The Clifton Review 

The Clifton Review is a tri-weekly column that examines the question of the Clifton project along with the evolution of the war between two billionaires. We covered the start of this war with articles describing the battle over easement rights, the mysterious burning of a home, the blocks to rebuilding, and countless questionable court filings.

While the 2018 series salutes fashion mogul Peter Nygård’s Golden Jubilee detailing his rags to riches story, his incredible business success over these past fifty years and an inside look at how he did it, The Clifton Review will also continue to address current affairs as they relate to the good of The Bahamas.

How To Set The Right Foundation

By P.J. Malone

Ensuring business effectiveness isn’t always an appealing process but there are steps that can make all the difference in the world to your business success.

As a critical step in aligning employees with your business purpose, goals and strategies, here are the steps for setting the right foundation with employees: 

1. You have to start by seeing employees as business partners—as employee partners.
2. You have to share with employees everything they need to know to help the business achieve its goals.
3. You have to tell employees what the business is about.
4. You have to tell employees what you are trying to accomplish or what direction you wish to go in.
5. You have to tell employees what strategies you feel will get the company to the end goal.

You have to start by seeing employees as business partners—as employee partners.

Now that employees are partners, you have to treat them as such in terms of communicating relevant and necessary information. If something changes in the business, just as you would update a partner, you need to update your employee-partners. This will avoid the error of the financial services company where employees turn customers away because they didn’t get updates on new products.

You have to share with employees everything they need to know to help the business achieve its goals.

When you are ready to do this, make it a formal process that is planned. A formal process communicates the message that this is important. If you were doing this with a business partner, you would not do it haphazardly. So have this discussion in the same planned setting as you would a business partner.

You have to tell employees what the business is about.

To trigger your thinking on what information will be helpful to share with employee-partners, begin your reflection process by asking yourself the following:

• Why did I start this business?
• What are we all about?
• Who do we serve?
• How do I want customers to see us?
• What processes, systems, procedures, help us to be most effective?

You have to tell employees what you are trying to accomplish or what direction you wish to go in.

While each of these steps is important, this is especially important. Remember, you don’t want employees ‘rowing to Miami’ while it is your intent to have them ‘row to New York’. So think about the business goals: Are you trying to increase sales, improve customer service, expand the business?

You have to tell employees what strategies you feel will get the company to the end goal.

Consider what strategies you are employing to move forward as a company.

• Is it to ‘wow’ the customer with world class service?
• Are you trying to increase your customer base with new product offerings?

We will continue to share how you can set the right foundation in your company in an upcoming article.