Staff are your most important asset, by Marilyn Davy
As part of our ongoing commitment to an open team culture and a productive successful workplace, we recently closed the office and held our annual offsite day at the Kaitaia Digital Hub. What a wonderful local resource this is.
We began the day with a short session called “Rules of the Game” where we discussed the importance of participation, a glass half full attitude, OARBED and having FUN.
OARBED is all about above the line behaviour – Ownership, Accountability and Responsibility, as opposed to below the line behaviour – Blame, Excuse and Deny.
We celebrated our 2020 achievements which included moving to Xero Practice Management, successfully navigating the new Covid environment and our staff development over the year, including several qualification achievements.
A top tip for creating a great work culture is increased transparency, which encourages a culture of trust and inclusion by keeping everyone in the loop. In line with this, we shared our “Strategic Plan” for 2021. A major focus in the coming year is our people – we are aiming for a well-trained and committed team, engaged with clients, where ongoing training and development is a priority.
We watched a short video clip – “The Performance Zone”, about stretching beyond our comfort zone, to break habits, enjoy ongoing personal development, achieving goals, and improving your business’s value.
We reminded ourselves that; “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result” – Einstein. The goal is to improve efficiency and turnaround of jobs which in turn will mean happy clients.
We discussed why we are here as a business and watched a short video clip; “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. Some reasons we come to work that came out of the interactive session are to “Help businesses to succeed”, “Assisting clients to meet their dreams/goals” and to “Support the team to meet their goals”.
A focus for the year is to evolve with our business and proactively offer business advice to clients. Of course, we will still be doing compliance work, but we see ourselves more as problem solvers, helping our clients to grow and succeed, not just file tax returns on time.
After lunch it was time for some fun and team building. We split into groups of three or four to gather clues for a scavenger hunt. You may have seen people rushing around town taking photos, the more creative the better. Check out our website to see some of the creative photos in our news section.
The whole idea of the day is to help create a great work culture. Culture is a work in progress - make culture as important as your business strategy.
Remember, staff are your most important asset.