Finding profit in a stalled economy
Staff engagement one of the keys to your success
The second half of 2012 dawns with bearish signs of prosperity postponed. The Eurozone is a mess, commodity prices weak, consumer debt worries are growing, and the U.S. presidential election ensures no tough economic decisions will be made for months.
Now more than ever, business owners must get the basics right. Production, sales, marketing, human resources and business development all have to be working from the same playbook, collaborating in the ultimate success of your business.
Here’s how to make the second half better than the first:
Today: Close the door, get a fresh sheet of paper (or a blank Word document). First, write down your mission. Why does your company exist, how does it create value for others? Why should anyone care? How can you tweak this mission statement to make it more timely, more compelling? A mission statement that doesn’t excite staff or intrigue customers is an opportunity wasted.
Then conduct a quick SWOT-matrix analysis of your business at this moment. What are your strengths and your weaknesses? (Be honest.) What are your most exciting opportunities? If all goes well, where could your business be a year, two years, from now? What threats could derail your plans? (Spend much more time on the opportunities. Your biggest threat is not prioritizing your opportunities!)
Tomorrow: Hold an allstaff “state of the company” meeting to discuss the year so far. What were the highlights? What are the key challenges through the rest of the year? How are we going to solve them? (Hint: together.)
Use the staff meeting to form a new action committee representing motivated employees from across the company. Their job is to do what you did yesterday: update the mission statement and complete the SWOT. Don’t tell them you’ve already done these exercises; their version likely will be different, and that makes it more valuable. Give them three days.
Next week: Compare your version of the mission and SWOT with that of the committee. They may have identified strengths and opportunities you missed. Search for signs of misalignment; this is your chance to correct fuzzy thinking or embrace a bolder brand. Look for incorrect or outdated assumptions in the SWOT analysis, and for opportunities you’ve overlooked. Work with the committee to integrate them.
Later that week: Work with your committee (and any managers you need) to create an action plan for the second half. Do you need to adjust this year’s objectives? What stretch goals can you set, and what incentives will allow your people to reach them? How do you enhance your high-potential strengths? Who will work on fixing the weaknesses? What processes or teams must be created to seize the key opportunities? And who will work on longer-term issues?
Too many companies leave strategic planning to management. Truth is, many employees “get” these issues, and have ideas they are dying to tell you about. Successful entrepreneurs make their decisions as close to their market as possible; if your salespeople, customer-service reps or frontline staff are ready to contribute, give them a chance. People perform better when they’ve had the opportunity to share in planning and goal-setting.
Keep meetings and processes simple. Most of your plans will be revisited and revised anyway. Don’t try to manage the outcomes; get the process right. The process is working when your people are engaged, excited and have incentives to do great work, together.
Of course, your job doesn’t end there. To finish 2012 in better shape than you started, keep pushing on these two flywheels:
Customer focus: How can you integrate closer ties with your customers into your processes and planning? In tough times, your customers are your most enduring (and scalable) assets. Get closer to them to understand their frustrations, their problems, their needs. Survey customer satisfaction, bring more clients into your office for lunch ’n’ learn sessions and product demos, form joint working committees to solve mutual problems, appoint a customer advisory board, or just invite more clients to company events and barbecues (especially the barbecues). Train your staff to talk to customers with intent: to find out how they’re doing, where they’re headed, and how else you can help them meet their objectives.
Share the wealth: If you expect employees to do more of the thinking and planning, make sure they share in the results. Set ambitious goals, and pour a hefty portion of the additional profit into a revenue-sharing pool. You have to spend money to make money, but it’s even better to make the money first, and then invest it in the people who made that windfall possible.