We say it at this time of year every year: “Where has this year gone?!” So far 2021 has flown by but if I look back at the past 7 months, I realise I have learnt a few things this year…
You can’t beat good leadership.
This year, we have focused on leadership like never before. All managers (at whatever level) can be a better manager and a better leader — it’s not a role that you can ever definitively say, “Right, I know everything there is to know to be good at this — no more learning for me, thanks”. However, upskilling ourselves and our managers is something most of us don’t put enough time into. The ROI on being a better leader is priceless. (Literally: I googled the ROI on good leadership and couldn’t find any reliable scientifically proven ROI studies.) But I do know two things: an engaged employee is 2.5 times more profitable than one disengaged (that’s a lot of profit) and a manager is the biggest driver of staff engagement. I also know from reliable academic studies that 60% of the success of a team relates to how well the team is led. How well are your managers driving staff engagement? What grade would you give them for their leadership? If they improved, what could that mean for your profit? Recognising this, we launched a one-day workshop this year on how to be a better leader and manager. The demand for this extremely practical day has blown us away, with our first three days selling out almost as soon as we sent the intro email. We hope to see you or your team at one of our upcoming workshops to really hone in on how you can be a more effective leader… https://www.businesschanging.com/workshops/effective-leadership/
Employee wellbeing is no longer just a nice-to-have.
Thankfully there’s a growing awareness and acceptance around mental health and it’s imperative that businesses take a front-footed approach to employee wellbeing.
Employee wellbeing is defined as the state of employees’ mental and physical health, resulting from dynamics within — and sometimes outside — the workplace. We have started doing specific employee wellness survey feedback for our clients and the answers have been fascinating. We have almost completed defining a basic employee wellbeing policy. We got a bunch of clients and brainstormed this together. It was enlightening with so many companies doing proactive stuff in this area — putting all their thoughts into a framework of things to consider to make sure employee wellbeing is at the forefront of a company’s thinking felt like a very positive move. Have you considered how you can help the employee wellbeing at your business and in your team? Remember to look after your own personal wellbeing also — what can you do that will reduce your stress? Consider brainstorming this with your team: what can you and your team do (more of, start doing, stop doing etc) that will alleviate the stress across your team…
Your customers want more from you than you offer.
It’s likely you have a decent database and plenty of repeat, long-term customers. Assuming your brand is viewed positively, people like you, trust you and would happily buy from you again. They would likely be open to buying more from you if you had more products or services to offer them so spend some time thinking about what this might be… For me, it was the effective leadership workshop I mentioned earlier. It’s obviously been a product clients wanted because we sold out three workshops through just a few emails — but I was way too slow and dumb around creating it. (In fact, it only came to being because others in my team were on my back about it and wouldn’t let up. Turns out they were right, ha!) So don’t be like me – be proactive about thinking about what else you can offer your customers…
You get what you put in.
This is not rocket science or anything particularly new but it’s worth keeping in mind — in business, your team, your home life etc you get out what you put in. To put the right stuff into your life, take time out to figure out the sort of life that you want. I’ve just spent 24 hours pondering how I want my 2022 to look. It’s important for me to take control and protect my time and focus so I can work on the most important things to me (business and personal life) and the things that will have the biggest impact on my clients and my family. If you do not put time into considering this stuff, then life just happens to you. Get more control over the direction of your life to make it as fulfilling and happy as it can be – consider the areas you want to change/improve and what you will do to make this happen. We have run a few workshops recently for our clients focusing on how they can take maximum control of their life; they said it was pretty profound. I’ll put it on our 2022 calendar to do more of these.
Do you take time out to consider what your perfect day looks like? And then consider how you can make your perfect day happen over and over…
Here’s to implementing some of your own learnings for the rest of 2021. Remember: what you do over the next few months will greatly impact the sort of 2022 you have.
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