I want to go through a couple of different tips and strategies to really help you grow your business particularly coming through your people.
We talk about PEOPLE PLAN.
So often, I see businesses have set their marketing plans, they set their growth strategies; but usually they don’t have a people plan to support that.
We are off and well-focused on actually attracting and trying to get more clients and more customers, but what do we have in relation to a people plan?
That’s where a lot of businesses fall down.
They’re growing, they’re thriving; or someone has left and then unexpectedly, we need to get someone. And so what happens usually is that – “Yup, you got a heartbeat. You’re in!” Just like that. Straightaway.
They don’t necessarily have a people plan. Like, when we get to this size or when we attract this number of clients, we need to have this amount of people.
Or what happens when someone leaves? What’s the contingency plan? What’s the backup plan to make it all happen so it’s a smooth sailing?
Start Your People Plan Now
I want to walk you through great ways to start your people plan:
- How to really set-up the structure
- How to really implement it
- How to make sure it’s accountable
- Going through your whole organisation and not just as a business owner or a business leader.
One of the things I’d love to start off is obviously your MISSION, VISION, and VALUES.
Now this is so important because it answers the question: who do you really want to attract within your organisation?
And as you look into the core of your organisation, it comes down to your values:
- What’s really important to you?
- What’s really important to the business?
- What does it actually mean, that value?
- Why is that important?
Every business decision should be made from your values. Every business decision, when we are talking about new members of the team, should be based around your vision, mission and values.
How do we start?
Realign with Your Team
We did a new values process with an organisation just last week, and it was amazing what happens within the organisation. They’ve been going for some time now, but what we needed to do is to realign the team with the values.
It brought the team in and it gave the team a sense of ownership – a sense of, “Okay, this is what we’re going to be doing. This is what we stand for! This is how we’re going to promote to the market.”
We’re even going to promote to our prospective and clients. And also, how we’re going to market to new candidates coming through, came to light during the discussion.
Because the more you get aligned with your team right now, or if you’re starting an organisation, set the foundation early and set it right.
Set Your Values
How do we distinguish these values?
There are couple of questions I’m going to suggest you to do:
- What is important to you in relation to the business?
- What do you stand for?
- What does it actually mean?
You might have four different people in your team who say, “Well, teamwork is important.” But that could mean there could be four interpretations of what actually teamwork means.
It’s really important to have a definition of what that value actually means for all team members. And then, why is that important? What’s the reasoning behind that definition? And what’s the reasoning behind that value?
Create Your Vision and Mission
And there’s your values. Anywhere between five to seven values, is a great way to really get the team aligned.
You’ll be surprised what happens. You might come up with ten but really there’s usually around about five to seven values that really comes together and really stick.
Then we look at the vision and the mission.
The vision is where we want to go into the future. It’s the projection. It’s what we wanted to aim for. Where the mission is where we are right now, who do we serve – what type of customers, and what are our key objective.
By going through this and getting the team involved will really enables you to start that people plan. When we are getting out there and recruiting, when we are doing interviews that are aligned to the vision and the mission, really enables you to select your candidates carefully and correctly.
Review and Revisit
So there we go!
Get your mission, vision and values in order. If they need to be realigned, if they need to be readjusted – I suggest every 6-12 months, just to check in.
- How are we communicating this?
- Is it a part of our team meetings?
- Is it part of our projections every 90 days?
- How are we living or have we broken our values?
Constantly review your vision, mission and values to see if:
- Are we aligned?
- How are you going to plan for the future?
- And also, how are you going to recruit new team members?
Time to start or revisit your people plan today.