By Kirsty Dunphey (Edited by Chuck Sink)
To be an effective CEO or key executive, you'll need help and lots of it!
So the question here is how do we whip our staff into a frenzy (as opposed to just whipping them)?
Having been a small business owner with a growing staff, the focus on keeping them engaged, encouraging them to grow and stay with us, and finding time to run my business often felt overwhelming.
To follow are the simple, yet not too simple, top ten tactics that worked for me.
1. Communication - find ways to get your team to come to you when there's an issue, not to complain behind your back. Approachability and trust rule here.
2. Create problem solvers - encourage your team to bring any problem to you, but to always bring a solution at the same time. Ask for recommendations.
3. Reward fairly - based on performance, not time in the job. Reward merit, not mediocrity. As examples, showing up on time deserves no praise. Up-selling a customer without expectation deserves recognition, thanks and perhaps more.
4. Develop champions - who can grow into their roles to champion and activate new ideas and techniques. Who are the champions on your team?
5. Trust - regardless of how you've been burnt in the past, trust your team first.
6. Reward creatively - consider education and recognition rewards, family based rewards (such as dinner vouchers) and tiny rewards (such as their favorite chocolate bar) instead of just standard pay rises or bonuses. Everyone craves recognition.
7. Involve your team - get their opinions, seek their feedback, hunt out criticism before it infects your organization. You've got to be open to criticism if you ever expect to criticize constructively or to get better yourself.
8. Show the path - foster career drive by showing your team the career paths open to them within your organization.
9. Listen - instead of always talking. You hired them for their brains!
10. Lead by example - live in a manner consistent with what you say. It's managing, not parenting, so "do as I say, not as I do" ain't gonna cut it (it doesn't cut it with kids either).
Make 2010 the best year ever for your customers and employees. Be a team leader. Set the best example as the boss or, if in a support role, for your boss!
Please check out our "Shot in the Buck" guest column in the world's largest sales newsletter, Sales Caffeine!
Contact us:
Telephone: (603) 834-6300 / Email: chuck@bighitmedia.com
To be an effective CEO or key executive, you'll need help and lots of it!
So the question here is how do we whip our staff into a frenzy (as opposed to just whipping them)?Having been a small business owner with a growing staff, the focus on keeping them engaged, encouraging them to grow and stay with us, and finding time to run my business often felt overwhelming.
To follow are the simple, yet not too simple, top ten tactics that worked for me.
1. Communication - find ways to get your team to come to you when there's an issue, not to complain behind your back. Approachability and trust rule here.
2. Create problem solvers - encourage your team to bring any problem to you, but to always bring a solution at the same time. Ask for recommendations.
3. Reward fairly - based on performance, not time in the job. Reward merit, not mediocrity. As examples, showing up on time deserves no praise. Up-selling a customer without expectation deserves recognition, thanks and perhaps more.
4. Develop champions - who can grow into their roles to champion and activate new ideas and techniques. Who are the champions on your team?
5. Trust - regardless of how you've been burnt in the past, trust your team first.
6. Reward creatively - consider education and recognition rewards, family based rewards (such as dinner vouchers) and tiny rewards (such as their favorite chocolate bar) instead of just standard pay rises or bonuses. Everyone craves recognition.
7. Involve your team - get their opinions, seek their feedback, hunt out criticism before it infects your organization. You've got to be open to criticism if you ever expect to criticize constructively or to get better yourself.
8. Show the path - foster career drive by showing your team the career paths open to them within your organization.
9. Listen - instead of always talking. You hired them for their brains!
10. Lead by example - live in a manner consistent with what you say. It's managing, not parenting, so "do as I say, not as I do" ain't gonna cut it (it doesn't cut it with kids either).
Make 2010 the best year ever for your customers and employees. Be a team leader. Set the best example as the boss or, if in a support role, for your boss!
Reproduced with permission from the Kirsty Dunphey weekly email: www.kirstydunphey.com
Big Hit Bits promises to be your online resource of choice for hard-hitting, relevant information you can use immediately to increase your personal and professional effectiveness.Please check out our "Shot in the Buck" guest column in the world's largest sales newsletter, Sales Caffeine!
Contact us:
Telephone: (603) 834-6300 / Email: chuck@bighitmedia.com
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