Keeping your startup's employees happy is important, but if you have an oppprtunity to do more, you should take advantage of it. In this guest post, Keith Shields of Designli outlines some of the ways entrepreneurs can motivate their team members to become leaders in the workplace.
It’s not enough to simply recruit top talent—though that’s important. No, as an early stage start-up entrepreneur, you want to be able to grow your employees, and thus your company, into the best possible versions of themselves. While the gap between work and personal lives narrows, it’s important to provide leadership development opportunities for your team to help groom them into successful leaders, both in the workplace and outside of it. Having a strong team that leads you to growth and viability is crucial.
Instead of simply hiring somebody off the bat and leaving them to their own devices, it is your responsibility to give people the chance to show they can be leaders and can bring their own strengths and perspectives to each experience and engagement in the workplace.
How can you do this? We’ve compiled the ultimate guide for helping to cultivate leaders and not just have employees, in order to build a stronger team for your startup company – not just letting people figure things out on their own.
1. Pay Fair and Competitive Wages
We cannot stress the importance of this enough. If you want people to stay on your team, then the first thing you have to do is provide a competitive enough wage and benefits package, within reason, in order to keep your team together. The only way to recruit top talent in the beginning is by providing something they simply can’t say no to. Granted, when you’re first starting out, it might be difficult to pay such competitive wages, but it’s a worthy investment. Invest in your people first: otherwise, they’ll be looking to leave you for competitors who will pay them more.
If at all possible, offer your employees access to an equity pool if you’re too early-stage to make up any gaps with salary. This way, they’ll not only have a stake in the success of your company, but will have something that gives them greater responsibility over their work product.
By showing you care about the livelihood and continued well-being of your employees, you show you value them, and a valued workforce is crucial to a stronger team - especially with the otherwise breakneck-pace and stress of a startup environment.
2. Create a System of Acknowledgement
Recognize when employees do a great job. Celebrate your team’s successes. This will make them feel like their efforts were worth it and that their victories are highlighted. It will incentivize people to work harder if you demonstrate a strong company morale that supports, encourages, and appreciates those who put their best efforts forward. When first starting out, as an early-stage entrepreneur, you should initially start a system of recognition from the get-go. Give out awards, have employee-of-the-month programs,
3. Provide Training Workshops so the Learning Never Stops
Whether it’s time management, integrity counseling, or morale boosting and team-building activities, giving your employees the chance to develop new skills and refine their old ones will show that you have a personal investment in their well-being and growth. Employees will feel like they’re getting more out of their job if they have the opportunity to learn. Don’t let your employees feel stuck or stagnant in their positions. When you’re first starting out, it may seem difficult to get this kind of thing together when you’re focused on pushing your product and cultivating awareness and revenue. It’s important, then, to make sure you invest in talent that can begin your company this way off the bat. Consider training and hiring an HR manager, even a freelancing one, to make sure that you have more incentives for top talent to come to your company.
4. Get Involved in the Community—Together
Go out and volunteer with your team. It doesn’t have to be a weekly endeavor, but getting together with your team outside of the workplace can build morale and relationships while showing them that you’re committed to more than your bottom-line. Getting involved in the community and volunteering demonstrates a dedication to paying it forward—something your employees won’t soon forget. Furthermore, in your early stages, if you get involved in the community, it helps to raise brand awareness and loyalty within the community, and gives you plenty of talking points for any press releases you might want to release announcing your company.
5. Invest in Their Health
Consider helping them get a gym membership, and encourage their mental, physical, and emotional well-being by being understanding if they need to take a mental health day. Do your best to schedule monthly or quarterly catch-up meetings where you simply get to know them better and ask them how they’re feeling and doing. No judgments, no performance reviews, and no ultimatums—simply invest in their health and show that you care about more than their hard work. When you first hire them, describe how you want the company culture to be from the very beginning, ask for their input, and get to know them upfront so you can learn how they’re doing and growing throughout their time with you.
6. Consider Allowing Employees to Work Remotely
The numbers are in and it turns out people are just as productive and potentially even more so when they work from home (or someplace outside of the workplace). Sometimes grinding through the day in a stuffy office can wear down on your employee’s well-being, so being flexible and showing them that you trust them enough to continue working hard no matter where they are makes them feel better and more at home. Plus, if you allow them to work remotely early on, you can figure out what works and what doesn’t about it from the very beginning and can make changes accordingly.
7. Don’t Ask Them to Do Anything You Wouldn’t Do
Sure, as a manager or employer you might have other concerns than the actual day-to-day work that you’ve hired your employees for, but it’s important to lead by example.
8. Emphasize Team-Building and Networking
You could even consider having some kind of team-building retreat to build relationships and collaboration in the workplace. By encouraging your employees to build relationships with the other members of their team, you create a better company culture that values people feeling better and more at home. Plus, you allow yourself the opportunity to potentially find new connections your employees might already have and can recruit new talent through those networks.
9. Consider Implementing a Mentorship Program
Connect your employees to people who have been there longer who can provide personalized support to them will make them feel valued, supported, and held up by others who care about them and their personal well-being. One-on-one, deep relationships can emphasize and build stronger leaders by keeping morale high. This might be difficult if you’re just starting out and your team is brand new, but consider doing it down the road.
10. Give Them Specific Tasks that Play on their Strengths - And their Weaknesses
Allow them to try new and different assignments that will help develop their weak points in a safe environment so they can feel like they have the opportunity to gain new knowledge and new skills. At the same time, give them assignments that play to their unique strengths. It shows them that you value them as individuals with specific backgrounds and perspectives and that you recognize them for who they are, and not just somebody who performs a task.
Copyright: Image by StockUnlimited
