I can confidently say, without knowing anything about your company or industry, that your best asset is your people. It doesn’t matter if you employ 1, or 1000, in retail or manufacturing. In the same way, you maintain your building, check your electrics, service your vehicles, you must invest and maintain your people asset.
Developing…as your business evolves, your team’s skill base must evolve. You may recruit the best fit for the role at the time but there is always room for improvement. Whether that is developing skills to match your culture and approach, or being in line with the latest practices and approaches. Stale skills result in poor working practices, a lax attitude and poor motivation.
Supporting…often people are promoted due to their professional expertise and skills, and find themselves in roles that require skills they have never needed, or not utilised for some time. Supporting your team to give them the confidence and ability to face challenges and perform to their best will allow your team to maximise their productivity.
Upskilling…ensure that you retain your talent. An old management joke – Two managers are talking about training their employees. The first asks, “Yeah, but what if we train them, and they just leave?” The second responds, “What if we don’t train them, and they stay?” Keep your team challenged, interested, engaged and developed, and you will have a team that will be loyal, dedicated and perform at their best.
With 27 years experience (I know, I know, how can that be when I tell everyone I am only 34) in retail, public sector, contract management, design and construction, property and sales, I’m comfortable training and coaching in all sectors. I’ve been fortunate to have received fantastic training myself in my development years, at organisations such as Harrods, and in later years, being exposed to worldwide leaders such as John Addison. I now have a portfolio career with four different businesses, which allows me to continually develop and improve my own skill set and experiences.
