Hi guys and welcome to Stronger Thyngs?
This content is here to give you an insight? into how we are building our business stronger every day and hopefully enable you to do the same.
Last week we were focusing on flexible working and how this can improve your business.
Now we're going to take that a step further today and talk about perspective?
Talk about perspective in a way of taking yourself outside of what you're in and seeing it for what it really is.
If you’re ready to see how we at Thyngs take on that challenge of stepping back and shutting down our own beliefs to look at the bigger picture?, read on…
Or, if you prefer video content, hop on over to our YouTube channel to watch this content here?
Perspective
We all love our businesses.
Whether you're at the top of the hierarchy or the bottom, if you're enjoying your job and you love your business it's super hard sometimes to step back and understand the things that maybe aren't working so well?
- Why is it important to understand how your business looks from the outside?
- What are the situations where this really matters?
Here at Thyngs, we are a fast-paced business. We work across so many different sectors and have a huge variety of solutions. Whether we're helping charities? retailers?️ event organisers? marketers? publishers? - you name it.
"We need to be sure that what we're offering is relevant and attractive to our customers."
It's very easy to get excited about new releases, new things that can be done with our technology, but what we really need to be doing is making sure that that's exciting to other people, too.
Just because a boardroom of people can decide, "Oh, it would be really cool if our business does this” doesn't mean that that's what the people outside of the boardroom agree with?
Perspective in business can relate to so many things.
It can be looking at your team? It can be looking at yourself.
My perspective of myself may be completely different to those of other people? And if we're not able to recognise that, to take on 360 feedback for any part of our business, then we're really missing a trick?
Not only are we missing a trick, it can be irreparably detrimental to a company.
A company may be focused on their image for hiring; they might want everyone to believe that they are the best company to work for, that they can work hard? party hard?
They might think that what they're selling to new employees is the dream, however, what they also need to consider is that a company looking to work with you will see everything that you're putting out there on social media or on hiring websites?
Everything comes up when they put your name into Google and potential partners might not necessarily want to work with that type of company?
Brand.
Everyone has a brand via a business or as an individual.
"A brand is what people perceive you as, not what you want to put out there. Those two things are often confused."
Receiving 360 feedback from your team or stepping outside the safety of your company and looking at it as your customers see it is scary? It's hard.
We all have an emotional attachment to ourselves and our own personalities, the companies that we work for and the roles that we do.
Just because I see my team and my company in one certain way doesn't mean that's the way it's portrayed to everyone else.
Reputation and brand are key.
Whether you are looking to hire staff or you're looking to grow your business, enter new markets, secure new contracts, you have to see what other people see you as and you have to be able to accept that?
It's a skill to learn how to look at yourself or to look at your company and not just see it as that thing I'm really proud of or that thing that's really exciting.
Being Relevant
If it’s not relevant to the person you’re trying to talk to, it’s not exciting.
Even more importantly than understanding the flaws or the faults (or the amazing things within your own business), when you step outside and try to see everything from an outside perspective, you're getting a glimpse into the way those businesses think?
The things that are important to those businesses. Why those businesses feel the way they do about you and your business.
When you're trying to win business, it all comes back to understanding people? Understand everything. Spend your time trying to understand every element of your competitors the people you want as customers?
One thing that we always ask ourselves when producing content like this is...
"Who are our audience and why are they watching?"
Because if we don't understand what we're putting out there, why we're doing it, who's watching and what matters to the audience watching, then we're creating pointless content.
It's the same for any business.
Anyone who has started a business or grown a business understands that your product or whatever you do has to solve something for someone?
You can believe that you're doing that but until you really get outside of the walls of your company and see how other people perceive it - that's when you will truly start to get traction?
Where to begin?
A great way to start this process is to look within your business?
We've talked so much in previous content (which you can find on our blog or YouTube channel) around understanding our people and really giving a shit about their opinions.
Start with honesty
Start by talking to those people within your own organisation about how they perceive the company
- Are they proud to work for the company?
- What do they even think the company does?
Sometimes starting inside is slightly less scary than going out into the big bad world and asking others, because they're not going to be as kind, they're not bought in already (and your staff definitely should be!).
That's not to say that you want the answers to be sugar-coated? but the world can be a lot more brutal and starting with your staff and people that are already bought into the business is a great way to uncover the little things that can change initially?
This means when you take it outside and you get that feedback from everyone else it’s a far easier pill to swallow?
This really is a toe in the water.
Start with your staff, start with yourself and just be honest.
Honesty is what you need to move a business forwards.
If people aren't being honest or they don't feel that they can be honest with you, you're not going to solve anything. You're not going to get any better understanding because when you do go outside of your own walls and those people who have that respect and love for the company already, it will be brutal.
If you start within your company you can learn to collate that information, process it, understand it and put processes and steps in place to resolve and to improve.
Doing this internally is definitely the easiest way to start.
I hope that this has helped you understand why perspective is important. The word perspective is used a lot looking at things from other people's perspective... but is it really something that we as businesses are doing a lot of?
If you found this at all helpful, please do hit like, share your thoughts in the comments?️ or check out our other content on the Thyngs blog or YouTube channel?
I’m Laura Fox-Newby, and we’re Thyngs.