Today’s hiring environment is drastically different than anything we have seen before. It seems almost impossible to find good talent, and bring them onto your team. Most people blame economic factors, cultural shifts, and other excuses that are out of their control.
But the truth is, you don’t need to seek out great talent. The key is to develop a strong culture of leadership inside your organization. Tapping into your employees motivations, desires, and outlook can make even the most unmotivated employee into a responsible leader.
We strive to do this daily at FCP Services. In this article, we’ll review three methods that we use to develop our leadership culture, and create a motivational work environment that our employees can thrive in.
Meet With Your Team
One of the biggest factors that determines your employee’s outlook and motivation at work is how they are treated on a day to day basis. Are your employees excited to come to work, and develop their skills? Or do they dread clocking in every morning for a long, grueling shift?
Gallup found that “70% of a team’s engagement is influenced by managers. Furthermore, the traditional role of a boss as a command-and-control function does not work for today’s workforce. The expectation is for the manager to be more of a coach than a boss.”
Your employees don’t want to be managed; they want to grow into a better version of themselves. But if you’re not meeting with your team weekly or monthly, you’ll have no idea what their motivations are, or what areas they want to take more responsibilities in. It’s important to set time aside frequently to check in with your team, and make sure their voices are heard.
Develop Personalized Goals
Nobody likes to feel average or to disappear into the background. Everyone, especially motivated individuals, want to stand out from the crowd. Whether they have a good idea and want to share, or want to step into a new role, everyone wants to be known for something.
Many organizations approach this the wrong way, and develop cookie-cutter goals for their employees, such as “Make X calls per day” or “Close X clients this week.” While these are nominal goals, if everyone has the same goal, only one person will come out on top at the end.
It’s important to personalize your employee’s goals. What do they want to accomplish in your company, and what goals will bring them closer to that? What new responsibilities could they take on to further develop themselves into a leader?
Commit To The Change
Everyone knows that new habits are hard to undertake. Most start out strong, but then fall off when things become difficult or tiring. Adopting new practices to focus on creating leaders in your organization will have the same effect.
It’s important to commit to this though, and not to give up after a few weeks of changes. You may think of weekly meetings as a waste of time, or focusing on these aspects as inefficient when there is so much work to be done.
But think of it as an opportunity cost. Investing into the wellbeing of your employees is one of the critical aspects of running a successful business. And investing into each of your employees individually, to develop their specific skills, could have amazing effects.
Create A Team of Leaders, Not Workers.
If you truly want to see your company grow and produce amazing results, it starts with the culture you promote daily. Are you focused on creating new leaders, or are you focused only on the bottom line?
To learn more about our culture and processes here at FCP Services, visit our Culture Page.