​You’ve got 10+ employees. but work more than ever.

I’m almost concerned. more than ever, I hear employees have “quit quit-ed” or “no one wants to work”. And NO ONE knows why this is. I’ve spoken with multiple business owners that have yet to crack the code.

Prepare yourself because this will sting a little.

Your employees are not inspired. they’re not incentivized. but they need to work to survive.
sounds like a recipe for “doing the bare minimum possible”

NOW THAT THE PAIN IS OUT OF THE WAY
“so what. I run a business, i’m not here for their emotions”
I get it. you’re also trying to survive. you also have your own agenda. and you wouldn’t hire people if you didn’t absolutely have to. surprise, surprise No one likes dealing with other people’s problems.

business isn’t easy, and you’re right, you SHOULDN’T have to deal with other people’s emotions. the unfortunate truth is that this is now part of your “list of shitty tasks if I want to produce more”
(as if we didn’t have enough on that list to begin with.)

I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but here’s what I’ve found that works.
every business is different and keep in mind this is a broad fix. for me to cater EXACTLY to your business, I’d need to know more ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS. take this with a grain of salt.

THE SOLUTION:

Inspire them Tie what their job is to the over all mission of your business. if your business goal is to “make more money” great, but that’s not what THEY care about. they want to know that their sacrifice and efforts goes to something that matters, not to someone else’s bank account. what solution does your business solve, and who do you solve it for? this is exactly what you will try to tie every role back to. for example, I’m a leadership coach. my angle is that I want to improve the culture of businesses BOTH for the business owner AND the employees. so I tie all my employee roles to the fact that we help people resolve one of the LARGEST impacting pains for most adults. the pain being, that they hate their job/coworkers/employees/subordinates/supervisors, had a bad day at work, etc. Provide clarity give clear description of what they are expected to do, how to do it, who to speak with if they have questions, what tools they need, etc. AND REMIND THEM REGULARLY. If you think you’ve done this clear enough, I urge you to look at it again. Pretend you’re telling a robot to make a PB&J sandwich. if you said “go in the fridge and get the jam”, where is the fridge, did you tell it turn around and locate it, is the jam on the door or a shelf, which shelf, did you tell it to close the fridge door, did you say to open the jar… do you get the idea? employees that don’t know what they’re supposed to do, stress out more and are less productive. they end up going into a “stay out of sight and under the radar” because they’re afraid of being found out. this can be a cancer in your business because you’re paying people that aren’t doing the work. THIS IS NOT FROM NOT WANTING TO DO THE JOB PROPERLY. they are people too. give them everything they need to be successful. and remind them in case they forgot. regular 1-on-1s and open communication help with this significantly. Hold Them Accountable as the business owner, if you get more stressed about meeting deadlines than your employees do, then this is a key indicator that you’re not holding them accountable. THEY should be stressed about the results of their work, not you. at least not as much. the goal is to SHARE the stress/desire to provide good results. not have it all bundled on you, the owner. DO NOT only use deterrents to fuel their fire. this will make results appear in spurts, not consistently. this can also lead to burnout. the goal is to give them a carrot to chase AS WELL AS a fire to run from. the more emphasis on the carrot, the better. Give them KPIs that you expect them to meet, and ideally how they would meet those KPIs. make sure these are CRYSTAL CLEAR. we can talk about how to maintain quality of work, but that’s outside the scope of this post. STRONGLY reinforce good behavior if you scold a pet for getting on the sofa, they won’t do it in your presence. if you REWARD them for not getting on the sofa, then they’ll follow the rule in your absence. people are no different. find different ways to reward them for doing things the way you want them to be done. the more positive reinforcements the better. people like to feel good. it’s easy to forget that. this piece is on YOU as the business owner to think of ways to reinforce ALL GOOD BEHAVIOR that you want to see. if you think that payment is enough, you’re sorely mistaken… (i know, it’s not fair) The Walls Have Eyes I couldn’t think of a better bullet header, sue me. Your employees will ALWAYS put themself in the position of the person that you interact with. positive or negative. your behavior is CLOSELY MONITORED by your workforce. if you explode at negative news, they won’t give it to you. if you fire people without reason, they’ll grow contempt for you along with stress and fear for themselves. the goal here is to remain transparent with your team. remind them you’re a person and you’re not perfect in all ways. this doesn’t mean that you can let loose all the time, this means that you won’t show up perfect everyday, BUT YOU MUST TRY TO. this being said, your team will fight with blood, sweat and tears if they believe they’re being lead by someone with their best interest in mind. They won’t fear for their own well being if they BELIEVE that you will take care of them. talk with them. have the hard conversations. tell them what you know. be honest. treat them with respect. Try to do right by them as if you are leading your younger self. as if whatever happens to them happens to you too.

For the sake not making the post too long, I’ll stop here, but there is a lot more that goes into a healthy business culture, as you may know.

I’m open to your thoughts on this. I’m more than happy to have a conversation in private if you’d like.

My goal is to help business owners create better business culture, make more money, and gain more of their time and peace of mind NOT at the expense of others.