If you want your business to succeed in the long term, you must prepare for future challenges and changes. Our world is full of uncertainty, which means businesses, employees, and leaders need tools to withstand unpredictable change. Especially with recent economic and employee turbulence, you need a future-proof business.
What does future-proofing mean?
Future-proofing your organization is all about anticipating change, increasing resilience, maintaining a competitive advantage, and mitigating risks. These initiatives help organizations find sustainable success for themselves and their employees, no matter what happens.
Organizations future-proof for many different reasons. Whether you’re preparing for shifts in the economy or advances in industry technology, it’s all about building the right strategy for your company and its people. The more you learn about your business, the world around it, and the people that support it, the more likely your organization is to thrive and remain relevant. Luckily, we’ve already done the research to get you started.
How to future-proof your business
Future-proofing your organization means anticipating change, increasing resilience, maintaining a competitive advantage, and mitigating risks. These initiatives help organizations find sustainable success for themselves and their employees, no matter what happens.
Organizations future-proof for many different reasons. Whether you’re preparing for shifts in the economy or advances in industry technology, it’s all about building the right strategy for your company and its people. The more you learn about your business, the world around it, and the people that support it, the more likely your organization is to thrive and remain relevant. Luckily, we’ve already done the research to get you started.
1. Establish your company's purpose
Preparing for future risks starts with your company’s purpose. When your purpose is meaningful and unique, it stands the test of time. It’s essential to create strong internal and external identities for your business. Communicating those strong values will help attract top talent and improve employee retention. Plus, it boosts employee engagement and sales across the board.
Learn more: How to Improve Employee Engagement
2. Boost company culture
When building a future-proofing strategy, it’s essential to boost company culture. A great culture makes work meaningful for employees, improving their performance. If shared attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, and values are aligned, employees are more invested in the company’s future – even if there are bumps in the road.
It’s important to emphasize the relationship between leadership and culture. Great leaders know it’s their responsibility to build and maintain company culture. They act as role models and embody company values daily because it strengthens the company’s future.
Learn more: How to Improve Company Culture
3. Re-think your organizational heirarchy
Future-proofing your organization also requires a flattened hierarchical structure. Most companies still operate under dated hierarchies that no longer make sense. To grow and keep up, businesses need to reevaluate their organizational structures. If something isn’t working, fix it. If employees need help understanding their responsibilities, define them.
Today, most successful companies keep their structures efficient and lean. Keeping organizational structures flat (and flexible) helps employees envision new roles, find autonomy, grow skills, and offer more meaningful insights. Plus, it helps streamline decision-making.
4. Streamline decision-making processes
There’s a difference between fast decision-making and good decision-making. The secret weapon to quick, intelligent decisions is often a well-defined structure. Delegating decision-making responsibilities to the right people saves momentum, resources, and time.
Streamlining all processes (specifically decision-making processes) helps companies handle problems more efficiently. This process builds employee trust, which is necessary for engagement.
5. Prioritize professional development
At this point, we all know that investing in employee professional development is more cost-effective than hiring and firing new employees. The Harvard Business Review recently stated that current employees can fill more than 60% of a company’s future roles.
Investing in employee training and development boosts business and personal satisfaction. When employees grow professionally, they also grow personally. This process increases employee well-being and allows individuals to help their company grow and evolve.
6. Forge external partnerships
Great leaders see other companies’ growth as an opportunity, not competition. External partnerships are a great way to collaborate with and learn from other companies. The ‘competition’ can help your business operate better and vice versa. Partnerships should be mutually beneficial for both sides, so investing time into partnerships that elevate your creativity, productivity, and innovation is crucial.
7. Hire innovators
The people you hire impact everything from current company culture to future planning. It can be challenging to narrow down candidates. If your organization is passionate about future planning, hiring individuals who are positive, forward-thinking, and interested in their own development and growth is crucial.
Those individuals are top talent, which means they will have plenty of employment options. Like external partnerships, hiring employees must mutually benefit the individual and the organization. Organizations must have strong employer branding and a supportive employee experience to hire innovators.
Learn more: Attracting Top Talent
8. Understand the value of your talent
Employee training and development opportunities are the perfect way to retain talented individuals. When you understand the value of your talent, it makes sense to invest in it. Creating a supportive and growth-focused company culture influences how many employees stay and thrive—survey employees to learn more about how to support their values. Most companies succeed with DEI and employee well-being initiatives, boosting retention.
Learn more: Why Employee Retention is Important
9. Be sustainable
When you hear the word ‘sustainable,’ what do you think? Some minds go to economics, while others think about the planet. Both are essential for business success and future planning. Eco-friendly initiatives save businesses energy and money, but it goes further than that. Our world is facing severe uncertainty around climate change and resource depletion, which could impact the future of business. Anticipating and preparing for environmental changes shows that a company is thinking about its future and people.
When a company values economic and ecological sustainability evenly, it attracts higher levels of business and top talent. Employees and business partners are attracted to companies with strong purpose and values. It encourages more substantial creativity, employee engagement, and brand reputation.
10. Listen to your clients and customers
Customer feedback should always be the foundation for building superior customer service. Clients and customers have the best insights. Listening to current customers helps companies anticipate future demands and operational bottlenecks. That’s because sometimes people on the outside can see problems more clearly. Plus, supporting clients and customers encourages more positive brand recognition and word-of-mouth.
11. Embrace technology
And the final step to future-proof your business? Embrace technological advances and their many benefits. Integrating technology into your workflows saves resources and prevents human headaches. Innovative companies don’t rely solely on automation. They maintain a “human touch” but support those humans with the necessary tools.
Examples of where companies can use technology to streamline everyday processes:
- Artificial intelligence
- Human resources (including recruitment)
- Internal communication
- Leadership communication
- Marketing
- Operations
- Sales support
- Surveying
- Training and development
- Well-being
Future-proof with Top Workplaces
Understanding employee needs is the secret to building culture and planning for the future. Employee engagement surveys are the perfect way to collect feedback and create long-lasting success. To gather insights and drive a thriving culture for years to come, nominate your organization for the Top Workplaces program today!
