Deciding on the right people to work for your business is among four key considerations when it comes to generating business growth, according to Shweta Jhajharia.
The founder of The London Coaching Group gives examples of the approach adopted by Google when it comes to recruitment and the incentives it offers in a bid to attract and retain staff.
She said: “Hammocks, arcade games and free ice-cream may not be your ‘thing’, but just like Google, your staff are vital to your company’s growth, and just like Google, you want the best available talent.
“To find the best-fit candidates, you need a process to follow. You do not want to be making up your recruitment drive as you go along. Remember that process needn’t be protracted; for example, I’ve developed a recruitment process that takes just four hours”.
Secondly, Ms Jhajharia identified the importance of a focused proposition, which she referred to as defining a niche. Businesses seeking to develop cannot be all things to everyone, nor can they be present everywhere without spreading itself too thinly, she explained.
The third consideration is learning from failure.
Ms Jhajharia said: “At some point, everyone fails at something, but it’s not the failure that’s important, it’s how that failure is dealt with. Failure tells you what didn’t work, so that you can make the changes that will move you closer to what will work.”
The final consideration is outlining business goals. The best goals are realistic yet ambitions, specific but flexible, according to Ms Jhajharia.
She explored the difficulties faced by Ford Motor Company Henry Ford when it came to retaining the workforce which was credited for doubling production within a year.
“Because of the dull, repetitiveness of the assembly line, employee turnover became incredibly high,” Ms Jhajharia said.
“Henry Ford had a new goal—stop haemorrhaging workers—and he formed a fresh plan: reduce the working day and double the pay. Not only did worker turnover drop dramatically, those better-paid employees could afford the company’s product.
“In less than a decade Ford was able to drop the price of a Model T from around $800 to $350. And Ford became a billionaire.”
She added: “Decide on a step-by-step plan, set milestones, and create a structured growth strategy to take your business from where it is now, to where you want it to be.”
Adviser view
Stefan Fura, director of Leicester-based Furnley House, said: “Our industry is a people industry so it is crucial that we have the right people in our workforce. I think we do that well. Staff retention is something we keep a very close eye on. I think a company’s ability to retain staff comes from having the right culture. Also, one of the best ways of retaining staff is making sure you have the right people in the first place. This means hiring people who not only have the required skills and experience but can also slot right into the company’s culture.”
