Maybe Next Year
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: a year is a very long time. In between the sun rising, then setting, 365 times later, we are capable of creating and destroying amazing, complex things – from a business to a baby to a novel.
As volatile as the world has been the past several years, sometimes it still blows my mind that we still think in terms of rigid annual planning. Goals are great to set and pursue, but making too many assumptions about the twelve months to come will punch hole after hole in the most carefully-crafted plans.
On a personal level, new year’s resolutions are kind of like that, too. Even things as simple as resolving to join – then regularly visit – the gym, or kick off a diet… well, those are the classic examples of things you will pledge to do, then inevitably don’t.
In companies big and small, prioritizing cultural improvements are unfortunately pretty similar. Who wouldn’t want to take steps to make a more inviting, high-trust environment for their employees, especially if the upfront investment is relatively low?
Actually, don’t answer that.
So get it done early. Before those unpredictable winds of change kick up and completely upend your business strategy for 2023, make those strides now. Whether it’s better onboarding or knowledge management or offering better and easier ways to communicate or breaking down silo walls in your organization or just generally improved employee engagement, plant the seeds now. Give them some water in the relative calm of the year’s first few weeks, then let the sunny and cloudy days of the next fifty grow them into what they will be. Not for nothing, welcomary can help with all of these things.
One critical piece about most of the above items: it takes a village. The details may vary, but improving culture is something that benefits everyone – and, when ignored, hurts everyone, including your bottom line. Get as much involvement as you can to pool the knowledge and energy and make these enhancements really stick, and do it while you still can.
By the way, the initiative doesn’t have to be a boondoggle. Take ego out of it and don’t let it become a time- and budget-suck. Doing just a little at a time, if it’s all you can afford, is better than nothing, and will get - or keep - the ball rolling. Before too long, you’ll have a fortress of culture to weather whatever the world might throw at your business. When gym resolutions do work, it’s often because you take steps toward your goal. Resolving to go six days a week and be able to run a marathon by March will burn you out.
Economic booms and busts, market shocks of all kinds, these things are inevitable, but they also come and go. But people remember the way you made them feel at work – and that’ll impact your employee tenure, productivity, morale, and reputation. Your business might grow like crazy this year, it might hold on for dear life against larger currents and headwinds. As long as you employ people, that doesn’t matter. But your culture does – and always will.
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