5 Small Business Solutions to HRM

When you browse Google for small business issues, much of what you find is about businesses run from home and many of those are virtual businesses. But in fact, most small businesses are more grounded. The top-to-bottom on a list of 802 most common small businesses, runs from Abrasive Blast Cleaning Services to Yoga Instructor. It includes bars, carport contractors, driving instructors, funeral homes, and 796 more. Of Entrepreneur.com’s 10 Fastest-Growing Industries for Small Business, five directly connect with construction. And, the most innovative small business ideas are Shark Tank approaches to things green or app technologies. It strikes me that there should be a clearer distinction between these tangible businesses and the virtual services that get so much attention.

People solutions

All businesses – big, medium, or small – face the same problems: taxes, compliance, people,
quality, and growth. But, the difference is more than just one of scale. Quite simply, the people problems facing residential contractors or sports bars are staggeringly different from those facing a work-from-home consultant. It might help if small business owners allow the employees to define
the problems from the bottom instead of imposing general principles from the top.

• Collaboration: Employees need and want to collaborate. It is a respect issue, but it is also
  productive. For the owner, collaboration is one way of doing more with less; for the employee, it is the opportunity to have a voice in operations and management. It is productivity at no cost.
  
• Older workers: Age is only an analog for experience and maturity, so older workers can bring something to the table. If the job does not tax their health and vitality, they bring your business focus, dedication, and background. They need you as much as you need them, so partner with their strengths.
  
• Talent: Too many businesses think of talent as having volume. They over- or under-estimate their talent needs. When small businesses complain of talent shortage, they may expect too much and forget their need to train and develop. It is a little bit like thinking that there are no qualified carpenters because your first applicants are left-handed.
  
• Millennial's: Too many business owners dismiss the idea of hiring anyone under 25. Instead of assuming they lack loyalty and represent different values than you, you need to envision a business strategy that does not rely on a life-long commitment, encourages more autonomy and peer recognition, and offers career flexibility. If you can get the best out of them while you have them, what have you lost?
  
• Growth: Business growth is the key to employee retention. Everyone wants to be part of success. Success drives team effectiveness and team loyalty. Those outcomes, in turn, drive more success. Growth also pushes you to more growth and the process breeds itself. 
  

 

Faster, Easier, More Satisfying

Notice that these values have the added advantage of leveling your business. It requires less hierarchy and management because it is more self-directing and self-motivating. The contractor can build specialized teams; restaurants can build strengths in front-of-house and back; florists can build independent branch locations. Recruiting to these strategies becomes faster, easier, and more satisfying.

 

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