Developing and implementing an effective business strategy is essential in today’s ever-shifting global business environment. Gone are the days when a proven track record was enough to maintain a competitive position within your field or industry. Today’s successful businesses must lead the charge into the future in order to ensure they’ll be there at all, but how do you know what strategies will prove most effective—not just today—but down the road?
Whether you run a paper mill or a small heating and air company, here are five business strategies that will keep your company at the forefront of the 21st century.
MakeInnovation Everyone’s Job
Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, has made innovation a priority for everyone who works at his company. All employees are actively encouraged to come up with new ideas—even if those ideas fail. Bezos believes that by cultivating a culture of experimentation, more experiments and efforts can be made, which will increase the number of workable innovations that his employees are able to come up with.
Oftentimes, a creative leader is a business’s wellspring of innovation, but when companies rely too much on a single source for good ideas, it can spell difficulty for the company. What happens when that creative leader retires or moves on? What about all the good ideas that may be lying dormant in your workforce? By encouraging everyone to take up the mantle of innovation, a company’s creativity can become more diverse and refreshingly commonplace.
KeepEmployees Motivated
Keeping your employees motivated is a necessary part of running a successful business, but how do you accomplish it? Contemporary jobs lack the vigorous nature of work that took place 100 years ago, and even the most dedicated employee grows weary of sitting at a computer or attending yet another meeting. However, it really is possible to keep your employees’ heads and hearts in the game:
- Reward strong performances. Whether you do it with financial bonuses, elaborate vacations or effusive praise, when an employee works hard for you and gets results, reward her for it.
- Aim at inspiration. Whether you turn to a well-known international business speaker or you simply have a one-on-one conversation with an employee to help him remember why he chose his career in the first place, sometimes people need to have their passion reignited.
- Offer training and education. When you offer training and education, you letyour employees know their betterment is a priority.
Provide Opportunities for Employees to Grow
Almost every employee wants to grow—as a person and in a career. Whether you provide them the means to learn new skills or you allow them to cross-train in order to gain more varied experience in your industry, an employee who feels like he is expanding is one who is more likely to stick with you and perform well for you. It’s also important that employees be able to move up in your company if they so desire. Ambition without a goal will wreak havoc on your HR team, leading your business to suffer from unnecessary and costly turnover.
Make Your Values Part of Your Culture
What are the values that drive your business decisions? Are they apparent on a day-to-day basis across worksites within your organization? Do your employees feel the presence of those values in their work lives? Whether you value innovation, customer service, low prices or loyalty make sure you create and cultivate a culture that upholds those values. By doing so, you’ll make sure you stay faithfully on track even as the world around you changes, and your employees will know what they’re working toward.
Let Ideas Override Seniority
While long-term and high-ranking employees should always be treated with the respect and esteem they deserve, the heady business world of the 21st century requires flexibility. To stay ahead of the curve, you’re going to have to allow good ideas to trump seniority. While doing so can bruise a few egos, so long as you let everyone on your team know that they and their efforts are valued, you’ll survive the storm a new hire with a nose for the future might inadvertently craft. A business strategy that rewards loyal people and new ideas isn’t necessarily mutually exclusive.
While no one knows the future, it seems likely that it’s going to continue to shift. When it comes to implementing a business strategy that can see you through the rough and tumble, it’s important to stay nimble, eager and true to yourself. Put these five strategies into practice and your prospects for surviving and thriving in a changing world are good.
