Staying Ahead of the Competition

Businesses are working in ever leaner ways to maximise productivity and revenue and to stay ahead of the ever increasing competition.  As businesses adapt and grow they often become more complex, the speed of business increases and so do the demands on staff. This growth can cause challenges if the road ahead hasn’t been safeguarded with continual assessment of the business and processes, to ensure that the growth is sustainable.

Key to sustainable growth and staying ahead of the competition is innovation and the increased use of technology to bring efficiencies to processes and benefits to customers. Other factors are:

• knowing and understanding the competition
• maintaining a USP by differentiating a business from its competitors
• knowing the market and understanding who are the customers
• staff development
• prioritising customer service
• being agile to react to market changes
• being the best employer possible.

An organisation is only ever as good as their staff; they are an organisation’s greatest asset, or they should be! Employees who are not engaged in their job role are a costly expense and a drain on resources. So it is imperative that an employer maintains employees’ full engagement, otherwise the business won’t thrive or grow. Engaged employees are generally happier, more fulfilled and healthier, they are more productive in the workplace, more likely to contribute, be more innovative and to value customer service, far more than those that are not engaged.

According to a Gallup survey in 2017 the world’s best organisations have 70% engaged employees, whereas the USA and UK companies have around 33% employee engagement. What result would you get in your organisation? Would your staff responses to questions about their engagement match up with the Gallup 12 Elements of Engagement?

• I know what is expected of me at work
• At work my opinions seem to count
• I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right
• The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important
• At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day
• My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work
• In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work
• I have a best friend at work
• My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person
• In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress
• There is someone at work who encourages my development
• This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

Staff training is not just to meet compliance regulations or for new employee induction, it is vital for competitive advantage. As Melissa Farrington writing for Investors in People, said “Learning and Development is now moving even further up the podium: organisations that don’t understand why it’s so essential to success are on a collision course with obsolescence”.

On-going learning at work is not just important to an individual for their own development and confidence, but vital for the business to ensure that employees are as knowledgeable and competent as possible. As businesses embrace more technological solutions to safeguard sustainable growth, and adapt to the fast pace of change in a digital world, staff training needs to be at the top of the priorities list. This gives an organisation the best opportunity to stay ahead of the competition.

eLearning Marketplace has over 2,000 online courses and free private use of a learning management system and licence manager app to track, manage and evidence your staff training. Contact [email protected] or phone 0844 854 9218 to find out more.

Author: Carolyn Lewis, Managing Director

Sources:

Engageforsuccess.org

investorsinpeople.com