Your bottom line depends on passionate employees who are engaged in helping your business succeed.
Being a successful businesswoman is not for the faint of heart. You know it takes lots of hard work, long hours, and a healthy dose of risk taking. It also requires trust. You must hire employees who you trust to care about your business as much as you do. You need to keep employees passionate about their work. Your bottom line will thank you.
A 2014 Deloitte study showed 88 percent of workers lack passion for their work. If that doesn’t alarm you, it should! Competition for great employees is fierce. Someone is always out there ready to lure away your team with promises of a better opportunity.
This isn’t a new 21st century problem. Aristotle said, “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” Most businesses fail to create a work culture that will keep employees passionate about their work.
Are you making this mistake? Listen up! You need to start now to change how you think about your staff. You might be afraid of trusting your employees. You might feel it’s too risky to allow your team to be creative. These fears are holding you back and they’re holding your team back also. I’m not saying let your team go crazy and do what they want. Instead, use these tips to help you take better risks and create an environment of trust to keep employees passionate about your business. I promise you’ll love the results.
1. Build Relationships with your people.
Today, digital devices are everywhere. But that doesn’t change our human desire to connect with others. Most candidates tell me they want to connect with their team, help customers solve problems, or improve a system or process so people can be better. Do you see the common thread here? It’s all about connecting with people.
2. Allow your team members to learn and grow.
Encourage your staff to look for new ways to perform their jobs. Allow them to experiment with new tools, technologies, or systems. There are so many free and low-cost ways to learn and try before you buy that it should be a no-brainer for you. The fear of wasting time or money holds us back. Listen to ideas from your team. Then make an informed decision about whether the idea is worth investing a bit of time. You can always put restrictions on the amount of time your team spends and when they can spend it.
3. Be a great leader.
If you are too hands on, constantly question what your team does, or worse, ignore your employees, you shouldn’t be surprised your team is disengaged. Remember that boss you hated? Honestly examine your leadership and look for ways you can improve. Here are a few areas to consider:
- Do you focus on mistakes?
- Do you dismiss ideas?
- Do you keep your promises?
- Do you set clear expectations?
- Do you measure the right indicators of success?
4. Remember to communicate.
Give your employees a peak behind the curtain. If they feel included, they are more likely to be invested in your success. Here’s a great example of how lack of communication can hurt you. A businesswoman lost two large clients that made up 40 percent of her revenue. She had to lay off an employee. But her team made up their own story for why their friend and co-worker was let go. Productivity suffered, morale plummeted, and the owner hated to go to work at her own company. She came to me for help and we started with better communication with her team. She explained the why the layoff was necessary to preserve the teams’ jobs and salaries. They immediately got engaged in helping rebuild the business. Today, they are stronger than ever and committed to helping the business succeed.
5. Give recognition and rewards.
Your business needs people to succeed. We’ve all felt the sting of putting in lots of time and effort that went unrecognized. Remember the power of these two words: Thank You. Use them often in public and private. Personalized thank you notes expressing your appreciation work well. If you are building relationships with your team, you will know what they value. Get creative with your recognition. There are so many ways to recognize and reward people that are simple, easy, and don’t have to break the budget.
The bottom line is this. Keep your employees passionate by creating a work environment where your team feels valued, included, and appreciated.
Want to brainstorm ideas to keep your employees motivated and engaged? Click this link to schedule a complimentary Insight session.
About the Author
Rebecca Barnes-Hogg
YOLO Insights
Employee Management, Recruiting, Hiring
Rebecca Barnes-Hogg is the founder of YOLO Insights®and author of The YOLO Principle, The Ultimate Hiring Guide for Small Business. Her path to Bombshell Business Woman started 8 years ago when she broke free from corporate with a dream, a cell phone, and a laptop. Rebecca built YOLO Insights®in response to all the frustrated business owners who were wasting time, money, and their sanity hiring the wrong people. She thrives on the hunt for purple unicorns (ideal employees) and watching her clients become more efficient, effective, and profitable when they hire the right employees.
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