A company is as great as the people who work in it. Companies have collapsed because they have hired the wrong people for the job. So here’s some things to look out for if you want to hire high perform

How to fish out high performers 

High performers tend to be more focused on goals and results. It helps them to block out all the noise and prioritize tasks, working on what matters at every given time.

Focus 

Growth is a major concern for high performers. High performers are life-long learners, always looking to grow and becoming the best at what they do

Personal Growth

High performers know how to get things done.Execution is at the core of a high performing team. Their ability to deliver on their promises reflects in every aspect of their lives.

Execution 

High performers are social and emotionally intelligent! Much as they want to get things done and achieve goals, they know how to pull people along. In a high performing team, there is interaction and idea sharing. There’s feedback and consequently there could be fights.

Emotional intelligence 

I share a few tips on how to find high performers at the end of the article. Check it out

Now we know them, how do we find them?

A company is as great as the people who work in it. Companies have collapsed because they have hired the wrong people for the job.

How Hiring High Performers Will Grow Your Company

At this time of the year, almost every year, I start thinking about all the changes I want to make in the next. You know the usual: stay fit, walk closer with God, develop myself, blah blah blah. Some days I’m a bit more specific: Read 10 books, take a vacation, save $5,000. No matter how specific I am, those dreams don’t come to pass and I come back here in December, writing new goals…again. It became tiring. I stopped planning for the new year. I’d just go with the flow you know? Take the opportunities as they come.

It’s A Scam! Don’t Fall For It!

This year was different. Rather than shoving my dreams and fantasies under the carpet and pretending like I could live without them I’ve decided not to wait for 2022. It could come or maybe we could all get raptured on 31st. Who knows?🤷🏽‍♀️ (half kidding) I decided to try something new. Let’s make those 2022 plans. And then let’s start now. Maybe do a test run.

Start Now

I know I want to spend more time writing. Instead of waiting to start writing in 2022, I will start today. Write each day starting now. By the end of the year I would have written at least 15 articles. I want to read and learn more next year. So instead of waiting to start reading and learning next year, I will go ahead and pick out some books and courses today. If I start this year, I should have covered some ground even before 2022 begins.

Get A Head Start, Cover Some Ground

By now you get the drift. To be able to efficiently pull off all your 2022 goals, start test running them now. Look at it as an MVP (minimum viable product). Start doing the minimum; one little thing that is super close to the actual goal. If the goal is to read 100pages a day in 2022, start reading 20 a day and build up from there. If the goal is to get 30 minutes of exercise in every morning, start doing at least 10 minutes today. Don’t put it off till 2022. There’s three things starting now will do for you:

Start Doing The Minimum, Think Of It As An MVP

When you see yourself consistently working towards that goal now, it increases your desire to go after it hard in 2022. You get motivated to continue and work harder at it in the next year. You see it’s possible, so you go for it.

Motivation

My friend sent me a video today with the title “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu-WuJtOl0c">Winners Need Discipline, Not Motivation </a>” and it struck a nerve! To win, you have to consistently learn and do that thing you want to win at. No amount of motivation will make you win; only discipline will. Starting now will help you form that habit. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. Guess how many days you have till the year ends? 🤷🏽‍♀️ Start now, be disciplined this month; form that habit and watch yourself soar in 2022.

Discipline 

Imagine writing everyday till the year ends. Practice makes perfect. The more you write, the more you learn. Being intentional and taking time out to research, think and put these in your own words; you just set yourself on a path to finding your voice, your own unique style. It’s the same with learning to code or learning to play the sax. Start now, and before you know it, you’re the best at what you do. No need to wait till the new year comes.

Become A Pro

I’m throwing out the challenge: Start working towards whatever it is you have planned for the next year. Don’t wait for 2022. Start now with the barest minimum and build up the momentum for the next year. Let’s end this year well 💪🏽

It’s Your Turn! Work Towards Your Dreams Now

This is for all those who aren’t ready for the new year and for you too if you’ve already drawn out your New Years resolutions! Let’s start, shall we?

At this time of the year, almost every year, I start thinking about all the changes I want to make in the next. You know the usual: stay fit, walk closer with God, develop myself, blah blah blah…

Don’t wait for 2022…

Successfully integrating automation into human life starts with a comprehensive effort to educate people about what automation is, what it is not and what it means for them.

Automation can be seen in mundane things like the thermostat in a kettle that goes off when the water reaches a defined heat level. Or the simple clock sound from an overheated iron that regulates the heat when it goes beyond a certain temperature. Even closer to you is the answering machine. In these examples, an action is triggered by a rule. The thermostat in the kettle will only go off if the rule/criterion is met. In this case, a heat level is reached. The answering machine will only request a voicemail if the call is not answered. That’s exactly what automation is.

