Three Ways to Position Your Business for Business Leadership, Impact and Growth
Written by: Nina Penner
You have an awesome start-up but the greatest health and financial crisis in history just hit together with a stark awakening to deep injustices in the world. Now what?
Maybe for you, “We’re all in this together” is cliché, but those 5 words contain the spirit we need, the hope we can embrace and immense opportunity to restart the right way with a thriving business.
Here are 3 strategies to incorporate now for increased exposure, impact and growth:
1. Diverse Workforce
Why?
Diversity is now where it should be; front and centre, with compelling reasons to get behind it. A BCC study found that companies with more diverse management teams have 19% higher revenues. McKinsey found that corporations with ethnically diverse executive teams are 33% more likely to financially outperform. Diverse workforces are proven to be more creative and innovative.
How?
Get informed about the challenges, desires, motivations and aspirations of diverse groups. Importantly, seek help from experts and be ready to adjust and respond.
Here are Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 2020
2. Engage Your People
Why?
Employees who are appreciated, inspired and challenged stay in their jobs. HubSpot found that 78% of employees said that being recognized motivates them and Gallup found 21% more profitability in companies with high engagement.
How?
By now, you’ve likely heard of Dan Price who raised employee salaries to $70,000 and slashed his own 1.1 million salary to match. His company, Gravity then saw significant profit growth and a 30-40 percent productivity jump. His actions set off global debate in boardrooms, around water coolers and in political arenas. In appreciation of Dan’s leap of faith, his employees bought him a brand-new Tesla! Read about it here: https://www.inc.com/magazine/201511/paul-keegan/does-more-pay-mean-more-growth.html
We don’t need to be Dan Price, but we can learn from his actions:
- Listening to his people
- Putting himself in their shoes
- Walking in the trenches with them
- Honouring and celebrating their contributions
- Not stopping when critics had their say
3. Corporate Social Responsibility
We’re all hearing more about Corporate Social Responsibility, but what is it?
BDC says: “A company’s commitment to manage the social, environmental and economic effects of its operations responsibly and in line with public expectations.”
Why?
The benefits are staggering and span the triple bottom line (profit, people, planet), including increased brand recognition and reputation, customer loyalty, financial performance, employee satisfaction and retention, access to financing and positive media attention. According to Forbes, more than 88% of consumers think companies should try to achieve their business goals while improving society and the environment.
How?
Health technology company Philips was just included in Forbes list of top 10 largest public health companies and uniquely, features its social and environmental performance alongside its financial performance in reports. The first health technology company in the world to have its CO2 targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, Philips is striving by 2020 to become carbon neutral, send zero waste to landfills, recycle 90% of operational waste and increase Green Revenues. By 2030, the company is committed to improving the lives of 400 million people a year in underserved healthcare communities.
Other companies who do this well:
Xerox Community Involvement Program:
Funding employees to volunteer for projects of their choosing
Chipotle and Intermarché – The Inglorious Fruit and Vegetable
Selling “inglorious” produce at a discount
TOMS Shoes – One for One Campaign
Donating new shoes for children in need for every pair sold
Planting 10 trees for every apparel item purchased
Donating all wine sales profits to children’s literacy
Find opportunities to travel, volunteer and get inspired to build your sustainable CSR model with UGO Impact and Planeterra Foundation.
There’s so much opportunity for you to show leadership, create impact and fuel significant growth for your business. Do the right thing and have fun!
Nina is the Founder of BluHelium Consulting where she is on a mission to empower leaders to reach their potential, make their greatest contribution and create extraordinary transformation.
A highly experienced executive development coach, facilitator and speaker, Nina has shared her expertise with thousands in Canada, the Philippines, India and Indonesia. With expert knowledge in emotional intelligence and behavioural styles, Nina supports leaders to up their game in areas such as coaching and performance, improving team effectiveness, transformative communication and presence and influence. She has led dozens of large-scale leadership development programs, worked with some of the largest corporations in the world and guided over 2000 leaders to achieve success. Clients praise Nina’s ability to connect the business realities of their organizations with the unique challenges of individual leaders. Nina believes there is room for us all to thrive and loves nothing more than to see her clients soar.
Nina would love to connect with you at www.linkedin.com/in/ninapenner or ninamariepenner@gmail.com
