As a small business owner it is tempting to lean towards doing it all ourselves. We’ve all hired people to perform certain tasks only to find they don’t do it with the same passion that we have. There’s a reason for this – when they do it, they do it for us, when we do it we do it for ourselves. I can attest to this – when I worked for someone else I was not as excited about what I was doing. I did it for a paycheck. When I am doing it for myself there’s much more to it than just money – we are developing our “baby”. It’s much more personal. So what is the answer? The generic answer is to give the employees incentive to make it much more personal. I’m not suggesting to make every employee a shareholder. But here are a few ideas:
- Think of your employees as partners – they will feel this coming from you and they will feel better about what they are doing just based on you treating them differently.
- Think of your employees as students – too many managers and “bosses” act as if the employees should do what they are told simply because they are being paid to do so. That doesn’t work – they can go to a lot of places to simply get paid to do something. What makes you stand apart from other employers? What makes you someone I will want to work for as opposed to someone I currently have to work for until I can find something better? If instead of “managing” my employees I “teach” them, the whole tone and approach changes. Now they really appreciate what I am doing for them (it’s a model of being of service to my own employees). Now my employees are motivated to help me, because I am actually helping them. Now I can accept their help because they will be motivated to offer it to me. The paycheck is a by-product of what they are doing – not the purpose. I help them grow and they help me grow – that is the “real” purpose of the relationship. Anybody who is in it just for the paycheck will not fit in and they will move on.
- Review and teach – when you find that an employee has made a mistake it can be frustrating. Especially since you might think that it means they weren’t listening. It may also mean that they were so nervous about making sure they did it right that their concentration was off. It could also mean that they have other things in their lives besides you that could mitigate their concentration level. In my opinion at this point it is best not to show frustration but instead teach them to do it right the next time and encourage them to ask questions. Even if they think they “should” know. Think of their questions as a reflection of their desire to do the job well – accordingly this should be encouraged – not met with frustration.
- Let Go – If you give an employee a task you have to give them an opportunity to do the job and show you that they can do it with confidence. If we micro-manage them it comes across as our lack of faith in them. This has the opposite impact from what we want – it makes them feel bad about what they are doing instead of feeling GREAT about what they are doing. Let them make mistakes – they will learn much better that way no matter how good you are at explaining things.
So how can I apply this in my personal life? Easily – we are talking about relationships here. When I can start thinking of my employees as partners helping me to grow my business I can now start thinking of friends and family as partners helping me grow as a person. So this means that I want to set out in every relationship and find out what people’s goals are and then help them achieve those goals. In turn they will be encouraged to help me achieve mine.
Seth David
