Welcome to the second instalment of our series of SME Growth Tips stemming from the Business Sorted event in Bristol in September 2016.
The focus of this part is tips on working with and investing in people.
Cultivate local partnerships
Many of the best and most enduring business relationships are found locally. There may be a number of advantages of striking up partnerships with other local businesses, including:
- Savings on the time and cost of transport
- The trust that is built up by ready opportunities for frequent face-to-face meetings with local partner businesses
- Mutual marketing assistance – each partner gets recommended by the other to more local potential customers
- A shared understanding of the business culture and needs in your area.
Hire the right team
Investing in a work force with the right range of skills to carry out all the tasks your business needs to succeed is an essential ingredient for the growth of your business.
Recruiting and delegating tasks to trustworthy staff you can rely on to perform for your business is an art in itself.
Think about what skillsets are needed in your business, then focus on hiring capable people to fulfil each role, carefully assessing each candidate according to the criteria that are appropriate to your business and its needs.
Look after your people
Hiring employees is just the first step in the development of an ongoing business relationship with them.
In order to retain them and encourage them to perform to the best of their abilities, you will want to nurture that relationship.
For example:
- Listen and respond to their needs, concerns and aspirations
- Motivate and reward them to be and give the best they can
- Offer them relevant on-the-job training and paths to career progression within the framework of working for your business
Consider apprenticeships
Apprenticeships, the traditional means by which skilled trades were passed down from one generation to the next, have seen a massive revival in UK workplaces in the early 21st century, thanks to the development of modern, nationally recognised structured training schemes and guidelines.
Modern apprenticeships can inspire and motivate workforce recruits, especially younger ones, with a recognised qualification to work towards, at the same time as training them up in the specialised skills your business needs.
Do you have the right team in place for your business? What more can you do to motivate, retain and train them? We at GWS wish you every success in managing your personnel recruitment and training needs.
