You’ve invested in yourself, others, and your company. You’ve gained new skills and insights. You’ve worked to develop your employees. You’ve accomplished so much. Now it’s time to harvest all that value.
I’m writing you just as we head into fall: a time for harvesting. We think about farmers harvesting the crops. All that hard work pays off in a bounty of food to carry us through winter and into spring. Are you harvesting the value you’ve created?
Think about all you’ve done and overcome in the last several years. Think about all the challenges: especially the new challenges you may not have likely experienced before. (I personally have never worked and navigated through a pandemic. I suspect the same is true for you.)
So my suggestion: harvest your value.
Harvest your hard-won insights.
Harvest your new knowledge.
Harvest the contributions of your employees. Your best employees have brought you and your company so much value. It’s time to reflect on their value and harvest their contributions for the next season of your business’s growth.
Preparing for the Next Season
As I write this in the fall of 2022, we’re either in a recession or heading into one. As the saying goes, “Winter is coming.” So harvest all your hard-won bounty: your innovations, your problem-solving abilities, your ability to remain agile in an uncertain economy.
In other words: leverage all that you’ve created.
I don’t need to tell you that winters can be challenging. I live in Richmond, Virginia. Our winters are mild compared to the northeast and other parts of the country. But it’s still cold here! It’s still gloomy! So I harvest the hard work I’ve put into building my company so I can enjoy collaborating with my team members and clients, even when the skies are grey. Plus, because I created an all-remote workforce, I can work from sunnier places if I want! I’m harvesting all the hard work I put into creating Inspiring HR.
What about you? What will you harvest?
Will it be your confidence after navigating a difficult two-plus years of the pandemic?
Will you harvest the deep bonds you’ve built with your employees so that your team works even stronger and better together?
Will you harvest the insights that led you to create even more value for your clients?
Will you harvest your flexible work culture, which, as an HR professional, I want to remind you is HIGHLY valued in today’s workforce?
Look Back, Then Look Ahead
Fall is a time of harvest and a time of looking back and reflecting. Reflecting helps us appreciate where we’ve come from. What we’ve learned. What we’ve overcome.
In other words, take stock of all the value you and your company have created. Appreciate how much better your company is today as a result of your hard work and the hard work and dedication of others in your company.
Prepare for the Next Harvest
Use this time to reflect on your well-earned harvest. That way, you can make smart decisions about your next season’s work. Business, like life, follows seasons. What we do to prepare and nurture the fields in the spring helps the yield be more prosperous in the fall. Likewise, what plans you follow to build your organization and the skill sets of your employees will help to yield productivity, growth and innovation in the future.
What opportunities lay ahead for your current workforce?
What training and feedback do your employees need to grow?
What do you need to do to help your business evolve?
Whether you are reading this in the fall of 2022 or the summer of 2025, take some time to harvest the value you’ve created. Give yourself permission to stop and appreciate all you’ve accomplished, created, endured, and overcame.
Then create your next plan, prepare the fields for the next season, and be ready to receive the next harvest.
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