10. How To Align Your People Plan with Your Business Plan for Sustainable Growth
Do you have any unfulfilled ideas or projects in your business?
Something that you dreamed up months or even years ago during an exciting year-end planning session that you were never able to bring to life?
If you’re like most business owners, the answer to this question is a big ol’ YES.
But it’s not a happy yes, right? Because the dreams and ideas we have are potential life-changing.
If you want to learn how to get those dusty ideas off the shelf, so you can create the kind of impact you want to have in this world, then you’re going to want to tune into this exciting episode of The Impact Ripple podcast!
I dive into a common reason why we don’t bring our big ideas and dreams to life (hint: it has to do with your business planning process!) and how to solve it, so that no more dreams have to die sad, slow deaths in the corners of our minds and hearts.
Join me for an insightful and educational conversation on business planning, why People Plans are an essential part of the process, and exactly what you should be thinking about and planning for to ensure sustainable long-term growth in your business and with your team.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
What sustainable growth actually means
Why dreams and ideas don’t come to life
The importance of aligning your people plan with your business, and
5 key focus areas to create a people plan for sustainable growth
Mentioned in This Episode:
Transcription for Episode 10 - How To Align Your People Plan with Your Business Plan for Sustainable Growth
Ashley Cox 0:04
Welcome to Episode 10 of the impact ripple podcast. Your go to source for hiring and leadership made simple, doable and fun for visionary female business owners. I'm your host, Ashley Cox, author, certified HR expert and founder of sprout HR. And I believe you don't have to change who you are to be a great leader, because you already are one. Join me as we kiss uncertainty and overwhelm goodbye, and say hello to the tools and support you need to grow a profitable, sustainable, impactful team with more confidence and ease.
Ashley Cox 0:46
On today's episode, we're talking about a very important topic for sustainable business growth, aligning your people plan with your business plan. As we're recording and putting this episode out into the world, we're in the midst of year end planning in December. Looking around at all of the posts that I'm seeing online, it seems that 2022 has been another hard year for a lot of folks, and many are looking forward to the new year with hopeful anticipation. Planners, sticky notes and colorful markers are flying off the physical and virtual shelves of shops everywhere. While business owners are settling in to dream big and craft their plans for the coming year. Maybe you're among them. Or maybe you don't enjoy your end planning. Perhaps you've come across this episode at a different time of the year when planning is not quite as hot topic as it is in December. Regardless of whether you're currently in planning mode or not. If you do a big year end planning extravaganza or you tend to plan in shorter quarterly sprints, or any combination of the above or something different. This episode is going to change the way that you think about and do your planning for the better.
Ashley Cox 2:17
Whenever I hear or see people planning for their businesses, I often also see a gaping hole in the plans that they've outlined. Business owners are busy revisiting their long term vision and goals, they are getting clear on the direction that they want to go and the impact that they want to create in the world. They start laying the groundwork for their major projects for the year or the quarter, mapping out what they're going to create, when they're going to launch and how they're going to serve their clients in bigger, bolder and more creative ways. They think about the things that they're going to need in order to bring those big plans to life, the tools, the resources, the money, and there is no shortage of excitement and can do it attitudes out there. But they often leave one very critical piece of the puzzle out. And as an HR expert, you've probably already guessed what it is that I'm thinking. They're leaving out the people part of their plan.
Ashley Cox 3:29
I want to make sure that you aren't leaving out one of the most important elements of your business planning process, your people plan, which is why I've dedicated a whole episode today, just to this topic, we're going to talk about what a people plan looks like and what you should include in your plan so that you can set yourself up for success in the new year and the months, quarters and years that follow. By the end of this episode, you'll have a clear roadmap for aligning your people plan with your business plan so that you too can experience sustainable growth in your business.
Ashley Cox 4:09
First, let's start with that phrase sustainable growth. What does it mean? How do you achieve it? I came across an article in Forbes a few years ago that defined sustainable growth in a way that felt really aligned with my own personal and business values and felt very inclusive, all encompassing. They define sustainable growth as repeatable, ethical and responsible growth and how it's the key to long term success for any business. I'm going to share a little bit from that article, but I'm also going to link it in our show notes in case you want to read the full article for yourself. So I loved this definition. As I said, it felt really encompassing, very aligned. It feels like it's something that is very tangible as well.
Ashley Cox 5:00
So we want to break down the three parts of this definition repeatable, ethical and responsible. Sustainable Growth is repeatable. This is the initial definition of sustainable growth, something that can be done over and over, it's long lasting growth. It doesn't mean skyrocketing growth or record breaking growth. It's kind of like the tortoise and the hare story, slow and steady wins the race, we can keep doing it, because we're not sprinting and using up all of our breath and our energy.
