Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
It’s not your profit or cashflow, because those are outcomes of something more fundamental and important.
And, sorry, I argue that it’s not even your customer, for a similar reason.
Unless your business is run entirely by AI or robots, it’s your employees who:
- operate the systems and processes
- interact with suppliers
- gain and keep customers
- use the resources and
- expend the funds,
all in the pursuit of making your business sustainably viable and profitable.
Yet why is it that so many business owners are focused on everything else in the business except their own people?
The smart business owner who truly values their people is focused on authentically and intelligently investing in their people.
They see the payroll as an investment that must be optimised, not a cost that must be minimised.
They know that they can’t grow the business without growing the people in the business.
They know they must strive to become the employer of choice, to attract the right talent.
They know they can’t attract the right customers unless they have the right people and treat those people right.
Remember that your employees treat your customers the way you treat your employees!
The smart business owner knows that their business must adjust to the pandemic and economic realities and that their people are the best pathway to those adjustments and therefore must be prepared first.
The foolish business owner will seek to cut costs across the board, including payroll, staff development and even marketing and sales expenditure.
They are the ones always left behind, lose the best staff and eventually fade into bitter oblivion.
Please do not be one of those.
Invest in your people, help them overcome their difficulties, behaviour- and performance-wise.
Prepare them for the changes needed.
Help them become aligned to the plan before implementing the plan.
Start there.
Remember that difficult people don’t mean to be difficult, there’s always a reason.
It’s better to reform than replace.
You don’t have to do it alone.
You must always prioritise your people and their capability first.
Their efforts are, or should be, making your business valuable.
You certainly can’t do it on your own!
They deserve the priority.
