Our Thoughts on Planning for a Productive, Innovative Year

It’s a new year, a milestone that many see as chance to start fresh. Employees may be thinking about how they can make moves in their career, while leaders could be looking to make changes to the ways of working. Learn how you can start 2024 off on the right foot for your employees, your leaders, and your firm.

Set the stage with performance reviews

A well-run business performance review process is a powerful tool, helping leaders determine what can be done better and look for valuable improvements. Regardless of whether you start the year with performance reviews, creating an effective review season can be helpful in building strong employees. We’ve found that four actions can help make performance reviews more effective: setting detailed targets linked to your company strategy, installing a lean review process with specific activities, creating a constructive two-way dialogue during the review to empower your team, and making the changes necessary from progress observed during the review. These four actions can not only make this process effective and efficient, but they also make a difference in company performance.

Build a team of high performers

Having a high-performing culture is a common goal, no matter the business cycle. So, what makes a winning culture? People are empowered to make decisions, given the right resources to get things done, and held accountable for delivering results. And those who build that culture are rewarded: Our research shows companies that have a winning culture have 10 times the revenue growth, five times the total shareholder return, and five times the earnings before taxes than companies without all three dimensions. To build the culture, leaders must identify the outcomes that their organization needs, build teams tailored to achieve each of those incomes, empower their employees to think creatively to achieve their mission, and clear any potential roadblocks, providing financial and other resources as needed. To maintain the momentum, leaders must also ensure employees are invested in the firm’s success through inspirational leadership and creating an inclusive culture that highlights the importance of personal contributions.

Keep your employees engaged and energized in their work

In recent years, there was a lot of talk around “The Great Resignation.” Although the hiring landscape has changed, quit rates remain at high levels even with contracting economies. What’s the driving force? Work is increasingly seen as having little value or meaning to employees, and there is a misunderstanding of what motivates most people to work. In our experience, we’ve found that leaders who make work interesting, connect jobs to the company’s mission, and give employees the opportunity to learn and grow can go a long way in making work more purposeful. Our work with clients shows taking these three steps and building them into the culture can increase productivity, lead to more loyal employees, and reduce attrition.

Take a comprehensive approach to responsible AI

Though it may be complicated to navigate, artificial intelligence can’t be ignored. Much of the talk at Davos last week focused on the accelerated pace of AI, and while there is a lot of enthusiasm, there have also been questions around ethics, bias, data privacy, and regulation. Integrating responsible AI into your organization doesn’t just help you mitigate risk. Our experience shows that companies with a comprehensive, responsible approach to AI earn twice as much profit from their efforts, as they aren’t afraid of possible risks and can quickly implement use cases and accelerate the value they get from the technology. Enabling responsible AI has three components: outlining your aspirations and commitments, augmenting governance over processes and technology, and embedding responsible AI into your culture.

Miss any Beyond the Bio last year? Listen to our recap episode and get ready for 2024

Partner Keith Bevans joins manager and guest host Daniel Yellin for Beyond the Bio’s 2023 Year-in-Review episode. Reflecting on the topics covered last year, you'll hear them discuss why our capabilities, alumni support, and strong culture consistently rank us a best place to work. A new year also means new episodes, with guest host and consultant Olivia Pavco-Giaccia returning for another season of Whiteboard Innovators and Daniel hosting new episodes while Keith is on sabbatical until July. You'll still hear from Keith because he has recorded a series featuring some of our senior leaders all about our Operating Principles: what they are, why they're important, and why they’re unique to Bain.