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OPINION
A people-first culture
Four steps for building a strategic plan that supports a people-centric, talent- attracting culture.
A people-first culture within an organization isn’t something that just happens on its own. At Garver, we have found that it needs to be intentionally integrated into a company’s strategic plan. Firms that cultivate a culture that aligns with their business objectives and employee values have an advantage in today’s market. So, how can you build your strategic plan to foster a strong, people-centric culture of connection and engagement?
Laura Nick
There are four key steps: 1. Listen to your people. Historically, our firm utilized a strategic plan, but it tended to be a document geared more toward the C-suite. When we were approaching our second century in business, we flipped the mentality that a strategic plan only applied to those at the executive level. Instead, we started asking our employees what they were looking for in a company-wide growth plan and surveyed them to ask how they would like to contribute to that growth. Supplied with employee input from the survey, we gathered a group of leaders from
different levels of the company to inform the development of the plan. We also dedicated a senior leader as project manager, with the responsibility of guiding the pre-planning, coordinating with the planning committee, and shepherding the process. Though he was heavily involved as a committee member, our CEO recommended that the project manager for the strategic planning process be someone else, so that everyone would feel that their input was equally valued. After listening to our employees and applying the survey results to create the framework
See LAURA NICK , page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 29, 2024, ISSUE 1522
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