2022 was supposed to be the year of bursting out the gates post-pandemic, but economic woes in the second half of the year have put some dampeners on businesses' outlooks as the 2020s roll on. That said, it’s not all doom and gloom, it may just take some small reorientations and a renewed focus on fundamentals to dispel those January blues as we head into 2023.
Pay extra attention to your accounts
This one may seem like a bit of a downer to start on, but it doesn’t have to be. With energy bills rising, interest rates increasing and a recession looming, it makes sense to pay more attention to your accounts and finances, but this can be a productive process. Identifying inefficiencies should be a driver of improvement and lead to adopting new methods and techniques that can help your business run more productively.
Focus on your employees
At a fundamental level, a business is a group of people coming together to achieve a common goal, and hopefully, make some money along the way. Remembering that the most important asset of any business is its people and acting accordingly is an excellent way of reinvigorating your business in tough times. Ensuring your employees are happy by providing a comprehensive learning and development programme, offering good benefits, and, most importantly, listening to them and responding to their needs and wants will make sure you keep your best talents, that they’re working well and that you’ll attract more excellent people going forward.
Be open to change
We touched on this earlier but being open to change is very important in order to keep your business working at its best. This ranges from day-to-day business practices and ways of working to things like accounting and HR that are needed to make businesses tick. This might mean something like a digital transformation project, a website refresh, or a rebrand. Big projects like this are great ways to refocus on the fundamentals of your business, think about what you need to do to do it better and bring it into a new era.
Don’t focus on the negatives
It can be hard in the current economic climate, and especially if your business has been affected by the turbulence of the past few years with COVID, Brexit and other factors, to keep a positive mindset for your business. This can spread to your employees as well, resulting in the whole business lacking energy and being somewhat stuck in a rut. Getting out of it can be hard, but a new year is a perfect time for a reset. Think about some success stories you’ve had over the past year and share them in a company-wide setting. Set the tone for the new year by talking about how you’re going to build on these successes despite any setbacks.
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