People Strategy

Does your small business need a people strategy?  Absolutely Yes!  Especially, if you want to grow your business and create an outstanding culture.  Your people are your small businesses greatest asset.  They create and deliver the vision and mission that you’ve set forth.

The great resignation captures the headlines in the media and articles written today.  How does that narrative stay out of your small business.  It really comes down to listening and creating the right people strategy.

As you work on your strategy, consider the workplace and the environment.  We put together an article about 7 Hybrid Workforce Challenges and How to Resolve them.

First here are some common questions you might have.

People Strategy Questions:

What is a people strategy?

• A plan on how your business will attract, retain, and grow your employees in order to accomplish your business goals, mission, and vision.

What is the difference between a people strategy and HR strategy?  I am glad you asked.

• A people strategy really focuses on your people.  While a HR strategy focuses on the policies and procedures around employees.

What is the greatest benefit for a small business with a people strategy?

• You build a strong resilient culture that promotes your small business to achieve the goals, mission and vision you set.

How do start building a people strategy?

• We provide seven components below to help you get started.

Seven Key Components to your People Strategy

 

Roles & Responsibilities

Documenting roles and responsibilities plays a key role in the people strategy.  First of all, an employee clearly understands their role in the organization and how they contribute.

Second, as an owner or manager this helps getting people focused on what needs to be accomplished to line up with company mission, vision and goals.

A third consideration, owners and managers who know what they need will control costs.  Labor is one of the highest expenses to a business so hire wisely with a need in mind.

As you work on this, we found a great resource on Indeed that will help kick start your thoughts around roles and responsibilities.

Measure Results

This really goes hand in hand with roles and responsibilities.  Each role should contain clear expected results which does measure the performance of your people.

For example, an inside sales leader may be expected to execute 100 outbound calls per week.  From those 100 calls, a set percentage needs to be turned into a sale.  Those numbers will help you determine if the individual needs more direction and training.

Reward & Recognition

Who doesn’t like to be rewarded or be showered with a little recognition.  This goes a long way in developing your culture and helping people feel good about what they’ve accomplished.

With that being said, use this with care because you will get the action and result of your reward.  So using the example from above, level up a notch by measuring the quality of outbound calls not just a call was made.

Succession Plan

Do you know what will happen if your employee leaves the role assigned to them?  Or who backs them up when they go out on vacation?

Creating a succession plan will go a long way to build a more sustainable business.  Not only does this build in coverage for when someone goes out on vacation.  Also, what if an employee resigns all of a sudden, the next person in line is ready to step in.

Another way to think about this is through a mentoring program.  As new people come into the organization pair them up with a mentor buddy to help them learn and grow.

The thought might be what if no one leaves.  I don’t need a succession plan.

Hopefully, you plan to grow your business.  If you do, your current leaders will be stepping up to take on more responsibility so their reports will need to be ready to step in and take on additional tasks as well.

Onboarding Plan

This is probably one of the most important key components. Onboarding can take time, but you want to make sure the person understands how to fill the role you hired them for.

Here are a few things to make sure your onboarding process covers:

• Setup all accounts required for the new role
• Help them understand how to utilize the technology for their role
• Include a cybersecurity training class of some sort
• Train them where to go for support
• How to achieve the metrics of the role

If you want to learn more about cybersecurity awareness, check out 7 Easy Strategy to Implement Now.

Culture

Culture of a small business is a beautiful thing when you bring the diversity of many individuals together to achieve extraordinary goals.  Just remember this does take time.

Strategy ideas to build a strong sustainable culture:

• Align the culture values with company mission and goals
• Create an environment with employee safety and well-being in mind
• Embrace diversity of cultures and background
• Understand where people come from and what is important to them

Further reading and information can be found on the Gallup website including this great article.

Growth

A people growth strategy helps a small business grow.  The main question is, what skills and expertise do you need for organizational growth?  Here is a simple equation:

Employee Growth = Business Growth

The following ideas may strengthen your people growth strategy:

• Will education for an employee improve a service or product
• Will increased employee knowledge or skill set improve your competitive advantage
• Will an improved sales skill set improve customer conversion
• What skill set might increase business opportunities

 

In summary, keep this thought in mind, people are your greatest assets and your front line to determine the success of your small business.  So, take the time to build a strategy that will create a legacy.

Follow us to stay tuned on a people strategy example coming soon.  In the meantime, here is an example that we’ve found.