Ashley Cox 5:37
I think this is so key when it comes to growing a sustainable team, a team that doesn't break your budget or leave you feeling overwhelmed and stretched to lead a sustainable team. It's also about not growing too quickly, only to realize later that you don't have the right people in the right roles, or that you have too many people and have to reduce your workforce.
Ashley Cox 6:07
Sustainable Growth is also ethical. This is where your business growth intersects with conduct and behavior. Sustainable Growth expands to include a values based focus and holding ourselves, our teams and our businesses to a higher standard. While the law partly defines this ethics goes beyond just doing what's legally, right. It's a commitment to do what's morally right. And this can be applied to many different areas of our business, from our pricing methods to our marketing strategies. And yes, especially with our people to when hiring, we can think about the ethical side of recruiting, hiring compensation plans, company cultures that were fostering so many important parts of ethical sustainable growth.
Ashley Cox 7:06
And finally, sustainable growth is responsible. This is about the impact that our businesses are creating in the world. And if you've been listening to the podcast for the last 10 episodes, now, you know that impact is our main thing here. In 2015, the United Nations shared their view that sustainability includes a focus on areas as diverse as poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, environment and social justice. As we plan for our own sustainable growth, let's ask ourselves, what are the short and long term impacts my business will have in the world? Consider this from the perspective of your company values. And if you don't have company values yet, refer back to Episode Five, where I walked through the importance of our values, how we can give life to our values and our business instead of just lip service. And I also shared a short exercise to help you develop your values for your business. So what are your values? And are they baked into your business plan? How about your people plan? When our values are front and center, we foster a deeper sense of responsibility and accountability in our plans, our actions and our businesses.
Ashley Cox 8:35
Now that we have a better understanding of what sustainable growth looks and feels like, let's take a look at what elements are helpful when building your people plan to align with your business plan. Because I want you to go out there and bring those big dreams and goals to life so that you can create massive impact in this world.
Ashley Cox 8:58
But first, let's talk about why it's so important to align your people plan with your business plan for sustainable growth. So let's do a little exercise. I want you to close your eyes. And imagine that you're putting together a new service or program for your clients. You're excited about the results you're going to help them get or the experience that they're going to have. So you've been busy planning out all of the details and the logistics of how things will go. You know exactly what will be included in the offer, how you'll price it, how you'll deliver the product or the service. And you've created a detailed marketing plan for how and when and what you will share.
Ashley Cox 9:48
Fast forward a few months and it's time to start bringing your big plan to life. You excitedly dive in and quickly realize that you don't quite have the bandwidth or time to bring your big vision to life. You also forgot how much you hated setting up all those techy things. And unfortunately, there are loads of tasks that will require a techy touch.
Ashley Cox 10:20
You still have client work to attend to as well. Along with speaking engagements, you've committed to normal daily tasks that have to get done and other things on your plate and plans that you want to accomplish.You desperately start thinking, okay, Buck up, I can do this with hopeful enthusiasm, because this project is incredibly important to you. And you know, it'll change lives.
Ashley Cox 10:52
So you start crafting the world's most detailed project plan with task after color coded tasks crammed into the tiniest white spaces on your calendar, maximizing every spare minute, until it looks like a clown threw up all over the place.
Ashley Cox 11:11
At this point, you're feeling a bit discouraged or overwhelmed and even a little seasick, but you decide to persevere. That's what entrepreneurs do right? One foot in front of the other head down focused, you've got this until you don't, things start to unravel, balls are being dropped left and right stuff is falling through the cracks and you're woefully behind on all of your project tasks. Before you know it, your time has all been eaten up and there's none left over to take a day off, or go on vacation. Even though you're feeling burnt out tired and ready to quit.
Ashley Cox 12:01
Your once fiery passion for the project you believed in so deeply turns into a smoldering campfire in the rain, as you realize too late. You can't do it all on your own. The project gets shoved into the corner to die a slow, quiet death. And you sadly think maybe one day with little or no conviction that it will ever really happen. Months go by then years. And occasionally you stopped to think about that project and the lives it could have changed with a deep aching in your heart. Thinking If only my friend. This is why aligning your people plan with your business plan is not only important, it is vital this year, don't let another project die from lack of support. It's time to get the people in place that will help you bring your big vision, your big dreams, your big plans to life and impact the lives that you were meant to touch.
Ashley Cox 13:17
So let's talk about the five key areas to focus on when creating your people plan. So that you can do it with a lot of intention. And make sure that you don't miss any important pieces as you do. Okay, the five areas, we're going to go through these in detail next. So you will know exactly what to be thinking about and planning for. But I'm gonna give you the quick rundown right now, job skills, competencies, timing, hiring and onboarding, and growth potential.
