News >> Browse Articles >> HR News
Five Ways to Boost Profitability in 2010
Featured Author:
Roberta Chinsky Matuson
Roberta Chinsky Matuson, President of Human Resource Solutions andJob Search Mentor, has been helping companies align their people assets with their business goals for over 20 years. She is considered an expert in generational workforce issues.
Roberta publishes a monthly newsletter “HR Matters” that is jammed with resources, articles and tips to help companies increase employee engagement, productivity and profitability. Roberta’s Fast Company blog, The Management Escalator is frequently one of the top five visited Expert blogs on Fast Company.
She also has a blog on Generation Integration. Roberta’s forthcoming book, Suddenly in Charge!: The New Manager’s Guide to Influencing Up and Down the Organization will be published in January of 2011. She can be reached at 413-582-1840 or through email.
More articles from this author:
January 04, 2010
It’s a new year, which means we get to wipe the slate clean and begin anew. But where do you start when so much needs to be done? Here are my top five picks on how to boost profitability in 2010.
Pick one idea and move forward
If you are like most executives, there are at least 20 ideas on your 2010 ”to-do” list. Picking the perfect place to begin can take weeks or in some cases months. That’s just time wasted. Pick one idea from your list and move forward. Don’t second guess yourself for even a minute or you will be right back where you started.
Put the majority of your resources behind this idea so that you move one thing forward a mile, rather than move ten things a quarter of an inch. At first you may feel uncomfortable abandoning everything else on your list. This discomfort will dissipate as you see how quickly you are able to achieve results by remaining focused on the task at hand.
Drop the dead weight
I’m not talking about the few pounds you might have put on during the holiday season. I’m talking about your non-performers whom you’ve been hanging onto because you didn’t want to fire them at Christmas time. Then, of course, you didn’t want to let them go for a myriad of other reasons throughout the year.
This is the year to be lean and trim. Excess weight slows down the organization and in some cases can be the death of companies. Don’t let this happen to you. Identify the people or positions that must be shed and then make it happen. You will be surprised at how easily you can outrun the competition now that you are in shape.
Increase communication
One of the most common complaints that employee surveys keep bringing to light is the lack of communication between employers and their employees. Employees want to do a good job for their employers, yet they feel like they are operating without a road map. They no longer know which direction the company is headed, and are having a difficult time figuring it out on their own.
The price to increase communication has dropped substantially over the years. You no longer need to hire a PR firm to craft messages, nor are company intranets only reserved for Fortune 500 companies. Companies of all sizes are using technology to get their messages out to their employees. Some are using webcasts or weekly teleconferences. Others are using a company blog on their intranet that allows executives to immediately post messages to ensure employees stay connected. Finally, do not discount the importance of face-to-face meetings, which are affordable for organizations of all sizes.
