December is a time when many companies will focus on what they want to achieve next year. The last couple of years have been anything but ordinary; sales figures may have been seriously impacted, staff may have been furloughed, then steps put in place for them to work from home. What thoughts do you have as to where you want to see your company by the end of 2022? One danger when we mention your plans is that your mind can go instantly to sales. Helped by the fact, the third quarter day falls near the end of December, when you may see if you are on track.
The What & The How?
What’s the point of planning when the rules keep changing; we all know the phrase “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail”. There is nothing wrong with creating a sales plan, but what you must consider is “how am I planning to achieve those figures”. Look at your existing team and work out is that team in the best place to achieve that growth. Do you need to take on extra staff, does that mean existing staff may need to become supervisors and/or managers, will that mean they need more training to learn how to manage effectively?
Training plans
That leads neatly on to Training plans. Aside from the positive feeling that staff can take from you investing in them, by putting them on training courses these plans should come from two distinct sources. Firstly, as we have just highlighted what training do you need to give the current staff or indeed new staff members to achieve the sales/growth plan you have. Secondly, during the year you will have been undertaking appraisals with staff members, look at these; are there any training courses which these have flagged up that you need to arrange.
Succession planning
The third plan is perhaps the hardest for you, it is one that requires you to make a judgment call, though it may have come up in an appraisal. When looking at succession planning, there are some occasions like retirement here you have some degree of notice, but sometimes it is when a resignation letter lands on your desk or in your in-box that you must react. Do you have prospective replacements for that person, or will you have to recruit?
Benefits
Perhaps one consideration you may give is to your salary/overall packages, could it be they could be enhanced without it all being money. If you wanted the staff to feel more part of the company and its success you bring in some form of profit-sharing agreement. On the other hand, you may want to encourage fitness within your workforce you could look at subsidised Private Health schemes or perhaps local gym membership.
One of the most important parts of this, is that it is your company and your dream for the future, and the one thing you should never do is compromise that dream to suit an off-the-shelf plan. We really hope that you find the information here useful so that you can work your own plans out, and down the line put them into action. However, if there is any part of the process you need a guiding hand with feel free to contact us for free a consultation.
