The past 2 years have seen many peaks and troughs for businesses with adaptations needed to both changing times and market volatility. As we navigate 2023, the uncertainty of our businesses’ climate doesn’t necessarily have to be seen as a hurdle but maybe as a growth opportunity.
Annapurna was recently delighted to host an invite-only roundtables in Stockholm, which were focused on embracing uncertainty whilst building business. The session was hosted by Florian Felsenreich (VP of Customer Success at Annapurna).
The 2 groups looked at an array of conversation points but the main focal points were the following:
Is product more important than people?
The answer to this question can probably be answered with one of the group’s main discussion points being ‘how can we attract the best people’. The challenge of finding talent and retaining them was one that was a hot topic around the table and one that the majority of organisations are struggling with.
Having an idea and a product that fits the needs of your target market is priority number 1 as organisations start their journey but for any company to be successful, the people have to be priority number 1.
Remote working has allowed organisations to attract a more global workforce which should have positive knock-on effects with regard to innovation and creativity. However, with a global workforce comes challenges with varied salaries and new policies being needed.
Striving for an effective remote work culture
As most organisations look to create a successfully blended hybrid environment, we must look at how our organisations are set up for remote working. There is a generation of employees that only know remote and now are only beginning to learn how to operate in a hybrid way. We need to manage them and engage them in a way that is brand new to the world of work.
There was lots of discussion around what role the office plays going forward and how to reach critical mass in the office. How do we create a positive atmosphere in the office and prevent it from feeling empty or lifeless? How do we communicate our vision effectively? Can we ensure we are balancing any cultural differences?
In-person communications allow you to understand the psychological health of your employees and this will be nearly impossible to replicate in the remote environment.
Looking specifically at our sales enablement strategy, if the office is enabled for effective working, is our remote working setup enabled also? Have we simply created an adaptive strategy or taken a step back to review and start fresh?
With an evolving way of working as it becomes more complex, we must be rethinking the way we operate. Should we measure individual behaviour or just team behaviour? What is our overarching goal? Uncertainty is the only guarantee that we have as we grow. We must therefore be striving to get our people on board with the vision of our organisation and bring them on the journey of change.
