Entrepreneur's Tip of the Week: Motivate the Troops!
Posted by Vicki Donlan on Mon, Sep 06, 2010 @ 09:33 AM
Labor Day is over! It is time to get back to work. Back to growing your business and planning that exit strategy that will one day be yours. But first, it is time to re-energize the staff (the troops). Whether you are a small business with only one employee or a larger business with more than 50, it is your job, as the entrepreneur, to lead the way for the fourth quarter. Too often entrepreneurs believe that employees need to ease themselves back into the work day after a four-day weekend and particularly a long hot summer. Of course, if I were your coach your employees wouldn't be working any differently in the summer than they do any other time of the year.
But, let's get real and assume that the hot days of August have caused your business to be slow and those working for you have been following your lead in kicking back -- oh, just a little. So what to do to get them ramped up?
Schedule a mandatory office meeting - I prefer first thing in the morning but allow your business model to determine the best time for your meeting. Let everyone know that the purpose of the meeting is to share ideas of how to exceed fourth quarter goals for new business, revenue and filling the pipeline for 2011. Of course, this means that your employees already know what your companies' goals are because you have been communicating them right along. If not briefly layout benchmarks for what each person or each department needs to achieve for fourth quarter in your invitation to the meeting - reminding each that it is the minimum of what is expected.
Prepare an agenda that includes a discussion of each person and/or each department and make sure to spend time focusing on the successes of each. Again, the purpose of your meeting is to motivate the troops and people are motivated with praise not criticism. Ask for help. Ask for new ideas. People are more energized when they participate in the game than when they merely sit on the sidelines and are told to watch. You can't be a leader if you don't have followers and you can be followed if you don't have somewhere to go. Be enthusiastic about the future of the business and allow others to share in your excitement. Enthusiasm is viral. Use yours to motivate the troops.
HIRE VICKI TO SPEAK AT YOUR NEXT EVENT!