7 tips For breeding business success through strong HR

Treat your employees as an asset and not purely as a cost.

The biggest asset of any company is its staff. They are in many ways the face of your business and the living-breathing representation of your brand. A dedicated and motivated member of staff can bring far more to a company than just increased productivity, they can leave a lasting mark on other members of the team and have a positive impact on the future success of a business.

Building a strong company culture is crucial to any business. If employees are happy in their working environment then they will feel motivated and in return will show long-term commitment and loyalty to the company.

Make sure your team are engaged with the business

It sounds simple, but making sure you listen to the people around you is a good way to gauge how engaged with the business and company goals your team members are. Ensuring your employees are engaged will help keep them on your side, but it needs to be a continuous process to ensure you build a dedicated workforce for the long term.

If an employee is engaged and proud of the firm they represent as ‘their firm’ then they are much more likely to dedicate their energy to helping drive forward its success. Strong communication is vital for this, and comes from ensuring you form a working relationship which allows team members to be kept up to date on business news and developments, alerts them to change and importantly asks for their input where ever possible.

Set clear policies and stick to them!

Setting clear guidelines for staff will help them to know what your expectations are and where their boundaries lie, helping to promote a consistent working environment. Communicating a clear message and establishing core systems and processes for staff will ensure that any bad habits are brought to your attention early, before they can turn into a major challenge.

Invest in training and development

A great amount of emphasis is now placed on the training and development opportunities that an employer can offer. On a basic level, for any new staff it is important to implement a system which ensures you are providing all the basic training they need to start in their role. Often businesses have they own way of doing something, so make sure you provide training on any internal systems or processes which are company-specific from the off-set. You will further strengthen you team by regularly asking team members to highlight any areas in which they feel need more training.

It is important to offer long-term career development opportunities for employees, to not only keep them up-skilled and motivated, but also for issues of retention as this will make them much less likely to leave for another employer.

Delegate

One of the hardest things for any entrepreneur can often be the ability to delegate. If you have built something up yourself and put your heart and soul in to it, you may feel reluctant to hand any responsibility or control to another person. But by delegating management roles to experienced and skilled employees you can actually strengthen your offering. Trying to do everything yourself is when things can start to go wrong and even prove fatal for a business.

Regularly boost your team’s morale

Setting a challenge and then putting your trust in your employees’ abilities is crucial for a successful business. Do not be secretive about business plans and do not keep changing the ‘goal-posts’, this can be de-motivating for staff. And celebrate success! Go through the good times and the bad times together, helping teams work on the areas they need help with and playing to the strengths you have. Team dynamics can also be greatly improved by regular team building sessions within a more informal setting. For example this could be as simple as gathering together for a team member’s birthday and a ten minute tea break, or by starting team meetings with a simple ‘getting to know you’ style activity.

Keep hold of your assets!

Finally, and most crucial in many ways, is to hang on to your talented employees. Attracting the right people in the first place is vital, but it is also becoming increasingly harder, so once you have the right people in place you need to dedicate thought and attention to keeping them part of the team.