It’s time to set your professional resolutions. Have you given them much thought? We have! Action Card vibes strongly with resolutions because we’re all about improvement and evolution. Whether it’s our professional growth or yours, we want to be part of it. So here are some resolutions we thought of to help you inspire your staff to crush it in 2019.

We resolve to have more fun at work.

Most of us spend more time at work than we do with our families, our friends, or hobbies. And in today’s recruiting climate, workers aren’t hesitating to leave a job that does not fulfill them. It’s harsh, but, “Thank you, next”.

A recent LinkedIn Study revealed that turnover in retail is 16.2%. This is a seriously disruptive and expensive problem in our industry. So what can your field team and managers do to make the workplace a more fun, more engaging place to be 40+ hours a week? Here are some ideas from the Action Card team.

-Incentivize good behaviors with rewards that your team has indicated they would be motivated by.

-Run contests to motivate your team to deliver.

-Surprise them! Everyone loves a little surprise, whether it’s a sweet treat, early off, or a simple thank you card.

-Be flexible with your staff’s wants and needs. Deliver the message that we have to work together to achieve a good work/life balance.

We resolve to use our tools.

This is about working smarter, not harder. Although, we’re all about hard work! Resolve to use the tools that help you get through each day without forgetting, checking twice, doing work that someone else has already done. Utilize the checklists, automated processes, audits, and information that you have access to. All of these tools have been hand picked to make your life easier, as well as your staff’s.

For your field visit team this mean using tools like Action Card to streamline the process and leave more time in each visit to humanize the field visit process. When the field team is able to connect with the store, everyone wins.

We resolve to treat the store guests like our guests.

Very recently on the blog, we shared, “10 Quotes About the Customer Experience from the Pros”. One of our favorite quotes was,

“It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money … It is the customer who pays the wages.” – Henry Ford

This quote is about changing the mindset of your staff. Right now, they are trying to please the manager, when they should be trying to please the customer. This way of thinking is a good reset for your managers as well. If the staff’s goal is to make sure they’re in good standing with you, who’s taking care of the customer? It’s about articulating that, “We’re in this together”. We share the same goal of customer satisfaction and the leaders are simply helping the staff achieve that goal. It’s crazy how much this mindset can change the dynamic and increase in a workplace.

We resolve to invest in learning, not just lecturing.

This is about giving context, the “why”. When you give context, you’re telling the person exactly why what they’re doing is important to the big picture. You’re adding value to their work. And we know from plenty of experience that underestimating the value of employees can be detrimental to the success of all.

You’re also front loading your talent by passing on your knowledge. It is far easier and cost effective to hire within your organization. The more knowledge you share with your staff, the better chances you’ll have of being able to hire internally.

Informal learning is fantastic, and the organic energy can be really contagious in the workplace. However, be sure to document your learning opportunities with training guides or even simple notes. We have a solution for just this, If you want to know more, just sign up for a quick and simple demo.

We resolve to do better than last year.

Let’s move the needle, right?! Well, first let’s back up. Do we have the data we need to compare our efforts year over year? Where is that data? How do I even read this?

Documenting, organizing, and accessing data needs to be made as simple as possible. Your staff can’t hit a target that’s not there or that hasn’t been shown to them. Show your staff what you’re working towards and discuss how to get there together. Firstly, this encourages buy-in. Secondly, you could ingnite creativity and gain some insight you didn’t have before.

We would love to know what your professional resolutions are for 2019. We would also love to talk about how Action Card can help you achieve them. To schedule a quick, helpful demo, just click here and we’ll see you in 2019 on the Action Card blog!