You pay your employees a decent wage, but they don’t perform. You tell them over and over what they need to do, but they don’t listen. You correct them continuously and they still don’t get it right. You pay them more and offer benefits, but they slack-off. You make threats but the problems persist. You set up a system of punishments to reinforce your standards, but they just don’t live up to expectations. You yell and scream but things only get worse. Why are your employees not performing? Are your employees simply ungrateful? The product of a lazy generation? Perhaps, but if this is the way you are managing your people, I wouldn’t want to work for you either.
The old adage, “You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar”, has never been truer. By following a few simple principles and treating people with respect, you can get your employees to go to the ends of the earth for you and help you accomplish virtually anything you want to in business.
Principles of Effective Leadership
Principle #1 - You can’t make anyone do anything they don’t want to do.
Principle #2 - Pursuit of a worthwhile goal is hands-down the best motivator.
Principle #3 - Appreciation is the second best motivator.
Principle #4 - Money is a poor motivator.
Principle #5 - Happy workers are productive workers.
To be a highly effective manager, you must think of yourself as the leader of a volunteer force. Forget the idea that you are paying your employees a wage and they owe it to you to perform. Chances are you need them more than they need you anyway.
Putting the above principles into action, here are the 10 Steps to Having Motivated Employees Who Kick Ass:
1. Place the right people in the right positions – Make sure you play to your people’s strengths. If you have a customer facing position, make sure the person you hire likes to deal with people. Likewise, if you need a billing/insurance person, make sure that person is detail oriented. If you don’t place people in positions for which they are suited, you are setting both yourself and your employees up for failure. (Principles #1 and #5)
2. Define roles – Make sure your employees know exactly what is expected of them and why it is important to the business. Discuss it with them. Write it down. Give them a copy. (Principle #2)
3. Ditch the formal reviews – Formal reviews are always a point of stress for both employers and employees. The employee wonders, if she has been meeting expectations for the past year or even if the employer’s idea of performance matches her own. The employer dreads having to correct the employee’s behavior or trying to figure out how to dodge the inevitable request for a raise. So, eliminate formal reviews all together. Instead, conduct frequent, informal, unscheduled reviews. Start by finding out how things are going with your employee and tell her what she is doing right, before you make suggestions for change. If you are waiting six months to a year for a formal review, to point out problems, it’s probably already too late. (Principles #3, #4, and #5)
4. Regularly give honest and sincere appreciation – If you are going to try to fake this one, don’t bother. (Principle #3)
5. Environment – Make sure your work environment is a place your employees can be proud of and can look forward to coming to each day. This is another way to let your employees know you appreciate them. (Principles #3 and #5)
6. Have fun at work and allow your employees to do the same – I know this isn’t always easy to do in a busy retail or doctor’s office environment. But, if you want people to perform optimally when the come to work, they need to enjoy what they do. (Principle #5)
7. Treat your employees as partners in your business – Make sure they know your vision whether it be providing better eye care to the community, or providing the best customer service in the world. Fill them in on your goals, the steps you plan on taking to achieve them, and keep them up-to-date on progress and milestone achievements. Give them a reason (other than their paycheck) to excel at what they do. (Principles #2 and #3)
8. Empower your employees – Let them know you are open to suggestions for improvement and ask for their input frequently. (Principles #2 and #3)
9. Give your employees additional responsibility – If you have an important project you need to implement, something new you would like to try, or perhaps something you should be delegating anyway. Give the responsibility to one of your employees, let them know how important it is, make sure they have everything they need to fulfill that role, and then sit back and watch. You might be surprised. (Principles #2 and #3)
10. Get rid of the non-performers - After you’ve done all the above and you still have employees that don’t perform, let them go as quickly as possible. Contrary to how it may feel to both you and your former employee, letting non-performers go is not only good for you but good for them. If have an employee who is consistently not performing, they need to find another environment in which they can excel. Keeping them on because you are hesitant to fire someone is only holding back that individual at the cost of your business. (Principle #1)
Bonus Tip #1: Lighten up – If your employees have shown a commitment to you and your business (which should be all your employees at this point), give them some leeway to take care of personal business or just screw-off during normal working hours. Let them know you realize how hard they work and you don’t mind some non-work related activities as long as these activities don’t interfere with what they need to accomplish each day. Treat them like adults not children. Your employees will appreciate you more and likely be more productive as a result. (Principles #3 and #5)
Bonus Tip #2: Look for and attract intrinsically motivated people – When hiring new people, experience means almost nothing. Look for individuals who are self-motivated, self-learning, and driven. These are the people that will take your business to the next level. You will not attract and keep these people with mundane tasks, so you’ll need to keep them challenged, give them projects to undertake, and opportunities for personal growth.
Bonus Tip #3: Read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People – Timeless wisdom circa 1936.