I think I speak for most people when I say a grateful goodbye to 2016 – the year that defied expectations and consisted of things that even I, in all my fiction-writing glory, couldn’t have made up! I always look at any new year with a sense of hopeful expectancy but perhaps even more so to 2017. By all indications, this will be a year of growth and opportunity for small and medium sized businesses in the $2 million to $65 million range. This is very exciting…and yet growth brings its own unique set of happy challenges. Organizations can position themselves to achieve record-breaking revenue and profitability, while remaining in alignment with their vision and cultural goals, by reviewing the following 10-Factor checklist.
Weighted Success Factors
The ten areas of competency are:
1) Identifying clear goals for the organization, for each department and for every individual.
2) Developing accurate tracking and effective feedback mechanisms related to goal achievement.
3) Creating appropriate testing and training materials for key staff and management functions.
4) Ensuring alignment between sales teams, support staff and operations teams, and ensuring appropriate staffing levels for all.
5) Articulating the role each position plays in achieving organizational goals and regularly communicating this to staff.
6) Identifying the vision for the organizational culture and conducting assessments to determine the reality of the perceived culture.
7) Reducing voluntary turnover by ensuring each employee has a career path, development plan, and a platform to contribute innovative ideas.
8) Equipping leaders with training on the skills required of them and providing coaching to ensure appropriate work/life balance, conflict resolution, communication abilities.
9) Ensuring an adequate Human Resources infrastructure is in place that is compliance with State and Federal requirements and efficient onboarding, offboarding and workforce management policies.
10) Providing accurate and legally compliant job descriptions and ensuring a consistent compensation structure that is aligned with the compensation strategy.
When these are executed well, the benefits to companies include (but are not limited to):
· The ability to hit revenue goals with greater profitability and less waste
· A competitive advantage by attracting and retaining top performers and providing an environment where the emerging workforce can thrive.
· A greater ability to achieve strategic goals with less time spent on conflict resolution.
· Less vulnerability to fines and penalties for personnel compliance.
Each of the ten success factors is an article in and of itself, and not all carry the same weight. I have weighed them in the accompanying chart based on my research as well as my experience implementing these factors in various organizations, and am confident the weighting could vary depending on organizational need (however, I will always defend weighing goals, tracking, and feedback the highest based on the fact that these are foundational and provide a central point around which most other interventions rotate.) Depending on where you are starting, this may seem like simply stating the obvious, an overwhelming mission, or, more likely, somewhere in the middle. but the good news is it’s not new news. All of these are absolutely achievable. For anyone who is interested, please feel free to reach out to me directly and I will be happy to send you a more detailed score card to determine how you are positioned on each factor. Congratulations on surviving 2016 and here’s to a wonderful and successful 2017!
Carrie Maldonado is the founder of Today’s Leadership Solutions, a Seattle-based consulting firm focused on helping organizations, leaders and job seekers to identify workplace solutions that work. As a certified executive coach, organizational development expert and resume writer, Carrie consults with small to medium sized businesses on OD, human resources and recruiting solutions in addition to providing career coaching to managers and executives in transition. Carrie can be reached for consultation at carrie@todaysleadershipsolutions.com
