By Calvin Fisher of Pandabomb Media
It’s a new year, and with it many are planning their New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps we want to be healthier this year – a common resolution. Or perhaps we want to spend less time on our phone and more time with the family. Whatever it is, the chances are that many of us are trying to be better in our personal lives this year.
But what about in your business? Have you set New Year’s resolutions for your business? And we don’t mean just turning a higher profit – which in most instances is a given!
Setting New Year’s resolutions for your business, be it big or small, could see you and your team making a big impact in 2022. These resolutions could be used to drive your company CSI initiatives and to set the team culture for the rest of the year. Below we’ve listed some resolutions that businesses could make this year.
Make a sustainable contribution to the community in which you operate
If you have a brick-and-mortar business, take a look at the area that you are based in. What does it need? Is there anything it lacks or perhaps something it could use more of? And how can your business help to do this?
Chat to the schools in the area and see if they need donations for a food garden, books or stationery. Is there a shelter that you can assist at or donate to? By contributing to the community that you operate in, you are showing that your business cares. Ask the team for some suggestions and ideas on what you can do more of to make a positive impact on those around you.
Transform your hiring policies
Make an effort to diversify your team this year. To do this, you need to look at your hiring policies and how you advertise for certain within your company. LinkedIn is great for reaching a professional community, but what if the person you are looking for doesn’t have access to the internet 24/7 like we do? What are the other ways in which you can reach them? Rethink your job advertisements and how you hire people. When you do this, you will find that it’s easier to diversify your team and to ensure that your company is representative of the community and the country that we live in.
Improve your client and customer service
Even if you don’t get a lot of bad reviews or feedback, it’s always a good idea to work on improving your customer and client service. If you know that you are doing just ok in one area, aim to be great at it this year. If you are great in another area, look at how you can still improve. By working on this aspect of your business, you work on customer and client satisfaction. Which, in turn, works on customer and client retention.
There is always something your customers want more of. Give them some value adds. Add in some discount codes for your valuable customers. Go above and beyond to make your existing customers happy and you will find that new customers will start to find you, too.
Improve the mental health of your team
Ok, so you might not be able to book them in for therapy sessions if you need, but you can certainly help your team get into a better head space. If you know your team has worked long hours on a big project, reward them with time off to recuperate. You could even gift them with monetary rewards or a lunch out.
Showing your team that you value their hard work and that you want them to take some time to do some self-care will help keep them motivated. And it will keep them at your company for a longer period of time. You want happy, healthy team members showing up to work for you every day.
Delegate tasks and trust your team
As a business owner or manager, you might feel the need to take on everything yourself. But it’s impossible to sustain this way of working without it being detrimental to your productivity. Delegate some tasks to your team and then trust them to do it. If it’s something that’s new to them, use it as a training opportunity. They can learn more about other aspects of the business and you can get some time back to focus on other tasks that need your attention.
There are many other resolutions that businesses can make this year. If you just start with these ones, it will do wonders when it comes to team morale and motivation. And we all know that these factors are important. A happy team leads to high productivity and better profits. So, yes – you can make “turning a higher profit” a resolution if these are the steps you take to get there.
*Check out the latest edition of the Top Performing Companies publication here:
Regarding being profiled or showcased in the next edition of the Top Performing Companies publication, please contact National Project Manager, Twaambo Chileshe:
Telephone: 086 000 9590 | Mobile: 072 126 3962 | e-Mail: twaambo.chileshe@topco.co.za
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