The difference between a good employee and a great employee is often the soft skills. This includes their ability to communicate, understand the needs of others, dependability, having a positive attitude, being a good team player, being well organized, and being self-motivated. These are the skills that set some employees apart from the rest.
In a recent study, over eighty percent of all managers reported that work ethic and attitude were the two most important characteristic they looked for in a new employee. Likewise the attitude and soft skills of a manager can make or break a company. Employees will leave a perfectly good and well-paying job if they do not like their direct supervisor.
What does all this have to do with strategic planning? Employee turnover is one of the biggest expenses a company will encounter. This is perpetuated when companies go about hiring haphazardly. In order to reduce turnover and increase retention, you need to organize employee development activities, sales training, and soft skills training. These will provide employees and managers with the skills they probably did not learn in college.
Putting this all together needs to be part of a strategic plan. It won’t just happen. Everything needs to be well throughout and carefully scheduled. Care needs to be put into developing compensation packages, hiring strategies, and training methods. Every aspect of hiring, training, and retention should be planned out and not left to chance.
Strategic planning is the act of figuring this all out. It is writing everything down and creating a list of actionable steps that will get your company to the place you want it to be.
For a small to medium sized business owner, this may not be an area you are familiar with. Or it may be an area where you know what you want the end result to look like, but you do not know how to get there. Additionally, you may not have it in your budget to hire a full time human resources person to plan and oversee everything.
This is where a consultant can provide a lot of benefits. Bringing in an HR consultant allows you to have the benefit of a dedicated individual to create all the processes and procedures for you, which allows you to improve your business while still keeping your focus on operations.