Automation Is All Around Us 

Business automation combines a laid out process with a set of rules and allows the user to progress through that process/workflow using modern applications. It creates a workflow based on different criteria which triggers an action. You can see business automation in everyday interactions like chatbots on a website or interactive user interface designs. Asking a particular question will trigger a response. Scrolling past the middle of a webpage could trigger an email subscription pop up form.

A Rule + A Well Laid Out Process + Modern Apps

Business automation has come to stay and is gaining grounds in different sects of business increasing productivity levels, nurturing sales leads, improving customer service, and providing more efficient results. And it is empirical that  you integrate some form of automation in your business to ease the burden of repetitive tasks. If you identify with any of these scenarios, take a minute to re-evaluate your processes and take steps to automating it.

It’s Time To Adjust

-When you realize a trend of repeated tasks , it’s time to automate. -If it can be done with the same precision and accuracy as a human being, you should automate it and free up time so as to assign labor to more creative and cognitive tasks-When it will cost less to automate the task or activity. -When a task doesn’t bring as much valueas the time spent on it, you should automate it. -If there’s the need for consistently sharing accurate information, automation can make the process easier.

When Do I Really Need To Automate? 

Ready to explore automation for your business?Reach out! I’m happy to help!

Ready, Set, Automate!

For those wondering when they really need to start automating some business activities

Working smart 

When Should you Automate Your Business?

You’ve been running your business for a while and from your repeated activities, you can predict what to expect and what needs to be done based on the outcome at every stage. What you’re doing here is writing down every step you take to achieve results for the different business activities including the possible outcomes and the actions to take based on each outcome.

Take Your Experiences Into Account 

The best business processes are centered around creating unforgettable experiences for users (customer, supplier or employee). Looking at your business processes from the user’s perspective helps you understand the user journey in order to create a flow that easily influences their decision and steers them towards the desired goal.

Create an experience

When you lay down the processes, run a test. Have a few people go through the process and observe them. Have them give you their unbiased feedback and make the necessary adjustments. Their feedback will help you better understand your clients needs and provide for them during the process.

Beta Test For Feedback 

After running your the process for a few weeks, step back; critically look at the progress you’ve made. Consumer behaviour changes with time so you will need to keep instep with the trends. Don’t hesitate to make changes to include user trends. Example: You realise over a few months consistently that every time your clients place an order for a book, they order some stationery to go with it. In your sales process, you can include a request for clients to purchase stationery in addition to their book orders at a price they can’t resist. This gives value to the client and also boosts your sales.

Allow for innovation and iteration 

To further reduce the time spent on each process, invest in automation. Like Codewit(a code school), you can set up a system for responding to student applications in real time. Transitioning from manually sending emails to every new student who registers for their courses has reduced the amount of time spent during the onboarding process and increased their conversion rates. Build a process for your major business activities and automate them to give you more time to focus on running your business.

Automate the process 

Get your hands dirty. Put in the work to build the process with these tips

 Tips to help you build a realistic business process today

Many small businesses operate with no laid down rules and operational procedures. Onboarding a new client, hiring new staff, customer relations, finding new customers. All these activities carried out without a plan will result in very low success rates. Making decisions on a whim can be very risky for your business. It stifles continuity and sustainability of your brand. Your processes cannot be drafted in the minds of two people. It needs to be clearly spelt out and documented.

Every Business Must Clearly Define Its Activities

Thoroughly detailing the steps to drive results from each activity helps you to provide information at every stage to both the client and the team. At each stage, the documented process details what needs to be done such that anyone trained to understand this document can take it up and still get the desired result in the end. Documented business processes take time to build but if done properly have great benefits to the success of your business.

Detail Every Step To Drive Results 

It makes you better disposed to handle every possible outcome reducing the risk of loss. You cannot completely eliminate risk but having a plan makes you ready at each point to tackle the issue and lower the cost involved.

Reduce Risk

Knowing and predicting what happens at each stage in the process means less time spent on decision making which gives room to increase productivity at each stage as you have an increased capacity to take on more clients.

Increase productivity 

Building businesses that last requires consistency. It is important to have a set of laid down procedures that guide business activities and can be passed down for generations. Consistently following these procedures will expose loopholes in the system that can be resolved to improve the processes.

Promote Continuity 

“Just do it” is great advice and a great slogan too! But we can’t live everyday “just doing it”. We need to spend time defining our business activities if we want it stand the test of time.

For the sake of continuity,every business needs a documented business process that drives activities to a desired end consistently. Here are some tips to get you started

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Ewuranna Smith-Quayson
@ewuranna

How Hiring High Performers Will Grow Your Company

Don’t wait for 2022…

When Should you Automate Your Business?

Tips to help you build a realistic business process today

Clearly Defining Your Business Activities

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

Ewuranna Smith-Quayson@ewuranna

How Hiring High Performers Will Grow Your Company

Don’t wait for 2022…

When Should you Automate Your Business?

Tips to help you build a realistic business process today

Clearly Defining Your Business Activities

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Ewuranna Smith-Quayson
@ewuranna