Business owners always seem to want to work harder and longer hours to grow business profits. But we forget that without planning, 90% of our business can just become work, doing the same stuff over and over again. And that ain’t too smart!
Its taken me 35 years to become a business coach or Business Mentor Melbourne, so I know with my practical experience, and from my own business coaching clients, that employee engagement is one of the most powerful owners’ weapons to running a smart business model.
Guess what, your employees have so much knowledge to share if your ask the right questions – they are the face of your business, in that they interact with customers and suppliers most days of the week, they hear the compliments (when you get them) and they take the front on the complaints. They interact each day with your processes and systems, and they know what frustrates them, what bugs them, and what is currently working.
If you have recently hired a new employee, you should be amazed to know that they have all this knowledge from their prior employers; and whilst relatively fresh, they are in an ideal position for observing why your business does what it does. How come? Well, they are trying to understand your business and its processes, your business values and what habits and behaviors seem the norm, and whether these are acceptable or not.
I run team workshops for my clients focusing on engaging employees in the business. Sounds straightforward right? Well, perhaps not. First, you need to allow the staff permission to give feedback and create an environment where they can speak without fear of being judged.
This fear is real, and it is twofold.
First, peer group fear in that they may upset the hierarchy, and once the consultant leaves, the employee needs to deal with the consequences from the co-workers and managers.
Second, owner/managing director fear – getting into trouble for stepping across the fixed boundary that exists or implying that the owner is not running the best business he or she can.
Yet the owners who take the risk and who acknowledge they can work smarter and less hours through a properly run team workshop, they say to me how surprised they are at the results. Lots of new ideas, better clarity of how to fix problems, agreement on priorities of what to implement and by when, a better understanding of what actions are important to the business (as against the time filler activities that occur), better communication, and how breakdowns in your values within the business (who walks and talks the values) causes customer (and employee) pain and frustration. Importantly though, business owners I work with notice business profits increase when they leverage their employees more than before.
I can guarantee you that a properly run team workshop, armed with the right questions and facilitator, will generate and unleash enthusiasm within your staff, and they will adopt a can-do outlook within your business. The secret ingredient is a combination of the questions that are asked and an owner who is committed to running a better business, with better business profits.
Want some evidence….
Research by Gallup (1999 / 2005)
o Customer loyalty increases by 56% above the average
o Employee retention is 44% above the average
o Safety record improves by 50%
o Productivity increases by 50%
o Overall profitability increases by 33%
Productivity – engaged employees generate 43% more revenue than disengaged ones (Hay Group: Engage employees and boost performance 2001)
Attendance – Engaged employees, take an average of 2.69 sick days per year; the disengaged take 6.19 (Gallup2003)
Customer focus – 70% of engaged employees indicate they have a good understanding of how to meet customer needs, while only 17% of non-engaged employees say the same. (Right Management: Measuring Employee Engagement 2006)
Retention – engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave the organisation than the disengaged (Corporate Leadership Council: Driving performance and retention through employee engagement 2004)
If you want to work with a business coach that takes the time to understand your business and to ask the right questions, then let’s start the conversation, get in touch and learn more about my team workshops for your business.