The top business challenges of 2024

Challenge #1: Building a People-First Culture

Now more than ever, job seekers and applicants are looking to work for an organization that supports them not just as professionals, but also as people. After a pandemic, a “Great Resignation,” and a “quiet quitting” trend, our society has gone through big changes in how we view employer-employee relationships and the employee experience.

As business leaders, we need to accept change and stay competitive in the job market, even if we prefer things to stay the same. It’s our duty as leaders and innovators.

If you haven’t started prioritizing your people, the time to start is now. Make your work environment one that attracts and retains. Here’s something you can do to start:

Create a Culture of Caring

A major reason people stay at a job is knowing their employer values them. Going up to a team member and asking how they’re doing or having a quick chat isn’t enough anymore.

You need to understand their dignity. Who are they? What motivates them? How do I connect with them?

To answer those questions, you need to have a system in place. It’s not something that you can do on a whim, or something to be forgotten about after a short-lived initiative. Get to know your people for who they are, build a system for supporting their dignity, and address their concerns head-on.

Challenge #2: Creating Employee Engagement

Time and time again, credible research and statistics have shown us that engaged employees are more productive and yield better results than their disengaged co-workers. If you want to replicate these results, you need to make creating employee engagement a priority. Here’s a great place to start:

Place your people where they need to be

You can have all the talent in the world, and a company culture that has all the bells and whistles that retain modern employees. Professional development programs, career growth opportunities, generous benefits – that all matters a lot. But what will set you apart is maximizing the talent you have.

By understanding what truly motivates and drives an employee, you can understand where to place them. Hire the people that fit perfectly within the culture of your organization. Develop their role in a way that maximizes what they are good at. Put them in teams that you know that they can have an impact on. Watch the magic happen.

In order to do this, you need to understand what motivates an employee and what drives them to success. It’s easier said than done, but Dignify takes out the guesswork.

Challenge #3: Building a Community

As leaders, we aspire to build a work environment where people feel like they belong to something greater than themselves. Some of us rely on a human resources department to do it, some of us take the reins and do it ourselves. One way or another, the best way to make people feel like they belong is to build a community inside your organization.

To do this, you need to go beyond policy and boring documents. If we are being honest with ourselves, not many people read those. Here’s something I don’t like – saying that your “business is like a family.”

Your business is a community – it’s something that people choose to join, not something that they are born into. Families don’t have payrolls, businesses do. People leave their employers far more often than they leave their families. That’s why it’s incredibly important for people to feel like they belong to something, especially something greater than themselves. Here are a couple things that you can do to induce this feeling:

Recognize your people, recognize your impact

Let your people see the connection between what they are doing, the end results, and the impact their work is having on the world. Take the time to give individuals and teams the credit they deserve for what they do because of who they are.

When your employees are recognized for what they do well, and they can see their impact on the organization’s bottom line, they are substantially more likely to innovate, give uncommon effort, and be more satisfied with their job.

The Bottom Line

The truth is, nowadays, having a solid internal culture is crucial. From what I’ve seen coaching execs and mentoring leaders, many organizations are grappling with this challenge. And with all the big changes happening in society and culture, tackling these issues is only going to become more important as we move forward.

When you have a system in place to support people’s dignity, show (not tell) people that you care, and recognize people for who they are and what they do, these problems become easier to address.

JOE KIEDINGER

ACTION PLAN: Consider what you can personally do to create a more people-oriented culture in your organization that creates natural engagement and fosters a sense of community. Create an action plan. Need help getting started? Shoot me an email at joek@dignify.com