None of us want to hear or think that maybe we are the problem in our business, but so many times that is the case!

If you see your own behaviour in any of these examples, it will definitely be worthwhile to think about what you need to focus on to get past this. Positive changes will result in your business moving forward more smoothly.

• You are too fearful to make a decision without certainty

Opportunities won’t be around forever. Failure to act without 100% certainty means it is likely that you will miss many opportunities in your business. Do the research, do the analysis, check your facts, and make a decision.

We can’t predict future outcomes with complete certainty, but what we can do is weigh up the information available and assess the potential risk. To keep it simple, use Low, Medium and High as your risk indicators. You will never have certainty and if you wait for it, your business will fail.

• You won’t take advice when you really need to

Why not? I’m not talking about the advice where you ask people whose advice isn’t of real relevance to your business, and what they give you is at best an uninformed opinion. The best in their fields make a point of taking advice from the right people, to enhance their own knowledge and business performance.

I have witnessed the train wreck that occurs when business owners fail to take professional advice resulting in severe consequences to both their personal and business financial stability. Let your ego go and get advice when you need it.

• You override your team

You have a good team. They can effectively run your business without you. Problems occur when you step in and override what they are doing and decisions they have made. This causes resentment, confusion, anger, frustration, and setbacks. If you have employed your team to perform a role in your business, then trust them to do it.

If you don’t, then effectively you haven’t trusted your own recruitment decision. If you override your team because you keep changing your mind, this is a message to the team that you aren’t confident in your own decisions, and that you are leading with uncertainty. This will set your business back, and at worst, you will lose good people.

• You micro manage

The problem with micro management is that while you are busy doing that, you aren’t running the company. You aren’t looking at the bigger picture. You aren’t leading. You aren’t making the big decisions that need to be made.

You aren’t making progress with your own important priorities as CEO. The business will eventually suffer from lack of attention to growth.

• You won’t let go

This is closely related to the micro manager problem. It is often driven out of fear. It’s easier to hide behind ‘busyness’ and managing people, than to let go, trust others, and focus on what you need to do but can’t.

You are too busy focusing on what you shouldn’t be focused on. You cannot grow a viable business with you at the centre holding on to everything because you fear it will fall through the cracks if you let go. It won’t. Focus on finding resources to help before your business implodes.

These five ways are just some of many that can hold a business back, and they are also very common. For the sake of your business, change what you need to change about your own behaviour, and let your business fly!