What do you think the most important trend affecting small business will be?

 

Human Resources mentor Rudy Karsan responds to the following questions:

What do you think the most important trend affecting small business will be? How best can owners position their companies to take advantage of it?

Rudy Karsan's response:
Certain studies indicate that without migration, the United States will be losing more employees through attrition, namely retirement, and other terminations from the labor force versus new entrants coming into the workforce.

Small businesses are going to have to be extremely vigilant about ensuring that their employee pool consists of highly effective individuals who are top performers in their organization and meet the values of their business.

In order to take advantage of this trend, I would recommend that the small-business owner do a few things:

  1. Have strong measurement around employee performance. These measurements should be individually related to the various functions that employees perform.
  2. Develop measurement techniques to ensure that the existing work force is engaged, motivated, and willing to outperform customers' expectations.
  3. Learning is a primary drive for employees. Make sure that there are adequate vehicles through which your employee base can learn.
  4. Small-business owners should make it incumbent that they meet with, on a face-to-face basis, every employee in the company. Suggested guidelines are: Less than 50 employees, meet at least twice per year; significantly less than 50, meet once a quarter; more than 50, develop other communication vehicles including written notes and e-mails to ensure a relationship exists between the leader and the organization.

Related Resources:
Six Ways to Position Your Company for Success

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