How often have you wanted to tell a complaining employee to “get a life!” While this may make you feel better, it’s not a constructive way to turbocharge your employees. The key to building or maintaining morale in your small business is to kick up the communication skills a couple of notches – from you as the owner/manager to the front line employees – and I believe that all starts with the word “expectation”.
Job expectation: Do your employees really understand what is expected of them with regard to their day-to-day job? Have you explained the typical and not-so-typical situations that they may have to handle on a daily basis? Be fair and upfront with your employees as to what the job requires them to do.
Accountability expectation: Do your employees know exactly how they will be held accountable if they don’t do what is expected of them? How do you handle giving the feedback that’s necessary for them to change their behavior? Do you manage by reward or by punishment? Which do you think is a better morale booster?
Communication expectation: Employees need to know that they can go to you or your trusted assistant and that someone will sincerely listen. If not, their concerns will be voiced to their peers and anyone else who will listen, which just might be the customer. The last person you want your business’s dirty laundry to be shared with is your customer.
Value expectation: That brings us to employee contributions and suggestions. It is my experience that as an insightful manager, the more you encourage suggestions from employees, the more they will feel heard and valued and the more they will feel that they own the solution.
When you express your appreciation for an employee’s ideas and suggestions and take some kind of action, (even if you tell them their ideas are too costly or not possible to implement), the employee will still have experienced being heard and valued. At this stage, it is also important to inform your employee of the outcome.
If the idea is actually acted upon the employee will feel that he or she has achieved a goal and made an important contribution. Any achievement is a major source of motivation, and motivation leads to productivity. Productivity then leads to more initiative from the employee.
Reward Expectation: The make-believe radio station that constantly plays in most people’s heads is WII-FM. What is in it for me? Most people are thinking as they interview for a job:
• I wonder if this business owner will be a kind individual?
• I wonder if I can ask for special days off if I need them?
• I wonder if they give regular raises?
• Will this owner/manager recognize me if I do great work?
• How will my fellow workers treat me?
You may want to be pro-active and deal with these questions up front so the prospective employee will have put their mind at ease and can more fully concentrate on the task at hand. As Maya Angelou wrote, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Article Author: Roy Prevost is an internationally recognized retail trainer, keynote speaker and customer service activist. He is the author of Turbocharge Your Retail Business: How to Outmaneuver and Outperform the Big Guys. Roy has spent the last 25 years working in and with thousands of businesses worldwide helping them grow their business and increase revenues by showing them how to compete in a hyper-competitive world through relationship building and going the extra mile with customers. He is passionate about turning business owners into ‘Customer Service Superstars’. Click Here to receive your complementary guide: 10 Topics to Discuss Before You Hire a Web Design Company.
Article Resources:
Turbocharge Your Retail Business: How to outmaneuver and outperform the big guys by Roy Prevost
Photo Source: courtesy of Stuart Miles / Free Digital Photos