The start of a new financial year is underway and there’s no better time for businesses to be taking their own temperature, diagnosing any issues and treating them. It’s almost like the business equivalent of a New Year’s resolution but instead of vowing to go to the gym three times a week, you vow to grow the business by double digits or reduce staff turnover by 10 percent.
Diagnosing any Problems
So how do you get to the root of your businesses problems?
The first and most obvious step is to speak to people. If staff members aren’t confident about expressing their opinions face-to-face, then perhaps start with something as simple as a suggestion and question box. It’s an easy way to make your team feel empowered. It’s also worth considering that different departments may be suffering more than others, and from quite specific problems.
Which Part is in the Most Pain?
As part of our Change Challenge Report, which you can read more about here, we surveyed workers from a myriad industries and departments, including IT, R&D, finance, sales and marketing, advertising and communications. The results revealed some interesting sector-specific insights and issues, which might help you shed light on your own organisation.
- “Company communication isn’t clear enough” according to marketing, advertising & communications (50%), IT (25%) and sales (17%) teams. Managers in these departments are also unsure that their staff understands what their team goals are.
- “There’s a lack of senior support,” argue around a quarter of production (31%), IT (26%), marketing/advertising/comms (25%) and sales (23%) workers.
- “My hard work and contribution to the business isn’t acknowledged” by bosses, say a third of production (32%), legal (30%) and IT (29%) teams.
- “We use inefficient working practices and communication” stated production (32%) and marketing/advertising/comms teams (23%), who also cite inefficient project management as an issue.
- “I have too much work and not enough time” is a cry from all departments, although R&D teams (43%) and marketing/advertising/comms (35%) teams seem to be the most affected.
Prescribing the Right Medicine
When you’ve got a better idea of what might be ailing your teams, you can set about working with them to find a solution. Good communication is vital and without it things can fall apart very quickly. Teams should make it a priority to meet regularly and communicate feedback often. Using tools such as Mindjet can help with remote communication and facilitating an environment for feedback, which everyone can feed into regardless of time or location.
Senior support and good leadership are very important too. A good leader should motivate and coach team members, inspiring confidence in their management of the project; as is ensuring that your teams don’t feel overwhelmed. If people are struggling to get everything done, perhaps you can look to recruit interns to provide a few extra hands on deck. Even small, cost-effective, steps like this will contribute positivity to the health and well being of your business.