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It is true that the fastest-growing and most lucrative businesses tend to be the ones that operate like a well-oiled machine, but that doesn’t mean you should treat your employees like mere cogs. They are human beings, after all, not robots. What this means is that you need to know when to push and when to lay off; when to correct and when to keep quiet; when to ask for more and when to give back. Your people are the lifeblood of your business, and how you treat them will have an enormous impact on their productivity (and your earnings). There’s nothing wrong with having high employee expectations, as long as you recognize that they’ll have expectations of you, too.
This post shouldn’t be shocking. After all, if you’re reading this then you’re probably a small business owner, and if you’re a small business owner then at one point in time you probably quit a job partially because you weren’t feeling like your efforts were appreciated. So you should be keenly aware of your employees’ need to be recognized as a valuable member of the team. If they screw up accidentally, take them behind closed doors and talk to them about it with a respectful tone and attitude. If they do something great for your business image, thank them! I’ve noticed that lots of managers are very good at cracking the whip or chewing people out, but very few take the time to balance it with an appropriate amount of praise or gratitude when it is warranted. Fail to recognize good workers at your own peril, because they’ll be out the door faster than you can say “two week notice”!
Go that extra mile to get to know your best employees. If they feel like you truly care about them, they will work hard for you. Before I started my home improvement business,I worked several years for a small business owner who never even learned my first name. How sad is that?! Granted, he wasn’t involved in direct management on a day-to-day basis, but it still irked me that I worked hard to make his wallet fat week after week, year after year, and he didn’t even care to know my freaking name! This is an extreme example, but my point is that your lack of attention to your best employees will almost certainly encourage them to start looking for a better opportunity. Your job is to make the work environment as pleasant and rewarding as possible for your most skilled and hard-working people because they are, quite simply, a rarity. Mediocre employees are a dime a dozen, but the truly exceptional ones are worth bending over backwards for because they will accelerate your business’ growth like you wouldn’t believe, and they will make your life as owner-manager a hell of a lot easier. Trust me on this one.
One final note. If one of these star employees decides to call it quits so that they can go start their own business and become a contractor, support their decision and wish them good luck. Because they’re so valuable to your business, you might be tempted to hold them back by warning them of the risks of business ownership or by saying that their idea will never work, but I encourage you to be gracious and genuinely happy for them. It will be a loss for you and your company, but the bigger loss would be if that would-be entrepreneur never had the chance or the guts to strike out on his own and go for the American dream, just as you did when you started your fledgling little business.
My name is Jeff and I created this blog in 2007 to help and inspire contractors and home service providers. It’s come a long way since then.