and advantages that are presented to you during the game.

In business, like in basketball, you must put your focus on your greatest advantage to optimize your results. That means you focus on one goal and get the ball to the person who’s going to deliver the slam dunk, the easy jumper, or the sweet three.

The players you put on the court and the plays you choose always depend on the situation. While you have one goal, the way you get to that goal can shift. As the point guard, you call a play based on the information in front of you at that time. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes your opponent steals the ball from you and scores against you uncontested.

But the next time down the court, it’s not going to be the same. You make adjustments as you go and shift your focus accordingly. Sometimes you’ll do it perfectly and sometimes you won’t.

But every time, you learn, adapt, adjust, and grow.

You must find the right players for your team

Business isn’t a solo sport; at the very least, you have your clients, vendors, and team players. You need skill to select them and make sure they are a right fit—especially when it comes to your team. When you consider the alarming statistic that 85% of employees are disengaged, it’s obvious that the right fit needs to be a huge focus for all businesses.

That means you have to be clear on your values, your mission and vision, your message, and your business goals. If you’re not clear, or you don’t communicate them properly, you’ll definitely miss the mark and end up with people who don’t gel with the team. That’s going to cause problems for your culture, performance, productivity, and profitability.

The people you choose for your team need to have the right skills to get the job done, and they must align with your vision for your business and all that goes with it; but to do that they need to understand your vision and buy into it from the start. That’s something only you can control with your communication skills and the message you share. And just like the plays on the court, sometimes you’ll get it right and sometimes you won’t.

Once again, you learn, adapt, adjust, and grow.

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Refining the focus for the win

Every single business is in a different stage of its journey, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to advance to the next stage. That’s why it’s so important to have coaches and mentors who can point out problems and give feedback based on looking at the bigger picture from an outside point of view. It’s hard to see that big picture when you’re in the middle of the game.

As a business owner, you’re the point guard in your company. Where your business is right now will guide where your focus needs to go and the plays you will call, but if you don’t have your values, your mission and vision, your message and business goals set, then you have to keep the ball and put all your energy there, until you nail it down.

If you’re in a place where you know you need to add people to your team, HR is going to get the ball and the majority of your efforts will be focused there, while everyone else is running the rest of the play you called. Need to bring in more clients? Then pass it off to Marketing, who will drop the ball inside to your Sales team. Maybe you need to get the ball to Operations to develop new plays in the form of systems and processes, or to IT to provide better data to build your playbook. Every situation is different.

Put your focus where it will make the most impact on your business goals and clear the way for the easy hoop.

The ability to pivot is key to business success

To avoid the biggest business mistake that so many make, you have to focus the majority of your energy in one direction and trust that the rest of your team will run the play as their positions dictate.

You need to be flexible and shift your plays when the opportunity presents itself, based on your current business goals, the state of the market, the needs of your team, the needs of your clients, what your competitors are doing, and a million other things. What’s most important is that you read the court you’re on right now, quickly make a decision on the play you want your team to run, and then make your move.

After that, you learn, adapt, adjust, and grow—and get ready to call the next play that hopefully leads to the easy layup and the win.

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