Interconnected businesses: Propelling growth to the next level

The world of business is increasingly becoming resource driven. Leaders that optimise resources and coherently propel everyone together towards their individual as well as collective company goals, achieve greater success. The key is to inspire, guide and empower teams to achieve great outcomes. Economic growth for the communities can be made possible only when visionary leaders make smart decisions, identify opportunities, boost talent and make strategic investments to generate ROI for the company and employment for the people.

Here are four key focus areas for leaders to focus on while building interconnected businesses and propelling growth to the next level.

Investing in employee development– The world of operations is constantly changing, and skills as well as job roles are no longer static. Great business leaders understand the need to invest in continuous talent development. They know that the technology and practices that are cutting-edge today, will be outdated in a few years, and obsolete by 2030 or so. That’s why it is important to make investments in people development with an eye on the future. Alongside maintaining the current operational proficiency, such a skills and talent development-based approach will offer greater resilience, flexibility, and ability to adapt to any change.

Investing in employee wellness – With competition becoming tougher by the day, it is natural for organizations to want all hands on deck, and try and extract maximum output from each human resource. However, this approach is now leading to a surge in employee burnouts, dissatisfaction, under-performance, and attrition. To propel the business forward, leaders take a people-centric approach wherein they encourage their teams to deliver their best at work, but also ensure that burnouts or stress are kept under check. Employee wellness initiatives, no questions asked leave approval, expanding healthcare coverage to the families of the employees, and revamping workplaces to build spaces primed for productivity and peace of mind, are steps that every leader must take. When employers value their people, the latter feel more valued and responsible for business growth.

Enabling firmwide innovation – Innovation is driving businesses ahead today. While it is important to create legacy brands through consistency and retention of what works well, future-proofing can be ensured by introducing innovative solutions, new products, designs, tools, or expansion of abilities of existing products and services. Business leaders foster culture of innovation to ensure that there is a constant stream of new products to serve the audience in the years ahead. When leaders provide resources, and freedom to their teams to have a free hand and innovate, the outcomes are positive.

Fostering an ownership-based culture – A culture of ownership is probably the least emphasized aspect of business leadership, but it can also be the most impactful when fostered properly. Leaders need to walk the tightrope between ensuring complete visibility and control over the operations, and allowing the employees to have sufficient autonomy to carry out their responsibilities in the most efficient and beneficial manner. When employees are empowered, and trusted to do what is best for their own growth and the company’s success, they invariably become more motivated, confident, and evolve as future leaders.

Fostering a conducive atmosphere where people can innovate, take accountability, and lead as future line of succession, is a pre-requisite for successful enterprises. I strongly believe that such gamechanger enterprises needs to build on futuristic vision and leaders must focus on guiding their teams towards a holistic growth.