What Does a Post-Pandemic Work-Life Balance Look Like?

Wondering what you can offer to help your team thrive in 2021 … and beyond?

We didn’t expect the pandemic, and we certainly didn’t expect how it would change American business. Technology has become the backbone of business, as millions of Americans moved to a work-from-home model and proved the old-fashioned, 9-5 office model nearly obsolete. With work and home no longer separated by space and time, business is primed for change.

As a result, the work/life and employer/employee balance changed, almost overnight.

Pre-pandemic, it wasn’t uncommon for businesses to consider incentives like casual Fridays and company-provided snacks to boost employee motivation and engagement. The more progressive businesses may have offered perks like onsite gyms, daycare, and wellness programs. The missing link is that they are largely devoted to improving wellbeing while in the workplace. A true work/life balance supports life outside the workplace.  

How do we create a win-win that balances employer with employee needs, wants, and interests?

Visit my website to learn more!

How Has the Pandemic Affected Employee Motivation?

The pandemic changed American business – maybe forever. The carrot-on-a-stick model of motivating employees is no longer apt. It has lost its luster against the backdrop of a life-changing health crisis like a pandemic. 

How many essential workers put their company’s bottom line above health and safety? How many made alternate living arrangements so they could provide for their families and serve the public while protecting those they lived with and loved?

How many walked away? 

The ever present “help wanted” signs and reports of staffing shortages tell the story. It’s become common to see signs posted outside businesses offering sign-on bonuses and college tuition reimbursement. Unfortunately, it’s becoming all too common to experience shortened hours of service and unexpected closings due to staffing shortages.

So, what does motivate employees now?

To learn more or to schedule an appointment to have a conversation about the “new normal” in business, visit my website!

A Business Coach Can Help You Through the Tough Times

Business problems are rarely simple. Often, the visible problem is a symptom of a bigger issue. By the time it comes to your attention, what may have been a simple fix has grown into a complicated problem.

When multiple departments, processes, or outside contributors are involved, an issue can resemble a complicated web of cause and effect with many entwined strands. To get to the root of the problem requires careful attention to avoid causing further damage. 

A business coach is an expert detangler, bringing experience, skills, and a unique perspective to help you get to the root of the issue. 

What’s holding you back from calling David? 

Learn more on our website!

What's Keeping You from Working with a Coach?

Do you feel like you’re wearing too many hats in your business?

Are you stretching to make payroll every month?

Are you concerned about high employee turnover?

Those are common concerns in business that sometimes represent serious challenges. But, while they may be common problems, the solutions aren’t always clear. The problem isn’t always as clear as it might seem, either. 

Business problems are rarely simple. Often, the visible problem is a symptom of a bigger issue. By the time it comes to your attention, what may have been a simple fix has grown into a complicated problem.

Learn more about how David can help you get back on track on our website.

Strategic Planning? SWOTT Analysis Is Your Best Friend!

  

If you're strategic planning for your business, there are few tools more useful than a SWOTT analysis. SWOTT, or Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats, and Trends is generally considered to be the cornerstone of strategic analysis.

Your strengths and weaknesses are features of your organization, and your opportunities, threats and trends are features of the environment your organization is operating in. Features of your organization and environment have both the ability to further your goals (strengths and opportunities) or hinder them (weaknesses and threats). Very simply, identifying good and bad features, and whether they come from inside or outside your organization, is an elegant and powerful way to think strategically. SWOTT analysis can be scaled to fit any size of organization, too: from your small business in Ann Arbor, to the very largest international corporations.

Need help getting started with your strategic plan?

Read more on my website!

63% of Business Owners Only Plan a Year Ahead! Sound Familiar?

 

A major reason why small and medium sized businesses fail is lack of strategic planning. In fact, according to a recent survey from Constant Contact, 63% of small business owners surveyed said they only planned a year or less in advance.

Sound familiar? If so, that may be a sign your small business could benefit from strategic planning.

 

There are many reasons to make a strategic plan for your small business in Ann Arbor. Having a strategic plan that is shared internally and made available, in part or whole publicly, can educate your employees and customers, in addition to attracting potential investors or buyers, should you decide to sell your business. Most importantly, having a strategic plan benefits you!

Strategic planning for your Michigan small business can help clarify your goals. By carefully defining your vision, you will unite and focus your efforts on assessing where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there.

Need help jump-starting your strategic planning? 

Read more on my site!

Negative Feedback and Problem Solving

Negative feedback happens when you run a business, but you have a choice in how you deal with it.

When you are feeling emotional about negative feedback, it can be hard to see or hear anything except every negative word now associated with your business. But, often, the people who leave you negative feedback might include some solutions to the issues they experienced. 

And this is true for employees, too. Conducting exit interviews are an excellent way to collect feedback about your organization from a different perspective than your own. But you should be prepared for the possibility of negative feedback. Employees who have front-row seats to these problems are also likely to have ideas about how to fix it. Maybe an employee felt as if the job they do isn’t the one they were hired for. Solutions could include updating job descriptions or hiring different people for differing aspects.

If this was useful to you, continue reading at my website!