As I was sitting here working on a Saturday, it occurred to me that I love my job. I was typing away at the computer while the rest of my family played, read or relaxed and still I was content. I was happy, even though I had to work, because I honestly love what I do. Most small business owners can probably say the same. You started your business because you were passionate about it. Of course, everyone has days where work is frustrating and aggravating and we wonder why we do it, but for the most part you love what you do. The challenge is passing that love on to your employees. While we were building our inventory management system, we had to ramp up the love. Hard work is always easier when you have a love for what you're doing.
In a previous post we offered tips on hiring the right people for your business. Choosing the right employees can really put you ahead of the game as far as employee satisfaction is concerned. It goes without saying that the employee who has a genuine interest in your business and what you do will be happier than the employee who only has a genuine interest in collecting a paycheck. Even the most enthusiastic employee can have an off day or start to suffer from boredom over time. If you want to keep your employees (and keep them happy) you’ll need to find ways to pass your love for your business on to them. We were very careful about the type of individual we wanted building out our inventory management system. Being able to receive and give out some love was very important to us.
Share the love. Share your reasons for starting your business with your employees. Even if they don’t initially share your enthusiasm they may find some along the way as they hear your story and start to relate to your journey. Excitement is also contagious. If you are excited about a new item that you’re going to stock, a new program that you are going to try or a new campaign that you plan on implementing - let your employees see your excitement. When they see how positive you are about the change they will be more positive about it as well.
Drinking the kool-aid. There really is a lot of benefit in having employees that “drink the kool-aid.” When your employees fully believe in your business goals and support them 100% they are happier, more productive and report greater overall job satisfaction. This doesn’t mean that you want a staff of “yes-men”, there is little to no benefit in having a team of people who simply agree with everything you suggest. What your business needs is a group of dedicated individuals who are invested in seeing your business succeed and are willing to work to make that happen. If you sell widgets, they need to believe that widgets can change the world! Okay, maybe not quite that zealous but they need to like widgets and enjoy selling them. If they hate widgets they are going to hate working every day to sell more of them. For example, we made sure that every staff member had a say so when it came to creating the first version of our inventory management system. Seeing a piece of themselves in the product made loving it all that much easier.
Change it up. Even a really fun activity becomes boring if you spend long enough doing it. People need a little variety. Look for ways to keep work fresh by varying your employees’ daily activities. This may require job sharing so that one person counts widgets Monday-Wednesday-Friday and someone else counts them on Tuesday and Thursday, but just knowing that they don’t have to count widgets five days a week is bound to make people happier. Even the most boring job ever is okay if you only have to do it once in awhile.
Find their bliss. We’re all individuals. What appeals to one person may not appeal at all to another. Really pay attention to your employees and identify their areas of their jobs that they enjoy the most. I am not an accounting fan. Crunching numbers is pure torture as far as I’m concerned. Luckily, there are people who can practically do this in their sleep (and would be perfectly happy doing it, although it sounds like a total nightmare to me). During the interview process you probably picked up on certain strengths that your employee possesses. Over time you’ll see the jobs that employees get the most excited about. Giving people the opportunity to focus on the aspects of their job that they enjoy the most will absolutely increase their happiness regarding work. As time went on and our inventory management system grew from a few to thousands of customers, we had to find ways to put folks into roles that would love. It was easy, but the result is an organization that loves what they do.
We love building our inventory management system!
Make life easier. Implement software and other solutions that can make your employee’s jobs easier. Stockpile is a great example of this. Inventory management is a must for your small business. It’s crucial that you know what you have, and where you have it at all times. Our free inventory management solution allows you to access this critical data, anytime from anywhere. Getting started is quick and easy. Once you input your data, you’ll be able to track inventory within a single location or across multiple locations. Our inventory management system is completely scalable, so we’ll grow with you as your needs change. Sign up for Stockpile today and see how easy inventory management can be.
Remember to keep checking back with our blog for more tips to help your small business.
