Introduction
The people function is often the most overlooked - solutions are created to drive up sales, or improve finances to
manage the cash flow, but ultimately all these tasks are dependent on the people who are tasked to perform them.
Inevitably, the health and strength of a business relies on the health and strength of its people and how they
interact with customers, suppliers and each other.
From the onset, getting the right people for the job is crucial and this requires having clear, honest job
specifications along with comprehensive job objectives. As the business environment is constantly changing, you will
need people who are able to adapt to it and this will mean regular training to ensure they are up to date with the latest
developments. In turn, this will require that you have adequate performance management systems in place and that you and your
management team have the skills to manage them, and address areas where the actual and expected results diverge.
Having the right knowledge, skills, attitude, aptitude and behaviours (KASAB) will help your staff to perform their roles,
whether by boosting your sales, being able to deliver high quality work for a client or having improved acumen to better
handle your finances. Clear systems and procedures have their place, but it's vital to maintain a
healthy balance. People, by and large, like to interact with other people and automation can only go so far.
The combined wage/salary bill is likely to be one of (if not the) largest
overhead, which means that when the budget is tight, staff cuts often occur first. It is important to remember just how valuable
staff are, especially long term staff and the knowledge that they hold. It is for this reason that any valuation of a company
should include this knowledge, which is often referred to as intellectual capital.
In summary, good people management will help develop and motivate your staff which will lead to increased performance
levels and better profit, whilst poor practice can lead to unhappy, demotivated staff and a high employee turnover rate.
After all, "if you do what you always did, you'll get what you always got!"
Actions
We will start with a diagnosis of your HR/people processes to establish what systems and processes you have in place for developing
and managing your staff. This will include:
- Recruitment and induction - how do you go about getting the right staff and are they given a good start?
- Job descriptions - do your staff know what is expected from them and how do the actual results vary?
- Training - how do you identify training needs and do you ensure your staff receive regular support to be effective?
- Company development - as a company, do you know how effective your training is and what areas can be improved on?
We will also look at your current biggest business goal, or challenge and establish what the root cause and solution is. You may think you have a
marketing issue due to a lack of sales, but the underlying problem could be a lack of knowledge about who you should be targeting,
or perhaps your sales staff lack the ability to effectively close deals. Most business problems boil down to a lack of
knowledge or skills - so your own team may be preventing you from reaching your goals.
Deliverables — what you will get from this
The foundation of any programme focusing on improving your business should be your people. In order to maximise the value of
any project, you need to ensure your staff have the right Knowledge, Aptitude, Skills, Attitude, and Behaviour (KASAB)to implement it,
with the support of an equally capable management team.
Effective people management can be linked to a recognised standard such as Investors in People, which recognises the huge
financial return that developing
and supporting your staff can win. Typically this will involve putting processes in place which will help improve your performance
management and as a result help to empower everyone to increase financial performance by up to 20% (published research).
All our programmes start with a business goal, which will determine which programmes/modules will best suit the need and end with a
review to measure the success of the project.
The Big Picture
As your staff form the core of your business, it's important to have a strong base to work from and any long term
development needs to factor this in.
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