“One Wish” for your Business

“One Wish”

• If you could have “one wish” for your small business, what would it be? A growing bottom line? I would say most of us would gravitate toward a strong balance sheet yet there are so many metrics we could use to define business success. Running a successful business today is understood as not just about making lots of money, it also includes managing our employees and our social responsibilities in caring for the communities in which we live.
• In a recent survey done by infographic, 93% of employees who volunteer with their company said they are happy with their employer. Company-sponsored volunteering is shown to improve employee leadership and broaden professional skill sets (+92%), help employee well-being (+77%), boost morale (+70%) and strengthen camaraderie with work colleagues (+64%)
• Those are pretty amazing outcomes for simply volunteering together. Our experience has supported these numbers. We started by having a team day working on a landscape project for a local charity. We ordered in the mulch and flowers and then asked our team to show up at the location of the community charity first thing in the morning and dressed for some dirt work.
• Before we started, a staff member of the local charity shared with us their vision and the vital work they do in our community. We then got started weeding and beautifying the landscape. Our team worked alongside one another for about 3 hours and then had a BBQ lunch together. We took a bunch of photos showing the team at work along with before and after pictures. After lunch, the team headed back to the office to finish up their daily tasks. 
• There was an old philosopher that once said that the best friendships are built  working “side by side.” To be honest, volunteering together was a much better team building event for our company than any of our holiday parties!
• Giving back to the community needs to be a regular part of your business planning. These are challenging days for any small business, yet we know the old maxim says “Doing Good Is Good for Business”. I would add, Doing good “together” is good for your Business!

Dave Wescott owns and operates Transblue Construction Franchises and started mBridge.global, a non-profit focused on giving back both locally and globally.