Tis the season.. Yep! It’s that time of year again. And no, we’re not talking about committing to a gym or going on a crazy diet. What we really want to talk about are resolutions that will make your business better than it was last year. Looking at the past year’s failures and victories will help you create and implement better business strategies for 2019.
Here are a few ways to empower and build your team to help kickstart the new year.
1. Identify and reduce inefficient processes
According to a recent study, the most common cause of wasted time during the workday is inefficient processes and duplicated efforts. Time currently spent completing unnecessary or low priority administrative work should be reevaluated and made more efficient so you can focus on new growth strategies and bigger picture planning. Business leaders should confront productivity issues proactively and head-on by identifying and addressing the issue before it sucks up too much time. Catching these issues early is an easy way to accelerate business growth.
2. Provide employees with the necessary tools to manage their own workflows
95% of employees believe that being able to work from away from the office with ease increases their productivity. Employers should equip employees with the ability to work flexibly and remotely if possible, resulting in boosted productivity and growth. Allowing your employees flexibility can dramatically increase your employees’ happiness and allow them to really take ownership of their work in a way that is most productive and efficient for them.
3. Metrics, metrics, metrics
Base all decisions on data and facts: look to build quality metrics into processes from the get-go, as well as incorporate data into decision-making. This will ensure you are looking at the factual – not subjective – aspects of a process or decision. This shifts the focus on what went wrong, rather than who messed up, and helps you effectively resolve problems. This will also help you prevent personal biases from sneaking their way into big-ticket business decisions.
4. Customer feedback
To design programs that will have a real impact, the first step is to commit to the skill of listening. To receive the kind of quality feedback you need to make impactful changes, it is important to ask honest questions you might be afraid to hear the answers to. Take feedback to heart and listen with intention. Think about why and how this feedback came to be and plan accordingly. Even positive feedback can show you new ways to build and improve your current activities. This is crucial to create programs that will truly resonate with both your employees and clients in 2019. You need to listen, and also take data-centric action (see number 3!).
5. Invest in your team
Investing in your team doesn’t change the business overnight. However, companies that prioritize team investment early on are generally the ones with strong cultures and passionate, enthusiastic, and productive employees who are willing to go the extra mile to support their workplaces. The New Year is the perfect opportunity to asses how you’re doing in this area. If you own a business, consider your people your most important resource and find ways to invest in them for the year ahead.
Regardless of how 2018 turned out for your business, 2019 is an opportunity to implement new and exciting changes. We can’t wait to start the new year with you.
Happy holidays!
