"If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten."
We talk a lot about personal habits. Changing your habits for the better can transform your life from getting what you've always gotten to achieving your dreams. Creating sustainable habits for a healthy and productive life takes consistency, setting aside time to focus on the new habit, investment of focus in the new habit and determination.
But what about our business habits? A business is a living breathing organism with its own habits, both good and bad. And like your liver after a holiday trip home to see dad, parts of your business suffer when the habits that support growth and productivity fall by the wayside.
So, here are 5 business habits you can implement to keep your company healthy, to be productive and to keep your teams on track for success:
1: Take care of your culture:
Whether it’s Playology facilitating a day of recess and dodgeball or Possibilities bringing teams to a new level of trust and accountability, taking a day once a quarter to show your teams that you are as invested in their success and happiness as they are in the success and productivity of the company goes a long way. According to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management, employers will need to spend the equivalent of six to nine months of an employee’s salary in order to find and train their replacement. Doing the math, that means that for an employee salaried at $60,000 will cost the company anywhere from $30,000 to $45,000 to hire and train a replacement. Culture counts in people's decisions to stay with a company... invest in culture, save on churn.
2: Create regular opportunities for ideas to be shared:
Everybody wants to be heard… Oprah said that, that’s how I know it’s true. Also, because I, like everyone else, like to be heard, acknowledged and appreciated for my input. Have a jar where crazy marketing, sales or product ideas can be put. Open a slack channel just for outrageous plots to rule the industry. And then, as the CEO or team leader, pick one out per month and highlight it. If you can’t make it happen, praise the person who came up with it and try to implement some part of it. This is how disruption, ideation and, dare I say, innovation happens.
3: Show the love:
Throw an end of year holiday party at a local restaurant, take the team out to whale watch, host a BBQ in the parking lot on a Thursday or just pass out $20 gift cards to Amazon for no reason. Give a little personal attention to get a LOT of buy-in, good will, extra hard work and company spirit from your whole office. (not the boss? - brownies have a really similar effect).
4: Give to Get:
Give to a good cause as a company and engage your whole team in the process of giving back. You’ll create a sense of altruism, you’ll encourage your teams to connect outside work to volunteer (try 1 Friday off a month when teams volunteer together) and you’ll be doing something to make the world a better place. After all, you live here too.
5: Get the team leaders together monthly all in 1 room:
Yes, yes, easier said than done, Jim is so busy and Sarah travels and on and on. the C-Suite drives the culture and rhythm of the company forward. Habits require effort and getting all C-level team members in the same room to go over the Mission, Vision and Values of the company, where the company is headed, and what steps are ahead to get there is crucial. This is not the time to complain about the marketing team tweeting on Thursdays at 4:00. This is the high level strategic planning that keeps your company moving swiftly forward. Consider bringing in a facilitator for these meetings to keep it high-level and on-track for success. Look at the forest, not the trees.
Changing habits take time, focus and energy, it doesn’t happen overnight. To get your team on the road to a dynamic culture, habitual success and processes that keep you moving in the right direction for the long haul, visit http://possible.co.