How to grow your business and keep your staff happy.
Recent findings are leading researchers to the stunning conclusion that in today's workforce, the most important factor in staff motivation is having "a sense of meaning in the organisation". Beyond money, perks and any other benefit, meaning motivates because staff now feel it is more important to "be somewhere where your opinion counts".
Nowhere is this finding more real than in growing businesses. In more than ten years of dealing with small and large businesses, I believe that smaller, growing operations are subject to three serious management threats that, once addressed, transform into opportunities for harnessing the considerable creative strengths of team members. These management issues and their resolutions are outlined in the following article.
Personality conflict
The first issue faced by smaller businesses is that they tend to be very personality driven. Picture if you will the company principal – high profile, larger than life and possessed of great flair and entrepreneurial spirit, the very embodiment of the company and an example of success. But take this personality and apply it to a management scenario and what happens?
Not always, but often I've had employees who say they are being communicated at, not with. The net result is a worker who is highly dissatisfied because he or she feels that they simply aren’t being heard, or have no creative control.
In my experience, these types of managers may also inadvertently create a culture of underperformance, where people submit substandard work, because they know the boss will meddle with it anyway.
Big pictures versus the detail
The second issue affecting the growing businesses is that of "big picture" thinkers who fail to communicate the details. It seems the cry is either "I’m being micro-managed", or "They aren’t giving me enough information about what to do, then they criticise me for getting it wrong."
What’s happening here is that employees are given a task and they know why they are being given it, but are left to figure out how to do it. Then the manager has to step in and stand behind them when they get it wrong.
The net result? I’ve seen incredibly high levels of insecurity amongst more junior staff, who find it hard to ask for help, or lack the support of a patient mentor.
Coping with growth
The third management problem is most prevalent when the business is going through a phase of very rapid growth. Suddenly there is this influx of extra business, which is great for the owners and managers, but staff see their workloads increasing exponentially – with little respite or reward and they might even begin to question the direction of the business. Add to this the problem of tighter cashflow in a growing business and the pressure mounts even higher.
The net result? Burnout and unacceptably high levels of staff turnover, which can seriously threaten a business’ customer base.
Every time an employee resigns, it costs your company time, money and effort to replace them, in fact Mercer Human Resources put that cost at one and half times the departing employees salary (“What's Working", Mercer Human Resources 2003).
So, how do you reconcile the need to motivate your staff with the day to day pressures of actually running a successful business? How can you engender staff loyalty and strike a balance between the right level of managerial involvement, individual creativity and accountability?
It’s the people, stupid!
Companies may be good at giving people technical training as they move up through the ranks but people management skills are not often formally taught. Most of the time, executives gain their people skills by imitating their seniors – which, usually means that executives are not patterning their behaviour on best practice.
This was highlighted in a 2003 study for Hewsons by the University of Western Sydney’s School of Psychology when it revealed 100 per cent of the 140 executives polled rated themselves as below average on 17 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) including delegation, handling conflict, developing others, team performance and handling stress.
All the KPIs mentioned are critical attributes for a business leader because it is often these hidden factors rather than hard issues like business strategy that can make or break an organisation's ability to achieve its goals.
Encouragingly the study showed that during and after 13 executive coaching sessions over 3 to 5 months their self-rated report card improved by 100 per cent across specific KPIs, with an overall 80 per cent improvement in executive capability and business performance.
It’s not rocket science though! In fact, whatever the culture of your company, there are five commonsense tips that can help you maintain a buzzing and productive environment your team will thrive in.
- Performance management – get it right
If you want your company to be managed well, with happy staff, you have to embrace the principles of effective performance management.
This doesn’t mean simply conducting an annual performance review, it means clearly defining roles, setting measurable goals, providing ongoing support and regularly reviewing progress – and it means calling bad performance, when it happens, not two months later.
Do you know each member of your team personally? What are their personal goals and aspirations? How do these align with the business initiatives of the organisation?
It’s about proactively and objectively managing their performance.
- Trust that your staff can handle the responsibility
Empower staff to make decisions. It’s a common problem in smaller companies where staff aren’t trusted to make the right call - how many times have you second guessed your staff - or been second guessed by your boss? People are capable - remember to reinforce your faith in their ability to 'do the right thing'.
Furthermore, if you have young staff, the perception of youth as an unreliable and lazy generation is debunked by many researchers - they just work differently. Australian researcher Rosemary Herceg writes “70% of the people we spoke to talk about a way of working that is smarter rather than harder. They speak about things like working from home, marketing their ideas rather than their time, and moving away from the daily 9-5 grind”.
- Encouraging personal development
The corporate ladder is quickly disappearing and the old carrot, 'stick with us and you'll make it to the top' is becoming increasingly less relevant. Holding on to good employees is difficult unless managers face the continual need to provide growth opportunities. Employees want to grow “fat” in their roles - learn new skills, develop new competencies and face new challenges.
Mark McCrindle also makes a good point when he says that the emerging generations value learning from those with more experience. Mentoring programs show that senior staff are valued, while building into the lives of the younger staff. He also says that they value training, so companies would do well to provide a borrowing library of training resources, send staff to training events - let them give a mini seminar to their peers of what was learned, and support their further formal study. (McCrindle Research, The ABC of XYZ, 2003)
- It’s not about the money!
Consider all of the non-financial ways to recognise and reward people and make it your personal challenge to try each one with your employees. In a high pressure environment recognizing a staff member in front of their peers, for example, often brings far greater satisfaction to employees than any monetary reward.
Or, if a staff member has been working really hard - give them time off, buy them some flowers, a new iPod, or tickets to a show. Thank them in an interesting way that THEY will value. The old adage is more true than ever - "It’s the thought that counts".
- Enjoy!
Life is way too short to stress so much! So don’t just talk about adding fun into the work environment – do it! It’s not just about social outings like team sailing days, staff picnics, or massages and yoga lessons, it’s also about your approach. Do you laugh much during the day? Do you engage in office banter and light hearted ribbing? Is there an air of fun and humour around the place?
If not, why not?