If you are a business owner or leader, you know that your people are your greatest asset. But attracting and retaining great talent is hard – especially when the business world has become so competitive.
Building a top 1% business requires more than simply paying good wages and offering secure employment. It’s about finding the right purpose for your team, ensuring everyone has clarity on what it means to be part of that mission, and then encouraging them to deliver their best work every day.
The combination of purpose, personal values and corporate performance creates a business that can deliver the best for its clients and people.
1. Create a great culture with clear values, and ensure they are alive in your team.
Culture is the way we behave, think and feel. It’s our values and beliefs shared by a group of people. It’s the way we work together to achieve our goals. And it’s what makes us unique and different from other companies.
A top-1% business has a strong culture where:
- Everyone understands what they can do to make the company successful
- Employees are proud to work there
- People enjoy coming into work every day
2. Create work that inspires your team members and clients, so they know they are making a difference.
Inspiring work is work that connects you and your team members to the purpose for which you are all here. It’s about doing what you’re meant to do, and doing it well.
This means that if your business has a purpose, like helping people live more prosperous lives or educating people on sustainability to save the planet, then those will be the values that drive everything else in your business: how staff are treated and paid; how clients are served; even the music in your office!
But what does “inspiring” mean? Inspiring means that when someone is working on something they believe so strongly in, they lose track of time; they become so immersed they don’t notice anyone else around them.
The best way to measure inspiring work is by observing whether employees say this happens regularly at work, such as saying: “I love my job because I get to use my skills every day,” or “My boss trusts me so much he lets me come up with new ideas.”
3. Pay people well and incentivise them openly and transparently to do better work.
Incentivising your people is a powerful way to motivate them and ensure they are aligned with the company’s goals. When you incentivise people openly and transparently, it helps build trust between employees, managers, and the company.
This can be done in different ways, such as giving bonuses for achieving certain targets or offering stock options for employees who have been with the company for an extended period. You could provide team away days and help employees set up initiatives for causes close to their hearts, such as fundraisers for the community or charities.
Incentivising employees can also help improve productivity, as it encourages them to work hard towards achieving these goals. The key is to talk to your employees about what motivates them and what they find valuable, rather than deciding for them.
4. Build your team around great people who create a shared vision.
The first step is to build your team around great people who create a shared vision. You want to find people who are a good fit for your team, and someone you can trust to accomplish tasks and help you achieve goals. To build this trust, it’s important that everyone on your team shares the same values as you—otherwise, it won’t work.
If you have employees who don’t share your vision or aren’t passionate about it, they probably won’t be able to do their job efficiently—and if they aren’t efficient at their job, then that means there’s more work for everyone else on the team!
Plus, if someone isn’t willing to take responsibility for themselves and their actions (or lack thereof), there’s no way they can play an active part in creating success for themselves or others around them!
The right combination of purpose, personal values. and corporate performance creates a business that can deliver the best for its clients and its people.
The right combination of purpose, personal values and corporate performance creates a business that can deliver the best for its clients and people. Purpose is what you are trying to achieve; values are how you do things; performance is how well you do it.
All three elements must be aligned if your business will succeed in delivering what customers want, while creating a positive impact on society and being profitable.
This approach is more than just a series of ideas that you can bolt on to your business, it’s about creating a culture where people feel valued, engaged and inspired.
Power to you in creating your top one percent business!
Stefan
