Engaging your team is key to moving your business forward
When the day arrives that you want to sell your business, there are three key areas of your business the acquirer will look to understand. They will assess your historical upto the current performance, future potential performance and strength of your culture and organization. And it’s your culture and organization that are key to helping you deliver on past, current and future performance.
So, if your organization is key to your business performance, then what steps can you take to help increase your team’s engagement? Ask yourself these questions to help identify ways to get your team more engaged in helping you build your company net worth:
- Have we met with key supervisors and managers across our company to discuss what we want to accomplish this year, what we want to get better at?
- Have we shared how each department can support what we want to accomplish?
- Have we reviewed what metrics are important for each department to monitor?
- Have we refreshed our key metrics to help facilitate continuous improvement dialog?
- Do we meet monthly as a senior team to review the progress we are or aren’t making on what we want to accomplish this year?
- Do we bring facts and data to these monthly meetings versus just having emotion based discussions?
- Do we periodically (i.e.: quarterly) meet or communicate with all employees to let them know where our company is making progress and where we may need their help in facing challenges?
- Do we review our employee compensation plans, specifically bonuses, to ensure they are linked to supporting what we want to accomplish this year?
- Do leadership and department managers encourage our employees to share ideas for improvement in how we serve our customers and how we better produce our product/service?
Building your business is a team sport so as the coach of your team, identify steps you can take continuously to engage your people to care about what you’re trying to accomplish. Ensure your employees aren’t confusing motion for progress…meaning, ensure they know what you’re trying to accomplish and bridge for them how they can help. Giving this the attention it deserves will have you well on your way to building company net worth and more likely to achieve your future euphoric exit event at time of sale.
