As 2020 draws to a close, there is the temptation to count down the days to a fresh start and the end of a challenging year. But, in life and in business, it’s crucial to reflect on past experiences – whether from recent weeks, months or years – and recognise lessons learnt. As well as taking satisfaction from your achievements, you’ll be able to establish new goals and plans for the future. Here, Justin Nihiser, CEO of kids coding franchise Code Ninjas, discusses why reflection is such a necessary component of running a successful franchise.
The saying goes that you should never make the same mistake twice. None of us are perfect; I’m the first to admit that I’ve made the same mistake once, twice, even five times over before truly learning my lesson. What’s important is to make sure you take something positive out of what, at first glance, may seem like a negative. Whilst I’m not the biggest fan of the mindset that it can’t get much worse if you’ve already hit rock bottom, I do feel that we all have the chance to breathe a sigh of relief and move on now that 2020 is almost over.
When operating any kind of business, it’s important to continue to revisit your business goals on a regular basis. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that you can never plan for all eventualities. But establishing new goals without shifting your mindset is always going to produce the same result and – worst case scenario – leave you falling short. And, trust me, as an experienced leader, there’s nothing worse than goals that are repeatedly missed.
It’s important to mention that scenarios don’t always feel like an opportunity for change when you’re actually living through them. As crisis hits, we go into flight or fight mode. The business owner in us makes a short-term action plan to come through the other side of a challenging situation as unscathed as possible. It’s only afterwards that you’re able to reflect on the situation and learn from it.
My advice? Once you’ve decompressed – whether that’s hours, days or weeks after the storm has passed – look back on the situation and note down three things you would have done differently and three things you handled well. If the problems came from organisational mishaps, create an actionable step-by-step plan for how to tackle that task next time. And for anything less formulaic, seek out feedback from those around you; your team of staff, your franchisor and even your loved ones. More often than not, an outsider’s perspective will bring to light behaviours and strategies you may not have recognised. Then comes the important part; incorporate this collective feedback into your long-term growth strategy and consider how it will benefit your franchise for years to come.
Lessons can also be learnt from positive scenarios; when the chips are seemingly up. First and foremost, congratulate yourself on a job well done – something all business owners are guilty of overlooking. Reflect on what went well and which components of the process you would repeat. Incorporate the successful steps into your growth plan going forwards and don’t deviate from a process that is, quite literally, tried and tested. There’s a reason they say, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.
No matter how experienced and established a franchise is, as a business owner, there will always be a lesson to learn. Good business acumen comes from living the real-life scenarios that come with actually running a business. By making sure you’re not falling victim to silly mistakes – or at least, by making sure you’re learning from them – you’re insulating the growth of your brand and your legacy for years to come.
Justin Nihiser is the CEO of kids coding specialist, Code Ninjas. At locations across the UK, Canada and the US – where the brand was launched in 2016 – kids learn to code in a fun, safe, and inspiring learning environment, with a game-based curriculum that they love and through which their parents clearly see results. For more information, visit www.codeninjasfranchise.co.uk
