I don’t know about you fans of plans, but this century is really picking up pace. It doesn’t seem like 22 years since we were partying like its 1999… does it?! 

Well, from a work perspective it very much does – technology and the way we work as come on leaps and bounds in the last two years (thanks to covid) let alone in the last 20. 

Keeping up with the changing expectations of the workplace, what can we all be doing as businesses to make sure that we are keeping up with the trends, while keeping our budgets in check? 

Fads

We are all guilty of jumping on one band wagon or another. But in business this can cost a considerable amount if we invest in a piece of technology that then becomes obsolete. My personal brush with this was my beloved minidisc player that was soon usurped by the ipod (I was even called retro in the office for having a minidisc player that was barely three years old!). 

So anyway, back to fads. Do your research.  See what other organisations similar to yours are doing and how they are performing. Are they looking at new products and services and in what way could you make something they have tried even better. A great temping job I had one summer during university was for Twinning’s Tea. My job was to research other tea and herbal infusion makers and report on what their latest flavours, technology etc. were. Only by checking out the market and seeing what others have tried will you be able to make more informed decisions and make a fad or a new way of doing things work for you. 

Back to the future

I have a lot of respect for early adopters. By that I mean those that want the latest gadget and are prepared to work through any of the initial teething issues that it might have - people that were some of the first to get an electric car, when the infrastructure for it even today is patchy. There are now over 345,000 pure electric vehicles on Britain’s roads and we know this is not a fad that’s going away. So it’s safe to say that this is the way any new company vehicles are going to have to go. The question is, when it is right for your business to do this and what will be the catalyst. Talk to those who have already adopted this technology and see how they managed it. How did their teams feel about driving company electric vehicles? What were the surprises and how did they overcome it? Ask the questions before taking that leap of faith. 

2022 and you 

Whatever new ways of working you are thinking of implementing in 2022, I’m sure you are closely looking at your budgets to see what the art of the possible is. It’s been a tough two years for almost all businesses and investments need to be carefully considered. What do you want to look back a year from now and have achieved, for your business, your employees and for your customers? You can’t do enough planning on working out how you are going to achieve these goals. I might also know a great planner that can help you with this! 

P.s.: If you want some other free tips for your personal life, check out the Self Series blog – out fortnightly on Tuesdays, courtesy of Make Me A Plan’s Wellbeing Expert, Lauren Willoughby. Browse the latest edition here:https://www.makemeaplan.com/news/