Originally published 12/4/2016. Updated on 7/15/21. For business owners and leaders, strategic planning is the time to reflect on the past year, examine the competitive landscape, explore possible initiatives, and set goals. But the idea of strategic planning can feel overwhelming - especially if you don't have a good process and method for facilitation. So what does a good process look like? And what pitfalls should you avoid?
A company comes to life through the words and actions of their people. To create a specific and unique environment, great care and organizational design are critical elements for culture to align and flow through the people.
Generation Theory Generation Theory allows us to take what is billions of people in the world and create understanding and meaning through classification. So what do we gain by dividing people into categories? We get a general understanding of how each group of people tend to communicate, lead, and make decisions, as well as what motivates them. Understanding these common characteristics can help business owners gain a deeper understanding of how to target and sell to certain favorable individuals, and how to attract and retain talent within each generation. Traditionally, we have classified generations by age in an effort to find meaning and create this targeting. However, a noteworthy trend continues to emerge - one which we would be wise to pay attention to.
How do I attract and retain top sales talent? As an HR professional, I get asked all the time, “How do I attract and retain top sales talent?” While the question is generally simple, the answer is most definitely not. There is no silver bullet, obviously, or it wouldn’t come up time and time again as one of our industry’s greatest challenges. Certainly, there are specific recommendations I do make to individuals who ask this question (usually after a more in-depth needs analysis!). Yet, the last time someone asked me, I became a little more curious myself. Setting my HR hat aside, I thought, “How would top sales talent answer this question? What would they say?”
Last week, I wrote about why innovation in today’s competitive landscape is critical in order for your company to thrive. Then I gave you a formula for delivering success in this aspect of your business. A culture built around innovation leads to success through the reinforcement of idea generation and having a method for executing those ideas. Now, I’d like to share how you can intentionally design a culture of innovation, where the ideas are flowing and being consistently implemented into your organization.
