Christiaan Steyn | Head of Business Insurance | MiWay | mail me |
Getting business ready after the Christmas break is always somewhat of a struggle, but this year presents even more of a challenge. With Eskom already load-shedding and many pundits warning of water outages in the future, not forgetting the upcoming re-rating by Moody’s, there is no doubt that the economic indicators are far from favourable.
It has never been more important for your team to be properly motivated and firing on all cylinders for your business to be able to compete in these tough conditions.
All too often, business people respond to challenges by setting targets and demanding results. Perhaps this is not the best place to start, target setting should rather be the output of a more carefully thought-through process of motivating staff and putting the basics in place.
Once that is completed, the targets can be set – but now with a better chance of being achieved.
Share the year’s goals and vision
Get input from team members to assist with buy-in. If the team is not behind the plan and does not internalise it, the chances of success are slim.
Remind employees how tough the economy is: it is in their interests that the company performs.
Encourage team work
After a long period of idleness, many people relish the return to the structure of the work environment and especially the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues.
Get input on what is impeding collaboration in the business and try to find solutions. Starting the year with a team-building exercise could pay dividends, but tailor the exercise to the tastes of the employees; for example, a highly physical programme might stress out desk-bound or management staff. It is not what would suit you, but what your staff would respond to.
Encourage feedback from the staff
Japan set itself up as a business powerhouse by developing programmes like Kanban, which ultimately rely on the experience and insight of employees to make incremental process improvements continually.
The people who do the work are often a great source of insight about improvement, but you need to create an environment that facilitates their input.
Feedback mechanisms that alert you to inter-personal and other problems are also invaluable and the beginning of the year is a good time to make sure they are working well.
Promote a healthy – and happy – office environment
Supporting collaboration and feedback are a good start, but look more broadly at the office. The physical environment might need a bit of refreshing, perhaps with some new plants or pictures. Introducing a ‘treat’, such as good coffee or healthy snacks on a Monday morning can also lift the atmosphere.
Reward achievement
If you are serious about getting the best out of your people, reward them appropriately. However, it is important to think carefully about what you want to reward and how it links to the company’s strategic objectives.
It may seem an obvious point, but take the time to work out what kind of rewards actually mean something to your particular group of people.
Put the basics in place
Employees will note the fact that you are taking care of the basics that support their work and provide a safe and productive work environment.
Make sure all the service contracts for printers, IT, cleaning services and so on are reviewed and solid.
Making sure that the company’s business insurance is adequate for the company’s risk profile and that everybody understands what their responsibilities are in order to comply with the terms of the policy.
Set the strategy with confidence
With all these basics in place, you have a firm platform on which to create a demanding strategy, with ‘big, hairy and audacious’ goals for your team.
If they are motivated and understand the part they play in realising the bigger vision for the business – they are more likely to take ownership of their tasks and to go the extra mile.
