Without huge payroll budgets and fancy benefits, small business owners sometimes find it challenging to keep their staff motivated. Consider these tips to help you bring out the best in your team.
– Involve your employees. The chance to make a difference is one of the biggest perks to working in a small business, because big corporations don’t often listen to their employees. Create ways for your staff to input their ideas and suggestions.
– Share the wealth. Consider a profit-sharing model where your employees see some financial rewards for helping to build your business.
– Give responsibility. No one likes being told what to do. People perform best when they are given some decision-making authority to accomplish projects or objectives.
– Recognize performance. Publicly recognize top performers or other people within your small business who have gone “above and beyond” in their jobs with an ad in the local paper, an award, a new title or acknowledgement during your next staff meeting.
– Lead by example. No employee will respect an entrepreneur who practices “do as I say, not as I do” management. Show your team you walk your performance talk by exceeding your own sales goals, arriving early or picking up extra duties.