founder of naked leader
Be A People Person
DURING the continued uncertainty in the economy it is important to think positively about your business and aim higher than just keeping your head above water.
Individuals can make a difference and you need to be focused on the most vital aspect of your company if you want to come through prospering and in fighting spirit.
Your people are the key. Put them first and the rest will follow. You must have talented people in your team, and while good pay is an obvious attraction, making sure your staff are engaged with the management and that career opportunities are made available is vital.
The more you give to the workforce in terms of skills and training the better equipped they will be to improve your business.
Remember, your people are not your company’s number one asset. They are your only asset.
One of the first things to go is budget and funding things like courses, which actually, is the the worst thing a company can do.
You have to have good people and the only way is to make sure they are trained and up to speed so they can keep delivering quality service.
Alternatively, either the staff will go somewhere else or the service will be so bad that your customers will.
Either way, it is not an ideal scenario.
making sure you keep a budget for training is key, essential to the business progressing.
Shame on those businesses who let their training programme unravel because they will lose staff to others brave enough to put in the effort.
One of my clients, DPD, the UK’s fastest-growing parcels company, have been putting their people first since before the start of the recession. When the downturn hit, they did everything to protect the jobs of their 2,000 delivery drivers, cutting down on company cars, the corporate golf day, conferences etc… As a result, no redundancies were made – though their competitors have laid off hundreds. This approach made a massive deposit in employees’ ‘goodwill accounts’ and combined with some great technological innovations, they have grown sales by more than 50% since 2009 and taken on 1,500 new people. Truly excellent leadership. Dx
“aim higher than just keeping your head above water”
Listen to and encourage your employees, for their ideas and input to keep “the ship maintained and buoyant so that it doesn’t sink!”