How to Align Your People Strategy with Your Growth Strategy?

The long term success of your business is possible, and probable when there is investment in the people who work there. By aligning a growth strategy with a people-centric strategy, you’re strengthening the business from the inside out, leading to greater returns and outcomes. Here’s how...

Growth Strategy

Every business hopes to grow but few put those aspirations into a dedicated action plan. It needs to be based on in-depth analysis in order to capitalize on opportunities. It is important to note that this strategy cannot be vague and general - while it is ideal to grow in all aspects, a strategy is all about honing in one or two particular areas. Growth can be focused on increasing profits, product selection, market share, or customers, or any one of these factors:

• Sales: When it comes to growing financially, sales is the go-to. There can be growth at each stage of the sales funnel, meaning there are more leads and sales. 
• Digital marketing: Growth in the digital realm covers a number of marketing elements, from social media to emails and content marketing. By doing this, you can grow your online communities, leads and brand awareness. 
• Digitalization: Growing digitally is all about transforming your business with technological tools. There are a number of benefits that working with a customer relationship management (CRM) system can have, from streamlining processes to improving the alignment of your business. It also betters relationships with your customers, which further enhances the perception and functioning of your business. 

Once you have a clear idea of how you want your business to grow, you will set expectations and KPI’s to ensure that the requirements are understood and subsequently met. This will inform the strategy creation and implementation. Your business’s growth needs to be scalable, measurable and sustainable to achieve the desired vision.

People Strategy 

Strategies for business growth need to be based on long-term results. To achieve this, you need to have principles and values in place that help steer the business in a forward trajectory. One of the best ways to see this come to fruition is by building your company culture and investing in the people who work for you. Provide support and build your team based on people who are capable and excited to be part of the company. This way, you’ll have a concerted team effort who are invested in the growth and success of the business.

Building a human capital strategy begins with a vision that has been defined after an analysis of data. The goals and game plan then needs to be identified. To be inclusive, you’ve got to include feedback and build up excitement for the implementation of the strategy. Communication is paramount throughout the process, especially when it comes to relations with people. Finally, your strategy needs to include tracking to ensure goals are met and appropriate adjustments are made where needed.

To keep a people-strategy in place, you need to continually pour time and effort into it. Here are some tips on how to do so:

• Have strong leadership in place
• Engage with your employees regularly, being sure to focus on wellness
• Show your recognition for employees work
• Uplift employees with ongoing training and learning opportunities
• Encourage growth within the company so people’s careers are aligned within the company 
• Have a positive and supportive company culture in place
• Ask for and listen to feedback
• Build talent pool communities of people who are interested in your company, as well as previous employees

Aligning Growth with Your People Strategically

When a business grows, the success has ripple effects within the company. When people are a focal point of your internal operations, the success is felt by all and boosts the morale of the team. This points to an important intangible factor, which is that employee mindsets can uplift a business. The people you work with can provide you with the ultimate competitive advantage. 

Simply put, a people-centric strategy enhances the performance of a business. This extends beyond the traditional initiatives like employee benefits and retention. It requires a strategy that nurtures employees and supports them, building a positive employer brand for your business. This will have long-lasting effects on the professional networks your business has, attracting top talent in future. 

In Summary

Help your business grow within your industry and set you up for long term success. When this is done in conjunction with building a people-centric workforce that is inviting, positive and more effective, there will be no limit to the growth your business can achieve. Think about it as a loop: people are an essential part of a business who can accelerate the growth of your business, and this is an ongoing cycle that improves time and time again.

Nexa offers a range of solutions to grow your business and instil internal strategies that value human capital. Book a meeting with us and let’s discuss what we can do for you.