Recently we asked you, our valued network, to tell us what you see as your major challenges or opportunities for the year ahead. Thanks to everyone who contributed, there were some extremely insightful entries. What became clear as we read through them all was that they fell into five distinct categories, which we thought would be valuable to share with you all.
1) Team happiness
Whether you’re a business owner or a team member, the past few years have been full of challenges. At some point, however, we seek a more balanced existence which means happiness isn’t someone that solely exists after office hours, but throughout the entire day.
This is why productivity should never be looked at as a short-term metric. Any individual or team can go the extra mile for some time, however eventually, you burn out.
To overcome this, we recommend developing a connection plan i.e. an ongoing plan for facilitating better connection within your organisation. It’s an ongoing solution to ensure everyone in your team finds a balance between achievement, development and connection. It helps cultivate a positive experience at work, which naturally benefits other aspects of your life.
2) Team alignment
While there were numerous catalysts cited for this in the response, team alignment was a resounding theme as a result of change, growth and shifting regulatory/industry standards. No matter the organisation, if you don’t have alignment, you won’t be functioning anywhere near your most effective, regardless of the challenge you’re facing.
One of our most popular programs is The Big Picture, which involves uniting your entire team or organisation around your single purpose or annual theme. Sometimes, our clients aren’t at the stage of having that clarity, so we can also facilitate a leadership workshop to help you hone in and provide your organisation clarity to ensure you’re all striving for the same end goal.
3) Enhancing the workspace
As the dust starts to settle on hybrid working and more people are back in the office in some capacity, it’s created a desire to think about the office environment again and how to ensure it’s equipped to inspire collaboration, curiosity and connectivity with offsite stakeholders.
Check out our article on what’s next in office design if you’re seeking inspiration for your office space.
4) Resilience & difficult conversations
While many of our responses spoke of opportunity, many did also talk about the economic uncertainty that lies ahead in 2024 and the need to ensure teams are performing optimally. What many leaders find difficult is managing constructive and, at times, tough conversations.
One of our most popular articles in 2023 was on this topic, so why not make 2024 the year you Turn difficult conversations into opportunities to enhance team culture.
5) Change management
In many industries regulation and industry standards continue to demand focus. In many organisations, these changes have ramifications beyond single departments. And, while the technical infrastructure and compliance aspects might be managed by specific teams, how these changes are managed throughout the organisation is of equal, if not greater importance.
One of our most popular ways to tackle this issue is through programs that help enhance cross-team collaboration. Some of our popular solutions for this include: Beat the Box, Flat Out F1 & Chain Reaction.
If you have a challenge for this year, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we can talk about ways to help you turn your problems into possibilities.
Thanks for reading,
Simon Piltz
Head of Sales, Be Challenged