Category, Leadership

The last few years for business have seemed like one never ending crisis! We suffered a pandemic and adapted to working from home. We have supported our allies in Ukraine whilst adjusting to rising energy prices. And now we are on the cusp of another recession.

It just doesn’t seem to end.

But we must stand firm and prepare for what’s to come. Leaders must focus on how they can help their businesses thrive and we have come up with a few tips that can help you.

For many businesses the bottom line focuses on their financial success. However, in 1994, John Elkington came up with the Triple Bottom Line of People, Planet, Profit, ‘a sustainability framework that examples a company’s social, environment, and economic impact’. Adopting this framework allows businesses to create long-term value by understanding their effect on their people and the planet. Focusing on the ‘three P’s’ and building a sustainable organisation, business leaders are able to meet their objectives with their future needs in mind.

At the 7^th September Chairman’s Network event members and guests discussed the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on business facing the challenges of digitalisation, retaining talent, and the future role of the workplace.

Strategic planning assumes a future that validates the plan. But when there is so much uncertainty, the default response is not to plan at all. But as the Cheshire Cat said to Alice, if you don't know where you are going, it doesn't matter which way you turn. We believe a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow, and the way to good is through more effective risk management.

The most effective way for leaders who think strategically about how to connect team mates to one another, is to do so through a shared purpose.

Organisations that have a culture built on a genuine sense of purpose will inspire deeper commitment and make people feel they are part of something bigger than themselves. Having purpose paves the way to making an emotional connection with each employee at a personal level, giving meaning to every task they undertake, building a ‘commitment culture’, the beating heart of an engaged workforce.