Significant numbers of small and medium-sized business leaders feel “overwhelmed” by their roles and “like they should know more than they do”, according to new research.
The survey by the Small Business Charter of 1,200 senior business people in SMEs across the UK found anxiety about some aspects of the burden of running and growing their companies.
A fifth (20%) say they feel overwhelmed by everything that’s required of them, with this rising to over a third (35%) among leaders aged 18 to 24. In Wales, 16% of bosses say they feel overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, a quarter (24%) across the UK say they feel like they should know more than they do, with those aged 35 to 44 most likely to admit this (27%). The proportion feeling they should know more is 20% among leaders in Wales.
UK-wide, almost one in five (18%) – though only 9% in Wales – also say they feel burdened by the responsibility to protect their employees’ jobs.
Welsh business leaders are the most positive of business leaders surveyed with 59% saying most of the time they feel optimistic, rising to 60% in Cardiff compared with 46% across the UK.
According to the Department for Business & Trade, there are 5.6 million small- and medium-sized businesses in Britain, suggesting there are hundreds of thousands of leaders across the UK feeling overwhelmed and lacking in knowledge and knowhow.
Nevertheless, despite their anxieties, most UK business leaders still feel confident in the broad day-to-day running of their business or department (96%). When pressed on what would make them feel even more confident, a third (33%) say access to leadership training and 40% want a larger network of peers to turn to. In Wales, 51% of decision makers say that a sustainable business strategy for the future of would make them feel more confident.
The Small Business Charter delivers Help to Grow: Management, a 90% government-funded course designed to support business leaders to increase resilience, innovation and growth within their organisations. Spread across 12 weeks, the course includes 10 hours of one-to-one business mentoring and a peer network. It is designed to be completed alongside existing work commitments and participants leave the course with a growth action plan focused on their business.
Flora Hamilton, executive director, Small Business Charter, said:
“Our survey of business leaders shows that even though they generally feel comfortable on a day-to-day basis, significant numbers have underlying anxieties. Running a company or department can be a heavy burden and at times many feel overwhelmed and insecure about having the business knowledge they need to do their jobs well and grow their companies.
“With its practical SME focus, the Help to Grow: Management Course helps small business leaders and senior managers develop the business knowledge and skills they need to succeed. Delivered by our network of expert business schools, it provides a fundamental understanding of core business topics from strategy to marketing and employee engagement but also the support of a local peer network that many small business leaders see as crucial to helping them tackle challenges and feel more confident.”
Kate Thomas, director and head of interior design at Austin-Smith:Lord, who has completed the course at Cardiff School of Management, Cardiff Metropolitan University, said:
“As a busy member of the leadership team in an architecture and design firm split over different UK regions and sectors, the challenge was getting the time, space and strategic knowledge to work ‘on’ the business as well as ‘in’ the business.
“The Help to Grow Management Course gave me the knowledge and headspace in a supportive environment to step outside the day-to-day operation, analyse it clearly and prioritise changes in a strategic way to improve the way we operate. The sessions with the one-to-one business mentor have also been very valuable.”
