Motivating Small Business Staff
How Entrepreneurs Draw the Best from their Most Valuable Asset
It sounds like the proverbial "motherhood" but it is easy for an entrepreneur, particularly one who has formed a business with a passion, to overlook these qualities. This might not happen deliberately, but because of lack of attention.
Consistency Makes For Employee Motivation
For example, an entrepreneur's mind might work quickly and inventively. His or her mind can change from the moment, say, of interviewing a job candidate or briefing a team on a venture, and the employee's first day or some time into the venture. The entrepreneur might not intend to lack integrity, but to the employee it can certainly feel like it.
This can leave people uncertain and frustrated. A remedy is to makes notes or confirm by email. It takes time, but it can save disputes. Consistency is good for motivation.
Employee Retention
When hiring, it is important to choose people who will fit the values, vision and mission of the company, which, therefore, must be clearly stated. The owner/manager owes each candidate the respect of being open and frank about values, vision and mission. This lays the foundation for employee retention.
Disagreements and conflicts occur if people on a team have different impressions of what these are.
It is as important, if not more so, to assess the candidate's work ethic and compatibility with the company than the person's capabilities. The interview and references are vital to this.
The small business owner needs to "read between the lines" of references. Previous employers are cautious about negative references, even when justified, for fear of litigation. If a referee says something like, "So-and-So did work here for a period of time" but adds no more, the hirer can be sure the referee wasn't impressed.
Employee Satisfaction
Trust is a most powerful motivator. Most employees can be trusted to do their best work, if they have the company's values, vision and mission at heart.
Trusting employees can be a challenge to small business owners. After all, the businesses are "their babies." They have invested their own time, money and emotions. They have taken risks that require courage. If some have inflated egos, it's easy to see why.
This can lead to a tendency to micromanage employees’ work.
Leadership coach Jim Clemmer advocates they adopt "servant leadership" in which they support rather than direct employees. Some employees might turn out to be marginal or poor performers. Most will not. A costly error in terms of employee satisfaction, says Clemmer, is "Managing to the lowest common denominator with rules and policies that convey mistrust ...."
Employee Recognition
Another error that can arise from the owner’s sense of proprietorship is to want to improve on an employee’s good ideas by adding what Clemmer calls the “final 10%.” If the small business manager is satisfied with 90% of an employee’s suggestion, let that person run with it, Clemmer advises.
If the manager insists on modifying the idea, the employee’s sense of ownership and commitment are reduced. Although implementation of the idea will require teamwork, credit for the idea must remain with the employee, who should be the person to lead its implementation.
Value Employee Input
Integrity, trust and credit build an atmosphere in which employees feel safe to speak their minds. Clemmer refers to the Columbia space shuttle disaster where engineers and technicians suspected a malfunction but had not spoken out.
The small business owner should never be reluctant to hear employees disagreeing with him or her. The owner hired them for their skills and compatibility with the values, vision and mission of the organization. Why fail to allow then to speak their minds?
Integrity, trust and credit where it is due -- these are the basis of gaining and keeping the loyalty of employees of a small business. It’s the people who are the main key to success, one of the four key success factors and the major contributor to profit.
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