Getting employees as enthused as you are
By Nancy Proffitt, Certified Business Coach.
Think back to the days when you first started working for someone and try to remember what it was that made you so excited about working for that person in that business. Many might say, I just needed a summer job. Others would say I loved working there because ... you fill in the blank.
If you loved working for that special boss, chances are it was not necessarily because of the massive amount of money you made. Heck, you were in high school with few marketable job skills! Most logically you liked working there because the boss made you feel important or valuable in someway.
How do you get your employees as excited about your business as you are? That is the $64,000 question every executive, business owner, manager, department head and supervisor should ask on a regular basis. After all, it is not simply a product or service that brings people in to do business with you. How many of your competitors have the same product and pledge they too provide outstanding customer service? What will make your business different are the people who work with and for you IN the business.
The primary responsibility of all executives and management at all levels is to train, motivate, engage, and mentor your people to be different than the competitor’s employees down the street. It is to help them be as excited about the positive results of your business as you are.
That is easier said than done in many cases because the person responsible for motivating and mentoring hasn’t been trained to do such a critical aspect of their job. How many companies take their best widget maker and make them a manager of other widget makers and see results fail? Notice I did not say see the manager fail. That is because companies never take the time to train their people how to be motivating leaders of people and organized managers of processes. Many times there are no processes for the executive or manager to follow so they make it up and hope for the best. Well, hope is not a strategy.
Engaging employees to want to do what a leader needs done is a leadership skill that people must develop to be successful. Most experts agree leadership skills are learned and developed. So what are some of those leadership skills executives and managers can develop to get their people as excited about their business as they are?
— Ask employees for their opinions on how things could be done more effectively. Then follow up and acknowledge their successes as their suggestions are implemented.
— Give employees the credit. Period , end of story.
Employees make the difference in a successful business as they are the one providing the extraordinary service everyone talks about.
— Get out of the way!!! Present clear expectations then trust employees to do the
right thing. Micro management is the number one de - motivating and devaluing behavior a manager, at any level, can do to a person in any walk of life.
— Allow everyone to make mistakes.
We learn more from our mistakes as long as we don’t repeat them often.
Give employees the opportunity to try new things a new way. Successful leaders are not surprised at how innovation promotes engagement and enthusiasm. They encourage innovation.
— Train and retrain ALL employees from day one.
People will do a much better job and be much more engaged when they thoroughly understand what is to be done and how. The training should include their job functions as well as conflict resolutions and decision making.
Promote outside expertise to help with communication and leadership skills.
— WALK THE WALK AND TALK THE TALK.
Be the example all employees would WANT to emulate. Positive leadership drives employee enthusiasm. If managers want people more engaged and excited about the business, give them good reason to be.
All successful business managers must keep in mind that employees are a company’s greatest assets. Their collective ideas, feedback and enthusiasm for what they do can help business grow and succeed. People require the guidance of skilled managers and leaders who seek their ideas, ask for feedback and generate enthusiasm in order to have a sense of purpose and energy about what they do.
What will you do differently to increase your profitability by getting your employees as enthused about your business as you are?
How much more productive and efficient might your business be if everyone loved playing on the team?
Can you afford NOT to get everyone on board with consistent enthusiastic involvement?
Nancy Proffitt's columns appear in Palm Beach Business.com every first and third Thursdays of each month. Click to read her previous column.
Nancy Proffitt, MBA, Certified Business Coach is the president of Proffitt Management Solutions and Proffitt Management Leadership Institute, an internationally recognized Leadership coaching firm dedicated to growing profits by unleashing the full potential of individuals and organizations. She may be reached at 561-682-6060 or email: Nancy@proffittmanagement.com . Visit her website at www.proffittmanagement.com. Keep up to date on management practices: go to her blog www.profitablebusinesscoach.com/blog
