For all the work we put into developing and curating our brands and commercial capabilities, most business owners would agree – a great deal of success is predicated on luck. Now, you can increase your chance of finding good luck through the hard work and innovative thinking you implement into your business approach. But, ultimately, you can still do everything right and struggle to get the ball rolling.
However, you can also potentially see your business succeed and grow in popularity among the local community and beyond if you’re steadfast, capable, and lead with your values first. In many respects, either outcome is “leaving it up to chance,” while making sure we can seize any opportunity if it comes.
There are some considerations and outcomes, though, that are too important to leave to chance. For example, no business takes a “wait and see” approach to preventing injuries on their premises, instead, they hire health and safety specialists to ensure the smallest amount (and preferably a lack) of injuries are sustained on premises.
In that respect, they will have invested everything in eliminating as much chance as possible. Let’s consider where else this attitude could shine within your enterprise:
Positive Company Culture
For the most part, leaving staff to their own social devices is what businesses aim to do. It’s not as if you can control the topic of conversation in the office, how people interact with one another, or what they do in their own hours.
That being said, you can absolutely stamp out discrimination, harassment, and bullying. Opening a safe HR route for staff to lodge complaints or raise issues confidentially can be a good first place to begin.
You can also focus on encouraging fellow feeling through team building activities, by having managers share credit and take responsibility, and by ensuring no claim is unattended to. Does this mean no issue will ever raise its head, or that you’ll be free from problems from then on? Of course not. But it does mean having a safety net for these issues. If you can’t enforce positivity (which would be like chasing a butterfly), you can absolutely cut out any room for toxicity to grow.
Security, Physical & Digital
We’ve spoken of physical safety, but security is how this is achieved. From video surveillance around your premises to better identify threats and prosecute criminal activity (or at least deter threats), to managing keycard access and zones of entry, you’ll be maintaining your responsibility of keeping your people safe.
It’s also true that digital security is an inherent element of safety. Robust cybersecurity measures integrated by your managed service provider are essential. They will help protect against data loss, which can include the personal data of your own staff working within your firm.
Digital safety also includes protecting customer accounts, devices, financial information, and more. These measures improve integrity and trust, but a breach can completely erode that. No business is immune to threats either, as we’ve recently seen even Microsoft executives fall victim to bad practices. Moreover, it’s important to remember that safety isn’t only about deterring threats but improving the perception of safety. If staff don’t feel comfortable coming to work because of premises vandalism, then it’s important to try and cut to the source of the issue and remedy it.
Supply Chains & Logistics
A supply chain and logistical planning can quite literally define how and when a business is able to operate. For this reason, integrating contingencies in your plan can help you better withstand a lack of stock, shortages, transportation delays, and damage, or even shifting legislations like many British businesses have had to contend with post-Brexit.
Supply chains and logistics can’t be perfected or secured by your business alone, but you can certainly make your process more durable. By seeking to manufacture in-house, to alternate suppliers, to import from different sources, to work with better fulfillment centers, over time you can try to limit the number of failure points in the chain. This means that if one issue persists, you always have an alternative. At the very least, you can learn your lesson next time.
Compliance & Self-Auditing
The best outcome for managing compliance well is that your business continues to operate legitimately. That’s a pretty good outcome. The worst is that your business is shut down and criminal proceedings are levied against those who run it. That’s not ideal.
So, baking in a comprehensive approach to compliance within your firm is not only good sense, it’s a fundamental aspect of how you should operate. Luckily, you can integrate self-auditing measures that allow you to identify flaws in your system and correct them before they affect wider processes within your firm.
Many processes allow you to use external auditing services to hold you to a higher standard than the actual law might. This helps you ensure you’re firing on all cylinders, be that food hygiene, data security, employment law, or bookkeeping and accounting. If you’ve been having issues with systemic implements like your payroll, this can be a vital measure to take.
Outreach
You can never assume that people will remember your firm and think of it when they need a service like yours. This is why even massive brands that serve as household name, like Coca Cola, will spend so much money advertising in sports stadiums. They know that without constant brand recognition and outreach, their presence in the market will slowly dwindle. They’ll also commonly gauge how they’re seen in the market by conducting surveys, and try to evaluate how that compares to markets.
Does this mean they’re insecure in their brand presence? Not necessarily. They just know how easily their good position can slip. A brand that has managed to stay relevant for so long is absolutely one that knows how tumultuous and fickle markets can be, and as such, using some of this wisdom to invest in your own marketing and outreach approach is nothing but good sense.
With this advice, we hope you can also avoid leaving essential principles to chance.
