Top Business Lessons We Learned In 2021
Back in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to modify day-to-day operations and adapt to start doing business primarily online.
Over the past year, your business probably faced its fair share of disruption, resilience, and change. This may be a good time to reflect on the things you have learned in 2021 and celebrate what you accomplished in the last 11 months.
It’s important to take a moment and see how far you’ve come and what you’ve been able to achieve. Learn what you can from 2021, so you can end it on a high, and kick 2022 off to a flying start.
The following business lessons were indeed born out of the hurricane 2020 and their significance felt in 2021.
Technology is your best friend
The pandemic forced many businesses to establish or expand on their online strategies. E-commerce and social media have been significant components of successful business strategies for years, but those who had not completely embraced these technologies before COVID learned that they are now critical for selling products and for getting important messages out to their customer base.
No bad time for the right market
2021 has taught us that you can fight or flight. When the pandemic initially broke out, many business owners used it as an excuse to not work – saying that it wasn’t a good time for the community to business.
But the fact is, business is truly what you make of it. If you say that no one wants to do business – then you’re right. If you say that now’s a good time for people to work with me – then you’re right. This has taught me that you just have to find the right market that is ready to work with you during these challenging times.
Creative Motivation Pays Dividends
It is now painfully obvious that we need to find many different ways to keep our employees motivated. The “great resignation”, which has been experienced worldwide, has continued to put pressure on companies to retain top talent because more companies, are looking.
Therefore, every business should be looking at how to keep talent, manage and motivate talent to not only be the best that they can be, but also to stay with the company. Research shows that money is not the only reason people will stay with a company.
Companies need to explore unique ways to incentivize top talent. Don’t be afraid to be creative. For example, companies can use these incentive programs: paying for employees’ Netflix subscriptions, paying for their local gym membership etc. Explore ways to create a culture where your company cares about your employee so they feel like they don’t want to leave.
Keep your business flexible and agile
From an operational standpoint, the pandemic taught businesses they need to be flexible and agile to remain effective. And 2021 proved it to be true.
Part of being able to stay agile is ensuring team members have access to the resources they need, even when they’re not at the office or store.
Duplicating your resources means you’re making them accessible from multiple locations. This process may include digitizing your files and getting them on the cloud, which is accessible from anywhere with internet access. The key is to have access to all of the ‘essential’ resources to operate on a limited basis and still keep your business running, even when you and your staff are at away from the office.
ConclusionThese lessons can be hard to learn, and in some cases, even harder to implement. But one positive about the 2021 is the wake-up call it provided to business owners. Businesses all over the world who take the lessons they have learned from 2021 would make themselves better equipped to deal with future scenarios. Learn from 2021 and accelerate into