You are a founder of a successful innovative FMCG brand. You are managing a team, generating new ideas and product developments, fighting daily obstacles, and controlling the endless moving parts of a startup. How then, can you dedicate your precious time to your own L&D and training?
Louise Hemming is one of YFs leadership trainers; having spent seven years in retail operations before moving into HR, she understands the importance, no matter what stage in your career, of continued growth and development.
Offering her years of expertise helping FMCG leaders, we asked Louise to share the top skills needed to be a successful leader, and the importance of maintaining a commitment to L&D when you are running your own company.
It is incredibly common, particularly in the FMCG space, for founders to have created their business out of passion and drive for their product, but you cannot run a successful business on those qualities alone.
Leadership, team management and mentorship skills are a necessity. However, it is often assumed that with seniority comes a natural affinity to these, yet like any skill, they need to be practised and developed. These vital skills must be bolstered in order to give yourself the best chance of managing your team.
“Countless times I have witnessed founders who are so consumed by their employees’ development, they overlook the importance of their own. I urge founders not to do this – invest in yourself too.
There may be areas you think you do not need upskilling – but it can be helpful to refresh or lay new foundations in areas such as, Management Training, Handling Stress & Building Resilience, Listening and Personal Power & Influence.”
Finding time to think proactively, rather than reactively, is incredibly challenging for founders of FMCG start-ups. Yet, as a founder it is integral that you are one the to always bring it back to first principles.
This means stepping back and asking the question ‘why’? It means creating space in the working week to think. It means starting with a blank piece of paper. These are the things we all know we should be asking ourselves, or doing, but in the madness of inboxes and ‘urgent’ activities, we just forget. Or we remember, but we delay action.
Through the relevant training however, you can build the foundations to ensure you set yourself up for success to achieve this. Courses such as, Effective Working or Time Management, can really put you back in the driving seat of your schedule and time.
Last year, innovative brands invested 400% more in their teams L&D opportunities. Why? It is one of the most effective ways to incentivise talent to join and stay within your business. And naturally, it has a direct impact on the company as a whole – improvement around strategic thinking, confident decision making, time saving – to name just a few.
If you want to enhance the performance of your brand, you need to invest in the upskilling of yourself, and your team. Setting up a clear L&D structure for the entire company, from your leaders, all the way through to the most junior, will improve the culture and productivity of the business ten fold.
It is important to remember, that as a leader, your ‘shadow’ spreads right the way across the business. It is vital that you model the values and commitment that you want the company to fulfil – and that includes making sure you take part in your own learning too.
If you are interested in implementing an official L&D structure into your business, we can help. Created with innovative brands in mind and led by hand-picked industry experts, YF training courses are designed to give you and your team the tools you need to propel everyone to excellence.
If you would like to speak to a member of our team about the L&D plan for you and your team, please get in touch.
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