One of the hardest things about running your own small business is motivating your staff and getting the most from them. You can learn accounting, and how to manage the business, but managing people is an entirely different skillset. It requires patience, flexibility, and many other qualities. Some people are great at it and find that they quickly form positive working relationships with their staff and always get their best work from them. Others, struggle. They prefer managing numbers and products and have trouble balancing relationships with members of their team. Yes, it can get tricky. You want to have a cordial relationship with them, but you also need them to know that you are the boss.

One of the most important parts of running a business of any size involved the team that you build to help you run it. Without a productive and motivated team, you’ll never be as good as you could be. A fantastic team can get more work done, in less time and to an excellent standard. Here are some tips on how to get more from your staff, whether there’ are two members or two thousand.

Choose the Right Workspace

Whether you are looking for a shop premises, a restaurant, an office, or a factory for rent, even if your business is solely online, getting the right workspace is essential.

If you’ve got an existing team when you choose your workspace, you want to be in an easy to reach location making their commute as easy as possible. You also want plenty of place, a safe environment, and conveniences like parking and public transport connections. If getting into work is difficult, you’ll likely be facing an uphill battle consistently with employee punctuality issues.

Get the Décor Right

Décor is also important. Dark, dingy offices can affect the mood of your workers. They’ll feel tired and negative more often than not. Instead, lighten things up and make sure you’ve got access to lots of natural light. Keep walls light and bright and even add colorful artwork and plants.
These simple changes can help to improve the mood, make your staff feel more alert and energized and increase productivity.

Have an Open-Door Policy

Your open-door policy can be literal, but it doesn’t have to be if you prefer to keep it closed. Your staff just needs to know that your office door will be open to them when they need it to be. They need to now that they are always free to come and speak to you about their problems, that you will always welcome their ideas and that you will make time for them whenever you can.

Do this by proving it. Get to know your staff, speak to them, ask them for their feedback and ideas and listen to them. If you like an open door, literally, consider also having an open office space. Keep the area completely open, with no doors or screens. This openness can improve the atmosphere immensely and remove any feeling of inferiority.

Use Their Ideas

When people work somewhere for a while, they see things, they learn, and they have ideas of their own. Welcome ideas from everyone on your team.
This gesture will help them to feel valued and appreciated. They’ll work harder, give you more and continue to come up with great ideas.

Invest in Training

One mistake many employers make is neglecting training. They offer new staff basic training to get started and then, nothing. They might send a quick memo or hold a short meeting if something significant changes, but nothing more. This can lead to staff becoming complacent or bored, or getting left behind. Generally speaking, people like to learn. They want to be able to do their job to the best of their ability, they enjoy learning new ideas and methods, and they enjoy learning new things. It keeps them motivated and keeps their minds fresh.

Hold regular staff appraisals to identify any training needs and if any members of your team express specific interests or a desire to move up in your company. Give them your time and your knowledge.

Some small business owners worry that doing this will one day mean that their best employees will leave them to seek more money and more significant opportunities with larger companies. There is often the fear that one of the brightest team members will leave and start up on their own in direct competition. Well, they might, but, they might do that anyway merely out of boredom. At least this way you know that you are getting the best out of them for as long as you can, and you might be making a meaningful connection for the future.

Be Flexible

There is a considerable need for greater flexibility in the workplace. More mothers are choosing to return to work than ever before, and fathers are playing a more active role in their children’s early years. As we are living longer, more of us need time to take care of aging relatives. Many of us have multiple obligations outside of work that require our time and attention.

However, not all employers offer flexibility, unfortunately. Small businesses often provide the excuse of not being able to do so when they have so few staff to cover the work. But, in reality, if the same kind of flexibility and understanding is offered to all staff, they’ll be happy to cover for each other and help out more when needed. To be able to provide flexibility it’s vital that you understand the needs of your staff and how these needs might be different for everyone. Your friendly, open-door policy will be a big help.

If you want more than average from employees, you have to be more than the average company, more than the average boss.

*article may contain affiliate links