Five strategies for businesses to succeed in 2024

Embrace change, build a strong team, connect with the community and stay updated to help ease challenges

Hire team members who share your vision, values and drive. Photo: Alamy

As we wrap up this year, I, like many company owners and organisations, face an ever-changing business landscape that is deeply affected by evolving technology and shifting marketing trends.

Navigating this landscape requires agility, an open mind and a creative approach to tackling challenges.

Here are some key lessons for businesses to learn from this year and put into effect in 2024.

Embrace change

One of the most important lessons I have learnt is that embracing change is the best thing I can do for myself and my business.

Nothing good comes from resisting change and not learning how to take advantage of the shifting landscape.

Build a strong team

Whether it is in your personal life or your business, it is often the people you surround yourself with who help you get past the worst of situations.

Invest in hiring a good team. This is an exercise you should not rush. Hire team members who share your vision, values and drive.

This means offering a competitive salary package, fostering a collaborative culture where your team members would thrive and providing them with the opportunity to learn and develop their skills.

Connect with the community

I always believe that brands are built by people, and brands are also easily taken down by people.

Your business is not disconnected from the community and the world it operates in.

Consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of how businesses affect the community and the environment around them.

Adopt environmentally friendly business practices. Look for ways to reduce your carbon footprint and embrace initiatives that will support your community members and global audience, if applicable.

This will not only help businesses build a positive brand image but will also help attract and retain the right talent, investors and customers.

Never stop learning

Whether you are an entrepreneur, a chief executive of an organisation or an employee, you can never learn enough.

In an ever-evolving business landscape that is increasingly being shaped by artificial intelligence and other technological advances, we need to continue dedicating time for learning and developing our skills.

Organisations need to ensure that their employees have the time and resources to learn and develop.

You can do that by dedicating certain hours a month for employees to learn about a certain topic(s), organise workshops with experts in various subjects, or sign them up to free courses online.

The key is to always be in the know. Thirty minutes dedicated to reading every day can do wonders in the long run.

It’s OK to fail

I admit that one of my worst fears has been the fear of failure. It felt like the end of the world to me.

However, once I decided to perceive failure as a learning opportunity, my whole work dynamic shifted.

If I fail at a task, it means I am learning something new. It means that I am evolving and no longer in my comfort zone, which I should not be if I want to develop my skills and my business to grow.

It's OK to fail. However, it is not OK to not try something new. Fail, fall, get up and try again.

We will never know exactly what the coming year holds for us, but what I know for sure is that being well prepared, planning ahead, embracing learning and continuous development, being agile and surrounding yourself with a strong team will help ease challenges along the way.

Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati writer and communications adviser based in Abu Dhabi