My employees don't share in my dedication to our business

Is there something I can do to bring them closer to my vision?

It’s your business and you’ve put your heart and soul into it. You even had to hire a staff to help you grow and service your customers. But your staff, while they may be diligently following your instructions, is not vested emotionally in their workplace and you feel as if, when a better offer comes along, they will not hesitate to leave you and move on.

Next to financial performance, people performance is the most common determinant of how well a company as a whole performs in their respective market. And while financials are relatively easy to understand and follow very specific mathematical rules, people are an unpredictable asset and managing them is an art as much as it is a science.

A motivated workforce will go above and beyond to satisfy your customers, will look out for the best interests of the company and will offer you ideas and provide feedback based on their own experiences, ones you may be overlooking. So you want to create the kind of work environment where your staff is your partner, not just hired hands.

Motivating your staff can occur on two levels – personal level and professional level. The first is an art, the second is a science. Let me explain.

Motivation at a personal level touches the staff emotionally. It is about how they feel interacting with you, their boss. Your leadership and management style can be very impactful and some leaders naturally attract followers, become their mentors and create an atmosphere of shared goals and shared responsibilities. This type of motivation is driven by the art of the interaction which in turn is connected to the personality of the business leader. If this is your personality, you’re golden. You will enjoy a rich experience with your employees, a low turnover rate and likely a flourishing business through their support.

The ability to motivate professionally is a skill that is less a born trait and more one that is learnt over time. Your employees will support you if they feel their goals and your goals intersect along some axes. This is most commonly achieved through compensation and/or advancement tied to the performance of the business. Say for example, a compensation plan where employees of a restaurant receive a weekly payout based on revenues collected or reviews posted. Replacing a tips model, where each server is looking out only for themselves in the size of their take-home amount, a shared business performance-based payout creates camaraderie between staff and an environment of working toward shared goals and objectives.

This is just one example of bringing your staff along for the ride with you on your journey to growth and improved performance. If in your business it feels like it’s you against your staff, please come talk to us. We will dive deep into your operating model and very likely come up with a strategy to help you create a stronger partnership with your staff and, by so doing, help you accelerate your business.