Why your employees need to know your business exit plans
Exiting a cafe or coffee shop business can be a complex process, and it’s important to communicate your exit plans to your staff.
Your staff is a vital part of your business, which is why it’s important to involve them in the process and ensure that they’re aware of your plans. By communicating your exit plans to your staff, you can help manage any potential disruptions or challenges that may arise and ensure a smooth transition for your business.
Why Communicating Your Exit Plans is Important
There are four key reasons why it’s important to communicate your exit plans to your staff.
1. Maintaining employee morale
Exiting a cafe or coffee shop business can be a stressful and uncertain time not just for you but for your staff too. It’s important to keep morale high among your staff to maintain employee engagement, job satisfaction, employee retention, and overall productivity. By communicating your plans and involving your staff in the process, you can help reduce uncertainty and ensure that your staff feel valued and supported.
2. Manage disruptions
Transitioning out of a coffee shop business can be disruptive – there are more things that need your attention and sometimes new people with new ideas can mess with the balance of your business operations. It’s important to manage any potential disruptions to the best of your abilities so that they don’t impact on staff, customers or revenue. By communicating your exit plans to your employees, they can help you minimize disruptions and ensure that your business continues to operate smoothly.
3. Retain top talent
Your cafe staff are a vital part of your business, and it’s important to retain top talent even during a transition process. By communicating your plans and involving your staff in the exit transition process, you can influence your employee’s decisions and retain top talent even after you’ve moved on. This ensures that the business continues to thrive.
4. Maintain customer relationships
Your staff are often the face of your business and play a key role in maintaining customer relationships. When you communicate your exit plans and involving your staff in the process, they can help maintain the illusion of ‘business as usual’ and continue building customer relationships even during this uncertain time.
How to Communicate Your Exit Plans
Depending on the way you go about communicating your exit plans to your staff, will determine whether they view this is as ‘good news’ or ‘bad news’.
It’s isn’t always easy to share news about change, so make sure you prepare some notes before talking to anyone about what you are planning. Here are some tips on what you might do or say:
1. Start with your ‘right-hand’ person
Involving your staff in the process doesn’t need to be done all at once. In fact it can help if you talk about it to your most trusted employee first and ask them for help and feedback on the best way to tell the rest of your team. Consider holding regular meetings to gather input from your staff and involve them in the decision-making process. This also gives them an arena in which to share and get emotional support from one another.
2. Communicate clearly and transparently
It’s important to communicate clearly and transparently with your staff about your exit plans. Make sure you provide your staff with as much information as possible, and be open and honest about your plans and the reasons behind them.
3. Offer your employees support
Exiting a cafe or coffee shop business is not only a stressful and uncertain time for you, it can be very challenging for your employees too. If it’s important for the success of your business exit that the staff remain in the business, offer them support. Things like transition counselling, training, or career development opportunities can go a long way to help your staff during the transition.
4. Manage employee fear and expectations
Make sure you manage expectations with your staff about what the business exit transition process will involve. You may not know what the future of the business will look like, but if you do, share that vision with your employees. This can help reduce uncertainty and ensure that your staff are prepared for the changes ahead.
5. Consider the timing
Timing is important when communicating your exit plans to your employees. Just because you’ve made the decision, doesn’t mean you instantly have to tell your staff about it. It’s okay to take your time and plan a day or date when you’ll talk to your staff about your decision to exit. Making sure you consider the needs of your business and your staff, reduces disruptions and maximises the chances of a smooth transition.
When you’ve decided it’s time to think about exiting your cafe business, take some time to also plan how you’ll communicate your intentions with your team.
Communicating your exit plans to your staff is just as important as exiting your cafe or coffee shop business. By involving your staff in the process, communicating clearly and transparently, offering support, and managing expectations, you can help ensure a smooth transition and maintain morale and productivity during the process.
With careful planning and effective communication, you can ensure a successful exit from your coffee shop business.