Business Health Checklist

Any business goal is a promise to its future self, and with regular health checks, you see your company’s growth, development and expansion. Irrespective of being a startup or established, business health checks aid in identifying strengths and areas that call for revisits and ensure that your customers’ and employees’ needs are met.

Our previous blog on business health checks discussed the areas or components that benefit from a health analysis. Let’s now zoom in on five elements of a business health checklist to ensure smooth operation and longevity.

Goals are golden. Set SMART goals to know where you stand and to make further plans for growth and improvement:

S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Relevant
T – Timely

Having clear and well-defined goals is crucial to the success of any business or enterprise as it allows you to tell how far along you are in meeting the visions and goals, take control of the direction, and thus increase your chances of meeting your aims.

Firm finances

Review your finances to determine your business’s viability, grasp your current financial state, and help you plan for future business endeavours.

Look at your:

Balance sheet
Profit and loss statement
Cash flow statement
Budget

Workplace safety

It is your duty as an owner to uphold health and safety practices within your business by providing for the following:

Safe work environments.
Safe use, handling and storage of machinery and structures, if required.
Monitoring the health of workers and workplace conditions.
Training or information regarding workplace safety.
Proper facilities and safe ways of working.

Process and procedure policies

Create standards and values for your business to assist employees in knowing how things operate and also assist them in adequately dealing with clients or customers.

Do this by:

Developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all business tasks and procedures.
Regularly review SOPs and allow staff to contribute.
Document your policies and make them readily available to all employees, clients, or customers.
Having open communication as to the purpose of policies.
Educating staff on role-specific procedures.

Right person, right position

A great business is only as strong as its workforce, and a business health check creates an ideal opportunity for assessing if the people you employ are perfect for their current position. Here, you can determine if the employee fared well in their job, are best suited to their current status and whether they’d increase their productivity elsewhere in the business. It is also an ideal way to determine staff morale and job satisfaction and create opportunities for staff appraisals and motivation.

Finally and very importantly, as a business owner, you must be mindful of your stressors and take care of your mental health by maintaining a healthy work-life balance and lifestyle, planning, not over-committing and taking time to unwind. Furthermore, it would be best if you welcomed the support and advice from like-minded people such as business advisors, business coaches and mentors and attended workshops or seminars to make way for networking and training to stay on top of your business game.