Rolling With The Punches! What You & Your Staff Need To Stay On Top Of To Ensure A Successful Business

Communication is the cornerstone of a successful business. Every entrepreneur should know the value of communicating effective processes to their staff and what it can do for morale. That’s when we are torn in all directions as a business leader; the task of communicating with your staff can slip down the pecking order. There are parts of your business that you need to communicate on a regular basis. So what are these and how can they be done effectively?

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Technological Concerns

This is something that should always be high on your priority list, and we have seen so many cyber-attacks in recent years on such a large scale. From ransomware to viruses that can have a devastating impact on business, to information theft, that if you are not on top of this issue, it’s very likely that it can cause failures in many areas of your business. A lot of start-up companies and small businesses adopt the attitude that they are not big or important enough to be deemed worthy of a cyber-attack, but we have all seen that these are more likely to be a target because of their lack of security functions. The thing you need to do is to undertake a proper assessment of your business and establish all of the areas where your cyber security is severely lacking. You need to start this holistic assessment of your security from the perspective of an outsider, not as someone from within your business. You may be surprised as to how easy it is to access sensitive information. The other part of effective data protection is to communicate the best working practices to your staff. This means upskilling your staff in how best to be vigilant and how to manage sensitive data properly, as well as effective disposals of information.

Productivity

No doubt your staff is aware that they need to be productive and need to meet targets, but the pressures involved in meeting these targets can have a negative effect on workplace morale. You need to strike the right balance between working hard and a positive workplace culture. Productivity is not just about working hard, it is about working smart. In this respect, you are best to communicate the most effective working practices to get the most out of the work on a professional, and personal, basis. Something as straightforward as prioritizing the most important tasks first or even just structuring their day can have a positive impact on the overall work. Productivity is a very subjective subject to discuss, and not everyone works the same way. As a result, this is not a one size fits all approach, but if you can communicate some effective ideas on how to prioritize your colleagues’ workloads, it will feed into the workplace culture, and may create a more relaxing environment that also gets things done. Stress isn’t always a big motivator for people, it’s important to remember this.

Favoritism

It isn’t just the professional processes that you need to make your colleagues aware of; you have to be aware of personal issues too. Favoritism can disrupt work, cause issues in teams, and may contribute to staff members plotting their escape from the business. Favoritism is something that can be spotted from a mile off by other employees, and it can cause a lot of friction. In fact, this may not even be something that you promote in the workplace culture, and you may work very hard at eradicating this, but unfortunately, the perception is sometimes greater than the reality. So this is something that you really need to keep an eye on. With an issue like this, it’s always best to work hard at keeping the peace. You can always work to prohibit this by evenly distributing work, but this is one area where a lot of due diligence and hard work into the company culture will pay off. Workplace culture is such a key component of a business structure in the modern world that the traditional model of hierarchy doesn’t seem to fit anymore. Everyone is keen to be treated as an equal, and not feel like they are being shunned in any way.

There are always problem areas that we need to discuss with our colleagues, and while a lot of issues can be communicated with a simple email, sometimes we have to keep on top of these, not just for the benefit of your employees, but for the business. Your business will have to evolve with the times, and as there are so many external influences that will change, you just have to keep rolling with the punches.