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THREE KEYS TO SUPER EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT
If employee involvement is so important to the success of your business, how do you make it happen? There are really only three keys to getting super involvement from all of your people.
Share Information
The first key to involving people in running your business is to open up and share information with your employees. It's definitely not true that your people need to know just enough to do their jobs. Your people need to know as much as you can share about your business. They need to know your dreams about your business. What kind of business are you trying to build? What is going to make your business special and attract the kind of customer you want to attract? Who are your competitors? What are your strengths and weaknesses compared to your competitors? You need to share as much financial information as you can. What does it cost to turn on the lights? How valuable is your inventory? What does it mean to the business if you get one percent shrinkage instead of two percent? Sure, some of this information is sensitive. But if your employees don't know this information, they won't care about the success of the business. And if they don't care, they won't perform.
Ask and Listen
It is a human frailty. Most of us tend to talk more than we listen. Instead of asking our employees what they think should be done to solve a problem, reduce costs, or improve performance, we tell them what we think. All too often, our approach to employees is "just shut up and listen." Pretty soon, they do just that. They develop the attitude, "So what if what we are being told to do won't work?" They just do what they are told to do, even if it is wrong. What do we miss when we just order people to do things and don't listen to their ideas? We miss a lot of good ideas. More important, when our employees aren't involved in deciding how to do something, they aren't committed to doing it right. They just go through the motions. Compare an employee going through the motions to one who is dedicated to making his ideas work. You'll have no trouble spotting the difference.
Share the Rewards
The final key to involving employees is to share the rewards of success with your employees. If you want your people to really care about the success of your business, make sure there is something in it for them. Recognize their contributions. Let them know that they are important and that you value their ideas. And let them share in the financial success of your business. Sure, you made the investment and took the financial risk of starting your own business. It is only right that a substantial portion of the financial rewards of success go to you. But don't leave out your employees. Let them share in the profits and cost savings they help you create. They'll return your generosity tenfold in additional savings and profits.
Why involve your employees in running your business? Because employee involvement is one of the most important things you can do to ensure the survival and success of your business. When you share information with employees, ask for their ideas and suggestions, and share the financial and other rewards of success with employees, you will develop a high-performance work force. You'll have a team of people as dedicated to the success of your business as you are. How can you lose with that?
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