People and culture: Attract and retain the right team for your business

No matter the size of your business, it is important to develop an overarching people and culture plan. With competition for skills placing businesses under increasing strain, an ‘ad-hoc’ approach will no longer make the grade.

A best practice approach to your people and the culture they operate in not only improves workplace harmony and productivity but recruitment and retention – ensuring you have the right people, with the right skills, in the right jobs when you need them.

Although your approaches to people and culture planning are fundamentally linked, for ease of understanding and clarity around the process, we will look at each separately in the following sections:

• Developing a people plan for your business
• Developing and managing your culture
• Re-assess and evaluate

Developing a people plan for your business

A key part of the strategic planning process in any business is considering current and future resource requirements, including your people. In planning for growth, it’s important to factor in the staff and skills you will need to succeed and when.

The following considerations will help guide a best practice approach to your people planning. You may invest a lot of time or a little, or seek input from external experts. While your approach and requirements may change, businesses of all sizes must put effort into considering and planning for their people – one of, if not the, most valuable resources they have.

• Current and Future Staffing: First, map your current staff by role, experience and skills. Then, consult your strategic plan to consider the number and type of people you think you will need in the future and when.
• Employee Value Proposition (EVP): In a competitive market, you must consider more than just salary. Your EVP is what will attract staff to your business. These days, employees are looking for training, flexibility, career progression and autonomy as part of their overall package.
• Attraction: It is best to use various strategies to attract applications from potential staff. Use traditional and new media and methods, including employment sites, professional bodies and social media. Ensure you ask existing staff to activate their networks, too.
• Selection: It sounds obvious, but make sure you select people who will best fit the role, the team and your organisation. Ensure you interview potential staff against the skills and qualities you are after and even get a colleague to do the same separately. It is also important to use psychological testing to determine their fit, as humans are often poor judges of one another.
• Induction: Allocate sufficient time to induct staff so they know what to do and how to do it and feel like they are part of the team. As much as possible, make this formal and gradual to set your new starters up for success rather than failure.
• Training and re-training: All employees, particularly younger generations, want to know they are progressing in their roles and careers. Invest time to train and re-train your people at least once a quarter. This may include both current and new skills across the organisation. This will help internal flexibility and make you an ‘employer of choice.’
• Pay and Conditions: A fundamental part of an employer's role is to ensure people are paid correctly and lawfully and that you have suitable employment details and contracts in place.

Developing and managing your culture

Renowned researcher and management writer Edgar Schein said, “If you are not managing culture, it is probably managing you.” In other words, you need to shape your organisation's culture so that it supports your strategic direction.

A healthy, strong culture pays dividends not only in terms of staff satisfaction and retention but also in the experience your customers or clients have in dealing with your business. For example, ensuring your business is trusted in the market starts from the inside.

The following steps form the basis for a best practice approach to intentionally planning the culture you want to foster in your business.

• Assess your existing culture: Sit down with a cross-section of your leadership team and staff to define the positive and negative aspects of your current culture
• Consider your desired culture: Consider the cultural aspects that you would like to see introduced or more of
• Define your future culture: Following the ‘prep work’ completed above, define the future culture of your organisation using approximately eight ‘hallmarks’. Each one should have a clear description of what it will look like in the workplace. For example, you may identify ‘respect’ as a hallmark of your culture. An action to illustrate this might be: ‘We will listen to the views of others before making a decision.’
• Publish and spread the word: Once you have decided on the characteristics of your future culture, be sure to publish and promote it across the organisation so that all staff know and understand what is expected. Senior leaders must be effective role models of the culture.
• Put it in a plan: Develop a plan for the next 12 months, scheduling a series of actions and activities that align with and reinforce the cultural hallmarks. These might be formal - like an award for people displaying the desired behaviours - or informal - such as a team lunch
• Align across the business: Once your plan is operational, make sure that you include the cultural elements in job and person specifications, performance reviews and in information about your firm on websites and in brochures.

Re-assess and evaluate

Like other business plans, people and culture plans aren’t ‘set and forget’. They - and your progress towards goals - should be evaluated at least quarterly and adjusted when necessary.

Remember that by nurturing the right culture and looking after your people, they will return the favour by looking after you.