When it comes to growing the business, many CEOs and business owners think that they are doing it alone, and they don’t do it with their employees.
There are many reasons why:
Leaders feel that their employees will never commit as hard as they do
…employees are not competent enough to help them,
…not enough trust and faith,
…think that employees are just in the journey for a salary…
And the list goes on and on and on….
When we throw out some of these poor mindsets, we will realize that our employees are quite prepared to go the distance with us, and we (leaders and owners) can go much further.
So, what are some KEYS that will help us engage our employees in growing the organization together?
Here are my top FOUR…
- Get your Team involved in Building the Plan
Many leaders and owners crack at the plan on their own and then TELL their team what to do, to execute the plan. Since they had very little role in designing the plan, or have their input in the plan, they just DO AS THEY ARE TOLD, and have very little skin-in-the-game, to make the goals happen. On the flip side, leaders and owners should have some level of clarity with where the business is going. Some owners/leaders are indecisive and cannot keep to the clear goal and TOO diplomatic, and let employees make their own decisions in moving forward. This is a fine balance, so getting the team involved in building the plan, will increase their ownership and cooperation in moving toward the common goal.
- Have your Team Present their Ideas on Specific Initiatives
Alignment and planning sessions NEED NOT be a 1-person talking session for a full day. Leaders and owners could take this opportunity to hear from managers or leadership team members on specific initiatives, that require them to prepare and share with the rest of the team. For instance, if e-Commerce is a key initiative in the next 5 years, leaders might invite a key person in the team to prepare and share their thoughts during the alignment. This requires the key person to be prepared, have the right information, and be prepared for accountability.
- Delegate Efficiently, instead of Abdicating
In engaging our team to be efficient with us, we need to ask ourselves if we are supporting our team with enough resources to achieve the goals with us. That would include knowledge, training, budget, guidance and material, which are resources necessary for them, else we would be setting them up to fail. So how do we ensure we are not abdicating? First, ASK ourselves if the resources are sufficient for us? Secondly, be clear with the expectation of completing the task. Thirdly, it is necessary to check in with our employees often, especially if the task/project is new to that person.
- Invite your Team to review the Performance of the Company
In my course of working with many business owners, CEOs, directors – this is something that very few leaders do. I encourage leaders to get their team to review the strategies, performance, results, and outcomes of the company. I encourage leaders to HEAR OUT the review input of their team members first, before giving theirs, that way the team will not be swayed by listening to their bosses’ input. When the Team has to review the performance of the company, they have to put on a lens of realism, and exercise their strategic hats, and make good decisions with their leader, instead of just looking to the leader to take FULL responsibility of where the company is.
Look, when you run a small business, it is possible for you to hack it out on your own, but when we are a BIGGER business, it’s important to go there together, to achieve further heights. Engaging your employees will ensure a journey that is less painful, but more importantly more fulfilling.
This is one of many principles, but I talk much in detail on how to overcome the hurdles of an average business, in this article. Check out my article “Are You Tired of Running a Mediocre Business: Seven Success Principles that Differentiate GREAT Businesses from Mediocre Ones”
I cover these in detail accompanied with real examples and how to engage your team successfully. Click here to find out more.
