Hiring top talent is important, especially in a competitive market that is short on skilled laborers. Equally important is retaining top talent and engaging top talent. Motivating your employees starts at the top and pervades company culture. When 1 in 3 “high potential” employees admit putting only some effort into their job, it is on you to change that course.
Challenge
Are the team goals challenging enough? If performance starts high then lags, this could indicate a lack of a challenge for the employee. Monitor employee performance. Consult an employee if they are under-performing. Address the topic in an open and non-judgmental way. It could be that their engagement with their position slipped due to routine, ease, or office conditions. These are all fixable problems! Assigning a challenging case to your employee or offering some variation in their job role can snap them back into work and performing their best.
Listen
Are you ordering your team to perform or are you leading your team’s performance? Part of the distinction between the two is listening to your employees. Feedback is valuable internally and externally for a company. Having a short meeting once a month to discuss performance, vision, and standing is a good method of gathering feedback from your team. Additionally, be sure to set an open policy when it comes to bringing issues forward to managers and other company leaders. Having empathy is not enough if you do not display it as well.
Understand
Look, everyone’s brain operates differently. We all know this. It’s unrealistic to assume that you know how each of your employees function to do their best work. This is where personality screening and assessments can come in handy! These tools, like the HBDI assessment, are used in business for a reason. It gives you insight as to how the team works, what each member needs to succeed, and how you can pair employees for the best results.
Loosen the Leash
No one like to be micromanaged and feel like they are being scrutinized at work. Maybe your managerial approach is heavy-handed. Provide the right training, set the right goals, and let your employees show you what they have. Freedom can lead to creativity and show you areas of your business that could be improved or streamlined.
Compensation
This is important. If you won the lottery tomorrow, would you work the next day? Your team expects to be valued at the office, as well as valued in their bank accounts. 1 in 4 “high potential” employees intend to leave the company after a year. Offering competitive salaries lowers this number.
Benefits
So you pay your employees well. Do you offer benefits to increase your retention and engagement? Basic benefits involve health, vision, and dental, but what about professional development? Offer your team access to senior management, opportunities to grow in the company, and ongoing skills training. Small businesses can offer different benefits and access to decision makers that larger companies cannot due to scale. Lean into this edge and grow your employees along with your company.
Team motivation and engagement has to be company-wide. If there are employees clearly disengaged and unhappy, this could spread to other parts of the team. Challenge, listen, and understand. If you provide the right leadership and training and an employee still is not performing, sometimes you have to make the tough decisions.
Having the Time and Resources to Invest in Your Team
It costs time and resources to build a strong team that will enable business growth. Being bogged down with accounting concerns like cash flow and working capital will distract and slow down your growth. Working capital funding solutions allow your managerial team to motivate and engage employees rather than chasing down late payments or finding the capital to finance operations.
Financing Business Motivation
One lack of motivation for business growth is the financial inability to grow. Your team can be as motivated as ever but turning down new orders or new expansions due to money tied up in your receivables can crush morale. Having the available cash to grow your business gives your team attainable goals instead of empty ones.