Ashley Cox 13:50
So let's talk about job skills. When you're planning out who you'll need for your team, the best and first place to start is to determine what skills they will need in order to be highly successful in their role and give you the much needed help and support that you need. How will they help you accomplish the project? Are there any skills that they should have that can serve you for this project, as well as future projects? And we'll talk a little bit more about that here in a moment. And when I say skills, here's what I mean. Is there a certain expertise they need to have like being a community engagement specialist? Do they need to have video editing expertise? Do they need to be able to create highly effective and engaging tiktoks? Whatever those skills are, be really clear about them. Write them down. What are you not great at? What do you take a really long time to do in your business that you're like, Oh, if I could just get some help here. This would accelerate how quickly we can move how we can get add this to market and help our clients and create impact faster better.
Ashley Cox 15:07
Next up are competencies. So once you've got the hard skills outlined, I absolutely need for you to be able to do these things because I can't, or it's not my area of expertise, it's not my zone of genius. Now, we want to look at what qualities or competencies this person will need. In order to be highly successful in the role and within your business is attention to detail important, or creativity and innovation? Do they need to work great in a team or have the ability to work independently with little guidance or input.
Ashley Cox 16:21
Let's talk about hiring. First, it takes about six to eight weeks to hire an employee in a small business on average. And this includes everything from posting the job receiving applications, conducting interviews, making an offer, and then allowing cushion in your hiring timeline for the candidate to give a Two Weeks Notice to their current employer. Lots of stuff happens.
Ashley Cox 16:47
Once you hire the person, you'll need time to properly introduce them to your business, which is where onboarding comes in. Because while they may be an expert in the job that they'll be hired to do, they're not an expert in your business. Onboarding is the period of time where we teach our new hires, how things run, how decisions are made, and by whom, what tools and resources are available to them and where to find them. How we communicate internally, and our expectations and needs of them in this role.
Ashley Cox 17:26
skip this part and you'll be wondering why you have to hold your new hires hand constantly, answer 1000 questions a day, and why nothing is getting done. This is why timing consists of hiring and onboarding, we want to make sure that you're giving yourself plenty of time and bandwidth to hire and onboard the person before you actually need them, and the help that they'll be providing within this project and within the context of your business.
Ashley Cox 18:02
When you're thinking about how much time you'll need to plan for hiring and onboarding, you'll also want to consider what tools, resources and even money that you'll need in order to successfully bring this person onto your team. And if you're not sure whether you can actually afford to hire the help that you need for your project, be sure to go back and listen to episode seven, where I answer the very common question, can I really afford to hire, and I share a simple and effective exercise to help you become financially prepared to hire with confidence.
Ashley Cox 18:40
Okay, finally, our fifth key focus area to consider when building your people plan is growth potential. When you're thinking about hiring team members to support you with your big projects in the coming year, don't just stop there. I always say don't just hire for today, hire for tomorrow. Consider ways that you can keep this person engaged with your business long term. This is good for business and good for the people that you're hiring. It's good for business because after you invest all of that time, training, resources and money into hiring and onboarding this person, you'll get a better return on your investment over the long haul as they learn and are able to do more in your business, bringing their best self to your team consistently. And it's good for people because people want careers, not dead end jobs. They want to do meaningful work, not just busy work, and they want to be part of something bigger than themselves, not work aimlessly just to fill the CEOs pockets. So paint the vision of your future team for yourself. So that you can show owe them the growth potential that exists when you bring them on to your team.
Ashley Cox 20:07
There you have it, the five key focus areas of creating an aligned people plan with your business plan that supports long term growth and sustainable growth. So let's recap quickly. One, job skills, two competencies, three, timing, for hiring and onboarding, and five, gross potential.
Ashley Cox 20:35
As we wrap things up today, it's time for what's really become my favorite segment of our podcast. And that's imagine the impact, where we get to envision what it could look like for you to take action today. Have you ever had a great idea for a product or service that you weren't able to bring to life? What held you back? Was a timing, resources, lack of support? What if you had those things in place? Would you have been able to bring that idea to life? Please, don't let your ideas gather dust in the corner anymore. Imagine the impact that your big ideas could have on your business, your clients, your community, and the world if only you had the help that you need, and deserve to bring them to life.
Ashley Cox 21:37
If you found this episode helpful, we'd love for you to share about it on social media so that this message can reach more leaders, just like you who want to create a bigger impact in the world without burning out. Simply take a screenshot of the episode on your phone, share it on Instagram stories with your favorite takeaways, and tag us at sprout. hr.com Thanks so much for joining me today on the impact rebel podcast. As always, it's an honor to be here with and for you on your leadership journey.