Your brand’s purpose should illustrate why your organisation exists, what problems it aims to solve, and who it wants to be to each person it professionally interacts with.
Successful businesses harness their purpose to create deeper connections with consumers and give back to the communities they work within.
As an executive leadership coach, Scaleup Partner Angelina Bell has been party to many change management conversations over the last year.
For managers who lend themself to a process-driven and almost autocratic style of management, it has been imperative to adjust to new ways of managing their teams.
The post pandemic business environment will require greater emotional intelligence and has brought many personal and business challenges to the forefront.
The sudden change from office to remote working has highlighted issues including complete isolation, Zoom fatigue and the daily struggle of juggling home-schooling with a demanding career.
According to data expert Jane Bloomfield, from market research company Kantar, more over performers focus on the people they serve.
The businesses that are ultimately successful are able to service their customers, colleagues and communities simultaneously.
Such businesses ensure their advisory actions link business growth to people growth KPIs and incentive structures.
Humanised growth can be described as articulating your ambition in terms of your impact on your people and the world around them.
More so than ever, the need for employees to be heard and understood is integral and staff are eager to form a deeper connection with their bosses beyond just ‘the numbers’.
To help employees feel valued where they work, designated one to one communication can offer an invaluable outlet.
Angelina’s top tips for a people centric 2021
• Whilst as a leader you must be continually looking forward to what is over the horizon, the importance of your people should be at the forefront of your thought leadership. Your teams need to be aligned and understand how the work they are doing is contributing to both business success and their own individual performance.
• Great listeners make great managers so ask more questions and listen very carefully to the answers. Improve your level of emotional intelligence. There is lots of self-development available right now in this area. Reach out for executive coaching for you and your leadership teams. A coach can help you and your team to become better, more effective managers and leaders which will help the business to navigate safely through these uncertain times and come out stronger beyond.
• Encourage your team to be the best version of themselves by adopting good habits such as time management, compiling to-do-lists, healthy eating, and tackling hard tasks first to avoid procrastination.
• Ensure you keep the consistency of what the business needs in terms of policies and meeting KPIs, but take care of individuals by inspiring them to be their best and by genuinely caring for their wellbeing. It is very motivating to be led by someone who can see the skills in their team even when the individual is not feeling like themselves.
• Make sure your staff have all the resources they need to help them do their job properly. Homeworking has brought challenges from people not having desks to work on, issues accessing CRM systems and general logistical challenges such as learning to use Microsoft Teams and Zoom.
• Build strategies that encourage ways to focus on the outputs from your staff members and not the time they spend at their workstations. Help your team to develop a structure that works for them and will optimise their individual and team performance.
• Ensure your team are taking breaks and work hours that suit both the business and their personal lives. Be mindful of the fact that regular breaks and time away from screens is essential for optimum productivity.
• Ask for feedback more regularly. You do not have the advantage of listening to office conversations where you can pick up small gripes around fears and issues with clients, so check in regularly. Ensure you ask how your people are on an individual basis, providing them an opportunity to offload.
• Difficult decisions still must be made during and post the pandemic, so if your have people issues then deal with them in the right manner and seek professional HR support.
• Reflect upon your purpose and ensure that you have a positive reason to serve your customers, staff and communities. A strong brand promise will see you through the pandemic and beyond.
RTC North is delivering Scaleup North East in conjunction with the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The programme is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It is aimed at supporting North East-based businesses that can demonstrate both the hunger and the potential to achieve high levels of growth.
Find out more at www.rtcnorth.co.uk.
