WHAT ARE YOUR PEOPLE PLANS FOR 2020? IT'S STRATEGY TIME!

At Club Sandwich we broadly categorise the many facets of HR into two main areas: Culture and Compliance. When it comes to your 2020 People & Culture strategy both of these areas should get some air time, but how do you decide who's your leading lady and who's the understudy?

Of course, there is no one size fits all, but we've assembled the big-3 considerations to kick-start your first strategy for the new decade (eep!):

1. ALIGN YOUR PEOPLE STRATEGIES TO YOUR BUSINESS GOALS

It sounds so simple, but often our departmental or functional strategies don't align to the bigger picture. We look at what we would like to achieve in each area of our business, without considering how these priorities will fit together and support each other, rather than pulling our focus in 5 different directions.

For example, if your key focus for 2020 is to retain and grow existing customer accounts, you might consider:

• reviewing job descriptions to ensure account management activities are clearly outlined;
• 'customer service', relationship development or emotional intelligence training for team members throughout the customer journey;
• empowering and encouraging your team to meet the 'unexpressed' needs of their customers (à la Ritz-Carlton) through a reward and recognition program; or
• ensuring your values highlight the behaviours needed to achieve these objectives and updating them if they don't.

2. GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT

We touched on employee engagement surveys last month and what a great tool they are for figuring out where your teams head is at. These surveys are also very handy in planning your people & culture strategy. It can address some of the key concerns that might be limiting performance or negatively impacting retention and morale that are reported by your team.

Planning your strategy around the time you get your survey results means you can incorporate your teams feedback directly and commit to actions and a timeline. You get help with your strategy and your team gets to feel heard. Everyone's a winner!

3. COVER YOUR BUTT

This part is a bit of a risk assessment. If there's anywhere you're feeling a little exposed, or have been meaning to get on top of, ask yourself:

• how severe the consequence would be to not address it, and
• what is the likelihood of this consequence coming to fruition?

If you're not comfy with the level of risk that this assessment presents, pop this item onto your strategy wish list and get on top of it! If you need to outsource to get particular expertise, or because your time is better spent elsewhere, do that!

If you want a buddy to work through your strategy with, or develop one for you, we know a few sandwich enthusiasts who would l.o.v.e to help!