What’s the X Factor that sets one business apart from the others? Is it offering the right service at the right time?
People who are dedicated and engaged in working toward success? Customers that advocate for your business?
These are all important, yet, you could have all these things going for you and still fail.
So what’s the real secret to success?
I recently talked to three business leaders who shared their lessons for identifying the X factor that can set your business and culture apart.
Put People First
People are one of the most important factors in any business. They’re the ones making decisions that impact customers, and they’re the ones who determine whether your culture exists on paper, or in real life. Hiring the right people and managing them so they can do their best work are critical to the success of any business.
But, if it’s so foundational, why do so many organizations struggle with it? Jordan Birnbaum is VP and Chief Behavioral Economist at TalentX, an ADP Venture; he says the shortcoming is that most businesses focus on processes and outcomes, rather than on people themselves, despite the interconnectedness of both.
“Most of the time when businesses think about managing talent, they are thinking in terms of business targets, paperwork or compliance,” says Birnbaum. “They aren’t thinking about how to help them become happier, more self-actualized employees.
But this is terribly short-sighted, because people either drive or undermine our intended business results. We cannot separate them. We need to rethink our existing approaches to talent management and create systems that help people and organizations grow together.”
According to Birnbaum, the answer to driving personal growth across an organization is two-fold.
“We all have an inherent desire to become our best selves. We need to help people identify how to do that nurture that motivation and provide an understanding of how best to achieve. But motivation and understanding are not enough – we also have to actually help them make those improvements.
If you can do both – identify where people have room to grow and actually help them do it, they’ll be more engaged, and that leads to greater organizational results.”
