Why the New Year doesn’t have to mean a ‘new you’
We made it! The silly season is over and we are now making our way back to the office (or maybe you never left) while still enjoying our long summer evenings in the amazing Northland weather. At this time of year there is a lot of talk (especially on social media) about there being a New Year so you need a “new you”. But rather than overhauling everything you’re doing, why not take a moment to recognise the things that you, your employees and your business do well and build on those?
New Year…same strengths, just stronger! Take a moment and jot down some of your company’s strengths – these are the reasons why you’re still in business today. Other than the common strengths such as excellent customer service or high quality products, we suggest looking at your team and your brand to start with.
Your Team
Every single one of your employees brings some kind of strength to your team. Whether it is immaculate attention to detail, excellent people skills or being an Excel whizz, when you recognise these strengths you can build on them. By molding your employee’s role around their strengths you not only create a happy work force (everyone loves doing what they are good at!) but you can reap the benefits for your business too. So get Dave (with the great communication and people skills) out from the stock room and have him interact with more customers; and while you’re at it expand the role of Sally (with the amazing IT knowledge) from Accounts Receivable to being more involved in streamlining the organisation’s IT and digital processes.
Your Brand
Branding is something that many of us take for granted, we know it is important but it sits well down the priority list of things to focus on when running a business. Branding is much more than your name and logo! The good thing is that by recognising what your company does well you’re half way to defining your brand as it is an accumulation of your company’s strengths. Your brand or reputation may be built on excellent customer service, high quality products or services, a red-hot online and social media presence or a combination of many things. Recognise those “things”, build on them and your brand will be stronger for it!
Now that you’ve had a think about how your team’s strengths can maximise your business success, and about how your brand helps to define your strengths in the market, keep doing what you’re doing! By all means, focus on the aspects of your business that you’d like to improve but don’t neglect the existing strengths of your business.
Villa is all about helping businesses recognise where their strengths lie and maximising them. If you’d like to have a chat about finding your strengths, or building on the things you know your business could improve on then contact us today!
