Should managers worry about their workforces in 2020?

As featured here in HRD Connect

2020 will be a big year for new beginnings. How can leaders ensure their best people stay put?

A new decade can be a catalyst to kick-start your own journey to accomplish your life goals.

Members of your team who dream to be somewhere else and start their own business, move to the seaside or whatever they aspire to may well be more likely to up sticks this year, however those that do were never fully invested in your business anyway.

So, my question to you is, is the culture of your business a nurturing and positive culture, or is it stagnant and negative?

Do your team have a clear career progression plan, or do they drift along in the day-to-day seemingly ‘stuck’ in their job for life or until they leave? If it’s the later then worrying about the high turnover of your workforce increasing dramatically this year may be valid. If you have a low staff turnover and a happy team, you’re probably on the right track in terms of your business culture.

The real question here is: How do you improve your business culture? 

If you want a culture of ownership and accountability, a positive and engaged workforce and lower staff turnover, ask yourself:

• Do I hire people who share my values?
• Do I share my vision for the business with my team?
• Do I have consistent processes and train every team member how to work with them?
• Do I have a robust and consistent performance management system keeping everyone
  on track?
• Do I communicate with the team regularly, sharing information about the performance
  of the business as a whole?
• Do I delegate, and trust that the job will be done to a high standard?

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Hiring the right people 
The ‘right’ people are those who share your values; who get what you are trying to achieve with your business; who see your vision and are inspired by it.

It’s important to immerse every new team member in your culture from day one. Tell them stories that demonstrate how people take ownership in your business, and how you empower and encourage everyone to make decisions and be accountable.

Show what your culture is through your actions: arriving on time, everyone greeting the new starter warmly, explaining your ‘rules of the game’ to them, and demonstrating your personal values through everything you say and do.

Engaging your people 
A strong business culture relies on the whole team buying into it. If you’ve taken your time in hiring the right people you will have no problem in engaging them in your vision and goals for the business, and in your culture.

You have the right people, so involve them in finding solutions to problems, planning for the future, setting their own targets. If your current team is far from engaged, call a meeting and share your vision, help them to understand what they’re a part of and why they’re each so important. This isn’t an overnight thing, so keep sharing wins and positivity. Say thank you.

Develop simple, logical and repeatable systems, and train your team to follow them.

Help them to understand why consistency is so important. Make sure that they understand not only what is expected of them, but the high standard you expect them to perform to. Give them all of the information they need to do the job on their own, and then get out of their way and let them get on with it!

Monitoring and measuring performance
Engaging with great people is easy. But on occasion, you will get your hiring all wrong, and you’ll take on someone who just doesn’t fit your culture, your values or the ethos of your business and they will have to go. It may be that 2020 will be the catalyst for this anyway.

It’s always good to give people a second chance, and I’m personally very big on forgiveness, but when a second chance has been wasted, make sure that you have the performance management system in place to manage them out of the business if needs be.

The negative impact of someone who doesn’t fit is simply too great and, in a growing business with a small team, you simply can’t afford the consequences for your customers, your team and ultimately lost revenue and profit.

Have quarterly performance reviews, but at your annual performance review, build the following questions in:

• Where do you want to be in 5 years’ time? In 3 years? In 1 year?
• What training and support do you need from us to get you there?
• What’s in your way?

With the members of your team who are the right fit and who are invested in your business and who can see themselves progressing, their answers to these questions will be detailed and show a will to progress up the ladder. They will ask for things from you.

You will also have your loyal ‘steady stayers’ who love their role and don’t wish to progress. This is ok too of course, some people aren’t naturally ambitious. However, still try to work out some sort of target and reward system for these team members and make them feel part of the journey.

Communicate Communicate Communicate
While your business is still growing, you are your business, you are the leader, and people will want to contact you personally – both your customers and the individuals in your team.

How you handle this will say a great deal about you and your business culture.

Communication is vital in any relationship. Your business simply can’t do without open and honest communication through channels that are clear and easy to use. If you want to build a culture of ownership and accountability it’s absolutely essential.