Good Morning Enlightened Leaders!
It's a shiny New Year, and to all of you returning to work today after the holidays, I say, welcome back!
It's difficult to look into the future with any sort of accuracy, but I would like to point out some things for you to keep an eye for as the 2010 gets under way.
1) Focus on Retention - Some people have been staying in jobs they don't like, because of the economy. As conditions improve, you may see a sharp increase in turnover associated with people who have been quietly dissatisfied for some time. To mitigate this, consider surveying your workforce to identify dissatifiers as well as having meaningful career discussions with your team members.
2) Identify Weakened Soft Skills - Many companies have cut back on employee development, mentoring, and coaching during the last few years. Take stock of your team's skills in critical areas like communications, accountability, customer service, and consider offering a refresher course to sharpen these skills again.
3) Consider Staffing Levels - Many companies are experiencing a gradual increase in customer demand, but are still hesitant to bring additional employees onto the payroll. Prepare for this, both in terms of communicating it well to your team, and also in terms of putting in place contingency plans (such as temporary staffing) to provide relief until hiring can resume.
4) Plan For Growth - The economy is waking up all around us, albeit at a modest pace. This is good, but only if you are prepared to scale with that growth. How will your team respond if your workload increases by 20 or 50 percent? Think about these things now, before the good news of growth becomes a crisis due to lack of planning.
5) Plant the Seeds of Leadership - This is less of a trend than it is a constant, but remember that leaders are easier to grow in-house than they are to find from the outside. Do you have a program in place that nurtures those high potential employees and prepares them to be the next managers, directors, and VPs at your organization?
What trends do you see for the New Year?
I've put together a special set of "refresher" workshops for teams looking to restore motivation and sharpen soft skills. Email me if you'd like the details.
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